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diff --git a/11267-0.txt b/11267-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..fb1f446 --- /dev/null +++ b/11267-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1541 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 11267 *** + +THE MIRROR OF LITERATURE, AMUSEMENT, AND INSTRUCTION. + +VOL. XII. NO. 328.] SATURDAY, AUGUST 23, 1828. [PRICE 2d. + + * * * * * + + + +ANCIENT PLAN OF OXFORD CASTLE. + + +[Illustration: Oxford Castle] + + By these mysterious ties the busy pow'r + Of mem'ry her ideal train preserves + Intire; or, when they would elude her watch, + Reclaims their fleeting footsteps from the waste + Of dark oblivion. + + AKENSIDE + +Gentle, courteous, and _patient_ reader--to understand the above plan, +it is requisite that you carry your mind's eye back to those troublous +times when men enjoyed no protection, but in opposing force to force; +and to a period when _every man's house was his castle_, though not in +the metaphorical sense we have since been accustomed to apply these +words, viz. to the protection and security of British subjects. + +Few portions of our island have been more amply illustrated, by +antiquarians, than OXFORD; and from one of these we learn that a Keep +Tower, or Castle, existed here a considerable time before the conquest; +for Alfred lived here; and Harold Harefoot was crowned and resided here; +and one of Alfred's sons struck money here. Hearne has likewise +identified this fact by the very ancient and original arms of Oxford, +which have a castle represented, with a large ditch and bridge. Upon the +same authority we learn that Offa "built walls at Oxford," and by him, +therefore, a Saxon castle was originally built at Oxford. + +Leland, Dugdale, and Camden, on the other hand, affirm that the castle +at Oxford was built by Robert D'Oiley, who came into England with +William the Conqueror; and the Chronicles of Osney Abbey, preserved in +the Cottonian library, even ascertain the precise date of this great +baron's undertaking, viz. A.D. 1071. No question, therefore, can remain, +but that this illustrious chieftain either repaired or rebuilt the +castle; but as we have shown, upon equal authority, there was a Saxon +castle, fit for a royal residence at Oxford, long previous to D'Oiley's +time. About the year 1794, several Saxon remains were discovered here; +but our engraving represents the castle in Norman times, with Robert +D'Oiley's magnificent additions, and is a facsimile of a plan by Ralph +Agas, in 1538, which, allowing a little for bad or unskilful drawing, +may be taken as a perfect specimen of Norman military architecture, and +will, we are persuaded, be received by our readers as a popular and +interesting illustration of the warlike character of the age in which +the castle was erected. + +For the description we are indebted to a MS. account of Anthony Wood, in +the Bodleian library, who informs us that at one of its entrances was "a +large bridge, which led into a long and broad entry, and so to the chief +gate of the castle, the entry itself being fortified, on each side, with +a large embattled wall; and having several passages above, from one side +to the other, with open spaces between them, through which, in times of +storm, whenever any enemy had broken through the first gates of the +bridge, and was gotten into the entry, scalding water or stones might be +cast down to annoy them." + +On passing through the gate, at the end of this long entry, the +fortification stretched itself, on the left hand, in a straight line, +till it came to a _round_ tower, that was rebuilt in the 19th of Henry +III.[1] And from thence went a fair embattled wall, guarded for the most +part with the mill-stream underneath, till it came to the high tower +joining to St. George's church.[2] + +From hence, says the manuscript, the wall went to another gate, now +quite down, opposite to the abovementioned; and leading to Osney, over +another bridge; close to which joined that lofty and eminent mount, +sometime crowned with an embattled tower. The manuscript adds, that for +the greater defence of this castle, there was, on one of the sides of +it, _a barbican_; which seems to have not merely been a single tower, +but (according to an ancient deed) _a place_, or outwork, containing +several habitations; and from other accounts it further appears, that +there were more barbicans than one. + +The ruins of certain other towers of the castle, besides the barbicans, +and those already described, are also said to have been standing till +1649; when they were pulled down to erect new bulwarks for the +parliamentary garrison. + +This is an abstract of Anthony Wood's manuscript, which agrees with +Agas's drawing, except that in his sketch, the tower between the +gate-tower and St. George's, is represented square instead of being +round. Antiquarians also infer that in the drawing it was intended to +represent the great keep-tower as standing upon the top of the mount, +and not by the side of it.[3] + +Some discoveries made in 1794, throw much light on the history of the +castle, and warrant a conclusion that in its area were several +buildings. Wells were then cleared out, and among the rubbish were found +horses' bones, dogs' bones, horse-shoes, and human skeletons; the +appearance of the latter is not easily accounted for, unless they were +the bodies of malefactors, who had been executed on the gallows placed +near the castle, in later ages, that might have been flung in here, +instead of being buried under the gibbet. We must however pass over many +interesting facts, and content ourselves with a mere reference to the +empress Maud being besieged here in 1141, and her miraculous flight with +three knights, all escaping the eyes of the besiegers by the brightness +of their raiment; Maud having just previously escaped from the castle of +the Devizes, as a dead corpse, in a funeral hearse or bier. The reader +will not be surprised at the decay of the castle, when he is informed +that it was in a dilapidated state in the reign of Edward III. + +The castle was situate on the west side of the city of Oxford, on the +site of the present county gaol. In 1788 little remained except the +tower, which was for some time used as the county prison, and part of +the old wall could then be traced 10 feet in thickness. In the +castle-yard were the remains of the ancient sessions-house, in which, at +the _Black Assize_, in 1577, the lieutenant of the county, two knights, +eighty esquires and justices, and almost all the grand jury, died of a +distemper, brought thither and communicated by the prisoners; and nearly +one hundred scholars and townsmen fell victims to the same disorder. + +We have been somewhat minute in the preceding description, but we hope +not more so than the exhaustless curiosity of the public on such +subjects appears to warrant. Indeed, these interesting details are only +a tithe portion of what we might have abridged. The warlike habits of +our ancestors are always attractive topics for inquirers into the +history of mankind, and their study is not + + Dull and crabbed as some fools suppose, + +but a treasury or depository of useful knowledge, by enabling the +inquirer to draw many valuable inferences from the comparative states of +men in the several ages he seeks to illustrate. The enthusiasm of such +pursuits is, likewise, an everlasting source of delight; for who can +visit such shrines as Netley, St. Albans, or Melrose, without feeling +that he is on holy ground; and although we are equally active in our +notice of the architectural triumphs of our own times, we must not +entirely leave the proud labours of by-gone ages to be clasped in the +ponderous folio, or to moulder and lie neglected on the upper shelves of +our libraries. + +We have to acknowledge the loan of the original of the engraving, from a +lineal descendant of D'OILEY[4], the founder or repairer of the Castle +at Oxford--a name not altogether unknown to our readers. + + [1] The sum of 144_l_. 5_s_. was expended in the rebuilding. + + [2] By an odd mode of expression in the MS., it should seem as + if this tower itself, or at least some building adjoining it, + was formerly made use of as a _royal residence_, for the words + are, _from hence went a fair embattled wall, guarded for the + most part with the mill-stream underneath, till it came in the + high tower, going under St. George's College, and the king's + house employed formerly as a campanile belonging to that + church_. + + [3] Grose fell into an error on this point, in his 3rd volume of + Antiquitica, for in his copy of Aga's plan, he placed a large + keep tower just at the foot of an artificial mount--an anomaly + in fortification. The same punster who described _fortification_ + as _two twenty fications_, would call this a _Grose_ blunder. + + [4] When Robert D'Oiley, in the reign of Henry V. built the + abbey at Osney, for monks and regulars, and gave them the + revenues, &c. of the church of St. George, in the Castle, it is + said in the Osney chronicle, that there "Robert Pulen began to + read at Oxford the Holy Scriptures, which had fallen into + neglect in England. And after both the church of England and + that of France had profited greatly by his doctrine, he was + called away by Pope Lucius II., who made him chancellor of the + holy Roman church." This short effort, to which the Pope's + preferment put a stop, seems to have been the true origin of the + DIVINITY LECTURE, and of the DIVINITY SCHOOLS at Oxford; and of + the studies of the SORBONNE at Paris. + + * * * * * + + + +THE "INTELLECTUAL CAT." + +(_For the Mirror_.) + + +The _cat mania_ has hitherto been more popular in France than in +England. To be sure, we have the threadbare story of Whittington and his +cat; Mrs. Griggs and her 86 living and 28 dead cats; Peter King and his +two cats in rich liveries; Foote's concert of cats; and the newspaper +story of tortoiseshell male cats--but in France, cats keep better +company, or at least are associated with better names. Thus, MOLIERE had +his favourite cat; Madame de Puis, the celebrated harpplayer, settled a +pension on her feline friend, which caused a law-suit, and brought into +action all the most celebrated lawyers of France; and M. L'Abbe de +Fontenu was in the habit of experimenting on these animals, one of which +he found could exist twenty-six months without drinking! which fact is +recorded in the History of the Royal Academy of Sciences at Paris, 1753. + +Our present portrait is, however, of more recent date, being a free +translation from _Le Furet de Londres_, a French paper published in +London, whose columns are an agreeable accompaniment for a cup of +coffee. It is a mere _bagatelle_, and as an amusive trifle may not be +unacceptable. + +My pretty little Puss, it is high time that I should pay a just tribute +to your merits. We often talk of people who do not esteem you; +therefore, why should I blush to give publicity to your perfection? + +You are exceedingly well made; your fur boasts of the delicate varieties +of the tiger; your eyes are lively and pleasing; your velvet coat and +tail are of enviable beauty; and your agility, gracefulness, and +docility are, indeed, the admiration of all who behold you! Your moral +qualities are not less estimable; and we will attempt to recapitulate +them. + +In the first place, you love me dearly, or at least you load me with +caresses; unless, like the rest of the world, you love me for yourself's +sake. I know well that you like me less than a slice of mutton, or the +leg of a fowl, but that is very simple; I am your master, and a leg of +mutton is as good again as one master, twice as good as two masters, &c. + +You possess great sense, and good sense too, for you have precisely such +as is most useful to you; for every other kind of knowledge will make +you appear foolish. + +Nature has given you nails, which men unpolitely call claws; they are +admirably constructed, and well jointed in a membrane, which is extended +or drawn up like the fingers of a glove; and at pleasure it becomes a +terrific claw, or a paw of velvet. + +You understand the _physical laws of good and evil_. A cat who strangles +another will not be more culpable than a man who kills his fellow men. +My dear Cat, the great Hobbes never reasoned more clearly than you do! + +You forget the past--you dream not of the future; but you turn the +present to account. Time flies not with you, but stands still, and all +your moments appear but as one. You know that your muscles will give +action to your limbs, and you know no other cause of your existence, +than existence itself. My dear Cat, you are a profound _materialist_! + +You flatter the master who caresses you, you lick the hand that feeds +you, you fly from a larger animal than yourself, whilst you unsparingly +prey on the smaller ones. My dear Cat, you are a profound _politician_! + +You live peaceably with the dog, who is your messmate; in gratitude to +me, you regulate your reception, good or bad, of all the animals under +my roof; thus, you raise your claw against such as you imagine mine +enemies, while you prick up your tail at the sight of my friends. My +dear Cat, you are a profound _moralist_! + +When you promenade your graceful limbs upon a roof, on the edge of a +casement, or in some situation equally perilous, you show your dexterity +in opposing the bulk of your body to the danger. Your muscles extend or +relax themselves with judgment, and you enjoy security where other +animals would be petrified with fear. My dear Cat, you perfectly +understand the _laws of gravity_! + +If through inadvertence, blundering, or haste, you lose your support or +hold, then you are admirable; you bend yourself in raising your back, +and carry the centre of gravity towards the umbilical region, by which +means you fall on your feet. My dear Cat, you are an excellent _natural +philosopher_! + +If you travel in darkness, you expand the pupil of your eye, which, in +forming a perfect circle, describes a larger surface, and collects the +greater part of the luminous rays which are scattered in the atmosphere. +When you appear in daylight, your pupil takes an elliptic form, +diminishes, and receives only a portion of these rays, an excess of +which would injure your retina. My dear Cat, you are a perfect +_optician_! + +When you wish to descend a precipice, you calculate the distance of the +solid points with astonishing accuracy. In the first place, you dangle +your legs as if to measure the space, which you divide in your judgment, +by the motions of your feet; then you throw yourself exactly upon the +wished-for spot, the distance to which you have compared with the effect +on your muscles. My dear Cat, you are a skilful _geometrician_! + +When you wander in the country, you examine plants with judicious +nicety; you soon select that kind which pleases you, when you roll +yourself on it, and testify your joy by a thousand other gambols; you +know also the several grasses, and their medicinal effects on your +frame. My dear Cat, you are an excellent _botanist_! + +Your voice merits no less eulogium; for few animals have one so +modulated. The rhyming pur of satisfaction, the fawning accents of +appeal, the vigorous bursts of passion, and innumerable diatonic +varieties, proceed from your larynx, according to the order of nature. +My dear Cat, you are a _dramatic musician_! + +In your amusements, you prefer pantomime to dialogue; and you neglect +the pen to study the picture. But then what agility! what dancing! what +cross-capers! The difficulty never impairs the grace of the feat. Oh, my +dear Cat! you are a _delightful dancer_! + +Lastly, my dear Puss, show me a man who possesses as many kinds of +knowledge as you do, and I will proclaim him a _living cyclopædia_, or +concentration of human wisdom. But, what do I see? I am praising you, +and you are fast asleep! This is still greater philosophy. + + * * * * * + + +STANZAS FOR MUSIC. + +(_For the Mirror._) + + + Yes, radiant spirit, thou hast pass'd + Unto thy latest home, + And o'er our widow'd hearts is cast + A deep and with'ring gloom! + For when on earth thou wert as bright + As angel form might be: + And mem'ry shall exist in night, + If we think not of thee. + + For, oh, thy beauty o'er us came + Like a fair sunset beam, + And the sweet music of thy name + Was pure as aught might deem. + With silent lips we gaz'd on thee, + And awe-suspended breath-- + But thine entrancing witchery + Abideth not in death. + + And all that we suppos'd most fair + Is but a mockery now; + No beam illumes the silken hair + That traced thy smiling brow. + The cheerless dust upon thee lies, + Death's seal is on thee set, + But the bright spirit of thine eyes + Shines o'er our mem'ry yet! + + As in some dark and hidden shell + Lies ocean's richest gem, + So in our hearts shall ever dwell + The spells thou'st breath'd in them! + Why should we weep o'er the young flow'rs + That cluster on thy sod? + Stars like them glow in heav'n's bright bow'rs + To light thee up to God! + +R.A. + + * * * * * + + +"TROUT BINNING" IN WEST-MORELAND.</h3< + +(_To the Editor of the Mirror_.) + + + --"Now is the time, + While yet the dark-brown water aids the guile, + To tempt the trout." + THOMSON. + +I have not yet done with this subject; and as it strikes me you are an +angler, I think the article a seasonable _bait_ for you. + +I was certainly much entertained with your extracts from Sir Humphry +Davy's _Salmonia_; and from your being pleased to mention my name in +commenting on its merits, I took the hint, and resolved to send you +another leaf from my journal. You will easily imagine the abundance of +fish in Westmoreland when I inform you, that they seldom use the line +there, except in rivers, since they can take them much easier with their +hands as before mentioned. I will now account for the trout frequenting +such small brooks. There are frequent floods in that county, at certain +periods of the year, which sweep the fish in shoals from the mountain +rivulets, or perhaps the fish always go down with the flood, for the +rivers and rivulets are all well stocked afterwards; and in my opinion +it is on account of the rivers being so full, that great quantities are +obliged to inhabit the neighbouring brooks, all which empty themselves +in the rivers. At the latter end of the year, that is, the spawning +season, the large trouts (which are become very loose and flabby) take +to the small brooks to deposit their spawn; after which they return to +the rivers. At this time there are, in consequence, many young trouts, +which remain, I should imagine, till next year, when I believe they go +to the rivers; for during that time I have seldom caught trouts weighing +more than from half a pound to a pound, though in such a "beck" as +"Cannon's," which runs directly into the Eden, I have taken them at all +times very large--and this is how I account for the difference. I should +observe, that at the "_back end_" of the year, immensely large trouts +may be caught, which come up to spawn; but they are generally, when +caught, immediately thrown into their element again, as they are worth +nothing, on account of the looseness of their flesh. + +But to the subject. _Trout binning_ is a name given to a peculiar method +of taking trout. A man wades any rocky stream (Pot-beck for instance) +with a sledge-hammer, with which he strikes every stone likely to +contain fish. The force of the blow stuns the fish, and they roll from +under the rock half dead, when the "binner" throws them out with his +hand. + +_Night-Fishing._--I have frequently gone out with a fishing party at +about ten o'clock at night to spear trout. We supplied ourselves with an +eel spear and a lantern, and visited Cannon's "beck." We drew the light +gently over the water near the brink. Immediately the light appeared, +both trouts and eels were splashing about the lantern in great +quantities. We then took the spear, and as they approached, thrust it +down upon them, sometimes bringing up with it three or four together. +One night we took nearly twenty pounds of trout and eels, which, for the +short time we were out, may be considered very fair sport, and some of +those were of a very large size. + +Should you notice this, I may be led to recur to the subject in a future +paper. + +W.H.H. + + * * * * * + + A proud man is a fool in fermentation, + that swells and boils over like a porridge-pot. + He sets out his feathers like an owl, + to swell and seem bigger than he is. + + * * * * * + + + +THE TOPOGRAPHER. + +AN EXCURSION TO THE RUINS OF RIEVAULX AND BYLAND ABBEYS; AND TO THE +RESIDENCE OF LAURENCE STERNE, COXWOLD, YORKSHIRE. + +(_For the Mirror_.) + + + "The air around was breathing balm, + The aspen scarcely seem'd to sway; + And, as a sleeping infant calm, + The river stream'd away-- + Devious as error--deep as love, + And blue and bright as heaven above." + + _Alaric A. Watts_. + +Though I am as romantic a being as ever breathed on the face of this +beautiful earth; yet, I will promise the reader, that in detailing the +events of an interesting day, I will not tinge them with that colouring; +yet, such a glorious bard as Wordsworth could, alone, do justice to our +excursion. Leave him to wander alone in that woody dell, with the +thrilling picture spread around him--the sinking walls of elaborate +Gothic, clouded by the hanging woods--the rural dwellings of the +illiterate peasantry scattered below the templed mount--and the mourning +stream and its rustic bridge--thus entranced, his fairy spirit would +pour forth a flood of pensive and philosophic song. + +It was on the dawning of a fine morning in August, that I left the +brick-and-mortar purlieus of home, and in company with two young +friends, commenced this excursion. The diversified chain of the +Hambleton Hills, bounding the fruitful valley of Mowbray, rose at the +distance of six miles before us; and whose summit we intended reaching +before breakfast. The varying aspect of these rocky eminences requires +the descriptive charms of Sir Walter Scott, or the pencil of Salvator +Rosa, to do them justice. Within two miles of them, you might imagine +yourself in the ruins of the Roman amphitheatre, whose circular walls +reared their dark-gray forms to the heaven; and the inimitable +description which Byron has given us of that edifice, occurs to the +recollection; though no waving weeds and dew-nurtured trees crown the +apparent ruin-- + + "Like laurel on the bald first Caesar's head." + +On a nearer view, they change their appearance, and you might suppose +that the remains of some fortified castle, typical of the feudal system, +looked over the heather which clothes their rocky sides; whilst the +detached pieces of rock, which rolled from the summit eighty years ago, +appear amongst the furze, like the tombs of Jewish patriarchs in the +valley of Jehosaphat at Jerusalem, darkened by the lapse of ages. To the +right of our path lay the solitary and frail memorials of the monastery +of Hode, founded by Roger de Mowbray, and afterwards attached to the +abbey of Byland. Shortly after passing Hode, we arrived at the base of +Hambleton, and began to ascend its rocky front; we had climbed half the +ascent, when, on cautiously turning ourselves, an indescribable picture +presented itself in the vale and its objects below; the solemn silence +of the early hour--the first greeting of the morning sun--the glittering +and distant lake of Gormire, guarded by towering hills to the +right--and, to the left, rocks which have stood whilst generations of +heroes and kings have passed away; and, beyond this vivid scene, in dim +perspective, arose the western hills, tinged with delicate blue, and +scarcely discernible from the clouds which floated over them. Even the +enraptured travellers, who stood gazing from the summit of Mont Blanc, +were not more delighted than the enthusiastic _trio_ who looked from the +brow of Hambleton on that memorable morning. But our object was not +attained, and we set forward with replenished vigour, to cross the +heather-heath, whose bleak aspect prepared us for the paradise which +smiled below the other side of the hills. The first prominent object +which met our view, was the terrace, with its classical temples at each +of its terminations; and next, the wood encircled hamlet of Scawton, at +whose little alehouse we enjoyed a hearty breakfast; and then set +forward to explore our beloved region of Rievaulx; our path being +through a mountainous wood, which nearly kissed the sky, and obscured +the rustic road which divided it: after several windings through this +leafy labyrinth, we arrived at a point where the wood was more open, and +the dell considerably wider. It was after passing a picturesque cottage +and bridge, that the first view of Rievaulx Abbey broke upon us. It was +then that the first outline of its "Gothic grandeur" was displayed to +us. Crossing the little bridge of Rieval, we proceeded along the banks +of the Rye, which morosely rolled along, scarcely deigning to murmur its +complaints to the woody hills which skirted it, as if in pique for the +ruin of its sublime temple, and the disappearance of its monastic lords. +The village of Rieval, constructed out of the wreck of the spacious +abbey, displays some reverence for the preservation of inscriptions dug +out of the building; and the little windows which lit the cells of +studious monks five hundred years ago, now grace the cottages of +illiterate peasants. We took a facsimile of one inscription, in Saxon +letters, merely denoting the name of the monastery. + +The rustic beauty of the hamlet has been copiously eulogized by +antiquarians and provincial historians. The beautiful foliage of its +trees, varying in colour, appears like fleecy clouds of verdure, rising +one above the other, over which a still deeper shadow is cast by the +towering woods on each side of the valley; and in the midst of this +fairy region, as if conscious of its proud pre-eminence, rises the +sacred edifice, clothed in mourning of nature's deepest shade:[5] + + Oh! many an hour of ecstasy + I past within its fading towers; + When life, and love, and poesy, + Hung on my harp their sweetest flowers. + +To indulge a little in reverie--"how are the mighty fallen!"--Here was +once worshipped the virgin amidst the glittering pomp of monkish +solemnity; when burst the beams of morning through the tracery of yon +mighty window-- + + "Shorn of its glass of thousand colourings," + +and threw the glowing emblazonry of the tinted pane upon the Mosaic +pavement of the choir; while the loud and slowly-pealing matin +reverberated through the sumptuous church. Here was interred with +ceremony of waxen taper and mid-night requiem, the noble founder of this +dilapidated fane, Sir Walter L'Espec, beneath that wreck of pillar and +architrave and those carved remains of the chisel's achievement--he who +deemed that the sepulchre + + "Should canopy his bones till doomsday; + But all things have their end." + +The ruins of this religious house are more entire and superb than any +other in the kingdom. The nave of the church is wholly gone; but the +choir, one of its aisles, great part of the tower, and both the +transepts, still remain. The church, instead of being east and west, +approaches more to the direction of north and south; so that the choir +is at the south end, and the aisle which should have been north, is on +the east. Some have supposed this anomaly to be produced at the +rebuilding of the church; but Drake in his "Evenings in Autumn," thinks +it was in consequence of the disposition of the ground, which forms a +lofty mount on the east. Adjoining the ruins of the nave on the west, +are the remains of the cloisters, measuring one hundred feet each way. +On the opposite side stands a splendid building, extending in length +towards the west one hundred feet, and in breadth thirty; this structure +appears to have been the refectory, accompanied by a music gallery. +Parallel to this, and in a line with the transept, is another extensive +ruin, several feet longer than the refectory, and about the same +breadth, which was the dormitory; at the west end of which the walls are +ancient, and seem to be coeval with the original abbey.[6] The form and +ground plan of this building are the same with the abbey of Whitby; +though the latter is not so copious in its dimensions. Several members +of the noble families of Ross, Scroop, Maltbys, and Oryby, were interred +in the chapter-house and choir here. Aelred, the third abbot of +Rievaulx, was a man of great literary qualifications, and this abbey +possessed an extensive library, which was destroyed by the Scots, in one +of their lawless incursions--when the studious produce of the holy +brotherhood, assembled by years of incessant study was committed to the +reckless flames--and doubtless amongst the collection were many works of +the learned abbot Aelred; a character from whom we might suppose the +"northern magician" had sketched the striking portraiture of the +enthusiastic father Eustace, in his "Monastery." + +After inspecting this interesting edifice, we left its hallowed +precincts, and took the hilly path leading to a beautiful terrace, which +overlooks the vale; each end of which is decorated with two modern +temples, one in the Grecian and the other in the Roman style of +architecture. Here are some gaudy copies of the old masters, with some +originals, which adorn the centre and side compartments of the +ceiling--Guido's Aurora, (copy); Hero and Leander; Diana and Endymion; +Hercules and Omphale, &c,--the whole by the pencil of Bernini, an +Italian artist. From this terrace the view is enchanting; the distant +hills of barren Hambleton subsiding into the fruitful vale; and nearer, +fertile fields intersected with wood and mossy rocks; and immediately +beneath the eye, the pale and ivied ruin, mouldering over the dust of +heroes who fought at Cressy, and of noble pilgrims who died in the Holy +Land, and were conveyed to this far-famed sanctuary for interment-- + + "Which now lies naked to the injuries + Of stormy weather." + +Not far from this Elysium is the seat of Lord Feversham, (late Charles +S. Duncombe, Esq.) the owner of the estate, called Duncombe Park, where +is a piece of fine sculpture, called the Dog of Alcibiades, said to be +the work of Myron, and ranked among the five dogs of antiquity. Here is +also the famous Discobolus, which is esteemed the first statue in +England. Among the splendid collection of paintings is a candle-light +scene (woman and child) by Rubens, which cost 1,500 guineas. The mansion +was designed by Sir J. Vanbrugh. Leaving this bewitching retreat, we +proceeded down the sides of the woody mount; and after some tedious +inquiries respecting our road through this wild region, we were directed +to take a path through a sloping wood; but useless are all attempts to +describe our route through this wilderness. Sometimes our weary feet +were relieved from the rough stones and briars by an intervening lawn; +and at others we were entirely shrouded from "day's garish eye" by +entwining trees. Our rugged pilgrimage was rendered more endurable by +the anticipation of shortly seeing Byland abbey; but still my romantic +spirit was loitering in the pillared aisles of Rievaulx. By and by we +quitted the wood, and having descended a deep ravine, we climbed a +barren moor, over which we had proceeded half way, when to my +unutterable joy, we discovered the far-off fane of Rievaulx, whose wan +towers just peered from out of the hanging woods. Pursuing our way we +soon exchanged the trackless moor for a much more grateful domain. A +sloping wood on each side of us opened into a wider expanse, and the +turrets of Byland abbey appeared in the distance. At this moment we +forgot the toil of threading harassing woods and crossing wide heaths. +After refreshing ourselves we proceeded to view the ruin. + +Byland abbey was founded in 1177, by the famous Roger de Mowbray, who +amply endowed it, and was buried here. He retired hither after being +perplexed and fatigued with useless crusades, and suffering the +deprivation of nearly all his property by Henry II. Martin Stapylton, +Esq. the present proprietor of Byland, discovered from some ancient +manuscripts the precise situation in the ruin, where were deposited the +bones of the illustrious chieftain; and after removing these relics of +mortality which had been hid for six hundred years, he conveyed them in +his carriage to Myton, and interred them in the church-yard. The abbey +of Byland is memorable for having given concealment, (though not a +sanctuary!) to Edward II. who, when flying from his enemies in the +north, in 1322, took shelter here, and was surprised by them when at +dinner, narrowly escaping, by the swiftness of his horse, to York; and +leaving his money, plate, and privy seal, a booty to the savage and +exterminating Scots. Byland abbey has nearly disappeared; the only +perfect remains are the west end, a fine specimen of Saxon and Gothic, +and a small portion of the choir. The church, its transepts, north and +south aisles, and chancel, are gone; and the dormitory, refectory, +cloisters, &c. have scarcely left any trace of their gorgeous existence. +The lonely ash and sturdy briar vegetate over the ashes of barons and +prelates; and the unfeeling peasants intrude their rustic games on the +holy place, ignorant of its former importance, and unconscious of the +poetical feeling which its remains inspire. We quitted its interior to +inspect a gateway situated at a considerable distance from the principal +ruin, through which the abbey appears to great advantage about four +hundred yards beyond this arch. + + [5] For an interesting account of the founding and a view of + this abbey, see the MIRROR for Sept. 30, 1826. + + [6] Eastmead's "Historia Rievallensis." + + * * * * * + + +ON VIEWING THE RUINS OF BYLAND ABBEY THROUGH THE DETACHED GATEWAY ON THE +WEST. + + + Oh! beauteous picture! thou art ruin's theme, + And envious time the Gothic canvass sears. + Thy soft decay now almost wakes my tears, + And art thou mutable? or do I dream? + The transept moulders to its mound again; + The fluted window buries in its fall + The rainbow flooring of the fretted hall; + And long the altar on that earth has lain. + Now could I weep to see each mourning weed + So deeply dark around thy wasting brow; + If life and art are then so brief--I bow + With less of sorrow to what is decreed: + Ye faded cloisters--ye departing aisles! + Your day is past, and dim your glory smiles! + +Four miles from Byland is Coxwold, once the residence of the celebrated +Laurence Sterne, author of _Tristram Shandy_, &c. It is a beautiful and +romantic retreat, excelling the "laughing vine-clad hills of France," +which attracted the spirit of our English Rabelais to luxuriate amidst +them. Here we gained admittance to the little church, an interesting +edifice, noted for its sumptuous monuments to commemorate the +Fauconbridge and Belasyse families, and for its being the scene of +Sterne's curacy. A small barrel organ now graces its gallery, which +responded to the morning and evening service in Yorick's day. On prying +about the belfry we discovered an old helmet, with the gilding on it +still discernible, which we at first supposed to be intended as a +decoration to some tomb; but its weight and size precluded that +supposition. In the church of Coxwold, the moralist might amass tomes of +knowledge, and acquire the most forcible conviction of the fleeting +nature of earth and its possessors. On glancing around he would perceive +the heraldic honours of a most noble and ancient family now extinct--the +paltry remains of the splendid helmet, which had decked, perhaps, the +proud hero of feudal power, thrown into a degrading hole with the +sexton's spade, and the sacred rostrum where the eloquence of the second +Rabelais has astonished the village auditors, and perhaps led them to +doubt that such intellect was mutable, now filled by another! Our +curiosity was attracted, on leaving the church, to Shandy Hall, once the +residence of Sterne, situated at the termination of the village. Two +females, elegantly attired in mourning, were parading the garden; +immediately I saw them I thought of the beautiful Eliza; she to whom the +fickle Yorick swore eternal attachment, and then "lit up his heart at +the shrine of another," leaving Eliza to wonder-- + + "------that fresh features + Have such a charm for us poor human creatures." + +Perhaps in this edifice, Eugenius, (the witty Duke of Wharton,[7]) and +his boon companion, have sported their puns and repartees over the +glass; whilst the laughter-moving Sterne, pursuing the dictates of his +heart, has wet the dimpling cheek of Eugenius by some random effusion of +imagination and sensibility. What two noble spirits have there displayed +their intellectual brilliance; and what a gratification to have heard +the author of "The Monk at Calais," and "My uncle Toby," eliciting +smiles and tears by turns, till the delighted heart could scarcely +determine whether joy or sorrow caused the most exquisite feeling. + +But to conclude our peregrination--the glory of Hode, Rievaulx, and +Byland abbeys has departed--their founders, ecclesiastics and patrons, +have become dust--the crumbling arch and tottering pillar alone record +"the whereabouts" of the rendezvous of heroes and kings--and rooks +construct their dwellings where the silver crucifix once reared its +massy form, before crowds of adoring monks--the hoarse croak of the +raven is now heard through that valley where pealed the vesper bell; and +the melancholy music of the lonely river succeeds the solemn chant of +mass;--laugh and jest resound where monkish praise quivered through the +Gothic space--the helmet and coronet of blood and birth are fallen from +their wearers--and the genius and eccentricity of Sterne, and the wit of +Wharton, are for ever extinct: + + "And fortress, fane and wealthy peer + Along the tide of time are borne. + And feudal strife, with noble tears + Forgotten in the lapse of years." + + [7] Of Skelton Castle, author of "Crazy Tales," and of the + "Continuation of Sterne's Sentimental Journey." + +H. + + * * * * * + + +CROMLEH IN ANGLESEA. + + +[Illustration: Cromleh in Anglesea.] + +Cromlehs are among the most interesting of all monumental relics of our +ancestors; but the question of their original purposes has excited much +controversy among the lovers of antiquarian lore. They are immense +stones, by some believed to have been the altars, by others, the tombs, +of the Druids; but Mr. Toland explains the word _cromleac_, or +_cromleh_, from the Irish _crom_, to adore, and _leac_, a stone--stone +of adoration. Crom was also one of the Irish names of God; hence +cromleac may mean the stone of Crom, or of the Supreme God. The cromleac +is also called _Bothal_, from the Irish word _Both_, a house, and _al_, +or _Allah_, God; this is evidently the same with _Bethel_, or house of +God, of the Hebrews. + +The above vignette represents a Cromleh at Plas Newydd, the seat of the +Marquess of Anglesea, in the Isle of Anglesea. This part of the island +is finely wooded, and forcibly recalls to the mind its ancient state, +when it was the celebrated seat of the Druids, the terrific rites of +whose religion were performed in the gloom of the thickest groves. + +The Cromleh at Plas Newydd is 12 feet 9 inches long, and 13 feet 2 +inches broad, in the broadest part. Its greatest depth or thickness is 5 +feet. Its contents cannot be less in cubic feet and decimal parts than +392,878,125. It follows, therefore, from calculating according to the +specific gravity of stone of its kind, that it cannot weigh less than 30 +tons 7 hundreds. The engraving is copied from "The Celtic Druids," by +Godfrey Higgins, Esq. F.S.A. 4to, 1827, one of the most valuable +antiquarian volumes it has ever been our good fortune to secure; and by +the aid of an esteemed correspondent, we hope shortly to introduce a few +of its curiosities more in detail than we are enabled to do at present. + + * * * * * + + + +NOTES OF A READER. + +WOMAN AND SONG. + +(_From a graceful little volume, entitled, "Poetical Recreations," by +C.A. Hulbert._) + + + Oh, who shall say that woman's ear + Thrills to the minstrel's voice in vain? + She hath a balm diffusing tear, + She hath a softer, holier strain-- + A cheering smile of hope to give, + A voice to bid the mourner live. + + She hath a milder beam of praise, + Her heart a soil where Truth may bloom, + And while her drooping flowers we raise, + They yield us back a rich perfume. + Her influence bids our talents rise + 'Neath Love and Fancy's native skies! + + I heard an infant's lisping tongue + Address his mother's smiling eye, + And fondly ask his favourite song-- + His soul seemed wrapt in harmony; + She sung--and gave the cheering kiss, + Which made the poet's fortune his. + + His mother saw his fancies stray + To fragrant poesy, and leave + The dull pursuit of fortune's way, + 'Till some would chide and others grieve; + But she had marked the rising flame, + And led and nourish'd it to fame! + + When verse his mind to writing bore, + And genius shed its lustre there, + How proudly did she con it o'er, + Unconscious fell the blissful tear: + 'Twas her's to lighten care's control, + And raise the drooping, pensive soul. + + Her labour past, another breast, + Still lovely woman's, urged his pen-- + Pure love was sent to make him blest, + And bid his fancies flow again: + She yielded to his minstrel pride + The heart, the hand to lips denied! + + Quick roll'd the years in tranquil peace, + The peace by harmony begun. + And numbers charm'd each day of bliss, + That flowing verse and concord won: + His Mary's music soothed his woe, + And chased the tear that chanced to flow. + + Death came--and Poetry was o'er, + The chords of song had ceas'd to thrill, + The Minstrel's name was heard no more, + But one true heart was heaving still-- + His Mary's voice would nightly weave + Its lone, deep notes around his grave! + + * * * * * + + +CLAUDE LORRAINE. + + +Lanzi, in his _History of Italian Painting_, gives the following +exquisite encomium on this prince of landscape painters: + +"His landscapes present to the spectator an endless variety; so many +views of land and water, so many interesting objects, that, like an +astonished traveller, the eye is obliged to pause and measure the extent +of the prospect, and his distances of mountain and of sea, are so +illusive, that the spectator feels, as it were, fatigued by gazing. The +edifices and temples which so finely round off his compositions, the +lakes peopled with aquatic birds, the foliage diversified in conformity +to the different kinds of trees, all is nature in him; every object +arrests the attention of an amateur, every thing furnishes instruction +to a professor. There is not an effect of light, or a reflection in +water which he has not imitated; and the various changes of the day are +nowhere better represented than in Claude. In a word, he is truly the +painter who, in depicting the three regions of air, earth, and water, +has combined the whole universe. His atmosphere almost always bears the +impress of the sky at Rome, whose horizon is, from its situation, rosy, +dewy, and warm. He did not possess any peculiar merit in his figures, +which are insipid, and generally too much attenuated; hence he was +accustomed to remark to the purchasers of his pictures, that he sold +them the landscape, and presented them with the figures gratis." + + * * * * * + +"TINTORETTO," says his biographer, "produced works in which the most +captious of critics could not find a shade of defect." + + * * * * * + + +KISSING THE FOOT. + + +Rollo, the celebrated Danish hero, (whose stature is said to have been +so gigantic, that no horse could carry him) on becoming a feudatory of +the French crown, was required, in conformity with general usage, to +kiss the foot of his superior lord; but he refused to stoop to what he +considered so great a degradation; yet as the homage could not be +dispensed with, he ordered one of his warriors to perform it for him. +The latter, as proud as his chief, instead of stooping to the royal +foot, raised it so high, that the poor monarch fell to the ground, amid +the laughter of the assembly. + + * * * * * + + +BOHEMIAN BLESSING. + + + Now sleep in blessedness--till morn + Brings its sweet light; + And hear the awful voice of God + Bid ye--Good Night! + Yet ere the hand of slumber close + The eye of care, + For the poor huntsman's soul's repose + Pour out one prayer. + + * * * * * + + +REVIEWING. + + +There are three ways of reviewing a book. First, to take no more notice +of it, or of its author, than if neither the one nor the other had ever +been produced--cautiously to avoid the most distant allusions to their +names, characters, or professions, thereby avoiding all personality, in +their case at least, all intrusion, either into public or private life. +Secondly, to select all the good passages, and to comment upon them with +such power and vivacity, that beside your pearls they seem paste. +Thirdly, to select all the best passages, and to string them all +together on a very slight thread--like dew-drops on gossamer--and boldly +palm it upon the public as an original article.--_Blackwood's Mag_. + + * * * * * + + +MOTTOES FOR SUN DIALS. + +_By the Rev. W. Lisle Bowles_. + + + MORNING SUN.--_Tempus volat_. + OH! early passenger, look up--be wise, + And think how, night and day, TIME ONWARD + FLIES. + + NOON.--_Dum tempus habemus, operemur bonum_. + Life steals away--this hour, oh man, is lent thee, + Patient to "WORK THE WORK OF HIM WHO SENT + THEE." + + SETTING SUN.--_Redibo, tu nunquam_. + Haste, traveller, the sun is sinking now-- + He shall return again--but never thou. + + * * * * * + + +THE PINE-APPLE. + + +Oviedo extols the pine-apple above all the fruits which grew in the +famous gardens of his time, and above all that he had tasted in his +travels in Spain, France, England, Germany, the whole of Italy, Sicily, +the Tyrol, and the whole of the Low Countries. "No fruit," says he, +"have I known or seen in all these parts, nor do I think that in the +world there is one better than it, or equal to it, in all those points +which I shall now mention, and which are, beauty of appearance, +sweetness of smell, taste of excellent savour; so that there being three +senses out of the five which can be gratified by fruit, such is its +excellence above all other fruits or dainties in the world, that it +gratifies those three, and even the fourth also; to wit the touch. As +for the fifth, that is to say, the hearing, fruit, indeed, can neither +hear nor listen, but in its place the reader may hear and attend to what +is said of this fruit, and he will perceive that I do not deceive myself +in what I shall say of it. For albeit fruit can as little be said to +possess any of the other four senses, in relation to the which I have, +as above, spoken, of these I am to be understood in the exercise and +person of him who eats, not of the fruit itself, which hath no life, +save the vegetative one, and wants both the sensitive and rational, all +three of which exist in man. And he, looking at these pines, and +smelling to them, and tasting them, and feeling them, will justly, +considering these four parts or particularities, attribute to it the +principality above all other fruits." + + * * * * * + + +STONE-MASON'S CRITICISM + + +Mr. Bowles, the vicar of Bremhill, Wilts, is accustomed occasionally to +write epitaphs for the young and aged dead among his own parishioners. +An epitaph of his, on an aged father and mother, written in the +character of a most exemplary son--the father living to eighty-seven +years--ran thus:-- + + "My father--my poor mother--both are gone, + And o'er your cold remains I place this stone, + In memory of your virtues. May it tell + How _long one_ parent lived, and _both_ how well," + &c. + +When this was shown to the stone-mason critic, (and Mr. Bowles +acknowledges he has heard worse public critics in his time,) he +observed, that the lines _might_ do with a _little_ alteration--thus:-- + + "My father, and my mother too, are dead, + And here I _put_ this grave-stone at their head; + My father lived to eighty-seven, my mother + No quite _so long_--and _one_ died after _t'other_." + + * * * * * + + +PLEASURES OF HISTORY. + + +The effect of historical reading is analogous, in many respects to that +produced by foreign travel. The student, like the tourist, is +transported into a new state of society. He sees new fashions. He hears +new modes of expression. His mind enlarged by contemplating the wide +diversities of laws, of morals, of manners. But men may travel far, and +return with minds as contracted as if they had never retired from their +own market-towns. In the same manner, men may know the dates of many +battles, and the genealogies of many noble houses, and yet be no wiser. +Most people look at past times, as princes look at foreign countries. +More than one illustrious stranger has landed on our island amidst the +shouts of a mob, has dined with the king, has hunted with the master of +the stag-hounds, has seen the guards reviewed, and a Knight of the +Garter installed; has cantered along Regent-street; has visited St. +Paul's, and noted down its dimensions, and has then departed, thinking +that he has seen England. He has, in fact, seen a few public buildings, +public men, and public ceremonies. But of the vast and complex system of +society, of the fine shades of national character, of the practical +operation of government and laws, he knows nothing.--_Edin. Rev._ + + * * * * * + + +CHARMS OF SAVAGE LIFE. + + +It is remarkable that whites or creoles do not always avail themselves +of opportunities to return to civilized society. There seem to be +pleasures in savage life, which those who have once tasted, seldom wish +to exchange for the charms of more polished intercourse. For example, a +creole boy was carried off at the age of 13; at 26 he returned to Buenos +Ayres, on some speculation of barter. He said that whoever had lived +upon horse-flesh would never eat beef, unless driven by necessity or +hunger; he described the flesh of a colt to be the most deliciously +flavoured of all viands. This man, having transacted the business which +led him to Buenos Ayres, returned voluntarily to his native haunts, and +is probably living amongst the Indians to this day.--_Mem. Gen. Miller_. + + * * * * * + + +PATRONS OF ASTRONOMY. + + +The Emperor of Russia has presented to the Observatory of Dorpat, a +magnificent telescope by Franenhofer, with a focal length of 13 feet, +and an aperture of 9 inches; the cost was £1,300. The king of Bavaria +followed his example by ordering a still finer instrument for the same +purpose; and the king of France, with a liberality still more patriotic, +has had executed in his own capital, an achromatic telescope, surpassing +them all in magnitude and power. What a misfortune it is to English +science, that the name of the most accomplished prince who has as yet +occupied the throne of Charles I. does not appear in the list of +sovereigns, who have been thus rivalling each other in the patronage of +astronomy! What a mortification to English feeling, that the subject of +sidereal astronomy created by the munificence of George III. should thus +be transferred to the patronage of foreign monarchs. A slight exception +must be made in the case of Edinburgh. During the King's visit, the +observatory had permission to take the name of the _Royal Observatory of +George IV._; and it has received from government £2,000. to purchase +instruments.--_Quarterly Rev_. + + * * * * * + + + +SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS + +DINNERS. + + +A Family Dinner! Pot-luck, as it is called, in Scotland--when the man's +wife is in the sulks, the wife's man proportionably savage, the children +blear-eyed from the recent blubber in the nursery--the governess afraid +to lift her eyes from her plate--the aunt sourer than the vinegar +cruet--and we--alas! the stranger, stepping in to take pot-luck--we, +poor old Christopher North, thanklessly volunteering to help the +cock-y-leekie, that otherwise would continue to smoke and steam +unstirred in its truly classical utensil! What looking of inutterable +things! As impossible to break the silence with your tongue, as to break +pond-ice ten inches thick with your knuckle. In comes the cock that made +the cock-y-leekie, boiled down in his tough antiquity to a tatter. He +disappears among the progeny, and you are now tied to the steak. You +find there employment sufficient to justify any silence; and hope during +mastication that you have not committed any crime since Christmas, of an +enormity too great to be expiated by condemnation to the sulks. + +A Literary Dinner! apparently the remains of the Seven Young Men +sprinkled along both sides of the table--with here and there "a +three-times skimmed sky-blue" interposed; on each side of the Lord of +the Mansion, a philosopher--on each hand of the lady, a poet--somewhere +or other about the board, a Theatrical Star--a Strange Fiddler--an +Outlandish Traveller--and a Spanish Refugee. As Mr. Wordsworth rather +naughtily sayeth, + + "All silent, and all damn'd!" + +Still the roof does not fall, although the chandelier burns dim in +sympathy, + + "And all the air a solemn stillness holds." + +Will not a single soul in all this wide world, as he hopes to be saved, +utter so much as one solitary syllable? Oh! what would not the lady and +the gentleman of the house give even for a remark on the weather from +the mouth of poet, philosopher, sage, or hero! Hermetically sealed! Lo! +the author of the very five-guinea quarto, that lay open, in +complimentary exposure, at a plate, up stairs on the drawing-room +table--with his round unmeaning face "breathing tranquillity"--sound +asleep! With eyes fixed on the ceiling, sits at his side the profound +Parent of a Treatise on the Sinking Fund. The absent gentleman, who has +kept stroking his chin for the last half hour, as if considering how he +is off for soap,--would you believe it,--has just returned from abroad, +and has long been justly celebrated for his conversational talents in +all the coteries and courts of Europe. If that lank-and-leather-jawed +gentleman, with complexion bespeaking a temperament dry and adust, and +who has long been sedulously occupied in feeling the edge of his +fruit-knife with the ball of his thumb--do not commit suicide before +September,--Lavater must have been as great a goose as Gall. You might +not only hear a mouse stirring--a pin dropping--but either event would +rouse the whole company like a peal of thunder. You may have seen Madame +Toussaud's images,--Napoleon, Wellington, Scott, Canning, all sitting +together, in full fig, with faces and figures in opposite directions, +each looking as like himself as possible, so that you could almost +believe you heard them speak. You get rather angry--you wonder that they +don't speak. Even so with those living images. But the exhibition is +over--the ladies leave the room--and after another hour of silence, more +profound than that of the grave, all the images simultaneously rise up +and--no wonder people believe in ghosts--disappear. + +A Return Dinner! Thirty people of all sorts and sizes, jammed--glued +together--shoulder to shoulder--knee to knee--all with their elbows in +each other's stomachs--most faces as red as fire, in spite of all those +floods of perspiration--two landed gentlemen from the Highlands--a +professor--four officers, naval and military, in his Majesty's and in +the Company's service--some advocates--two persons like +ministers--abundance of W.S.'s of course--an accoucheur--old ladies with +extraordinary things upon their heads, and grey hair dressed in a mode +fashionable before the flood--a few fat mothers of promising +families--some eldest daughters now nubile--a female of no particular +age, with a beard--two widows, the one buxom and blooming, with man-fond +eyes, the other pale and pensive, with long, dark eye-lashes, and lids +closed as if to hide a tear--there they all sit steaming through three +courses--well does the right hand of the one know what the left hand of +the other is doing--there is much suffering, mingled with much +enjoyment--for though hot, they are hungry--while all idea of speaking +having been, from the commencement of the feast, unanimously +abandoned--you might imagine yourself at an anniversary GAUDEAMUS of the +Deaf and Dumb.--_Blackwood's Mag._ + + * * * * * + + +THE SCOLD. + +IMITATED FROM BERNI. + + + To dine on devils without drinking, + To want a seat when almost sinking, + To pay to-day--receive to-morrow, + To sit at feasts in silent sorrow, + To sweat in winter--in the boot + To feel the gravel cut one's foot, + Or a cursed flea within the stocking + Chase up and down--are very shocking: + With one hand dirty, one hand clean, + Or with one slipper to be seen: + To be detain'd when most in hurry, + Might put Griselda in a flurry;-- + But these, and every other bore, + If to the list you add a score, + Are not so bad, upon my life, + As that one scourge--a scolding wife! + +_New Monthly Magazine_. + + * * * * * + + + +SELECT BIOGRAPHY + +LEDYARD THE TRAVELLER. + +_Concluded from page 113_. + + +Ledyard was one of the marines who were present at Cook's death, of +which he gives an account (as appears from extracts of his journal +already mentioned,) somewhat different from that in the authentic +narrative of the voyage--and different, also, we must add, from his own +private journal, which, at least the portion of it relating to that +event, is still in the Admiralty. It must be mentioned in favour of +Ledyard's sagacity, that the visit to Nootka Sound suggested to him the +commercial advantages to be derived from a trade between the north-west +coast of America and China; and the views which he took of this subject +very much influenced the succeeding events of his life. + +Towards the end of December, 1782, we find Ledyard serving on board a +king's ship in Long Island Sound, from which he obtained leave of +absence to visit his mother; but, either from a sense of duty and +honour, which obliged him not to act with the enemies of his country, or +from a dislike of the service, he never returned. He had conceived, and +now began to endeavour to execute, the grand project of a trading voyage +to Nootka; for this purpose he went to New York and Philadelphia, and, +after addressing himself to various individuals, he prevailed at last on +the Honourable Robert Morris to promise him a ship. The projected +voyage, however, was ultimately abandoned. + +Finding, nevertheless, that they all failed him, and heartily sick of +the want of enterprise among his own countrymen, he resolved to try his +fortune in Europe. He visited Cadiz, from thence took a passage to +Brest, and from Brest to L'Orient, where he was successful in prevailing +on some merchants to fit out a ship for his north-west adventure; but +this project also failed, and Ledyard became once more the sport of +accident. + +He now proceeded to Paris, where he was received with great kindness by +Mr. Jefferson, the American minister, who so highly approved of his +favourite scheme of an expedition to the north-west coast, that, we are +told by his biographer, the journey of Lewis and Clarke, twenty years +afterwards, had its origin in the views which Jefferson received from +Ledyard. Here, also, he met with the notorious Paul Jones, who was +looking after the proceeds of the prizes which he had taken and carried +into the ports of France. This adventurer entered warmly into his views, +and undertook to fit out two vessels for the expedition. It was settled +that Jones was to command the vessels, and carry the furs to the China +market, while Ledyard was to remain behind and collect a fresh cargo +ready for their return, after which he meant to perambulate the +continent of America, and show his countrymen the path to unbounded +wealth. Jones, it seems, was so much taken with the plausibility of a +scheme, which presented at once the prospect of adventure, fame, and +profit, that he advanced money to Ledyard to purchase a part of the +cargo for the outfit; but, being suddenly called away to L'Orient, to +look after his prize concerns, his zeal for this grand scheme began to +cool, and, in a few months, the whole fabric fell to the ground. + +Ledyard now felt himself a sort of wandering vagabond, without +employment, motive, or means of support; the supplies he had received +from Jones had ceased, and he was compelled to become a pensioner on the +bounty of the American minister and a few friends. It would appear, +however, from some lively letters written by him at Paris, that his flow +of spirits did not forsake him. + +"The two Fitzhughs," he says, "dine with me to-day in my chamber, +together with our worthy consul, Barclay, and that lump of universality, +colonel Franks. But such a set of moneyless rascals have never appeared, +since the epoch of the happy villain Falstaff. I have but five French +crowns in the world; Franks has not a sol; and the Fitzhughs cannot get +their tobacco money. Every day of my life," he continues, "is a day of +expectation, and, consequently, a day of disappointment; whether I shall +have a morsel of bread to eat at the end of two months, is as much an +uncertainty as it was fourteen months ago, and not more so." + +While in this state of penury he received a visit, the object of which +was so creditable to a gentleman still living, and not unknown in the +annals of science, that it gives us pleasure to print the story in +Ledyard's own words:-- + +"Permit me to relate to you an incident. About a fortnight ago, Sir +James Hall,[8] an English gentleman, on his way from Paris to Cherbourg, +stopped his coach at our door, and came up to my chamber. I was in bed +at six o'clock in the morning, but having flung on my _robe de chambre_, +I met him at the door of the ante-chamber. I was glad to see him, but +surprised. He observed, that he had endeavoured to make up his opinion +of me, with as much exactness as possible, and concluded that no kind of +visit whatever would surprise me. I could do no otherwise than remark, +that his _opinion_ surprised me at least, and the conversation took +another turn. In walking across the chamber, he laughingly put his hand +on a six livre piece, and a louis d'or that lay on my table, and with a +half stifled blush, asked me how I was in the money way. Blushes +commonly beget blushes, and I blushed partly because he did, and partly +on other accounts. 'If fifteen guineas,' said he, interrupting the +answer he had demanded, 'will be of any service to you, there they are,' +and he put them on the table. 'I am a traveller myself, and though I +have some fortune to support my travels, yet I have been so situated as +to want money, which you ought not to do. You have my address in +London.' He then wished me a good morning and left me. This gentleman +was a total stranger to the situation of my finances, and one that I +had, by mere accident, met at an ordinary in Paris." + +Ledyard observes, that he had no more idea of receiving money from this +gentleman than from Tippoo Saib. "However," he says, "I took it without +any hesitation, and told him, I would be as complaisant to him if ever +occasion offered." + +His schemes for a north-west voyage, either for trade or discovery, +being now wholly abandoned, he set about planning, as the only remaining +expedient, a journey by land through the northern regions of Europe and +Asia, then to cross Behring's Straits to the continent of America, to +proceed down the coast to a more southern latitude, and to cross the +whole of that continent from the western to the eastern shore. The +empress of Russia was applied to for her permission and protection, but +while waiting for her answer Ledyard received an invitation to London +from his eccentric friend, Sir James Hall. He found, on his arrival +there, that an English ship was in complete readiness to sail for the +Pacific Ocean, in which Sir James had procured him a free passage, and +to be put on shore at any spot he might choose on the north-west coast. +The amiable baronet, moreover, presented him with twenty guineas, as +Ledyard says, _pro bono publico_, and with which he tells us, "he bought +two great dogs, an Indian pipe, and a hatchet." In a few days the vessel +went down the Thames from Deptford, and Ledyard thought it the happiest +moment of his life; but such is the uncertainty of human expectations, +while he was indulging in day-dreams of the fame and honour which +awaited him, he was once more doomed to suffer the agonies of a +disappointment to his hopes, the more severe, as being so near their +consummation--the vessel was seized by a custom-house officer, brought +back, and exchequered. + +This was undoubtedly the most severe blow he had yet received; but +Ledyard never desponded--no sooner was one of his castles demolished, +than he set about building another. "I shall make the tour of the +globe," he says, "from London eastward, on foot." To aid him in this +object, a subscription was raised by Sir Joseph Banks, Sir James Hall, +and some others. By this means he arrived at Hamburgh; whence he writes +to colonel Smith:--"Here I am with ten guineas exactly, and in perfect +health. One of my dogs is no more: I lost him in my passage up the river +Elbe, in a snow storm: I was out in it forty hours in an open boat." + +At the tavern he went to, he learnt that a Major Langhorn, an American +officer, "a very good kind of a man," as his host described him, "and an +odd kind of a man, one who had travelled much, and fond of travelling in +his own way," had left his baggage behind, which was sent after him to +Copenhagen, but that, by some accident, it had never reached him. He had +left Hamburgh, the host told him, with one spare shirt, and very few +other articles of clothing, and added, that he must necessarily be in +distress. This man, thought Ledyard to himself, is just suited to be the +companion of my travels. The sympathy was irresistible; besides, he +might be in want of money; this was an appeal to his generosity, which +was equally irresistible to one who, like Ledyard, had ten guineas in +his pocket. "I will fly to him and lay my little all at his feet: he is +my countryman, a gentleman, and a traveller, and Copenhagen is not much +out of my way to Petersburgh," and, accordingly, in the month of +January, 1787, after a long and tedious journey, in the middle of +winter, through Sweden and Finland, we find him in Copenhagen, having +discovered Langhorn shut up in his room, without being able to stir +abroad for want of money and decent clothing. After remaining a +fortnight, he made a proposal to the Major to accompany him to St. +Petersburgh. "No: I esteem you, but no man on earth shall travel with me +the way I do," was the abrupt refusal to the man who had gone out of the +way several hundred miles to relieve his wants, and given him his last +shilling. + +The visit being ended, and the amicable partnership dissolved, it became +necessary for our traveller to think of raising the supplies for a +journey round the Gulf of Bothnia, which was now rendered impassable, +the distance being not less than twelve hundred miles, chiefly over +trackless snows, in regions thinly peopled, the nights long, and the +cold intense; and, after all, gaining only, in the direct route, about +fifty miles. A Mr. Thompson accepted his bill on Colonel Smith, for a +sum which, he says, "has saved me from perdition, and will enable me to +reach Petersburgh." This journey he accomplished within seven weeks; but +he writes to Mr. Jefferson, "I cannot tell you by what means I came, and +hardly know by what means I shall quit it." Through the influence of +Professor Pallas, but more especially by the assistance of a Russian +officer, he obtained the passport of the empress, then on her route to +the Crimea, in fifteen days. His long and dreary journey having +exhausted his money, and worn out his clothes, he drew on Sir Joseph +Banks for twenty guineas, which that munificent patron of science and +enterprise did not hesitate to pay. + +Fortunately, a Scotch physician, of the name of Brown, was proceeding in +the service of the empress as far as the province of Kolyvan, who +offered him a seat in his kabitka, and thus assisted him on his journey +for more than three thousand miles. Having reached Irkutsk, he remained +there about ten days, and left it in company with lieutenant Laxman, a +Swedish officer, to embark on the Lena, at a point one hundred and fifty +miles distant from Irkutsk, with the intention of floating down its +current to Yakutsk. On his arrival at this place, he waited on the +commandant, told him he wished to press forward, with all expedition, to +Okotsk before the winter should shut in, that he might secure an early +passage in the spring to the American continent. The commandant assured +him that such a journey was already impossible; that the +governor-general, from whom he had brought letters, ordered him to show +all possible kindness and service, "and the first and best service," +said he, "is to beseech you not to attempt to reach Okotsk this winter." +Ledyard still persisting to proceed, a trader was brought in, who, in +like manner, declared the journey utterly impracticable. + +While thus detained for the winter at Yakutsk, he drew up some very just +observations on the Tartars, which were afterwards published. + +He had not remained long at Yakutsk, when Captain Billings returned from +the Kolyma. This officer had attended the astronomer Bayley, as his +assistant, on the last voyage of Cook, and was, of course, well known to +Ledyard. Being on his journey to Irkutsk, he invited Ledyard to +accompany him thither. They travelled in sledges up the Lena, and +reached Irkutsk in seventeen days, being a distance of fifteen hundred +miles. Scarcely, however, had he arrived at this place when he was put +under arrest, by an order from the empress. He now experienced no more +of that concern for his welfare on the part of the commandant, and even +Billings kept away from him. All he could learn was, that he was +considered as a French spy, which Billings could at once have +contradicted. His state of suspense was very short, as, on the same day, +he was sent off in a kabitka, with two guards, one on each side. + +In this manner was our traveller conveyed to the frontiers of Poland, a +distance of six thousand versts, in six weeks. "Thank heaven," says he, +as he approached Poland, "petticoats appear, and the glimmerings of +other features. Women are the sure harbingers of an alteration in +manners, in approaching a country where their influence is felt." He has +bestowed, indeed, a beautiful and touching tribute to the excellence of +the female character, not more beautiful than just, which cannot be too +often recorded in print. + +On setting our traveller down in Poland, the soldiers who had guarded +him, gave him to understand that he might then go where he pleased; but +that, if he again returned to the dominions of the empress, he would +certainly be hanged. It did not appear for some time what the real cause +was of this proceeding; but there is every reason to believe it arose +out of the jealousy of the North-west Russian Fur Company, whose +head-quarters were at Irkutsk, and that their influence at Petersburgh +had procured from the empress the annulment of her previous order, +together with the present inhuman mandate. Ledyard, however, knew +nothing of this; and, having neither relish nor motive for making the +experiment a second time, he took the shortest route to Konigsberg, +where he found himself destitute, without friends or means, his hopes +blasted, and his health enfeebled. In this forlorn condition, he +bethought himself once more of the benevolence of Sir Joseph Banks, and +had the good luck to raise five guineas, by a draft on his old +benefactor, with which he reached London. Here he was kindly received by +Sir Joseph Banks, who gave him an introduction to Mr. Beaufoy, the +secretary of a newly-formed association for promoting discoveries in +Africa. + +"Before," says Mr. Beaufoy, "I had learnt from the note the name and +business of my visitor, I was struck with the manliness of his person, +the breadth of his chest, the openness of his countenance and the +inquietude of his eye. I spread the map of Africa before him, and +tracing a line from Cairo to Sennaar, and from thence westward in the +latitude and supposed direction of the Niger, I told him, that was the +route, by which I was anxious that Africa might, if possible, be +explored. He said, he should think himself singularly fortunate to be +trusted with the adventure. I asked him when he would set out. +'To-morrow morning,' was his answer. I told him I was afraid that we +should not be able, in so short a time, to prepare his instructions, and +to procure for him the letters that were requisite; but that if the +committee should approve of his proposal, all expedition should be +used." + +In a few weeks all was ready for his departure. The plan was, to proceed +up the Nile as far as Sennaar or the Babr-el-Abiad, and from thence to +strike across the African continent to the coast of the Atlantic. + +His letters from Cairo are full of interest. Of the Nile itself he +speaks contemptuously, says it resembles the Connecticut in size, or may +be compared with the Thames. + +After some delay, the day is fixed on which the caravan is to leave +Cairo. He writes to his friends and to the African Association in great +spirits; talks of cutting the continent across, and raises the +expectations of his employers to a high pitch;--the very next letters +from Cairo brought the melancholy intelligence of his death. It seems he +was seized with a bilious complaint, for which he administered a strong +solution of vitriolic acid, so powerful as to produce violent and +burning pains, that threatened to be fatal unless immediate relief could +be procured, which was attempted to be got by a powerful dose of tartar +emetic. His death happened about the end of December, 1788, in the +thirty-eighth year of his age. + +Thus perished, in the vigour of manhood, the first victim, in modern +times, to African discovery. Too many, alas! have since shared the same +fate in pursuit of the same object; which, so far from deterring, seems +only to stimulate others, and produce fresh candidates for fame to tread +the same perilous path.--_Quarterly Review--Article "Ledyard's +Travels."_ + + [8] Sir James Hall of Douglass, Bart., the father of Captain + Basil Hall, R.N., and, till lately, President of the Royal + Society of Edinburgh. + + * * * * * + + + +THE GATHERER. + + + "A snapper-up of unconsidered trifles." + + SHAKSPEARE. + + * * * * * + + +LARGE BONNETS. + +(_For the Mirror_.) + + +The immense large bonnets which decorate the ladies of the present day +are truly "_over the borders_," and seem to keep pace with the "_march +of intellect_." A garden seems to bloom on their exterior, and roses and +lilies vie with each other above and below, for underneath the living +roses flourish on the cheeks of the fair. Perhaps in a few years small +bonnets will usurp the day, for + + "Extremes produce extremes, extremes avoid, + Extremes without extremes are not enjoyed." + +Some years ago, when straw bonnets were all the rage, the following +_pithy_ lines were composed by M. P. Andrewes, Esq.:-- + + "Some ladies' heads appear like stubble fields; + Who now of threaten'd famine dare complain, + When every female forehead teems with grain? + See how the _wheat-sheaves_ nod amid the plumes! + Our barns are now transferr'd to drawing-rooms, + And husbands who indulge in active lives, + To fill their _granaries_ may _thrash their wives_." + +P.T.W. + +Our facetious correspondent does not notice the _golden oats_; but +doubtless he recollects the anecdote of the horse mistaking a lady's hat +with a tuft of oats for a moving manger stocked with his natural +provender.--ED. + + * * * * * + +_Printed and Published by J. LIMBIRD, 143, Strand, London; sold by +ERNEST FLEISCHER, 626, New Market, Leipsic, and by all Newsmen and +booksellers._ + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, +and Instruction, by Various + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 11267 *** |