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diff --git a/11864-0.txt b/11864-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..584445b --- /dev/null +++ b/11864-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1552 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 11864 *** + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustrations. + See 11864-h.htm or 11864-h.zip: + (http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/1/1/8/6/11864/11864-h/11864-h.htm) + or + (http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/1/1/8/6/11864/11864-h.zip) + + + + +THE MIRROR OF LITERATURE, AMUSEMENT, AND INSTRUCTION. + +Vol. 20, No. 570.] SATURDAY, OCTOBER 13, 1832. [PRICE 2d. + + + + * * * * * + + + + +THE ISLE OF WIGHT. + +[Illustration: (Wilkes's Cottage.)] + +NOTES FROM A PEDESTRIAN EXCURSION IN THE ISLAND. + +By a Correspondent. + + +Although the roads of the island have within the last twenty years +been rendered passable for vehicles of all kinds, even to stage +coaches, yet by far the best mode of inspecting this English Arcadia +is to travel through it on foot, commencing at Ryde. + +From this town a footpath leads across the park and grounds of St. +John's into the high road which may be followed to Brading. About a +mile from that place is Nunwell, the seat of Sir W. Oglander; and +opposite is a delightful view of Bembridge (the birthplace of Madame +de Feuchares) and Brading Harbour, which at high water presents to the +eye a rich, deep, green colour, with an increased effect from being +surveyed through the long line of tall elms on the road side. Brading +boasts of a mayor and corporation, and formerly sent a member to +parliament, which privilege was abolished by Queen Elizabeth. The town +is of high antiquity, as is also the church, which tradition says was +the first built in the island. It contains few monuments of interest +or note, but the surrounding burial-ground can boast of a collection +of epitaphs and inscriptions which are above mediocrity. The following +to the memory of Miss Barry by the Rev. Mr. Gill has been rendered +celebrated by the admirable music of Dr. Calcott: + + Forgive, blest shade, the tributary tear, + That mourns thy exit from a world like this; + Forgive the wish that would have kept thee here, + And stayed thy progress to the realms of bliss. + No more confined to grov'ling scenes of night-- + No more a tenant pent in mortal clay; + Now should we rather hail thy glorious flight, + And trace thy journey to the realms of day. + +On a rising ground at the end of the town is the Mall; at the entrance +of which the earth reverberates to the tread of horses' feet in a +manner similar to that produced by riding over a bridge or hollow. It +is most probably occasioned by a natural cleft in the chalk beneath +the gravel road. Here the tourist should rest to enjoy a scene of +unrivalled beauty. On the left, below the road, lies the town of +Brading, and more remote, St. Helen's Road, and the opposite coasts of +Portsmouth and Southsea. In front, at the foot of the hill, are the +rich levels, with the sinuous river Yar slowly winding towards the +harbour, with the full broad front of Bembridge Down interrupting the +marine view, which is again presented on the right from the village of +Sandown to the extremity of Shanklin. At the foot of Brading Hill the +road divides itself into two branches. The one to the right leads +direct to Shanklin, over Morton Common: the other to the left lies +through Yarbridge to Yaverland and Sandown. We recommend the latter, +as the farm-house and church at Yaverland are worthy of notice. The +former is a fine capacious stone building, of the time of James I., +containing some well executed specimens of carved oak. The church is +annexed to the house, and has a curious semicircular doorway. Culver +Cliffs, about a mile and a half from Yaverland, may be approached by a +footpath across the fields, which will also lead to Hermit's Hole, a +cavern of great depth in the side of the cliff. These cliffs were much +celebrated for a choice breed of falcons, which were esteemed so +highly by Queen Elizabeth, that she procured the birds regularly from +the Culver Cliffs, and they were trained with much care for her +majesty's own use. On the shore beneath, but more towards Sandown, +near what is called the Red Cliff, (from the colour of the soil,) many +fossil remains have been lately discovered; some of animals of a +gigantic size. + +Sandown Fort is the next object in the road to Shanklin. "It commands +the bay from which it derives its name, and is a low, square building +flanked by four bastions, and encompassed by a ditch. A small garrison +is kept in it. This fort commands the only part of the coast of the +island where an enemy could land. A castle was built near this by +Henry VIII., and its establishment in that monarch's reign was, a +captain, at 4s. per day; an under captain, at 2s.; thirteen soldiers, +at 6d. per day each; one porter, at 8d.; one master gunner, at 8d.; +and seven other gunners, at 6d. per day. Fee 363l. 6s. 8d. It was +erected to defend the only accessible place of debarkation on the +coast from the hostile visits the island had in this and the preceding +reign been so often subjected to; but, from the encroachments of the +sea, it was deemed necessary, in the time of Charles I. to remove the +old structure, and with the materials to construct the present +building. The arms of Richard Weston, Earl of Portland, are carved in +the panels of the chimney-piece in the drawing-room, with the +supporters, and collar of the Garter, and implements of war."[1] + + [1] From Sheridan's _Guide to the Isle of Wight_--one of the + best books of the kind that has lately fallen under our + notice. + +About half a mile from the Fort is Sandown Cottage, formerly the +elegant retreat of the celebrated John Wilkes, the chief star in the +political horizon, during the administration of the Earl of Bute. The +cottage is situated as the Engraving shows, near the shore of Sandown +Bay, which extends about six miles, the eastern extremity being +terminated by the chalky cliffs of Culver, and the south-western by +the craggy rocks of the mountainous part of Dunnose. The house is +small, and has been elegantly fitted up; in the gardens were some +detached and pleasant apartments, constructed with floorcloth of +Kensington manufacture. But the labours of Wilkes's retirement have +been swept away, and there is scarcely a relic + + Where once the garden smiled. + +Shanklin may be approached by the sea shore at low water or by Lake +and Hillyards, if the high road be preferred. At this delightful +village seem assembled all the charms of rural scenery, hill, wood, +valley, corn field and water; aided by the wide extended ocean, +reaching to the eastern horizon, with the majestic white cliffs of +Culver at the extremity of the bay on the left, and the long range of +cliffs of every hue and colour gradually declining in height as the +eye glances along to the cottages of Sandown, and then again +imperceptibly rising to their highest point of elevation. + +The situation of the village of Shanklin is as romantic as any of the +lovers of nature can desire. The salubrity of the atmosphere and the +proximity of the village to the sea may account for the extraordinary +growth of the myrtle-tree, which attains here an astonishing height. +Virgil tells us this plant is best cultivated on the sea side; but +every maritime situation is not congenial, unless a protection is +afforded from the cold northerly winds. + +The chief attraction of Shanklin is the Chine. This is a natural +fissure or cleft in the earth, running from the village to the sea in +a circuitous direction and increasing in width and depth as it +approaches the shore. It was most probably formed by the long +continued running of a stream of water from the adjoining hills; this +now forms a cascade at the commencement of the path which has been +formed in the side to facilitate strangers in exploring their way +through the rocks and underwood. But the admirers of sublime nature +will mourn the ruthless devastation that has thus been made, +ostensibly for the public benefit, to serve private interest. In the +Chine is a chalybeate spring, highly impregnated with iron and alum, +and of course beneficial in cases of debility and nervous affections. + +C.R.S. + + * * * * * + + +LINES TO ----. + + + Life's earliest sweets are wasted, + And time impatient flies; + The flowers of youth are blasted, + Their lingering beauty dies. + Yet my bosom owns a pleasure, + That no icy breath can chill;-- + 'Tis thy friendship, dearest treasure, + For my hopes are with thee still. + + Though mine eye, by sorrow shaded, + Drops the solitary tear, + O'er remember'd joys, now faded, + To young love and rapture dear. + E'en the retrospective feeling, + Leaves a momentary thrill; + All the wounds of sorrow healing, + For my hopes are with thee still. + + Though I've bid adieu to pleasure, + With her giddy, fleeting train; + And her song of joyous measure, + I may never raise again. + Yet the chilling gloom of sadness, + Waving o'er me, brooding ill, + Emits one ray of gladness, + For my hopes are with thee still. + + When the reckless world is sleeping, + And the star of eve shines gay; + While the night winds softly creeping + O'er the waters, die away; + When the moonbeams softly playing, + Silver o'er the glistening rill; + 'Tis to thee my thoughts are straying, + For my hopes are with thee still. + + When the fragrant breath of morning + Wanders o'er the silent dews; + And flowers the vale adorning, + Do their balmy sweets diffuse. + When the orb of day appearing, + From behind the distant hill, + Gilds the landscape bright and cheering, + E'en my hopes are with thee still. + +_Leeds._ + +J.B. WALKER. + + * * * * * + + +ANTIQUITY OF MALT LIQUOR. + + +Malt liquor appears to have had its origin in the attention paid by an +eastern sovereign to the comfort and health of his soldiers; as we are +informed by the historian Xenophon, that "the virtuous Cyrus" having +observed the good effects that water in which parched barley had been +steeped, produced, exhorted and commanded his troops to drink this +liquor; the historian entitled it "_Maza_." It is highly probable that +Cyrus adopted this drink to counteract the ill effects of impure and +foul water (which had done lasting injury to other warriors of his +time), which is so common in warm, sunny climates; as Pliny informs +us, that if water be impure or corrupted, by putting fried barley into +it, in less than two hours, it will be pure and sweet; that its bad +effects will have evaporated, and that it then may be drunk with +perfect safety; he further adds that, this is the reason why we are in +the habit of "putting barley-meal into the 'wine-strainers' through +which we pass our wines, that they may be refined, purified, and drawn +the sooner." The information conveyed to our readers by Pliny, may be +made of great practical use and benefit by mariners, to whom sweet +water is such a desideratum; and is as important to those who traverse +the arid deserts of Africa, where sweet water is so seldom found. + +That the ancients used the "juice of the grape," and that almost as a +common drink, has never been doubted by the most cursory reader of +history; the knowledge of this liquor being nearly coeval with the +first formation of society. In the Book of Genesis we read that Noah +after the flood planted a vineyard, "_manufactured_" wine, and got +intoxicated with this "nectar fit for gods." Beer can likewise boast +of as great antiquity. Its use was not unknown by the Egyptians; as we +are informed by Herodotus that the people of Egypt made use of _a kind +of wine_ made from dried barley, because no vines grew in that +country. According to Tacitus, in his time beer was the common drink +of the Germans, who drank it in preference to that more stimulating +(if not more nutritious) liquor, wine. We are also informed by Pliny, +that it was made and was in common use amongst the Gauls, and by many +of their neighbours. The name he gave to this drink was "_cerevisia_" +which evidently alludes to the article from which it was composed. +Although these nations held this liquor in such estimation, there has +been no record to inform us of their mode of preparing it. + +Ale was introduced into our country centuries ago, by our Saxon +ancestors, and it was not long ere it became the favourite and common +drink of all classes of society. Their habit of drinking it out of +skulls, at their feasts, is well known to the reader of romance. It +was then, as it is now, commonly sold at houses of entertainment to +the people. After the Norman Conquest, the vine was very extensively +planted in England, but was drunk alone, as a chronicle of that time +says, "by the wise and the learned;" the people did not lose their +relish for the beverage of their forefathers, and wine was never held +in much respect by them. Hops had hitherto not been used in the +composition of beer; but about the fifteenth century they were +introduced by the brewers of the Netherlands with great success; from +them we adopted the practice, and they came into general use about two +centuries afterwards. Some historians have affirmed that Henry VI. +forbade the planting of hops; but it is certain that "bluff King Hal" +ordered brewers to put neither hops _nor sulphur_ into their ale. The +taste of the nation in the reign of Henry VI. seems to have changed, +as we find in the records of that time that extensive "privileges" +(_monopolies_ these _enlightened_ times would have called them) were +annexed to hop-grounds. In the reign of James I. the produce of +hop-grounds were insufficient for the consumption, and a law was made +against the introduction of "spoilt hops." Walter Blithe, in his +_Improver Improved_, published in 1649, (3rd edit. 1653) has a chapter +upon improvements by plantations of hops, which has this striking +passage. He observes that "hops were then grown to be a national +commodity; but that it was not many years since the famous city of +London petitioned the Parliament of England against two nuisances; and +these were, Newcastle coals, in regard to their stench, &c., and hops, +in regard they would _spoyl the taste of drink_, and endanger the +people: and, had the Parliament been no wiser than they, we had in a +measure pined, and in a great measure starved; which is just +answerable to the principles of those men who cry down all devices, or +ingenious discoveries, as projects, and therefore stifle and choak +improvements." According to a late writer, in the year 1830, there +were 46,727 acres occupied in the cultivation of hops in Great Britain +alone. + +Thirty millions of bushels of barley are annually converted into malt +by the breweries of Great Britain; and upwards of eight millions of +barrels of beer (of which more than four-fifths are strong) are brewed +annually. This enormous consumption attests the fondness of the people +for the beverage of their forefathers. + +E.J.H. + + * * * * * + + +A PERSIAN FABLE. + +_Imitated from the Latin of Sir W. Jones._ + + + Whoe'er his merit under-rates, + The worth which he disclaims, creates. + It chanc'd a single drop of rain + Slip'd from a cloud into the main: + Abash'd, dispirited, amaz'd, + At last her small, still voice she rais'd: + "Where, and what am I?--Woe is me! + What a mere drop in such a sea!" + An oyster, yawning where she fell, + Entrap'd the vagrant in his shell; + And there concocted in a trice, + Into an orient pearl of price. + Such is the best and brightest gem, + In Britain's royal diadem.[2] + +E.B.J. + + [2] See page 330. + + * * * * * + + + +FINE ARTS. + + * * * * * + + +HOSPITAL OF ST. CROSS, HANTS. + +(_Concluded from page 219._) + + +_Interior of the Church._ + +Dr. Milner considers the entire fabric as the work of Bishop de Blois, +with the exception of the front and upper story of the west end, which +are of a later date, and seem to have been altered to their present +form about the time of Wykeham. The vaulting of this part was +evidently made by the second founder, Beaufort, whose arms, together +with those of Wykeham, and of the Hospital, are seen in the centre +orbs of it: that at the east end, by the Saxon ornaments with which it +is charged, bespeaks the workmanship of the first founder, De Blois. +"The building before us," Dr. Milner further observes, "seems to be a +collection of architectural essays, with respect to the disposition +and form, both of the essential parts and of the subordinate +ornaments. Here we find the ponderous Saxon pillar, of the same +dimensions in its circumference as in its length, which, however +supports an incipient pointed arch. The windows and arches are some of +them short, with semicircular heads; and some of them immoderately +long, and terminating like a lance; others are of the horse-shoe form, +of which the entry into the north porch is the most curious +specimen:[3] in one place, (on the east side of the south transept,) +we have a curious triangular arch. The capitals and bases of the +columns vary alternately in their form, as well as in their ornaments: +the same circumstance is observable in the ribs of the arches, +especially in the north and south aisles, some of them being plain, +others profusely embellished, and in different styles, even within the +same arch. Here we view almost every kind of Saxon and Norman +ornaments, the chevron, the billet, the hatched, the pillet, the fret, +the indented, the nebulé, and the wavey, all superbly executed."[4] + + [3] The writer of the paper in _The Crypt_, already referred + to, observes that the above arch is not what he + understands by _horse-shoe_: "it is, in fact, one of those + short, wide doorways, used both early and late, the + proportions of which we know not how to describe better + than as the earliest pointed arch curtailed of about + one-half its usual height betwixt the base and capital. + The entrance to St. John's House, Winton, is a good + example." + + [4] Milner's Winchester, vol. ii. p. 149. + +The lower part of the Nave, as we have already seen, is the most +ancient, and allowed to be the work of De Blois. A portion is included +within the choir by throwing back a high wooden screen, within which +reclines the full-length figure, in brass, of John de Campden, the +friend of Wykeham, who appointed him master of the Hospital. "The +arches which separate the nave from its aisles are pointed; but the +columns are of enormous compass, their circumference being equal to +their height; the capitals are varied, the bases square, and three out +of the four decorated at the angles with huge bosses of flowers. The +roof is simple, with the arms of Beaufort, Wykeham, and others, at the +intersections of the ribs, which spring from corbel heads." The great +western window consists of four parts; on each side are two lights +terminating in a distinct arch; in the centre, one light of larger +dimensions; and over these, a Catherine wheel composed of three +triangles. The whole is filled with painted glass, a small portion of +which is ancient; the remainder was presented in 1788, by Dr. Lockman, +the late master. Dr. Milner terms it curious: but the critic of _The +Crypt_ refers to it as "an exemplification of how much trash and +vulgarity in the art can be crowded into a certain compass."[5] +Beneath this window stands a double doorway, surmounted by a small +quatrefoil window of like colours, enclosed within a pointed arch. The +exterior view of this portal is very fine, and Messrs. Brayley and +Britton place it next to the east end, (which is hardly of later date +than 1135,) in gradation of style, and refer to it as "an elegant +specimen of the time of King John, or the early part of the reign of +Henry the Third."[6] Dr. Milner describes this portal as "one of the +first specimens of a canopy over a pointed arch, which afterwards +became so important a member in this style of architecture:" he also +refers to the window above it as "one of the earliest specimens of a +great west window, before transoms, and ramified mullions, were +introduced; and therefore the western end of the church must have been +altered to receive this and the door beneath it, about the beginning +of the thirteenth century, the eastern extremity of the church being +left, as it still continues, in its original state. There is a plain +canopy, without any appearance of a pediment over the arch of this +window, like that over the portal."[7] + + [5] We should imagine _The Crypt_ Correspondent to be no + enthusiastic admirer of ancient painted glass, unless of + the first order of execution. It must be confessed that + some ancient specimens have been immoderately over-rated, + and the olden art has altogether been enveloped in such + mystery as to cause _modern_ attempts to be unfairly + estimated. + + [6] Beauties of England, vol. vi. p. 111. + + [7] Essays on Gothic Architecture, 1802, p. 144, 148. + +"In the North Aisle, a little to the left as you enter from the porch, +stands a very ancient granite font, perhaps of Saxon workmanship; the +basin is round, but the exterior form is square, and, although mounted +on mean stone, still maintains its station upon a raised space of +Saxon brick; a circumstance worthy of remark, as the original +situation of the font has of late occasioned some little controversy. +It is also curious, that the walls on the south side should be far +less massive than those on the north, though both unquestionably of +the same aera. The windows in each aisle are, for the most part, +circular, and each is decorated occasionally with Norman capitals and +groinings."[8] The aisles, on each side, are much lower than the body +of the nave, and in the north aisle is a cinquefoil arch, with Gothic +canopy and crockets, resting on short columns of Purbeck stone, over +an elegant altar tomb. A modern inscription assigns it to "Petrus de +Sancta Maria, 1295." + + [8] _The Crypt_, No. vii. p. 168. + +The transepts display a variety of arches and windows, of irregular +arrangement, both round and pointed. Some of those in the south seem +to have opened into chancels or recesses, and some probably were mere +cupboards: but in the north wall of the opposite transept are two +arches communicating with the _sick chambers_ of the Hospital, by +opening which "the patients, as they lay in their beds, might attend +to the divine services going forward." Both these transepts are +profusely enriched with embattled and other mouldings. One window on +the east side of each has been so contrived as to throw the light in a +sloping direction into the body of the church, instead of reflecting +it directly, and to less purpose, on the opposite wall; that in the +north retains a portion of its painted glass, but the corresponding +one in the south has been blocked up. + +We have already spoken of the aisles attached to the sides of the +choir, and their beautiful embellishments. Each is decorated with +three circular-headed windows, and exhibits a few traces of its +ancient altars. That towards the north contains a very curious +piscina, fixed upon a pillar, and with small holes pierced round a +raised centre, precisely resembling a modern sink. There are likewise +the remains of several pedestals, on which images may be supposed to +have once stood. + +"The choir extends, according to modern arrangement, beyond the tower +into the nave itself. The tower rises very nobly upon four slender +columns, terminating in pointed arches but with Norman capitals. The +lantern is lighted by four lancet windows on each side, the two centre +ones not being open. The oaken roof is plain, and supported by very +large beam-heads. Eastward from this point, the vaultings of the roof +are square, with broad, simple groinings. Beneath, are two ranges of +windows, running quite round the chancel, and decorated with an +amazing variety of mouldings. Those below form the grand +characteristic of this venerable pile, being likewise _circular; but +so intersecting one another as to form perfect and beautiful pointed +arches_." This then is the hypothesis of Dr. Milner towards the +settlement of the controverted origin of the _pointed_ or _English_ +style of architecture. It is, probably, the most reasonable of all +solutions. Sir Christopher Wren's account of a Saracenic origin was +vague and unsupported; and Warburton's deduction from groves and +interlacing boughs, though ingeniously illustrated by the late Sir +James Hall, has more prettiness than probability. Dr. Milner's +"intersecting hypothesis," as it is technically termed, is brief and +simple: "De Blois," he says, "having resolved to ornament the whole +sanctuary of his church with intersecting semicircles, conceived the +idea of opening them, by way of windows, which at once produced a +series of highly-pointed arches." Hence arose the seeming paradox, +that "the intersection of two circular arches in the church of St. +Cross, produced Salisbury steeple." Conclusive as this hypothesis may +appear, it has been much controverted, and among its opponents have +been men of great practical knowledge in architecture. Messrs. Brayley +and Britton observe "though the specimens referred to by Dr. Milner +may not entirely warrant the above supposition, yet they clearly mark +the gradation by which the Saxon and Norman styles of architecture +were abandoned, for the more enriched and beautiful order that has +conferred so much celebrity on the ecclesiastical architects of this +country."[9] The clever writer in _The Crypt_ remarks "the history of +the science appears so easy and natural according to Dr. Milner's +hypothesis, and so many difficulties must be softened down, so many +discordances reconciled, according to any other, as to go a very great +way towards establishing the credibility of his idea. Here then is a +complete history of an invention, for which every quarter of the globe +has been ransacked. And, be it remembered, that the pointed arch did +not first display itself in those magnificent proportions, which would +have accompanied it from the beginning, if brought over from foreign +climes in its full perfection; but exactly in that want of proportion, +which was the natural result of the intersection."[10] + + [9] Beauties of England, vol. vi. p 110. + + [10] The specimens at St. Cross were considered by Dr. Milner + to be the earliest instances of the experiment, but the + Abbey of Clugny, and several other edifices have disputed + its claim to priority.--_The Crypt_, No. 8. + +To return to the choir. On each side of the altar is curious and +elegant Gothic spire-work; and traces may be seen of ancient stone +work, all that now remains of the high altar. The wooden altar-screen +is described as "execrable enough"; but sixteen stalls in the choir, +which are referred to the time of Henry VII., are ingeniously +ornamented with "carved figures of illustrious scripture +personages."[11] + + [11] These have been engraved by Mr. Carter, for his Specimens + of Ancient Sculpture, together with the Brass in memory + of John de Campden, &c. + +The pavement throughout the church is still chiefly composed of glazed +tiles, "called and supposed to be Roman; though upon some of them we +clearly see the hatched and other Saxon ornaments," and upon others +the monosyllables HAVE MYNDE (_Remember_) in the black letter +characters used in the fifteenth century. There are passages running +round each story, and communicating with the tower; but, "with all its +magnificence, the general aspect of the interior is sadly disfigured +by a thick coating of yellow ochre." (_The Crypt._) + +Such is the venerable pile of St. Cross, surrounded by some of the +finest scenery in the county. Our Correspondent _P.Q._ earnestly +observes "it was in and near this hospital that he was educated; in +its noble church he was a chorister, and his feelings of veneration +for the whole establishment, dedicated to the highest of Christian +virtues, will never be effaced." Would that every heart beamed with so +amiable a sense of gratitude. Reverting to the ancient purposes of the +foundation it is to be feared they are not realized with the poet's +prediction: that + + Lasting charity's more ample sway, + Nor bound by time, nor subject to decay, + In happy triumph shall for ever live.--PRIOR. + + * * * * * + + + +THE NATURALIST. + + * * * * * + + +THE PEARL IN THE OYSTER. + + +Cowper eloquently says + + There is glory in the grass, and splendour in the flower; + +and the imagery might have been extended to the irridescent pearl +within the rudely-formed shell of the oyster. Poets have feigned that +pearls are + + Rain from the sky, + Which turns into pearls as it falls in the sea; + +we need scarcely add that science has exploded this imaginative +fertility. + +Pearl is, in fact, a calcareous secretion by the fish of bivalve +shells; and principally by such as inhabit shells of foliated +structure, as sea and fresh water muscles, oysters, &c. A pearl +consists of carbonate of lime, in the form of nacre, and animal matter +arranged in concentric layers around a nucleus; the solution +indicating no trace of any phosphate of lime. To this lamellar +structure the irridescence is to be ascribed. Each layer is _presumed_ +to be annual; so that a pearl must be of slow growth, and those of +large size can only be found in full-grown oysters. The finest and +largest are produced from the Meleagrina margaratifera, (_Lamarck_,) a +native of the sea, and of various coasts. A considerable number are +likewise taken from the Unio margaratifera, which inhabits the rivers +of Europe; and, it is singular, as remarked by Humboldt, that though +several species of this genus abound in the rivers of South America, +no pearls are ever found in them. The pearls are situated in the body +of the oyster, or they lie loose between it and the shell; or, lastly, +they are fixed to the latter by a kind of neck; and it is said they do +not appear until the animal has reached its fourth year. + +Naturalists have much disputed the formation of pearls. Mr. Gray +justly observes they are merely the internal nacred coat of the shell, +which has been forced, by some extraneous cause, to assume a spherical +form. Lister, on the other hand, states "a distemper in the creature +produces them," and compares them with calculi in the kidneys of man. +But, as observed by a more recent inquirer,[12] "though they are +accidental formations, and, of course, not always to be found in the +shellfish which are known usually to contain them, still they are the +products of a regular secretion, applied, however, in an unusual way, +either to avert harm or allay irritation. That, in many instances they +are formed by the oyster, to protect itself against aggression, is +evident; for, with a plug of this nacred and solid material it shuts +out worms and other intruders which have perforated the softer shell, +and are intent on making prey of the hapless inmate: and it was +apparently the knowledge of this fact that suggested to Linnaeus his +method of producing pearls at pleasure, by puncturing the shell with a +pointed wire. But this explanation accounts only for the origin of +such pearls as are attached to the shell; while the best and greatest +number, and, indeed, the only ones which can be strung, have no such +attachment, and are formed in the body of the animal itself. 'The +small and middling pearls,' says Sir Alexander Johnston, 'are formed +in the thickest part of the flesh of the oyster, near the union of the +two shells; the large pearls almost loose in that part called the +beard.' Now, these may be the effect merely of an excess in the supply +of calcareous matter, of which the oyster wishes to get rid; or, they +may be formed by an effusion of pearl, to cover some irritating and +extraneous body." The reality of the latter theory is strengthened, if +not proved by the Chinese forcing the swan muscle to make pearls by +throwing into its shell, when open, five or six minute mother-of-pearl +beads, which, being left for a year, are found covered with a crust +perfectly resembling the real pearl. Such is one method of getting +artificial pearls. The extraneous body which naturally serves for the +nucleus, appears to be very often, or, as Sir E. Home says, always, a +blighted ovum or egg. This theory which, however, is here but partly +explained, has been fully adopted by Sir E. Home:--"if," says the +enthusiastic baronet, "I shall prove that this, the richest jewel in a +monarch's crown, which cannot be imitated by any art of man, either in +the beauty of its form or the brilliancy and lustre produced by a +central illuminated cell, is the abortive egg of an oyster enveloped +in its own nacre, of which it receives annually a layer of increase +during the life of the animal, who will not be struck with wonder and +astonishment?" And, we must add, that the proofs are very much in +favour of this conclusion. + + [12] The writer of An Introduction to the Natural History of + Molluscous Animals, in a Series of Letters: one of the + most delightful contributions to the _Magazine of Natural + History_, since the establishment of that valuable + journal. + + * * * * * + + + +ROMAN TOMBS. + + +"Tombs," observes the clever author of _Rome in the Nineteenth +Century_, "formed a far more prominent feature in ancient communities +than in ours. They were not crowded into obscure churchyards, or +hidden in invisible vaults, but were sedulously spread abroad in the +most conspicuous places, and by the sides of the public ways." Hence +we may add, the "_Siste Viator_" (traveller, stop!) so common upon +tombs to this day. But why are not tombs placed by the roadside in our +times? "It would seem," says the writer just quoted, "as if these +mementos of mortality were not so painful or so saddening to Pagans as +to Christians; and, that death, when believed to be final dissolution, +was not so awful or revolting as when known to be the passage to +immortality. I pretend not to explain the paradox, I only state it; +and, certain it is, that every image connected with human dissolution, +seems now more fearful to the imagination, and is far more sedulously +shunned, than it ever was in times when the light of Christianity had +not dawned upon the world."[13] + + [13] Rome in the Nineteenth Century, vol. ii. letter 36. + +The _high-ways_ do not, however, appear to have been the earliest +sites of tombs. According to Fosbroke, "the veneration with which the +ancients viewed their places of sepulture, seems to have formed the +foundation upon which they raised their boundless mythology; and, as +is supposed, with some probability, introduced the belief in national +and tutelary gods, as well as the practice of worshipping them through +the medium of statues; for the places where their heroes were +interred, when ascertained, were held especially sacred, and +frequently a temple erected over their body, hallowed the spot. It was +thus that the bodies of their fathers, _buried at the entrance of the +house_, consecrated the vestibule to their memory, and gave birth to a +host of local deities, who were supposed to hold that part of the +dwelling under their peculiar protection. Removed from the +dwelling-houses to the highways, the tombs of the departed were still +viewed as objects of the highest veneration."[14] + + [14] Encyclopaedia of Antiquities, p. 64. + +Our readers may remember that the ancient Romans never permitted the +dead to be buried within the city,[15] a practice well worthy the +imitation of its modern inhabitants. One of the Laws of the Twelve +Tables was + + Hominem mortuum in urbe ne sepelito, neve urito, + +(neither bury nor burn a dead body in the city.) But this law must be +understood with this limitation, that the Senate occasionally granted +exemption from it, to distinguished individuals, though so rarely, +that a tomb within the walls of Rome seems to have been considered a +reward of the most pre-eminent virtue. + + [15] See an Interesting Inquiry on Burying in Vaults, by an + esteemed Correspondent, since deceased--in vol. xv. of + _The Mirror_. + +The tombs of the Romans were characterized by their impressive +grandeur. The Roman satirists, Juvenal and Horace, censure the pomp +and splendour of the tombs, particularly those on the Via Appia. "On +that 'Queen of Ways,' and way to the Queen of Cities, were crowded the +proud sepulchres of the most distinguished Romans: and their +mouldering remains still attest their ancient grandeur." Again, "those +who have traced the long line of the Appian Way, between its ruined +and blackening sepulchres, or stood in the Street of Tombs that leads +to the Gate of Pompeii, and gazed on the sculptured magnificence of +these marble dwellings of the dead, must have felt their solemnity, +and admired their splendour."[16] + + [16] Rome, &c., vol. ii. + +Antiquarian writers have carefully classified the Roman tombs. We +have, however, only space to remark generally, that the sepulchres +were either square, circular, or pyramidal buildings, and with one +entrance only, which was invariably on the side farthest from the +public road. They usually consisted of a vault in which the urns and +sarcophagi were deposited, and a chamber above, in which the statues +or effigies of the dead were placed, and the libations and obsequies +performed. These sepulchres were usually places of family interment, +but sometimes they were solitary tombs. Of the latter description is +the _Tomb of Caecilia Metella_, which is generally acknowledged to be +the most beautiful sepulchral monument in the world. It consists of a +round tower formed of immense blocks of Tiburtine stone, fixed +together without cement, and adorned with a Doric marble frieze, on +which are sculptured rams' heads festooned with garlands of flowers. +"That they are rams' heads, must be evident to any one who will take +the trouble to examine them, though they are usually denominated the +heads of oxen, because the tomb itself is vulgarly called Capo di +Bove. But this name is obviously derived from an ox's head, (the arms +of the Gaetani family, by whom it was converted into a fortress,) +which was affixed many centuries ago on the side of the tower next the +Appian Way, and still remains there; and, accordingly, the vulgar name +is Capo di Bove, 'the head of the ox,' in the singular--not in the +plural." + +[Illustration: (_Tomb of Caecilia Metella_.)] + +Forsyth refers to this tomb as the only one of the ancient structures +that bears the name of its tenant; this does not appear to be correct. +The beautiful tower rests upon a square basement, which has been +despoiled of its exterior coating by Popes and other purloiners, but +the greatest part of it is buried beneath the soil. The wall of the +tower itself, the interior of which is entirely built of brick, is 20 +feet at least in thickness. The sepulchral vault was below the present +level of the earth, and it was not until the time of Paul III. that it +was opened, when the beautiful marble sarcophagus of Caecilia Metella, +now in the Palazzo Farnese, was found in it. A golden urn, containing +the ashes, is said to have been discovered at the same time. That +Caecilia Metella, for whose dust this magnificent monument was raised, +was the daughter of Metellus, and the wife of Crassus, is all we know. +"Her husband, who was the richest and meanest of the Romans, had +himself no grave. He perished miserably with a Roman army in the +deserts of the East, in that unsuccessful expedition against the +Parthians which has stamped his memory with incapacity and shame."[17] +The rude battlements on the top of the tower, and all the old walls +and fortifications which surround it, are the work of the Gaetani +family, who long maintained their feudal warfare here. Forsyth +observes:--"Crassus built this tomb of travertine stone 24 feet thick, +to secure the bones of a single woman; while the adjoining castle had +but a thin wall of soft tufo to defend all the Gaetani from the fury +of civil war." Eustace says: "The solidity and simplicity of this +monument are worthy of the republican era in which it was erected, and +have enabled it to resist and survive the lapse and incidents of two +thousand years."[18] + + [17] Rome, &c., vol. ii. + + [18] Classical Tour, vol. i., p. 407. + +Next is the grey pyramidal Tomb of Caius Cestius, in the fields called +_Prati del Popolo Romano_, on the western side of the Aventine Hill. +This ancient monument remains entire, an advantage which it owes +partly to its form, well calculated to resist the action of the +weather, and partly to its situation, as it is joined to the walls of +the city, and forms part of the fortification. Its base is about 90 +feet square, and it rises, according to Eustace, about 120 feet in +height. It is formed, or at least encrusted, with large blocks of +white marble; a door in the base opens into a gallery terminating in a +small room, ornamented with paintings on the stucco, in regular +compartments. In this chamber of the dead, once stood a sarcophagus +that contained the remains of Cestius. "At the base of the pyramid +stand two marble columns, which were found beneath the ground, and +re-erected by some of the popes. One foot, which is all that remains +of the colossal statue in bronze of Caius Cestius, that formerly stood +before his tomb, is now in the Museum of the Capitol."[19] + + [19] Rome, &c., vol. ii.--From the monument we learn that he + was the contemporary of Caesar and Augustus, but his name + does not appear in the annals, or the literature of that + eventful and enlightened period; of his wealth, and of + his pride, this magnificent tomb is a sufficient record: + but of his merits or his virtues, no trace remains. The + inscription only tells us he was one of the seven + Epulones, whose office was to furnish and to eat the + sacred banquets offered to Jupiter and the Gods. + +The situation of this tomb is one of melancholy picturesqueness. The +meadows in which it stands are planted with mulberry-trees. They were, +as implied by their name, formerly a resort of the Roman people in +hours of gladness: they are no longer devoted to the enjoyment of the +living, but to the repose of the dead; "bright and beautiful in the +first days of the year was the verdure that covered the meadows of the +Roman people."[20] They are now the burial-place of Protestants, and +consequently, of foreigners only: by far the greatest part of the +strangers interred here are English. + + [20] Rome, &c., vol. ii. + +[Illustration: (_Tomb of Caius Cestius_.)] + +Time has changed the colour and defaced the polish of the marble +pyramid. The grey lichen has crept over it, and wild evergreens hang +from its crevices. But, what it has lost in splendour it has gained in +picturesque beauty; and there are few remains of antiquity within the +bounds of the Eternal City, that the eye rests upon with such +unwearying admiration as this grey pyramid. + +Lastly is the reputed _Tomb of the Horatii and Curatii_. + +Its identity has been much controverted, and the Cut shows it to be a +ruinous pile capped with luxuriant foliage. It will, nevertheless, +serve to illustrate the stupendous character of the ancient Roman +tombs. + +[Illustration: (_Tomb of the Horatii and Curatii_.)] + +The theatre of the celebrated combat between the Horatii and Curatii +lies about five miles from the city of Rome. Several tombs stand on +the side of the hillock that borders these fields, but no one in +particular is _there_ pointed out as belonging to the unhappy +champions. The monuments, however, existed in Livy's time, and Eustace +supposes that "as their forms and materials were probably very plain +and very solid, they must have remained for many ages after, and may +be some of the many mounds that still stand in clusters about the very +place where they fell." This explanation will not, however, refer to +the above engraving, as the buildings in the distance will show. + + * * * * * + + + +NEW BOOKS. + + * * * * * + + +BOYHOOD AND EDUCATION OF JAMES THE FIRST. + +(_From Lives of Scottish Worthies_, vol. 2.) + + +[James I. king of Scotland was born in 1394. In 1405, he was sent by +his father, Robert III., to France to escape the danger to which he +was exposed by the ambition of his uncle, but being taken by an +English squadron, he and his whole suite were carried prisoners to the +Tower of London. Here he received an excellent education from Henry +IV. of England, who placed him under the care of Sir John de Pelham, +constable of Pevensey Castle, to which the youthful and royal captive +was conducted. Pelham was a man of note, both as a statesman and a +warrior, and on all occasions, Henry appears to have manifested for +him a high esteem and consideration. The youthful portrait of James is +thus drawn by Mr. Tytler in the above-named work.] + +He had just reached the age of eleven years, when the young candidate +for knighthood was usually taken out of the hands of the women to whom +his infancy and extreme boyhood had been intrusted and when it was +thought proper for him to commence his education in earnest. It was at +this age that the parents selected some veteran and able soldier of +noble family, under whose roof their son was placed, and in whose +castle, commencing his services in the capacity of a page, he received +his instruction in the exercises and accomplishments befitting his +condition. Thus Edward the Black Prince delivered his young son +Richard, afterwards Richard II., to Sir Guiscard d'Angle as his +military tutor; esteeming him one of the most experienced and +distinguished knights in his service. We read also that Henry IV. +intrusted the education of his son Henry, afterwards the great Henry +V., to Sir Thomas Percy, a brave and veteran warrior, afterwards Earl +of Worcester; and on the same principle the English king, although, +for reasons of state, he determined to retain the King of Scotland in +his own hands, generously selected for him a military governor, whose +character was a guarantee for his being brought up in a manner +suitable to his royal rank. + +It was soon seen that the pupil was not unworthy of the master. In all +athletic and manly exercises, in the use of his weapons, in his skill +in horsemanship, his speed in running, his strength and dexterity as a +wrestler, his firm and fair aim as a jouster and tourneyer, the young +king is allowed by all contemporary writers to have arrived at a pitch +of excellence which left most of the competitors of his own age behind +him; and, as he advanced to maturity, his figure, although not so tall +as to be majestic or imposing, was, from its make, peculiarly adapted +for excellence in such accomplishments. His chest was broad and full, +his arms somewhat long and muscular, his flanks thin and spare, and +his limbs beautifully formed; so as to combine elegance and lightness +with strength. In throwing the hammer, and propelling, or, to use the +Scottish phrase, "putting" the stone, and in skill in archery, we have +the testimony of an ancient chronicler, that none in his own dominions +could surpass him; so that the constable of Pevensey appears to have +done ample justice to his youthful charge. + +But this formed only one division of his education. To skill in these +warlike exercises, every youthful candidate for honour and for +knighthood was expected to unite a variety of more pacific and elegant +accomplishments, which were intended to render him a delightful +companion in the hall, as the others were calculated to make him a +formidable enemy in the field. The science of music, both instrumental +and vocal; the composition and recitation of ballads, roundelays, and +other minor pieces of poetry; an acquaintance with the romances and +the writings of the popular poets of the times; were all essential +branches in the system of education which was then adopted in the +castle of every feudal chief; and from Pelham, who had himself been +brought up as the squire of the Duke of Lancaster, we may be confident +that the Scottish king received every advantage which could be +conferred by skilful instructors, and by the most ample opportunities +of cultivation and improvement. Such lessons and exhibitions, however, +might have been thrown away upon many; but James had been born with +those natural capacities which fitted him to excel in them. He +possessed a fine and correct musical ear; a voice which was rich, +flexible, and sufficiently powerful for chamber music; and an +enthusiastic delight in the art, which, unless controlled by strong +good sense, and a feeling of the higher destinies to which he was +called, might have led to a dangerous devotion to it. The peril of +such over-cultivation of this fascinating art does not appear to have +been so common in those days as in our own. The brave and accomplished +military leader, Sir John Chandos, sang sweetly, and solaced his +master, Edward III., on a voyage, by his ballads; the same veteran +soldier did not think himself demeaned by introducing a new German +dance into England; and the Count de Foix frequently requested his +secretaries, in the intervals of severer occupation to recreate +themselves by chanting songs and roundelays.[21] + + [21] Archaeologia, vol. xx. p. 59. + +Cut off for a long and tedious period from his crown and his people, +James could afford to spend many hours in each tedious day of his +captivity in the cultivation of accomplishments to which, under other +circumstances, it would have been criminal to have given up so much of +his time. And this will easily account for that high musical +excellence to which he undoubtedly attained, and will explain the +great variety of instruments upon which he performed. Besides, to use +the words of a learned and amusing writer, it is well known that +"music constituted a part of the quadrivium, a branch of their system +of education, and it was more or less cultivated by persons of all +conditions;"--churchmen studied it by profession; and the students at +the Inns of Court learned singing and all kinds of music. Richard II. +understood something of the practical part of it; for, on the day of +his departure for Ireland, he assisted at divine service; with the +canons of St. George, and chanted a collect. An old annalist, +enumerating the qualifications of Henry IV., describes him as of +shining talents in music [_in musica micans_]; whilst Stow says of +Henry V., "he delighted in songs, meeters, and musical instruments."[22] +These examples appear amply sufficient to defend King James from any +imputation of over-refinement or effeminacy in the cultivation of an +art which was the favourite amusement of such monarchs as Henry IV. +and his illustrious son. + + [22] Ibid pp. 60, 61. + +But during the leisure which was afforded by his tedious captivity, it +is certain that James applied himself to severer studies than either +his military exercises or his cultivation of music. He was acquainted +with the Latin language, as far, at least, as was permitted by the +rude and barbarous condition in which it existed previous to the +revival of letters. In theology, oratory, and grammar, in the civil +and the canon laws, he was instructed by the best masters; and an +acquaintance with Norman French was necessarily acquired at a court, +and amongst a people, where it was still currently spoken, and highly +cultivated. Devoted, however, as he was to these pursuits, James +appears to have given his mind with a still stronger bias to the study +of English poetry, choosing Chaucer and Gower for his masters in the +art, and entering with the utmost ardour into the great object of the +first of these illustrious men,--the improvement of the English +language, the production of easy and natural rhymes, and the +refinement of poetical numbers, from the rude compositions which had +preceded him.[23] In the concluding stanza of the King's Quair, a work +composed by the Scottish King shortly before his return to his +kingdom, he apostrophizes Gower and Chaucer as his dear masters, who +sat upon the highest steps of rhetoric, and whose genius as poets, +orators, and moralists, entitled them to receive the most exalted +honour. + + [23] Ellis's Specimens, vol. i. p. 205. + + Unto the hymis of my maisteris dere, + Gowere and Chaucere, that on steppis satt + Of rhetorick, quhill thai war lyvand here, + Superlative as poets laureate, + In moralitee and eloquence ornate, + I recommend my buik in lynis seven, + And eke their saulis unto the blisse of hevin. + + * * * * * + + +THE BATTLE OF WATERLOO. + +(_From the Private Correspondence of a Woman of Fashion._) + + +Bruxelles, June 24, 1815. + +On the first day we had so little idea of the vicinity of the +engagement, that I drove out with a Belgian family in an open carriage +towards the Bois de Soignies. But we were obliged to retreat +precipitately, and take another direction across the country, and pass +through a different _barrière_ through the town to my residence. They +wished me to accept an instant asylum with them. The house of Monsieur +D'H---- was built over part of the old palace; and he had prepared one +of the extensive _caves_ for his family, in the event of the town +being given up to the sword and rapine. I promised to avail myself of +their kind offer, should the peril become more urgent; but I resolved +to remain another day in our villa. Towards five the following +morning, I was roused from the sofa on which I had thrown myself, by +the trampling of horses, and the cries of the people of the suburbs. I +flew to the window and beheld a troop of Belgians in full flight, +covered, not with glory, but with dust, galloping towards the town! I +heard the gates close against them, and saw them scamper over the +plain towards Lacken. The mob increased; their shrieks of terror rent +the air,--"Les François sont ici! Ils s'emparent de la porte de la +ville!" mingled with the cries of the women, and with those of my +little household, who all rushed into my chamber, expecting me to save +them. In the midst of this terror, I heard the well-known voice of the +commander of the town, Colonel Jones, vociferating with all the energy +and passion of a Welchman. In my distraction, I ran out to him; he +_stormed_, and explained in no gentle terms, that it was a false +alarm, caused by the _sudden nervous affection_ of the troop of +Belgians I had seen in flight. He commanded me to quit my house, and +kindly sent me a carriage to secure my entrance into the town. We were +cheered in the hurry of quitting our rural abode, by the arrival of +some thousands of British troops; many of the poor fellows, heated and +languid, entered asking for water to quench their thirst. From them I +learnt that they had returned to England from America, and, without +being permitted to land, were immediately ordered to Ostend. I felt +what might be their influence on the fate of that day, and selfishly +partook of their impatience to arrive on the field of battle. The +whole of Saturday we believed the battle lost; and _there are those_ +who think that it _was, but_ for the mysterious conduct of Grouchy, or +the treason of the estafettes sent to summon him to advance. + +The English families continued to fly towards Ostend: the roads and +inns were crowded; the living bewailing their temerity, close to the +chambers of the dead! Your brother and sister were at Antwerp, in the +next room to the unfortunate Duc de Brunswick. The awful hours passed +tardily with me, in pangs for the soldier and his chiefs. On Saturday +the 17th, to add to the accumulating horrors of our critical +situation, the very elements vented forth their wrath, in the most +tremendous thunder and lightning; the rain poured in torrents; all +nature was at fearful strife, and God's anger was apparent; for it +seemed as if the very heavens were warring against man's quarrel; and +in my agony I exclaimed with Macbeth-- + + "'Twas a rough night--" + +as I listened to the pelting storm, crouching on a mattress by the +side of my weeping _émigrée_, imploring me for words of comfort. +Towards morning the rain abated, but gloomy clouds ushered in that +eventful day. At two o'clock I dined with Monsieur D'H----, whose +daughter-in-law, la Comtesse de P----'s first-born son, had seen the +light of this world only a few hours before--while at dinner, the +servants rushed into the room in disorder, exclaiming, "All is over!" +A detachment of dragoons, which passed a few hours ago to join the +enemy, are returned! We rose precipitately; Mr. D'H---- took a key +from a drawer, and commanded us to follow him. We traversed rapidly +the chamber of the invalid lady, each inconsiderately repeating to +her--"All is lost!" We ascended a dilapidated staircase, and passing +through a small trap-door, what was my astonishment, when I found +myself in the Park! There we beheld the said detachment of +dragoons--an affrighted mob; and many sinister-looking persons, who +seemed well satisfied at the evidence of our fears. The gentlemen +rushed out of the adjoining _café_, the English calling for their +servants and horses, (many of whom, by the way, who had never +possessed any;) one of these _fainted_--no heart of oak was _he_, when +our ancient Briton, the commandant, Colonel Jones, again presented +himself, _vif et emporté_. The spectators exclaimed--"que cela venoit +de la trop rapide circulation de son sang." _N'importe_: the choleric +Colonel, blustering, restored us to comparative tranquillity, as he +brandished on high his sword, giving it an after-sweeping movement, as +if to _moissonner nos têtes_; my valiant compatriot extended on the +pavement was the only head in security. The Colonel commanded the +misled dragoons to return; and it appeared that they had encountered +some miscreants, disguised as British officers, who gave them a forged +official order to retreat "the battle being lost!" We descended +through our trap-door, and re-assured our friend the Comtesse, who +seemed to have received our intelligence (_en passant_) with as +perfect calmness as that in which lay her new-born babe. + +To add to my discomfort, deep and loud were the murmurs on Sunday +against the Duke. The merchants said his Grace ought not to have +lingered in the _salons_ of amusement one instant after he had been +apprised that Napoleon had quitted Paris, whose gigantic strides all +Europe had experienced during many long years. They even denounced his +life; while others, more moderate but equally incensed, had commenced +a written remonstrance to the British Government: in such an excited +state were men's minds!--Victory silenced these despairing +murmurers--success casts its vivid radiance over the hero's fame; what +so potent as its influence! + +I took leave of my Belgian friends, who promised to come for me (in +case of a fatal termination), to share their safety, and partake of +the good cheer they had prepared for our seclusion in the devastated +_caves_ of that palace, which in olden time were filled with the +finest produce of Rhenish vintages. At three o'clock entered the good +Abbé Bernard, holding up to view a paper with large characters +imprinted--"The French flying!--the City saved!--Victory!" Never shall +I forget my sensations at that joyful, yet awful moment of restored +peace to mankind! The bells of the different churches chimed the +exhilarating note of victory! The good priest announced that _Te Deum_ +was celebrating, and invited me to accompany them to the noble +cathedral, St. Gudule. "What signify forms?" the good man said: "let +us lift up our hearts in grateful thanksgiving to the only true God!" +That noble temple of the Almighty was already thronged. Voices, so +late stricken in terror, now soared aloft in celestial sounds to the +throne of Heaven!--all was congratulation. But, alas, profound regrets +soon mingled with my joyful sensations, as I cast my eyes around, and +encountered only mangled objects, who, chilled and exhausted, were +crowding into the town (and are still arriving on _this_, the 6th +day). We were addressed, with solicitations, by enfeebled heroes, to +be shown to hospitals. We found it impossible to return to our villa, +from the confusion of military baggage, &c. &c., while the English, +even females of rank, with eager curiosity were hastening to the scene +of carnage! The noise of their chariot-wheels, mingling with the moans +of the dying, and the cries of parents and relatives in search of +their sons and their kindred, formed a scene that must have moved the +coldest heart, and that _never_ can be _effaced_ from my memory! + +In traversing La Grande Place, I was attracted to a kind of military +vehicle, by the voice of plaintive distress appealing for my succour, +reiterating the word _compatriote_. On approaching, I beheld a +handsome and interesting-looking female, in equestrian costume;--by +her side were two servants, and two very fine saddle-horses. A tent, +and some baggage-wagons, belonging to some regiment, appeared to be +included in her train. She announced herself to me as the wife of +Captain ----, aid-de-camp to General C----: by some mistake of orders, +fatal to her peace of mind, the baggage of her husband's regiment had +not been included in the general orders for following the army. +Anguish was expressed on her fine countenance. She knew only that we +were victorious; but she knew not whether her husband was to be +numbered with the dead, or with the living. She was without resource, +and unacquainted with the French language. She appealed to my +protection, and pointed to her servants to corroborate her statement. +Fatigued in mind as I was, yet how impossible to hesitate an instant! +I immediately conducted her to the librarian, who gave me a room; and +I sent for refreshments, and fain would have persuaded her to attempt +seeking some repose; but her mental sufferings were too great to +permit her to remain tranquil. She declared that nothing should +prevent her following the army to Paris, beseeching me to obtain +permission for her to ride on with the first detachment that quitted +the city. I was obliged to comply, for there is no reasoning with the +anxious mind of an attached wife! and I presented myself before our +choleric commandant. Being in black, I was mistaken for a hapless +widow, and all pressed to offer me service. I found Captain W----, who +immediately interested himself, and I had the supreme pleasure of not +only obtaining an escort, but of receiving the certain assurance of +her gallant husband's safety. She spent the evening with us, and +created a general interest. She had accompanied her husband in the +campaigns in Spain, soon after a marriage _purement d'inclination_. +Captain ---- had been brought up to the Bar; but the mania of war +seized him, and he preferred figuring in the _Army List_, and +practising military tactics, to studying _Burn's Justice_ and +_Blackstone's Commentaries_. She would not lose sight of her new +friend; and at four o'clock on Tuesday morning I conducted her to the +Porte de Namur, where I found the promised escort with two officers, +to whom I could assign her with confidence. She sprang into her saddle +with an alacrity, that expressed she was going to join the husband of +her affection; and she promised to present him to me in Paris. + +Old C----, one of the "all-talented Whigs," who you know is half a +buffoon, was a torment to us during the fearful period of the three +days--running to and fro, standing in every body's way, seeking and +reporting news, exclaiming, "but the battle cannot be lost--I do not +see the army in retreat," &c. &c. At length, the battle over, England +victorious, the Duke on Monday rode quietly into Bruxelles, to make +arrangements for the wounded, &c. C---- rushes to his apartment to +make his compliments. + +"Thirty thousand men lost!" replied the Duke. + +"But what a victory!" + +"Thirty thousand men killed!--hard case!"--still answered the Duke, +with his usual simplicity of expression when speaking of his own +exploits. C----, who knew not what diffidence was, nor could discover +its merits in another, retreated in evident disappointment at his +compliments of felicitation having the appearance of being so little +appreciated; almost doubtful, whether Wellington was in truth a hero, +or whether the battle was really gained! + +The interiors of the churches are divided in stalls, the wounded +placed in them on layers of straw, and women and surgeons are seen +administering to their ills. The Belgians have thrown open their +houses, and officers and soldiers are promiscuously placed in their +decorated _salons_, and served with equal assiduity. The French seemed +to have fought with redoubled rancour on these terrible days; even the +nature of the wounds are without parallel in history. The light carts +I saw preparing some weeks since, were sent off to the frontiers; +therefore, to add to the sufferings of these brave men, they are +brought in upon the rough wagons employed in agriculture. This is the +sixth day, and they are still arriving in all kinds of conveyances. +Our carriage was stopped in la Rue de Montagne last evening; the cause +originated in two wagons filled with the wounded and the dying, +recently discovered! Some of the inhabitants, with candles, were +groping anxiously, in search of their relations, and administering +various restoratives to those they knew not, until another church +could be hastily prepared to receive them. Hundreds of French +prisoners are brought in,--many of them quite boys, and in peasants' +habits, apparently forced by cruel conscriptions to become warriors +_malgré eux_, and forming a remarkable contrast to those hardy and +athletic frames, who seem destined by nature for the military career. +Here were these poor recruits, a few weeks since dragged from their +native hearths, constrained by regal power to illustrate themselves by +the sword--when their hearts and characters were formed for domestic +cares, and those agricultural labours which sweetened their rustic +meal, and only trying to evade their direst enemy--the recruiting-sergeant +of Napoleon! + +But there is another distinctive mark in those veteran French +soldiers, whom we see conveyed into Bruxelles, wounded and prisoners. +They seem to retain a ferocious expression, even at the moment of +sinking into the feebleness of death, and while every human succour is +rendering to them. They cast a furtive glance around, and their +countenances indicate all the horror of their minds at their late +reverses, and to be thinking less of the bodily pains they are +enduring, than of their incapability to revenge themselves upon their +victors! Such was the scene exhibited this morning on the steps of the +hotel opposite to my apartment. + + * * * * * + + + +THE PUBLIC JOURNALS. + + * * * * * + + +JULIUS CAESAR--HIS SUPERSTITION. + + +[A curious paper, entitled _The Caesars_, will be found in +_Blackwood's Magazine_ for the present month. It is full of attractive +lore, and contains, to our thinking, a masterly estimate of the actual +character of Caesar. It displays very considerable learning, research, +and knowledge of life, or that treasure which we call world-knowledge. +It is not a cut-and-dry classical character "by way of abstract," but +such a whole-length portrait as we wish to see drawn of every great +man of antiquity, respecting whose merits mankind are, as it were, +still groping in comparative ignorance or misconception. We quote two +interesting passages--one embodying the personal portrait of +Caesar--the other the superstitious weakness commonly attributed to +him.] + +In person, Caesar was tall, fair, and of limbs distinguished for their +elegant proportions and gracility. His eyes were black and piercing. +These circumstances continued to be long remembered, and no doubt were +constantly recalled to the eyes of all persons in the imperial +palaces, by pictures, busts, and statues; for we find the same +description of his personal appearance three centuries afterwards, in +a work of the Emperor Julian's. He was a most accomplished horseman, +and a master (_peritissimus_) in the use of arms. But, notwithstanding, +his skill in horsemanship, it seems that, when he accompanied his army +on marches, he walked oftener than he rode; no doubt, with a view to +the benefit of his example, and to express that sympathy with his +soldiers which gained him their hearts so entirely. On other +occasions, when travelling apart from his army, he seems more +frequently to have rode in a carriage than on horseback. His purpose +in making this preference must have been with a view to the transport +of luggage. The carriage which he generally used was a _rheda_, a sort +of gig, or rather curricle, for it was a four-wheeled carriage, and +adapted (as we find from the imperial regulations for the public +carriages, &c.,) to the conveyance of about half a ton. The mere +personal baggage which Caesar carried with him, was probably +considerable, for he was a man of the most elegant habits, and in all +parts of his life sedulously attentive to elegance of personal +appearance. The length of journeys which he accomplished within a +given time, appears even to us at this day, and might well therefore +appear to his contemporaries, truly astonishing. A distance of one +hundred miles was no extraordinary day's journey for him in a _rheda_, +such as we have described it. So elegant were his habits, and so +constant his demand for the luxurious accommodations of polished life, +as it then existed in Rome, that he is said to have carried with him, +as indispensable parts of his personal baggage, the little lozenges +and squares of ivory, and other costly materials, which were wanted +for the tesselated flooring of his tent. Habits such as these will +easily account for his travelling in a carriage rather than on +horseback. + +The courtesy and obliging disposition of Caesar were notorious, and +both were illustrated in some anecdotes which survived for generations +in Rome. Dining on one occasion at a table where the servants had +inadvertently, for sallad-oil, furnished some sort of coarse lamp-oil, +Caesar would not allow the rest of the company to point out the +mistake to their host for fear of shocking him too much by exposing +the mistake. At another time, whilst halting at a little _cabaret_, +when one of his retinue was suddenly taken ill, Caesar resigned to his +use the sole bed which the house afforded. Incidents, as trifling as +these, express the urbanity of Caesar's nature; and hence one is the +more surprised to find the alienation of the Senate charged, in no +trifling degree, upon a failure in point of courtesy. Caesar neglected +to rise from his seat, on their approaching him in a body with an +address of congratulation. It is said, and we can believe it, that he +gave deeper offence by this one defect in a matter of ceremonial +observance, than by all his substantial attacks upon their privileges. +What we find it difficult to believe, however, is not that result from +the offence, but the possibility of the offence itself, from one so +little arrogant as Caesar, and so entirely a man of the world. He was +told of the disgust which he had given, and we are bound to believe +his apology, in which he charged it upon sickness, which would not at +the moment allow him to maintain a standing attitude. Certainly the +whole tenor of his life was not courteous only, but kind; and, to his +enemies, merciful in a degree which implied so much more magnanimity +than men in general could understand, that by many it was put down to +the account of weakness. + + * * * * * + +We find that though sincerely a despiser of superstition, and with a +frankness which must sometimes have been hazardous in his age, Caesar +was himself superstitious. No man could have been otherwise who lived +and conversed with that generation and people. But if superstitious, +he was so after a mode of his own. In his very infirmities Caesar +manifested his greatness; his very littlenesses were noble. + + "Nec licuit populis parvum te, Nile, videre." + +That he placed some confidence in dreams, for instance, is certain; +because, had he slighted them unreservedly, he would not have dwelt +upon them afterwards, or have troubled himself to recall their +circumstances. Here we trace his human weakness. Yet again we are +reminded that it was the weakness of Caesar; for the dreams were noble +in their imagery, and Caesarean (so to speak) in their tone of moral +feeling. Thus, for example, the night before he was assassinated, he +dreamt at intervals that he was soaring above the clouds on wings, and +that he placed his hand within the right hand of Jove. It would seem +that perhaps some obscure and half-formed image floated in his mind of +the eagle, as the king of birds; secondly, as the tutelary emblem +under which his conquering legions had so often obeyed his voice; and, +thirdly, as the bird of Jove. To this triple relation of the bird his +dream covertly appears to point. And a singular coincidence appears +between this dream and a little anecdote brought down to us, as having +actually occurred in Rome about twenty-four hours before his death. A +little bird, which by some is represented as a very small kind of +sparrow, but which, both to the Greeks and the Romans, was known by a +name implying a regal station (probably from the ambitious courage +which at times prompted it to attack the eagle), was observed to +direct its flight towards the senate-house, consecrated by Pompey, +whilst a crowd of other birds were seen to hang upon its flight in +close pursuit. What might be the object of the chase, whether the +little king himself, or a sprig of laurel which he bore in his mouth, +could not be determined. The whole train, pursuers and pursued, +continued their flight towards Pompey's hall. Flight and pursuit were +there alike arrested; the little king was overtaken by his enemies, +who fell upon him as so many conspirators, and tore him limb from +limb. + +If this anecdote were reported to Caesar, which is not at all +improbable, considering the earnestness with which his friends +laboured to dissuade him from his purpose of meeting the senate on the +approaching Ides of March, it is very little to be doubted that it had +a considerable effect upon his feelings, and that, in fact, his own +dream grew out of the impression which it had made. This way of +linking the two anecdotes, as cause and effect, would also bring a +third anecdote under the same _nexus_. We are told that Calpurnia, the +last wife of Caesar, dreamed on the same night, and to the same +ominous result. The circumstances of _her_ dream are less striking, +because less figurative; but on that account its import was less open +to doubt: she dreamed, in fact, that after the roof of their mansion +had fallen in, her husband was stabbed in her bosom. Laying all these +omens together, Caesar would have been more or less than human had he +continued utterly undepressed by them. And if so much superstition as +even this implies, must be taken to argue some little weakness, on the +other hand let it not be forgotten, that this very weakness does but +the more illustrate the unusual force of mind, and the heroic will, +which obstinately laid aside these _concurring_ prefigurations of +impending destruction; concurring, we say, amongst themselves--and +concurring also with a prophecy of older date, which was totally +independent of them all. + +There is another and somewhat sublime story of the same class, which +belongs to the most interesting moment of Caesar's life; and those who +are disposed to explain all such tales upon physiological principles, +will find an easy solution of this, in particular, in the exhaustion +of body, and the intense anxiety which must have debilitated even +Caesar under the whole circumstances of the case. On the +ever-memorable night when he had resolved to take the first step (and +in such a case the first step, as regarded the power of retreating, +was also the final step) which placed him in arms against the state, +it happened that his head-quarters were at some distance from the +little river Rubicon, which formed the boundary of his province. With +his usual caution, that no news of his motions might run before +himself, on this night Caesar gave an entertainment to his friends, in +the midst of which he slipped away unobserved, and with a small +retinue proceeded through the woods to the point of the river at which +he designed to cross. The night was stormy, and by the violence of the +wind all the torches of his escort were blown out, so that the whole +party lost their road, having probably at first intentionally deviated +from the main route, and wandered about through the whole night, until +the early dawn enabled them to recover their true course. The light +was still grey and uncertain, as Caesar and his retinue rode down upon +the banks of the fatal river--to cross which with arms in his hands, +since the further bank lay within the territory of the Republic, _ipso +facto_ proclaimed any Roman a rebel and a traitor. No man, the firmest +or the most obtuse, could be otherwise than deeply agitated, when +looking down upon this little brook--so insignificant in itself, but +invested by law with a sanctity so awful, and so dire a consecration. +The whole course of future history, and the fate of every nation, +would necessarily be determined by the irretrievable act of the next +half hour. + +In these moments, and with this spectacle before him, and +contemplating these immeasurable consequences consciously for the last +time that could allow him a retreat,--impressed also by the solemnity +and deep tranquillity of the silent dawn, whilst the exhaustion of his +night wanderings predisposed him to nervous irritation,--Caesar, we +may be sure, was profoundly agitated. The whole elements of the scene +were almost scenically disposed; the law of antagonism having perhaps +never been employed with so much effect: the little quiet brook +presenting a direct antithesis to its grand political character; and +the innocent dawn, with its pure untroubled repose, contrasting +potently, to a man of any intellectual sensibility, with the long +chaos of bloodshed, darkness, and anarchy, which was to take its rise +from the apparently trifling acts of this one morning. So prepared, we +need not much wonder at what followed. Caesar was yet lingering on the +hither bank, when suddenly, at a point not far distant from himself, +an apparition was descried in a sitting posture, and holding in its +hand what seemed a flute. This phantom was of unusual size, and of +beauty more than human, so far as its lineaments could be traced in +the early dawn. What is singular, however, in the story, on any +hypothesis which would explain it out of Caesar's individual +condition, is, that others saw it as well as he; both pastoral +labourers (who were present, probably, in the character of guides) and +some of the sentinels stationed at the passage of the river. These men +fancied even that a strain of music issued from this aerial flute. And +some, both of the shepherds and the Roman soldiers, who were bolder +than the rest, advanced towards the figure. Amongst this party, it +happened that there were a few Roman trumpeters. From one of these, +the phantom, rising as they advanced nearer, suddenly caught a +trumpet, and blowing through it a blast of superhuman strength, +plunged into the Rubicon--passed to the other bank--and disappeared in +the dusky twilight of the dawn. Upon which Caesar exclaimed:--"It is +finished: the die is cast: let us follow whither the guiding portents +from heaven, and the malice of our enemy alike summon us to go." So +saying, he crossed the river with impetuosity; and in a sudden rapture +of passionate and vindictive ambition, placed himself and his retinue +upon the Italian soil; and as if by inspiration from Heaven, in one +moment involved himself and his followers in treason, raised the +standard of revolt, put his foot upon the neck of the invincible +republic which had humbled all the kings of the earth, and founded an +empire which was to last for a thousand and half a thousand years. In +what manner this spectral appearance was managed--whether Caesar were +its author, or its dupe, will remain unknown forever. But undoubtedly +this was the first time that the advanced guard of a victorious army +was headed by an apparition; and we may conjecture that it will be the +last. + +According to Suetonius, the circumstances of this memorable night were +as follows:--As soon as the decisive intelligence was received, that +the intrigues of his enemies had prevailed at Rome, and that the +interposition of the popular magistrates (the tribunes) was set aside, +Caesar sent forward the troops, who were then at his head-quarters, +but in as private a manner as possible. He himself, by way of masque, +(_per dissimulationem_) attended a public spectacle, gave an audience +to an architect who wished to lay before him a plan for a school of +gladiators which Caesar designed to build, and finally presented +himself at a banquet, which was very numerously attended. From this, +about sunset, he set forward in a carriage, drawn by mules, and with a +small escort (_modico comitatu_.) Losing his road, which was the most +private he could find (_occultissimum_), he quitted his carriage and +proceeded on foot. At dawn he met with a guide; after which followed +the above incidents. + + * * * * * + + + +THE GATHERER. + + * * * * * + +Matthew Lansberg used to say, "If you wish to have a shoe made of +durable materials, you should make the upper leather of the mouth of a +hard drinker, for that never lets in _water_." + + * * * * * + +_National Bull._--In the "printed directions respecting the +reading-room of the British Museum," we find the following sapient +veto put upon the readers:--"Readers will be allowed to take one or +more extracts from any printed book or manuscript; but no whole, or +_greater part_ (oh! poor Euclid!) of a manuscript is to be transcribed +without," &c.--_Morning Chronicle._ + + * * * * * + +_Twins._--Lamerton Church, in Devonshire, is remarkable for having the +effigies of Nicholas and Andrew Tremaine, twins, who were so like each +other, that they could not be distinguished but by some outward mark. +The most singular part of their history, as it is told, is, that when +asunder, if one was merry, the other was so, and the contrary. And as +they could not endure to be separate in their lifetime, so neither at +their deaths; for, in 1564, they both served at Newhaven, when the one +being slain, the other stepped instantly into his place, and was slain +also. + +T. GILL. + + * * * * * + + + +THE LATE SIR WALTER SCOTT, BART. + + * * * * * + + With the present Number, price Twopence, + AN ILLUSTRATED SUPPLEMENT, + Containing a MEMOIR of the LIFE & WRITINGS + of the late + SIR WALTER SCOTT, BART. + With Five Engravings. + + * * * * * + + + +_Printed and published by J. LIMBIRD, 143, Strand, (near Somerset +House,) London; sold by ERNEST FLEISCHER, 626, New Market, Leipsic; +G.G. BENNIS, 55, Rue Neuve, St. Augustin, Paris; and by all Newsmen +and Booksellers._ + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 11864 *** |