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diff --git a/12553-0.txt b/12553-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0c9daf1 --- /dev/null +++ b/12553-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1315 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 12553 *** + +THE MIRROR OF LITERATURE, AMUSEMENT, AND INSTRUCTION. + +VOL. XIX. No. 554.] SATURDAY, JUNE 30, 1832. [PRICE 2d. + + + + * * * * * + + + +[Illustration: CURIOUS CHIMNEY-PIECE.] + + +We select this Engraving as an illustration of the elaborate sculptural +decoration employed in domestic architecture about three centuries since; +but more particularly as a specimen of the embellishment of the +ecclesiastical residences of that period. It represents a chimney-piece +erected in the Bishop's palace at Exeter, by Peter Courtenay, who was +consecrated Bishop of Exeter, A.D. 1477, and translated to Winchester, A.D. +1486. He had formerly been master of St. Antony's Hospital, in London. + +The bishop was third son of Sir Philip Courtenay of Powderham, knight, +(fifth son of Hugh Courtenay, second Earl of Devonshire), who died 1463. + +He was educated at Exeter College, Oxford; made archdeacon of Exeter 1453; +dean of the same church, 1477. + +He died 1491, and was probably buried in the chancel at Powderham, where +is an effigy of a bishop inlaid in brass. He built the north tower of +Exeter cathedral, and placed in it a great bell, called after him +_Peter's_ bell, with a clock and dial: he built also the tower and good +part of the church at Honiton (which before was only a chapel, now the +chancel). In the windows of the tower are the arms of his parents, now +lost; but his paternal arms are on the pillars of the chancel.[1] + +The heraldic embellishments of the chimney-piece are as follow:-- + +"The arms of Courtenay impaled by those of the see of Exeter are in the +centre compartment. In that on the left hand is the former coat single, +supported by two swans collared and chained. Motto _Arma Petri Exon epi_. +And on the right hand it impales _Hungerford_, supported by two boars with +the Courtenay label round their necks. Motto _Arma Patris et Matris_. + +"Above the centre compartment is the mitre, with the arms of the see, and +a label inscribed _Colompne ecclesie veritatis p'conie_;[2] and +here the T is thrice repeated. + +"The moulding of the arch is charged with the portcullis and foliage +alternately; and on the point are the royal arms in a garter, and +supported by two greyhounds. + +"The T with the bell appendant occurs on the sides of the centre coat; +also the T single and labels, and over the top of the chimney the T and P +C for _Peter Courtenay_. + +"The three Sickles and the Sheaf in the angles of the three compartments +are the badges of the barons of Hungerford." + +Further explanation is necessary, as well as interesting for its connexion +with two popular origins--St. Antony's fire, and St. Antony, or "Tantony's +Pig." + +"The monks of the order of St. Antony wore a black habit with the letter T +of a blue colour on the breast. This may sufficiently account for the +appearance of that figure among the ornaments of Bishop Courtenay's arms. +The following extract from Stow's Survey of London may serve to explain +the appendant Bell. + +"The Proctors of this hospital were to collect the benevolence of +charitable persons towards the building and supporting thereof. And among +other things observed in my youth I remember that the officers charged +with the oversight of the markets in this city did divers times take from +the market people pigs starved, or otherwise unwholesome for men's +sustenance: these they did slit in the ear. One of the Proctors of St. +Antony tied a bell about the neck, and let it feed among the dunghills, +and no man would hurt it, or take it up; but if any gave them bread, or +other feeding, such they would know, watch for, and daily follow, whining +till they had something given them; whereupon was raised a proverb, 'such +a one will follow such a one and whine as it were an Antony pig;' but if +such a pig grew to be fat, and came to good liking, as oft times they did, +then the Proctor would take him up to the use of the hospital." + +"These monks, with their importunate begging were so troublesome, that if +men gave them nothing, they would presently threaten them with St. +Antony's fire, so that many simple people, out of fear or blind zeal, +every year used to bestow on them a fat pig or porker (which they +ordinarily painted on their pictures of the saint), whereby they might +procure their good will, prayers, and be secure from their menaces. + +"The knights of this order (of St. Antony) wore a collar of gold, with an +hermit's girdle, to which hung a crutch and a little bell.[3] See in the +Gentleman's Magazine for the year 1750, the plate of the orders of +knighthood, where T, whether a letter or crutch, is given to the order of +St. Antony of Ethiopia. + +"The saint is always represented with this appendage in Missals, and on +monuments, the T hanging from his girdle, and the bell from the neck of +the pig at his feet." + +We are indebted for this subject to the _Vetusta Monumenta_ of the +Antiquarian Society. + +The form of the arch will be recognised as strictly of the ecclesiastical +architectural character; and, with reference to this style, we may observe +that "the ecclesiastical residence, the dwelling of the mitred abbot with +his train of shaven devotees, or of the princely bishop and humbler priest, +naturally was designed to correspond with the consecrated edifice round +which these buildings were usually grouped; and hence the architecture of +the abbey or priory is essentially of a piece with that of the cathedral." +Reverting to the chimney-piece, it should be added that formerly both on +the continent, as well as in England, fire-places and chimneys were +decorated with architectural ornaments, as columns, entablatures, statues, +&c., like the entrance to a small temple; now they are mostly made of +marble, and more for the office of sculptural decoration than for the +orders of architecture. + + + [1] Polwhele's Devon. II. p. 281. + + [2] The bishop's motto was, _Quod verum tutum_. + + [3] Chamber's Dict v. ANTONY. + + * * * * * + +SONG + +WRITTEN IN IMITATION OF COWLEY'S MISTRESS. + +(_For the Mirror_.) + + + Oh, where didst borrow that last sigh, + And that relenting groan; + Ladies that sigh and not for love, + Usurp what's not their own. + + Love's arrows sooner armour pierce + Than that soft snowy skin; + Thine eyes can only teach us love, + They cannot take it in. + + J.H.L.H.[4] + + + [4] Yes--if confined to Anecdotes.--ED. M. + + * * * * * + + + + +RETROSPECTIVE GLEANINGS + + +THE GROANING TREE OF BADDESLEY, HAMPSHIRE. + +(_For the Mirror_.) + + +Gilpin, in his "Remarks on Forest Scenery," says, A cottager, who lived +near the centre of the village, heard frequently a strange noise behind +his house, like that of a person in extreme agony. Soon after, it caught +the attention of his wife who was then confined to her bed. She was a +timorous woman, and being greatly alarmed, her husband endeavoured to +persuade her that the noise she heard was only the bellowing of the stags +in the forest. By degrees, however, the neighbours on all sides heard it, +and the circumstance began to be much talked of. It was by this time +plainly discovered that the groaning noise proceeded from an _Elm_, which +grew at the bottom of the garden. It was a young, vigorous tree, and, to +all appearance, perfectly sound. In a few weeks the fame of the groaning +tree was spread far and wide; and people from all parts flocked to hear it. +Among others it attracted the curiosity of the late Prince and Princess of +Wales, who resided at that time, for the advantage of a sea-bath, at +Pilewell, within a quarter of a mile of the groaning tree. + +Though the country people assigned many superstitious causes for this +strange phenomenon, the naturalist could assign no physical one, that was +in any degree satisfactory. Some thought it was owing to the twisting and +friction of the roots: others thought that it proceeded from water, which +had collected in the body of the tree; or, perhaps, from pent air: but the +cause that was alleged appeared unequal to the effect. In the mean time, +the tree did not always groan; sometimes disappointing its visitants; yet +no cause could be assigned for its temporary cessations, either from +seasons, or weather. If any difference was observed, it was thought to +groan least when the weather was wet, and most when it was clear and +frosty; but the sound at all times seemed to come from the roots. + +Thus the groaning tree continued an object of astonishment, during the +space of eighteen or twenty months, to all the country around; and for the +information of distant parts, a pamphlet was drawn up, containing a +particular account of it. A gentleman of the name of Forbes, making too +rash an experiment to discover the cause, bored a hole in its trunk. After +this it never groaned. It was then rooted up, with a further view to make +a discovery; but still nothing appeared which led to any investigation of +the cause. It was universally, however, believed, that there was no trick +in the affair; but that some natural cause really existed, though never +understood.--(Vol. I. p. 163.) P.T.W. + + * * * * * + + +CURIOUS PARTICULARS RELATING TO HURLEY, IN BERKSHIRE. + +(_For the Mirror_.) + +Mr. Ireland, in his "Picturesque views on the river Thames," observes that +"the fascinating scenery of this neighbourhood has peculiarly attracted +the notice of the clergy of former periods." + +Hurley Place was originally a monastery. In the Domesday Book, it is said +to have lately belonged to Edgar; but was then the property of Geoffrey de +Mandeville, who received it from William the Conqueror, as a reward for +his gallant conduct in the battle of Hastings; and in the year 1086 +founded a monastery here for Benedictines, and annexed it as a cell to +Westminster Abbey, where the original charter is still preserved. + +On the dissolution of the monasteries, Hurley became the property of a +family named Chamberlain, of whom it was purchased, in the reign of Queen +Elizabeth, by Richard Lovelace, a soldier of fortune, who went on an +expedition against the Spaniards with Sir Francis Drake, and erected the +present mansion on the ruins of the ancient building, with the property he +acquired in that enterprise. The remains of the monastery may be traced in +the numerous apartments which occupy the west end of the house; and in a +vault beneath the hall some bodies in monkish habits have been found +buried. Part of the chapel, or refectory, also, may be seen in the stables, +the windows of which are of chalk; and though made in the Conqueror's time, +appear as fresh as if they were of modern workmanship. The Hall is +extremely spacious, occupying nearly half the extent of the house. The +grand saloon is decorated in a singular style, the panels being painted +with upright landscapes, the leafings of which are executed with a kind of +silver lacker. The views seem to be Italian, and are reputed to have been +the work of Salvator Rosa, purposely executed to embellish this apartment. +The receipt of the painter is said to be in the possession of Mr. Wilcox, +the late resident. + +During the reigns of Charles II., and James, his successor, the principal +nobility held frequent meetings in a subterraneous vault beneath this +house, for the purpose of ascertaining the measures necessary to be +pursued for reestablishing the liberties of the kingdom, which the +insidious hypocrisy of one monarch, and the more avowed despotism of the +other, had completely undermined and destroyed. It is reported also, that +the principal papers which produced the revolution of 1688, were signed in +the dark recess at the end of the vault. These circumstances have been +recorded by Mr. Wilcox, in an inscription written at the extremity of the +vault, which, on account of the above circumstances, was visited by the +Prince of Orange after he had obtained the crown; by General Paoli in the +year 1780; and by George III. on the 14th of November, 1785. + +The Lovelace family was ennobled by Charles I., who in the third year of +his reign, created Richard Lovelace, Baron Hurley, which title became +extinct in 1736. The most valuable part of the estate was about that time +sold to the Greave family and afterwards to the Duke of Marlborough: the +other part, consisting of the mansion house and woodlands, to Mrs. +Williams, sister to Dr. Wilcox, who was bishop of Rochester about the +middle of the last century. This lady was enabled to make the purchase by +a very remarkable instance of good fortune. She had bought two tickets in +one lottery, both of which became prizes: the one of 500_l_., the other of +20,000_l_. From the daughter of Mrs. Williams it descended to Mr. Wilcox +in the year 1771.--_Beauties of England and Wales._ + +P.T.W. + + * * * * * + + + + +SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS. + +CLAVERING'S AUTO-BIOGRAPHY. + +_Containing opinions, characters, &c. of his Cotemporaries._ + + +Shelley had some excellent qualities: I attribute his eccentricities to a +spice of insanity. He often wrote unintelligibly;--sometimes in short +lyrics, beautifully. The ashes of him and Keats sleep together in the +Protestant chapel at Rome. I am resolved once more to visit _Lirici_, +where the funeral pile of his relics were lighted. I am never so happy as +when I am travelling on the Continent; the mere change of air, and +locomotion, gives me vigour. I saw old Sir William Wraxall at Dover, a few +days before he died, and meant to have accompanied him to Paris. He was +still full of anecdote, to which it was necessary to listen with caution; +but his information was often curious and valuable. He was one of our +oldest litterateurs. + +Some years ago I met Sismondi: I could not agree with his ULTRA-LIBERAL +politics! He has married an English lady, but does not seem to love the +English. He himself once suffered from excessive revolutionism, and was +condemned to death by it when young, about 1794, in the reign of terror, +when _Monsieur Raville_ and others were shot at Geneva. One would have +thought that this would have made a convert of him in favour of legitimate +governments. But I forget: he does not call them legitimate! He is a thick +man, of middle height, with strong features, sallow, with weak eyes, rapid +and rather indistinct in his articulation, with a character of great +generosity and kindness; but not very tolerant to others in political +thinking. + +About 1802, strange lawyers perched upon the judgment-seat. Law, Pepper, +Arden, and John Mitford! The little Pepper once took it into his head to +review a cavalry regiment of fencibles, when he was Master of the Rolls. +An unruly horse of one of the officers got head in a charge, and nearly +ran over the affrighted judge. I was on the field, saw it all; and heard +the small, staring man's terrible shriek! He swore that nothing should +ever make him go soldiering again! He could not recollect his law-cases +for a fortnight to come! He had some fun about him, and was always crying +out, _"Ne sutor ultra crepidam, ne sutor ultra crepidam."_ and indeed he +looked like a shoemaker. A bowel-complaint carried him off. Perhaps it was +the fright! + +A certain learned theological bishop of that fraternity, a warm +controversialist, long since dead, was of an amorous disposition. One day, +being left alone with a pretty young lady, he began to be rude to her; she +knocked off his prelated wig, and stamped it under her foot. At that time +the footman entered, and all was confusion! The girl was in tears; the +bishop's pate was bald. The footman was left to wonder! Some squibs +appeared in the papers of the day, which few understood. I wrote a piquant +epigram, which I will not revive. Old Thurlow, who was the prelate's +friend and patron, laughed outright, and clapped me on the back when I +dined with him a few days afterwards. + +I have been more than once in company with Washington Irving, a most +amiable man and great genius, but not lively in conversation. The engraved +portraits I have seen of him are not very like him. He frequented the +reading-room of Galignani at Paris, and seemed to have some literary +connexions with him. There I saw Captain Medwin, the author of the book +called _Lord Byron's Conversations_, which I believe to have been +accurately reported. He was with his friend Grattan, the author of +_High-ways and Bye-ways_. I was not personally acquainted with either of +them. Grattan's flat nose is somewhat concealed in the print given of him +in Colburn's Magazine, where this author, of course, makes a distinguished +figure. + +The late Professor Pictet, of Geneva, who had spent some of his early days +in England, and was very fond of it, told me some curious anecdotes of +his countryman De Lolme, whose book on the English constitution is much +more commended than it deserves. He once endeavoured to set up a rival +Journal to Old Swinton's _Courrier de l'Europe_, but his absurd denial of +Rodney's victory ruined the project. De Vergennes, the French minister, +patronized it. Brissot was connected with Swinton in the above-named +Journal. One of Swinton's sons holds a high situation in the British +Government in India:--another commanded a ship in the Company's service. +Old Swinton was a Scotch jacobite, and forfeited. + +Horace Walpole, who died Earl of Orford, was a little old man with small +features--very lively and amusing,--who talked just as he wrote: but a +little too fond of baubles and curiosities. He had a witty mind, but not a +great one:--yet he was a man of genius. His family was ancient, but his +vanity made him always endeavour to represent it of much more consequence +than it was. They had a great deal of the Norfolk squierarchy about them. +He could not bear his uncle Horace, the diplomatist, whose son, the +grandfather of the present earl, with his little tie-wig, looked like an +old-fashioned glover. + +I have mentioned Mrs. Macauley, the historian. She had a dog latterly, of +which she made a great pet, and on being asked why she bestowed so much +care on it, she answered--"Why! are you aware whence it came? It is a true +republican, and has been stroked by the hand of Washington!" The event of +the French Revolution maddened her with joy; but when the news came of +Louis the Sixteenth's escape, and before she heard he had been brought +back, she took to her bed, wrote to her friends that she should die of the +disappointment--and did die. She complained that Dr. Graham had given her +a love-potion! Her young husband used her ill. + +Tom Warton, the poet, was a good-natured man, but addicted to low company. +He was fond of + + "Smoking his pipe upon an alehouse bench;" + +He was tutor to Colonel North, the son of the minister, who thought he +neglected him. This connexion, perhaps, led him to write the _Life of Sir +Thomas Pope_, or rather that this family were founders of Warton's college. +He also wrote the life of the President Bathurst, who was elder brother of +Sir Benjamin Bathurst, a commercial man, father to the first Lord Bathurst, +the friend of Pope the poet, and who lived to the age of ninety, in +possession of his faculties,--always calling his son, the Chancellor, +"the old man!" He was one of Queen Anne's _twelve_ peers--but so rapid has +been the extinction and change, that the Bathursts are now considered old +nobility. He sprung from one of the _Grey Coat_ families in the weald of +Kent, the clothiers. + +Old Dr. Farmer, the head of Emanuel College, Cambridge, Prebendary of +Canterbury, and afterwards of St. Paul's, or Westminster, used to frequent +a club in London, to which I belonged. He was at first reserved and silent: +but his forte was humour and drollery. At Cambridge he neglected forms and +ceremonies in his college too much: and was in all his glory when in +dishabille in his study, with his cat by his side, and his Shakspeare +tracts about him. He found no literature at Canterbury, and was disgusted +with his brother members of the cathedral: quaint Dean Horne, and +chattering romancing Dr. Berkeley, and his rhodomontading wife, were not +suited to him, and as little her son Monke Berkeley, of whom she gave such +an absurd and mendacious memoir, and who had none of his celebrated +grandfather Bishop Berkeley's genius. Farmer had some cleverness, but no +leading talent. He collected an immense quantity of rare and forgotten old +English books--especially poetry and the drama--at a trifling price. Todd, +the learned editor of Milton, Spencer, &c., was then a member of that +cathedral; but as his literary superiority was not pleasant to those above +him in that establishment, he was got rid of by promotion, elsewhere, out +of their patronage. He wrote the lives of the Deans of that Church, which +does not rise to more than local interest. It is a dull book. + +It has been my fate to be Acquainted with Irish Secretaries. I saw much of +little Charles Abbot--afterwards Speaker--and at last Lord Colchester. +He was a pompous dwarf; yet of an analytical head. Nothing could be more +amusing than to see him strut up the House of Commons to take the chair; +nor was the amusement less to listen to him, when he delivered his edicts, +or the thanks of the House from the chair. His sonorous voice issuing from +a diminutive person, and the epigrammatic points of empty sentences, +formed with great artifice, were in very bad taste--though much admired by +a House which consisted of so few men of a classical education. His rise +was extraordinary, because his talents little exceeded mediocrity. But he +was a courtier, and an intriguant. He was the son of a schoolmaster at +Colchester. + +Swift, though of English extraction, was born in Ireland. From some +memoranda of my grandfather's, I learn, that he did not speak of his +residence with Sir William Temple at Moore Park, in Surrey, without spleen. +He seemed to retain a sort of unwilling awe of Sir William; but not to +have loved him. Sir William was a ceremonious courtier: Swift's early +habits were somewhat rude and slovenly. Swift had genius, as Gulliver's +travels prove; but there is no genius in his poetry. He was both proud and +vain. His ancestor was the rector of a small living in Kent; his father an +attorney. When I was quartered at Canterbury, I saw the monument for one +of his ancestors, preserved out of the old church at St. Andrew's and +replaced in the new one. The arms sculptured on it are totally different +from what Swift erroneously supposes the family to have borne: this +ancestor was minister of that parish--not a prebendary, as Swift +represents. Miss Vanhomrigg was cousin of my grandfather, who considered +that Swift had used her very cruelly. + +I often met the late Monsieur Etienne Dumont, of Geneva, the friend and +commentator of old Jeremy Bentham, at Romilly's house in London, in 1789. +He was a man of astonishing talents, sagacity, acuteness, and clearness of +head. What part he had in the brilliant effusions of Mirabeau, and in the +French Revolution, may be seen by his posthumous work, just published at +Paris, entitled _Souvenirs de Mirabeau_. He was a short, thick man, of +coarse features, blear eyed, and slovenly in his dress; but of mild +manners, hospitable, an excellent story-teller, and much beloved. I think +he had been at one time librarian to old Lord Lansdowne. He died at Milan, +in 1829, aged about 70. The French cannot contain their rage at the +exposure that he was the spirit who moved their brilliant Mirabeau. + +I was once talking to Anna Maria Porter about him, when she expressed her +astonishment at the admiration I bestowed on him! She said, "I thought you +was a Whig, and an aristocrat! how can you commend a revolutionary +radical?" I answered, "You mistake his character, he is not a radical in +the sense you mean! he considers Tom Paine's Rights of Man to be +mischievous nonsense!" I could not convince her: but I made my peace with +her by praising, with the utmost sincerity, her beautiful novel, _The +Recluse of Norway_. I found her full of good sense, and with much command +of language. She will forgive me for saying she had not the personal +beauty of her gentle sister Jane. She paid many compliments to the +imaginative _vivants_ of the green island; for she perceived by my tones +that I was an Irishman, though I am not sure, that she knew even my name; +for the company was numerous, and of all countries. It was an evening +assembly, in which the rooms were so full, that one could hardly move. +Tommy Moore was there, and though he is a very little man, he was the +great lion of the evening: all the young ladies were dying to see the bard +whose verses they had chanted so often with thrilling bosoms, and tears +running down their cheeks. They were not quite satisfied when they saw a +diminutive man, not reaching five feet, with a curly natural brown scratch, +handing about an ugly old dowager or two, who fondly leaned upon his arms, +even though they discovered them to be ladies of high titles. + +Rogers came in late, and went away early, looking sallower and more +indifferent than usual. He paid a few bows and compliments to two or three +noble peeresses, and then retired. + +The Rev. Thomas Frognel Dibdin was there. He was very facetious and quaint: +when he found himself by my side, he instantly started off, crying to me; +"Brobdignagian; We Lilliputians must not stand by you! You would make a +soldier for the King of Prussia! Look at that tall lady there, that Miss +de V----; why do you not take her for a wife?" E---- G----n heard what he +said, and looked fierce at us both! I expected another _Bluviad!_ Perhaps +the ingenious bibliographer does not recollect the conversation; but he +may be assured it took place. And I entreat also Anna Maria Porter to tax +her memory, and recall the very interesting and sensible conversation I +had with her. I told her some anecdotes of her brother, Sir Robert, whom I +met on our travels, which pleased her. Jane would not talk much that night; +something heavy seemed to have seized her spirits. Let Jane recollect how +she once related to me the curious history and character of Percival +Stockdale! It happened at the house of a friend in London, whom I shall +not point out with too much particularity. Dibdin endeavoured to excite +the envy of some of us litterateurs, that we were not, like him, members +of the Roxburgh, which had dukes, and earls, and chancellors of the +exchequer, and judges, and the great Magician of the North into the +bargain!--_Metropolitan._ + + * * * * * + +TO A CHILD IN PRAYER. + + Fold thy little hands in prayer, + Bow down at thy Maker's knee; + Now thy sunny face is fair, + Shining through thy golden hair, + Thine eyes are passion-free; + And pleasant thoughts like garlands bind thee + Unto thy home, yet Grief may find thee-- + Then pray, Child, pray! + + Now thy young heart like a bird + Singeth in its summer nest, + No evil thought, no unkind word. + No bitter, angry voice hath stirr'd + The beauty of its rest. + But winter cometh, and decay + Wasteth thy verdant home away-- + Then pray, Child, pray! + + Thy Spirit is a House of Glee, + And Gladness harpeth at the door, + While ever with a merry shout + Hope, the May-Queen, danceth out, + Her lips with music running o'er! + But Time those strings of Joy will sever. + And Hope will not dance on for ever; + Then pray, Child, pray! + + Now thy Mother's Hymn abideth + Round they pillow in the night, + And gentle feet creep to thy bed, + And o'er thy quiet face is shed + The taper's darken'd light. + But that sweet Hymn shall pass away, + By thee no more those feet shall stay; + Then pray, Child, pray! + +_New Monthly Magazine._ + + * * * * * + + +SONG. + +BY JAMES SHERIDAN KNOWLES. + + + A Fair lady looks out from her lattice--but why + Do tears bedim that lady's eye? + Below stands the knight who her favour wears, + But be mounts not the turret to dry her tears; + He springs on his charger--"Farewell;--he is gone, + And the lady is left in her turret alone. + "Ply the distaff, my maids--ply the distaff--before + It is spun, he may happen to stand at the door." + + There was never an eye than that lady's more bright,-- + Why speeds then away her favour'd knight? + The couch which her white fingers broider'd so fair, + Were a far softer seat than the saddle of war; + What's more tempting than love? In the patriot's sight + The battle of freedom he hastens to fight; + "Ply the distaff, my maids--ply the distaff--before + It is spun, he may happen to stand at the door." + + The fair lady looks out from her lattice, but now + Her eye is as bright as her fair shining brow: + And is sorrow so fleeting?--Love's tears--dry they fast? + The stronger is love, is't the less sure to last? + Whose arm sees her knight round her waist?--'Tis his own; + By the battle she wept for, her lover is won; + "Ply the distaff, my maids, ply the distaff no more; + Would you spin when already he stands at the door?" + +_Monthly Magazine._ + + * * * * * + + +[Illustration] + +LORD CORNWALLIS'S MONUMENT, IN INDIA. + + +The annexed cut represents the mausoleum of the Marquess of Cornwallis, +whose distinguished connexion with the success of British arms in India +will be recollected by the reader. It stands at Ghazepoor, a large town or +city, in the province of Benares, on the river Ganges, about 450 miles +from Calcutta. His lordship died on the river in the year 1805, while +proceeding to make the requisite arrangements for some ceded prisoners. He +was, at the time, governor-general of India, having been appointed to +succeed the Marquess Wellesley, in 1804. The last act of his life accords +with his general activity and vigilance, for he always gave his +instructions in person, and attended to the performance of them. His +personal character was amiable and unassuming, and if his talents were not +brilliant, his sound sense, aided by his laudable ambition and +perseverance, effected much good. + +The monument is built of stone, and cost a lac of rupees, or 10,000_l_. It +is surrounded by an iron railing, and its vicinity is the favourite +promenade of the gentry of Ghazepoor, which has been termed the +Montpellier of India. + +Bishop Heber, in his interesting Journey through India, objects to the +architectural taste of the monument in these critical observations: + +"During our drive this evening I had a nearer view of Lord Cornwallis's +monument, which certainly does not improve on close inspection; it has +been evidently a very costly building; its materials are excellent, being +some of the finest free-stone I ever saw, and it is an imitation of the +celebrated Sibyl's temple, of large proportions, solid masonry, and raised +above the ground on a lofty and striking basement. But its pillars, +instead of beautiful Corinthian well-fluted, are of the meanest Doric. +They are quite too slender for their height, and for the heavy entablature +and cornice which rest on them. The dome instead of springing from nearly +the same level with the roof of the surrounding portico, is raised ten +feet higher on a most ugly and unmeaning attic story, and the windows +(which are quite useless) are the most extraordinary embrasures (for they +resemble nothing else) that I ever saw, out of a fortress. Above all, the +building is utterly unmeaning, it is neither a temple nor a tomb, neither +has altar, statue, nor inscription. It is, in fact, a 'folly' of the same +sort, but far more ambitious and costly, than that which is built at +Barrackpoor, and it is vexatious to think that a very handsome church +might have been built, and a handsome marble monument to Lord Cornwallis +placed in its interior, for little more money than has been employed on a +thing, which, if any foreigner saw it, (an event luckily not very probable) +would afford subject for mockery to all who read his travels, at the +expense of Anglo-Indian ideas of architecture. Ugly as it is, however, by +itself, it may yet be made a good use of, by making it serve the purpose +of a detached 'torre campanile' to the new church which is required for +the station; to this last it would save the necessity of a steeple or +cupola, and would much lessen the expense of the building." + + * * * * * + + + + +THE NATURALIST. + +We quote these Facts from the _Correspondence of the Magazine of Natural +History_ for May. + + +_Luminous appearance on the ears of a Horse._ + +When we cannot find a satisfactory solution for any puzzling occurrence +which we are desirous of investigating, perhaps the best way is to +endeavour to accumulate a series of facts of the same kind. Some years ago, +I was riding from Edinburgh: it was (as I happen to recollect) on the 12th +of November, and in the evening. There had been, since past midday, a +succession of those stormy clouds, driven by a westerly wind, which are +common at that season. Perhaps the wind was a point or two to the north of +west, if it makes any difference, and during the intervals there was +always a comparative calm or slackening of the wind. I was once taken by +one of these storm-clouds about Nether Libberton, on the Dalkeith road. I +used the spur a little; and, having been a yeoman for many years, I was +unconsciously holding a small rattan cane somewhat after the mode of +"carry swords." Roused by the velocity of the wind, and the darkness of +the passing cloud, I naturally turned my eyes to the right, and was not a +little surprised to observe a pale clear flame, in form like that of a +small candle, playing upon the point of the cane. Taking it for granted, +forthwith, that a stream of electricity, attracted by the cane, was +passing from the cloud through my body, and through the horse, into the +ground, I instantly turned it downwards. At the time I did not wait to +consider that I was in the hollow of the valley between one of the highest +of the Pentlands and Arthur's Seat, and that there were higher objects +than myself, and scattered trees in the neighbourhood far more likely to +act upon the cloud, or be exposed to its influence. A short time after +this happened, I mentioned the circumstance of the flame to a friend. He +told me, in return, that once, when riding between Hawick and Jedburgh, +during a dark and stormy night, he was greatly annoyed, for most part of +the way, by two flames, like candles, that appeared to issue from his +horse's ears. He certainly is as little likely to be affected by +superstition as most men; but never before having heard of such a +circumstance, and the idea of electricity not then occurring to his mind, +he could not help thinking that Will o' the wisp and he, hoping it was +nothing worse, had got into rather too close intimacy. + +Another Correspondent says this luminous "phenomenon may be often seen on +a gravel walk upon a moist autumnal evening. It arises from something of a +slimy nature emitted by the Scolopéndra eléctrica (one of the animals +vulgarly called centipedes), which is luminous. As the animal crawls, it +leaves a long train of phosphoric light behind it on the ground, which is +often mistaken for the presence of a glow-worm. In all probability, one of +these animals had recently crawled over the head of the horse, or rather, +might be still crawling there, and the person who saw it unconsciously +watched its progress." + +_The Short Sunfish_ + +appears to be the name of the "Curious Fish," described by our +indefatigable Correspondent, W.G.C., in _The Mirror_, vol. xviii. p.168, +and quoted by the Editor; he mentioned the occurrence of this fish to Mr. +Yarrell, who has furnished a list of references to most of the British +authors by whom it has either been described or figured. (See the Magazine, +p. 316.) + +By the way, Bishop Heber mentions a sun-fish, or, as it is popularly +called _Devil-fish_: it is very large and nearly circular, with vivid +colours about it, and it swims by lashing the water with its tail exactly +on a level with the surface. + +_The Char_. + +The char (_S_álmo alpìnus _L_.) is found in several of the deep and rocky +lakes of England: viz. Coniston in Lancashire, Windermere in Westmoreland, +Buttermere and Cromackwater in Cumberland, and, I believe, in Ulswater. My +observations are confined to Windermere. Windermere is fed by two streams, +which unite at the head of the lake, named the Brathy and the Rothay: the +bottom of the former is rocky, and that of the latter sandy. On the first +sharp weather that occurs in November, the char makes up the Brathy, in +large shoals, for the purpose of spawning, preferring that river to the +Rothay, probably owing to the bottom being rocky, and resembling more the +bottom of the lake; and it is singular that those fish which ascend the +Rothay invariably return and spawn in the Brathy; they remain in this +stream, and in the shallow parts of the lake, until the end of March. +While spawning, their colour and spots are much darker than when in season; +the mouth and fins being of a deep yellow colour; and they are covered +with a thick slime at this time. In the water before Brathy Hall, at +Clappersgate, hundreds may be seen rubbing and rooting at the bottom, +endeavouring to free themselves from the slime, and probably insects that +annoy them. Great quantities are caught during the spawning time, by the +netters, for potting, and some are sent up fresh for the London market; +but those only who have eaten char in summer, on the spot, when they are +in season, can tell how superior they are to those eaten in London in the +winter. About the beginning of April, when the warm weather comes in, they +retire into the deep parts of the lake; where their principal food is the +minnow ( _C_yprinus _P_hòxinus, _L_.), of which they are very fond. At +this time, they are angled for by spinning a minnow; but, in a general way, +the sport is indifferent, and the persevering angler is well rewarded if +he succeed in killing two brace a day. A more successful mode of taking +them is by fastening a long and heavily leaded line, and hook baited with +a minnow, to the stern of a boat, which is slowly and silently rowed along: +in this way they are taken during the early summer months; but when the +hot weather comes in, they are seldom seen. They feed, probably, at night; +and although they never leave the lake, except during the period of +spawning, nothing is more uncommon than taking a char in July and August. +When in season, they are strong and vigorous fish, and afford the angler +excellent sport. They differ little in size, three fish generally weighing +about 2lbs.: occasionally, one is caught larger, but they seldom vary more +than an ounce. The char, as it is well known, is a singularly beautiful +fish, and is accurately described by Pennant. The fishermen about the +lakes speak of two sorts, the case char and the gilt char; the latter +being a fish that has not spawned in the preceding season, and on that +account said to be of a more delicate flavour, but in other respects there +is no difference. + + * * * * * + +DUTCH RUSHES. + + +The _E_quisètum hyemàle, is commonly sold under the name of Dutch rushes, +for the purpose of polishing wood and ivory. If the rush be burnt +carefully, a residuum of unconsumable matter will be left, and this held +up to the light will show a series of little points, arranged spirally and +symmetrically, which are the portions of silex the fire had not dissipated; +and it is this serrated edge which seems to render the plant so efficient +in attrition. Wheaten and oaten straw are also found by the experience of +our good housewives to be good polishers of their brass milk vessels, +without its being at all suspected by them that it is the flint deposited +in the culms which makes it so useful.--_Magazine of Natural History, +March._ + + * * * * * + + +WOLF-DOG. + +In Hutton's Museum at Keswick, is a large stuffed dog (very much +resembling a wolf, and having its propensities), which some years ago +spread devastation amongst the flocks of sheep in this neighbourhood: a +reward was offered for its destruction, and, though hunted by men and dogs, +its caution and swiftness eluded their pursuit, till it was found asleep +under a hedge, and in that position shot.--_Corresp. Mag. Nat. Hist._ + + * * * * * + + +DUCKS. + +"While our voiturier," says Mr. Bakewell, "was resting his horses at +Villeneuve, I observed a singular instance of sagacity in some ducks that +were collected under the carriage. On our throwing out pieces of hard +biscuit, which were too large for them to swallow whole, they made many +efforts to break them with their beaks; failing in this, the younger ones +gave up the spoil, but some of the older ducks carried parts of the +biscuit to a pool of standing water, and held them to soak, till +sufficiently soft to be broken and swallowed with great facility. I must +leave it to metaphysicians to determine whether this process was the +result of induction or instinct." + + * * * * * + + +POISON OF TOADS. + +The circumstance of toads spitting poison, is mentioned in _M.L.B's_. +interesting paper on the _Superstitions relative to Animals_. The +following is the opinion of Dr. E.J. Clark on this subject, delivered at a +recent lecture. S.H. + +"The opinions of the vulgar are generally founded upon something. That the +toad spits poison has been treated as ridiculous; but though it may be +untrue that what the creature spits affects man, yet I am of opinion that +it does spit venom. A circumstance related to me by a friend of mine, has +tended to strengthen my opinion. He was a timber merchant, and had a +favourite cat who was accustomed to stand by him while he was removing the +timber; when, (as was often the case) a mouse was found concealed among it, +the cat used to kill it. One day the gentleman was at his usual employment, +and the cat standing by him, when she jumped on what he supposed to be a +mouse, and immediately uttered aloud cry of agony; she then stole away +into a corner of the yard, and died in a few minutes. It turned out that +she had jumped on a toad." + + * * * * * + + + + +THE SELECTOR; AND LITERARY NOTICES OF _NEW WORKS_. + +SCRIPTURAL ANTIQUITIES. + +(_Concluded from page 411_.) + + +_Phenomenon of the Rainbow._ + +It seems to us very probable, that the _density_ of the atmosphere was +changed at the deluge, having been considerably attenuated, nor can this +inference be regarded in the light of mere speculation: there seems +sufficient evidence that it really must have been so. The rainbow +appearing for the _first_ time--the abbreviation of human life, and the +diminished size of animal and vegetable forms, all seem to require this +condition. Far be it from us to doubt the direct interposition of JEHOVAH +in this catastrophe, but GOD sometimes employs secondary agents to effect +his designs. "I do set," says the ALMIGHTY, "my bow in the cloud, and it +shall be for a token of the covenant between me and the earth. And it +shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow +shall be seen in the cloud; and I will remember my covenant, which is +between me and you, and every living creature of all flesh: and the waters +shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh." It cannot be +reasonably supposed, that the rainbow ever appeared before the deluge, nor +from our previous remarks, is it at all necessary to suppose it. Had the +patriarchs seen this beautiful phenomenon in an antediluvian world, its +recurrence after the deluge could not have been a symbol of security, +since, though the spectacle had been already witnessed, the deluge had +supervened; but it was a _new_ phenomenon, the consequence of the altered +condition of the atmosphere, and was perhaps the result of a _super-added +law_. The design implies stipulations of a somewhat similar description, +and even pagan testimony might be cited as concurring in this view of it. + + [Greek: En nephei staerixe teras meropon anthropon.][5] + + "Jove's wondrous bow of three celestial dies, + Plac'd, as a sign to man, amidst the skies." + +_The Fall of Manna._ + +This remarkable and providential supply is thus described: "When the dew +that lay was gone up, behold _upon the face of the wilderness_ there lay a +small _round_ thing, as _small as the hoar-frost_, on the ground." We are +further told, that "_when the sun waxed hot it melted_;" and when +preserved until the following day it became corrupt, and "_bred worms_." +To preserve the extra measure which they collected on the sixth day, Moses +directed that on that day of the week they were "_to bake and seethe_" +what should be required on the morrow, as on the sabbath none should fall. +It is further added,--"And the house of Israel called the name thereof +_manna_: and it was like coriander-seed, _white; taste of it was like +wafers made with honey_." Such are the curious and interesting particulars +supplied by the Sacred Text. It is well known that a substance is used in +medicine under this name, chiefly obtained from the Calabrias, and is +collected from the leaves of the _ornus rotundifolia_, (fruxinas ornus, of +Linnaeus,) and a somewhat similar substance obtains in the onion; but from +its purgative qualities, it is sufficiently obvious that the manna of the +Scriptures is altogether different. According to Seetzen, Wortley Montague, +Burckhardt, and other travellers, a natural production exudes from the +spines of a species of tamarix, in the peninsula of Sinai. It condenses +before sunrise, but dissolves in the sun-beam. "Its taste," it is added, +"is agreeable, somewhat aromatic, and as sweet as honey. It may be kept +for a year, and is only found after a wet season." The Arabs collect it +and use it with their bread. In the vicinity of Mount Sinai, where it is +most plentiful, the quantity collected in the most favourable season does +not exceed six hundredweight. The author of the "History of the Jews" has +a note to the following effect: "The author, by the kindness of a +traveller, recently returned from Egypt, has received a small quantity of +manna; it was, however, though still palatable, in a liquid state, from +the heat of the sun. He has obtained the additional curious fact, that +manna, if not boiled or baked, will not keep more than a day, but becomes +putrid and breeds maggots. It is described as a small round substance, and +is brought in by the Arabs in small quantities mixed with sand." It would +appear from these very interesting facts, that this exudation, which +transpires from the thorns or leaves of the tamarix, is altogether +different from the manna of the manna-ash. We cannot doubt, from the +entire coincidence in every respect, that the manna found in the +wilderness of Sinai by the Arabs now, is _identical_ with that of the +Scriptures. That the minute particulars recorded should be every whit +verified by modern research and discovery, is worthy of great attention. +As Moses directed Aaron to "take a pot and put an omer full of manna +therein, and lay it up before the LORD, (in the ark,) to be kept for the +generations of Israel," as a memorial; so the remarkable phenomenon +remains in evidence of the truth of the narrative. The _miracle_, however, +remains precisely as it was. There is sufficient to appeal to, as an +existing and perpetual memorial to all generations. The MIRACLE, from +which there can be no appeal, and which allows of no equivocation, +consisted in its ample abundance, in its continued supply, and its +complete intermission on the sacred day of rest. Nutritious substances +have fallen from the atmosphere in some countries; such, for example, was +that which fell a few years ago in Persia, and was examined by Thenard. It +proved to be a nutritious substance referable to a vegetable origin. We +have before us, at the moment of writing these pages, a small work, +printed at Naples in 1793, the author of which is Gaetano Maria La Pira; +it is entitled, "Memoria sulla pioggia della Manna," &c.: and describes a +shower of manna which fell in Sicily, in the month of September, 1792. The +author, a professor of chemistry, at Naples, gives an interesting account +of the circumstances under which it was found, together with a variety of +interesting particulars, some of which we shall select, and we do so to +prove that a similar substance may have an _aerial_ origin, though carried +up in the first instance, it may be, by the process of evaporation;--this +would considerably modify the product. On the 26th September, 1792, a fall +of manna took place at a district in Sicily, called _Fiume grande_; this +singular shower lasted, it is stated, for about an hour and a half. It +commenced at _twenty-two o'clock_, according to Italian time, or about +five o'clock in the afternoon: the space covered with this manna seems to +have been considerable. A _second_ shower covered a space of thirty-eight +paces in length, by fourteen in breadth. This second shower of manna, +which took place on the following day, was not confined to the _Fiume +grande_, but seems to have fallen in still greater abundance in another +place, called _Santa Barbara_, at a considerable distance: it covered a +space of two hundred and fifty paces in length, by fourteen paces in +breadth. An individual, named Guiseppe Giarrusso, informed Sig. G.M. La +Pira, that about half-past eight o'clock, A.M., he witnessed this shower +of manna, and described it as composed of extremely minute drops, which, +as soon as they fell, congealed into a white concrete substance; and the +quantity was such, that the whole surface of the ground was covered, and +presented the appearance of snow: the depth, in all cases, seems to have +been inconsiderable. This aerial manna was somewhat purgative, when +administered internally; and the chemical analysis of it seemed to prove, +that its constituents, though somewhat different from that obtained from +the _ornus rotundifolia_,[6] did not materially differ from the latter in +its constituents. Sig. La Pira describes it of a white colour, and +somewhat granular or spherical; it seems to have had some resemblance, +externally, to that of the Scriptures; but it is not stated that it became +corrupt on being preserved. + +_Water from the Rock._ + +At the rock, in Horeb, called _Meribah_, Moses miraculously supplied the +people with water. He smote the rock, and an abundant stream immediately +issued: this extraordinary source of supply is now dried up, but there is +still left sufficient evidence to confirm the fact. It will suffice for +our purpose that we quote, in corroboration, the description of an +eye-witness and recent traveller: "We came to the celebrated rock of +Meribah. It still bears striking evidence of the miracle about it; and it +is quite isolated in the midst of a narrow valley, which is here about two +hundred yards broad. There are four or five fissures, one above the other, +on the face of the rock, each of them about a foot and a half long, and a +few inches deep. What is remarkable, they run along the breadth of the +rock, and are not rent downwards; they are more than a foot asunder, and +there is a channel worn between them by the gushing of the water. The +Arabs still reverence this rock." Dr. Clarke only spoke the truth when he +asserted that the BIBLE was the best itinerary that the traveller in +Palestine could possess. + +"_Weighing in the Balance._" + +The sentence of the ALMIGHTY, emblazoned on the walls of the palace of +Babylon, which registered the fate of Belshazzar, was deciphered by the +skill of Daniel. Part of this sentence is thus interpreted: "TEKEL; Thou +art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting." The author gives an +interesting illustration of the allusion. Here, it will be perceived, is +the _balance_ in which the actions of the individual have been weighed; +and we have only further to remark, that the former Mogul kings were, on +their ascending the throne, _literally weighed_. Thevenot gives an account +of this curious affair in his time. The balance wherein this seems to have +been performed, is described as being rich. The chains of suspension were +of gold, and the two scales, studded with precious stones, also of gold, +as well as the beam, &c. The king, richly attired and shining with jewels, +goes into one of the scales of the balance, and sits on his heels. Into +the other are put little bales, said to be full of gold, silver, and +jewels, or of other costly materials. These little bales are described to +be often changed. + +We have marked many more extracts than we can insert, and find that we +must content ourselves, and we hope the author, with again directing +attention to his very interesting production. + + + [5] II. xi. v. 28. + + [6] Also the _oak, ilex, chestnut_, &c. though less abundant and + more rare than on the leaves of the manna-ash. The ordinary + manna collected in Sicily, comes from districts in the _Val + Demone_ and the _Val di Mazzara_, at some distance from the + localities where this aerial manna fell. + + * * * * * + + + + +NOTES OF A READER. + + +PICTURE OF VENICE. + +(_From Contarini Fleming, a Psychological Autobiography_.) + + +An hour before sunset, I arrived at Fusina, and beheld, four or five miles +out at sea, the towers and cupolas of Venice suffused with a rich golden +light, and rising out of the bright blue waters. Not an exclamation +escaped me. I felt like a man, who has achieved a great object. I was full +of calm exultation, but the strange incident of the morning made me +serious and pensive. + +As our gondolas glided over the great Lagune, the excitement of the +spectacle reanimated me. The buildings, that I had so fondly studied in +books and pictures, rose up before me. I knew them all; I required no +Cicerone. One by one, I caught the hooded Cupolas of St. Mark, the tall +Campanile red in the sun, the Moresco Palace of the Doges, the deadly +Bridge of Sighs, and the dark structure to which it leads. Here my gondola +quitted the Lagune, and, turning up a small canal, and passing under a +bridge which connected the quays, stopped at the steps of a palace. + +I ascended a staircase of marble, I passed through a gallery crowded with +statues, I was ushered into spacious apartments, the floors of which were +marble, and the hangings satin. The ceilings were painted by Tintoretto +and his scholars, and were full of Turkish trophies and triumphs over the +Ottomite. The furniture was of the same rich material as the hangings, and +the gilding, although of two hundred years' duration, as bright and +burnished, as the costly equipment of a modern palace. From my balcony of +blinds, I looked upon the great Lagune. It was one of those glorious +sunsets which render Venice, in spite of her degradation, still famous. +The sky and sea vied in the brilliant multiplicity of their blended tints. +The tall shadows of her Palladian churches flung themselves over the +glowing and transparent wave out of which they sprang. The quays were +crowded with joyous groups, and the black gondolas flitted, like sea +serpents, over the red and rippling waters. + +I hastened to the Place of St. Mark. It was crowded and illuminated. Three +gorgeous flags waved on the mighty staffs, which are opposite the church +in all the old drawings, and which once bore the standards of Candia and +Cyprus, and the Morea. The coffee-houses were full, and gay parties, +seated on chairs in the open air, listened to the music of military bands, +while they refreshed themselves with confectionary so rich and fanciful, +that it excites the admiration, and the wonder of all travellers, but +which I have since discovered in Turkey to be Oriental. The variety of +costume was also great. The dress of the lower orders in Venice is still +unchanged: many of the middle classes yet wear the cap and cloak. The +Hungarian and the German military, and the bearded Jew, with his black +velvet cap and flowing robes, are observed with curiosity. A few days also +before my arrival, the Austrian squadron had carried into Venice a Turkish +ship and two Greek vessels which had violated the neutrality. Their crews +now mingled with the crowd. I beheld, for the first time, the haughty and +turbaned Ottoman, sitting cross-legged on his carpet under a colonnade, +sipping his coffee and smoking a long chiboque, and the Greeks, with their +small red caps, their high foreheads, and arched eyebrows. + +Can this be modern Venice, I thought? Can this be the silent, and gloomy, +and decaying city, over whose dishonourable misery I have so often wept? +Could it ever have been more enchanting? Are not these indeed still +subjects of a Doge, and still the bridegroom of the ocean? Alas! the +brilliant scene was as unusual as unexpected, and was accounted for by its +being the feast day of a favourite saint. Nevertheless, I rejoiced at the +unaccustomed appearance of the city at my entrance, and still I recall +with pleasure the delusive moments, when strolling about the place of St. +Mark the first evening that I was in Venice, I for a moment mingled in a +scene that reminded me of her lost light-heartedness, and of that +unrivalled gaiety that so long captivated polished Europe. + + * * * * * + +SWISS LEGEND OF WILLIAM TELL. + +The famous episode of William Tell, was momentous to the main plot of the +emancipation of Switzerland in its issue. This man, who was one of the +sworn at Rutli, and noted for his high and daring spirit, exposed himself +to arrest by Gessler's myrmidons, for passing the hut without making +obeisance. Whispers of conspiracy had already reached the vogt, and he +expected to extract some farther evidence from Tell on the subject. +Offended by the man's obstinate silence, he gave loose to his tyrannical +humour, and knowing that Tell was a good archer, commanded him to shoot +from a great distance at an apple on the head of his child. God, says an +old chronicler, was with him; and the vogt, who had not expected such a +specimen of skill and fortune, now cast about for new ways to entrap the +object of his malice; and, seeing a second arrow in his quiver, asked him +what that was for? Tell replied, evasively, that such was the usual +practice of archers. Not content with this reply, the vogt pressed him on +farther, and assured him of his life, whatever the arrow might have been +meant for. "Vogt," said Tell, "had I shot my child, the second shaft was +for THEE; and be sure I should not have missed my mark a second time!" +Transported with rage not unmixed with terror, Gessler exclaimed, "Tell! I +have promised thee life, but thou shalt pass it in a dungeon." Accordingly, +he took boat with his captive, intending to transport him across the lake +to Kussnacht in Schwytz, in defiance of the common right of the district, +which provided that its natives should not be kept in confinement beyond +its borders. A sudden storm on the lake overtook the party; and Gessler +was obliged to give orders to loose Tell from his fetters, and commit the +helm to his hands, as he was known for a skilful steersman. Tell guided +the vessel to the foot of the great Axenberg, where a ledge of rock +distinguished to the present day as Tell's platform, presented itself as +the only possible landing-place for leagues around. Here he seized his +cross-bow, and escaped by a daring leap, leaving the skiff to wrestle its +way in the billows. The vogt also escaped the storm, but only to meet a +fate more signal from Tell's bow in the narrow pass near Kussnacht. The +tidings of his death enhanced the courage of the people, but also alarmed +the vigilance of their rulers, and greatly increased the dangers of the +conspirators, who kept quiet. These occurrences marked the close of +1307.--_Cabinet Cyclopaedia. History of Switzerland._ + + * * * * * + +GREAT PLAGUE IN THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY. + +The early triumphs of Swiss valour were saddened by the breaking out of +that great plague, which visited with its ravages the greater part of +Europe and Asia, and of which the most vivid delineation ever written +(except that of a similar pest by Thucydides) has been preserved in the +Decameron of Boccacio. Whole towns were depopulated. Estates were left +without claimants or occupiers. Priests, physicians, grave-diggers, could +not be found in adequate numbers; and the consecrated earth of the +churchyards no longer sufficed for the reception of its destined tenants. +In the order of Franciscans alone, 120,430 monks are said to have perished. +This plague had been preceded by tremendous earthquakes, which laid in +ruins towns, castles, and villages. Dearth and famine, clouds of locusts, +and even an innocent comet, had been long before regarded as fore-runners +of the pestilence; and when it came it was viewed as an unequivocal sign +of the wrath of God. At the outset, the Jews became, as usual, objects of +umbrage, as having occasioned this calamity by poisoning the wells. A +persecution was commenced against them, and numberless innocent persons +were consigned, by heated fanaticism, to a dreadful death by fire, and +their children were baptized over the corpses of their parents, according +to the religion of their murderers. These atrocities were in all +probability perpetrated by many, in order to possess themselves of the +wealth acquired by the Jews in traffic, to take revenge for their usurious +extortions, or, finally, to pay their debts in the most expeditious and +easy manner. When it was found that the plague was nowise diminished by +massacring the Jews, but, on the contrary, seemed to acquire additional +virulence, it was inferred that God, in his righteous wrath, intended +nothing less than to extirpate the whole sinful race of man. Many now +endeavoured by self-chastisement to avert the divine vengeance from +themselves. Fraternities of hundreds and thousands collected under the +name of Flagellants, strolled through the land in strange garbs, scourged +themselves in the public streets, in penance for the sins of the world, +and read a letter which was said to have fallen from heaven, admonishing +all to repentance and amendment. They were joined of course, by a crowd of +idle vagabonds, who, under the mask of extraordinary sanctity and humble +penitence, indulged in every species of disorder and debauchery. At last +the affair assumed so grave an aspect, that the pope and many secular +princes declared themselves against the Flagellants, and speedily put an +end to their extravagancies. Various ways were still, however, resorted to +by various tempers to snatch the full enjoyment of that life which they +were so soon to lose, at the expense of every possible violation of the +laws of morality. Only a few lived on in a quiet and orderly manner, in +reliance on the saving help of God, without running into any excess of +anxiety or indulgence. After this desolating scourge had raged during four +years, its violence seemed at length to be exhausted.--_Ibid._ + + * * * * * + +WATERING PLACES IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY. + +Baden, the well-known and much-frequented watering-place, has been long +celebrated. The following account of it in the fifteenth century is +interesting. Those warriors who would wile away the interval between one +campaign and another agreeably, betook themselves to Baden in Aargau. Here +in a narrow valley, where the Limmat flows through its rocky bed, are hot +springs of highly medicinal properties. Hither, to the numerous houses of +public entertainment, resorted prelates, abbots, monks, nuns, soldiers, +statesmen, and all sorts of artificers. As in our fashionable +watering-places, most of the visitors merely sought to dissipate ennui, +enjoy life, and pursue pleasure. The baths were most crowded at an early +hour in the morning, and those who did not bathe resorted thither to see +acquaintances, with whom they could hold conversation from the galleries +round the bath-rooms, while the bathers played at various games, or ate +from floating tables. Lovely females did not disdain to sue for alms from +the gallery-loungers, who threw down coins of small amount, to enjoy the +ensuing scramble. Flowers were strewn on the surface of the water, and the +vaulted roof rang with music, vocal, and instrumental. Towards noon the +company sallied forth to the meadows in the neighbourhood, acquaintances +were easily made, and strangers soon became familiar. The pleasures of the +table were followed by jovial pledges in swift succession, till fife and +drum summoned to the dance. Now fell the last barriers of reserve and +decorum; and it is time to drop a veil over the scene. _Ibid._ + + * * * * * + + + + +THE GATHERER. + + +_Morland._--George Morland's brother was telling me the other day, that he +well remembered going with his brother in a hack to Smithfield, buying a +young donkey there, and bringing it home with them in the coach; his +brother laughing almost all the time. M.L.E. + + * * * * * + +_The Three Death's Heads._--The following words (much altered) are from a +poem entitled, "The Thre' Deid Powis", (The Three Death's Heads, by +Patrick Johnstoun.) + + "O, lady gay, in glittering garments drest, + Enrich'd with pearl, and many a costly stone, + Thy slender throat, and soft and snowy breast + Circled with gold and sapphires many a one. + Thy fingers small, white as the ivory bone, + Arrayed with rings, and many a ruby red; + Soon shall thy fresh and rose-like bloom be gone, + And naught of thee remain, but grim and hollow head. + O, woeful pride! dark root of all distress! + With contrite heart, our fleshless scalps behold! + O wretched man, to God, meek prayers address. + Thy lusty strength, thy wit, thy daring bold, + All shall lie low with us in charnel cold: + Proud king, 'tis thus thy pamper'd corpse shall rot; + Thus, in the dust thy purple pomp be roll'd, + Mark then, in peeled skull, thy miserable lot." + + * * * * * + +_Bushy._--Bushy, a small village, near Watford, seems to have been very +unfortunate in its ancient owners. Its first Norman possessor, Geoffrey de +Mandeville, having incurred the Pope's displeasure, was obliged to be +suspended in lead, on a tree, in the precinct of the Temple, London, +because Christian burial was not allowed to persons under such +circumstances. Edmond of Woodstock, was beheaded through the vile +machinations of Queen Isabella, and her paramour, Mortimer, on a suspicion +of intending to restore his brother, Edward II. to the throne; and so much +was he beloved by the people, and his persecutors detested, that he stood +from one to five in the afternoon before an executioner could be procured, +and then an outlaw from the Marshalsea performed the detested duty. Thomas, +Duke of Surrey, was beheaded at Cirencester, in rebellion against Henry IV. +Thomas de Montacute, Earl of Salisbury, after obtaining the highest honour +in the campaigns in France with Henry V. was killed by the splinter of a +window-frame, driven into his face by a cannon ball, at the siege of +Orleans. Richard, the stout Earl of Warwick, another possessor, was killed +at Barnet. George, Duke of Clarence, was drowned in a butt of Malmsey. +Richard III. was the next possessor. Lady Margaret de la Pole, was +beheaded at the age of seventy-two, by the cruel policy of Henry VIII., in +revenge for a supposed affront by her son the Cardinal. In this parish +also lived the infamous Colonel Titus, who advised Cromwell to deliver the +nation from its yoke, in a pamphlet, entitled _Killing no Murder_. + + * * * * * + +_West._--A New York paper states that the old sign of the Bull's Head, +which has hung at a house in Strawberry-street, for nearly seventy years, +is ascertained to be one of the first productions of Benjamin West, and is +said to be the first painting of the kind ever executed in America. The +wood on which it is painted is much decayed, but the paint and figures are +visible. + + * * * * * + +_Congreve_ is said to have written his comedy of the _Old Bachelor_ and +part of the _Mourning Bride_, in a grotto formed in a steep rocky hill in +the grounds of Ham Hall, in Dove Dale, Derbyshire. This romantic retreat +was furnished with a stone seat and table, and herein the poet and +dramatist was accustomed to seek refuge from the license of a London life. + + * * * * * + +_Rousseau_ appears to have been one of the unhappiest as well as the most +unamiable of men. He imagined himself the persecuted of all persecutors, +and sought an asylum in England from his supposed enemies. In April, 1766, +having just settled in Derbyshire, he wrote "Here I have just arrived at +last at an agreeable and sequestered asylum, where I hope to breathe +freely, and at peace." He lived chiefly at Wootton Hall, and delighted to +pass his leisure in the romantic Dove Dale. He did not, however, long +remain "at peace," for in April following, he returned to the continent, +heaping reproaches on his best friends. The rent of the house in which he +lived had been greatly reduced, to allure him into the country; his spirit +revolted at this; and as soon as he heard of it he indignantly left the +place. Whilst at Wootton Hall, he received a present of some bottles of +choice foreign wine; this was a gift, and his pride would not permit him +to taste it; he therefore left it in the house untouched for the next +comer. For some reason or other, or more probably for none, he had +determined not to see Dr. Darwin. The Doctor, aware of his objections, +placed himself on a terrace, which Rousseau had to pass, and was examining +a plant. "Rousseau," said he, "are you a botanist?" They entered into +conversation, and were intimate at once; but Rousseau, on reflection, +imagined that this meeting was the result of contrivance, and the intimacy +proceeded no further. + + * * * * * + +EARL GREY. + + +VOL. XIX. OF THE MIRROR. + +With a Steel-plate Portrait of the Right Hon. EARL GREY, and a +Biographical Memoir of his Lordship, upwards of Sixty Engravings, and 450 +closely-printed pages, is now publishing, price 5_s_. 6_d_. + +PARTS 124 and 125, price 8_d_. each, are also ready. + +The SUPPLEMENTARY NUMBER, containing the above Portrait, a copious Memoir, +Title-Page, Index, &c. price 2_d_. will be published in the ensuing week. + + * * * * * + +_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 of The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, +and Instruction, by Various + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 12553 *** |