diff options
Diffstat (limited to '12567-0.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | 12567-0.txt | 1566 |
1 files changed, 1566 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/12567-0.txt b/12567-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..dcb22bc --- /dev/null +++ b/12567-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1566 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 12567 *** + +THE MIRROR OF LITERATURE, AMUSEMENT, AND INSTRUCTION. + +VOL. XVII, NO. 476.] SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 1831. [PRICE 2d. + + * * * * * + + + + +LORD BYRON'S PALACE, AT VENICE. + + +[Illustration: LORD BYRON'S PALACE, AT VENICE.] + + +Scores of readers who have been journeying through Mr. Moore's +concluding portion of the _Life of Lord Byron_, will thank us for +the annexed Illustration. It presents a view of the palace occupied by +Lord Byron during his residence at Venice. When, after his unfortunate +marriage, he left England, "in search of that peace of mind which was +never destined to be his," Venice naturally occurred to him as a place +where, for a time at least, he should find a suitable residence. He had, +in his own language, "loved it from his boyhood;" and there was a poetry +connected with its situation, its habits, and its history, which excited +both his imagination and his curiosity. His situation at this period is +thus feelingly alluded to by Mr. Moore:--"The circumstances under which +Lord Byron now took leave of England were such as, in the case of any +ordinary person, could not be considered otherwise than disastrous and +humiliating. He had, in the course of one short year, gone through every +variety of domestic misery;--had seen his hearth eight or nine times +profaned by the visitations of the law, and been only saved from a +prison by the privileges of his rank. He had alienated, as far as they +had ever been his, the affections of his wife; and now, rejected by her, +and condemned by the world, was betaking himself to an exile which had +not even the dignity of appearing voluntary, as the excommunicating +voice of society seemed to leave him no other resource. Had he been +of that class of unfeeling and self-satisfied natures from whose hard +surface the reproaches of others fall pointless, he might have found +in insensibility a sure refuge against reproach: but, on the contrary, +the same sensitiveness that kept him so awake to the applauses of mankind +rendered him, in a still more intense degree, alive to their censure. +Even the strange, perverse pleasure which he felt in painting himself +unamiably to the world did not prevent him from being both startled and +pained when the world took him at his word; and, like a child in a mask +before a looking-glass, the dark semblance which he had half in sport, +put on, when reflected back upon him from the mirror of public opinion, +shocked even himself. * * * + +"Then came the disappointment of his youthful passion,--the lassitude +and remorse of premature excess,--the lone friendlessness of his +entrance into life, and the ruthless assault upon his first literary +efforts,---all links in that chain of trials, errors, and sufferings, by +which his great mind was gradually and painfully drawn out;--all bearing +their respective shares in accomplishing that destiny which seems to +have decreed that the triumphal march of his genius should be over the +waste and ruins of his heart. He appeared, indeed, himself to have had +an instinctive consciousness that it was out of such ordeals his +strength and glory were to arise, as his whole life was passed in +courting agitation and difficulties; and whenever the scenes around him +were too tame to furnish such excitement, he flew to fancy or memory for +'thorns' whereon to 'lean his breast.'" At the same time, the melancholy +with which his heart was filled was soothed and cherished by the +associations which every object in Venice inspired. The prospects of +dominion subdued, of a high spirit humbled, of splendour tarnished, of +palaces sinking into ruins, was but too faithfully in accordance with +the dark and mournful mind which the poet bore within him. Nor were +other motives of a nature wholly different wanting to draw him to +Venice.[1] How beautifully has the poet illustrated this preference:-- + + In Venice Tasso's echoes are no more, + And silent rows the songless gondolier; + Her palaces are crumbling to the shore, + And music meets not always now the ear: + Those days are gone--but Beauty still is here. + States fall, hearts fade--but Nature doth not die, + Nor yet forget how Venice once was dear, + The pleasant place of all festivity, + The revel of the earth, the masque of Italy. + + But unto us she hath a spell beyond + Her name in story, and her long array + Of mighty shadows, whose dim forms despond + Above the dogeless city's vanish'd sway; + Ours is a trophy which will not decay + With the Rialto; Shylock and the Moor, + And Pierre, cannot be swept or worn away-- + The keystones of the arch! though all were o'er, + For us repeopled were the solitary shore. + + +Her desolation:-- + + Statues of glass--all shiver'd--the long file + Of her dead Doges are declined to dust; + But where they dwelt, the vast and sumptuous pile + Bespeaks the pageant of their splendid trust; + Their sceptre broken, and their sword in rust; + Have yielded to the stranger: empty halls, + Thin streets, and foreign aspects, such as must + Too oft remind her who and what enthrals, + Have flung a desolate cloud o'er Venice' lovely walls. + + * * * * * + + Thus, Venice, if no stronger claim were thine, + Were all thy proud historic deeds forgot, + Thy choral memory of the Bard divine, + Thy love of Tasso, should have cut the knot + Which ties thee to thy tyrants; and thy lot + Is shameful to the nations,--most of all, + Albion! to thee; the Ocean queen should not + Abandon Ocean's children; in the fall + Of Venice think of thine, despite thy watery wall. + + I loved her from my boyhood--she to me + Was as a fairy city of the heart, + Rising like water-columns from the sea, + Of joy the sojourn, and of wealth the mart; + And Otway, Radcliffe, Schiller, Shakspeare's art + Had stamp'd her image in me, and even so, + Although I found her thus, we did not part, + Perchance even dearer in her day of woe + Than when she was a boast, a marvel and a show. + + I can repeople with the past--and of + The present there is still for eye, and thought, + And meditation chasten'd down, enough; + And more, it may be, than I hoped or sought; + And of the happiest moments which were wrought + Within the web of my existence, some + From thee, fair Venice! have their colours caught: + There are some feelings Time can not benumb, + Nor Torture shake, or mine would now be cold and dumb. + + +Again, in the notes to Childe Harold, where these spirit-breathing lines +occur: + +"The population of Venice, at the end of the 17th century amounted to +nearly two hundred thousand souls. At the last census, taken two years +ago, it was no more than about one hundred and three thousand, and it +diminishes daily. The commerce and the official employments, which were +to be the unexhausted source of Venetian grandeur, have both expired. +Most of the patrician mansions are deserted, and would gradually +disappear, had not the government, alarmed by the demolition of +seventy-two, during the last two years, expressly forbidden this sad +resource of poverty. Many remnants of the Venetian nobility are now +scattered and confounded with the wealthier Jews upon the banks of the +Brenta, whose palladian palaces, have sunk, or are sinking, in the +general decay. Of the 'gentil uomo Veneto,' the name is still known, +and that is all. He is but the shadow of his former self, but he is +polite and kind. The present race cannot be thought to regret the loss +of their aristocratical forms, and too despotic government--they think +only on their vanished independence. They pine away at the remembrance, +and on this subject suspend for a moment their gay good humour. Venice +may be said, in the words of the scripture, 'to die daily;' and so +general and so apparent is the decline, as to become painful to a +stranger, not reconciled to the sight of a whole nation, expiring +as it were before his eyes. So artificial a creation having lost that +principle which called it into life and supported its existence, must +fall to pieces at once, and sink more rapidly than it rose." + +Captain Medwin relates Lord Byron's detestation of Venice in unmeasured +terms. He likewise tells of his Lordship performing here one of those +aquatic feats in which he greatly prided himself; and the Countess +Albrizzi mentions a similar incident: "He was seen, on leaving a palace +situated on the grand canal, instead of entering his gondola, to throw +himself, with his clothes on, into the water, and swim to his house." + +The Countess, who became acquainted with his Lordship at Venice, also +narrates a few particulars of the mode in which he passed his time in +that city: Amongst his peculiar habits was that of never showing himself +on foot. "He was never seen to walk through the streets of Venice, nor +along the pleasant banks of the Brenta, where he spent some weeks of the +summer; and there are some who assert that he has never seen, excepting +from a window, the wonders of the Piazza di San Marco,[2] so powerful in +him was the desire of not showing himself to be deformed in any part of +his person. I, however," continues the Countess, "believe that he often +gazed on those wonders, but in the late and solitary hour, when the +stupendous edifices which surrounded him, illuminated by the soft and +placid light of the moon, appeared a thousand times more lovely." +"During an entire winter, he went out every morning alone, to row +himself to the island of the Armenians (a small island, distant from +Venice about half a league), to enjoy the society of those learned and +hospitable monks, and to learn their difficult language." During the +summer, Lord Byron enjoyed the exercise of riding in the evening. "No +sunsets," said he, "are to be compared with those of Venice--they are +too gorgeous for any painter, and defy any poet." + + + [1] Letter-press of the superb "Landscape Annual" for the present + year, whence our Engraving is transferred. The Life of the noble + Poet at Venice cannot be better described than in his own + Letters, for which see pages 43-82 of the present volume. + + [2] From some passages in his Lordship's Letters, this would not + appear correct. + + + * * * * * + + + + +NATURE REVIVING. + +(_For the Mirror._) + + + The rills run free, and fetterless, and strong, + Rejoicing that their icy bonds are broke, + The breeze is burthen'd with the grateful song + Of birds innumerous: who from torpor woke, + Cleave the fine air with renovated stroke. + The teeming earth flings up its budding store + Of herbs, and flow'rs, escaping from the yoke. + That Winter's spell had cast around; and o'er + The clear and sun-lit sky, dark clouds are seen no more. + + In woody dells, by shallow brooks that stand, + The modest violet, and primrose pale, + (Like youth just bursting into life,) expand, + And cast their perfumes down the dewy vale, + Till laden seems each bland, yet searching gale + That fans the cheek with odours of the Spring. + All living nature rushes to inhale: + As if this universal blossoming + Too soon would fade away, or instantly take wing. + + What beauty in the swelling upland green, + On which the fleecy flock in sportive play, + And mirth, and gambol innocent, are seen. + What pleasure through the scented copse to stray, + And hear the stock dove coo its am'rous lay, + Or climb the steep hill's side, beneath whose height + Dashing afar, like drifted snow, their spray; + The waves of ocean with an angry might, + Flash in the purple dawn, majestically bright. + + Yet 'midst this union of benignant tones, + How fares it with the reasonable part + Of God's created glories? Man disowns + Not to give thanks; but skilled by human art + To screen the passions of a grateful heart; + He walks encircled by philosophy, whose creed + Allows no outward semblance, to impart + One trace of joyousness that may exceed + Those coldly rigid rules on which it loves to feed. + + And therefore balmy spring, with all its joys, + Its pomp of early leaves, and thrilling lays, + And ceaseless chime of song (that never cloys, + Altho' the winds be redolent of praise.) + Wakes not in man that stupor of amaze, + Bird, beast, and plant, in universal choir, + Pay to Almighty in a thousand ways, + That sterner reason's votaries would flout, + Giving _their_ tardy homage in mistrust and doubt. + + Not so with me. I never feel the spring + Come on in beauty, but my swelling soul + Seems ready in its gush of joy, to fling + All trammels off, that would in aught control + Its wild pulsation. O'er it feelings roll + Too mighty for expression; and each sense + Appears to be commingled in one whole; + Whose sum of ecstacy is so intense, + It finds no home to garner it, but in omnipotence. + + +J.H.H. + + * * * * * + + +POLISH PATRIOT'S APPEAL. + +(_For the Mirror._) + + + Rise fellow men! our country yet remains + By that dread name, we wave the sword on high, + And swear with her to live--for her to die. + + CAMPBELL. + + + Have we not proved our country's worth--the country of the free? + Have we not raised the tyrant's foot--and struck for liberty-- + The giant foot that on us fell, in war's tremendous fall-- + The mighty weight that bore us down and held our arms in thrall? + + Have we not risked our homes, our all, at Freedom's glorious shrine, + And dared the vengeance of the Russ, whose sway is yclept divine? + And have we not appealed to arms--our last and dearest right! + And is not ours a sacred cause, a just and holy fight? + + Yes, on Sarmatia's bleeding form Oppression's fetters rang, + And Liberty's last dying dirge the Northern trumpet sang: + Our hopes were buried in the grave where Kosciusko lies; + There came not friendship then from earth--nor mercy from the skies! + + But Heaven has roused the Polish slave and bid him rend his chains, + And now we rank among the free--"Our country yet remains:" + Again we seek our native rights by God and Nature given-- + A people's right unto their soil from us unjustly riven. + + We call upon the honoured brave--the free of every land-- + For succour from the powerful--for aid from every strand: + We ask for every good man's prayer--we call for help on high; + Ye shades of Poland's slaughtered sons, look on propitiously. + + We fight the fight of nations--bear witness field and storm + To our desert hereafter? Now we are but braggarts warm-- + But by our honest cause, we swear, ere they our land retake, + Each town shall he a charnel tomb--each field a gory lake! + + +CYMBELINE. + + * * * * * + + + + +THE NATURALIST. + + * * * * * + + +ANECDOTES OF PARROTS. + +(_For the Mirror._) + + + "Who taught the Parrot human notes to try? + 'Twas witty want, fierce hunger to appease." + + DRYDEN. + + +A parrot belonging to the sister of the Comte de Buffon (says Bingley,) +"would frequently speak to himself, and seem to fancy that some one +addressed him. He often asked for his paw, and answered by holding it +up. Though he liked to hear the voice of children, he seemed to have an +antipathy to them; he pursued them, and bit them till he drew blood. +He had also his objects of attachment; and though his choice was not +very nice, it was constant. He was excessively fond of the cook-maid; +followed her everywhere, sought for, and seldom missed finding her. If +she had been some time out of his sight, the bird climbed with his bill +and claws to her shoulders, and lavished on her caresses. His fondness +had all the marks of close and warm friendship. The girl happened to +have a very sore finger, which was tedious in healing, and so painful as +to make her scream. While she uttered her moans the parrot never left +her chamber. The first thing he did every day, was to pay her a visit; +and this tender condolence lasted the whole time of the cure, when he +again returned to his former calm and settled attachment. Yet this +strong predilection for the girl seems to have been more directed to her +office in the kitchen, than to her person; for, when another cook-maid +succeeded her, the parrot showed the same degree of fondness[3] to the +new comer, the very first day." + +Bingley also says, "Willoughby tells us of a parrot, which when a person +said to it, 'laugh, Poll, laugh,' laughed accordingly, and the instant +after screamed out, 'What a fool to make me laugh.' Another which had +grown old with its master, shared with him the infirmities of age. Being +accustomed to hear scarcely anything but the words, 'I am sick;' when a +person asked it, 'How do you do, Poll? how d'ye do?'--'I am sick,' it +replied, in a doleful tone, stretching itself along, 'I am sick.'" + +Goldsmith says, "That a parrot belonging to King Henry VIII. having +been kept in a room next the Thames, in his palace at Westminster, had +learned to repeat many sentences from the boatmen and passengers. One +day sporting on its perch, it unluckily fell into the water. The bird +had no sooner discovered its situation, than it called out aloud, +'A boat, twenty pounds for a boat.' A waterman happening to be near +the place where the parrot was floating, immediately took it up, and +restored it to the king; demanding, as the bird was a favourite, that he +should be paid the reward that it had called out. This was refused; but +it was agreed, that as the parrot had offered a reward, the man should +again refer to its determination for the sum he was to receive. 'Give +the knave a groat,' the bird screamed aloud, the instant the reference +was made." + +Mr. Locke, in his "Essay on the Human Understanding," has related an +anecdote concerning parrots, of which (says Bingley) however incredible +it may appear to some, he seems to have had so much evidence, as at +least to have believed it himself. It is taken from a writer of some +celebrity; the author of Memoirs of what passed in Christendom from 1672 +to 1679. The story is this:-- + +"During the government of Prince Maurice, in Brazil, he had heard of +an old parrot that was much celebrated for answering like a rational +creature, many of the common questions that were put to it. It was at a +great distance; but so much had been said about it, that his curiosity +was roused, and he directed it to be sent for. When it was introduced +into the room where the prince was sitting in company with several +Dutchmen, it immediately exclaimed in the Brazilian language, 'What +a company of white men are here.' They asked it 'Who is that man?' +(pointing to the prince) the parrot answered, 'Some general or other.' +When the attendants carried it up to him, he asked it through the medium +of an interpreter, (for he was ignorant of its language) 'From whence do +you come?' the parrot answered, 'From Marignan.' The prince asked, +'To whom do you belong?' it answered, 'To a Portuguese.' He asked again, +'What do you do there?' it answered, 'I look after the chickens.' The +prince, laughingly, exclaimed, 'You look after the chickens?' the parrot +in answer, said, 'Yes, I; and I know well enough how to do it,' clucking +at the time, in imitation of the noise made by the hen to call together +her young. + +"This account came directly from the prince to the above author; he +said that though the parrot spoke in a language he did not understand, +yet he could not be deceived, for he had in the room both a Dutchman who +spoke Brazilian, and a Brazilian who spoke Dutch; that he asked them +separately and privately, and both agreed very exactly in giving him the +parrot's discourse. If the story is devoid of foundation, the prince +must have been deceived, for there is not the least doubt that he +believed it." + +Parrots not only discourse, but also mimic gestures and actions. +Scaliger saw one that performed the dance of the Savoyards, at the same +time that it repeated their song. + +P.T.W. + + [3] Pot or kitchen love. + + * * * * * + + + + +RETROSPECTIVE GLEANINGS. + + * * * * * + + +DITTY BY QUEEN ELIZABETH. + +(_For the Mirror._) + + +"I find, (says Puttenham,) none example in English metre so well +mayntayning this figure (_Exargasia_, or the Gorgeous) as that +dittie of her Majestie Queen Elizabeth's own making, passing sweete and +harmonical; which figure being, as his very original name purporteth, +the most beautiful and gorgeous of all others, it asketh in reason to be +reserved for a last compliment, and disciphered by the arte of a ladies +penne (herself being the most beautifull or rather beautie of Queens.) +And this was the occasion: Our Sovereign lady perceiving how the Queen +of Scots residence within this realme as to great libertie and ease (as +were scarce meete for so great and dangerous a prisoner,) bred secret +factions amongst her people, and made many of the nobility incline to +favour her partie (some of them desirous of innovation in the state, +others aspiring to greater fortunes by her libertie and life;) the +Queene our Sovereigne Lady, to declare that she was nothing ignorant +of those secret practices (though she had long, with great wisdom +and patience, dissembled it,) writeth that dittie, most sweet and +sententious; not hiding from all such aspiring minds the danger of their +ambition and disloyaltie, which afterwards fell out most truly by the +exemplary chastisements of sundry persons, who in favour of the said +Queen of Scots, declining from her Majestie, sought to interrupt the +quiet of the realm by many evill and undutifull practyses." + +The ditty is as followeth:-- + + The dowbt of future foes exiles my present joy, + And Wit me warns to shun snares as threaten mine annoy; + For falshood now doth flowe, and subject faith doth ebbe, + Which would not be, if reason rul'd, or wisdom weav'd the webbe. + But clouds of tois untried do choake aspiring mindes, + Which turn'd to rain of late repent by course of changed windes. + The toppe of hope suppos'd, the root of ruth will be + And fruitless all their grafted guiles, as shortly ye shall see. + Then dazzled eyes, with pride which great ambition blindes, + Shall be unveil'd by worthy wights, whose foresight falshood finds. + The daughter of debate, that eke discord doth sowe, + Shall reape no gaine, where former rule hath taught still peace to growe. + No forreine banish'd wight shall ancre in this port; + Our realme it brooks no stranger's force, let them elsewhere resort. + Our rusty sword with rust shall first his edge employ, + To polle their toppes that seeke such change, and gape for joy. + +J.G.B. + + * * * * * + + + + +NOTES OF A READER. + + * * * * * + + +QUARTERLY REVIEW. No. 87. + +_Character of Mr. Canning._ + + +There have been some who equalled him in acquirements--many who have +possessed sounder judgment and sounder principles; but never was there +in any legislative assembly, a person whose talents were more peculiarly +and perfectly adapted to the effect which he intended to produce. +With all the advantages of voice and person--with all the graces of +delivery--with all the charms which affability and good-nature impart +to genius, he had wit at will, as well as eloquence at command. Being +frank and sincere in all his political opinions, he had all that +strength in his oratory which arises from sincerity, although in his +political conduct the love of intrigue was one of his besetting sins. +By an unhappy perversion of mind it seemed as if he would always rather +have obtained his end by a crooked path than by a straight one; but his +speeches had nothing of this tortuosity; there was nothing covert in +them, nothing insidious--no double-dealing, no disguise. His argument +went always directly to the point, and with so well-judged an aim that +he was never (like Burke) above his mark--rarely, if ever, below it, or +beside it. When, in the exultant consciousness of personal superiority, +as well as the strength of his cause, he trampled upon his opponents, +there was nothing coarse, nothing virulent, nothing contumelious, +nothing ungenerous in his triumph. Whether he addressed the Liverpool +electors, or the House of Commons, it was with the same ease, the same +adaptation to his auditory, the same unrivalled dexterity, the same +command of his subject and his hearers, and the same success. His only +faults as a speaker were committed when, under the inebriating influence +of popular applause, he was led away by the heat and passion of the +moment. A warm friend, a placable adversary, a scholar, a man of +letters, kind in his nature, affable in his manners, easy of access, +playful in conversation, delightful in society--rarely have the +brilliant promises of boyhood been so richly fulfilled as in Mr. +Canning. + + +_Political Economists_ + +Are the most daring of all legislators, just (it has been well said) +as "cockney equestrians are the most fearless of all riders." But the +confidence with which they propose their theories is less surprising +than the facility with which their propositions have been entertained, +and their extravagant pretensions admitted. We need not marvel at the +success of quackery in medicine and theology, when we look at the career +of the St. John Longs in political life. From the time in which the +bullion question came out of Pandora's Scotch mull, parliament has been +wearied with the interminable discussions which they have raised there. +Youths who were fresh from college, and men with or without education, +who were "in the wane of their wits and infancy of their discretion," +imbibe the radiant darkness of Jeremy Bentham, and forthwith set +themselves up as the lights of their generation. No professors, even in +the subtlest ages of scholastic philosophy, were ever more successful +in muddying what they found clear, and perplexing what is in itself +intelligible. What are wages?--this, we are told, is the most difficult +and the most important of all the branches of political economy, and +this, we are also told, has been obscured by ambiguities and fallacies. +What is rent? What is value? Upon these questions, and such as these, +which no man of sincere understanding ever proposed to himself or +others, they discuss and dilate with as much ardour and to as little +effect, as the old philosophers disputed upon the elements of the +material creation; bringing to the discussion intellects of the same +kind, though as far below them in degree as in the dignity of the +subjects upon which their useless subtlety is expended. But it cannot +be said of them, that they, when all is said, + + With much discretion and great want of wit, + Leave all as wisely as it was at first; + + +for they mystify those readers who are not disgusted by such +ineptitudes, perplex weak minds, and pervert vain ones. Of such +discussions it may be said with the son of Sirach, that "when a man hath +done, then he beginneth; and when he leaveth off, then he shall be +doubtful." + + +_Homer._ + +Seneca reckons among the idle questions, which were unworthy of wise +men, the dispute whether Homer wrote both the Iliad and Odyssey, and +in what countries Ulysses wandered. Notwithstanding the "Stoic's +philosophic pride," these inquiries have still an interest to minds +of the highest order--such is the homage which genius extorts from the +remotest countries and from the latest ages. We noticed, in an article +in our last Number, the curious fact of native youths in India +performing parts of Shakspeare, and thus on the shores of the Ganges +countless minds are deriving delight, perhaps improvement, from the +careless and unlaboured verses of the light-hearted Warwickshire +deer-stealer. So, in this country, and over all the continent of +Europe, which, when the songs of Homer first gladdened the halls of +the chieftains on the shores of the Aegean, were vast unknown deserts, +unpeopled, or wandered over by a few rude hunters; which, to the Greeks, +were regions of more than Cimmerian darkness, beyond the boundaries of +the living world--men of the loftiest and most powerful understanding +are examining, and discussing, and disputing the most minute points +which may illustrate the poetry of the blind bard; scholars are +elucidating, antiquaries illustrating, philosophers reasoning upon, +men of genius transfusing into their native tongues, poets honouring +with despairing emulation, the whole mind of educated man _feeling_ +the transcendent power of the poet of the Iliad and Odyssey. Surely, +the boasted triumph of poetry over space and time is no daring +hyperbole--surely, it is little more than the boasted reality of truth. + + +_Power of Memory._ + +It is indeed not easy to calculate the height to which the memory may +be cultivated. To take an ordinary case, we might refer to that of any +first-rate actor, who must be prepared, at a very short warning, to +"rhapsodize" night after night, parts which, when laid together, would +amount to an immense number of lines. But all this is nothing to two +instances of our own day. Visiting at Naples a gentleman of the highest +intellectual attainments, and who held a distinguished rank among the +men of letters in the last century, he informed us that the day before +he had passed much time in examining a man, not highly educated, who had +learned to repeat the whole Gierusalemme Liberata of Tasso; not only to +recite it consecutively, but to repeat any given stanza of any given +book; to repeat those stanzas in utter defiance of the sense, either +forwards or backwards, or from the eighth line to the first, alternately +the odd and even lines--in short, whatever the passage required, the +memory, which seemed to cling to the words much more than to the sense, +had it at such perfect command, that it could produce it under any form. +Our informant went on to state, that this singular being was proceeding +to learn the Orlando Furioso in the same manner. But even this instance +is less wonderful than one as to which we may appeal to any of our +readers that happened some twenty years ago to visit the town of +Stirling, in Scotland. No such person can have forgotten that poor, +uneducated man, _Blind Jamie_, who could actually repeat, after +a few minutes' consideration, any verse required from any part of the +Bible--even the obscurest and least important enumeration of mere proper +names not excepted. + + +_Origin of the Homeric Poems._ + +It is said that the art of writing, and the use of manageable writing +materials, were entirely, or all but entirely, unknown in Greece and +the islands at the supposed date of the composition of the Iliad; and +that if so, this poem could not have been committed to writing during +the time of such its composition; that in a question of comparative +probabilities like this, it is a much grosser improbability that even +the single Iliad, amounting, after all curtailments and expungings, +to upwards of 15,000 lines, should have been actually conceived and +perfected in the brain of one man, with no other help but his own or +others' memory, than that it should, in fact, be the result of the +labours of several distinct authors; that if the Odyssey be counted, +the improbability is doubled; that if we add, upon the authority of +Thucydides and Aristotle, the Hymns and Margites, not to say the +Batrachomuiomachia, that which was improbable becomes absolutely +impossible; that all that has been so often said as to the fact of as +many lines, or more, having been committed to memory, is beside the +point in question, which is not whether 15,000 or 30,000 lines may +be learnt by art from a book or manuscript, but whether one man can +_compose_ a poem of that length, which, rightly or not, shall +be thought to be a perfect model of symmetry or consistency of parts, +without the aid of writing materials; that, admitting the superior +probability of such a thing in a primitive age, we know nothing +analogous to such a case; and that it so transcends the common limits +of intellectual power, as, at the least, to merit, with as much justice +as the opposite opinion, the character of improbability.--_H.N. +Coleridge._ + + * * * * * + + +LIBERALISM AND MUSIC. + +It seems that the day is come again when musical airs are ranked in +political importance with proclamations, manifestoes, &c. Everybody +knows the story of the Swiss hired troops, the _Ranz des Vaches_, and +the prohibition of this tune in France. A Polish air, the _Dombrowski +Mazourka_, which the regiment of General Szembek played on entering +Warsaw, has been forbidden by the Grand Duke Constantine, on pain of a +penalty of 400 florins; the consequence of which is, that it has become +the outward and audible sign of patriotism in every part of Poland; just +as the Marseilles March and _la Parisienne_ are in France and the +Netherlands the signals of liberalism. During Mr. Pitt's administration +an organ grinder was committed to Newgate for playing "Ah! ça ira" +in the streets. This was a silly step; but the fellow excited little +commiseration, for the tune was the war-whoop of a few savages who +were at that time deluging France with blood. It affords another +proof, however, of the power ascribed by statesmen to instrumental +music, uninterpreted by words in exciting ideas and producing +associations.--_Harmonicon, Feb. 1._ + + * * * * * + + +TURKISH MUSICAL GUSTO. + +A modern traveller informs us, that the band of an English ambassador +at Constantinople once performed a concert for the entertainment of +the Sultan and his court. At the conclusion it was asked, which of the +pieces he preferred. He replied, the first, which was accordingly +recommenced, but stopped, as not being the right one. Others were tried +with as little success, until at length the band, almost in despair of +discovering the favourite air, began _tuning_ their instruments, +when his highness instantly exclaimed, "_Inshallah_, heaven be +praised, that is it!" The Turkish prince may be excused, when it is +known that at the commemoration of Handel in 1784, Dr. Burney thought +the mere tuning of that host of instruments more gratifying than the +ordinary performances to which he had been accustomed.--_Ibid._ + + * * * * * + +RODE, THE VIOLINIST. + +In 1814, he was resident at Berlin, where he gave a concert for the +benefit of the poor, and on quitting that capital, returned to his +native city, not again to quit it, except for one ill-starred visit to +Paris in 1818. This visit threw a fatal colouring over all the rest of +Rode's days, and probably contributed to shorten his life. For several +years he had played only in a small circle of admiring friends, who +persuaded him (nothing loth to believe) that his talents were still +unabated. The habit of hearing no one but himself had extinguished +emulation, and deprived him of all means of comparison. Rode suddenly +determined to re-appear in the musical world, and on his arrival in +Paris sought for opportunities of playing in private parties, with as +much eagerness as though he had still been a young man with a reputation +to make. His old admirers were at first delighted to greet him; but they +soon saw with unfeigned regret that he was compromising a great and +well-earned name. His tone, once so pure and beautiful, had become +uncertain; his bow was as timid as his fingers, and he no longer dared +to indulge fearlessly the suggestions of his imagination; in short +it was too apparent that, in spite of his delusion, Rode's former +confidence in himself was gone; and we know the importance of that +feeling of self-reliance which men of talent derive from the innate +consciousness of their own superiority: once destroyed, everything else +vanishes with it. He was applauded; respect for the last efforts of what +had once been first-rate talent secured him that meed; but he was +applauded because his audience considered it a kind of duty, and without +any symptoms of enthusiasm. He felt the distinction; a dreadful light +broke in upon him, and for the first time he became conscious that he +was no longer himself. The blow was the more severe as it was unlooked +for: he left Paris overwhelmed with grief; the check he had received +preyed incessantly on his mind and injured his health. A paralytic +stroke toward the end of 1829 deprived him of the use of one side and +affected his intellect, in which state he languished for nearly twelve +months, till on the 25th of November, 1830, death relieved him from his +sufferings.--_From a Memoir of Rode in the Harmonicon._ + + * * * * * + + +PROGRESS OF SCIENCE. + +It may be considered as sufficiently proved, that the sciences had not +acquired any degree of improvement until the eighth century before the +Christian era; notwithstanding great nations had been formed in several +parts of the earth some centuries earlier. Fifteen hundred years before +Christ there were already four--the Indians, the Chinese, the +Babylonians, and the Egyptians.--_Cuvier._ + + * * * * * + + + + +SELECT BIOGRAPHY. + + * * * * * + + +THOMAS HOPE, ESQ. + +(_For the Mirror._) + + +We regret to record the death of this distinguished scholar and +munificent patron of literature and the fine arts. For some weeks past +we have been awaiting the publication of his last work, entitled, "An +Essay on the Origin and Prospects of Man;" and after looking with this +expectation in the _Times_ of Friday, the 4th, we there read the +information of Mr. Hope's death, on the 2nd instant, at his house in +Duchess-street. + +Mr. Hope was a nephew of the opulent Amsterdam merchant of the same +name. We are not aware of his precise age, but should judge it must have +verged on sixty. In early life he travelled much, especially in the +East; and few Englishmen have acquired better knowledge of the manners +and customs of that division of the world than had the subject of this +memoir. His visits to the European continent are of much more recent +date. In its various academies of fine art his name will long be +cherished with grateful remembrance, since few men distributed their +patronage with so much munificence and judgment. + +Possessing an ample fortune and exquisite taste, Mr. Hope judiciously +applied his knowledge of the fine arts to the internal decoration of +houses: thus producing, in numberless instances, the rare combination of +splendour and convenience. On this subject, Mr. Hope published, in 1805, +an illustrative folio work, entitled "Household Furniture and Internal +Decorations." He also published two very superb works on costume, +entitled, "The Costumes of the Ancients," two vols. 8vo. 1809; and +"Designs of Modern Costume," folio, 1812: in which he displayed high +classical attainments and love of the picturesque. + +Mr. Hope, however, subsequently appeared before the literary world in a +work which at once places him in the highest list of eloquent writers +and superior men--viz. _Anastasius; or, the Memoirs of a Modern +Greek_: published in the year 1819. There are, indeed, few books in +the English language which contain passages of greater power, feeling, +and eloquence than this work, which delineate frailty and vice with +more energy and acuteness, or describe historical scenes with such +bold imagery and such glowing language. We remember the opinion of +a writer in the Edinburgh Review, soon after the publication of +_Anastasius_. With a degree of pleasantry and acumen peculiar +to northern criticism, he asks, "Where has Mr. Hope hidden all his +eloquence and poetry up to this hour? How is it that he has, all of a +sudden, burst out into descriptions which would not disgrace the pen +of Tacitus, and displayed a depth of feeling and vigour of imagination +which Lord Byron could not excel? We do not shrink from one syllable of +this eulogy." The subjects upon which Mr. Hope had previously written +were not calculated to call forth his eloquent feeling; and, such +excellence was not expected from him, who, to use the harmless satire +of the Edinburgh reviewer, "meditated muffineers and planned pokers." + +This was no praise of party: contemporary criticism universally allowed +_Anastasius_ to be a work in which great and extraordinary talent +is evinced. It abounds in sublime passages--in sense--in knowledge of +history, and in knowledge of human character;--and the rapid sale of +three editions has proved these superior characteristics to have been +amply recognised by the reading public. The work in its fourth edition +still enjoys a good sale. In each reprint the nicety of the writer is +traceable: the corrections and alterations in the metaphysical portions +on such passages as illustrate points of character, are elaborated with +exquisite skill, and fresh turns of scholarly elegance are observable +throughout each volume of the work. Memory has probably in some +instances enabled the author to re-touch his pictures of Eastern +scenery, and rearrange his grouping of particular incidents. What a +delightful labour of leisure must this have been for so ingenious a +mind! One of his similes--a weeping lady's eyes compared to violets +steeped in dew--has never been out of our recollection; and one of his +battle scenes almost makes the reader imagine himself transfixed to the +spot by a weapon of the contest. + +Mr. Hope married, in 1806, the Hon. Louisa Beresford, daughter of the +late Lord Decies, Archbishop of Tuam, and sister of the present peer, +by whom he has left three sons, the eldest of whom, Mr. Henry Hope, was +groom of the bedchamber to the late king, and recently took his seat +in parliament for the borough of West Looe. Of their highly-gifted and +accomplished mother we know many amiable traits; and, however bright +may have been her fashionable splendour in high life, it is more than +counterbalanced by her active benevolence in the county, in visiting the +homes and relieving the distresses of the poor of the neighbourhood. + +Of Mr. Hope's literary acquirements and his patronage of the liberal +arts we have already spoken. It is, however, grateful to be enabled +to refer to special acts of such patronage. It should not, therefore, +be forgotten, that to the liberality of Mr. Hope, Thorwalsden, +the celebrated Danish sculptor, is chiefly indebted for a fostering +introduction to the world: we have seen at the liberal patron's seat, +Deepdene, a stupendous boar of spotless marble, for which the sculptor +received a commission of one thousand guineas. Mr. Hope, too, was one of +the earliest of the patrons of Mr. George Dawe, R.A. In a memoir of this +fortunate and distinguished painter we find that "Andromache soliciting +the Life of her Son," from a scene in the French play entitled +"Andromache," was purchased by Mr. Hope, "who, in the most liberal +manner, marked his approbation of Dawe's talents by favouring him with +several commissions for family portraits, especially a half-length of +Mrs. Hope, with two of her children, and two whole-lengths of the lady +singly." To the useful as well as elegant arts Mr. Hope's encouragement +was extended; and for the last ten years he has filled the office of one +of the Vice-presidents of the Society of Arts and Sciences in the +Adelphi. + +Mr. Hope usually passed "the season" at his superb mansion in +Duchess-street, Portland-place, where he had assembled a valuable +collection of works of art, altogether unrivalled, and comprising +paintings, antique statues, busts, vases, and other relics of antiquity, +arranged in apartments, the furniture and decorations of which were in +general designed after classic models, by the ingenious possessor +himself. Among the sculpture is the exquisite Venus rising from the +Bath, by Canova. The whole of these valuables were open to the public, +under certain restrictions, during "the season." Mr. Hope likewise +possessed one of the most delightful estates in the county of +Surrey--viz. the Deepdene, near Dorking, to which he annexed Chart Park, +purchased from the devisees of the late Sir Charles Talbot, Bart. On the +last-mentioned estate is a spacious mausoleum, erected by Mr. Hope about +thirteen years since, and capable of containing upwards of twenty +bodies. Two of his sons, who died in their youth, are buried here. + +In the retirement of the Deepdene, Mr. Hope passed much time in +embellishing the mansion, and improving the gardens, grounds, &c. +"Here," observes the author of the _Promenade round Dorking_, "I was +much gratified with landscape gardening, the quiet of echoing dells, +and the refreshing coolness of caverns--all which combined to render +this spot a kind of fairy region. Flower-gardens laid out in parterres, +with much taste, here mingle trim neatness with rude uncultivated +nature, in walks winding through plantations and woods, with ruined +grottoes and hermitages, well adapted, by their solitary situations, for +study and reverie." Adjoining the mansion, Mr. Hope likewise constructed +a classical sculpture gallery, which he enriched with several antiques +from his town residence. Notwithstanding all these additions, we are +bound to confess, that, compared with the beauty of the situation, they +were but unsuccessful efforts of art to embellish bountiful Nature. + +The conveniences of the Deepdene are upon a scale of magnificence +similar to that of the mansion in Duchess-street. Their present +Majesties, before their accession, were occasional visiters at the +Deepdene; and upon the formation of the Queen's Household, Mrs. Hope +was appointed a Lady of the Bedchamber. + +Few men, even in the philanthropic neighbourhood of Dorking, were more +beloved than the late Mr. Hope. His patronage by money and otherwise, +was never vainly sought for a good object; and with this high merit we +close our humble tribute to his public and private excellence. + +PHILO. + + * * * * * + + + + +SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS. + + * * * * * + + +BACCHANALIAN SONG. + +(_From the "Noctes" of Blackwood._) + + +NORTH.--The air, you know, is my own, James. I shall sing it to-night to +some beautiful words by my friend Robert Folkestone Williams, written, +he tells me, expressly for the Noctes. + + + Oh! fill the wine-cup high, + The sparkling liquor pour; + For we will care and grief defy, + They ne'er shall plague us more. + And ere the snowy foam + From off the wine departs, + The precious draught shall find a home, + A dwelling in our hearts. + + Though bright may be the beams + That woman's eyes display; + They are not like the ruby gleams + That in our goblets play. + For though surpassing bright + Their brilliancy may be, + Age dims the lustre of their light, + But adds more worth to thee. + + Give me another draught, + The sparkling, and the strong; + He who would learn the poet craft-- + He who would shine in song-- + Should pledge the flowing bowl + With warm and generous wine; + 'Twas wine that warm'd Anacreon's soul, + And made his songs divine. + + And e'en in tragedy, + Who lives that never knew + The honey of the Attic Bee + Was gather'd from thy dew? + He of the tragic muse, + Whose praises bards rehearse: + What power but thine could e'er diffuse + Such sweetness o'er his verse? + + Oh! would that I could raise + The magic of that tongue; + The spirit of those deathless lays, + The Swan of Teios sung! + Each song the bard has given, + Its beauty and its worth, + Sounds sweet as if a voice from heaven + Was echoed upon earth. + + How mighty--how divine + Thy spirit seemeth when + The rich draught of the purple vine + Dwelt in these godlike men. + It made each glowing page, + Its eloquence and truth, + In the glory of their golden age, + Outshine the fire of youth. + + Joy to the lone heart--joy + To the desolate--oppress'd + For wine can every grief destroy + That gathers in the breast. + The sorrows, and the care, + That in our hearts abide, + 'Twill chase them from their dwellings there, + To drown them in its tide. + + And now the heart grows warm, + With feelings undefined, + Throwing their deep diffusive charm + O'er all the realms of mind. + The loveliness of truth + Flings out its brightest rays, + Clothed in the songs of early youth, + Or joys of other days. + + We think of her, the young + The beautiful, the bright; + We hear the music of her tongue, + Breathing its deep delight. + We see again each glance, + Each bright and dazzling beam, + We feel our throbbing hearts still dance, + We live but in a dream. + + From darkness, and from woe, + A power like lightning darts; + A glory cometh down to throw + Its shadow o'er our hearts. + And dimm'd by falling tears, + A spirit seems to rise, + That shows the friend of other years + Is mirror'd in our eyes. + + But sorrow, grief, and care, + Had dimm'd his setting star; + And we think with tears of those that _were_, + To smile on those that _are_. + Yet though the grassy mound + Sits lightly on his head, + We'll pledge, in solemn silence round, + THE MEMORY OF THE DEAD! + + The sparkling juice now pour, + With fond and liberal hand; + Oh! raise the laughing rim once more, + Here's to our FATHER LAND! + Up, every soul that hears, + Hurra! with three times three; + And shout aloud, with deafening cheers, + The "ISLAND OF THE FREE." + + Then fill the wine-cup high, + The sparkling liquor pour; + For we will care and grief defy, + They ne'er shall plague us more. + And ere the snowy foam + From off the wine departs, + The precious draught shall find a home-- + A dwelling in our hearts. + + + * * * * * + + +THE SNOW-WHITE VIRGIN. + +(_From a Winter Rhapsody. By Christopher North. Fytte III_.) + + +There is a charm in the sudden and total disappearance even of the +grassy green. All the "old familiar faces" of nature are for awhile out +of sight, and out of mind. That white silence shed by heaven over earth +carries with it, far and wide, the pure peace of another region--almost +another life. No image is there to tell of this restless and noisy +world. The cheerfulness of reality kindles up our reverie ere it becomes +a dream; and we are glad to feel our whole being complexioned by the +passionless repose. If we think at all of human life, it is only of the +young, the fair, and the innocent. "Pure as snow" are words then felt to +be most holy, as the image of some beautiful and beloved being comes and +goes before our eyes--brought from a far distance in this our living +world, or from a distance--far, far, farther still--in the world beyond +the grave--the image of a virgin growing up sinlessly to womanhood among +her parents' prayers, or of some spiritual creature who expired long +ago, and carried with her her native innocence unstained to heaven. + +Such Spiritual Creature--too spiritual long to sojourn below the +skies--wert Thou, whose rising and whose setting--both most +starlike--brightened at once all thy native vale, and at once left it in +darkness. Thy name has long slept in our heart--and there let it sleep +unbreathed--even as, when we are dreaming our way through some solitary +place, without speaking, we bless the beauty of some sweet wild-flower, +pensively smiling to us through the snow! + +The Sabbath returns on which, in the little kirk among the hills, we saw +thee baptized. Then comes a wavering glimmer of seven sweet years, that +to Thee, in all their varieties, were but as one delightful season, one +blessed life--and, finally, that other Sabbath, on which, at thy own +dying request--between services thou wert buried! + +How mysterious are all thy ways and workings, O gracious Nature! Thou +who art but a name given by our souls, seeing and hearing through the +senses, to the Being in whom all things are and have life! Ere two years +old, she, whose dream is now with us, all over the small silvan world, +that beheld the revelation, how evanescent! of her pure existence, was +called the "Holy Child!" The taint of sin--inherited from those who +disobeyed in Paradise--seemed from her fair clay to have been washed out +at the baptismal font, and by her first infantine tears. So pious people +almost believed, looking on her so unlike all other children, in the +serenity of that habitual smile that clothed the creature's countenance +with a wondrous beauty, at an age when on other infants is but faintly +seen the dawn of reason, and their eyes look happy, just like the +thoughtless flowers. So unlike all other children--but unlike only +because sooner than they--she seemed to have had given to her--even +in the communion of the cradle--an intimation of the being and the +providence of God. Sooner, surely, than through any other clay that ever +enshrouded immortal spirit, dawned the light of reason and of religion +on the face of the "Holy Child." + +Her lisping language was sprinkled with words alien from common +childhood's uncertain speech, that murmurs only when indigent nature +prompts;--and her own parents wondered whence they came in her +simplicity, when first they looked upon her kneeling in an unbidden +prayer. As one mild week of vernal sunshine covers the braes with +primroses, so shone with fair and fragrant feelings--unfolded, ere they +knew, before her parents' eyes--the divine nature of her who, for a +season, was lent to them from the skies. She learned to read out of the +Bible--almost without any teaching--they knew not how--just by looking +gladly on the words, even as she looked on the pretty daisies on the +green--till their meanings stole insensibly into her soul, and the sweet +syllables, succeeding each other on the blessed page, were all united by +the memories her heart had been treasuring every hour that her father or +her mother had read aloud in her hearing from the Book of Life. "Suffer +little children to come unto me, and forbid them not, for of such is the +kingdom of Heaven"--how wept her parents, as these the most affecting of +our Saviour's words dropt silver-sweet from her lips, and continued in +her upward eyes among the swimming tears! + +Be not incredulous of this dawn of reason, wonderful as it may seem to +you, so soon becoming morn--almost perfect daylight--with the "Holy +Child."--Many such miracles are set before us; but we recognise them +not, or pass them by, with a word or a smile of short surprise. How +leaps the baby in its mother's arms, when the mysterious charm of music +thrills through its little brain! And how learns it to modulate its +feeble voice, unable yet to articulate, to the melodies that bring forth +all round its eyes a delighted smile! Who knows what then may be the +thoughts and feelings of the infant awakened to the sense of a new +world, alive through all its being to sounds that haply glide past our +ears, unmeaning as the breath of the common air! Thus have mere infants +sometimes been seen inspired by music, till like small genii they +warbled spell-strains of their own, powerful to sadden and subdue +our hearts. So, too, have infant eyes been so charmed by the rainbow +irradiating the earth, that almost infant hands have been taught, as if +by inspiration, the power to paint in finest colours, and to imitate +with a wondrous art, the skies so beautiful to the quick-awakened spirit +of delight. What knowledge have not some children acquired, and gone +down scholars to their small untimely graves! Knowing that such things +have been--are--and will be--why art thou incredulous of the divine +expansion of soul--so soon understanding the things that are divine--in +the "Holy Child?" + +Thus grew she in the eye of God, day by day waxing wiser and wiser +in the knowledge that tends towards the skies, and as if some angel +visitant were nightly with her in her dreams, awakening every morn with +a new dream of thought that brought with it a gilt of more comprehensive +speech. Yet merry she was at times with her companions among the woods +and braes, though while they all were laughing, she only smiled; and the +passing traveller, who might pause a moment to bless the sweet creatures +in their play, could not but single out one face among the many fair, so +pensive in its paleness, a face to be remembered, coming from afar, like +a mournful thought upon the hour of joy! + +Sister or brother of her own had she none--and often both her +parents--who lived in a hut by itself up among the mossy stumps of +the old decayed forest--had to leave her alone--sometimes even all +the day long, from morning till night. But she no more wearied in her +solitariness than does the wren in the wood. All the flowers were her +friends--all the birds. The linnet ceased not his song for her, though +her footsteps wandered into the green glade among the yellow broom, +almost within reach of the spray from which he poured his melody--the +quiet eyes of his mate feared her not when her garments almost touched +the bush where she brooded on her young. Shyest of the winged silvans, +the cushat clapped not her wings away on the soft approach of her +harmless footsteps to the pine that concealed her slender nest. +As if blown from heaven, descended round her path the showers of the +painted butterflies, to feed, sleep, or die--undisturbed by her--upon +the wild flowers--with wings, when motionless, undistinguishable from +the blossoms. And well she loved the brown, busy, blameless bees, come +thither for the honey-dews from a hundred cots sprinkled all over the +parish, and all high over-head sailing away at evening, laden and +wearied, to their straw-roofed skeps in many a hamlet-garden. The leal +of every tree, shrub, and plant, she knew familiarly and lovingly in its +own characteristic beauty; and was loath to shake one dew-drop from +the sweetbriar-rose. And well she knew that all nature loved her in +return--that they were dear to each other in their innocence--and that +the very sunshine, in motion or in rest, was ready to come at the +bidding of her smiles. Skilful those small white hands of hers among +the reeds, and rushes, and osiers--and many a pretty flower-basket +grew beneath their touch, her parents wondering on their return home +to see the handiwork of one who was never idle in her happiness. +Thus, early--ere yet but five years old--did she earn her mite for +the sustenance of her own beautiful life! The russet garb she wore she +herself had won--and thus Poverty, at the door of that hut, became even +like a Guardian Angel, with the lineaments of heaven on her brow, and +the quietude of heaven beneath her feet. + +But these were but her lonely pastimes, or gentle task-work self-imposed +among her pastimes; and itself, the sweetest of them all, inspired by a +sense of duty, that still brings with it its own delight--and hallowed +by religion, that even in the most adverse lot changes slavery into +freedom--till the heart, insensible to the bonds of necessity, sings +aloud for joy. The life within the life of the "Holy Child," apart from +even such innocent employments as these, and from such recreations as +innocent, among the shadows and the sunshine of those silvan haunts, +was passed, let us fear not to say the truth, wondrous as such worship +was in one so very young--was passed in the worship of God; and her +parents--though sometimes even saddened to see such piety in a small +creature like her, and afraid, in their exceeding love, that it +betokened an early removal from this world of one too perfectly pure +ever to be touched by its sins and sorrows--forbore, in an awful pity, +ever to remove the Bible from her knees, as she would sit with it there, +not at morning and at evening only, or all the Sabbath long as soon as +they returned from the kirk, but often through all the hours of the +longest and sunniest week-days, when there was nothing to hinder her +from going up to the hillside, or down to the little village, to play +with the other children, always too happy when she appeared--nothing to +hinder her but the voice she heard speaking to her in that Book, and the +hallelujahs that, at the turning over of each blessed page, came upon +the ear of the "Holy Child" from white-robed saints all kneeling before +His throne in heaven! + + * * * * * + + + + +THE SELECTOR; AND LITERARY NOTICES OF _NEW WORKS_. + + * * * * * + + +ROMANCE OF HISTORY. + +_France. By Leitch Ritchie_. + + +The design of moulding the romantic annals of different countries into +so many series of Tales--is one of unquestionable beauty. It originated, +we believe, with the late Mr. Henry Neele, who was in every sense well +qualified for so poetical an exercise of ingenuity. He commenced with +"England;" but, unfortunately, did not live to complete a Second Series; +neither had he the gratification of seeing his design fully appreciated +by the public. The "Romantic Annals of England," on their first +appearance, made but slow progress in popularity: the author trusted, +and the publisher hoped, and, to use a publishing phrase, the work +gradually made its way--slow but sure--if we may judge from the +wished-for "new editions." How unlike is this course of favour to the +blaze of fashionable annals, or novels of high life, that are born and +die in a day, or with one reading circle of a subscription library. They +strut and fume in the publisher's newspaper puffs; but their light is +put out within a few brief hours, and they are laid to sleep on the +capacious shelves of the publisher's warehouse. Not so with the Tales of +Historical Romance: they have fancy enough to embellish sober fact. + +The _second_ series--_Spain_--is from a Spanish hand of some +pretension, but less power than that of Mr. Neele. + +The _third_ series--_France_--by another hand, is now before us. +In his advertisement, the author says, when he undertook the present +series, "he proposed to himself to fulfil what 'the Romance of History' +seemed to require, by presenting a succession of romantic pictures +illustrative of the historical manners of the French Nation." We incline +to his conception of the task. He further notes that "he has taken pains +to go for information to the original sources of French History. These +he found in reasonable abundance, in the old Collegiate Library of Caen, +and in the British Museum." There are in the Series nineteen Tales, +with historical summaries where requisite for their elucidation. +The titles are irresistible invitations--as Bertha, or the Court +of Charlemagne--Adventures of Eriland--the Man-Wolf--the Phantom +Fight--the Magic Wand--the Dream Girl, &c. Their style may be called +spirit-stirring, while it has much of the graceful prettiness of +love-romance.--The author, too, has caught the very air of chivalric +times, and his pages glitter with the points of their glories;--not +unseasonably mixed with the delightful quaintnesses and descriptive +minuteness of the old chroniclers. + +To condense either of the stories would be neither advantageous to the +author nor reader. We therefore extract a scene or two from "the +Bondsman's Feast," and an exquisite portrait of "the Dream Girl:"-- + + +_The Bondsman's Feast._ + +Arthault's only child was a son, who owed nothing to his father but the +prospect of a fair inheritance, for he was little like him in form, and +not at all in mind: he was a fine, manly, generous, and high-spirited +youth--such as would have been thought too early born, had his +appearance been made before the hereditary servility of his family was +forgotten. The knight, too, had an only child, a daughter; who, in +personal appearance and moral qualities, contrasted in as remarkable a +manner with her father. She was little almost to a fault, in the +standard of beauty, if there be such a thing; her form was moulded with +a delicacy, which gave the idea of one of those aërial shapes that dance +in the beam of poesy: and there was that gentle and refined playfulness +of expression in her fair countenance, which artists have loved to +picture in the nymphs of some silvan goddess, whose rudest employment +is to chase one another on the green bank, or sport in the transparent +wave. + +Guillaume loved the beautiful bourgeoise before he knew that such love +was a condescension; and Amable, when, on being desired by her father +to refuse her heart to Guillaume, she thought of inquiring whether she +possessed such a thing at all, started with surprise to find that she +had given it away to the knight's son long ago. But where was the use of +repining? Guillaume was young, and handsome, and generous, and brave; +and what harm could befall her heart in such keeping? Amable turned away +from her father with a light laugh, and a light step, and stealing +skippingly round the garden wall--for already the paternal prohibitions +had gone forth--bounded towards a grove of wild shrubs at the farther +end. + +The trees were bathed in sunlight; the air was filled with the song of +birds; the face of heaven was undimmed by a single spot of shade, and +the earth was green, and sparkling, and beautiful beneath. Such was the +scene around her; but in Amable's mind, a warmer and brighter sun shed +its light upon her maiden dreams, and the voice of the sweet, rich +singer Hope drowned the melody of the woods. "Away!" she thought; "it +cannot be that this strange, unkindly mood can endure; my father loves +his friend in spite of all, and the noble and generous knight could not +hate if he would. They shall not be a week apart when they will both +regret what has passed; and when they meet again, I will laugh them into +a confession that they have done so. Then the two friends will embrace; +and then Guillaume and I will sing, and dance, and read together +again--and then--and then--and then--" It seemed as if her thoughts had +run her out of breath; for at this point of the reverie she paused, and +hung back for a moment, while a sudden blush rose to her very eyes. +Soon, however, she recovered; she threw back her head gaily, and yet +proudly; legends of happy love crowded upon her memory, and minstrel +songs echoed in her ear; she bounded lightly into the wood, and as some +one, darting from behind a tree, caught her while she passed, Amable, +with the stifled scream of alarm, which maidens are wont to give when +they wish it unheard by all save one, found herself in the arms of +Guillaume. * * * * + +This was a proud and a happy day for Arthault. His head was in the +clouds; he scarcely seemed to touch the earth with his feet; but yet, +with the strong control which worldly men are wont to exercise over +their feelings, he schooled his aspect into the bland and lowly +expression of grateful humility. When, in the early part of the morning, +the echoes of Nogent (the chateau) were awakened by a flourish of +trumpets, which proclaimed the approach of the Count, instead of waiting +to receive him in the arcade under the belfry, according to the common +usage of lords at that period,[4] he walked bare-headed to the gate of +the outer court, and, kneeling, held the prince's stirrup as he +dismounted. + +The breakfast was served in cups and porringers of silver, set on a +magnificent gold tray, and consisted chiefly of milk made thick with +honey, peeled barley, cherries dried in the sun, and preserved +barberries. The bread was of the _mias_ cakes, composed of +rye-flour, cream, orange-water, and new-laid eggs;[5] and the whole was +distributed among the guests by Guillaume; the host himself having been +compelled to take his seat at table by the Count. + +The morning was spent in viewing the improvements of the place, +and riding about the neighbourhood; and at ten o'clock the company +partook of a dinner served in the same style of tasteful magnificence. +The viands included, among other things, a lamb roasted whole, the head +of a wild boar covered with flowers, fried trouts, and poached eggs, +which were eaten with boiled radishes, and peas in their shells.[6] + +A profusion of the precious metals graced the table, more especially in +drinking cups; those of horn, which were formerly in general use, having +about this period gone out of vogue. The luxury of forks, it is true, +had not yet been invented; but when it is remembered that the hands were +washed publicly, before and after meals, not as a fashionable form, but +in absolute earnest, it will not be feared that any indelicacy in the +feasters contrasted with the taste and splendour of the feast.[7] + +The wines filled by Guillaume, who waited particularly on the Count, +besides the fashionable vin d'Aï of the district,[8] included the vin +de Beaume of Burgundy, the vin d'Orleans, so much prized by Louis le +Jeune, and the powerful vin de Rebrechien (another Orleans wine) which +used formerly to be carried to the field by Henry I. to animate his +courage.[9] + +After dinner the guests partook of the amusement of the chase, which +afforded Arthault an opportunity of exhibiting, in all its extent, his +newly-acquired estates--and which, indeed, comprehended a great part of +the family property of Sansavoir; although the Count did not observe, +and therefore no one else was so ill-bred as to do so, an old blackened +building mouldering near the garden-wall, which Sir Launcelot had still +preserved, and where he continued to reside in a kind of dogged defiance +of his enemy. + +The festivities of the day were closed by a splendid supper, attended by +music and minstrel songs; and when the sleeping cup had passed round, +the Count Henri retired to the chamber prepared for him, which he found +to be not at all inferior to his own in luxury and magnificence. Vessels +of gold, filled with rose-water, were placed on his dressing-table; +the curtains of the ample bed were ornamented with partridge plumes, +supposed to ensure to the sleeper a long and peaceful life; and, in +short, nothing was wanting that might have been deemed pleasing either +to the taste or superstition of the age. + +We halt for the present with this foretaste of the gratification we +may calculate on receiving from nearly every page of the whole Series. +By the way, "the references to authorities for manners, &c. have been +introduced throughout the work, and occasionally, illustrative and +literary notes," at the request of the publisher; and we must not lose +this opportunity of complimenting the sense and good taste of the +suggestion. + + + [4] Gerard de Rousillon, MS. cited in Tristan le Voyageur. + + [5] The paste formed of these materials was spread upon broad + cabbage leaves, which came out of the oven covered with a slight + golden crust, composing the mias cakes.--Tristan le Voyageur. + + [6] Tristan le Voyageur. Boiled radishes, it may be important to + know, are an excellent substitute for asparagus! + + [7] Forks did not come into use till the time of Charles V. in + the latter half of the fourteenth century. In France, these + instruments, both in silver and tinned iron, are made so as to + bear some resemblance to the fingers, of which they are the + substitutes, and they are used exclusively in the business of + conveying food to the mouth; while the knives, being narrow and + sharp-pointed, can answer no purpose but that of carving.--In + England the case is different. The steel forks, in common use + among the people, are incapable of raising thin viands to the + mouth: while the broad, round-pointed knife was obviously + intended for this business. + + [8] The vin d'Aï, in Champagne, according to Patin, was called "Vinum + Dei," by Dominicus Bandius. It was the common drink of kings and + princes.--Paumier, Traité du Vin. + + [9] Mabillon, Annales Benedictines. + + * * * * * + + + + +THE GATHERER. + + A snapper up of unconsidered trifles. + SHAKSPEARE. + + +A clergyman of the name of Mathson was minister of Patteesdale, in +Westmoreland, sixty years, and died at the age of ninety. During the +early part of his life, his benefice brought him in only twelve pounds +a-year; it was afterwards increased (perhaps by Queen Anne's bounty) to +eighteen, which it never exceeded. On this income he married, brought +up four children, and lived comfortably with his neighbours, educated +a son at the university, and left behind him upwards of one thousand +pounds. With that singular simplicity and inattention to forms which +characterize a country life, thus he himself read the burial service +over his mother, he married his father to a second wife, and afterwards +buried him also. He published his own banns of marriage in the church, +with a woman he had formerly christened, and he himself married all his +four children. + +W.G.C. + + * * * * * + + +THE POPE PUZZLED. + +Pope Alexander the sixth asked the Venetian ambassador at Rome, "What +right his republic had to the dominion of the Adriatic See?" "It will be +found," replied he, "on the back of the donation of the patrimony of St. +Peter to his successors." + +W.A.R. + + * * * * * + + +CHANGING SIDES. + +"I am come from Naples to support you," said one of the old opposition +one night to a member on the ministerial benches. "From Naples!" was the +ready rejoinder; "much farther--you are come from the other side of the +House!" + + * * * * * + + +TO MOLLY. + + Mollis abuti, + Has an acuti, + No lasso finis, + Molli divinis. + Omi de armistres, + Imi na distres. + Cant u discover, + Meas alo ver.--SWIFT. + + * * * * * + + +KINGS OF FRANCE. + +It is worthy of remark, that none of the Kings of France have been +succeeded by their sons for nearly two centuries. Phillippe, the present +King of the French, succeeded to the regal sway in consequence of the +dethronement of Charles the Tenth; who succeeded his brother, Louis +the Eighteenth; who succeeded his brother, Louis the Sixteenth; who +succeeded his grandfather, Louis the Fifteenth; who likewise succeeded +his grandfather, Louis the Fourteenth, when only five years of age. + +H.B.A. + + * * * * * + + +PANDORA'S BOX. + +The Prince of Piedmont was not quite seven years old, when his +preceptor, Cardinal (then Father) Glendel, explained to him the fable of +Pandora's Box. He told him that all evils which afflict the human race +were shut up in that fatal box; which Pandora, tempted by Curiosity, +opened, when they immediately flew out, and spread themselves over the +surface of the earth. + +"What, Father!" said the young prince, "were all the evils shut up in +that box?" + +"Yes," answered the preceptor. + +"That cannot be," replied the prince, "since Curiosity tempted Pandora; +and that evil, which could not have been in it, was not the least, since +it was the origin of all." + +J.G.B. + + * * * * * + + +SQUALL AT SEA. + +The other evening a surgeon in the navy stated the following curious +circumstance:-- + +While off Madagascar, in the ship Scorpion, he with the other officers +of the ship were dining with the Captain (Johnson) who had just looked +at the glass; it being a very fine day no one had any apprehension +of a squall. The dinner was hardly over when the captain's eye caught +the glass: he suddenly rose from table and hurrying on deck, ordered +"All hands to turn up, and furl all sail immediately." They had just +completed the order and were descending, when the ship was laid on her +beam-ends, most of the men had a ducking, but that was all the mischief +that happened. Three or four East Indiamen had already been destroyed +by the same accident; and if the above order had not been complied with +immediately as it was, nothing could have saved the ship, it being only +a quarter of an hour since the first notice of it. The captain was +afterwards made commissioner of Bombay, where he died. + +GEO. ST. CLAIR. + + * * * * * + +_Printed and Published by J. LIMBIRD, 143, Strand, (near Somerset +House,) London; sold by ERNEST FLEISCHER, 626, New Market, Leipsic; +and by all Newsmen and Booksellers._ + + * * * * * + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, +and Instruction, by Various + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 12567 *** |