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Claudius +instituted combats between Thessalian horsemen and wild bulls; and he +also caused camels to fight for the first time with horses. Invention +was racked to devise new combinations of cruelty. Many of the emperors +abandoned themselves to these sports with as passionate an ardour as the +uncultivated multitude. Sensuality debases as much as ignorance, because +it is ignorance under another name. Claudius rose at daylight to repair +to the Circus, and frequently remained, that he might not lose a single +pang of the victims, while the people went to their afternoon meal. +Sometimes, during the reigns of Claudius and Nero, an elephant was +opposed to a single fencer; and the spectators were delighted by the +display of individual skill. Sometimes, hundreds and even thousands of +the more ferocious beasts were slaughtered by guards on horseback; and +the pleasure of the multitude was in proportion to the lavishness with +which the blood of man and beast was made to flow. The passion for these +sports required a more convenient theatre for its gratification than the +old Circus. The Colosseum was commenced by Vespasian, and completed by +Titus (A. D. 79). This enormous building occupied only three years in +its erection. Cassiodorus affirms that this magnificent monument of +folly cost as much as would have been required for the building of a +capital city. We have the means of distinctly ascertaining its +dimensions and its accommodations from the great mass of wall that still +remains entire; and although the very clamps of iron and brass that held +together the ponderous stones of that wonderful edifice were removed by +Gothic plunderers; and succeeding generations have resorted to it as to +a quarry for their temples and their palaces; yet the “enormous +skeleton” still stands, to show what prodigious works may be raised by +the skill and perseverance of man, and how vain are the mightiest +displays of his power when compared with those intellectual efforts +which have extended the empire of virtue and of science. + +The Colosseum, which is of an oval form, occupies the space of nearly +six acres. “It may justly be said to have been the most imposing +building, from its apparent magnitude, in the world; the pyramids of +Egypt can only be compared with it in the extent of their plan, as they +cover nearly the same surface[2].” The greatest length, or major axis, +is 620 feet; the greatest breadth, or minor axis, 513 feet. The outer +wall is 157 feet high in its whole extent. The exterior wall is divided +into four stories, each ornamented with one of the orders of +architecture. The cornice of the upper story is perforated for the +purpose of inserting wooden masts, which passed also through the +architrave and frieze, and descended to a row of corbels immediately +above the upper range of windows, on which are holes to receive the +masts. These masts were for the purpose of attaching cords to, for +sustaining the awning which defended the spectators from the sun or +rain. Two corridors ran all round the building, leading to staircases +which ascended to the several stories; and the seats which descended +towards the arena, supported throughout upon eighty arches, occupied so +much of the space that the clear opening of the present inner wall next +the arena is only 287 feet by 180 feet. Immediately above and around the +arena was the podium, elevated about twelve or fifteen feet, on which +were seated the emperor, senators, ambassadors of foreign nations, and +other distinguished personages in that city of distinctions. From the +podium to the top of the second story were seats of marble for the +equestrian order; above the second story the seats appear to have been +constructed of wood. In these various seats eighty thousand spectators +might be arranged according to their respective ranks; and indeed it +appears from inscriptions, as well as from expressions in Roman writers, +that many of the places in this immense theatre were assigned to +particular individuals, and that each might find his seat without +confusion. The ground was excavated over the surface of the arena in +1813; a great number of substructions were then discovered, which by +some antiquaries are considered to be of modern date, and by others to +have formed dens for the various beasts that were exhibited. The +descriptions which have been left by historians and other writers of the +variety and extent of the shows, would indicate that a vast space and +ample conveniences were required beneath the stage, to accomplish the +wonders which were, doubtless, there realized in the presence of +assembled Rome. We subjoin, from Messrs. Cresy and Taylor’s work, an +interior view looking west, taken at the time when the arena was so +excavated. It has since been filled up. The external view of this +remarkable building is given as it existed in the time of Piranesi, in +the last century. + +Gibbon, the historian, has given a splendid description, in his twelfth +book, of the exhibitions of the Colosseum; but he acknowledges his +obligation to Montaigne, who, says the historian, “gives a very just and +lively view of Roman magnificence in these spectacles.” Our readers +will, we doubt not, be gratified by the quaint but most appropriate +sketch of the old philosopher of France:-- + +“It was doubtless a fine thing to bring and plant within the theatre a +great number of vast trees, with all their branches in their full +verdure, representing a great shady forest, disposed in excellent order, +and the first day to throw into it a thousand ostriches, a thousand +stags, a thousand boars, and a thousand fallow deer, to be killed and +disposed of by the people: the next day to cause an hundred great lions, +an hundred leopards and three hundred bears to be killed in his +presence: and for the third day, to make three hundred pair of fencers +to fight it out to the last,--as the Emperor Probus did. It was also +very fine to see those vast amphitheatres, all faced with marble +without, curiously wrought with figures and statues, and the inside +sparkling with rare decorations and enrichments; all the sides of this +vast space filled and environed from the bottom to the top, with three +or four score ranks of seats, all of marble also, and covered with +cushions, where an hundred thousand men might sit placed at their ease; +and the place below, where the plays were played, to make it by art +first open and cleft into chinks, representing caves that vomited out +the beasts designed for the spectacle; and then, secondly, to be +overflowed with a profound sea, full of sea-monsters, and loaded with +ships of war, to represent a naval battle: and thirdly, to make it dry +and even again for the combats of the gladiators; and for the fourth +scene, to have it strewed with vermilion and storax, instead of sand, +there to make a solemn feast for all that infinite number of people--the +last act of one only day. + + [Illustration: Interior View of the Colosseum.] + +“Sometimes they have made a high mountain advance itself, full of +fruit-trees and other flourishing sorts of woods, sending down rivulets +of water from the top, as from the mouth of a fountain: other whiles, a +great ship was seen to come rolling in, which opened and divided of +itself; and after having disgorged from the hold four or five hundred +beasts for fight, closed again, and vanished without help. At other +times, from the floor of this place, they made spouts of perfumed waters +dart their streams upward, and so high as to besprinkle all that +infinite multitude. To defend themselves from the injuries of the +weather, they had that vast place one while covered over with purple +curtains of needle-work, and by and by with silk of another colour, +which they could draw off or on in a moment, as they had a mind. The +net-work also that was set before the people to defend them from the +violence of these turned-out beasts, was also woven of gold.” + +“If there be anything excusable in such excesses as these,” continues +Montaigne, “it is where the novelty and invention create more wonder +than expense.” Fortunately for the real enjoyments of mankind, even +under the sway of a Roman despot, “the novelty and invention” had very +narrow limits when applied to matters so utterly unworthy and +unintellectual as the cruel sports of the amphitheatre. Probus, indeed, +transplanted trees to the arena, so that it had the appearance of a +verdant grove; and Severus introduced four hundred ferocious animals in +one ship sailing in the little lake which the arena formed. But on +ordinary occasions, profusion,--tasteless, haughty, and uninventive +profusion,--the gorgeousness of brute power, the pomp of satiated +luxury--these constituted the only claim to the popular admiration. If +Titus exhibited five thousand wild beasts at the dedication of the +amphitheatre, Trajan bestowed ten thousand on the people at the +conclusion of the Dacian war. If the younger Gordian collected together +bears, elks, zebras, ostriches, boars, and wild horses, he was an +imitator only of the spectacles of Carinus, in which the rarity of the +animals was as much considered as their fierceness. Gibbon has well +remarked, “While the populace gazed with stupid wonder on the splendid +show, the naturalist might indeed observe the figure and properties of +so many different species, transported from every part of the ancient +world into the amphitheatre of Rome. But this accidental benefit, which +science might derive from folly, is surely insufficient to justify such +a wanton abuse of the public riches.” The prodigal waste of the public +riches, however, was not the weightiest evil of the sports of the +Circus. The public morality was sacrificed upon the same shrine as its +wealth. The destruction of beasts became a fit preparation for the +destruction of men. A small number of those unhappy persons who engaged +in fight with the wild animals of the arena, were trained to these +dangerous exercises, as are the matadors of Spain at the present day. +These men were accustomed to exhaust the courage of the beast by false +attacks; to spring on a sudden past him, striking him behind before he +could recover his guard; to cast a cloak over his eyes, and then +despatch or bind him at this critical moment of his terror; or to throw +a cup full of some chemical preparation into his gaping mouth, so as to +produce the stupefaction of intense agony. But the greater part of the +human beings who were exposed to these combats, perilous even to the +most skilful, were disobedient slaves and convicted malefactors. The +Christians, during their persecutions, constituted a very large number +of the latter class. The Roman power was necessarily intolerant; the +assemblies of the new religion became objects of dislike and suspicion; +the patience and constancy of the victims increased the fury of their +oppressors; and even such a man as the younger Pliny held that their +obstinacy alone was deserving of punishment. Thus, then, the imperial +edicts against the early Christians furnished more stimulating +exhibitions to the popular appetite for blood, than the combat of lion +with lion, or gladiator with gladiator. The people were taught to +believe that they were assisting at a solemn act of justice; and they +came therefore to behold the tiger and the leopard tear the quivering +limb of the aged and the young, of the strong and the feeble, without a +desire to rescue the helpless, or to succour the brave. + + ⁂ Abridged from Menageries, vol. ii. + +----- + +Footnote 1: + + Dion, lib. lix. + +Footnote 2: + + The Architectural Antiquities of Rome, by E. Cresy and G. L. Taylor: a + work of equal accuracy and splendour. + + + --------------------- + + + SALE OF THE SPECTATOR. + +It is Addison’s friend Tickell who tells us that the sale of the +‘Spectator’ sometimes amounted to 20,000 copies. The statement, however, +is scarcely credible. In the tenth number of the work it is mentioned on +the authority of the publisher, that the sale was already 3,000 a day. +We question if it ever rose much higher than this. No. 445, which +appeared on the 31st of July, 1712, was the last published without a +stamp; and in it the writer (Addison) intimates that the price will in +future be two-pence instead of a penny. Half of the addition was to pay +for the halfpenny stamp, and the other half to compensate for the +diminished circulation. A hope is at the same time expressed that the +country may receive “five or six pounds a day” by means of this tax laid +on the work. Even if this hope had been realised to its utmost extent, +it would have implied a sale of only 2,880 copies. But in point of fact +this appears to have been nearly the full circulation before the duty +was put on; for, in No. 555, the concluding paper (of the first series) +which is written and signed by Steele, the editor, the average produce +of the tax is only rated as being then “above 20_l._ a week.” The sale +must therefore have been only about 1,600 a day. And yet it seems to be +intimated that it had for some time been rather recovering from the +depression occasioned by the imposition of the tax: it was at first +reduced, we are told, “to less than half the number that was usually +printed before this tax was laid.” The circulation before the imposition +of the tax, therefore, could not have greatly exceeded 3,000; and, such +being its average amount, it seems scarcely possible that even on +extraordinary occasions it should have ever risen to anything like the +number mentioned by Tickell. At the time he wrote, however, the papers +making the first four volumes had been reprinted and published in a +cheaper form, and above 9,000 copies of each volume have been sold. This +sale of the third and fourth volumes appears to have been effected in +the course of the preceding three months; during which time, however, +very few copies, if any at all, of the first and second volumes, would +seem to have been disposed of. For, in No. 448, we are told that of +these two volumes an edition of about 10,000 copies had already been +carried off. It may be concluded, therefore, that this was the whole +number which the demands of the public would be made to absorb. Many +editions, however, of what extent we do not know, were sold in the +course of the next twenty or thirty years. We have before us Tonson’s +tenth edition, published in 1729; and his eleventh, dated 1733. There +had been a new edition, therefore, about once in every two years since +the first appearance of the work. + +It was probably this stamp duty which chiefly contributed to bring the +‘Spectator’ to a close. In the number in which the rise of price is +announced, considerable hesitation is expressed as to whether the +publication should be continued or dropt, as it was understood many of +the other penny papers would be. From a letter in No. 461, it appears +that the ‘Spectator’ was the only one of these periodicals which had +doubled its price; the others which survived contented themselves with +merely charging their subscribers the additional halfpenny required to +defray the tax. These, however, could not have allowed the retailers any +additional profit concurrent with the additional price. On account of +the increased price several coffee-houses had left off taking the +‘Spectator.’ In No. 488 we have again a notice of complaints made by +subscribers on account of this rise in the price of the publication. In +a short time after this we find the writers evidently beginning to make +preparations for concluding their work. The members of the club drop off +one by one. In No. 513 the clergyman is laid on his death-bed. No. 517 +announces the death of Sir Roger; and No. 530 the marriage of Will +Honeycomb. In No. 541 the Templar withdraws himself to study law. “What +will all this end in?” says a letter in the next day’s publication; “we +are afraid it portends no good to the public. Unless you speedily fix a +day for the election of new members, we are under apprehensions of +losing the ‘_British Spectator_.’” But the process of dissolution goes +on. No. 544 communicates, in an epistle from himself, the transformation +of Captain Sentry into a Squire; and, finally, No. 549 the removal of +Sir Andrew Freeport by the same fate. Another week terminated the +original series of the ‘Spectator,’ after it had continued to delight +the public for about a year and three quarters. It was resumed about +half a year afterwards, as a thrice-a-week publication; but the attempt +is not understood to have met with the success by which it had formerly +been attended; and the work was again laid down after it had continued +for about six months. + + + --------------------- + + + AGE OF THE HORSE. + +The method of judging the age of a horse is by examining the teeth, +which amount to forty when complete; namely, six nippers, or incisors, +as they are sometimes called, two tushes, and six grinders on each side, +in both jaws. A foal, when first born, has in each jaw the first and +second grinders developed; in about a week the two centre nippers make +their appearance, and within a month a third grinder. Between the sixth +and ninth month the whole of the nippers appear, completing the _colt’s +mouth_. At the completion of the first year a fourth grinder appears, +and a fifth by the end of the second year. At this period a new process +commences, the front or first grinder giving way, which is succeeded by +a larger and permanent tooth, and between two years and a half and three +years the two middle nippers are displaced, and succeeded by permanent +teeth. At three years old the sixth grinder has either made or is about +making its appearance. In the fourth year another pair of nippers and +the second pair of grinders are shed; and the corner nippers, toward the +end of the fifth year, are succeeded by permanent teeth, when the mouth +is considered almost perfect, and the colt or filly becomes a horse or a +mare. What is called the _mark_ of the teeth by which a judgment of the +age of a horse for several years may be formed, consists of a portion of +the enamel bending over and forming a little pit in the surface of the +nipper, the inside and bottom of which becomes blackened by the food. +This soon begins to wear down, and the _mark_ becomes shorter and wider, +and fainter. By the end of the first year the mark in the two middle +teeth is wide and faint, and becomes still wider and fainter till the +end of the third year, by which time the centre nippers have been +displaced by the permanent teeth, which are larger than the others, +though not yet so high, and the mark is long, narrow, deep, and black. +At four years the second pair of permanent nippers will be up, the mark +of which will be deep, while that of the first pair will be somewhat +fainter, and that of the corner pair nearly effaced. At this age, too, +the tushes begin to appear. Between the fourth and fifth year, the +corner nippers have been shed, and the new teeth come quite up, showing +the long deep irregular mark; the other nippers bearing evident tokens +of increasing wearing. At six years the mark on the centre nippers is +worn out, but there is still a brown hue in the centre of the tooth. At +seven years the mark will be worn from the four centre nippers, and will +have completely disappeared at eight years from them all. It may be +added, that it is the lower jaw of the horse that is usually examined, +and which is here described. The changes of the teeth taking place in +both jaws about the same time, but the cavity of the teeth in the upper +jaw being somewhat deeper, the mark lasts longer, though the exact +period is a matter of controversy. According to what may be considered +good authority, however, it may be stated that at nine years the mark +will be worn from the middle nippers, from the next pair at ten, and +from all the upper nippers at eleven. During all this time the tushes +(the extremities of which are at first sharp-pointed and curved) become +gradually blunter, shorter, and rounder. For further information on this +subject, the volume on the Horse, published by the Society, may be +advantageously consulted. + + + --------------------- + + + TOBACCO + + [Illustration: A tobacco plant, with several birds standing nearby.] + +Tobacco was introduced into Europe from the province of Tabaca in St. +Domingo in 1559, by a Spanish gentleman, named Hernandez de Toledo, who +brought a small quantity into Spain and Portugal. From thence, by the +means of the French ambassador at Lisbon, Jean Nicot from whom it +derived its name of Nicotia, it found its way to Paris, where it was +used in the form of a powder by Catherine de Medici. Tobacco then came +under the patronage of the Cardinal Santa Croce, the pope’s nuncio, who, +returning from his embassy at the Spanish and Portuguese courts, carried +the plant to his own country, and thus acquired a fame little inferior +to that which, at another period, he had won by piously bringing a +portion of the _real_ cross from the Holy Land. Both in France and in +the Papal States it was at once received with general enthusiasm, in the +shape of snuff; but it was some time after the use of tobacco as snuff +that the practice of smoking it commenced. This practice is generally +supposed to have been introduced into England by Sir Walter Raleigh; but +Camden says, in his ‘Elizabeth,’ that Sir Francis Drake and his +companions, on their return from Virginia in 1585, were “the first, as +far as he knew, who introduced the Indian plant, called Tabacca or +Nicotia, into England, having been taught by the Indians to use it as a +remedy against indigestion. And from the time of their return,” says he, +“it immediately began to grow into very general use, and to bear a high +price; a great many persons, some from luxury, and others for their +health, being wont to draw in the strong-smelling smoke with insatiable +greediness through an earthenware tube, and then to puff it forth again +through their nostrils: so that tabacca-taverns (tabernæ tabaccanæ) are +now as generally kept in all our towns, as wine-houses or beerhouses.” +No doubt the tobacco-taverns of Queen Elizabeth’s times were not +unworthy predecessors of the splendid cygar divans of the present day. +It appears from a note in the ‘Criminal Trials,’ vol i. p. 361, that in +1600 the French ambassador, in his despatches, represented the Peers, on +the trial of the Earls of Essex and Southampton, as smoking tobacco +copiously while they deliberated on their verdict. Sir Walter Raleigh, +too, was accused of having sat with his pipe at the window of the +armoury, while he looked in at the execution of Essex in the Tower. Both +these stories are probably untrue, but the mere relation of them by +contemporaneous writers shows that they were not then monstrously +incredible, and they therefore prove the generality of the practice of +smoking at that time amongst the higher class of society. After a time, +however, the practice of smoking tobacco appears to have met with +strenuous opposition in high places, both in this country and other +parts of Europe. Its principal opponents were the priests, the +physicians, and the sovereign princes; by the former its use was +declared sinful; and, in 1684, Pope Urban VIII. published a bull, +excommunicating all persons found guilty of taking snuff when in church. +This bull was renewed in 1690, by Pope Innocent; and, about twenty-nine +years afterwards, the Sultan Amurath IV made smoking a capital offence. +For a long time smoking was forbidden in Russia, under pain of having +the nose cut off; and in some parts of Switzerland, it was likewise made +a subject of public prosecution--the police regulations of the canton of +Berne, in 1661, placing the prohibition of smoking in the list of the +Ten Commandments, immediately under that against adultery. Nay, that +British Solomon, James I., did not think it beneath the royal dignity to +take up his pen upon the subject. He accordingly, in 1603, published his +famous ‘Counterblaste to Tobacco,’ in which the following remarkable +passage occurs:--“It is a custom loathesome to the eye, hatefull to the +nose, harmfull to the braine, dangerous to the lungs, and in the black +stinking fume thereof nearest resembling the horrible Stygian smoke of +the pit that is bottomless.” But notwithstanding this regal and priestly +wrath, the use of the plant extended itself far and wide; and tobacco +is, at this moment, perhaps the most general luxury in existence. The +allusion to the practice in the following lines, taken from the ‘Marrow +of Compliment,’ written in 1651, seems to show the prevalence of smoking +at that period:-- + + “Much meat doth Gluttony procure + To feed men fat as swine; + But he’s a frugal man indeed, + That on a _leaf_ can dine! + He needs no napkin for his hands, + His fingers’ ends to wipe, + That hath his kitchen in a box, + His roast meat in a Pipe!” + + + --------------------- + + + THE WEEK. + + [Illustration: Petrarch.] + +July 15.--_Saint Swithin._--Swithin, or Swithum, was a bishop of +Winchester who died in 868. He was, if the tradition connected with his +memory is to be believed, a man of sense; for he was above observing one +of the vain distinctions which exist even in our own day. He desired +that he might be buried in the open church-yard, instead of the chancel +of the minster, where the great reposed; and Bishop Hall adds, that he +wished his body to be laid “where the drops of rain might wet his grave; +thinking that no vault was so good to cover his grave as that of +heaven.” This was a wise and a Christian wish; for assuredly the desire +that the worthless body shall be entombed beneath the sacred aisles +where the living come to elevate their thoughts with the hopes of +immortality, is a poor clinging of the soul to the perishable garment +with which it is clothed. The wish of Swithin that his ashes should +speedily mingle with the elements, and that the rains of heaven should +water his grave, showed a humble and a truly religious mind. His monks, +says the tradition, thought more highly of worldly distinctions; and +therefore, upon the good bishop being canonized, resolved to remove his +body from the common cemetery into the choir of their church. This was +to have been done on the 15th of July; but it rained so violently for +forty days that the design was abandoned. Mr. Howard, in his interesting +work on the Climate of London, says, “The tradition is so far valuable +as it proves that the summers in this southern part of our island were +subject a thousand years ago to occasional heavy rains, in the same way +as at present.” The popular superstition connected with St. Swithin’s +day is expressed in a Scotch proverb:-- + + “Saint Swithin’s day, gif ye do rain, + For forty days it will remain; + Saint Swithin’s day, an ye be fair, + For forty daies ’twill rain nae mair.” + +Mr. Howard has taken some pains to ascertain how far the popular notion +is borne out by the fact. In 1807, according to him, it rained with us +on the day in question, and a dry time followed; and the same in 1808. +In 1818 and 1819 it was dry on the 15th, and a very dry time in each +case followed. The other summers, occurring between 1807 and 1819, +appear to have come under the general proposition, “that in a majority +of our summers, a showery period, which, with some latitude as to time +and local circumstances, may be admitted to constitute daily rain for +forty days, does come on about the time indicated by the tradition of +St. Swithin.” + +July 20.--The birth-day of FRANCIS PETRARCH, one of the three renowned +fathers of the literature of modern Italy. He was born in 1304, at +Arezzo, in the Florentine territory, the same district which had the +glory of giving birth to his immediate predecessor Dante, and also to +the other member of the illustrious trio, his contemporary and friend +Boccaccio. Petrarch’s father had been a notary in the city of Florence, +but had, like Dante, been banished some time before the birth of his son +in consequence of one of the political convulsions then so frequent. +Being intended by his father for his own profession, he was sent to +study first at Montpellier and afterwards at Bologna; but he soon became +deeply smitten with the charms of the newly-revived literature of +antiquity, Virgil and Cicero stealing most of the hours which were +professedly devoted to more rugged pages. His father is related to have +been so much displeased on discovering how his son employed his time, +that he took his favourite authors from him and threw them into the +fire. This severity, however, failed to make a lawyer of Petrarch. His +father died when he was about two and twenty, and he immediately +abandoned the law altogether. He then chose the church for his +profession; but he never was ordained, although in the latter part of +his life some valuable clerical preferments were bestowed upon him by +the patrons whom he had gained by his poetical fame. The remainder of +Petrarch’s life took much of its colour from an incident which happened +to him in his twenty-seventh year, his meeting at Avignon, in Provence, +with the celebrated Laura, whose name he has rendered in so many +beautiful verses as immortal as his own. After the researches of a long +succession of biographers and critics, all is still uncertainty as to +who or what this lady really was. Many have even believed that Petrarch +spent his life in pouring out his passionate rhymes to a mere ideal +being, or vision of his imagination. The same obscurity hangs over the +very existence of Laura as over that of Dante’s Beatrice. Several +succeeding years were spent by the poet in wandering through Italy and +other countries. He then retired to Vaucluse, a solitary retreat not far +from Avignon, and it was during several studious years which he spent +there that he composed his principal works. The most memorable event of +his life after this was his coronation, in 1340, as poet-laureat in the +Capitol of Rome. “Twelve patrician youths,” says Gibbon, “were arrayed +in scarlet; six representatives of the most illustrious families, in +green robes, with garlands of flowers, accompanied the procession; in +the midst of the princes and nobles, the senator, Count of Anguillara, a +kinsman of the Colonna, ascended the throne; and at the voice of a +herald, Petrarch arose. After discoursing on a text of Virgil, and +thrice repeating his vows for the prosperity of Rome, he knelt before +the throne, and received from the senator a laurel crown, with a more +precious declaration, ‘This is the reward of merit.’ The people shouted, +‘Long life to the Capitol and the Poet!’ A sonnet in praise of Rome was +accepted as the effusion of genius and gratitude; and after the whole +procession had visited the Vatican, the profane wreath was suspended +before the shrine of St. Peter. In the diploma which was presented to +Petrarch, the title and prerogatives of poet-laureat are revived in the +Capitol, after the lapse of thirteen hundred years; and he receives the +perpetual privilege of wearing, at his choice, a crown of laurel, ivy or +myrtle, of assuming the poetic habit, and of teaching, disputing, +interpreting, and composing, in all places whatsoever, and on all +subjects of literature. The grant was ratified by the authority of the +Senate and people, and the character of citizen was the recompense of +his affection for the Roman name.” After these honours he made other +journeys to different parts of Italy, and also to Paris, in 1360, where +he was received with great distinction. An archdeaconry in the church of +Parma, a priory in the diocese of Pisa, and a canonry at Padua, were +also bestowed upon him, as more substantial rewards of his merit and +attestations of the public admiration. Our own Chaucer is supposed to +have met with Petrarch either in 1368, at the marriage of Lionel Duke of +Clarence with the daughter of the Duke of Milan, or more probably in the +beginning of the year 1373, when he is supposed to have gone on an +embassy to Genoa. At this interview Petrarch is thought to have +communicated to the English poet the beautiful and pathetic tale of +Griselda, which he had recently received from his friend Boccaccio, and +had translated from the latter’s Italian into Latin. This translation, +which Warton, in his History of English Poetry, inadvertently affirms +never to have been printed, may be found in several of the old folio +editions of Petrarch’s works. Petrarch, in a letter to Boccaccio, tells +us, says Warton; “that on showing the translation to one of his Paduan +friends, the latter, touched with the tenderness of the story, burst +into such frequent and violent fits of tears, that he could not read to +the end.” + +Petrarch spent the last four years of his life at the beautiful mountain +village of Arquà, about twelve miles from Padua; and here he died +suddenly, in all probability of apoplexy, on the 19th of July, 1374, +having just completed his seventieth year. He was found that morning in +his library, with his head resting on a book. Here, too, his remains +were deposited and are still preserved. Many of our readers will +remember Lord Byron’s fine lines on this subject:-- + + “There is a tomb in Arquà;--reared in air, + Pillared in their sarcophagus, repose + The bones of Laura’s lover: here repair + Many familiar with his well-sung woes, + The pilgrims of his genius. He arose + To raise a language, and his land reclaim + From the dull yoke of her barbaric foes: + Watering the tree which bears his lady’s name + With his melodious tears, he gave himself to fame. + + “They keep his dust in Arquà, where he died; + The mountain-village, where his latter days + Went down the vale of years; and ’tis their pride-- + An honest pride--and let it be their praise, + To offer to the passing stranger’s gaze + His mansion and his sepulchre; both plain + And venerably simple, such as raise + A feeling more accordant with his strain + Than if a pyramid formed his monumental fame. + + “And the soft quiet hamlet where he dwelt + Is one of that complexion which seems made + For those who their mortality have felt, + And sought a refuge from their hopes decayed + In the deep umbrage of a green hill’s shade, + Which shows a distant prospect far away + Of busy cities, now in vain displayed, + For they can lure no further; and the ray + Of a bright sun can make sufficient holiday.” + + + --------------------- + + + THE ADVANTAGES OF A TASTE FOR THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE. + + [From Dr. Percival’s Moral and Literary Dissertations.] + +That sensibility to beauty, which, when cultivated and improved, we term +taste, is universally diffused through the human species; and it is most +uniform with respect to those objects, which, being out of our power, +are not liable to variation, from accident, caprice, or fashion. The +verdant lawn, the shady grove, the variegated landscape, the boundless +ocean, and the starry firmament, are contemplated with pleasure by every +attentive beholder. But the emotions of different spectators, though +similar in kind, differ widely in degree: and to relish, with full +delight, the enchanting scenes of nature, the mind must be uncorrupted +by avarice, sensuality, or ambition; quick in her sensibilities; +elevated in her sentiments; and devout in her affections. He who +possesses such exalted powers of perception and enjoyment, may almost +say, with the poet-- + + “I care not, Fortune, what you me deny; + You cannot rob me of free Nature’s grace; + You cannot shut the windows of the sky, + Through which Aurora shows her brightening face; + You cannot bar my constant feet to trace + The woods and lawns, by living streams, at eve: + Let health my nerves and finer fibres brace, + And I their toys to the great children leave: + Of fancy, reason, virtue, nought can me bereave!” + +Perhaps such ardent enthusiasm may not be compatible with the necessary +toils and active offices which Providence has assigned to the generality +of men. But there are none to whom some portion of it may not prove +advantageous; and if it were cherished by each individual in that degree +which is consistent with the indispensable duties of his station, the +felicity of human life would be considerably augmented. From this source +the refined and vivid pleasures of the imagination are almost entirely +derived: and the elegant arts owe their choicest beauties to a taste for +the contemplation of nature. Painting and sculpture are express +imitations of visible objects; and where would be the charms of poetry, +if divested of the imagery and embellishments which she borrows from +rural scenes? Painters, statuaries, and poets, therefore, are always +ambitious to acknowledge themselves the pupils of nature; and, as their +skill increases, they grow more and more delighted with every view of +the animal and vegetable world. But the pleasure resulting from +admiration is transient; and to cultivate taste without regard to its +influence on the passions and affections, “is to rear a tree for its +blossoms which is capable of yielding the richest and most valuable +fruit.” Physical and moral beauty bear so intimate a relation to each +other, that they may be considered as different gradations in the scale +of excellence; and the knowledge and relish of the former should be +deemed only a step to the nobler and more permanent enjoyments of the +latter. + +Whoever has visited the Leasowes, in Warwickshire, must have felt the +force and propriety of an inscription which meets the eye at the +entrance into these delightful grounds:-- + + “Would you, then, taste the tranquil scene? + Be sure your bosom be serene; + Devoid of hate, devoid of strife, + Devoid of all that poisons life: + And much it ’vails you, in this place + To graft the love of human race.” + +Now, such scenes contribute powerfully to inspire that serenity which is +necessary to enjoy and to heighten their beauties. By a sweet contagion +the soul catches the harmony which she contemplates; and the frame +within assimilates itself to that which is without. For + + “------Who can forbear to smile with nature? + Can the strong passions in the bosom roll + While every gale is peace, and every grove + Is melody?” + +In this state of composure we become susceptible of virtuous impressions +from almost every surrounding object: an equal and extensive benevolence +is called forth into exertion; and having felt a common interest in the +gratifications of inferior beings, we shall be no longer indifferent to +their sufferings, or become wantonly instrumental in producing them. + +It seems to be the intention of Providence that the lower order of +animals should be subservient to the comfort, convenience, and +sustenance of man. But his right of dominion extends no further; and if +this right be exercised with mildness, humanity, and justice, the +subjects of his power will be no less benefited than himself; for +various species of living creatures are annually multiplied by human +art, improved in their perceptive powers by human culture, and +plentifully fed by human industry. The relation, therefore, is +reciprocal between such animals and man; and he may supply his own wants +by the use of their labour, the produce of their bodies, and even the +sacrifice of their lives; whilst he co-operates with all-gracious Heaven +in promoting happiness, the great end of existence. + +But though it be true that partial evil, with respect to different +orders of sensitive beings, may be universal good, and that it is a wise +and benevolent institution of nature, to make destruction itself, within +certain limitations, the cause of an increase of life and enjoyment; yet +a generous person will extend his compassionate regards to every +individual that suffers for his sake; and whilst he sighs + + “Even for the kid, or lamb, that pours its life + Beneath the bloody knife,” + +he will naturally be solicitous to mitigate pain, both in duration and +degree, by the gentlest mode of inflicting it. + +I am inclined to believe, however, that this sense of humanity would +soon be obliterated, and that the heart would grow callous to every soft +impression, were it not for the benignant influence of the smiling face +of nature. The Count do Lauzun, when imprisoned by Louis XIV. in the +Castle of Pignerol, amused himself, during a long period of time, with +catching flies, and delivering them to be devoured by a rapacious +spider. Such an entertainment was equally singular and cruel, and +inconsistent, I believe, with his former character and subsequent turn +of mind. But his cell had no window, and received only a glimmering +light from an aperture in the roof. In less unfavourable circumstances, +may we not presume that, instead of sporting with misery, he would have +released the agonized flies, and bid them enjoy that freedom of which he +himself was bereaved? + +But the taste for natural beauty is subservient to higher purposes than +these which have been enumerated; and the cultivation of it not only +refines and humanizes, but dignifies and exalts the affections. It +elevates them to the admiration and love of that Being who is the Author +of all that is fair, sublime, and good in the creation. Scepticism and +irreligion are hardly compatible with the sensibility of heart which +arises from a just and lively relish of the wisdom, harmony, and order +subsisting in the world around us; and emotions of piety must spring up +spontaneously in the bosom that is in unison with all animated nature. +Actuated by this divine inspiration, man finds a fane in every grove; +and, glowing with devout fervour, he joins his song to the universal +chorus, or muses the praise of the Almighty in more expressive silence. +Thus they + + “Whom nature’s works can charm, with God himself + Hold converse; grow familiar, day by day, + With his conceptions; act upon his plan, + And form to his the relish of their souls.” + + + --------------------- + + + DISTRICT SOCIETY OF BRIGHTON + +Among the numerous benevolent schemes and institutions formed by the +wealthy to assist their poorer brethren, many may no doubt be found, +which instead of being beneficial are pernicious in their +effects--palsying the hand of industry, and destroying the sense of +independence by mere almsgiving. All those societies, however, which +give motives for industry, and which tend to create a sympathy and union +between the two classes of those who have abundance and those who want, +must be of moral benefit to both parties, and few can doubt their +practical utility. + +The following is a slight sketch of a Society which appears eminently to +combine the above advantages. + +About five or six years back “The District Society” was formed at +Brighton, in consequence of the suggestions of that benevolent lady, +Mrs. Fry. The purport of this association was, that its members should +visit the poor at their own houses--affording them assistance where +required, and encouraging in them habits of industry and frugality. The +idea was eagerly seized by those of the inhabitants whose activity and +influence were best able to promote this object, and in a very short +time the society was established. + +This society is divided into three departments--the mendicity +department--the relief department--and the department for the +encouragement of frugality and saving. It is not our intention at +present to touch upon the first or second of these, but to confine +ourselves solely to the latter object. + +The town is divided into six districts, and each district into about +twelve divisions. To each of these divisions a visitor is appointed, and +this office is voluntarily undertaken by some benevolent individual. The +number of ladies who devote themselves to this duty considerably exceeds +that of the gentlemen. The recommendation most urged by the visitors is +the exercise of frugality. The industrious poor are exhorted to save, at +a time when they have the power of doing so--thus reserving to +themselves the means of obtaining the enjoyment of such comforts as they +could not otherwise procure, at periods when their exertions produce to +them less profit. As an inducement to prefer the future good to the +present gratification, a small addition from the funds of the society is +made to the savings of individuals. + +The visitors receive deposits, however small--enter these sums in a +book--and pay them over to the treasurer. The depositors feel that they +may have their money at any moment they think proper to call for it, +unchecked in their demand, save by the moral restraint which would +prevent them from requiring it for vicious or wasteful occasions. +Deposits are returned either in money or in such articles as are wanted +by those receiving them, the small gratuity already noticed being always +duly added. The number of depositors, and the sums deposited, have been +gradually increasing. Many of these depositors have, at various times, +candidly confessed to the visitors, that but for their interference and +the facility thus afforded to them for saving, their money would have +been spent on things useless in comparison with those comforts which +frugality has enabled them to procure. + +Here then was a sum of money distributed among those who had a right to +it--who were under no obligation to any one, farther than that which is +incurred when others interest themselves in our welfare. While the +depositors enjoy the comforts thus obtained, they feel, with a proud +satisfaction, that these are not doled out to them by means of the +poors’ rates, nor administered to them by the hand of charity, but are +derived from their own savings, and result from their own industry, +prudence, and forbearance. + +This feeling of independence thus called forth, raises man in the scale +of being; and an institution which fosters or awakens this ennobling +sentiment, offers, besides all other claims to merit, a sufficient proof +of its great value. + +The above outline has been given in the hope that its consideration may +prove of general utility. + +That class of labourers whose earnings are the least profitable, +generally earn more in the summer than in the winter, while their +expenses during the latter season are always the greatest. It is then +during the former period that the prudent labourer would lay by to meet +the increased demands at the latter time. If a person can only get +twelve shillings per week during the winter months, and fourteen +shillings per week during the summer, since he can live much better on +twelve shillings per week in summer than on fourteen shillings per week +in winter, he would act wisely to lay by two or three shillings weekly +at the one time, and thus provide for the deficiencies of the other. But +he may ask, how is this to be effected?--he has no “district society” in +his neighbourhood--no kind visiting friend to remind him of the +propriety of saving, and to receive his small deposits. The savings’ +bank is at some distance--it is inconvenient to send there--it requires +time, and is therefore expensive to be constantly going there +himself--in short, a thousand reasons will always suggest themselves as +excuses for not doing at all what is not done with hearty good will. But +to save money it must be put as much beyond our reach as possible--it +will burn in our pockets, and will be got rid of somehow or other. What +then is to be done? We remember when we were young possessing a small +earthenware pot with only a slit in it for an opening, and so +constructed that whatever was put in could not be got out again without +destroying the pot. This was the receptacle for our spare money, and +whenever any temptation was felt to spend the little savings, the +circumstance of being obliged to break the jar previously to +appropriating its contents, always induced us to pause for reflection. +The result of such deliberation generally showed that the money was +about to have been expended uselessly, and that it would be much better +to leave the pot whole, and to go on putting in instead of taking out. +The benefit of this prudent determination was ultimately reaped, at a +time when it was most acceptable. We would recommend a plan somewhat +similar to this to those who are desirous of constantly making small +savings. A tin box might be made at a very small cost, with a lock and +key to it, and a slit at the top, large enough to put any sized piece of +money into it, and a piece of cloth so placed in the inside as to act +like a valve, affording ingress, but not egress, to the coins. This box +should be locked, and the key intrusted to some one to whom the +possessor would not like to apply on trivial occasions. It should be put +in a safe place, but where it might often meet the eye, and should be +looked upon as a friend who will furnish a supply of extra comforts +during winter time. But as it is not Fortunatus’ purse, which we read of +in fairy tales as abounding with an exhaustless fund, it must receive +its supply from the practice of self-denial, by withholding from oneself +any unnecessary gratifications when the means of procuring them are at +hand, and slipping the money that was to purchase these in the slit of +the box. + +This box then may stand in lieu of a visitor of the District Society; +and every time anything is put into it, it may be considered as a friend +ready to afford its assistance in the time of sickness, in the hour of +distress, or during those periods when expenses are greatest and wages +least. + + + --------------------- + + + LYCIDAS. + +One of the most beautiful minor poems of Milton, though slightly obscure +in some passages from the use of antiquated phrases, and in one instance +strongly imbued with the author’s political feelings, is his Monody of +Lycidas. This was written in Milton’s 29th year, on the occasion of the +untimely death of his friend, Mr. John King, who was drowned in the +passage from England to Ireland. The character of the poem is pastoral, +it being assumed that the author and his lamented friend were brother +shepherds:-- + + “For we were nurst upon the self-same hill; + Fed the same flock by fountain, shade, and rill. + Together both, ere the high lawns appear’d + Under the opening eye-lids of the morn, + We drove a-field, and both together heard + What time the gray-fly winds her sultry horn, + Batt’ning our flocks with the fresh dews of night + Oft till the star that rose, at evening, bright, + Toward Heav’ns descent had slop’d his west’ring wheel.” + +The complaint of the poet on the shortness of life, and the glowing +reply of Phœbus to his lamentation, is one of the finest passages in the +whole compass of English verse:-- + + “Fame is the spur that the clear spirit doth raise + (That last infirmity of noble mind) + To scorn delights, and live laborious days; + But the fair guerdon when we hope to find, + And think to burst out into sudden blaze, + Comes the blind Fury with th’ abhorred shears, + And slits the thin spun life. But not the praise, + Phœbus reply’d, and touch’d my trembling ears; + Fame is no plant that grows on mortal soil, + Nor in the glist’ring foil + Set off to th’ world, nor in broad rumor lies, + But lives and spreads aloft by those pure eyes, + And perfect witness of all-judging Jove; + As he pronounces lastly on each deed, + Of so much fame in heav’n expect thy meed.” + +But Milton’s soul was nourished with the hopes of the Christian, as well +as excited with the ambition of the poet;--and thus the monody finely +concludes with an eloquent expression of the only real consolation under +every such calamity:-- + + “Weep no more, woful shepherds, weep no more, + For Lycidas your sorrow is not dead. + Sunk though he be beneath the wat’ry floor; + So sinks the day-star in the ocean bed; + And yet anon repairs his drooping head, + And tricks his beams, and with new-spangled ore + Flames in the forehead of the morning sky: + So Lycidas sunk low, but mounted high, + Through the dear might of him that walk’d the waves, + Where other groves and other streams along, + With nectar pure his oozy locks he laves, + And hears the unexpressive nuptial song, + In the blest kingdoms meek of joy and love. + There entertain him all the saints above, + In solemn troops and sweet societies, + That sing, and singing in their glory move, + And wipe the tears for ever from his eyes.” + + [Illustration: Lycidas. From a design by Fuseli.] + + + --------------------- + + +That sanctity which settles on the memory of a great man, ought, upon a +double motive, to be vigilantly sustained by his countrymen; first, out +of gratitude to him, as one column of the national grandeur; secondly, +with a practical purpose of transmitting, unimpaired, to posterity the +benefit of ennobling models. High standards of excellence are among the +happiest distinctions by which the modern ages of the world have an +advantage over earlier, and we are all interested by duty as well as +policy in preserving them inviolate.--_From a Memoir of Milton in ‘The +Gallery of Portraits.’_ + + + --------------------- + + +This liberty in conversation (fiction and exaggeration) defeats its own +end. Much of the pleasure and all the benefit of conversation depends +upon our opinion of the speaker’s veracity.--_Paley’s Moral Philosophy._ + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + + + + + ⁂ The Office of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge is at + 59, Lincoln’s Inn Fields. + + LONDON:--CHARLES KNIGHT, PALL-MALL EAST. + + _Shopkeepers and Hawkers may be supplied Wholesale by the following + Booksellers, of whom, also, any of the previous Numbers may be had._ + + _London_, GROOMBRIDGE, Panyer Alley, Paternoster Row. + _Bath_, SIMMS. + _Birmingham_, DRAKE. + _Bristol_, WESTLEY and Co. + _Carlisle_, THURNAM; and SCOTT. + _Derby_, WILKINS and SON. + _Doncaster_, BROOKE and Co. + _Falmouth_, PHILIP. + _Hull_, STEPHENSON. + _Leeds_, BAINES and NEWSOME. + _Lincoln_, BROOKE and SONS. + _Liverpool_, WILLMER and SMITH. + _Manchester_, ROBINSON; and WEBB and SIMMS. + _Newcastle-upon-Tyne_, CHARNLEY. + _Norwich_, JARROLD and SON. + _Nottingham_, WRIGHT. + _Sheffield_, RIDGE. + _Dublin_, WAKEMAN. + _Edinburgh_, OLIVER and BOYD. + _Glasgow_, ATKINSON and Co. + + Printed by WILLIAM CLOWES, Stamford Street. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + + + + + Transcriber’s Notes + + +This file uses _underscores_ to indicate italic text. New original cover +art included with this eBook is granted to the public domain. +Illustrations have been moved in some cases to natural breaks in the +text. Itemized changes from the original text: + + • p. 148: Added missing or misprinted “t” in “advantageously” in phrase + “may be advantageously consulted.” + • p. 148: Added missing or misprinted closing single quote after + “trials” in phrase “It appears from a note in the ‘Criminal Trials,’ + vol i. p. 361.” + • p. 150: Capitalized “Capitol” in phrase “the title and prerogatives + of poet-laureat are revived in the Capitol” to match other + references. + • p. 150: Added semicolon after phrase “uncorrupted by avarice, + sensuality, or ambition.” + • p. 150: Added missing period after phrase “or become wantonly + instrumental in producing them.” + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 76910 *** |