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| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 04:35:30 -0700 |
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| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 04:35:30 -0700 |
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diff --git a/10896-h/10896-h.htm b/10896-h/10896-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..31e56b3 --- /dev/null +++ b/10896-h/10896-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,1440 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"> +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> +<head> +<meta name="generator" content= +"HTML Tidy for Windows (vers 1st November 2003), see www.w3.org" /> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content= +"text/html; charset=UTF-8" /> +<title>The Mirror of Literature, Issue 283.</title> + +<style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[*/ + + <!-- + body {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + p {text-align: justify;} + blockquote {text-align: justify;} + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 {text-align: center;} + pre {font-size: 0.7em;} + + hr {text-align: center; width: 50%;} + html>body hr {margin-left: "25%"; margin-right: "25%"; width: "50%";} + hr.full {width: 100%;} + html>body hr.full {margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 0%; width: 100%;} + + .note, .footnote + {margin-left: "10%"; margin-right: "10%"; font-size: 0.9em;} + + span.pagenum + {position: absolute; left: 1%; right: "91%"; font-size: 8pt;} + + .poem + {margin-left:10%; margin-right:10%; margin-bottom: 1em; text-align: left;} + .poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} + .poem p {margin: 0; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem p.i2 {margin-left: 1em;} + + .figure + {padding: 1em; margin: 0; text-align: center; font-size: 0.8em; margin: auto;} + .figure img + {border: none;} + .figure p + --> +/*]]>*/ +</style> +</head> +<body> +<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 10896 ***</div> + +<hr class="full" /> +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page329" name="page329"></a>[pg +329]</span> +<h1>THE MIRROR<br /> +OF<br /> +LITERATURE, AMUSEMENT, AND INSTRUCTION.</h1> +<table width="100%" summary= +"VOL 10. No. 283.] SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 1827. [PRICE 2d."> +<tr> +<td align="left" width="30%"><b>VOL 10. No. 283.]</b></td> +<td align="center"><b>SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 1827.</b></td> +<td align="right" width="30%"><b>[PRICE 2d.</b></td> +</tr> +</table> +<hr class="full" /> +<a name="HADDON_HALL." id="HADDON_HALL."></a> +<h2>HADDON HALL.</h2> +<div class="figure" style="width:100%;"><a href= +"images/283-1.png"><img width="100%" src="images/283-1.png" alt= +"" /></a></div> +<p>The locomotive facility with which the aid of our graphic +department enables us to <i>transport</i> our readers, (for we have +already sent them to <i>Sydney</i>,) is somewhat singular, not to +say ludicrous; and would baffle the wand of Trismegistus, or the +cap of Fortunatus himself. Thus, during the last six weeks we have +journeyed from the <i>Palace at Stockholm</i> (No. 277) to that of +<i>Buckingham, in St. James's Park</i>, (278;) thence to +<i>Brambletye</i>, in the wilds of <i>Sussex</i>, (279;) to +<i>Hamlet's Garden at Elsineur</i>, (280;) then to the deserts of +<i>Africa</i>, and <i>Canterbury</i>, (281;) in our last, (282,) we +introduced our readers to the palatial splendour of the <i>Regent's +Park;</i> and our present visit is to <i>Haddon Hall</i>, in +<i>Derbyshire</i>, one of the palaces of olden time, whose +stupendous towers present a strong contrast with the puny +palace-building of later days, and the picturesque beauty of whose +domain pleasingly alternates with the verdant pride of the Regent's +Park.</p> +<p>Haddon is situate about one mile south-east of Bakewell, and is +one of the most curious and perfect of the old castellated mansions +of this country. It stands on a gentle hill, in the midst of thick +woods overhanging the Wye, which winds along the valley at a great +depth beneath. The house consists of two courts; in the centre +building behind which is the great hall, with its butteries and +cellars. Over the door of the great porch, leading to the hall, are +two coats of arms cut in stone; the one is those of Vernon, the +other of Fulco de Pembridge, lord of Tong, in Shropshire, whose +daughter and heir married Sir Richard Vernon, and brought him a +great estate. In one corner of the hall is a staircase, formed of +large blocks of stone, leading to the gallery, about 110 feet in +length and 17 in width, the floor of which is said to have been +laid with boards cut out of one oak, which grew in the park. In +different windows are the arms of England in the garter, surmounted +with a crown; and those of Rutland impaling Vernon with its +quarterings in the garter; and these of Shrewsbury. In the east +window of the Chanel adjoining were portraits of many of the Vernon +family, but a few years ago the heads were stolen from them. A date +of <i>Mi esimo</i> ccccxxvii. is legible. In the north window the +name <i>Edwardus Vernon</i> and his arms remain; <span class= +"pagenum"><a id="page330" name="page330"></a>[pg 330]</span> and in +a south window is <i>Willmus Trussel</i>. In the chapel also stands +a Roman altar, dug up near Bakewell.</p> +<p>All the rooms (except the gallery) were hung with loose arras, a +great part of which still remains; and the doors were concealed +every where behind the hangings, so that the tapestry was to be +lifted up to pass in or out. The doors being thus concealed, are of +ill-fashioned workmanship; and wooden bolts, rude bars, &c. are +their only fastenings. Indeed, most of the rooms are dark and +uncomfortable; yet this place was for ages the seat of magnificence +and hospitality. It was at length quitted by its owners, the Dukes +of Rutland, for the more splendid castle of Belvoir, in +Lincolnshire.</p> +<p>For many generations Haddon was the seat of the Vernons, of whom +Sir George, the last heir male, who lived in the time of queen +Elizabeth, gained the title of king of the Peak, by his generosity +and noble manner of living. His second daughter and heir married +John Manners, second son of the first Earl of Rutland, which title +descended to their posterity in 1641. For upwards of one hundred +years after the marriage, this was the principal residence of the +family; and so lately as the time of the first Duke of Rutland, (so +created by queen Anne,) <i>seven score</i> servants were +maintained, and during twelve days after Christmas, the house was +"kept open."</p> +<p>A few years before the death of Mrs. Radcliffe, the writer of +"The Mysteries of Udolpho," and several other romances, a tourist, +in noticing Haddon Hall, (and probably supposing that Mrs. R. had +killed heroes enough in her time,) asserted that it was there that +Mrs. R. acquired her taste for castle and romance, and proceeded to +lament that she had, for many years, fallen into a state of +insanity, and was under confinement in Derbyshire. Nor was the +above traveller unsupported in her statement, and some sympathizing +poet apostrophized Mrs. R. in an "Ode to Terror." But the fair +romance-writer smiled at their pity, and had good sense enough to +refrain from writing in the newspapers that she was not insane. The +whole was a fiction, (no new trick for a fireside tourist,) for +Mrs. Radcliffe had never <i>seen</i> Haddon Hall.</p> +<p>In the "Bijou" for 1828, an elegant <i>annual</i>, on the plan +of the German pocket-books, (to which we are indebted for the +present engraving,) are a few stanzas to Haddon Hall, which merit a +place in a future number of the MIRROR.</p> +<hr /> +<h3>POETICAL LOVE-LETTER.</h3> +<h4><i>(For the Mirror.)</i></h4> +<p>The sweeper of New Haven College, in New England, lately +becoming a widower, conceived a violent passion for the relict of +his deceased Cambridge brother, which he expressed in the following +strain:—</p> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="i2">Mistress A—y.</p> +<p class="i2">To you I fly,</p> +<p>You only can relieve me;</p> +<p class="i2">To you I turn,</p> +<p class="i2">For you I burn,</p> +<p>If you will but believe me.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="i2">Then, gentle dame,</p> +<p class="i2">Admit my flame,</p> +<p>And grant me my petition:</p> +<p class="i2">If you deny,</p> +<p class="i2">Alas! I die</p> +<p>In pitiful condition.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="i2">Before the news</p> +<p class="i2">Of your poor spouse</p> +<p>Had reached our <i>New Haven</i>,</p> +<p class="i2">My dear wife died,</p> +<p class="i2">Who was my bride,</p> +<p>In <i>anno</i> eighty-seven.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="i2">Then being free,</p> +<p class="i2">Let's both agree</p> +<p>To join our hands—for I do</p> +<p class="i2">Boldly aver</p> +<p class="i2">A widower</p> +<p>Is fittest for a widow.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="i2">You may be sure</p> +<p class="i2">'Tis not your dow'r</p> +<p>I make this flowing version;</p> +<p class="i2">In those smooth lays</p> +<p class="i2">I only praise</p> +<p>The glories of your person.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="i2">For the whole that</p> +<p class="i2">Was left to <i>Mat</i>,</p> +<p>Fortune to me has granted</p> +<p class="i2">In equal store,</p> +<p class="i2">Nay, I have more.</p> +<p>What Mathew always wanted.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="i2">No teeth, 'tis true,</p> +<p class="i2">You have to shew;</p> +<p>The young think teeth inviting—</p> +<p class="i2">But, silly youths,</p> +<p class="i2">I love those mouths</p> +<p>Where there's no fear of biting.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="i2">A leaky eye,</p> +<p class="i2">That's never dry,</p> +<p>These woeful times is fitting;</p> +<p class="i2">A wrinkled face</p> +<p class="i2">Adds solemn grace</p> +<p>To folks devout at meeting.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="i2">A furrow'd brow,</p> +<p class="i2">Where corn might grow,</p> +<p>Such fertile soil is seen in't,</p> +<p class="i2">A long hook nose,</p> +<p class="i2">Though scorn'd by foes,</p> +<p>For spectacles convenient.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="i2">Thus to go on,</p> +<p class="i2">I could pen down</p> +<p>Your charms from head to foot—</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page331" name="page331"></a>[pg +331]</span> +<p class="i2">Set all your glory</p> +<p class="i2">In verse before you,</p> +<p>But I've no mind to do't.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="i2">Then haste away,</p> +<p class="i2">And make no stay,</p> +<p>For soon as you come hither</p> +<p class="i2">We'll eat and sleep,</p> +<p class="i2">Make beds and sweep,</p> +<p>And talk and smoke together.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="i2">But if, my dear,</p> +<p class="i2">I must come there,</p> +<p>Tow'rd <i>Cambridge</i> strait I'll set me,</p> +<p class="i2">To touze the hay</p> +<p class="i2">On which you lay,</p> +<p>If, madam, you will let me.</p> +</div> +</div> +<h4>B.</h4> +<hr class="full" /> +<a name="EARLY_RISING." id="EARLY_RISING."></a> +<h2>EARLY RISING.</h2> +<h4><i>(For the Mirror.)</i></h4> +<blockquote>"Whose morning, like the spirit of a youth,<br /> +That means to be of note, begins betimes." +<p>SHAKSPEARE'S <i>Ant. and Cleop.</i></p> +</blockquote> +<p>It is asserted by a tragic poet, "est nemo miser nisi +comparatus;" which, by substituting one single word, is exactly +applicable to our present subject; "est nemo serus nisi +comparatus." All early rising is relative; what is early to one, is +late to another, and vice versâ. "The hours of the day and +night," says Steele, (Spec. No. 454.) "are taken up in the Cities +of London and Westminster, by people as different from each other +as those who are born in different countries. Men of six o'clock +give way to those of nine, they of nine to the generation of +twelve; and they of twelve disappear, and make room for the +fashionable world, who have made two o'clock the noon of the day." +Now since, of these people, they who rise at six pique themselves +on their early rising, in reference to those who rise at nine; and +they, in their turn, on theirs, in reference to those who rise at +twelve; since, like Homer's generations, they "successive rise," +and early rising is, therefore, as I said, a phrase only +intelligible by comparison, we must (as theologians and politicians +ought oftener to do) set out by a definition of terms. What is +early rising? Is it to rise</p> +<blockquote>"What time the shepherd, blowing of his nails,<br /> +Can neither call it perfect day nor night?"</blockquote> +<p>"Patience!" I think I hear some of my fair readers exclaim, "Is +this the early rising this new correspondent of the MIRROR means to +enforce? Drag us from our beds at peep of day! The visionary +barbarian! Why, ferocious as our Innovator is, he would just as +soon drag a tigress from her's! We will not obey this +self-appointed Dictator!" Stay, gentle ladies; in the first place I +am not going to enforce this or any other hour; in the second +place, I am not going to enforce early rising at +all.—Convinced you feel, with me, the importance of time, and +your responsibility for its right improvement, I leave it to your +consciences whether any part of it should be uselessly squandered +in your beds. The moral culpability of late rising is when it +interferes with the necessary duties of the day; and though, my +fair readers, you may in a great measure claim exemption from +these, I would still, simply in reference to your health and +complexions, advise you not to exceed seven o'clock. But, to effect +this, a sine quâ non is, retiring early, say at +eleven—(though really I am too liberal.—When people +were compelled to retire at the sound of the curfew, when</p> +<blockquote>"The curfew toll'd the parting knell of +day,"</blockquote> +<p>early rising was a necessary consequence, as they were earlier +tired of their beds; and this may account for the singular +difference between ancient and modern times in this respect; so +that late rising, though a modern refinement, is by no means +exclusively attributable to modern luxury and indolence, but partly +to a change of political enactments, (you see, ladies, I am giving +you every chance.)</p> +<p>In the man of business, late rising is perfectly detestable; but +to him, instead of the arguments of health and moral responsibility +for time, (or rather in addition to these arguments,) I would urge +the argumentum ad crumenam; which is so pithily, however homelily, +expressed in these two proverbs, which he cannot be reminded of +once too often:</p> +<blockquote>"Early to bed, and early to rise,<br /> +Will make a man healthy, wealthy, and wise."</blockquote> +<blockquote>"There are no gains without pains;<br /> +Then plough deep, while sluggards sleep."</blockquote> +<p>And a third proverb is a compendium of my advice to both classes +of readers:</p> +<blockquote>"He who will thrive must rise at five;<br /> +He who has thriven may sleep till seven."</blockquote> +<p>So then we have defined what early rising is; seven, to those +who have nothing to do,—as soon as ever business calls, to +those who have. Was ever bed of sloth more eloquently reprobated +than in the following lines from the <i>Seasons</i>?</p> +<blockquote>"Falsely luxurious will not man awake,<br /> +And, springing from the bed of sloth, enjoy<br /> +The cool, the fragrant, and the silent hour,<br /> +To meditation due and sacred song?<br /> +For is there aught in sleep can charm the wise?<br /> +To lie in dead oblivion, losing half<br /> +The fleeting moments of too short a life,<br /> +Total extinction of th' enlighten'd soul!<br /> +Or else, to feverish vanity alive,<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page332" name="page332"></a>[pg +332]</span> Wilder'd and tossing through distemper'd dreams?<br /> +Who would in such a gloomy state remain<br /> +Longer than nature craves, when every Muse<br /> +And every blooming pleasure wait without,<br /> +To bless the wildly devious morning walk?"</blockquote> +<p>Exquisite indeed! But this too is a proof how nearly the sublime +and ridiculous are associated,—"how thin partitions do their +bounds divide;" for this fine poetry is associated, in most +reader's minds, with Thomson's own odd indulgence in the "dead +oblivion." He was a late riser, sleeping often till noon; and when +once reproached for his sluggishness, observed, that "he felt so +comfortable he really saw no motive for rising." As if, according +to the popular version of the story, "I am convinced, in theory, of +the advantage of early rising. Who knows it not, but what can Cato +do?" "Ay, he's a good divine, you say, who follows his own +teaching; don't talk to us of early rising after this." Why not, +unless like Thomson, you're kept up till a very late hour by +business? The fact is he did not</p> +<blockquote>—"In that gloomy state remain<br /> +Longer than nature craves,"</blockquote> +<p>after all. He had a strong apology for not rising early, in the +late hours of his lying down. The deep silence of the night was the +time he commonly chose for study; and he would often be heard +walking in his library, at Richmond, till near morning, humming +over what he was to write out and correct the next day, and so, +good reader, this is no argument against my position; but observe, +retiring late is no excuse for late rising, unless business have +detained you: balls and suppers are no apology for habitual late +rising. And now, my dearest readers, do you spend the night +precisely as Thomson did, and I'll grant you my "letters patent, +license, and protection," to sleep till noon every day of your +life. You have only to apply to me for it through "our +well-beloved" editor of the MIRROR.</p> +<h4>W. P----N.</h4> +<hr class="full" /> +<a name="BUNHILL_FIELDS_BURYING-GROUND." id= +"BUNHILL_FIELDS_BURYING-GROUND."></a> +<h2>BUNHILL FIELDS BURYING-GROUND.</h2> +<p>This extensive burial-place is part of the manor of Finsbury, or +<i>Fensbury</i>, which is of great antiquity, as appears by its +being a prebend of St. Paul's Cathedral in 1104. In the year 1315, +it was granted by Robert de Baldock to the mayor and commonalty of +London. Part of it was, in 1498, converted into a large field for +the use of archers and other military citizens to exercise in. This +is now called <i>The Artillery Ground</i>.</p> +<p>In the year 1665, that part of the ground now called +<i>Bunhill</i> (originally <i>Bonhill</i>) <i>Field</i>, was set +apart as a common cemetery, for the interment of such bodies as +could not have room in their parochial burial-grounds in that +dreadful year of pestilence. However, not being made use of on that +occasion, a Mr. Tindal took a lease thereof, and converted it into +a burial-place for the use of Dissenters. It was long called +<i>Tindal's Burial-place</i>. Over the west gate of it was the +following inscription:—"This church-yard was inclosed with a +brick wall at the sole charges of the city of London, in the +mayoralty of Sir John Lawrence, Knt., Anno Domini 1665; and +afterwards the gates thereof were built and finished in the +mayoralty of Sir Thomas Bloudworth, Knt., Anno Domini, 1666."</p> +<p>The fen or moor (in this neighbourhood), from whence the name +Moorfields, reached from London-wall to Hoxton; the southern part +of it, denominated <i>Windmill Hill</i>, began to be raised by +above one-thousand cart-loads of human bones, brought from St. +Paul's charnel-house in 1549, which being soon after covered with +street dirt from the city, the ground became so elevated, that +three windmills were erected on it; and the ground on the south +side being also much raised, it obtained the name of <i>The Upper +Moorfield</i>.</p> +<p>The first monumental inscription in Bunhill-fields is, <i>Grace, +daughter of T. Cloudesly, of Leeds. Feb. 1666.—Maitland's +Hist. of London</i>, p. 775.</p> +<p>Dr. Goodwin was buried there in 1679; Dr. Owen in 1683; and John +Bunyan in 1688.</p> +<h4><i>Park-place, Highbury Vale.</i></h4> +<h4>J. H. B.</h4> +<hr class="full" /> +<a name="SUPPOSED_ORIGIN_OF_MEZZO-TINTO" id= +"SUPPOSED_ORIGIN_OF_MEZZO-TINTO"></a> +<h2>SUPPOSED ORIGIN OF MEZZO-TINTO.<a id="footnotetag1" name= +"footnotetag1"></a><a href="#footnote1"><sup>1</sup></a></h2> +<p>Mezzo-tinto is said to have been first invented by Prince +Rupert, about the year 1649: going out early one morning, during +his retirement at Brussels, he observed the sentinel, at some +distance from his post, very busy doing something to his piece. The +prince asked the soldier what he was about? He replied, the dew had +fallen in the night, had made his fusil rusty, and that he was +scraping and cleaning it. The prince, looking at it, was struck +with something like a figure eaten into the barrel, with +innumerable little holes, closed together, like friezed work on +gold or silver, part of which the fellow had scraped away. The +<i>genie second en</i> <span class="pagenum"><a id="page333" name= +"page333"></a>[pg 333]</span> <i>experiences</i> (says Lord +Orford), from so trifling an accident, conceived mezzo-tinto. The +prince concluded, that some contrivance might be found to cover a +brass plate with such a ground of fine pressed holes, which would +undoubtedly give an impression all black, and that, by scraping +away proper parts, the smooth superfices would leave the rest of +the paper white. Communicating his idea to Wallerant Vaillant, a +painter, they made several experiments, and at last invented a +steel roller with projecting points, or teeth, like a file, which +effectually produced the black ground; and which, being scraped +away or diminished at pleasure, left the gradations of light. Such +was the invention of mezzo-tinto, according to Lord Orford, Mr. +Evelyn, and Mr. Vertue.</p> +<h4>P. T. W.</h4> +<hr class="full" /> +<a name="RETROSPECTIVE_GLEANINGS." id= +"RETROSPECTIVE_GLEANINGS."></a> +<h2>RETROSPECTIVE GLEANINGS.</h2> +<hr /> +<p>[For the following succinct account of the Gunpowder Conspiracy, +our acknowledgments are due to the proprietors of an elegant and +interesting <i>Annual</i>, entitled "THE AMULET" for 1828.]</p> +<h3>A BRIEF HISTORY OF "THE GUNPOWDER PLOT."</h3> +<h4><i>(Compiled from original and unpublished documents.)</i></h4> +<p>Of all the plots and conspiracies that ever entered into the +mind of man, the Gunpowder plot stands pre-eminent in horror and +wickedness.</p> +<p>The singular perseverance of the conspirators is shown by the +fact, that so early as in Lent of the year 1603, Robert Catesby, +who appears to have been the prime mover of the plot, in a +conversation with Thomas Wintour and John Wright, first broke with +them about a design for delivering England from her bondage, and to +replant the Catholic religion. Wintour expressed himself doubtful +whether so grand a scheme could be accomplished, when Catesby +informed him that he had projected a plan for that purpose, which +was no less than to blow up the Parliament House with +gunpowder.</p> +<p>Wintour consented to join in the scheme, and, at the suggestion +of Catesby, went over to Flanders to arrange some preliminary +affairs there, and to communicate the design to Mr. Fawkes, who was +personally known to Catesby. At Ostend, Wintour was introduced to +Mr. Fawkes by Sir Wm. Stanley. Guy Fawkes was a man of desperate +character. In his person he was tall and athletic, his countenance +was manly, and the determined expression of his features was not a +little heightened by a profusion of brown hair, and an +auburn-coloured beard. He was descended from a respectable family +in Yorkshire, and having soon squandered the property he inherited +at the decease of his father, his restless spirit associated itself +with the discontented and factious of his age. Wintour and Fawkes +came over to England together, and shortly after met Catesby, +Thomas Percy, and John Wright, in a house behind St. Clement's; +where, in a chamber with no other person present, each administered +an oath of secresy to the other, and then went into another room to +hear mass, and to receive the sacrament. Percy was then sent to +hire a house fit for their purpose, and found one belonging to Mr. +Whinniard, Yeoman to the King's Wardrobe of the Beds, then in the +occupation of one Henry Ferrers; of which, after some negociation, +he succeeded in obtaining possession, at the rent of twelve pounds +per annum, and the key was delivered to Guy Fawkes, who acted as +Mr. Percy's man, and assumed the name of John Johnson. Their object +in hiring this house was to obtain an easy communication with the +upper Parliament House, and by digging through the wall that +separated them, to form an extensive mine under the foundations. A +house was also hired in Lambeth, to serve as a depository for the +powder, and Mr. Keys, who was then admitted as one of the number, +was placed in charge. The whole party then dispersed, and agreed to +meet again at Michaelmas. At Michaelmas it was resolved that the +time was arrived when they should commence working at their mine; +but various causes hindered them from beginning, till within a +fortnight of Christmas. The party, at that time, consisting of +five, then entered upon their work; and, having first provided +themselves with baked meat that they might not have occasion to +leave the house, they worked incessantly till Christmas Eve, +underpropping the walls, as they proceeded, with wood. A little +before Christmas, Christopher Wright was added to the number; and, +finding their work to be extremely laborious, the walls being +upwards of three yards in thickness, they afterwards admitted +Robert Wintour to assist them. Taking advantage of the long and +dreary nights between Christmas and Candlemas, they then brought +their powder over from Lambeth in a boat and lodged it in Percy's +house, and afterwards continued to labour at the mine. In the +Easter following (1605) as they were at their work, the whole party +were dreadfully alarmed on hearing a rushing noise near them; but +on inquiry they found no danger menaced <span class= +"pagenum"><a id="page334" name="page334"></a>[pg 334]</span> them, +but that it proceeded from the removal of some coals in an +adjoining vault, under the Parliament House. Nothing could be more +propitious for the conspirators; and, ascertaining that it belonged +to the same parties of whom they held the house, but in the +possession of a man of the name of Skinner, they lost no time in +purchasing the good-will of Skinner, and eventually hired the vault +of Whinniard, at the rate of four pounds per annum. Abandoning +their original intention of forming a mine under the walls, they +placed the powder in this vault, and afterwards gradually conveyed +into it three thousand billets of wood, and five hundred fagots; +Guy Fawkes arranging them in order, making the place clean and +neat, in order that if any strangers, by accident or otherwise, +entered the house, no suspicion might be excited. Fawkes then went +into Flanders to inform Sir W. Stanley and Mr. Owen of their +progress, and returned in the following August. Catesby, meeting +Percy at Bath, proposed that himself should have authority to call +in whom he pleased, as at that time they were but few in number, +and were very short of money. This being acceded to, he imparted +the design to Sir Everard Digby, Francis Tresam, Ambrose Rookewood, +and John Grant. Digby promised to subscribe one thousand five +hundred pounds, and Tresam two thousand pounds. Percy engaged to +procure all he could of the Duke of Northumberland's rents, which +would amount to about four thousand pounds, and to furnish ten good +horses.</p> +<p>Thus far, every thing had prospered with the conspirators; +success had followed every effort they had made.</p> +<p>On Thursday evening, the 24th of October, eleven days before the +intended meeting of Parliament, an anonymous letter was put into +the hands of the servant of Lord Monteagle, warning his Lordship +not to attend the Parliament that season, for that God and man had +concurred to punish the wickedness of the times. It is a most +extraordinary fact, that the conspirators knew of the delivery of +this letter to the Lord Monteagle, and that it was in the +possession of the Earl of Salisbury, Secretary of State, for eight +days before the disclosure took place, as developed in Thomas +Wintour's confession, taken before the Lord's Commissioners on the +23rd of November, 1605; yet so strong was their infatuation, and so +desperately had they set their fortunes on the event, that they +unanimously resolved "to abyde the uttermost tryall."</p> +<p>The generally received opinion has been, that it was to the +sagacity and penetration of King James that the detection of the +conspiracy must be ascribed, and that it was his Majesty who first +suggested the agency of gunpowder: but the Earl of Salisbury, in a +letter to Sir Charles Cornwallis, ambassador at Madrid, asserts, +that in a conversation between the Earl of Suffolk (Lord +Chamberlain) and himself, on perusal of the anonymous letter, the +employment of gunpowder first occurred to them, and that the King +subsequently concurred in <i>their</i> opinion. The letter, after +having been communicated to several of the Privy Council, was shewn +to the King three or four days before the opening of Parliament, +who, with great prudence, gave orders that no notice whatever +should be taken of it, but that every thing should go on as usual, +until the very day appointed. On Saturday, the Lord Chamberlain, +according to the customary forms of his office previous to the +meeting of every Parliament, viewed every room and cellar belonging +to the Parliament House, and amongst others the identical vault in +which the wood and powder was deposited, and observed a man, who +subsequently proved to be Guy Fawkes, standing there to answer any +questions that might have been asked. The Lord Chamberlain then +went to the Privy Council and reported what he had seen. After much +discussion it was resolved that a more minute search should be +made, under pretence of seeking for stolen goods, in order that no +suspicion might arise if nothing should be discovered. Accordingly, +on Monday at midnight, Sir T. Knyvett, accompanied by a small band +of men, went to Percy's house, where, at the door, they found Guy +Fawkes with his clothes and boots on. Sir Thomas immediately +apprehended him, and then proceeded to search the house and vault, +and upon removing some of the wood, they soon discovered the powder +ready prepared for the explosion; then, directly afterwards, +searching Guy Fawkes, they found on him three matches and other +instruments for setting fire to the train. He confessed himself +guilty, and boldly declared, that if he had happened to have been +within the house when Sir T. Knyvett apprehended him, he would +instantly have blown him up, house and all.</p> +<p>On the arrest of Guy Fawkes, such of the conspirators as at the +time were in London, fled into the country to meet Catesby at +Dunchurch, according to previous arrangement; and after taking some +horses out of a stable at Warwick, they reached Robert Wintour's +house, at Huddington, on the Wednesday night. On Thursday morning +the whole party, <span class="pagenum"><a id="page335" name= +"page335"></a>[pg 335]</span> amounting to about twenty persons, +confessed themselves to Hammond, a priest, received absolution from +him, and partook of the sacrament together, and then, with their +followers and servants, proceeded to Lord Windsor's house, at +Hewell, from whence they took a great quantity of armour and +weapons. They then passed into Staffordshire, and by night reached +the house of Stephen Littleton, called Holbeach house, about two +miles from Stourbridge. By this time the whole country was raised +in pursuit of the rebels; and a large party, under the direction of +Sir Richard Walshe, high sheriff of Worcestershire, early on Friday +morning arrived at Holbeach house. The party in the +house—consisting of Catesby, Percy, Sir E. Digby, Robert, +John, and Thomas Wintour, Grant Rookewood, the two Wrights, Stephen +Littleton, and their servants,—finding their condition now to +be desperate, determined to fight resolutely to the last, treating +the summons to surrender with contempt, and defying their pursuers. +A singular accident, however, put an end to all conference between +the parties. Some gunpowder, which the conspirators had provided +for their defence, proving damp, they had placed nearly two pounds +in a pan near the fire to dry; and a person incautiously raking +together the fading embers, a spark flew into the pan, ignited the +powder, which blew up with a great explosion, shattered the house, +and severely maimed Catesby, Rookewood, and Grant; but the most +remarkable circumstance was, that about sixteen pounds of powder, +in a linen bag, which was actually under the pan wherein the powder +exploded, was blown through the roof of the house, and fell into +the court-yard amongst the assailants, without igniting, or even +bursting.</p> +<p>Sir R. Walshe then gave orders for a general assault to be made +upon the house; and, in the attack that followed, Thomas Wintour, +going into the court-yard, was the first who was wounded, having +received a shot in the shoulder, which disabled him; the next was +Mr. Wright, and after him the younger Wright, who were both killed; +Rookewood was then wounded. Catesby, now seeing all was lost, and +their condition totally hopeless, exclaimed to Thomas Wintour, +"Tom, we will die together." Wintour could only answer by pointing +to his disabled arm, that hung useless by his side, and as they +were speaking, Catesby and Percy were struck dead at the same +instant, and the rest then surrendered themselves into the hands of +the sheriff.</p> +<p>At the end of January, 1606, the whole of the conspirators, at +that time in custody, being eight in number, were brought to their +trial in Westminster Hall, and were all tried upon one indictment, +except Sir E. Digby, who had a separate trial. On Thursday, January +30th, Sir E. Digby, Robert Wintour, John Grant, and Thomas Bates, +were executed at the west end of St. Paul's Church, and on the next +day Thomas Wintour, Ambrose Rookewood, Robert Keys, and Guy Fawkes, +suffered within the Old Palace-yard at Westminster.</p> +<p>On the 28th of February, 1606, Garnet was brought to trial at +Guildhall, before nine Commissioners specially appointed for that +purpose. Of his participation in the plot there was no doubt; and +he admitted himself criminal in not revealing it, although, as he +asserts, it was imparted to him only in confession: but it is more +than probable that the valuable papers, lately rescued from +oblivion, and preserved in his Majesty's State Paper Office, will +be able to prove his extensive connexion with the plot, his +knowledge of it, both <i>in</i> and <i>out</i> of confession, and +his influential character with all the conspirators.</p> +<p>Garnet was hanged on the 3rd of May, 1606, on a scaffold, +erected for that purpose, at the west end of St. Paul's Church. +Held up to infamy by one party as a rebel and a traitor, and +venerated as a saint and a martyr by the other; the same party +spirit, and the same conflicting opinions, have descended from +generation to generation, down to the controversialists of the +present day.</p> +<p>We subjoin the Autographs of some of the principal conspirators, +from the same source as the preceding narrative, as an appropriate +and equally authentic accompaniment:—</p> +<p><i>Robert Catesbye</i>.—Taken from an original letter from +Catesbye to his cousin, John Grant, entreating him to provide money +against a certain time. This autograph is very rare.</p> +<p><i>Guido Fawkes</i>.—Taken from his declaration made in +the Tower on the 19th of November, and afterwards acknowledged +before the Lord's Commissioners.</p> +<p><i>Thomas Percy</i>.—From an original letter to W. +Wycliff, Esq. of York, dated at Gainsborough, November 2nd, +1605.</p> +<p><i>Henry Garnet</i>.—From one of his examinations, wherein +he confessed to have been in pilgrimage to St. Winifred's Well.</p> +<p><i>Ambrose Rookewood</i>.—From an original letter, +declared that he had felt a scruple of conscience, the fact seeming +"too bluddy."</p> +<p><i>Thomas Wintour</i>.—From an original <span class= +"pagenum"><a id="page336" name="page336"></a>[pg 336]</span> +examination before the Lord's Commissioners, on the 25th of +November, 1605.</p> +<p><i>Francis Tresam.</i>—From his examination relative to +the book on Equivocation. Tresam escaped being hanged by dying in +the Tower, on the 23rd of December, 1605.</p> +<p><i>Sir Everard Digby</i>.—From an original examination. He +was related to John Digby, subsequently created Baron Digby and +Earl of Bristol, and was a young man of considerable talent. He was +in the twenty-fourth year of his age when executed.</p> +<p><i>To the Right Hon. the Lord Mounteagle</i>.—The +superscription to the anonymous letter that led to the discovery of +the plot. By whom it was written still remains a mystery.</p> +<p>All the principal conspirators were married and had families; +several of them possessed considerable property, and were highly, +and, in some instances, nobly related.</p> +<h4>L.</h4> +<div class="figure" style="width:100%;"><a href= +"images/283-2.png"><img width="100%" src="images/283-2.png" alt= +"" /></a></div> +<hr class="full" /> +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page337" name="page337"></a>[pg +337]</span> <a name="THE_SKETCH_BOOK" id="THE_SKETCH_BOOK"></a> +<h2>THE SKETCH BOOK<br /> +No. XLIX.</h2> +<hr /> +<h3>THE AUBERGE.</h3> +<h4><i>(For the Mirror.)</i></h4> +<p>"Tais-toi, Louise," exclaimed the landlady of a small but neat +auberge at ------ to her daughter, a sweet child, about seven years +of age, who, playing with a little curly French dog, was sitting on +a three-legged stool, humming a trifling <i>chanson</i> which she +had gleaned from a collection of ditties pertaining to an old +woman, who, when the landlady might be busily engaged, attended the +infant steps and movements of Louise. "Tais-toi, ecoutez, la +diligence s'approche;" the truth of the good woman's remark being +vouched for by the heavy rumbling of that ponderous machine, the +"Vite, vite" of the postilion, and the "crack, crack" of his huge +whip. This was shortly after the battle of Waterloo, when our +troops, crowned with laurels, were hastily leaving the continent, +burning with anxiety to revisit <i>their native soil</i>, and their +countrymen of the peace department were as hastily leaving it, +fired with curiosity to behold the spot where such laurels had been +so hardly earned. At least such was undoubtedly the most prevalent +cause of the great influx of continental visiters at that period; +but there were, by way of contrast to these votaries of curiosity, +too many whose contracted brow and thoughtful melancholy cast of +visage betrayed forcibly their owners' curiosity to be otherwise +and more feelingly worked upon; 'twas the anxiety, the wish to +gather information respecting relatives or friends, killed or +wounded in the late dire struggle, which had caused those +appearances. But to my subject. 'Twas at the close of a very hot +July day that the diligence drew up to the door of the +before-mentioned auberge. "A diner," as the postilion (nearly +smothered in his tremendous "bottes fortes," genteelly taking from +his head a hat almost as small as the boots were in comparison +large) was politely pleased to term it. No pressing invitation was +requisite to incline our English travellers to take their seats +around the table well arranged with French fare, and fatigue seemed +to lose itself in the exhilaration proceeding from the chablis, +champagne, and chambertin; but there was <i>one traveller,</i> +whose melancholy defied eradication—<i>an English lady,</i> +genteelly but plainly habited, to appearance about seven and twenty +years of age; her features handsome and strongly marked; when in +health of mind and body, they might have possessed the "besoin du +souci," habitual to the country in which she was then travelling, +but were now too deeply clouded with that "apparence de la +misère," to which the English seem alone to give fullness of +effect—a fault, perhaps, but a sentimental one, worthy of +that or any other country. She had with her a beautiful boy, whose +age might be about five, who, attracted partly by the pretty +appearance of the dog, by signs and childish frolics, soon formed +acquaintance with the hostess's daughter, the little Louise. For +some time previous to the arrival of the diligence at the auberge, +a storm had been expected; and the distant thunder and heavy drops +of rain beating against the casements before the dinner was half +over, gave appearance of justice and reason to the entertainment of +such anticipations, and caused a general congratulation at the +party being so safely housed. As the storm was increasing every +minute, much argument was not necessary to induce the postilion to +delay proceeding until it might abate. Some of the party adhered to +the bottle, some resorted to a book, and some to cards, to wile +away the time. The lady requested to be conducted to a private +apartment, wherein to pass with her dear child (remote from the +noisy mirth of her companions, so little according with her then +feelings) the time, until the diligence might again be ready to +start. But half an hour had scarce elapsed from the formation of +this arrangement ere admission was sought and gained by a brigade +of English soldiers, six of whom, on a support formed by muskets, +bore what seemed to be the corpse of an officer, whose arm, hanging +down, gave to another officer the hand. Such a scene soon attracted +general attention. In a few minutes a couch, by the junction of two +or three chairs, was made, and on that the body laid. The soldiers +who had formed the support, with arms grounded and grief deeply +marked on their countenances, presented a melancholy group; whilst +the young officer, kneeling by the couch, and gazing intently on +his friend, but served to heighten the melancholy of the scene. A +long silence of anxiety, interrupted but by the rolling of the +thunder and the pattering of the rain, ensued. "'Tis no use," at +length exclaimed the friend of the wounded man, "'tis now no use +even to hope, my brave fellows; the surgeon was deceived, and rash +to consent to his removal. Your commander has sunk beneath the +fatigue. I thought it would be so. Peace," he exclaimed, as the +tears fell fast from his eyes, "peace to thy manes, brave, +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page338" name="page338"></a>[pg +338]</span> generous St. Clair." An agonizing shriek from above +startled all; and in another moment the lady (the traveller in the +diligence) fell on what appeared to be the soldier's bier. +"Heavens! what dream is this?" exclaimed the officer who had been +so assiduous in his attention to the unfortunate man; "my sister +here!—let me intreat, let me beg—" "No, Albert +Fitzalleyn—no, brother, no," uttered Mrs. St. Clair, "remove +me not—I am calm, resigned, very, very calm—I expected +this—if I cannot live I can die with him. St. Clair, +awake—your wife, your Charlotte calls—what not one +smile?—look here," she cried, pulling the frightened, +trembling, weeping child towards the body, "your child, your boy, +your dearest Edward calls for you too. O, agony! he does not move. +Dead! no, no, it cannot be—my life, my love, my husband." And +there was something, it did seem, in that sweet voice which reached +the dying warrior's heart, for he opened those eyes already partly +glazed with the film of death, and if in them expression remained, +it beamed on his afflicted wife. Reason and strength too returned, +but their dominion was momentary, for with one hand feebly grasping +that of his wife, his other resting on the head of his dear boy, +and his sunken eyes directed from the one to the other, the brave, +the respected, the beloved St. Clair died! He sank on the rough, +uncouth couch, and with him the senseless form of his fond wife. +The stillness of the corpse scarcely surpassed that which for a +time was reigning over the group assembled there; at length the +brother gently raised the wretched widow from her sad +resting-place; but the fair sufferer was released from all earthly +pain; with her husband she could not live, but she indeed with him +had died! Their son, Edward St. Clair, is in existence, living +with, and beloved by, his uncle, Albert Fitzalleyn,</p> +<h4>THE PAINTER.</h4> +<hr class="full" /> +<a name="SPIRIT_OF_THE" id="SPIRIT_OF_THE"></a> +<h2>SPIRIT OF THE<br /> +PUBLIC JOURNALS.</h2> +<hr /> +<h3>ROMEO COATES.</h3> +<p>What was Kemble, Cooke, Kean, or Young, to the celebrated +Diamond Coates, who, about twenty years since, shared with little +Betty the admiration of the town? Never shall I forget his +representation of Lothario at the Haymarket Theatre, for his own +pleasure, as he accurately termed it; and certainly the then rising +fame of Liston was greatly endangered by his Barbadoes rival. Never +had Garrick or Kemble, in their best times, so largely excited the +public attention and curiosity. The very remotest nooks of the +galleries were filled by fashion, while in a stage-box sat the +performer's notorious friend, the Baron Ferdinand Geramb.</p> +<p>Coates's lean Quixotic form, being duly clothed in velvets and +in silks, and his bonnet richly fraught with diamonds, (whence his +appellation,) his entrance on the stage was greeted by such a +general crowing, (in allusion to the large cocks, which as his +crest adorned his harness,) that the angry and affronted Lothario +drew his sword upon the audience, and actually challenged the rude +and boisterous inhabitants of the galleries, <i>seriatim</i>, or +<i>en masse</i>, to combat on the stage. Solemn silence, as the +consequence of mock fear, immediately succeeded. The great actor, +after the overture had ceased, amused himself for some time with +the baron, ere he condescended to indulge the wishes of an +anxiously expectant audience. At length he commenced; his appeals +to his heart were made by an application of the left hand so +disproportionably lower than the "seat of life" has been supposed +to be placed; his contracted pronunciation of the word "breach," +and other new readings and actings, kept the house in a right +joyous humour, until the climax of all mirth was attained by the +dying scene of "the gallant and the gay;" but who shall describe +the prolonged agonies of the dark seducer! his platted hair +escaping from the comb that held it, and the dark crineous cordage +that flapped upon his shoulders in the convulsions of his dying +moments, and the cries of the people for medical aid to accomplish +his eternal exit. Then, when in his last throes his bonnet fell, it +was miraculous to see the defunct arise, and after he had spread a +nice handkerchief on the stage, and there deposited his head-dress, +free from impurity, philosophically resume his dead condition; but +it was not yet over, for the exigent audience, not content "that +when the man were dead, why there an end," insisted on a repetition +of the awful scene, which the highly flattered corpse executed +three several times to the gratification of the cruel and +torment-loving assembly.</p> +<p>Coates, too, was destined to participate somewhat in the +celebrated fête in honour of the Bourbons in 1811. Having no +opportunity of learning in the West Indies the propriety of being +presented at court, ere he could be upon a more intimate footing +with the prince, he was less astonished than delighted at the +reception of an invitation on that occasion to Carlton house. +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page339" name="page339"></a>[pg +339]</span> What was the fame acquired by his cockleshell curricle, +(by the way, the very neatest thing seen in London before or +since;) his scenic reputation; all the applause attending the +perfection of histrionic art; the flatteries of Billy Finch, (a +sort of kidnapper of juvenile actors and actresses, of the O. P. +and P. S. in Russell-court;) the sanction of a Petersham; the +intimacy of a Barrymore; even the polite endurance of a Skeffington +to this! To be classed with the proud, the noble, and the great. It +seemed a natural query, whether the Bourbon's name were not a +pretext for his own introduction to royalty, under circumstances of +unprecedented splendour and magnificence. It must have been so. +What cogitations respecting dress, and air, and port, and bearing! +What torturing of the confounded lanky locks, to make them but +revolve ever so little! then the rich cut velvet—the diamond +buttons—ay, every one was composed of brilliants! The night +arrived: ushered by well-rigged watchmen to clear the way, the +honoured sedan bore its precious burthen to the palace, and the +glittering load was deposited in the royal vestibule itself. Alas! +what confusion, horror, and dismay were there, when the ticket was +pronounced a forgery! All that the considerate politeness of a +Bloomfield or a Turner might effect was done to alleviate the fatal +disappointment. The case was even reported instanter to the prince +himself; but etiquette was amongst the other "restrictions" imposed +upon his royal highness; and, however tempered by compliment and +excuse, "the diamonds blaze" reached not farther than the hall, and +were destined to waste their splendour, for the remainder of the +night, in the limited apartments of Craven-street.</p> +<h4><i>New Monthly Magazine.</i></h4> +<hr /> +<h3>THE VOICE OF NATURE.</h3> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>I heard a bird on the linden tree,</p> +<p class="i2">From which November leaves were falling,</p> +<p>Sweet were its notes, and wild their tone;</p> +<p>And pensive there as I paused alone,</p> +<p>They spake with a mystical voice to me,</p> +<p class="i2">The sunlight of vanish'd years recalling</p> +<p>From out the mazy past.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>I turned to the cloud-bedappled sky,</p> +<p class="i2">To bare-shorn field and gleaming water;</p> +<p>To frost-night herbage, and perishing flower;</p> +<p>While the Robin haunted the yellow bower;</p> +<p>With his faery plumage and jet-black eye,</p> +<p class="i2">Like an unlaid ghost some scene of slaughter:</p> +<p>All mournful was the sight.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>Then I thought of seasons, when, long ago,</p> +<p class="i2">Ere Hope's clear sky was dimm'd by sorrow,</p> +<p>How bright seem'd the flowers, and the trees how green,</p> +<p>How lengthen'd the blue summer days had been;</p> +<p>And what pure delight the young spirit's glow,</p> +<p class="i2">From the bosom of earth and air, could borrow</p> +<p>Out of all lovely things.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>Then my heart leapt to days, when, a careless boy,</p> +<p class="i2">'Mid scenes of ambrosial Autumn roaming,</p> +<p>The diamond gem of the Evening Star,</p> +<p>Twinkling amid the pure South afar,</p> +<p>Was gazed on with gushes of holy joy,</p> +<p class="i2">As the cherub spirit that ruled the gloaming</p> +<p>With glittering, golden eye.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>And oh! with what rapture of silent bliss.</p> +<p class="i2">With what breathless deep devotion,</p> +<p>Have I watch'd, like spectre from swathing shroud,</p> +<p>The white moon peer o'er the shadowy cloud,</p> +<p>Illumine the mantled Earth, and kiss</p> +<p class="i2">The meekly murmuring lips of Ocean,</p> +<p>As a mother doth her child.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>But now I can feel how Time hath changed</p> +<p class="i2">My thoughts within, the prospect round us—</p> +<p>How boyish companions have thinn'd away;</p> +<p>How the sun hath grown cloudier, ray by ray;</p> +<p>How loved scenes of childhood are now estranged;</p> +<p class="i2">And the chilling tempests of Care have bound us</p> +<p>Within their icy folds.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>'Tis no vain dream of moody mind,</p> +<p class="i2">That lists a dirge i' the blackbird's singing;</p> +<p>That in gusts hears Nature's own voice complain,</p> +<p>And beholds her tears in the gushing rain;</p> +<p>When low clouds congregate blank and blind,</p> +<p class="i2">And Winter's snow-muffled arms are clinging</p> +<p>Round Autumn's faded urn.</p> +</div> +</div> +<h4>DELTA.</h4> +<h4><i>Blackwood's Magazine</i>.</h4> +<hr /> +<h3>CALAIS</h3> +<p>Calais will merit to be described by every Englishman who visits +it, and to be read of by every one who does not—so long as +Hogarth, and "Oh! the Roast Beef of Old England!" shall be +remembered, and—which will be longer still—till the +French and English become one people, merely by dint of living, +within three hours' journey of each other. Calais has been treated +much too cavalierly by the flocks of English, who owe to it their +first, and consequently most fixed impressions of French manners, +and the English want of them. Calais is, in fact, one of the most +agreeable and characteristic little towns in France. It is "lively, +audible, and full of vent"—as gay as a fair, and as busy as a +bee-hive—and its form and construction as compact.</p> +<p>Calais, unlike any English town you could name, is content to +remain where it is—instead of perpetually trying to stretch +away towards Paris, as our's do towards London, and as London +itself does towards them. Transporting you at <span class= +"pagenum"><a id="page340" name="page340"></a>[pg 340]</span> once +to the "Place" in the centre of the town (an entirely open square, +of about 150 paces by 100,) you can scarcely look upon a more +lively and stirring scene. The houses and their shops (they have +all shops) are like nothing so much as so many scenes in a +pantomime—so fancifully and variously are they filled, so +brightly and fantastically painted, and so abruptly do they seem to +have risen out of the ground! This last appearance is caused by the +absence of a foot-path, and of areas, porticoes, railings, +&c.—such as, in all cases, give a kind of <i>finish</i> +to the look of our houses. The houses here seem all to have grown +up <i>out</i> of the ground—not to have been built +<i>upon</i> it. This is what gives to them their most striking +effect of novelty at the first view. Their brilliant and various +colourings—so unlike our sombre brick-work—is the next +cause of the novel impression they produce. The general strangeness +of the effect is completed by the excellence of the pavement, which +is of stones, shaped like those of our best London carriage-ways, +but as white as marble in all weathers, and as regular as the +brick-work of a house-front. The uniformity of the "Place" is +broken (not very agreeably) by the principal public edifice of +Calais—the Town Hall; a half-modern, half-antique building, +which occupies about a third of the south side, and is surmounted +at one end by a light spiring belfry, containing a most loquacious +ring of bells, which take up a somewhat unreasonable proportion of +every quarter of an hour in announcing its arrival; and, in +addition, every three hours they play "<i>Le petit chaperon +rouge</i>" for a longer period than (I should imagine) even French +patience and leisure can afford to listen to it. Immediately behind +the centre of this side of the "Place" also rises the lofty tower, +which serves as a light-house to the coast and harbour, and which +at night displays its well-known revolving lights. Most of the +principal streets run out of this great Square. The most busy of +them—because the greatest thoroughfare—is a short and +narrow one leading to the Port—(<i>Rue du Havre</i>:) in it +live all those shopkeepers who especially address themselves to the +wants of the traveller. But the gayest and most agreeable street is +one running from the north-east corner of the "Place" (<i>Rue +Royale</i>.) It terminates in the gate leading to the suburbs +(<i>Basse Ville</i>,) and to the Netherlands and the interior of +the country. In this street is situated the great hotel +Dessin—rendered famous for the "for ever" of a century or so +to come, by <i>Sterne's Sentimental Journey</i>. The only other +street devoted exclusively to shops is one running parallel with +the south side of the "Place." The rest of the interior of Calais +consists of about twenty other streets, each containing here and +there a shop, but chiefly occupied by the residences of persons +directly or indirectly connected with the trade of Calais as a +sea-port town.</p> +<p>If you believe its maligners, Calais is no better than a sort of +Alsatia to England, a kind of extension of the rules of the King's +Bench. The same persons would persuade you that America is +something between a morass and a desert, and that its inhabitants +are a cross between swindlers and barbarians; merely because its +laws do not take upon them to punish those who have not offended +against them! If America were to send home to their respective +countries, in irons, all who arrive on her shores under suspicion +of not being endowed with a Utopian degree of honesty—or, if +(still better) she were to hang them outright, she would be looked +upon as the most pious, moral, and refined nation under the sun, +and her climate would rival that of Paradise. And if Calais did not +happen to be so situated, that it affords a pleasant refuge to some +of those who have the wit to prefer free limbs and fresh air to a +prison, it would be all that is agreeable and genteel. It seems to +be thought, that a certain ci-devant leader of fashion has chosen +Calais as his place of voluntary exile, out of a spirit of +contradiction. But the truth is, he had the good sense to see that +he might "go farther and fare worse;" and that, at any rate, he +would thus secure himself from the intrusions of that "good +company," which had been his bane. By-the-by, his last "good thing" +appertains to his residence here. Some one asked him how he could +think of residing in "such a place as Calais?" "I suppose," said +he, "it is possible for a gentleman to <i>live</i> between London +and Paris."</p> +<p>The interior of Calais I need not describe further, except to +say that round three-fourths of it are elevated ramparts, +overlooking the surrounding country to a great extent, and in +several parts planted with trees, which afford most pleasant and +refreshing walks, after pacing the somewhat perplexing pavements of +the streets, and being dazzled by the brilliant whiteness which +reflects from that, and from the houses. The port, which occupies +the other fourth, and is gained by three streets parallel to each +other, and leading from the "Place," is small, but in excellent +order, and always alive with shipping, and the amusing operations +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page341" name="page341"></a>[pg +341]</span> appertaining thereto; and the pier is a most striking +object, especially at high water, when it runs out, in a straight +line, for near three quarters of a mile, into the open sea. It is +true our English engineers—who ruin hundreds of their fellow +citizens by spending millions upon a bridge that nobody will take +the trouble to pass over, and cutting tunnels under rivers, only to +let the water into them when they have got all the money they can +by the job—would treat this pier with infinite contempt as a +thing that merely answers all the purposes for which it was +erected! as if <i>that</i> were a merit of any but the very lowest +degree. "Look at Waterloo Bridge!" they say; "we flatter ourselves +<i>that</i> was not a thing built (like the pier of Calais) merely +for use. Nobody will say that any such thing was wanted! But, what +a noble monument of British art, and what a fine commemoration of +the greatest of modern victories!" True: but it would have been all +this if you had built it on Salisbury Plain; and in that case it +would have cost only half the money. The pier of Calais is, in +fact, every thing that it need be, and what perhaps no other pier +is; and yet it is nothing more than a piece of serviceable +carpentery, that must have cost about as much, perhaps, as to print +the prospectuses of some of the late undertakings, and pay the +advertisements and the lawyer's bill.</p> +<h4><i>Monthly Magazine.</i></h4> +<hr /> +<h3>CURIOSITY.</h3> +<p>If I were to enumerate all the great and venerable personages +who indulge in an extensive curiosity, I should never arrive at the +end of my subject. Lawyers and physicians are eternal questionists; +the clergy are curious, especially on agricultural affairs; the +first nobles in the land take in the "John Bull" and the "Age" to +gratify the most prurient curiosity. The gentlemen of the Stock +Exchange live only from one story to another, and are miserable if +a "great man's butler looks grave," without their knowing why. So +general indeed is this passion, that one half of every Englishman's +time is spent in inquiring after the health of his acquaintance, +and the rest in asking "what news?" There is a very respectable +knot of persons who go up and down the country asking people their +opinion of the pope's infallibility, and what they think of the +Virgin Mary; and when they do not get an answer to their mind, they +fall to shouting, "The Church is in danger," like a parcel of +lunatics. Another set, equally respectable, are chiefly solicitous +for your notions concerning the Apocalypse; and to learn whether +you read your Bible at all, or whether with or without note or +comment. Then again, a third set of the curious are to be seen, +mounted upon lamp-posts, and peeping into their neighbours' +windows, to learn whether they shave themselves, or employ a barber +on a Sunday morning; and a fourth, who cannot find time to go to +church, in their anxiety to know that their neighbours do not smoke +pipes and drink ale in the time of divine service. In short, +society may be considered as one great system of espionage; and the +business of every man is not only with the actions, but with the +very thoughts of all his neighbours.</p> +<h4><i>New Monthly Magazine.</i></h4> +<hr class="full" /> +<a name="THE_SELECTOR." id="THE_SELECTOR."></a> +<h2>THE SELECTOR.<br /> +AND<br /> +LITERARY NOTICES OF <i>NEW WORKS</i>.</h2> +<hr /> +<h3>CHRONICLES OF THE CANONGATE.</h3> +<p>[<i>Ecce iterum Crispinus!</i>—We intend to continue our +notice of the above work in a series of snatches, or portraitures, +for which mode (from its varied and detached character) it is +perhaps better calculated than any of its predecessors. Our +anticipatory anxiety in selecting the <i>Two Drovers</i> was a +forcible illustration of the maxim, <i>Qui dat cito, dat bis;</i> +for the extent occupied by the portion already quoted and its +interruption, with the immense influx of works recently published, +have somewhat interfered with our arrangements. In "the +Introduction" to the "Chronicles," Sir Walter Scott avows the +authorship of the Waverley Novels, and recapitulates the +explanation which took place at the Theatrical Fund Meeting, at +Edinburgh, in July last. Sir Walter then proceeds to acknowledge, +with gratitude, "hints of subjects and legends" which he received +from various quarters, and occasionally used as a foundation of his +fictitious compositions, or wove in the shape of episodes; and from +these acknowledgments we select the following <i>dram. +pers.</i>]</p> +<p><i>Old Mortality.</i>—It was Mr. Train, supervisor of +excise at Dumfries, who recalled to my recollection the history of +Old Mortality, although I myself had a personal interview with that +celebrated wanderer, so far back as about 1792. He was then engaged +in repairing the grave-stones of the Covenanters who had died while +imprisoned in the castle of Dunnottar, to which many of them were +committed <span class="pagenum"><a id="page342" name= +"page342"></a>[pg 342]</span> prisoners at the period of Argyle's +rising; their place of confinement is still called the Whig's +vault. Mr. Train, however, procured for me far more extensive +information concerning this singular person, whose name was +Patterson, than I had been able to acquire during my short +conversation with him. He was (as I may have somewhere already +stated) a native of the parish of Closeburn, in Dumfries-shire, and +it is believed that domestic affliction, as well as devotional +feeling, induced him to commence the wandering mode of life, which +he pursued for a very long period. It is more than twenty years +since Robert Patterson's death, which took place on the high road +near Lockerby, where he was found exhausted and expiring. The white +pony, the companion of his pilgrimage, was standing by the side of +its dying master; the whole furnishing a scene not unfitted for the +pencil. These particulars I had from Mr. Train.</p> +<p><i>Jennie Deans</i>.—An unknown correspondent (a lady) +favoured me with the history of the upright and high principled +female, whom, in the "Heart of Mid Lothian," I have termed Jeanie +Deans. The circumstance of her refusing to save her sister's life +by an act of perjury, and undertaking a pilgrimage to London to +obtain her pardon, are both represented as true by my fair and +obliging correspondent; and they led me to consider the possibility +of rendering a fictitious personage interesting by mere dignity of +mind and rectitude of principle, assisted by unpretending good +sense and temper, without any of the beauty, grace, talent, +accomplishment, and wit, to which a heroine of romance is supposed +to have a prescriptive right. If the portrait was received with +interest by the public, I am conscious how much it was owing to the +truth and force of the original sketch, which I regret that I am +unable to present to the public, as it was written with much +feeling and spirit.</p> +<p><i>Bride of Lammermoor</i>.—The terrible catastrophe of +the Bride of Lammermoor actually occurred in a Scottish family of +rank. The female relative, by whom the melancholy tale was +communicated to me many years since, was a near connexion of the +family in which the event happened, and always told it with an +appearance of melancholy mystery, which enhanced the interest. She +had known, in her youth, the brother who rode before the unhappy +victim to the fatal altar, who, though then a mere boy, and +occupied almost entirely with the gallantry of his own appearance +in the bridal procession, could not but remark that the hand of his +sister was moist, and cold as that of a statue. It is unnecessary +further to withdraw the veil from this scene of family distress, +nor, although it occurred more than a hundred years since, might it +be altogether agreeable to the representatives of the families +concerned in the narrative. It may be proper to say that the events +are imitated; but I had neither the means nor intention of copying +the manners, or tracing the characters, of the persons concerned in +the real story.</p> +<p><i>The Antiquary</i>.—The character of Jonathan Oldbuck, +in the "Antiquary," was partly founded on that of an old friend of +my youth, to whom I am indebted for introducing me to Shakspeare, +and other invaluable favours; but I thought I had so completely +disguised the likeness, that it could not be recognised by any one +now alive. I was mistaken, however, and indeed had endangered what +I desired should be considered as a secret; for I afterwards +learned that a highly respectable gentleman, one of the few +surviving friends of my father, and an acute critic, had said, upon +the appearance of the work, that he was now convinced who was the +author of it, as he recognised, in the "Antiquary," traces of the +character of a very intimate friend of my father's family.</p> +<p><i>Waverley</i>.—The sort of exchange of gallantry between +the Baron of Bradwardine and Col. Talbot is a literal fact. [For +the real circumstances of the anecdote, we must refer our readers +to the "Introduction" itself. It was communicated to Sir Walter by +the late Lord Kinedder.]</p> +<p><i>Guy Mannering</i>.—The origin of Meg Merrilies, and of +one or two other personages of the same cast of character, will be +found in a review of the <i>Tales of my Landlord</i> in the +<i>Quarterly Review</i> of January, 1817.</p> +<p><i>Legend of Montrose</i>.—The tragic and savage +circumstances which are represented as preceding the birth of Allan +Mac Aulay, in the "Legend of Montrose," really happened in the +family of Stewart of Ardvoirloch. The wager about the candlesticks, +whose place was supplied by Highland torch-bearers, was laid and +won by one of the Mac Donalds of Keppoch.</p> +<hr /> +<p>I may, however, before dismissing the subject, allude to the +various localities which have been affixed to some of the, scenery +introduced into these novels, by which, for example, Wolf's-Hope is +identified with Fast Castle, in Berwickshire; Tillietudlem with +Draphane, in Clydesdale; and the valley in the "Monastery," called +Glendearg, with the dale of the <span class="pagenum"><a id= +"page343" name="page343"></a>[pg 343]</span> Allan, above Lord +Somerville's villa, near Melrose. I can only say, that, in these +and other instances, I had no purpose of describing any particular +local spot; and the resemblance must therefore be of that general +kind which necessarily exists betwixt scenes of the same character. +The iron-bound coast of Scotland affords upon its headlands and +promontories fifty such castles as Wolf's-Hope; every country has a +valley more or less resembling Glendearg; and if castles like +Tillietudlem. or mansions like the Baron of Bradwardine's, are now +less frequently to be met with, it is owing to the rage of +indiscriminate destruction, which has removed or ruined so many +monuments of antiquity, when they were not protected by their +inaccessible situation.—The scraps of poetry which have been +in most cases tacked to the beginning of chapters in these novels, +are sometimes quoted either from reading or from memory, but, in +the general case, are pure invention. I found it too troublesome to +turn to the collection of the British poets to discover apposite +mottos, and, in the situation of the theatrical mechanist, who, +when the white paper which represented his shower of snow was +exhausted, continued the storm by snowing brown, I drew on my +memory as long as I could, and when that failed, eked it out with +invention. I believe that, in some cases, where actual names are +affixed to the supposed quotations, it would be to little purpose +to seek them in the works, of the authors referred to.—And +now the reader may expect me, while in the confessional, to explain +the motives why I have so long persisted in disclaiming the works +of which I am now writing. To this it would be difficult to give +any other reply, save that of Corporal Nym—It was the humour +or caprice of the time.</p> +<p>It was not until I had attained the age, of thirty years that I +made any serious attempt at distinguishing myself as an author; and +at that period, men's hopes, desires, and wishes, have usually +acquired something of a decisive character, and are not eagerly and +easily diverted into a new channel. When I made the +discovery,—for to me it was one,—that by amusing myself +with composition, which I felt a delightful occupation, I could +also give pleasure to others, and became aware that literary +pursuits were likely to engage in future a considerable portion of +my time, I felt some alarm that I might acquire those habits of +jealousy and fretfulness which have lessened, and even degraded, +the character of the children of imagination, and rendered them, by +petty squabbles and mutual irritability, the laughing-stock of the +people of the world, I resolved, therefore, in this respect, to +guard my breast (perhaps an unfriendly critic may add, my brow,) +with triple brass, and as much as possible to avoid resting my +thoughts and wishes upon literary success, lest I should endanger +my own peace of mind and tranquillity by literary failure. It would +argue either stupid apathy or ridiculous affectation, to say that I +have been insensible to the public applause, when I have been +honoured with its testimonies; and still more highly do I prize the +invaluable friendships which some temporary popularity has enabled +me to form among those most distinguished by talents and genius, +and which I venture to hope now rest upon a basis more firm than +the circumstances which gave rise to them. Yet feeling all these +advantages, as a man ought to do, and must do, I may say, with +truth and confidence, that I have tasted of the intoxicating cup +with moderation, and that I have never, either in conversation or +correspondence, encouraged discussions respecting my own literary +pursuits. On the contrary, I have usually found such topics, even +when introduced from motives most flattering to myself, rather +embarrassing and disagreeable. I have now frankly told my motives +for concealment, so far as I am conscious of having any, and the +public will forgive the egotism of the detail, as what is +necessarily connected with it. I have only to repeat, that I avow +myself in print, as formerly in words, the sole and unassisted +author of all the novels published as the composition of the +"Author of Waverley." I ought to mention, before concluding, that +twenty persons at least were, either from intimacy or from the +confidence which circumstances rendered necessary, participant of +this secret; and as there was no instance, to my knowledge, of any +one of the number breaking the confidence required from them, I am +the more obliged to them, because the slight and trivial character +of the mystery was not qualified to inspire much respect in those +intrusted with it.</p> +<h4>WALTER SCOTT.</h4> +<h4><i>Abbotsford, Oct. 1, 1827</i>.</h4> +<hr class="full" /> +<a name="THE_GATHERER." id="THE_GATHERER."></a> +<h2>THE GATHERER.</h2> +<blockquote>"I am but a <i>Gatherer</i> and disposer of other men's +stuff."—<i>Wotton</i></blockquote> +<hr /> +<h3>NEGRO PUN.</h3> +<p>At the late fancy ball in Liverpool, a gentleman who had assumed +the swarthy hue of a "nigger," was requested to favour the company +with Matthews's song—"Possum up a gum tree."—"<i>Non +possum</i>," replied the wit.</p> +<hr /> +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page344" name="page344"></a>[pg +344]</span> +<h3>"SPIRITS" OF THE MAGAZINES.</h3> +<p>Is it not diverting to see a periodical supported, not by the +spirits of the age, but by the small beers, with now and then a few +ales and porters? Yet we doubt not that one and all of the people +employed about the concern may be, in their way, very respectable +schoolmasters, who, in small villages, cannot support themselves +entirely on their own bottoms,—ushers in metropolitan +academies, whose annual salary rarely exceeds twenty pounds, with +some board, and a little washing—third-rate actors on the +boards of the Surrey or Adelphi, who have generally a literary +turn—a player on the hautboy in some orchestra or +other—unfortunate men of talent in the King's Bench—a +precocious boy or two in Christ's hospital—an occasional +apprentice run away from the row, and most probably cousin of +Tims.</p> +<h4><i>Blackwood's Mag.</i></h4> +<p>After this specimen of "Contributors" who would be an Editor? It +is a fair sample of more than one "paralytic periodical:" our +readers must bear in mind a certain point of etiquette about +"present company."</p> +<hr /> +<h3>FRAMEWORK OF SOCIETY.</h3> +<p>"It is curious," says the <i>London Magazine</i>, "to imagine +what the society of <i>New South Wales</i> may be two thousand +years hence. The ancestors of a portion of our proud nobility were +thieves of one kind, the chieftain of ruder times being often +nothing better than a well-established robber. And why may not the +descendants of another kind of thieves glory equally in their +origin at some distant day, and proudly trace themselves to a +Soames and a Filch, and dwell with romantic glow, on their +larcenous deeds? A descendant of Soames may have as much pride in +recalling the deeds of that distinguished felon in the Strand, as a +descendant of a border chief has in recounting his ancestors levies +of blackmail."—Pope might well say—</p> +<blockquote>"What can ennoble sots, or fools, or cowards,<br /> +Alas! not all the blood of all the Howards"</blockquote> +<hr /> +<h3>SEEING IS BELIEVING.</h3> +<p>In South America, the whole population is equestrian. No man +goes to visit his next door neighbour on foot; and even the beggars +in the street ask alms on horseback. A French traveller being +solicited for charity by one of these mounted petitioners, at +Buenos Ayres, makes the following entry in his +note-book.—"16th November. Saw a beggar this morning, who +asked alms of me, mounted on a tall grey horse. The English have a +proverb, that says—'Set a beggar on horseback, and he'll ride +to the devil!' I had often heard this mentioned, but never saw one +upon his way before."</p> +<h4><i>Monthly Mag.</i></h4> +<p>We remember to have seen in Paris a man in a sort of chaise, +grinding an organ, drawn by two ponies, and followed by a +boy—begging from house to house. From the faded <i>livery</i> +worn by the boy, we set the whole down as a burlesque.</p> +<hr /> +<h3>SHADOW CATCHER.</h3> +<p>I was present, some years ago, at the trial of a notorious +obeah-man, driven on an estate in the parish of St. David, who, by +the overwhelming influence he had acquired over the minds of his +deluded victims, and the more potent means he had at command to +accomplish his ends, had done great injury among the slaves on the +property before it was discovered. One of the witnesses, a negro +belonging to the same estate, was asked—"Do you know the +prisoner to be an obeah-man?"—"Ees, massa, shadow-catcher, +true." "What do you mean by a shadow-catcher?"—"Him ha +coffin, (a little coffin produced,) him set for catch dem shadow." +"What shadow do you mean?"—"When him set obeah for summary, +(some body,) him catch dem shadow and dem go dead;" and too surely +they were soon dead, when he pretended to have caught their +shadows, by whatever means it was effected.</p> +<h4><i>Barclay's Slavery.</i></h4> +<hr /> +<h3>THE FUNDS.</h3> +<p>John Kemble being present at the sale of the books of Isaac +Reed, the commentator on Shakspeare, when "a Treatise on the Public +Securities" was knocked down at the humble price of +sixpence—the great tragedian observed, "that he had never +known the funds so low before."</p> +<hr /> +<h3>TEMPUS EDAX RERUM.</h3> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"Time is money," Robin says,</p> +<p class="i2">'Tis true I'll prove it clear:</p> +<p>Tom owes <i>ten pounds</i>, for which he pays</p> +<p class="i2">in Limbo <i>half a year</i>.</p> +</div> +</div> +<hr /> +<h3>ON JACK STRAW'S CASTLE, HAMPSTEAD HEATH, BEING REPAIRED.</h3> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>With best of food—of beer and wines,</p> +<p class="i2">Here may you pass a merry day;</p> +<p>So shall "mine host," while Phoebus shines,</p> +<p class="i2">Instead of straw, make good his hay.</p> +</div> +</div> +<h4>J. R.</h4> +<hr class="full" /> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote1" name= +"footnote1"></a> <b>Footnote 1</b>: <a href= +"#footnotetag1">(return)</a> +<p>The word mezzo-tinto is derived from the Italian, meaning half +painted.</p> +</blockquote> +<hr class="full" /> +<p><i>Printed and Published by J. Limbird, 143 Strand, (near +Somerset House) and sold by all Newsmen and Booksellers.</i></p> +<hr class="full" /> + +<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 10896 ***</div> +</body> +</html> diff --git a/10896-h/images/283-1.png b/10896-h/images/283-1.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..6ae2b93 --- /dev/null +++ b/10896-h/images/283-1.png diff --git a/10896-h/images/283-2.png b/10896-h/images/283-2.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..b2d8bb4 --- /dev/null +++ b/10896-h/images/283-2.png |
