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diff --git a/10896-0.txt b/10896-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..420df84 --- /dev/null +++ b/10896-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1390 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 10896 *** + +THE MIRROR OF LITERATURE, AMUSEMENT, AND INSTRUCTION. + +VOL 10. No. 283. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 1827. [PRICE 2d.] + + + + +HADDON HALL. + + +The locomotive facility with which the aid of our graphic department +enables us to _transport_ our readers, (for we have already sent them to +_Sydney_,) 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 _Palace at Stockholm_ (No. 277) +to that of _Buckingham, in St. James's Park_, (278;) thence to +_Brambletye_, in the wilds of _Sussex_, (279;) to _Hamlet's Garden at +Elsineur_, (280;) then to the deserts of _Africa_, and _Canterbury_, (281;) +in our last, (282,) we introduced our readers to the palatial splendour of +the _Regent's Park;_ and our present visit is to _Haddon Hall_, in +_Derbyshire_, 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. + +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 _Mi +esimo_ ccccxxvii. is legible. In the north window the name _Edwardus +Vernon_ and his arms remain; and in a south window is _Willmus Trussel_. +In the chapel also stands a Roman altar, dug up near Bakewell. + +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. + +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,) _seven score_ servants were +maintained, and during twelve days after Christmas, the house was "kept +open." + +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 _seen_ Haddon Hall. + +In the "Bijou" for 1828, an elegant _annual_, 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. + + * * * * * + + +POETICAL LOVE-LETTER. + +_(For the Mirror.)_ + + +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:-- + + Mistress A--y. + To you I fly, + You only can relieve me; + To you I turn, + For you I burn, + If you will but believe me. + + Then, gentle dame, + Admit my flame, + And grant me my petition: + If you deny, + Alas! I die + In pitiful condition. + + Before the news + Of your poor spouse + Had reached our _New Haven_, + My dear wife died, + Who was my bride, + In _anno_ eighty-seven. + + Then being free, + Let's both agree + To join our hands--for I do + Boldly aver + A widower + Is fittest for a widow. + + You may be sure + 'Tis not your dow'r + I make this flowing version; + In those smooth lays + I only praise + The glories of your person. + + For the whole that + Was left to _Mat_, + Fortune to me has granted + In equal store, + Nay, I have more. + What Mathew always wanted. + + No teeth, 'tis true, + You have to shew; + The young think teeth inviting-- + But, silly youths, + I love those mouths + Where there's no fear of biting. + + A leaky eye, + That's never dry, + These woeful times is fitting; + A wrinkled face + Adds solemn grace + To folks devout at meeting. + + A furrow'd brow, + Where corn might grow, + Such fertile soil is seen in't, + A long hook nose, + Though scorn'd by foes, + For spectacles convenient. + + Thus to go on, + I could pen down + Your charms from head to foot-- + Set all your glory + In verse before you, + But I've no mind to do't. + + Then haste away, + And make no stay, + For soon as you come hither + We'll eat and sleep, + Make beds and sweep, + And talk and smoke together. + + But if, my dear, + I must come there, + Tow'rd _Cambridge_ strait I'll set me, + To touze the hay + On which you lay, + If, madam, you will let me. + +B. + + * * * * * + + + +EARLY RISING. + +_(For the Mirror.)_ + + "Whose morning, like the spirit of a youth, + That means to be of note, begins betimes." + +SHAKSPEARE'S _Ant. and Cleop._ + + +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 + + "What time the shepherd, blowing of his nails, + Can neither call it perfect day nor night?" + +"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 + + "The curfew toll'd the parting knell of day," + +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.) + +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: + + "Early to bed, and early to rise, + Will make a man healthy, wealthy, and wise." + + "There are no gains without pains; + Then plough deep, while sluggards sleep." + +And a third proverb is a compendium of my advice to both classes of +readers: + + "He who will thrive must rise at five; + He who has thriven may sleep till seven." + +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 _Seasons_? + + "Falsely luxurious will not man awake, + And, springing from the bed of sloth, enjoy + The cool, the fragrant, and the silent hour, + To meditation due and sacred song? + For is there aught in sleep can charm the wise? + To lie in dead oblivion, losing half + The fleeting moments of too short a life, + Total extinction of th' enlighten'd soul! + Or else, to feverish vanity alive, + Wilder'd and tossing through distemper'd dreams? + Who would in such a gloomy state remain + Longer than nature craves, when every Muse + And every blooming pleasure wait without, + To bless the wildly devious morning walk?" + +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 + + --"In that gloomy state remain + Longer than nature craves," + +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. + +W. P----N. + + * * * * * + + + +BUNHILL FIELDS BURYING-GROUND. + + +This extensive burial-place is part of the manor of Finsbury, or +_Fensbury_, 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 _The Artillery Ground_. + +In the year 1665, that part of the ground now called _Bunhill_ (originally +_Bonhill_) _Field_, 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 _Tindal's +Burial-place_. 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." + +The fen or moor (in this neighbourhood), from whence the name Moorfields, +reached from London-wall to Hoxton; the southern part of it, denominated +_Windmill Hill_, 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 _The Upper +Moorfield_. + +The first monumental inscription in Bunhill-fields is, _Grace, daughter of +T. Cloudesly, of Leeds. Feb. 1666.--Maitland's Hist. of London_, p. 775. + +Dr. Goodwin was buried there in 1679; Dr. Owen in 1683; and John Bunyan in +1688. + +_Park-place, Highbury Vale._ + +J. H. B. + + * * * * * + + + +SUPPOSED ORIGIN OF MEZZO-TINTO.[1] + + +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 _genie second en experiences_ (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. + + [1] The word mezzo-tinto is derived from the Italian, meaning half + painted. + +P. T. W. + + * * * * * + + + +RETROSPECTIVE GLEANINGS. + + * * * * * + + [For the following succinct account of the Gunpowder Conspiracy, + our acknowledgments are due to the proprietors of an elegant and + interesting _Annual_, entitled "THE AMULET" for 1828.] + + +A BRIEF HISTORY OF "THE GUNPOWDER PLOT." + +_(Compiled from original and unpublished documents.)_ + + +Of all the plots and conspiracies that ever entered into the mind of man, +the Gunpowder plot stands pre-eminent in horror and wickedness. + +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. + +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 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. + +Thus far, every thing had prospered with the conspirators; success had +followed every effort they had made. + +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." + +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 _their_ 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. + +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, 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. + +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. + +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. + +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 _in_ and _out_ of confession, and his influential +character with all the conspirators. + +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. + +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:-- + +_Robert Catesbye_.--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. + +_Guido Fawkes_.--Taken from his declaration made in the Tower on the 19th +of November, and afterwards acknowledged before the Lord's Commissioners. + +_Thomas Percy_.--From an original letter to W. Wycliff, Esq. of York, dated +at Gainsborough, November 2nd, 1605. + +_Henry Garnet_.--From one of his examinations, wherein he confessed to have +been in pilgrimage to St. Winifred's Well. + +_Ambrose Rookewood_.--From an original letter, declared that he had felt a +scruple of conscience, the fact seeming "too bluddy." + +_Thomas Wintour_.--From an original examination before the Lord's +Commissioners, on the 25th of November, 1605. + +_Francis Tresam._--From his examination relative to the book on +Equivocation. Tresam escaped being hanged by dying in the Tower, on the +23rd of December, 1605. + +_Sir Everard Digby_.--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. + +_To the Right Hon. the Lord Mounteagle_.--The superscription to the +anonymous letter that led to the discovery of the plot. By whom it was +written still remains a mystery. + +All the principal conspirators were married and had families; several of +them possessed considerable property, and were highly, and, in some +instances, nobly related. + +L. + + * * * * * + + + +THE SKETCH BOOK + +No. XLIX. + + * * * * * + + +THE AUBERGE. + +_(For the Mirror.)_ + + +"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 _chanson_ 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 _their native soil_, 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 _one traveller,_ +whose melancholy defied eradication--_an English lady,_ 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, 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, + +THE PAINTER. + + * * * * * + + + +SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS. + + * * * * * + + +ROMEO COATES. + + +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. + +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, +_seriatim_, or _en masse_, 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. + +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. 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. + +_New Monthly Magazine._ + + * * * * * + + +THE VOICE OF NATURE. + + + I heard a bird on the linden tree, + From which November leaves were falling, + Sweet were its notes, and wild their tone; + And pensive there as I paused alone, + They spake with a mystical voice to me, + The sunlight of vanish'd years recalling + From out the mazy past. + + I turned to the cloud-bedappled sky, + To bare-shorn field and gleaming water; + To frost-night herbage, and perishing flower; + While the Robin haunted the yellow bower; + With his faery plumage and jet-black eye, + Like an unlaid ghost some scene of slaughter: + All mournful was the sight. + + Then I thought of seasons, when, long ago, + Ere Hope's clear sky was dimm'd by sorrow, + How bright seem'd the flowers, and the trees how green, + How lengthen'd the blue summer days had been; + And what pure delight the young spirit's glow, + From the bosom of earth and air, could borrow + Out of all lovely things. + + Then my heart leapt to days, when, a careless boy, + 'Mid scenes of ambrosial Autumn roaming, + The diamond gem of the Evening Star, + Twinkling amid the pure South afar, + Was gazed on with gushes of holy joy, + As the cherub spirit that ruled the gloaming + With glittering, golden eye. + + And oh! with what rapture of silent bliss. + With what breathless deep devotion, + Have I watch'd, like spectre from swathing shroud, + The white moon peer o'er the shadowy cloud, + Illumine the mantled Earth, and kiss + The meekly murmuring lips of Ocean, + As a mother doth her child. + + But now I can feel how Time hath changed + My thoughts within, the prospect round us-- + How boyish companions have thinn'd away; + How the sun hath grown cloudier, ray by ray; + How loved scenes of childhood are now estranged; + And the chilling tempests of Care have bound us + Within their icy folds. + + 'Tis no vain dream of moody mind, + That lists a dirge i' the blackbird's singing; + That in gusts hears Nature's own voice complain, + And beholds her tears in the gushing rain; + When low clouds congregate blank and blind, + And Winter's snow-muffled arms are clinging + Round Autumn's faded urn. + +DELTA. + +_Blackwood's Magazine_. + + * * * * * + + +CALAIS + + +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. + +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 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 _finish_ to the look of our houses. The houses here seem all to have +grown up _out_ of the ground--not to have been built _upon_ 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 "_Le petit chaperon rouge_" 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--(_Rue du Havre_:) 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" (_Rue Royale_.) It terminates in the gate leading to the suburbs +(_Basse Ville_,) 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 _Sterne's Sentimental Journey_. +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. + +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 _live_ +between London and Paris." + +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 +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 _that_ were a merit of any but the very lowest degree. "Look +at Waterloo Bridge!" they say; "we flatter ourselves _that_ 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. + +_Monthly Magazine._ + + * * * * * + + +CURIOSITY. + + +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. + +_New Monthly Magazine._ + + * * * * * + + + +THE SELECTOR. + +AND + +LITERARY NOTICES OF _NEW WORKS_. + + * * * * * + + +CHRONICLES OF THE CANONGATE. + + +[_Ecce iterum Crispinus!_--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 _Two Drovers_ +was a forcible illustration of the maxim, _Qui dat cito, dat bis;_ 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 _dram. pers._] + +_Old Mortality._--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 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. + +_Jennie Deans_.--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. + +_Bride of Lammermoor_.--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. + +_The Antiquary_.--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. + +_Waverley_.--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.] + +_Guy Mannering_.--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 +_Tales of my Landlord_ in the _Quarterly Review_ of January, 1817. + +_Legend of Montrose_.--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. + + * * * * * + +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 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. + +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. + +WALTER SCOTT. + +_Abbotsford, Oct. 1, 1827_. + + * * * * * + + + +THE GATHERER. + +"I am but a _Gatherer_ and disposer of other men's stuff."--_Wotton_ + + * * * * * + + +NEGRO PUN. + + +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."--"_Non possum_," replied the wit. + + * * * * * + + +"SPIRITS" OF THE MAGAZINES. + + +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. + +_Blackwood's Mag._ + +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." + + * * * * * + + +FRAMEWORK OF SOCIETY. + + +"It is curious," says the _London Magazine_, "to imagine what the society +of _New South Wales_ 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-- + + "What can ennoble sots, or fools, or cowards, + Alas! not all the blood of all the Howards" + + * * * * * + + +SEEING IS BELIEVING. + + +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." + +_Monthly Mag._ + +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 _livery_ worn by the boy, we set the whole down as a +burlesque. + + * * * * * + + +SHADOW CATCHER. + + +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. + +_Barclay's Slavery._ + + + * * * * * + + +THE FUNDS. + + +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." + + + * * * * * + + +TEMPUS EDAX RERUM. + + + "Time is money," Robin says, + 'Tis true I'll prove it clear: + Tom owes _ten pounds_, for which he pays + in Limbo _half a year_. + + * * * * * + + +ON JACK STRAW'S CASTLE, HAMPSTEAD HEATH, BEING REPAIRED. + + + With best of food--of beer and wines, + Here may you pass a merry day; + So shall "mine host," while Phoebus shines, + Instead of straw, make good his hay. + +J. R. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, +and Instruction, Vol. 10, No. 283, 17 Nov 1827, by Various + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 10896 *** |