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Read Ebook: The Mirror of Literature Amusement and Instruction. Volume 13 No. 358 February 28 1829 by Various
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Ebook has 135 lines and 18729 words, and 3 pages
THE MIRROR OF LITERATURE, AMUSEMENT, AND INSTRUCTION.
YORK TERRACE,
REGENT'S PARK.
The architecture of the building is Graeco-Italian. It consists of an entrance or ground story, with semicircular headed windows and rusticated piers. A continued pedestal above the arches of these windows runs through the composition, divided between the columns into balustrades, in front of the windows of the principal story, to which they form handsome balconies. The elegant windows of this and the principal chamber story are of the Ilissus Ionic, and are decorated with a colonnade, completed with a well-proportioned entablature from the same beautiful order. Mr. Elmes, in his critical observations on this terrace, thinks the attic story "too irregular to accompany so chaste a composition as the Ionic, to which it forms a crown;" he likewise objects to the cornice and blocking-course, as being "also too small in proportion for the majesty of the lower order."
York Terrace is from the design of Mr. Nash, whose genius not unfrequently strays into such errors as our architectural critic has pointed out.
VALENTINE CUSTOMS.
See No. 356 of the MIRROR, "Valentine's Day."
"First Delphid injured me, he raised my flame, And now I burn this bough in Delphid's name."
Virgil, too, in his 8th Eclogue, alludes to the same charm:--
"Sparge molam, et fragiles incende bitumine lauros; Daphnis me malus urit, ego hanc in Daphnide laurum."
"Next in the fire the bays with brimstone burn, And whilst it crackles in the sulphur, say, This I for Daphnis burn, thus Daphnis burn away." DRYDEN.
"Thrice round the altar I the image draw."
The burning wax candles may be more difficult to account for, unless it refer to the custom of melting wax in order to mollify the beloved one's heart:--
"As this devoted wax melts o'er the fire, Let Myndian Delphis melt with soft desire." THEOCRITUS.
For a woman to compose a garland was always considered an indication of her being in love. Aristophanes says,
"The wreathing garlands in a woman is The usual symptom of a love-sick mind."
Should the charms resorted to by lovers two thousand years ago, appear to you, even remotely, to have influenced the love rites as performed by the village men and maidens of the present day, perhaps you may deem this string of quotations worthy of a corner in your amusing miscellany.
LINES
To mark th' excess of priestly pow'r To keep in mind that gorgeous hour, Thou art no Popish monument, Altho' by Wolsey thou wer't sent, From thine own native Italy To tell where his proud ashes lie. To thee a nobler part is given! A prouder task design'd by heav'n! 'Tis thine the sea chief's grave to shroud, Idol and wonder of the crowd! The bravest heart that ever stood The shock of battle on the flood! The stoutest arm that ever led A warrior o'er the ocean's bed! Whose name long dreaded on the sea Alone secured the victory! His Britain sea-girt stood alone, Whilst all the earth was heard to moan, Beneath war's iron--iron rod, Trusting in Nelson as her god.--CYMBELINE.
See MIRROR, No. 306, p 234.
COINAGE OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS.
In 1749, a considerable number of gold coins were discovered on the top of Karnbre, in Cornwall, which are clearly proved to have belonged to the ancient Britons. The figures that were first stamped on the coins of all nations were those of oxen, horses, sheep, &c. It may, therefore, be concluded, that the coins of any country which have only the figures of cattle stamped on them, and perhaps of trees, representing the woods in which their cattle pastured,--were the most ancient coins of the country. Some of the gold coins found at Karnbre, and described by Dr. Borlase, are of this kind, and may be justly esteemed the most ancient of our British coins. Sovereigns soon became aware of the importance of money, and took the fabrication of it under their own direction, ordering their own heads to be impressed on one side of the coins, while the figure of some animal still continued to be stamped on the other. Of this kind are some of the Karnbre coins, with a royal head on one side, and a horse on the other. When the knowledge and use of letters were once introduced into any country, it would not be long before they appeared on its coins, expressing the names of the princes whose heads were stamped on them. This was a very great improvement in the art of coining, and gave an additional value to the money, by preserving the memories of princes, and giving light to history. Our British ancestors were acquainted with this improvement before they were subdued by the Romans, as several coins of ancient Britain have very plain and perfect inscriptions, and on that account merit particular attention.
INA.
ANIMAL FOOD.
It is generally allowed, that a profusion of animal food has a tendency to vitiate and debase the nature and dispositions of men; notwithstanding, the lovers of flesh urge the names of many of the most eminent in literature and science, in opposition to this assertion.
Plutarch attributed the stupidity of his countrymen, the Boeotians, to the profusion of animal food which they consumed, and even now, our lovely, soup drinking, coffee sipping friends on the continent, attribute the saturnine, melancholy, and bearish dispositions of John Bull, to his partiality for,
"The famous roast-beef of Old England."
QUAESITOR.
WHITEHALL.
MARRIAGE OF ANNE BOLEYN
Hall's "Chronicle," p. 794. edit. 1809.
Hume and Henry place the marriage in November. Lingard and Sharon Turner in January.
Harleian MSS. No. 6148. This letter is quoted by Burnet in the first volume of his "History of the Reformation:" it may be found printed entire in the eighteenth volume of the "Archaeologia:" and also in the second volume of Ellis's "Original Letters," first series, p. 33. The MS. consists of a rough copy-book of the Archbishop's letters, in his own hand writing.
Wyatt's Life of "Queen Anne Boleigne." Vide Appendix to Cavendish's "Life of Wolsey," by Singer, vol. ii. p. 200. This interesting memoir was written at the close of the sixteenth century, by George Wyatt, Esq, grandson of the poet of the same name, and sixth son and heir of Sir Thomas Wyatt, who was decapitated in the reign of Queen Mary, for his insurrection.
"Annales," p. 51. edit. 1616. "Ulterioris morae perlaesus Rex, Boleniam suam iam tandem Januarij 25, duxit uxorem, sed clauculum, & paucissimis testibus adhibitis." Polydor Virgil makes no mention of the period of the marriage, he only says, "in matrimonium duxit Annam Bulleyne, quam paul? ant? amare caeperat. ex qu? suscepit filiam nomine Elizabeth." p. 689. edit. 1570.
Hume's "History of England," vol. iv. p 3.
Lingard, whose History is now in the course of publication, intimates that the ceremony was performed "in a garret, at the western end of the palace of Whitehall;" this, however, when we consider the haughty character of Henry, is totally improbable, and rests entirely on the authority of one solitary manuscript. There is no reason, however, to doubt but that they were married in some apartment in that palace, and most probably in the king's private closet. Dr. Rowland Lee, one of the royal chaplains, and afterwards Bishop of Coventry officiated, in the presence only of the Duke of Norfolk, uncle to the Lady Anne, and her father, mother, and brother. Lord Herbert, whose authority has been quoted by Hume, says, that Cranmer was also present, but this is undoubtedly an error, as that prelate had only just then returned from Germany, and was not informed of the circumstance until two weeks afterwards, as appears from the following passage in his letter to Hawkyns, before quoted:--"Yt hath bin reported thorowte a greate parte of the realme that I married her; which was playnly false, for I myself knew not thereof a fortenyght after it was donne."
Lingard's "History of England," vol. iv. p. 190. 4to edit.
Vide Speed's "Annals," p. 1029.
"Life and Raigne of Henry the Eighth," p. 341. edit. 1649.
It may not, perhaps, prove uninteresting to our readers, or quite irrelevant to the subject, to close this brief account of the marriage of Anne Boleyn, with the copy of a letter from that queen to "Squire Josselin, upon ye birth of Q. Elizabth," preserved among the manuscripts in the British Museum.
Harleian MSS. No. 787.
MEMORABLE DAYS.
COLLOP MONDAY.
Collop Monday is the day before Shrove Tuesday, and in many parts is made a day of great feasting on account of the approaching Lent. It is so called, because it was the last day allowed for eating animal food before Lent; and our ancestors cut up their fresh meat into collops, or steaks, for salting or hanging up until Lent was over; and even now in many places it is still a custom to have eggs and collops, or slices of bacon, for dinner on this day.
W.H.H.
THE CONTEMPORARY TRAVELLER.
DESCRIPTION OF MEKKA.
Mekka maybe styled a handsome town; its streets are in general broader than those of eastern cities; the houses lofty, and built of stone; and the numerous windows that face the streets give them a more lively and European aspect than those of Egypt or Syria, where the houses present but few windows towards the exterior. Mekka contains many houses three stories high; few at Mekka are white-washed; but the dark grey colour of the stone is much preferable to the glaring white that offends the eye in Djidda. In most towns of the Levant the narrowness of a street contributes to its coolness; and in countries where wheel-carriages are not used, a space that allows two loaded camels to pass each other is deemed sufficient. At Mekka, however, it was necessary to leave the passages wide, for the innumerable visiters who here crowd together; and it is in the houses adapted for the reception of pilgrims and other sojourners, that the windows are so contrived as to command a view of the streets.
The city is open on every side; but the neighbouring mountains, if properly defended, would form a barrier of considerable strength against an enemy. In former times it had three walls to protect its extremities; one was built across the valley, at the street of Mala; another at the quarter of Shebeyka; and the third at the valley opening into the Mesfale. These walls were repaired in A.H. 816 and 828, and in a century after some traces of them still remained.
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