Part 2
"We, the undersigned, being the President and Council of the Camden Society, for the Publication of Early Historical and Literary Remains, beg to submit to your consideration a copy of a Memorial presented on the 13th April, 1848, by the President and then Council of this Society, to his Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury, praying that such changes might be made in the regulations of the Prerogative Office as might assimilate its practice to that of the Public Record Office, so far as regards the inspection of the books of entry of ancient Wills, or that such other remedy might be applied to the inconveniences stated in that Memorial as to his Grace might seem fit.
"In reply to that Memorial his Grace was pleased to inform the Memorialists that he had no control whatever over the fees taken in the Prerogative Office.
"The Memorialists had not adopted the course of applying to his Grace the Archbishop until they had in vain endeavoured to obtain from the authorities of the Prerogative Office, Messrs. Dyneley, Iggulden, and Gostling, some modification of their rules in favour of literary inquirers. The answer of his Grace the Archbishop left them, therefore without present remedy.
"The grievance complained of continues entirely unaltered up to the present time.
"In all other public repositories to which in the course of our inquiries we have had occasion to apply, we have found a general and predominant feeling of the national importance of the cultivation of literature, and especially of that branch of it which relates to the past history of our own country. Every one seems heartily willing to promote historical inquiries. The Public Record Offices are now opened to persons engaged in literary pursuits by arrangements of the most satisfactory and liberal character. His Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury gives permission to literary men to search such of the early registers of his See as are in his own possession at Lambeth. Access is given to the registers of the Bishop of London; and throughout the kingdom private persons having in their possession historical documents are almost without exception not only willing but anxious to assist our inquiries. The authorities of the Prerogative Office in Doctors' Commons, perhaps, stand alone in their total want of sympathy with literature, and in their exclusion of literary inquirers by stringent rules, harshly, and in some instances even offensively, enforced.
"We have the honour to be, "My Lords and Gentlemen, "Your most obedient and very humble servants,
(Signed) BRAYBROOKE, President. JOHN BRUCE, Director. C. PURTON COOPER. J. PAYNE COLLIER, Treas. W. R. DRAKE. EDWD. FOSS. PETER LEVESQUE. STRANGFORD. W. H. BLAAUW. W. DURRANT COOPER. BOLTON CORNEY. HENRY ELLIS. LAMBERT B. LARKING. FREDK. OUVRY. WM. J. THOMS, Sec.
_25. Parliament Street, Westminster,_ _January, 1853._"
A Report from that Commission has been laid before Parliament; and a Bill for carrying into effect the recommendations contained in such Report, and transferring the powers of the Prerogative Court to the Court of Chancery, has been introduced into the House of Lords. The Bill contains no specific enactments as to the custody of the Wills.
Now, therefore, is the time for all who are interested in Historical Truth to use their best endeavours to procure the insertion of such clauses as shall place the Wills under the same custody as the other Judicial Records of the country, namely, that of Her Majesty's Keeper of Records.
With Literature represented in the House of Lords by a Brougham and a Campbell, in the Commons by a Macaulay, a Bulwer, and a D'Israeli, let but the real state of the case be once made public, and we have no fear but that the interests of English Historical Literature will be cared for and maintained.
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{217}
Notes.
"J. R. OF CORK."
My gifted and lamented countryman "The Roscoe of Cork"[1] deserves more notice in these pages, which he has enriched by his contributions, than the handsome obituary of our Editor (Vol. vii., p. 394.); so a few words is with reference to him may be acceptable.
MR. JAMES ROCHE was born in Limerick some eighty-three years ago, of an ancient and wealthy family. At an early period of his life he was sent to France, and educated in the Catholic College of Saintes. After completing his studies, and paying a short visit to Ireland, he settled in Bordeaux, where he became acquainted with the most distinguished leaders of the Girondists.
MR. ROCHE was in Paris during the horrors of the first Revolution, and in 1793 was arrested there as a British subject, but was released on the death of Robespierre. For some years after his liberation, he passed his time between Paris and Bordeaux. At the close of the last century, he returned to Ireland; and commenced business in Cork as a banker, in partnership with his brother. He resided in a handsome country seat near the river Lee, and there amassed a splendid library.
About the year 1816, a relative of mine, a wealthy banker in the same city, got into difficulties, and met with the kindest assistance from MR. ROCHE. In 1819 his own troubles came on, and a monetary crisis ruined him as well as many others. All his property was sold, and his books were brought to the hammer, excepting a few with which his creditors presented him. I have often tried, but without success, to get a copy of the auction catalogue, which contained many curious lots,--amongst others, I am informed, Swift's own annotated copy of _Gulliver's Travels_, which MR. ROCHE purchased in Cork for a few pence, but which produced pounds at the sale. MR. ROCHE, after this, resided for some time in London as parliamentary agent. He also spent several years in Paris, and witnessed the revolution of 1830. Eventually he returned to Cork, where he performed the duties of a magistrate and director of the National Bank, until his death in the early part of 1853.
MR. ROCHE was intimately acquainted with many of the great men and events of his time, especially with everything concerning modern French history and literature.
MR. ROCHE was remarkable for accurate scholarship and extensive learning: the affability of his manners, and the earnestly-religious tone of his mind, enhanced his varied accomplishments.
For a number of years he contributed largely to various periodicals, such as the _Gentleman's Magazine_, the _Dublin Review_, and the _Literary Gazette_; and the signature of "J. R. of Cork" was welcome to all, while it puzzled many.
In 1851 he printed _for private circulation_, _Essays Critical and Miscellaneous_, by an Octogenarian, 2 vols.; printed by G. Nash, Cork. Some of these Essays are reprints, others are printed for the first time. The work was reviewed in the _Dublin Review_ for October, 1851.
A "Sketch of J. R. of Cork" was published in July, 1848, in Duffy's _Irish Catholic Magazine_, which I have made use of in this Note. My object in the present Note is to suggest that MR. ROCHE'S Reminiscences and Essays should be given to the public, from whom I am well assured they would receive a hearty welcome.
EIRIONNACH.
[Footnote 1: MR. ROCHE is thus happily designated by the Rev. Francis Mahony in _The Prout Papers_.]
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MARMORTINTO, OR SAND-PAINTING.
There appeared in a late number of _The Family Friend_, an article on the above process. The writer attributes its invention to Benjamin Zobel of Bavaria; and states, that although some few persons have attempted its revival, in no instance has success attended such efforts. This is not correct. There was a German confectioner to King George III. whom I knew well. His name was Haas; and those acquainted with Bristol will recollect his well-frequented shop, nearly opposite the drawbridge on the way to College Green, where he resided forty years ago, after retiring from his employment at Court. There he was often engaged in decorating ceilings, lying on his back for weeks together on a scaffold for the purpose. He also ornamented the plateaus for the royal table; and he understood the art of sand-painting, and practised it in the highest perfection. Whether he preceded Zobel, or came after him, at Windsor Castle, I cannot tell; but I can testify that he was perfect master of the art in question. I have seen him at work upon his sand-pictures. He had the marble dust of every gradation of colour in a large box, divided into small compartments; and he applied it to the picture by dropping it from small cones of paper.
The article in _The Family Friend_ describes the process of Zobel to have consisted of a previous coating of the panel for the picture with a glutinous solution, over which the marble dust was strewed from a piece of cord. Haas used small cones of paper; and my impression from seeing him at work was, that he sprinkled the sand on the dry panel, and fixed the whole finally at once by some process which he kept a secret. For I remember how careful he was to prevent the window or door from being opened, so as to cause a draught, before he had fixed his picture; and I {218} have heard him lament the misfortune of having had one or two pictures blown away in this manner.
The effect of his sand-pictures was extraordinary. They stood out in bold relief, and with a brilliancy far surpassing any oil painting. As may be supposed, this style of painting was particularly adapted for landscapes and rocky scenery; and it enabled the artist to finish foliage with a richness which nothing could surpass. Mr. Haas' collection of his sand-paintings was a rich treat to inspect. After his death, they were sold and dispersed; but many must be found in the collections of gentlemen in Bristol and its neighbourhood.
F. C. H.
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THE SOLDIER'S DISCIPLINE, FROM A BROADSIDE OF THE YEAR 1642.
"_The Grounds of Military Discipline: or, Certain Brief Rules for the Exercising of a Company or Squadron._
_Observed by all._
In march, in motion, troop or stand, Observe both leader and right hand; With silence note in what degree You in the body placed be: That so you may, without more trouble, Know where to stand, and when to double.
_Distances._
True distance keep in files, in ranks Open close to the front, reare, flanks, Backward, forward, to the right, left, or either, Backward and forward both together. To the right, left, outward or in, According to directions given. To order, close, open, double, Distance, distance, double, double: For this alone prevents distraction, And giveth lustre to the action.
_Facings._
Face to the right, or to the left, both wayes to the reare, Inward, outward, and as you were: To the front, reare, flanks, and peradventure To every angle, and to the centre.
_Doublings._
To bring more hands in the front to fight, Double ranks unto the right, Or left, or both, if need require, Direct divisionall or intire: By doubling files accordingly, Your flanks will strengthened be thereby. Halfe files and bringers-up likewise To the front may double, none denies; Nor would it very strange appear For th' front half files or double the reare: The one half ranks to double the other, Thereby to strengthen one the other.
_Countermarches._
But lest I should seen troublesome, To countermarches next I come. Which, though they many seem to be, Are all included in these three: Maintaining, gaining, losing ground, And severall wayes to each is found: By which their proper motion's guided, In files, in ranks, in both divided.
_Wheeling._
Wheel your batten ere you fight, For better advantage to the right, Or left, or round about To either angle, or where you doubt Your enemie will first oppose you; And therefore unto their Foot close you. Divisionall wheeling I have seen In sundrie places practis'd been, To alter either form or figure, By wheeling severall wayes together. And, had I time to stand upon 't, I'de wheele my wings into the front. By wheeling flanks into the reare, They'll soon reduce them as they were. Besides, it seems a pretty thing To wheel, front, and reare to either wing: Wheele both wings to the reare and front; Face to the reare, and having done 't, Close your divisions; even your ranks, Wheel front and reare into both flanks: And thus much know, cause, note I'll smother, To one wheeling doth reduce the other.
_Conversion and Inversion._
One thing more and I have done; Let files rank by conversion: To th' right, or th' left, to both, and then Ranks by conversion fill again: Troop for the colours, march, prepare for fight, Behave yourselves like men, and so good night.
The summe of all that hath been spoken may be comprised thus:
Open, close, face, double, countermarch, wheel, charge, retire; Invert, convert, reduce, trope, march, make readie, fire."
ANON.
* * * * *
LEADING ARTICLES OF FOREIGN NEWSPAPERS.
The foreign correspondence of the English press is an invaluable feature of that mighty engine of civilisation and progress, for which the world cannot be too thankful; but as the agents in it at Paris, Berlin, Vienna, &c., are more or less imbued with the insular views and prejudices which they carry with them from England, Scotland, or Ireland, it were well if the daily journals devoted more attention than they do to the _leading articles_ of the Continental press, which is frequently distinguished by great ability and interest, and would {219} enable Englishmen, not versed in foreign languages, to judge, from another point of view, of Continental affairs--now becoming of surpassing interest and importance. Translations or abstracts of the leading articles of _The Times_, _Morning Chronicle_, _Morning Post_, &c., are constantly to be met with in the best foreign papers. Why should not our great London papers more frequently gratify their readers with articles from the pens of their Continental brotherhood? This would afford an opportunity also of correcting the false statements, or replying to the erroneous judgments put forth and circulated abroad by writers whose distinguished position enables them, unintentionally no doubt, to do the more mischief. A surprising change for the better, however, as respects Great Britain, is manifest in the tone and information of the foreign press of late years. Let us cherish this good feeling by a corresponding demeanour on our part.
ALPHA.
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Minor Notes.
_Materials for a History of Druidism.--_
"It would be a commendable, useful, and easy task to collect what the ancients have left us on the subject of Druidism. Such a collection would form a very small but interesting volume. It would supersede, in every library, the idle and tedious dreams and conjectures of the Stukeleys, the Borlases, the Rowlands, the Vallanceys, the Davies's, the Jones's, and the Whitakers. Toland's work on the Druids, though far from unexceptionable, has more solid intelligence than any other modern composition of its kind. It is a pity that he or some other person has not given as faithful translations of the Irish Christian MSS. which he mentions, as these have, no doubt, preserved much respecting Druidical manners and superstitions, of which many vestiges are still existing, though not of the kind usually referred to."
"The Roman history of Britain can only be collected from the Roman writers; and what they have left is very short indeed. It might be disposed of in the way recommended for the History of the Druids."--Douce's notes on Whitaker's _History of Manchester_, vol. i. p. 136. of Corrections in Book i., ibid. p. 148.
ANON.
_Domestic Chapels._--There is an interesting example of a domestic chapel, with an upper chamber over it for the chaplain's residence, and a ground floor underneath it for some undiscoverable purpose, to be seen contiguous to an ancient farm-house at Ilsam, in the parish of St. Mary Church, in the county of Devon.
The structure is quite ecclesiastical in its character, and appears to have been originally, as now, detached from the family house, or only connected with it by a short passage leading to the floor on which the chapel itself stood.
JOHN JAMES.
_Ordinary._--The following is a new meaning for the word _ordinary_:--"Do ye come in and see my poor man, for he is _piteous ordinary_ to-day." This speech was addressed to me by a poor woman who wished me to go and see her husband. He was ordinary enough, although she had adorned his head with a _red_ night-cap; but her meaning was evidently that he was far from well; and Johnson's _Dictionary_ does not give this signification to the word.
A cottage child once told me that the dog opened his mouth "a power wide."
[Old English W. N.]
_Thom's Irish Almanac and Official Directory for 1854._--In the advertisement prefixed to this valuable compilation, which, according to the _Quarterly Review_, "contains more information about Ireland than has been collected in one volume in any country," we may find the following words:
"All parliamentary and official documents procurable, have been collected; and their contents, so far as they bore on the state of the country, carefully abstracted; and where any deficiencies have been observable, the want has been supplied by applications to private sources, which, in every instance, have been most satisfactorily answered. He [Mr. Thom] is also indebted to similar applications to the ruling authorities of the several religious persuasions _for the undisputed accuracy of the ecclesiastical department of the Almanac_."
I wish to call attention to the latter words; and in so doing, I assure you, I feel only a most anxious desire to see some farther improvements effected by Mr. Thom.
I cannot allow "the undisputed accuracy of the ecclesiastical department," inasmuch as I have detected, even on a cursory examination, very many inaccuracies which a little care would certainly have prevented. For example, in p. 451. (_Ecclesiastical Directory_, Established Church and Diocese of Dublin), there are at least five grave mistakes, and four in the following page. These pages I have taken at random. I could easily point out other pages equally inaccurate; but I have done enough I think to prove, that while I willingly accord to the enterprising publisher the full meed of praise he so well deserves, a little more attention should be paid in future to the preparation of the ecclesiastical department.
ABHBA.
_Antiquity of the Word "Snub."_--
"Beware we then euer of discontente, and _snubbe_ it betimes, least it overthrowe us as it hath done manie."
"Such _snubs_ as these be little cloudes."--_Comfortable Notes on Genesis_, by Gervase Babington, Bishop of Exeter, 1596.
J. R. P.
_Charles I. at Little Woolford._--There is an ancient house at Little Woolford (in the {220} southeast corner of Warwickshire) connected with which is a tradition that Charles I., after the battle of Edge Hill, which is not far distant, secreted himself in an oven there. This oven is preserved for the inspection of the curious.
B. H. C.
_Coincidences between Sir Thomas Browne and Bishop Ken._--Sir Thomas Browne wrote his _Religio Medici_ in 1533-5; and in it suggested some familiar verses of the "Evening Hymn" of his brother Wykehamist Bishop Ken. The lines are as follows:
_Sir Thomas Browne._
"Guard me 'gainst those watchful foes, Whose eyes are open, while mine close; Let no dreams my head infest, But such as Jacob's temples blest: Sleep is a death: oh, make me try, By sleeping, what it is to die! And as gently lay my head On my grave, as now my bed. Howe'er I rest, great God, let me Awake again at last with Thee."
_Bishop Ken._
"Let no ill dreams disturb my rest; No powers of darkness me molest. Teach me to live, that I may dread The grave as little as my bed: Teach me to die, that so I may Rise glorious at the awful day. Oh, may my soul on Thee repose, And with sweet sleep mine eyelids close; Sleep that may me more vigorous make, To serve my God when I awake."
I have never seen this curious coincidence noticed by any of the good bishop's biographers, Hawkins, Bowles, or Mr. Anderdon.
MACKENZIE WALCOTT, M.A.
_The English School of Painting._--In a note to a volume of poems by Victor Hugo, published in 1836, occur these remarks:
"M. Louis Boulanger, à qui ces deux ballades sont dédiées, s'est placé bien jeune au premier rang de cette nouvelle génération de peintres, qui promet d'élever notre école au niveau des magnifiques écoles d'Italie, d'Espagne, de Flandre, et d'Angleterre."
Does this praise of the English school of painting show a correct appreciation of its claims to distinction? or am I in error in supposing, as I have done, that our school of painting is not entitled to the pompous epithet of "magnifique," nor to be named in the same category with the Italian, Spanish, and Flemish schools? I am aware of the hackneyed and somewhat hyperbolical employment, by French writers and speakers, of such terms as _magnifique_, _superbe_, _grandiose_; and that they do not convey to a French ear the same idea of superiority, as they do to our more sober English judgment; but making every allowance on this score, I confess I was not a little startled to find such a term as _magnifique_, even in its most moderate acceptation, applied to our efforts in that branch of art. _Magnifique_, in truth, must be our school, when the French can condescend to speak of it in such language!
HENRY H. BREEN.
St. Lucia.
"_A Feather in your Cap._"--My good friend Dr. Wolff mentioned in conversation a circumstance (also stated, I fancy, in his _Journey to Bokhara_) which seemed to afford a solution of the common expression, "That's a feather in your cap." I begged he would give it me in writing, and he has done so. "The Kaffr Seeyah Poosh (meaning the infidels in black clothing) living around Cabul upon the height of the mountains of the Himalaya, who worship a god called Dagon and Imra, are great enemies of the Muhamedans; and for each Muhamedan they kill, they wear a feather in their heads. The same is done among the Abyssinians and Turcomans."
Has the feather head-dress of the American Indian, and the eagle's feather in the bonnet of the Highlander, any connexion with keeping a score of the deaths of the enemies or game they have killed?
ALFRED GATTY.
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Queries.
DOMESTIC ARCHITECTURE: LICENCES TO CRENELLATE.
Previous to the publication of the second volume of the _Domestic Architecture of the Middle Ages_, you were kind enough to insert some Queries for me respecting existing remains of houses of the fourteenth century, which elicited some useful Notes, partly through your columns and partly from private friends who were thus reminded of my wants. I am now preparing for the press the third and concluding volume of that work, comprising the period from the reign of Richard II. to that of Henry VIII. inclusive. I shall be glad of information of any houses of that period remaining in a tolerably perfect state, in addition to those mentioned in the _Glossary of Architecture_. I have reason to believe that there are many; and one class, the halls of the different guilds, seem to have been generally overlooked.