Part 109
Perhaps these three stories provided for _the festival of the nativity_ of the blessed virgin Mary in papal times, may be deemed sufficient in our times.
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Spain, as a catholic country, is profuse in adoration of the virgin. On her festivals a shrine is erected in the open street, decorated with flowers, and surrounded by a number of wax candles. A flight of stairs leads to an altar, whereon is placed an image of the virgin mother, with an embroidered silk canopy above. On these stairs a priest takes his station, and preaches to the multitude, while other priests go round, at intervals, with a salver, to collect oblations from the devotees. To those who give liberally, the priest presents little engravings of the virgin, which are highly valued. An obliging correspondent, who communicates these particulars, (J. H. D. of Portsmouth,) says, “I have two of them, which I obtained on one of those occasions at Cadiz, in 1811, one of which I herewith send you.” Of this consecrated print, the engraving at the head of the present article is a fac-simile.
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FLORAL DIRECTORY.
Amellus. _Aster Amellus._ Dedicated to _St. Adrian_.
[311] Ribadeneira.
[312] Clavis Calendaria.
~September 9.~
_Sts. Gorgonius_, _Dorotheus_, and Companions A. D. 304. _St. Omer_, A. D. 607. _St. Kiaran_, Abbot A. D. 549. _St. Osmana_ of Ireland. _St. Bettelin._
_St. Bettelin_, or _Beccelin_.
The town of Stafford is honoured by this saint being its patron, where “his relics were kept with great veneration.” He is said to have served St. Guthlac, and been of all others most dear to him, and to have led an “anchoretical life in the forest near Stafford.”[313]
FANNY BRADDOCK.
The fate of this unhappy young woman who committed suicide at Bath, on the 9th of September, 1731, is still remembered in that city. She resided with Mr. John Wood, the architect, and on the night of the 8th went well to bed, nowise disordered in behaviour. Her custom was to burn a candle all night, and for her maid to lock the door, and push the key under it, so that she always got up in the morning to let her maid into the room. After she had retired, on the evening mentioned, she got out of bed again, and, it is supposed, employed some time in reading. She put on a white night-gown, and pinned it over her breast; tied a gold and a silver girdle together, and at one end having made three knots about an inch asunder, that if one slipped another might hold, she opened the door, put the knotty end of the girdle over it, and locking the door again, made a noose at the other end, through which she put her neck, by getting on a chair and then dropped from it. She hung with her back against the door, and had hold of the key with one of her hands; she had bit her tongue through, and had a bruise on her forehead; this was occasioned, probably, by the breaking of a red girdle she had tried first, which was found in her pocket with a noose on it; there were two marks on the door. The coroner’s inquest sat on her that day, and brought in their verdict _non compos mentis_. She was daughter to the late general Braddock, who at his death left her and her sister 6000_l._ By her sister’s death about four years before, she became mistress of the whole fortune, but being infatuated by the love of gaming, met “an unlucky chance” which deprived her of her fortune. She had been heard to say, that no one should ever be sensible of her necessities, were they at the last extremity. She was generally lamented, and in life had been greatly esteemed for courteous and genteel behaviour, and good sense. She was buried in a decent manner in the abbey church, in the grave of her honest brave old father, a gentleman who had experienced some undeserved hardships in life; but who might be said to have been thus far happy, that he lived not to see or hear of so tragical a catastrophe of his beloved daughter. The following verses were written by her on her window:--
“O, death! thou pleasing end to human woe! Thou cure for life! thou greatest good below! Still may’st thou fly the coward and the slave, And thy soft slumbers only bless the brave.”[314]
Mr. Wood who wrote “an Essay towards a Description of Bath,” speaks of many circumstances which unite to prove that Fanny Braddock had long meditated self-destruction. In a book entitled _New Court Tales_, she is called “the beautiful and celebrated Sylvia,” which Wood says “she was not very improperly styled, having been a tenant under my roof during the last thirteen months of her life; and at the time of her unhappy death, her debt of two and fifty pounds three shillings and fourpence for rent, &c. entitled me to the sole possession of all her papers and other effects, which I seized on Monday, the 13th of September, 1731.” Though Wood probably knew better how to draw up an inventory, and make an appraisement, than a syllogism, yet at the end of five months the creditors drew “a new inventory” of what was in his possession, and made a new appraisement. “The goods were then sold,” says Wood, “and people striving for something to preserve the memory of the poor deceased lady, the price of every thing was so advanced that the creditors were all paid, and an overplus remained for the nearest relation; though it ought to have come to _me_, as a consideration towards the damages I sustained on the score of Sylvia’s untimely death”!
Whatever was Wood’s estimation of his unhappy tenant when alive, he could afford to praise her dead. “Nothing can be more deplorable than the fate of this unfortunate young woman; a fate that I have heard hundreds in high life lament their not suspecting, that they might have endeavoured to prevent it, though it should have been at half the expense of their estates; and yet many of those people, when common fame every where sounded Sylvia’s running out of her fortune, would endeavour to draw her into play to win her money, and accept of whatever was offered them from her generous hand!” She was ensnared by a woman named Lindsey, who kept a house for high play. “When I came down to Bath,” says Wood, “in the year 1727, Sylvia was entirely at the dame’s command, whenever a person was wanting to make up a party for play at her house. Dame Lindsey’s wit and humour, with the appearance of sanctity in a sister that lived with her, strongly captivated the youth of both sexes, and engaged them in her interest.” The reputation of this “dame Lindsey” was at a low ebb, but Wood observes, “in the course of three years I could never, by the strictest observations, perceive Sylvia to be tainted with any other vice than that of suffering herself to be decoyed to the gaming-table; and, at her own hazard, playing for the amusement and advantage of others. I was therefore not long in complying with a proposal she made to me in the summer of the year 1738, for renting part of a house I then lived in, in Queen-square; her behaviour was such as manifested nothing but virtue, regularity, and good nature. She was ready to accept of trifling marks of friendship, to give her a pretence of making great returns; and she was no sooner seated in my house than ladies of the highest distinction, and of the most unblemished characters were her constant visiters: her levee looked more like that of a minister of state than of a private young lady. Her endowments seemed to have had a power of attraction among her own sex, even stronger than that of all the riches of a court among the gentlemen that are allured by them.”
The last night of her life she had spent in Mr. Wood’s study, where she took her supper, and dandled two of his children on her knees till the hour of retiring. She then went to the nursery and taking leave of a sleeping infant in its cradle, praised the innocence of its looks. Passing to her own room she undressed and went to bed, and, as her servant left the room, bade her good night; she had never done so before. It is probable that at that moment she thought on her fatal purpose, and some passages in Harrington’s translation of “Orlando Furioso,” are supposed to have strengthened it. It was found that after she had arisen she had been reading in it; the book lay open at pp. 74 and 75, the story of Olympia, who, by the perfidy and ingratitude of her bosom friend, was ruined.
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FLORAL DIRECTORY.
Canadian Golden Rod. _Solidago Canadensis._ Dedicated to _St. Omer_.
[313] Butler.
[314] Gentleman’s Magazine.
~September 10.~
_St. Nicholas_, of Tolentino, A. D. 1306. _St. Pulcheria_, Empress, A. D. 453. _Sts. Nemesianus_, _Felix_, _Lucius_, another _Felix_, _Litteus_, _Polianus_, _Victor_, _Jader_, and _Dativus_, Bps. with other Priests, Deacons, &c., in Numidia, banished under Valerian. _St. Finian_, called _Winin_, by the Welsh, Bp. 6th Cent. _St. Salvias_, Bp. of Albi, A. D. 580.
~Autumn.~
[Autumn is by some supposed to commence on the 8th of this month.]
Laden with richest products of the earth; Its choicest fruits, enchanting to the eye, Grateful to taste, and courting appetite.
Dr Forster is of opinion that _autumn_ commences on the 10th of September. “It occupies ninety days. The mean temperature is 49.37°, or 11.29° below the summer: the medium of the day declines in this season from 58° to 40°. The mean height of the barometer is 29.781 inches; being .096 inches below the mean of summer. The range increases rapidly during this season; the mean extent of it is 1.49 inches. The prevailing winds are the class SW., throughout the season. The evaporation is 6.444 inches, or a sixth part less than the proportion indicated by the temperature. The mean of De Luc’s hygrometer is seventy-two degrees. The average rain is 7.441 inches: the proportion of rain increases, from the beginning to near the end of the season: this is the true rainy season with us; and the earth, which had become dry to a considerable depth during the spring and summer, now receives again the moisture required for springs, and for the more deeply rooted vegetables, in the following year.
“The fore part of this season is, nevertheless, if we regard only the sky, the most delightful part of the year, in our climate. When the decomposition of vapour, from the decline of the heat, is as yet but in commencement, or while the electricity remaining in the air continues to give buoyancy to the suspended particles, a delicious calm often prevails for many days in succession, amidst a perfect sunshine, mellowed by the vaporous air, and diffusing a rich golden tint, as the day declines, upon the landscape. At this period, chiefly, the _stratus_ or _fallcloud_, the lowest and most singular of the modifications, comes forth in the evenings, to occupy the low plains and vallies, and shroud the earth in a veil of mist, until revisited by the sun. So perfectly does this inundation of suspended aqueous particles imitate real water, when viewed in the distance at break of day, that I have known the country people themselves deceived by its unexpected appearance.”
Mr. Howard remarks that--“A phenomenon attends this state of the air, too remarkable to be passed over in silence. An immense swarm of small spiders take advantage of the moisture, to carry on their operations, in which they are so industrious, that the whole country is soon covered with the fruit of their labours, in the form of a fine network, commonly called _gossamer_. They appear exceedingly active in the pursuit of the small insects, which the cold of the night now brings down; and commence this fishery about the time that the swallows give it up, and quit our shores. Their manner of locomotion is curious: half volant, half aëronaut, the little creature darts from the papillæ on his rump a number of fine threads which float in the air. Mounted thus in the breeze, he glides off with a quick motion of the legs, which seem to serve the purpose of wings, for moving in any particular direction. As these spiders rise to a considerable height, in very fine weather, their tangled webs may be seen descending from the air in quick succession, like small flakes of cotton.”[315]
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FLORAL DIRECTORY.
Autumnal Crocus. _Crocus autumnalis._ Dedicated to _St. Pulcheria_.
[315] Howard’s Climate of London.
~September 11.~
_Sts. Protus_ and _Hyacinthus_, A. D. 257. _St. Paphnutius_, A. D. 335. _St. Patiens_, Abp. of Lyons, A. D. 480.
NICKNACKITARIANISM.
On the 11th of September, 1802, the following cause was decided by a jury in the sheriff’s court.
_Hurst_ v. _Halford_
The plaintiff was a _nicknackitarian_, that is, a dealer in curiosities, such as Egyptian mummies, Indian implements of war, arrows dipped in the poison of the upas-tree, bows, antique shields, helmets, &c. He was described as possessing the skin of the cameleopard exhibited in the Roman amphitheatre, the head of the spear used by king Arthur, and the breech of the first cannon used at the siege of Constantinople; and, in short, of almost every rarity that the most ardent virtuoso would wish to possess.
The defendant was the executor of a widow lady of the name of Morgan, who, in the enjoyment of a considerable fortune, indulged her fancy, and amused herself in collecting objects of natural and artificial curiosity.
It was stated that this lady had been long in the habit of purchasing a variety of rare articles of the plaintiff: she had bought of him models of the temple of Jerusalem and the Alexandrian library, a specimen of the type invented by Memnon, the Egyptian, and a genuine manuscript of the first play acted by Thespis and his company in a waggon; for all these she had in her lifetime paid most liberally. It appeared also she had erected a mausoleum, in which her deceased husband was laid, and she projected the depositing her own remains, when death should overtake her, by the side of him. The plaintiff was employed in fitting it up, and ornamenting it with a tessellated pavement; this was also paid for, and constituted no part of the present demand. This action was brought against the defendant to recover the sum of 40_l._ for stuffing and embalming a bird of paradise, a fly-bird, an ourang-outang, an ichneumon, and a cassowary. The defendant did not deny that the plaintiff had a claim on the estate of the deceased, but he had let judgment go by default, and attempted merely to cut down the amount of the demand. The plaintiff’s foreman, or assistant, proved that the work had been done by the direction of Mrs. Morgan, and that the charge was extremely reasonable. On the contrary, the defendant’s solicitor contended that the charge was most extravagant; he stated, that the museum of the deceased virtuoso had been sold by public auction, and including the models of the temple of Jerusalem and the Alexandrian library, the antique type, Thespian manuscript, spearhead, and every thing else she had been all her life collecting, it had not netted more than 110_l._ As to the stuffed monkies and birds, which constituted the foundation of the plaintiff’s claim, they scarce had defrayed the expense of carrying them away; they were absolute rubbish. The plaintiff’s attorney replied that his client’s labour was not to be appreciated by what the objects of it produced at a common sale, attended, perhaps, by brokers, who were as ignorant as the stuffed animals they were purchasing.
The under-sheriff observed, that in matters of taste the intrinsic value of an article was not the proper medium of ascertaining the compensation due to the labour which produced it; a virtuoso frequently expended a large sum of money for what another man would kick out of his house as lumber. If Mrs. Morgan, who it was proved was a lady of fortune, wished to amuse the gloomy hours of her widowhood by stuffing apes and birds, her executor was at least bound to pay the expense she had incurred, in indulging her whimsical fancy. He saw no reason why a single shilling of the plaintiff’s demand should be subtracted; and the jury viewed the curiosities in the same light, and gave a verdict for the plaintiff, damages 40_l._
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FLORAL DIRECTORY.
Variegated Meadow Saffron. _Colchium variegatum._ Dedicated to _St. Hyacinthus_.
~September 12.~
_St. Eanswide_, Abbess, 7th Cent. _St. Guy_ of Anderlecht, 11th Cent. _St. Albeus_, A. D. 525.
GLASS-CUTTERS AT NEWCASTLE.
On the 12th of September, 1823, the inhabitants of Newcastle and Gateshead were gratified with a spectacle which in that part was novel and peculiarly interesting, although in London it is common. It was a procession through the principal streets, of the workmen employed in several of the glass-houses, each bearing in his hand a specimen of the art, remarkable either for its curious construction, or its beauty and elegance. The morning was ushered in with the ringing of bells, and notice of the intended procession having been previously circulated, numbers of people crowded the streets. A little after twelve o’clock it moved forward along the Close, amid the cheers of the assembled multitude, the firing of cannon and the ringing of bells, and preceded by the band of the Tyne Hussars. It was composed of the workmen of the Northumberland, the South Shields, the Wear (Sunderland), the Durham and British (Gateshead), the Stourbridge (Gateshead), and the North Shields glass companies, arranged according to the seniority of their respective houses, and each distinguished by appropriate flags. The sky was clear, and the rays of the sun, falling upon the glittering utensils and symbols, imparted richness and grandeur to their appearance. The hat of almost every person in it was decorated with a glass feather, whilst a glass star sparkled on the breast, and a chain or collar of variegated glass hung round the neck; some wore sashes round the waist. Each man carried in his hand a staff, with a cross piece on the top, displaying one or more curious or beautiful specimens of art. These elevations afforded a sight of the different vessels, consisting of a profusion of decanters, glasses, goblets, jugs, bowls, dishes, &c., the staple articles of the trade, in an endless variety of elegant shape, and of exquisite workmanship, with several other representations remarkable either for excellence of manufacture or for curious construction. Amongst these were two elegant bird-cages, containing birds, which sung at periods during the procession. A salute was fired several times from a fort mounted with glass cannon, to the astonishment of the spectators; a glass bugle which sounded the halts, and played several marches, was much admired for its sweetness and correctness of tone. Several elegant specimens of stained glass were exhibited; many of the men wore glass hats and carried glass swords. When the procession arrived at the mansion-house it halted, while a salute was fired from the glass cannon; the procession then moved forward, passing along the bridge, through Gateshead, and then returned and paraded through the principal streets of Newcastle, to dinners provided at different inns.
Mr. John Sykes, in the volume of “Local Records” published by him at Newcastle, from whence this account is taken, says, “that a procession of this kind is highly commendable, not as a mere _unmeaning show_ calculated for caricature, but as exhibiting to public view some of the finest efforts of human industry and genius.”
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FLORAL DIRECTORY.
Semilunar Passion Flower. _Passiflora peltata._ Dedicated to _St. Eanswide_.
~September 13.~
_St. Eulogius_, Patriarch of Alexandria, A. D. 608. _St. Amatus_, Bp. A. D. 690. Another _St. Amatus_, or _Ame_, Abbot, A. D. 627. _St. Maurilius_, 5th Cent.
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“GENTLEMAN SMITH,” THE ORIGINAL CHARLES SURFACE.
_To the Editor of the Every-Day Book._
Dear Sir,
Probably a biographical sketch of this eminent professor of the histrionic art, may prove acceptable to your interesting weekly sheet. Of the latter days of Mr. Smith, I write from my own recollection of him. It is a pleasant occupation to record the acts of these worthies of the legitimate drama--to notice the talents and acquirements of an actor so universally respected for the kindness of his disposition--the firmness of a mind gradually developing principles and conduct worthy the sympathy and respect of all--and whose ease and gracefulness of manner obtained for him the honourable distinction of “Gentleman Smith.”
The subject of our memoir was born in London, in 1730. He was designed for the church, and in 1737 his father sent him to Eton, from whence he was removed to St. John’s-college, Cambridge, in 1748. The vivacity and spirit which had distinguished young Smith while at Eton, here led him into some rash and impetuous irregularities. He was young--very young: unknown to the world, and too worldly in his pleasures. The force of evil example, so glaringly displayed within our colleges and grammar-schools, was powerful--and Smith yielded to its power. One hasty act of imprudence and passion, frustrated his father’s hopes, and determined the future pursuits of this tyro. Having one evening drunk too freely with some associates of kindred minds, and being pursued by the proctor, he had the imprudence to snap an unloaded pistol at him. For this offence he was doomed to a punishment to which he would not submit; and in order to avoid expulsion immediately quitted college. He now had the opportunity of gratifying his inclination for the stage, and without any deep reflection upon the step he was about to take, immediately upon his arrival in London, applied to Mr. Rich, then manager of Covent-garden theatre, and succeeded in obtaining an engagement. He made his first appearance in January, 1753, in the character of _Theodosius_; on which occasion many of his college friends came up for the purpose of giving him their support. His second attempt was _Polydore_, in the “Orphan;” after which he appeared successively in _Southampton_, in the “Earl of Essex,” and _Dolabella_, in “All for Love.” Mr. Smith was obliged for some time to play subordinate parts; but after Mr. Barry quitted the stage, he undertook several of the principal characters in which that great actor had appeared with such distinguished approbation. Mr. Smith’s mode of acting had many peculiarities which were considered as defects, but from his frequent appearance, the audience seemed to forget them, or to regard them as trifles undeserving notice, when viewed in connection with the many excellencies which he always displayed. This favourable disposition towards him was greatly increased by his upright and independent conduct in private life, which gained for him very general esteem. When Churchill published his “Rosciad,” in 1761, the only notice he took of him in his satire, is comprised in the following couplet:--
“Smith the genteel, the airy, and the smart, Smith was just gone to school to say his part.”
After being twenty-two years at Covent-garden, Garrick engaged him, in the winter of 1774, to perform at Drury-lane, where he remained till the close of his professional labours in 1788. Though Mr. Smith, for a considerable period, played the first parts in tragedy, nature seemed not to have qualified him for this branch of the histrionic art. His person was tall and well formed, but his features wanted flexibility, for the expression of the stronger and finer emotions of tragedy, and his voice had a monotony and harshness, which took much from the effect of his finer performances. The parts in this line in which he acquired most popularity were _Richard the Third_, _Hotspur_, and _Hastings_.