Part 110
But, now, I must speak of those powers in which Mr. Smith was unrivalled. His personation of _Charles Surface_, in the “School for Scandal,” (of which he was the original representative,) has always been spoken of as his masterpiece, and, indeed, the highest praise and admiration were always awarded him for originality, boldness of conception, truth, freedom, ease, and gracefulness of action and manner. A sigh of tender regret to the recollection of so great a worthy has been uttered by the pleasant ELIA, in his “Essay upon Old Actors,” to which I refer every lover of the drama,--there he will discover what our favourites in the old school of acting were,--and what our modern professors ought now to be!
Mr. Smith’s _Kitely_ has been extolled as superior to that of Garrick. _Archer_ and _Oakly_ are two other parts, in which he acquired high reputation.
On the 9th of March, 1788, after performing _Macbeth_, he delivered an epilogue, in which he announced his intention to quit the stage at the close of the season, thinking it time to “resign the sprightly _Charles_ to abler hands and younger heads.” On the ninth of June following, he took his leave, after the performance of _Charles Surface_, in a short, but neat and elegant address: expressing his gratitude for the candour, indulgence, and generosity he had experienced, and his hope that the “patronage and protection the public had vouchsafed him on the stage, would be followed by some small esteem, when he was off.” He performed but once afterwards, which was in the same part, in 1798, for the benefit of his old friend King. Mr. Smith was first married to the sister of the earl of Sandwich, the widow of Kelland Courtnay, Esq.; she died in 1762. Soon afterwards he married Miss Newson, of Leiston, in Suffolk. Lord Chedworth bequeathed him a legacy of 200_l._ He died at Bury St. Edmunds, on the 13th of September, 1819, in the 89th year of his age.[316]
In my humble walk of life, when a boy at the free grammar-school of Bury St. Edmunds, I had, with my young “classical” companions, frequent opportunities of meeting this aged veteran of the drama. His appearance was always agreeable to us. He encouraged our playful gambols, and was well-pleased in giving us something to be pleased with. In his eightieth year he looked “most briskly juvenal.” His person was then debonair, and his fine, brown, intelligent eye reflected all the mind could realize of the volition of _Charles Surface_. His dress was in perfect keeping with the vivacious disposition of the man. He always wore, when perambulating, a white hat, edged with green--blue coat--figured waistcoat--fustian-coloured breeches, and gaiters to correspond. Thus apparelled, he was, when the weather was favourable, to be met with in some one of the beautifully rural walks in the neighbourhood of the town, tripping on at a sharp, brisk pace, and twisting his thin gold-headed cane in his right hand. His politeness was proverbial; and the same ease and gracefulness of carriage--dignity of manner--and suavity of address--were features as conspicuous off, as when on, the stage. It was a lucky moment for us to meet him near our “tart” and “_turn-over_” shop. He would anticipate our _raspberry_ cravings, and remind us that he “was once a school-boy,” and that the _fagging_ system was only to be tolerated in the hopeful expectation of a plentiful reward in “sweets” and “sugar-candy.” He was one whom Shakspeare has painted--
“That liv’d, that lov’d, that lik’d, that look’d with cheer.”
Should this trifling sketch fall into the hands of any of my respected fellows, who were with me during my labours at the above-named school, I am confident they will contemplate this great man’s memory with that regard which his rich pleasantries, and our personal knowledge of him, are calculated to inspire. He was an honourable man; and it was his honourable conduct which alone conducted him to an honourable distinction in the evening of his days. Unlike the many of his profession, whose talents blaze forth for a while, and then depart like a sunbeam, he retired into the quiet of domestic life--sought peace and solace--and found them. In a word, “Gentleman Smith” was a respecter of virtue:--and he developed its precepts to the world in the incidents of his own life.
I am, dear Sir,
Yours very truly,
S. R.
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FLORAL DIRECTORY.
Officinal Crocus. _Crocus Sativus._ Dedicated to _St. Eulogius_.
[316] An interesting notice of Mr. Smith will be found in a small and elegant little work, entitled “County Biography,” &c., published by Longman and Co., accompanied by a good portrait of the subject of this article.
~September 14.~
_The Exaltation of the Holy Cross_, A. D. 629. _St. Catharine_ of Genoa, A. D. 1510. _St. Cormac_, Bp. of Cashel, and king of Munster, A. D. 908.
~Holy Cross,~ or HOLY ROOD.
_Holy Cross_ is in our almanacs and the church of England calendar on this day, whereon is celebrated a Romish catholic festival in honour of the holy cross, or, as our ancestors called it, the _holy rood_. From this denomination _Holyrood-house_, Edinburgh, derives its name.
The _rood_ was a carved or sculptured groupe consisting of a crucifix, or image of Christ on the cross, with, commonly, the virgin Mary on one side, and John on the other; though for these were sometimes substituted the four evangelists, and frequently rows of saints were added on each side.[317]
The _rood_ was always placed in a gallery across the nave, at the entrance of the chancel or choir of the church, and this gallery was called the _rood-loft_, signifying the rood-gallery; the old meaning of the word _loft_ being a high, or the highest, floor, or a room higher than another room. In the _rood-loft_ the musicians were stationed, near the rood, to play during mass.
The _holy roods_ or _crosses_ being taken down at the time of the reformation, the rood-loft or gallery became the _organ-loft_ or singing gallery, as we see it in our churches at present: the ancient _rood-loft_ was usually supported by a cross-beam, richly carved with foliage, sometimes superbly gilt, with a screen of open tabernacle-work beneath.[318]
When the _roods_, and other images in churches were taken down throughout England, texts of scripture were written on the walls of the churches instead. The first rood taken down in London was the rood belonging to St. Paul’s cathedral, and then all the other roods were removed from the churches of the metropolis.[319]
The holy rood, at Boxley, in Kent, was called the _Rood of Grace_; its image, on the cross, miraculously moved its eyes, lips, and head, upon the approach of its marvelling votaries. The _Boxley Rood_ was brought to London, and Hilsey, bishop of Rochester, within whose diocese it had performed wonders under the papacy, took it to pieces at St. Paul’s cross, and showed the people the springs and wheels by which, at the will of the priests, it had been secretly put in motion.[320] The open detection and destruction of this gross imposture, reconciled many, who had been deceived, to the reformation.
* * * * *
The festival of _Holy Cross_, or as it is more elaborately termed by the Catholics, _the Exaltation of the Holy Cross_, is in commemoration of the alleged miraculous appearance of the cross to Constantine in the sky at mid-day. It was instituted by the Romish church on occasion of the recovery of a large piece of the pretended real cross which Cosroes, king of Persia, took from Jerusalem when he plundered it. The emperor Heraclius defeated him in battle, retook the relic, and carried it back in triumph to Jerusalem.
According to Rigordus, a historian of the thirteenth century, the capture of this wood by Cosroes, though it was recaptured by Heraclius, was a loss to the human race they never recovered. We are taught by him to believe that the mouths of our ancestors “used to be supplied with thirty, or in some instances, no doubt according to their faith, with thirty-two teeth, but that since the cross was stolen by the infidels, no mortal has been allowed more than twenty-three!”[321]
* * * * *
Nutting appears to have been customary on this day. Brand cites from the old play of “Grim, the Collier of Croydon:”--
“This day, they say, is called Holy-rood day, And all the youth are now a nutting gone.”
It appears, from a curious manuscript relating to Eton school, that in the month of September, “on a certain day,” most probably the fourteenth, the scholars there were to have a play-day, in order to go out and gather nuts, a portion of which, when they returned, they were to make presents of to the different masters; but before leave was granted for their excursion, they were required to write verses on the fruitfulness of autumn, and the deadly cold of the coming winter.[322]
* * * * *
“Tuesday, Sept. 14, 1731, being Holyrood day, the king’s huntsmen hunted their free buck in Richmond New park, with bloodhounds, according to custom.”[323]
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FLORAL DIRECTORY.
Passion Flower. _Passiflora cærulea._ Dedicated to the _Exaltation of the Cross_.
[317] Fosbroke’s British Monachism.
[318] Ibid.
[319] Stow’s Chron.
[320] Hume.
[321] Brady’s Clavis Calendaria.
[322] Slater’s Schol. Eton, A. D. 1560. M. G. Donat. Brit. Mus. 4843 Brand.
[323] Gentleman’s Magazine.
~September 15.~
_St. Nicetas_, 4th Cent. _St. Nicomedes_, A. D. 90. _St. John_, the Dwarf, 5th Cent. _St. Aicard_, or _Achart_, Abbot, A. D. 687. _St. Aper_, or _Evre_, Bp. A. D. 486.
The weather on an average is, at least, six times out of seven fine on this day.[324]
It yet is not day; The morning hath not lost her virgin blush, Nor step, but mine, soiled the earth’s tinsel robe. ---- How full of heaven this solitude appears, This healthful comfort of the happy swain; Who from his hard but peaceful bed roused up, In ’s morning exercise saluted is By a full quire of feathered choristers, Wedding their notes to the inamoured air. Here Nature, in her unaffected dresse, Plaited with vallies, and imbost with hills, Enchast with silver streams, and fringed with woods, Sits lovely in her native russet.
_Chamberlayne._
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FLORAL DIRECTORY.
Byzantine Saffron. _Colchicum Byzanticum._ Dedicated to _St. Nicetas_.
[324] Dr. Forster’s Peren. Calendar.
~September 16.~
_St. Cornelius_, Pope, A. D. 252. _St. Cyprian_, Abp. of Carthage, A. D. 258. _St. Euphemia_, A. D. 307. _Sts. Lucia_ and _Geminianus._ _Sts. Ninian_, or _Ninyas_, Bp. A. D. 432. _St. Editha_, A. D. 984.
JEMMY GORDON.
This eccentric individual, who is recorded on the 23d of May, died in the workhouse of St. Leonard’s, at Cambridge, on the 16th of September, 1825. He had for many years been in the receipt of an annuity of five and twenty pounds bequeathed to him by Mr. Gordon, a deceased relative. Several confinements in the town gaol left Gordon at liberty to write memoirs of himself, which are in the possession of Mr. W. Mason, picture-dealer of Cambridge. He may amuse and essentially benefit society if he publish the manuscripts, accompanied by details drawn from personal recollections of the deceased biographer, with reflections on the misapplication of talent and the consequences of self-indulgence. It is an opportunity whereon to “point a moral, and adorn a tale.”
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FLORAL DIRECTORY.
Sea Starwort. _Aster Tripolum._ Dedicated to _St. Editha_.
~September 17.~
_St. Lambert_, Bp. A. D. 709. _St. Columba_, A. D. 853. _St. Hildegardis_, Abbess, A. D. 1179. _St. Rouin_, or _Rodingus_, or _Chrodingus_, A. D. 680. _Sts. Socrates_ and _Stephen_, Martyrs under Dioclesian.
~Lambert.~
He is a saint in the Romish calendar; his name “Lambert” stands unsainted in the church of England calendar and almanacs: sometimes he is called Landebert. He was bishop of Maestricht from which see he was expelled in 673, and retired to the monastery of Stavelo, where he continued seven years, submitting to the rules of the novices. He was afterwards restored to his bishopric, and discharged its functions with zeal and success. But during the disorders which prevailed in the government of France, he was murdered on the 17th of September, 703, and in 1240, his festival was ordained to be kept on this day.[325]
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THEATRICALS.
This is about the season when the summer theatres close, and the winter theatres open. Most of the productions written, and represented of late years, seem symptomatic of decay in dramatic and histrionic talent. The false taste of some of the vocal performers, is laughed at in a light piece called “Der Freischütz Travestie: by Septimus Globus, Esq.” One of its versifications is in a “SCENE--UNSEEN.” According to the author,--
A SONG--SINGS ITSELF.
TUNE.--_Galloping Dreary Dun._
Fine singers we have, both woman and man, Gallop O! fly away! jump! They all bravura, as fast as they can, They mock Catalani, Up long laney, Bawling, Squalling, Galloping all away! drag and tail,--die away--plump!
They come on the stage, so fine and so gay, Gallop O! fly away! jump! They mount in the air, and they ride away, They mock Catalani, &c.
They canter one off, all into the dark, Gallop O! fly away! jump! The Jack-bottom sings, instead of the lark, They mock Catalani, &c.
They let off a trill, and it asks the way, Gallop O! fly away! jump! They quiver and shake--oh! I bid you good day, They mock Catalani, &c.
Such singing I guess, does nobody good, Gallop O! fly away! jump! Notes wander about, like the babes in the wood, They mock Catalani, &c.
I sing by myself, but pray take a peep, Gallop O! fly away! jump! You’ll soon find singers, to sing you to sleep, They mock Catalani, &c. [_Exit Song._
From the same piece there may be another “seasonable” extract, for we are at that period of the year when the chase, which was once a necessary pursuit, is indulged as an amusement. In Von Weber’s “Der Freischütz,” the casting of the fifth bullet by Caspar is accompanied by “a wild chase in the clouds;” the writer who travestied that opera, as it was represented at the Lyceum theatre, represents this operation to be thus accompanied:--
_Neighing and barking_ ‘old clothes!’--_Skylarking_--_A wild chase in the clouds_; an ‘Etherial Race--inhabitants of air,’ consisting of skeleton dogs muzzled, skeleton horses, and skeleton horsemen, _with overalls and preservers, and_ MR. GREEN from the city, are _in pursuit of a skeleton stag_ ‘to Bachelor’s-hall,’ _with_ grave _music accompanying the following_--
SONG AND CHORUS. BY SKELETON HUNTSMEN.
“_Bright Chanticleer proclaims the dawn._”
The moon’s eclipse proclaims our hunt, The graves release their dead, The common man lifts up the wood, The lord springs from the lead; The lady-corpses hurry on, To join the ghostly crowds, And off we go, with a ho! so--ho! A--hunting in the clouds. With a hey, ho, chivey! Hark forward, hark forward, tantivy! &c.
No hill, no dale, no glen, no mire, No dew, no night, no storm, No earth, no water, air, nor fire, Can do wild huntsmen harm. We laugh at what the living dread, And throw aside our shrouds, And off we go, with a ho! so--ho! A--hunting in the clouds. With a hey, ho, chivey! Hark forward, hark forward, tantivy, &c.
Oft, when by body-snatchers stol’n, And surgeons for us wait, Some honest watchmen take the rogues To be examined straight, We slip away from surgeons, and From police-office crowds, And off we go, with a ho! so--ho! A--hunting in the clouds. With a hey, ho, chivey! Hark forward, hark forward, tantivy! &c.
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FLORAL DIRECTORY.
Narrow-leaved Mallow. _Malva augustiflora._ Dedicated to _St. Lambert_.
[325] Audley’s Comp. to the Almanac.
~September 18.~
_St. Thomas_, Abp. of Valentia, A. D. 1555. _St. Methodius_, Bp. of Tyre, A. D. 311. _St. Ferreol_, A. D. 304. _St. Joseph_, of Cupertino, A. D. 1663.
_St. Ferreol._
He was “a tribune or colonel,” Butler says, at Vienne in France, and imprisoned on suspicion of being a christian, which he verified by refusing to sacrifice according to the religion of the country, whereupon being scourged and laid in a dungeon, on the third day his chains fell off his hands and legs, and he swam over the Rhone. It appears that the miraculous chain-falling was ineffectual, for he was discovered and beheaded near the river.
* * * * *
The anniversary of this saint and martyr is celebrated at Marseilles with great pomp. The houses are decorated with streamers to the very tops; and the public way is crossed by cords, on which are suspended numberless flags of various colours. The ships are always ornamented with flags and streamers. The procession passes under several arches, hung with boughs, before it stops at the altars or resting-places, which are covered with flowers: every thing concurs to give to this solemnity an air of cheerfulness. The eye dwells with pleasure on the garlands of beautiful flowers, the green boughs, and the emblem of the divinity contained in the flags of the procession. The attendants are extremely numerous; every gardener carries his wax taper, ornamented with the most rare and beautiful flowers; he has also the vegetables and fruits with which heaven had blessed his labour, and sometimes he bears some nests of birds.
The _butchers_ also make a part of this procession, clothed in long tunics, and with a hat _à la Henri IV_. armed with a hatchet or cleaver; they lead a fat ox dressed with garlands and ribands, and with gilt horns, like the ox at the carnival: his back is covered with a carpet, on which sits a pretty child, dressed as St. John the Baptist. During the whole week which precedes the festival, the butchers lead about this animal: they first take him to the police, where they pay a duty, and then their collection begins, which is very productive: every one wishes to have the animal in his house; and it is a prevailing superstition among the people, that they shall have good luck throughout the year if this beast leave any trace of his visit, however dirty it may be. The ox is killed on the day after the festival. The child generally lives but a short time: exhausted by the fatigue which he has suffered, and by the caresses which he has received, and sickened by the sweetmeats with which he has been crammed, he languishes, and often falls a victim.
A number of young girls, clothed in white, their heads covered with veils, adorned with flowers, and girded with ribands of a uniform colour are next in the procession. Children, habited in different manners, recall the ancient “mysteries.” Several young women are dressed as nuns; these are St. Ursula, St. Rosalia, St. Agnes, St. Teresa, &c. The handsomest are clothed as Magdalens; with their hair dishevelled on their lovely faces, they look with an air of contrition on a crucifix which they hold in the hand: others appear in the habit of the _Sœurs de la Charité_, whose whole time is devoted to the service of the sick. Young boys fill other parts, such as angels, abbots, monks; among whom may be distinguished St. Francis, St. Bruno, St. Anthony, &c. In the midst of the shepherds marches the little St. John, but half covered with a sheep’s skin, like the picture of his precursor; he leads a lamb decked with ribands, a symbol of the saviour who offered himself for us, and died for the remission of our sins. The streets are strewed with flowers; numerous choristers carry baskets full of roses and yellow broom, which they throw, on a given signal, before the host or holy sacrament: they strew some of these on the ladies who sit in rows to see the procession; these also have baskets of flowers on their knees, which they offer to the host; they amuse themselves with covering the young virgins and little saints with the flowers. The sweet scents of the roses, the cassia, the jessamine, the orange, and the tuberose, mingled with the odour of the incense, almost overpower the senses. The procession proceeds to the port, and it is there that the ceremony presents a sublime character: the people fill the quays; all the decks are manned with seamen, dressed in their best blue jackets, their heads uncovered, and their red caps in their hands. All bend the knee to the God of the Universe: the seamen stretch out their hands towards the prelate, who, placed under a canopy, gives the benediction: the most profound silence reigns among this immense crowd. The benediction received, every one rises instantaneously; the bells begin to ring, the music plays, and the whole train takes the road to the temple from which they came.[326]
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FLORAL DIRECTORY.
Pendulous Starwort. _Aster pendulus._ Dedicated to _St. Thomas_, of Villanova.
[326] Times Telescope, 1819; from Coxe’s Gentleman’s Guide through France.
~September 19.~
_St. Januarius_, Bp. of Benevento, A. D. 305. _St. Theodore_, Abp. of Canterbury, A. D. 690. _Sts. Peleus_, _Pa-Termuthes_, and Companions. _St. Lucy_ A. D. 1090. _St. Eustochius_, Bp. A. D. 461. _St. Sequanus_, or _Seine_, Abbot, A. D. 580.
STOURBRIDGE FAIR
This place, near Cambridge, is also called Sturbridge, Sturbitch, and Stirbitch. A Cambridge newspaper speaks of _Stirbitch_ fair being proclaimed on the 19th of September, 1825, for a fortnight, and of _Stirbitch_ horse-fair commencing on the 26th of the month. The corruption of this proper name, stamps the persons who use it in its vulgar acceptation as being ignorant as the ignorant; the better instructed should cease from shamefully acquiescing in the long continued disturbance of this appellation.
Stephen Batman, in his “Doome warning,” published in 1582, relates that “Fishers toke a disfigured divell, in a certain _stoure_, (which is a mighty gathering togither of waters, from some narrow lake of the sea,) a horrible monster with a goats heade, and eyes shyning lyke fyre, whereuppon they were all afrayde and ranne awaye; and that ghoste plunged himselfe under the ise, and running uppe and downe in the _stowre_ made a terrible noyse and sound.” We get in _Stirbitch_ a most “disfigured divell” from Stourbridge. The good people derive their “good name” from their river.
* * * * *
Stourbridge fair originated in a grant from king John to the hospital of lepers at that place. By a charter in the 30th year of Henry VIII., the fair was granted to the magistrates and corporation of Cambridge. The vicechancellor of the university has the same power in it that he has in the town of Cambridge.
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