Page images
PDF
EPUB
[blocks in formation]

MRS. MARY COWDEN CLARKE

THIS CHAIR IS PRESENTED

BY A FEW LADIES AND GENTLEMEN OF AMERICA

SCRAPS FROM THE UNITED STATES. THE space at G. W.'s command will only permit him to notice generally, and most gratefully to acknowledge, the number, variety, and interest of C. F. D.'s communications, and sincerely to thank him for the kind manner in which they have been forwarded.

1. The existence of Hebrew relics among the Pottawatomie Indians is extremely curious. That procured by Dr. Lykins is described as consisting of

"Four small rolls or strips of parchment, closely packed in the small compartments of a little box or locket, of about an inch cubical content. On these parchments are written, in a style of unsurpassed excellence, and far more beautiful than print, portions of the Pentateuch, to be worn as frontlets, and intended as stimulants to the memory and moral sense.'

[ocr errors]

2. A notice of Professor Stuart's death has been

AS A TRIBUTE OF GRATITUDE, FOR THE UNEQUALLED recorded in G. W.'s Literary and Scientific Obituary.

INDUSTRY

WHICH GAVE THE READERS OF ENGLISH
THROUGHOUT THE WORLD

HER CONCORDANCE TO SHAKSPERE.

G. W. begs to add, that it is unnecessary for him to engrave the beautiful drawing forwarded to him of this Chair, as he perceives an engraving hus already appeared in the Lady's Newspaper for the 24th January, and he has returned the drawing as requested.

KATY-DID.-G. W.'s New York Special Reporter writes him as follows, in reference to the paragraph, p. 90 of" Current Notes" for December last.

SIR, Please inform "An Entomologist" that it will afford your Special Reporter much pleasure to send him a live specimen of the KATY-DID next fall. We have no Autumn in America! It is then they begin to sing, or rather to say at present they are, to use the words of Davie Gellatley, "A dead an' gane-a' dead an' gane." I first heard them one evening in August among the elms on the battery, and so loud was the noise, I fancied it was made by porters landing bars of iron on the adjoining quays.

The jingle of the song your Entomological correspondent enquires after was something like this; but I will send him a copy when I can procure one.

"The dear little Katy-did sat on a tree,

And surly and sulky and savage was he,
His supper was stolen away by a bee,
But he thought his own deary had hidd'n it,
And while he kept calling 'twas you, Katy-did,
She merrily cried-Katy-did-n't,'

[Chorus of Boys and Girls.] Katy-did-Katy-did n't—Katy-did-Katy-didn't."

The moral of the song is, that a lady will always have the last word, be she insect or woman.

Mr. Willis.

[ocr errors]

"He published at least twenty-four volumes, and in addition to them many single sermons and newspaper essays, and contributed more than two thousand octavo pages to American periodicals. His commentaries are those on the Hebrews, Romans, Revelation, Daniel, Ecclesiastes, and the Proverbs. He printed his first Hebrew Grammar without points, and set up about half the paradigms of verbs with his own hands.-This grammar went through three editions, each one being more full than the preceding."

3. The intelligence of the Spanish Press is highly amusing.

4. The charge made against the Editor of the Oxford Edition of Milton requires proof or explanation.

"Mr. Whittier states in the National Era, that the carefully prepared Oxford edition of Milton's Works, contains a poem by Elizabeth Lloyd, of Philadelphia, purporting to have been written by the poet in his old age and blindness, and which is so well executed, as to have deceived the English editor of his works. This poem is now going the rounds of the American press, as the production of Milton."

5. The appearance of the fifth and sixth volumes of Lord Mahon's History of England has thus brought forth the indignation of the editor of the Boston (U.S.) Transcript.

66

[ocr errors]

"They commence at the year 1763, and close with the year 1779, and comprise, of course, as the principal theme, the American Revolution-the rise and progress of the War of Independence. 'One point in the American War,' says the Spectator, Lord Mahon brings out quietly and impressively-the personal falsehood of Franklin, and often the brutality of the Americans at large.' Here will be a chance for our American reviewers and critics. The personal falsehood of Franklin !' It will take the affidavit of more than one Lord to make that credible."

6. The old American bookseller, whose career was so graphically described by Dr. Francis at the celebration of the hundred and forty-sixth anniversary of Franklin's the father of the present Editor of the Literary World, birth-day, by the New York Typographical Society, was an American periodical, extremely well conducted, and of considerable circulation.

"There are many booksellers and publishers," observed Dr. Francis, "whose character and influence might justly command detailed account. Spence himself would find among them anecdotes of consideration in the world of letters. I must, however, write within circumscribed limits. The first in immediate recollection is Evert Duyckinck. He was a middle-aged man when I was a boy occasionally at his store, an ample and old-fashioned edifice, at the corner of Pearl Street and Old Slip. He was grave in his demeanor, and somewhat taciturn; of great simplicity in dress, accommodating and courteous. He must have been rich in literary occurrences. He for a long while occupied this excellent stand for business, and was quite extensively engaged as a publisher and seller. He was a sort of Mr. Newbury, so precious to juvenile memory in the olden times. He largely dealt with that order of books, for elementary instruction, which were popular abroad, just about the close of our revolutionary war and the adoption of our Constitution, Old Dyche and his pupil Dilworth, Perry, and Sheridan. As education and literature advanced, he brought forward, by reprints, Johnson and Chesterfield, and Vicesimus Knox, and a host of others. His store was the nucleus of the Connecticut teachers' intellectual products, and Barlow and Webster, and Morse and Riggs, found him a patron of their works in poetry and school books. Bunyan, and Young, and Watts, Doddridge and Baxter, must have been issued by his enterprise in innumerable thousands throughout the whole thirteen States; and the old English Primer, now improved into the American Primer, with its captivating emendations, as

The royal oak, it was the tree
That saved his Royal Majesty ;

improved by the more simple diction,

[blocks in formation]

to the Harpers the first job of printing they ever executedwhether Tom Thumb' or ' Wesley's Primitive Physic,' I know not. The acorn has become the pride of the forestthe Cliff Street Tree, whose roots and branches now ramify over the land. Duyckinck faithfully carried out the proverbs of Franklin, and the sayings of Noah Webster's Prompter. He was by birth and by action a genuine Knickerbocker."

SEAL OF WHITGIFT'S HOSPITAL AT CROYDON.

Ar p. 77 of your "Current Notes" for October last,

MHOSPITALIS SANCTAFTA

led captivity captive, and were circulated without limits for the better diffusion of knowledge and patriotism throughout the land. As our city grew apace, and both instructors and their functions enlarged, he engaged in the Latin Classics. Having a little Latin about me, it became my duty to set up at the printing-office of Lewis Nicols, Duyckinck's reprint, De Bello Gallico. The edition was edited by a Mr. Rudd. He was the first editor I ever saw; I looked at him with school-boy admiration when I took him the proofs. What alterations or improvements he ever made in the text of Oudendorp, I never ascertained. This, however, must have been among the beginnings of that American practice, still so common among us, of deeming it necessary that the reprints of even the most important works from abroad should have, for better circulation, some name as editor in

serted on the title-page. Mr. Duyckinck was gifted with great business talents, and estimated as a man of great punctuality and rigid integrity in fiscal matters. He was the first who had the entire Bible, in 12mo. preserved-set up in forms-the better to supply, at all times, his patrons. This was before stereotype plates were adopted. He gave

sion are

there is an engraved representation of the Corporate Seal of Dulwich College; as a companion to it, I have procured a draw.

ing of the Seal of Arch

[graphic]

RINITATIS IN VILLADE UĮ

bishop Whitgift's Hospital at Croy

don,

which

was founded towards the

end of the

reign of Elizabeth, by

that benevolent but superstitious prelate, who appears to have been a

devout believer in the Black Art, as among

[blocks in formation]

"obstinate heresye, sorcerye, and any kind of charming or witchcrafte."

There were some interesting relics preserved in this establishment, particularly three wooden goblets or drinking vessels, the largest of which could hold about three pints, and bore the following inscription:

"What, Sirrah! hold thy peace,

[ocr errors]

Thirst satisfied-cease.' But I am told they have disappeared-no one can tell how or when exactly. I mention the circumstance, as there was a singular legend connected with this inscription, which I once heard, but do not now remember the particulars-perhaps some of your correspondents may.

C. R.

[blocks in formation]

CAVENDISH'S LIFE OF WOLSEY. SIR,-In an anonymous treatise, entitled, "Who wrote Cavendish's Life of Wolsey?" London, 1814; (usually attributed to the Rev. Joseph Hunter), the writer considers the author to be a George Cavendish, a branch of the Devonshire family. But in the valuable collection of my friend Mr. W. S. Fitch, of this town, there is a well-preserved MS. copy of "The Life and Death of Cardinal Wolsey," by Th. Gainsford. This interesting MS. is a folio volume of 166 pages. It embraces all that is contained in Cavendish's "Life of Wolsey," with a considerable deal of extra matter. I refer to Lowndes and find that this Gainsford was the author of a Life of Perkin Warbeck, and other works. He printed nothing, it seems, after 1619. I am, Sir, yours truly,

[blocks in formation]

"Current Notes," p. 7, concerning the print of Cromwell.

"The following is a History of this celebrated Print :"Faithorne, with his master, Robert Peake, engaged in House, from whence Faithorne was brought to London, the King's service, and were both taken prisoners at Basing and confined in Aldersgate; here resuming his occupation, he produced the exquisite Portrait of the Protector, (known as Cromwell between the Pillars), which pleased the parties then in power so much, that shortly after, it occasioned his being set at liberty, and he retired to France. Copies of the original print have been known to sell as high as 40 pounds!

Mr. Caulfield in his Chalcographiana, says, Mr. Bull the celebrated Collector, shewed him the original drawing in red chalk from which Faithorne engraved the print; from whom he also learned the face was afterwards altered to William III." "OGILS."

PRINT OF OLIVER CROMWELL.

66

SIR, I have a beautiful impression of the Print alluded to by a Young Print and Portrait Collector," ("Current Notes" for January, p. 7), with this superscription: "Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector of England, Scotland, France, and Ireland, and the Territories thereunto belonging. Engraved by Chas. Turner, from the celebrated print by W. Faithorne." Below the figure of the Protector, on a small ornamental tablet, is The Emblem of England's distractions, and also of her attained and further expected Freedom and Happiness;" which sufficiently explains the extraordinary allegorical figures which crowd the print.

AUTOGRAPHIC BIOGRAPHY.

66

Yours,
S. S.

[blocks in formation]

M

R

edition of 1640, having belonged to the Somerset family, and of much interest from the circumstance of its conEliza-taining on the inside of the cover an unpublished Poem of twenty-six lines, of a complimentary character, on the Nuptials of Robert Carr, Earl of Somerset, entirely in the autograph of Ben Jonson, and concluding with the following beautiful stanza :—

RING OF MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS. YOUR Correspondent T. K.'s notice of Queen beth's ring, said to have been given to the Earl of Essex, ("Current Notes," for December last, p. 95), reminds me of another ring, that of Mary Queen of Scots, for using which she was censured on her Murder-trial, in consequence of its having the Arms of England impaled with those of Scotland. I possess a facsimile of that signet ring, procured from a seal engraved in Edinburgh. I should feel particularly obliged if any of your Antiquarian friends can inform me, where the original now is. I was told that it was in the British Museum, and had inquiry made there, but to no purpose. rather think paste facsimiles may be had at Mr. Wilson's, formerly Tassie's, in Leicester Square. Mine is an engraving on Amethyst, and I shall seal this letter with it. Respectfully yours, R. B.

I

A TRAVELLING NAME.-The anecdote told by your Correspondent "J." in the last number of your "Current Notes," p. 7, is somewhat differently related in the Memoir of Mr. James Smith, prefixed to his "Comic Miscellanies," where it is stated: "The following incident occurred to James Smith in a Brighton coach. An old lady struck with his extraordinary familiarity with things and people, at length burst forth, And pray, Sir, you who seem to know every body--pray may I ask who James Smith, Madam.' This evidently conveying nothing to her mind, a fellow passenger added, One of the authors of the Rejected Addresses. The old lady stared at them by turns, and then quietly said, I never heard of the Gentleman or the book before." T. C. C.

you are?'

SALE OF RARE BOOKS.-Some curious books of an interesting character, collected by the son of SIMON LORD LOVAT, who, it will be remembered, was executed for treasonable practices, have recently been sold by Auction by Messrs. SOTHEBY & WILKINSON, of Wellington Street. The Collection contained specimens from the presses of Pynson, Wynkyn de Worde and Caxton; also some rare and early works relating to America, and on the subject of English Theology during the time of the Elizabethan Age, and some curious works on Machinery and the Occult Sciences. Among them may be specially named, "THE BOOK OF THE ORDRE OF CHYVALRY OR KNYGHTHODE," (lot 244), said to be one of the rarest productions of the press of CAXTON; one of three copies, (two of which being in the British Museum), and considered to be one of the most interesting volumes which we owe to the perseverance of Caxton as a translator, and of great beauty as an example of his typographic skill. It unfortunately wanted two leaves, but produced £55. 10s. The next in importance (lot 585) was a copy of the works of BEN JONSON, the

[blocks in formation]

TOBACCO. S. T. "Chester," received, and in type. The copy of the collected edition of "Current Notes" sent as desired.

A. Oak House, in type, but must stand over until next month.

ANTONINE'S ITINERARY and ETYMONS, &c. received after G. W.'s "Current Notes" had been made up for press.

Literary and Scientific Obituary.

CLEMENTS, William. Newspaper Proprietor (Morning
Chronicle, Observer, Bell's Life in London). 24th
January.
CRABB, George, (M.A.) Law, Language, and History.
16, Oxford Place, New Road, Hammersmith. 4th
December. 1851. Aged 83.

DAVENPORT, Richard Alfred. History, Biography, Criti-
cism, Poetry, &c. Brunswick Cottage, Park Street,
Camberwell. 25th January. Aged 72.
School Histories, American Ches-
GRIMSHAW, William.
terfield, Ladies' Lexicon. Philadelphia. 8th January.
HOLCROFT, Thomas. Periodical Writer, formerly Secre-
tary Asiatic Society. 37, Woburn Place. 6th Feb.
PROUT, Samuel. Water Colour Painter. 10th February.
Aged 68.
RODWELL, George Herbert. Musical Composer, Drama-
tist and Novelist. Upper Ebury Street, Pimlico.
22nd January.
RODWELL (John). Publisher (Rodwell and Martin, Bond

Street) of Batty's Views, &c. January 3rd. Aged 71. STUART (Professor), Moses. Biblical Scholar, Author of Hebrew Grammar, &c. Andover, U.S. 4th January. Aged 71.

No. XV.]

TO THE

FOR THE MONTH.

"I will make a prief of it in my Note-Book."-SHAKSPERE.

NOTICE TO SUBSCRIBERS

"PRICE CURRENT OF LITERATURE."

G. WILLIS gratefully acknowledges the various interesting documents and letters he has received. He is anxious that it should be perfectly understood that he is not the author of any statement, representation, or opinion, that may appear in his "Current Notes," which are merely selections from communications made to him in the course of his business, and which appear to him to merit attention. Every statement therefore is open to correction or discussion, and the writers of the several paragraphs should be considered as alone responsible for their assertions. Although many notes have hitherto appeared anonymously, or with initial letters, yet wherever a serious contradiction is involved, G. Willis trusts that his Correspondents will feel the necessity of allowing him to make use of their names when properly required.

MEDIEVAL MUMMIES.

66

British Museum, Jan. 1852. SIR,-The late discovery of the remains of a human body in a complete state of preservation, in St. Stephen's Chapel, has induced me to send you a brief notice of several similar occurrences recorded by our early chroniclers and historians. Bede relates that eleven years after the death of St. Cuthbert, bishop of Lindisfarne, the monks took up his body, expecting to see it reduced to ashes, but found, "all the body whole, as if it had been alive, and the joints pliable more like one asleep than a dead person; besides all the vestments the body had on were wonderful for their freshness and glossness." We learn from William of Malmesbury that the body was again found incorrupt 415 years afterwards at Durham, and publicly shewn. Lingard gives an interesting account of the event, taken from a memoir written at the time by an eye-witness," in all probability Simeon, the Durham historian. From this narrative it appears that when the monks removed the masonry of the tomb, they beheld a large and ponderous chest, which had been entirely covered with leather, and strongly secured with nails and plates of iron. To separate the top from the sides required their utmost exertion, and within it they discovered a second chest, of dimensions more proportionate to the human body. It was of black oak, carved with figures of animals and flowers, and wrapped in a coarse linen cloth, which had previously been dipped in melted wax, to exclude the air and damp." By the direction of Turgot, the prior, "they conveyed the smaller chest from behind the altar to a more convenient place, in the middle of the choir, unrolled the cloth, and with trembling hands forced open the lid. Instead of the remains of the Saint, they found a copy of the Gospels lying on a second lid, which had not been fastened with

[ocr errors]

[MARCH, 1852.

nails, but rested on three transverse bars of wood. By the help of two iron rings, fixed at the extremities, it was easily removed, and disclosed the body apparently entire, lying on its right side, on a pallet of silk. At the sight they gazed on each other in silent astonishment, and then retiring a few paces, fell prostrate on the floor, and repeated, in a low tone, the seven penitential psalms. After this preparation, they approached the coffin, and three of them, by order of the prior, placing their hands under the head, the feet, and the middle of the body, raised it up, and laid it on a carpet spread on the floor. It was found to have been wrapped in a cerecloth of linen. Over this appeared the usual episcopal vestments, the amice, alb, stole, fanon tunic and dalmatic;-the chasuble alone was wanting, which had been removed at the former translation in 689. On the forehead lay a thin plate of gold, or metal gilt, thickly encrusted with small stones; and a mitre covered the head, round which had been wound a napkin of purple colour. A cerecloth of the finest linen adhered so closely to the face, that no part of it could be loosened, but between the neck and the shoulders the skin was exposed to the sight and touch. The arms could be moved with ease; the hands were joined over the lower part of the chest, and the fingers, which were still flexible, pointed upwards. With the body were found a chalice, patine, a portable altar, a burse to hold the linen for the altar, and an ivory comb, with scissors of silver." When the shrine of St. Cuthbert was plundered and demolished by order of that sacrilegious scoundrel King Harry the Eighth, the body was still found entire, as Harpsfield testifies.

Audry, a daughter of Annas, King of the East Angles, and abbess of Ely Monastery, died A.D. 679, and was buried in a wooden coffin. Sixteen years afterwards her sister caused her body to be exhumed. It was found "free from corruption, and all the linen cloths in which the body had been wrapped appeared entire, and as fresh as if they had been that very day wrapped about her limbs." Such are the words of the physician who attended her in her last illness, and who saw the occurrence. (Bede, B. 4. c. 19).

Wereburge, a daughter of Wulfere, king of Mercia, died about the close of the seventh century. Her body, according to her own desire, was interred at Hanbury. Nine years afterwards, in 708, it was taken up in presence of King Coelred, his Council, and many bishops, and being found entire and incorrupt, was laid in a costly shrine. In 875 her body was still entire; when, for fear of the Danish pirates, it was removed to Chester, and soon after its translation, fell into decay.

St. Elphege, Archbishop of Canterbury, was barbarously murdered by the Danes in 1012, and buried in St. Paul's Cathedral. Twelve years after his martyrdom,

« PreviousContinue »