our sonne, With troopes of conquering lords and warlike knights, Like bloudie-crested Mars, orelookes his hoste, Higher than all his armie by the head, Martching along as bright as Phœbus eyes, And we his mother shall beholde our sonne, And England's peeres shall see their soueraigne. This is one of the best speeches in the play, and is written with great vigour and eloquence. If Addison thought the description of Earl Douglas, in the old ballad, preceding his followers, so fine, because it reminded him of a passage in Virgil, at least the above has the same, and, I apprehend, a great many more and more important recommendations. But I must not occupy space with critical re marks, or I shall not leave room for a sufficient number of extracts from this long production. Edward having entered, the Queen-mother relates what has passed in the kingdom during his absence. The scene is then suddenly removed to Wales, where Llewellen is introduced with his rebel-followers, and again to the English court, where Edward decides upon the claims of the Scottish peers to the crown. Enter the nine Lordes of Scotland, with their nine Pages; Gloster, Sussex, King Edward in his sute of glasse, Queene Elinor, Queene Mother; the King and Queene vnder a Canopie. Long. Nobles of Scotland, we thanke you all For this daies gentle, princelie seruice done To Edward, England's king and Scotland's lord! Our coronations due solemnitie As being growne vnto a generall iarre, crowne; Weare it with heart and with thankfulnes! I tell thee that the ground is al to base streete Of Aecon and the faire Ierusalem, And trampling proudly vnderneath the feete Choice of our English wollen drapery. This climat ore low'ring with blacke congealed clouds, That takes their swelling from the marish soil, Fraught with infections, fogges, and mistie dampes, Is far vnworthy to be once embalm'd With redolence of this refreshing breath, That sweetens where it lights, as doe the flames And holy fires of Vestaes sacrifice. time, has some improprieties, and seThis play, like most others of the veral improbable and unnatural incidents. Among the first is a scene where Queen Elinor is discovered in child-bed of Edward of Carnarvon, and, among the last, what I have already mentioned regarding the Lady Mayoress; to this may be added a promise extorted by the cruel queen, when sick, from her fond husband, that he will grant whatever she may require. She immediately insists that the male inhabitants shall be deprived of their long hair, and the females of their right breasts. Edward on the instant orders that the queen and himself shall be the first to be subjected to the severity, and thus escapes from the dilemma. The scene is perpetually changing from England to Wales and Scotland, with the utmost rapidity, and often without the intervention even of that time which may be supposed to elapse between one act and another. Baliol revolting is attacked and taken by Edward, who thus reviles his prisoner: Now trothless king, what fruites haue brauing boastes, What end hath treason but a sodaine fall? Such as haue known thy life and bringing To keep a iust equality of minde, The serious part of the play, of which perhaps sufficient specimens are furnished, is interesting and generally well conducted, and the language is always becoming the persons who employ it. The winding up is, however, to be excepted from the first part of this approbation, for it is crowded, confused, and void of all probability. The queen on her death-bed confesses to the king and his brother, who are disguised as friars, that Íone of Acon is daughter of a monk, and that Edmund Duke of Glocester had been criminally connected with the queen. Edmund, when charged with his guilt, denies it. Ione is informed by the king of her base origin, and she dies upon the spot. Edward learning that Llewellen is again in arms, (though his head some scenes before had been born across the stage on a pole,) and that Baliol has also revolted, resolves to encounter them, and the piece, embracing the events of eight or ten years, is concluded by some reflections from Glocester, (who had been betrothed to Ione,) upon the head of his mistress, which is brought to him by Earl Mortimer. Thy eies, thy lookes, thy lippes, and euerie part, How nature stroue in them to shew her art; In shine or shape, in colour and compare With pale and dimnes, and my loue is dead, &c. There is a miserable interlude kept up between some of the historical scenes by a friar, a novice, and a common trull: it has no humour and much grossness. J. P. C. HISTORICAL ANECDOTES, &c. Bedmar. FROM Griselini's work, mentioned in the former Number, it is evident that the conspiracy against the republic of Venice, 1618, is not imaginary, as many have believed, because St Real, a French romancer, has treated it in too florid and romantic a style. The Jesuits, having been expelled from the Venetian territory, suggested this plot to Alfonso de la Cueva, Marquis of Bedmar, the Spanish ambassador at Venice, (the real author of the famous Squittinio della Liberta di Venezia,) whose worthy associates were the Duke of Ossuna, governor of Naples, and Toledo, governor of Milan, all Spaniards, and bitter enemies of Venice, which opposed the Spanish rapacities. Parties of foreign troops were lodged in the city, and Bedmar had basely converted his house into a magazine of arms. The manner of the discovery is not stated; but Paolo Sarpi, who held the honourable office of Consultore or adviser of the republic, was ordered to draw up an account of the conspiracy, which is probably now at Vienna among the Venetian archives; for, when presented to the senate, it became doubtful if it were proper to publish it, and the votes were divided, when it was agreed to consult the author himself. His opinion was against the publication, for reasons given by Griselini; but probably the chief reason is omitted, namely, that the publication would disclose the means by which another similar attempt might succeed. The infamy of Bedmar was clothed in the Roman blushing colours of a cardinal, and it is wonderful that he did not become Pope. It is truly singular that Rome, the source and spring of the Catholic faith, should also, for the last thousand years, have been the very source and spring of all the vices and crimes that infested Europe. That holy court resided fourscore years at Avignon, and that town is precisely the most vicious in France. The like in all the towns of Italy which the popes have impudently stolen or usurped. Yet the divine author of their faith says, "By their fruits ye shall know them." of Agricola be perpetual!" would be an appropriate toast, as Agricola, or General Farmer, was the first who subdued a great part of Scotland to the Roman power. The title is, L'Art de Cultiver les Pays de Montagnes, &c. The work was calculated for the country of Auvergne, and was written by M. Desistrieres, as the dedication bears. The date is 1774, 8vo. The general topics are,-cattle and pastures, meadows,-dryness and humidity, the discovery of springs, -upland grounds, their nature and cultivation,-manures,-grains adapted to the cold climate, rye, barley, oats, mountain pea, March wheat, March rye or Marseche, black corn or Sarasin,-best method of sowing, vegetable roots and plants,-lentils, potatoes, (des pommes de terreou truffes rouges,) turnips, flax, lint, extirpation of weeds. But Auvergne is at a medium latitude 46°, and our Highlands 57°, and a difference of 11° is of no small moment in agriculture; and the constant rains of the Highlands are more to be apprehended than the mountainous soil. Hence it would seem that the production of roots, such as potatoes, turnips, beet, carrots, &c. should be the chief object in a rainy climate. The sugar of beet is well known from its great success in France, and from beet, or even potatoes, a far more wholesome spirit may be distilled than from corn, not to forget that the refuse is used to feed cattle. So far as I have observed, this excellent root is little known in Scotland, and, as there are many kinds and colours, the most hardy might be chosen, if found necessary. Nor should I forget that the sycamore, or, perhaps, the maple, have been discovered in France to be the only trees that bear the spray of the sea, from some peculiar quality of their leaves, so that, if a skreen of these trees be first formed, any others may be planted behind them. Our author pretends, page 29, that snow-water injures the turf, so that trenches should he dug for its passage. In all uplands, he says, the furrow should be led across, to stop the descent of the waters, which will otherwise conduct the soil into the plains. "The grains which thrive the most in the mountains of Auvergne are the Marseche or March rye, barley, oats, and Sarasin or black wheat, the marseche almost every where, mountains or glens,—the sarasin in some vallies, barley on the western sides of mountains,-oats every where, even amidst humidity and high exposure." The March rye yields an excellent bread, while that of oats, or even of sarasin, is not esteemed. If I remember right, the sarasin is not unknown to our agriculturists, but I suspect the March →rye has escaped their notice. It is singular that Beza in his Icones has given two portraits of this refor mer quite unlike. In the Latin edition 1580, 4to, sign. Ee iij. he has a very long beard, &c. In the French, 1531, 4to, p. 205, he has a short beard, and very different features. The latter seems the genuine likeness, sent perhaps to rectify the error. The first portrait is of some bishop, I suppose, from the form of his bonnet, while the latter has a simple coif; but I cannot ascertain of whom. The former has a sweet gracious dignified countenance, while the latter smells of vinegar. Aut Knoxius, aut diabelus. James III. of Scotland. Though not a little conversant in the history of my country, yet I was startled in reading the Memorabilie of Fulgosus, (written about 1500, the latest fact with a date being 1499,) to find a charge of incest with his two sisters brought against a contemporary King of Scotland, whom, in his original Italian, he has called in one passage Genis, (misprint for Gems, that is, our James,) and in another Jams. The latter bears that Jams fought against his father of the same name, who fell in the battle. But the accusation of James III. is placed beyond doubt by Buchanan, who wrote eighty years after Fulgoso, (Hist. Scot. p. 434, edit. Elzevir, Amst. 1643, 8vo,) who, however, arraigns him only with his youngest sister, afterwards espoused to William Crichton. The murder of his brother and incest with his sister show a most depraved mind in James III. and probably alienated the nobles and nation more than his predilection for low favourites. Buchanan says he was of excellent dispositions, before he fell, at a critical time of adolescence, into the company of the Boyds. Fulgoso had been Doge of Genoa, but resigned that dignity and retired to his studies. The original Italian is not extant, but was translated into Latin by a kinsman, which has gone through many editions. It is to be regretted that most of his examples are ancient, so that he affords few additions to Valerius Maximus. Yet some hints are curious, fol. 56, (edit. Paris, 1588, 8vo,) the barnacles of the Orkneys mentioned by Albertus Magnus; fol. 294, Guttenberg invented printing in 1440, by which more may be written in one day than by the pen in a year. This testimony is very exact, yet has escaped typographic writers. Equally important is the fact, (fol. 29,) that the venereal discase first appeared at Naples, as it is of a very well informed contemporary, and serves to confute idle theories on the subject. Magdalen of France. A portrait of this short-lived queen of James V. may be found at p. 243 of the Promptuaire des Medailles, Lyon, 1553, 4to. It bears an appearance of sickness which enhances its authenticity. This Promptuaire is not a little VOL. V. singular, for all the ancient portraits are imaginary, while the modern are genuine, commencing at p. 182, with that of Dante, the Italian poet. Hence it is thrown aside, as of no value, while the modern portraits are often rare and precious. The engravings, though on wood, are very neat, and as it is published by the same bookseller, I suspect are by Le Petit Bernard, a Hugonot artist, well known by his scriptural prints, which rank him among the first of his time. The word of fear To married ear. From the Voyage dans la Palestine of D'Arvieux, we learn, that the Arabs apply this name to a man whose sister is unchaste, as being of the same blood, and both children surreptitiously introduced into the nest of a family, as the cuckoo places her eggs. This idea is quite natural and exact, and even humane towards the unfortunate family, as it supposes the bad children, like the young cuckoos, not to be of their breed. It may be supposed, that it was during the crusades that the strange and absurd perversion of the term took place among the Europeans. Resplendent Beauty. A French author, in describing the fair Gabrielle, says, "her countenance was as polished and transparent as a pearl, and seemed to have the same polish and water with the freshness of an egg just hatched." The latter idea may seem odd, but the naïveté of the expression may warrant its justice. It has been said, that mental beauty is as rare as corporeal, perhaps one in a hundred, in which case, this supreme and celestial beauty may be compared with a Homer or a Virgil, great poets who appear once in a thousand years. I never saw it but once in a young lady walking with her mother in one of the western squares of London. This beauty gives a playing light like pearl, or white felspar, and seems so transparent, that one is surprised not to discern the muscles and bones. |