500 On Painted or Lambruscated Apartments. portions of these panels, as divided by the saw, consisting of legs and arms in armour, are of no use but to assist in determining the period in which the paintings were executed. It remains therefore, only to make some observations on the age of these pictures, and the purpose for which they were painted. In reference to the latter head it must be remarked, that the custom of painting wainscotted or lambruscated apartments, (as they are termed in old records; a barbarous Latin word derived from the French "lambris,") with historical subjects, sacred or profane, was certainly in use as early as the reign of Henry III.; see the documents referred to by Walpole, and consulted by Vertue, the antiquary and artist, in proof of the antiquity of historical painting in this country. "Anno 1233, 17 Henry III. Mandatum est Vicecomiti South'ton, quod Came ram regis lambruscatam de castro Winton depingi faciat eisdem historiis et picturis quibus fuerat pri'us depicta." Thus it clearly appears that the wainscot of chambers was painted with representations of connected passages of history, even before this early period, for the order is for renewing the subjects which had been depicted, leading to the inference of a considerable previous lapse of time to render such renovation necessary. In another document, from the same source and period, the King commands his Treasurer to disburse to Odo the Goldsmith, 117 shillings and 10 pence, for oil, varnish, and colours purchased, and pictures painted in the Queen's chamber at Westminster. By this last quoted entry, the knowledge of oil painting as early as the thirteenth century may be also inferred. The practice of ornamenting chambers with historical or fanciful designs [Dec. and inscriptions, painted on the walls, "And soth to faine my chambre was And all the wals with colours fine Again, "But when I woke all was ypast, To his chambre and to his halles, "Sorowe was paintid next Envie Upon that wal of masonrie." The above citations are sufficient to show the prevalence of the custom of decorative painting on walls and wainscoting in the middle ages,† and I entertain from these premises no doubt but the pictures at Baston formed a portion of the ornaments of the walls of the ancient manor-house at that place, which in the latter end of the fourteenth century was part of the possessions of the ancient and opulent family of Squerry, whose name is still commemorated in that of Squerry's Park, attached to a demesne which they possessed at Westerham, in a neighbouring quarter of the county. The age of these paintings may, from the costume of the figures, and the character§ of the remaining inscriptions, with much certainty be fixed towards the latter half of the fourteenth century, about 1480. The pattern on the tunics and tapestry re * Thus the scalloped surcoat depending over the armour, on the triangular fragment, exhibits the costume of the latter end of the fifteenth century. See Illustrations of Monstrelet, by Moses, plate 33, for a figure in a similar style of dress.-Johnes's Translation of Monstrelet's Chronicles. + The names of apartments were generally perhaps derived from the subject of their decorations; thus we have the Antioch, the Jerusalem, and the Star Chambers. This family possessed the manor of Baston from the time of Henry the Sixth to that of Richard the Third. See Inquisit. post Mortem, vol. iv. p. 187. Harris's History of Kent, &c. A number of old English coins were found in making some alterations at Baston-house, about the time I discovered the pictures. It then assumed the appearance of a modern villa, $Antiquaries deal in minutiae; the eye of letter £ in the inscription, under the portrait of Athelstan, in the Baston panels, is formed with a curvature or flourish not observable on presented in them, will be found strongly to corroborate this assertion. It may not be irrelevant to the subject of my remarks, to observe that the painting of wainscotted or lambruscated apartments, and the use of tapestry, were modes of decoration which were contemporaneously employed, although it may be imagined that the first was the earlier practice, as the tapestry of the usual kind is, I believe, said to have been made first at Arras in the fourteenth century. As to the Bayeux tapestry, it was of course nothing more than a pictorial trophy or record, executed in needle-work, and hung round the choir of the cathedral church of that place, on festival occasions,* to remind the Normans of the triumph of their arms. Tapestry was, I suppose, in pretty general use in England in the time of Chaucer; he associates a dealer or hanger in tapestry, with members of two common trades among his Pilgrims to Beckett's shrine, "A webbe, a dyer, and a tapiser." In the sixteenth century, under the reign in Elizabeth, a mode of hangings was introduced, which partook both of the nature of tapestry and painting on the walls, I mean painted cloths. Thus in a scene of our Shakspeare's Henry IV. in which his "inimitable unimitated Falstaff" persuades hostess 501 Quickly not only to withdraw her arrest of his person for debt, but also to make him a further loan, and she exclaims, 66 By this heavenly ground I tread on, I must be fain to pawn both my plate and the tapestry of my dining chambers!" Falstaff rejoins, and for thy walls a pretty slight drollery, or "Glasses,† glasses is the only drinking, hunting in water work, is worth a thouthe story of the Prodigal, or a German sand of these fly-bitten tapestries. Let it be ten pound if thou canst. If it were not for thy humours there is not a better wench in England! Go wash thy face and draw thy action."‡ In another passage of the play, he says, that his troops are as ragged as Lazarus in the painted cloth." I had the honour to exhibit to the Society of Antiquaries, in March last, the beautiful drawings by the late Chas. A. Stothard, F.S.A. which form the subject of the plate; and shortly after, by the permission of the proprietor James Ward, Esq, of Baston, the original paintings. The style of these, although partaking of the hardness which attached to works of the time, is distinguished by its masterly character. This, in the original, is particularly remarkable in the countenance of the erect regal figure. It is difficult to convey an idea of that letter in an earlier period. See the letter, copied from the inscription; on the plate, and an example on the engraved brass to the memory of Sir William Yelverton, who died 1481, in Cotman's Norfolk Brasses. A piece of tapestry, representing the Life of Our Saviour and the Virgin, made in the time of William Warham, Archbishop of Canterbury (whose arms, with those of England and other coats, it bore), formerly adorned St. Paul's Church, London, and was afterwards transferred to the Cathedral of Aix in France. Memoire de la Tapisserie du Chœur de l'Eglise Cathedrale d'Aix, per M. Fauris de St. Vincens. Paris, 1812. This passage affords me an opportunity incidentally of observing that they at this time had not, I believe, come into general use. Wine was at this period either drunk out of silver vessels, or pots of earthenware, which were ornamented either with grotesque heads, as the bearded jugs (see Gent. Mag. for April, 1830), subjects connected with Scripture (see Gent. Mag. for March, 1827), allegorical personages, or moral sentences. I have in my possession an earthen vessel of the time of Henry VIII. holding about half a pint, which was found on grubbing up an old tree near Hever Castle in Kent. It is impressed with devices of moral allusion, in compartments. In one is seen (Fursichticheit) Foresight, proceeding onward with a lighted taper in her hand; in the next, Chastity is personified by the self-immolation of (Lockrecia) Lucretia; and in a third (Gerechticheit) Justice poises her scales. Temperance was a virtue too inimical to the Vintner's trade to find a place on the wine cup. I have another ancient vessel of the same period, on which is inscribed, in large yellow glazed characters, the wholesome admonition REMEMBER. THY. EAND (end). Among some old MSS. in the editorship of which I have been some time employed, there is an application, made in the year 1594, by Sir Julius Cæsar, for permission to dig for clay in Farnham park, the demesne of the Bishops of Winchester, for the purpose of making certain “ green pots usually drank in by the Gentlemen of the Temple." ↑ Henry IV. 2d part, Act 2, Scene 1, 502 On Celtic these excellencies in etchings of the present size. The colouring of the figures is exceedingly deep and rich, and has been splendidly contrasted by the use of a pigment of real gold in the crowns, sceptres, borders of the garments, &c. I believe the Society of Antiquaries would have caused Mr. Stothard's drawings from these pictures to be engraved for one of their publications, but for the difficulty which presented itself of conveying any adequate idea of their beauty without the assistance of colours. ALFRED JOHN KEMPE. Mr. URBAN, Paris, Oct. 25. THE HE generic term Cell is usually attributed to the people, who, in remote ages, inhabited Gaul, Spain, and the British islands. Scarcely any one doubts that, until the Romans extended their conquests, and thus brought those countries within the sphere of civilization, their various tribes bore the characteristics of a common race. We almost intuitively think that the dialects now used by the Welsh, Irish, Highlanders, Bretons, Basques, &c. are all derived from the original Celtic language; and that the Druids of Britain and Gaul practised the same rites, and taught the same notions: but we have no means of ascertaining the condition of the Celts; and while some persons maintain that the original inhabitants of those countries, but particularly Gaul, had made considerable progress in civilization, there are others who contend that, until the Romans settled among them, they were not more advanced than the Indians of America. The advocates of the latter hypothesis call for the traces of organised society; and argue that, as the Celts have left neither national history, nor monuments, nor even any medals or implements to show their knowledge of metals, they must be considered as ignorant and barbarous tribes. To support this opinion, they deny the antiquity of the ruins said to be Celtic; the medals so called they attribute to the Greeks who were settled at Marseilles; while they assume the absence of their authors from the silence of the Romans, who would have referred to the Celtic chronologists and poets, if there had been any. The few Celts, who by the tuition of their more po Civilization. [Dec. lished neighbours, were enabled to write Latin, rather prove the want of a native literature, than otherwise: for, among the most barbarous nations there are to be found individuals endowed with sufficient natural understanding to benefit by instruction, if they happen to come within its range; "Full many a gem of purest ray serene, The dark, unfathom'd caves of ocean bear." And if none of them were induced to write in Celtic, it is best accounted for by supposing the few learned Celts to have been aware that no one would be able to read their compositions. Many persons who now inquire into antiquity, apply their investigations to the subject, more in the hope of overturning some popular hypothesis, than with a view of eliciting information; they endeavour to raise a doubt, and then pride themselves on their superiority over those who are ready to believe any thing." The exertions of a diligent and sincere antiquary are, therefore, of great value to the republic of letters; and such a person is unquestionably to be found in the Marquis de Fortia d'Urban, who is indefatigable in promoting the discussion of history and archæology. This gentleman is an advocate of Celtic civilization, and has inserted an essay on the subject, in the fifth volume of the "Annals of Hainault," by Jacques de Guyse, now publishing for the first time in a French translation. I shall not attempt to notice all the reasonings of the Marquis on this subject, but an outline of his principal arguments cannot fail of interesting some of your readers. M. de Fortia does not disguise the great difficulty there is in obtaining positive information respecting the nations of antiquity, even among those who have left memorials : "The Egyptians, with their hieroglyphics and their pyramids, have not succeeded in transmitting to us the ideas which those pyramids and hieroglyphics were destined to preserve. The language known under the name of the Sanscrit, has come down to us; we have manuscripts which have perpetuated works in it; we have succeeded in translating them; but yet we do not know who spoke the Sanscrit." Repeated revolutions destroy the memorials of natious, and render tradition extremely obscure;, and France has experienced many, both physical and political. For the former, we can refer to the volcanic remains of Auvergne, or the fossile specimens of the Touraine and Montmartre; for the latter, we need only allude to the successive subjugations of the country by the Romans and Franks; the substitution of the Carlovingian kings for those of the Merovingian race; the Capetian dynasty for the Carlovingian; and the feudal troubles in the middle ages. During the wars of religion in the sixteenth, and in the democratic hurricane at the close of the eighteenth centuries, the violence of the convulsion was directed more against institutions than records, which were preserved by the invention of printing; but from what we can see of its effects, we may infer the degree of destruction which took place in more barbarous times, in attempting to destroy all traces of a preceding domination. M. de Fortia gives authorities for the following positions: 1. That there are monuments still extant of Celtic origin. 2. That there was a Celtic language and literature. 3. That the Celts cultivated the arts. 4. That their retrogradation resulted from the loss of their liberty. 1. Among the monuments of Celtic origin are, a Druidical temple at Autun, and triumphal arches at Orange, Carpentras, and Cavaillon, built by the Gauls 120 years before the ChristSee the "Introduction à 'Histoire d'Avignon," p. 114; and "L'Art de verifier les dates avant J. C." vol. v. pp. 233 and 279. ian era. 2. Respecting the Celtic language, we learn from Varro, that three languages were in use at Marseilles:— Græcè loquantur, et Latinè, et Gallicè. Varro's testimony is appealed to by Isidore, Bishop of Seville, in 601, whose work, entitled "Originum," is to be found in "Auctores linguæ Latinæ," Geneva, 1622. It appears from that writer, who had access to books which have not come down to us, that the Greeks settled at Marscilles when Cyrus seized upon their maritime towns they introduced the use of their alphabet; but it is also maintained that the Phoenicians and Carthaginians had previously settled there and introduced their language. Cæsar says (lib. 6, c. 4,) that the Gauls used the old Greek characters in their public and private acts; and here we may observe that such a distinction supposes 503 Ac some advances in civilization. cording to Mabillon, (de re Diplomatica, lib. i. c. 8.) they used papyrus, which they obtained from the Egyptians, and some specimens of it are said to have been preserved in old churches and abbeys. But these testimonies are far from sufficient to assist a definition of the Celtic language, or to show which of its descendant dialects most resembles it. Cæsar mentions that the Belga, Aquitani, and Celts or Gauls, differed in their language, manners, and laws; the variation of patois may, however, have been very marked, without a decided difference of language; and as there has been discovered a great affinity between the Basque and Irish tongues, (both of which have been brought forward to explain some Punic passages in the "Pœnulus" of Plautus,) we may fairly presume that they were, in common with the dialects spoken by intermediate tribes, variations of the parent Celtic. Still the use of a language is no proof of the existence of literature. We have, however, an abridgment, by Justin, of the " Universal History of Trogus Pompeius," a native of Vaison in the Vaucluse, who died some years before our era. From what Justin has preserved of his work, it is plain that he possessed information not to be. obtained from any Greek or Latin author; M. de Fortia, in consequence, supposes it was obtained from the annals of the country. Cæsar and Pomponius Mela inform us that the Druids had written on astronomy; and Posidonius is referred to by Athenæus in his "Deipnosophistorum," and also by Strabo, as an authority for the domestic history of the Celts. 3. What degree of proficiency the Celts had attained in the Arts, is likewise covered with an impenetrable veil; but it is evident that architecture was known to them. Diodorus Siculus (lib. v.) mentions their temples; and Strabo (lib. iv.) alludes to one at Toulouse, which was held in great veneration. Posidonius relates a circumstance which shows they were not unaccustomed to splendour: he says that Lovernios, King of Auvergne, (B.C. 50,) frequently rode through his dominions in a magnificent chariot, and distributed gold and silver coins (vμstμa) to the people. There are, moreover, Celtic medals in many cabinets, which, added to the foregoing 504 The Knights Templars, and the Inns of Court. testimonies, leave no doubt as to their knowledge of metallurgy. 4. The decay of Celtic civilization soon followed the Roman conquest, as the invasion of the Franks speedily destroyed the manners and sciences which had become familiar to the Gauls, from their intercourse with Rome. Other countries have experienced similar changes. The neighbourhood of Tunis bears no trace of the splendour of ancient Carthage; and the countries now brutalized under the Mahometan yoke, were at one time as far advanced in civilization as any part of the then known world. M. de Fortia carries his hypothesis still further, and supposes that in the most ancient times a degree of advancement was attained, from which mankind in general have since declined : "Thus," says he, "the Sanscrit is su perior to the Greek, the Greek to the Latin, and that to our modern jargons. Homer, Demosthenes, Herodotus, and Archi medes, were not equalled at Rome; Cicero, Virgil, Pliny, and Seneca, have not had among the moderns any rival really worthy of them. It is by admiring Euripides and Sophocles, that Racine has succeeded in placing himself beside them; and Euclid has never had a more zealous partizan than Newton." Mr. URBAN, the Pilgrims going to visit the Holy In pursuance of a decree made by the Great Council at Vienna, anno 1234, respecting the profession of the Knights Templars, Edward III. grant Two octavo volumes, entitled "The Scottish Gael," have been recently published by Mr. Jas. Logan, and will shortly be noticed in our Review. [Dec. ed the Temple to the Knights Hospitallers of Saint John of Jerusalem. It was afterwards granted by them at a rent of 101. per annum, to divers professors of the law, under the name of the "Students of the Common Law of England." These latter seem to have migrated from Thavies Inn, in Holborn. The New Temple was so called, because the Knights Templars had previously a building in Oldbourne ternied The Temple. The New Temple was founded in the time of Henry II., and in the year 1185 it was dedicated to the Virgin Mary by Heraclius, Patriarch of the Church called the Holy Resurrection in Jerusalem. Henry VIII. granted to the professors of the law, a lease, under which they held as tenants to the Crown, until the 6th year of James I.; when that King granted Hospitia et capitalia messuagia cognita per nomen de le Inner et le Middle Temple, sive Novi Templi, to Sir Julius Caesar and others, to them and their heirs, for the use and occupation of the Professors and Students of the Law. ; Hospitia Curia, or Inns of Court, were also established in Scotland and their existence is recognised expressly in the 9th Act of the 2d Parliament of James IV. where "the Sheriffs and Bailees, Collectors of the King's Tax, are ordered to be before the Chancellor and Lords of the Council, on Friday that next comes, in George Robieson's Innes, to make full compt of the said Tax." Yours, &c. Mr. URBAN, ON TEMPLARIUS. Dec. 10. N subjects of Political Economy Peel, who has advanced nothing in I totally differ from Sir Robert answer to Mr. Scrope's most excellent Question freed from Mystery." It pamphlet, entitled, The Currency deals in undeniable facts, from which the conclusions are irresistible. This condemned paper money was actually the sole source of our unexampled increase of solid wealth between 1788 and 1815. That it was sometimes abused is true; but the remedies for stroying it. Mr. Scrope only speaks that abuse were obvious, without deof it as payable in gold on demand, which is a sufficient check on excess of issue. But the most infatuated thing is the destruction of the one pound notes, which, if any paper is |
