"Sir Gilbert Vaucler," said Mark, after an ironical obeisance, "is doubtless surprised to meet so large an addition to his escort in these unfrequented paths; but he has to learn, that, so anxious was the king to secure his safe arrival at Coventry, there is not a highway or byway for miles around where he would not have been so encountered. Thanks to my poor skill in hunting and hawking, these tracts are specially well known to me, and to that I owe the honour (which many would have so proudly claimed) of escorting the Governor of Calais to King Edward's presence." Vaucler groaned with rage, but answered not. Messengers were then dispatched east and west, to announce their capture to the other detachments of the royal troops. The Lady Anne, still wrapped in her muffler, besides the additional concealment of her riding vizor, was once more placed in the centre of the troop: the steep streets of Coleshill were soon approached and left behind; and, ere mid-day, the towered arch of the Bablake Gateway ushered the party into Coventry. As they moved up the Fleet-street, a long loud peal from a single clarion was answered by an exulting peal of trumpets, from the various streets leading into the Broad-gate, and, as they reached the City Cross, gorgeous was the cavalcade that met them. From Cheylesmore came King Edward on a majestic steed, whose caparisons of purple and cloth of gold swept the very pavement; on his right hand rode Prince George of Clarence, and the Duke of Gloucester on his left:amidst a concurse of proudly apparalled courtiers, Sir Oliver Babington, on his favourite roan, and in festal attire, was near the king. Elizabeth, attended by Lady Babington, and a bevy of splendid dames, all on horseback, came next; while different parties of nobles and knights, issuing from the many winding streets in every direction, flashed back the noon beams from their refulgent costumes. The royal guard had some difficulty in keeping back the throngs of citizens; the spiry gables and grotesque fronts of the houses were covered with gazers ; while the majestic cross itself, a hexagon of three lofty tiers, adorned with effigies of kings and confessors, each stage having royal supporters, and vanes emblazoned with coats of arms, bore on its topmost spire the banner of St. George. "Welcome, thrice welcome, to our right trusty governor!" said the king. "Thou seest how we delight to honour thy successful return after all thine unwearied toils in our service!" "I know not, sire," said Sir Gilbert, sullenly, "whether it be in mockery that you speak-but I appeal to your highness how far it sorts with your royal justice, that my enemies should be permitted to maltreat my followers and myself, when with so great risk we were devotedly engaged in farthering your highness's wishes!" "Alas, good Sir Gilbert!" pursued Edward, "we well know thy devotion to Kings-but we doubt thou strainest thy zeal somewhat too far. Is it not so, sirrah?" (addressing a man who was led forward by two yoemen,) "speak to the loyal governor of Calais, and remind him that Edward of York is not the sole sovereign to whom he is devoted!" It was the French emissary, Julian, that now blighted Vaucler into all the speechless confusion of a detected villain. An appalling but brief pause took place, when the queen, moving her palfrey to the side of the king, said, "With your pardon, my liege, we tarry too long in welcoming back our reclaimed fugitive." "By mine honour! thou speakest in good time, Elizabeth; let him who rescued her let the young Babington lead her to us-doubtless she shall meet with honourable reception." Mark smilingly complied; the fugitive princess was assisted to dismount; but she betrayed the greatest reluctance, and almost struggled with him as he led her between Sir Gilbert and the king. Nay, madam," said Edward, (suppressing a violent inclination to laugh), "dismiss your fears-we have forgotten all; nay, we would fain have spared you this exposure, but it is fit Sir Gilbert Vaucler should see how much he hath promoted our gain and his own loss. Undo the Lady Anne's vizor, Mark, and remove her mantle!" The mantle was removed, the vizor unclasped, and the coarse features and clumsy figure of a veritable kitchen wench were disclosed. Mingled peals of laughter and shouts of astonishment made the piled streets ring again. "By St. George!" exclaimed Edward, "thou hast sustained great wrong at our hands, Sir Governor! Had we known that thy knightly love was so humble, we had scarcely ventured to cross its course!" "A glorious page," said Clarence, "a glorious page it would have formed in English chronicle, that Sir Gilbert Vaucler, the wise and the renowned, bartered the keys of Calais for a lady of the spit and porringer!" "I would venture to propose," said Gloucester, with a subdued smile of triumph, "since Sir Gilbert's title as Governor of Calais seems likely to be in abeyance, that he be forthwith constituted a Clerk of the Kitchen!" "Nay," interrupted the queen, tears of laughter filling her eyes as she spoke, "let him still have a title-let him be dubbed Knight of the Ladle." The Lady Joscelyne here approached the king and queen; her features were glowing with family príde, so openly outraged, and her stately form trembled with emotion, as she said I would humbly pray my sovereign to consider that the honour of my father's house hath already been sufficiently outraged by the treasons of Sir Gilbert Vaucler; and I would beseech that ribald insult may not be suffered to accumulate disgrace on his family, or aggravate the punishment he hath in his own person incurred." "Peace, my Lady Babington," said the king, somewhat sternly;" he shall have nought but justice, and that in lighter measure than his treasons have deserved." "Dearest Joscelyne, be pacified," said Elizabeth; "the honour of thine house nought can tarnish, while it boasts so honest, so beloved a subject as thyself." While the queen spoke, a peculiar flourish of trumpets, only used to herald the approach of a member of the royal family, was heard from the Fleet Street, and forthwith another armed party, escorting a close litter, and conducted by the Black Priest of Chadstow, entered the Broad-gate. King Edward, attended by his brothers, spurred from the courtly throng to meet it, and all three alighting, assisted the Lady Anne Plantagenet, robed in rich habiliments of black, and Barbara Somerville, whose countenance beamed with fluttering joy, to descend from the litter. "We should have been earlier, Lord King," said Father Paul, “but Mistress Barbara judged it expedient to tarry till she had tidings of her true love yonder! Marry, she might have waited longer, had it not been for my care to train him after hawk and hound in those wild districts." The kind-hearted priest seemed com 329 pletely in his glory. King Edward led the Lady Anne to Vaucler, and pointing to the poor female servant, who stood, half-laughing and half-crying at this strange scene, he said your fears; behold the real mistress of "See, noble lady, how vain were Sir Gilbert Vaucler's affections, to gain treason, and every stain that can diswhom he hath encountered perjury, honour a knight!" dering horror, and hid her face in Lady Anne turned away in shudBarbara's neck, who spiritedly but respectfully addressing the king said wisdom can add a further sting to one "If to have been foiled by a woman's cler, let me plead, sire, for some reward so famed for policy as Sir Gilbert Vauto the poor faithful wench whose devotto the success of our enterprize." ed courage hath contributed so mainly be cared for. As for the arch-traitor COMMENTS OF A READER. The Writings of Mrs. Ratcliffe. "Thou can'st enrap the soul, And make it gaze in wonder." NOVEL writing, until these last few seemed solely vested in the female part years, was a species of composition that of the community. Miss Edgeworth has exhibited strong and fervid views of human life, etched with the strictest adherence to truth: Mrs. Opie has touched the finer feelings, wrought many a powerful picture, and produced many have developed a series of historical an involuntary tear: the Misses Porter boldness of outline, and dextrous penscenes, embracing elegance of style, cilling of character: Mrs. Inchbald has portrayed the features of ordinary life, beautifully presented in the undress of simplicity and Mrs. Ratcliffe has summoned at her bidding, pictures of grand and thrilling interest. Scotland's charm,-boldly he stepped forth, a new giant genius was the first to break the adventurer in the field; and, notwithstanding the popularity he has so meritoriously obtained, the bold enchantress of Udolpho still continues "to hold at least divided power," in the fairy regions of romance. Her first work, the Castles of Athlin and Dumbayne, is unworthy of the pen that could draw the outline, carry on the plot, producing alternately terror, curiosity and pity, of such a tale as the Mysteries of Udolpho. In her following productions, she transported her characters to a southern' clime; and here she paints in rich and glowing language the picturesque views of Italy; so faithfully, indeed, that it was genenerally asserted she had visited that country. Her chief talent consisted in her appropriate delineation of scenery, and, perhaps, (it is written after due consideration), Scott himself cannot produce such pictorial scenes, teeming with naked grandeur, or luxurious 'beauty as are presented in her Sicilian Romance. In her heart, the clear, blue sky, and the stars "dim twinkling through their forms," or the gorgeous sun, rising with oriental strength, or sinking in the dim west, with delicious softness, touched a cord that reverberated with eager joy, with sublime enthusiasm. She was conscious of her feelings and powers, and, perhaps, indulged in them too frequently. Similar praise cannot be bestowed on her personages: none of them are decidedly drawn; they are all in the general run of novel heroes and heroines. The character of Schedoni, in the Italian, is, however, to be excepted. This, it must be allowed, is a fine conception, embodied with the art of a Fuseli. There is something sepulchral in his every action: he moves over the scene with appalling force and truth with something more than human.A want of unity in the conduct of her plots is a considerable drawback. Her chef d'ouvre, the Mysteries of Udolpho, in this point yields to the Italian-the latter being more continuous, and less thrown into masses. The idea must have frequently occurred on what trivial causes or trifling mysteries do most of the wondrous circumstances turn. In the catastrophe they are cleared up, but I fear in no degree to the satisfaction of the reader, who must feel chagrined that his attention and curiosity have been so powerfully excited, and his expecta'ions of the supernatural disappointed. But herein it may be answered, she has displayed the potency of her art, and the sway she holds over the human mind. The sentimentalist may ridicule the follies and mysteries of our authoress,-the vice-suppressing sages of our times may sneer at her performances, but if their perusal has served at any time to smooth the brow of care or beguile the period of sickness, she is entitled, if not to the praise, at least to the gratitude of mankind. H. INCE. The Naturalist. THH HERRING. The Polar seas, chill and ungenial as they are, contain not only an ample store of animal life, but a vast superabundance with which they supply all the seas of the temperate climates. From them in particular, if we may believe the Dutch writers, are derived the extensive and valuable tribes of the herring. Their immense bands break up from their frozen depths about January, and in March appear on the coasts of Iceland. Their column at this time, confined between Greenland and the North Cape, is of comparatively small breadth but so dense that the water is darkened by them; any wooden vessel let down brings up several : they may be even taken by the stroke of a lance. They follow certain of their number larger than the rest, called kings. These kings are held in much respect by the Dutch, who studiously spare their majesties, and even liberate them when found in the net, lest, deprived of this royal guidance, the nation should not find the way to their accustomed haunts. After emerging from the Greenland sea, this great army divides into two wings, of which the right and largest bears down directly upon Scotland; at the north-eastern extremity of which it forms that immense teid in which the Dutch for so many years carried on their great national fishery. They are now rivalled by the boatmen of Wick and Thurso. A detachment smaller in number, but some of which attain to superior excellence, fills the western bays of Scotland, and, passing along Ireland, reaches the neighbouring coast of France. Meantime, the left, or smaller wing, after ranging the Norwegian shore, has entered the altic. In July all these advancing divisions halt, and by an unknown impulse begin to retrace their course towards their northern home. De Reste considers it certain, that the herrings, in returning, have a general point of ren dezvous not yet discovered; but it should seem that only the actual discovery of this rendezvous can ascertain its existence. However, about the end of September, they reach their residence beneath the ices of the Pole, where they remain three months; all the rest of the year being spent in wandering over the face of the ocean. Although the object of Providence in leading the herring this immense annual round is doubtless that of furnishing food to numerous animals, and especially to man, yet the immediate impulse by which they are urged to so extensive and regular a movement has been the subject of much controversy. Anderson supposes that they fly before the numerous large fishes which fill the Arctic seas, and by which they are pursued and devoured, and that they form themselves into close bands with a view to self-defence. But the regular course which they follow, year after year, and their constant return at a fixed period, suggests nothing of that tumultuous flight which such a panic would have prompted. It seems more probable, that they are led by those instincts which guide fishes to deposit their spawn in places remote and dissimilar to their usual abode. The female herring, when taken on the coasts of Britain, is found commonly to contain a roe, and as this roe comprises the embryo of ten thousand future herrings, such a prodigious fecundity easily repairs all the havock committed upon the species, not only by its brethren of the deep, but also by the ingenuity of man constantly exerted for its capture and destruction. The Edin. Cab. Lib. HISTORICAL NOTES. For the Olio. SIMON DE MONTFORD. This powerful noble was appointed governor of Gascony by Henry the Third; but the people soon became disgusted with his insolent conduct, and sent the Archbishop of Bordeaux to complain of him. Henry rated Montford for his behaviour, and the earl retaliated by upbraiding the king for breaking his promise. Henry indignantly replied, that no promise could be kept with a traitor; upon which Montford, starting from his seat, swore that he lied, and that his royalty alone protected him! The earl, nevertheless, was shortly after restored to favour. EDWARD THE FIRST. During the reign of Edward the First, Lewelyn, Prince of Wales, was slain in battle with the English, and a common soldier cut off his head, which was sent to the king at London. Edward received the miserable relic, and having caused it to be crowned with ivy, set it up on the Tower. BARONS. Until the time of Edward the First, the title of Baron had been given to all such as possessed a castle or maintained a number of followers, but Edward limited it to those only who were chosen to sit in parliament. A. CLASSIC FRAGMENTA. Sir J. Malcolm, in his History of Persia, derives this word from the term Chatrapa, lord of the umbrella, or shade of state." Bearing an umbrella, as a distinction of dignity, is still a custom in many countries of the East; and that it was so from the earliest times in Persia, may be gathered from the sculptures at Persepolis, where that sort of shade is held over the figure of the chief or king, whether he is seated or walking. This is, of course, applied to a governor only in his civil, not military capacity. THE LUCKY DAYS OF THE ROMANS. A critic in the present volume of the OLIO, p. 122, has introduced a quotation from the satirist Perseus, an explanation of which may perhaps be desirable: the passage runs thus-" Hunc diem signa meliore lapillo." It was customary with the Romans to note in their calendar those days on which any unlucky event happened with a black mark (carbone, with charcoal), and lucky days with white chalk (Creta terra), so termed as being brought from that island. Hence the phrases," signare diem melioribus lapillis velalbis calculis,"-to mark a day as fortunate. The custom is said to have been borrowed from the Thracians, or Scythians, who every evening, before they slept, threw into an urn, or quiver, a white pebble if the day had passed agreeably, but if not, a black one; and at their death, by counting their pebbles, their life was judged to have been happy or unhappy. H. INCE. HOT SPRINGS, Says Berzelius, occur in the vicinity of active volcanoes; it is, therefore, probable that such waters owe their temperature to their passage through channels heated by volcanic fire. Notices of New Books. The Library of Entertaining Knowledge. Part I. Vol. VIII. THE PURSUIT OF KNOWLEDGE UNDER DIFFICULTIES. This, like the volume upon the same subject published some time since by the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, is one of more than ordinary interest. The matter is highly instructive, and exhibits in a pleasing and forcible manner the inestimable advantages derived by the ingenious and persevering from a steady pursuit after knowledge. The biographical sketches, which are numerous and neatly written, comprise the lives and actions of persons of all conditions, from the prince to the peasant, who have laboured hard to make their names known in the fields of science and art. Among the most enterprising and energetic characters stands conspicuous Peter the Great, of whom we glean the following particulars : The Origin of the Russian Navy. One day, whilst the monarch of the furclad Russ" was looking about among some old stores and other neglected effects, he chanced to cast his eye upon the hulk of a small English sloop, with its sailing tackle, lying among the rest of the lumber, and fast going to decay. This vessel had been imported many years before by his father, Alexis Michelovich, also a prince of distinguished talents, and who had nourished many schemes for the regeneration of his country; but it had long been forgotten by every body, as well as the object which it was designed to promote. No sooner, however, was it observed by Peter than it fixed his attention; he made inquiries of some of the foreigners by whom he was surrounded, as to the use of the mast and sails, even the general purposes of which he did not know; and the explanations which he received made him look on the old hulk with new interest. It immediately became, in his imagination, the germ of a magnificent national marine; and he could take no rest till he had made arrangements for having it repaired and set afloat. With some difficulty the Dutch pilot was found out whom Alexis had procured at the same time with the sloop to teach his subjects the method of managing it t the man, like the vessel, of which he was to have the charge, had long been forgotten by all the world. Once more, however, brought out of his obscurity, he soon refitted the sloop; and the Czar was gratified beyond measure by at length beholding it, with its mast replaced, and its sails in order, moving on its proper element. Delighted as he was, he went himself on board, and was not long before he became a sufficiently expert seaman to take the place of his Dutch pilot. For several years after this, his chief attention was given to maritime affairs; although his first ships were all of foreign construction, and it was a considerable time before any issued from his own docks. From so small a beginning as has been described, Russia has since become, after England, one of the greatest naval powers in the world.* Traits of Character. The bad parts of his character were undoubt edly, in a great measure, the result of the manner in which he was treated at this time of his life. Yet, violent and ungovernable as his passions continued to be, in some respects, to the last, making him act often with a ferocity unsurpassed by anything that is told of the excesses of infuriated savages, he succeeded in completely overcoming that one of his evil habits which he found would have interfered most with the conduct of his great schemes. In his youth he was a slave to the love of ardent spirits, but he had weaned himself entirely, in his maturer days, from + The most detailed account we have met with of the story to'd in the text is one preserved in the MSS. of Sir Haus Sloane, in the British Museum (No 3 169. It appears to have been written shortly after the death of Peter the Great, and by a person who was either a native of Russia or hai resided in that country. According to this authority, the incident took place in the flax-yard at Ishmaeloff, an old seat of the royal family near Moscow. The writer gives us also an account of a great naval show, at which he was himself present, in honour of this celebrated vessel, which took place by the emperor's command at St Petersburg, on the 12th of August, 1723. On this occasion the sloop, or ship's boat, as it is here called, having been repaired and beautified, was received by about 200 yachts, and, having advanced to the harbour attended by that numerous convoy, was then saluted by a general volley from the twenty-two menof-war, which might be considered as forming its progeny. The emperor, of course, was present, and the day was altogether one of the greatest festivals that had been known in Petersburg. "A few days after," it is added. "the boat was brought to Petersburg, and laid up in the castle. where she is to be taken the greatest care of." |