38 Remarks on Rowley's Poems and on Shakespeare. sense necessary for explanation, might consider it better authority than his MS? But let us examine this a little farther. Where is the proof that Cherisaunei is a blunder? Let us look into Phillips's "New World of Words," fol. 1678, we find Cherisaunei (old word), comfort. "Kersey," 1708, 8vo. (old word) comfort. "Nathan Bailey," 8vo. 1759 (old word), comfort-all in the singular number. Then in the 8vo. edition of "Elisha Cole," 1692, Cherisaunce (old word), comforts, in the plural. How do we find it in the Forgeries of Chatterton? not three times but once in the singular, Cherisaunei, comfort. Cherisaunied, once, comfortable; and Cherisauneys, once in the plural, comforts. If Mr. Southey had been as good a blackletter Critic, as he is an elegant Poet, he would have known that an ancient Bard would have written either Cherisaunei or Cherisaunce, just as it suited his purpose, either for measure or rhyme. It is like delicate or delicatie, or delicacie. Chaucer gives us Cherisaunce, because he wanted a rhyme to remembraunce and Chevisaunce. Mr. Southey can be no stranger to the liberties taken in this way by ancient poets. Thus in the "Battle of Hastings," we have sped for spied or seen, which was confidently pronounced a Chattertonicism, till the exact word in the same sense was pointed out in the works of Michael Drayton; and here we have a coincidence ten times sip stronger than any of those produced by "Somme Cherisaunei 'tys to gentle mynde, It is like the subject for the subjects of the land, in the plays of Shakespeare. This mark of antiquity is not all that escaped the notice of Mr. Southey; we have in the same line the correct epithet of gentle for noble, or highborn; a sense which has in an important instance escaped the notice of more than eighty-five commentators, and perhaps as many thousand readers of Shakespeare. In Act I. Sc. 3, the reader will find an apparent incongruity betwixt the gentle and the [Jan. swift Severne in the same descriptive lines: Hotspur. "When on the gentle Severne's sedgy bank, Upon agreement of swift Severne's flood; This appearance of incongruity must not be suffered to pass without pointing out to the reader how very little he probably knows of the nature of the Rowleyan Controversy. Shakespeare describes the river Severne as gentle and swift. In the tragedy of "Goddwyn," Goddwyn characterises his son Harold as strong, ugly, fierce, terrible, and gentle; and we have no difficulty in reconciling these apparently contradictory epithets. Shakespeare, by gentle, means the noble Severne. Rowley, by the same word, the high-born Harold! Will the admirers and commentators on Shakespeare, or the ridiculers of the straggl ing believers in the antiquity of Rowley's Poems, dare to assert, in the face of this, which is one only of hundreds of other expositions, that Thomas Chatterton, a boy much under fourteen years of age, was so completely master of all the niceties of the old English language, as to drop this expression from his in its true ancient sense, in the most fortuitous and incidental manner? pen, Goddwyn. "I ken thie spryte ful welle; gentle thou art Stringe, ugsomme, rou as smethynge armies seeme;" To one of the most acute and ingenious commentators on the plays of our immortal Bard, I had lately an opportunity of pointing out this rent contradiction, with its proper exарраplanation, shewing him at the same time the coincident appearance of in-. congruity in the speech of Goddwyn. With the first he was forcibly struck, so much as to deem it worthy of notice; but the incontrovertible argument and inference deducible from the latter, made no other impression on his prejudiced mind, than to produce a torrent of overwhelming wit and ridicule. When Miranda exclaims, "O dear 1822.] Remarks on Rowley's Poems and on Shakespeare. "O dear father, Make not too rash a trial of him, for He's gentle, and not fearful." i. e. for he is noble, spirited, brave, courageous, not fearful. But we are losing sight of Mr. Campbell's quotation. If the reader wish to examine the words chevisaunce and chevire farther, he may refer to pages 34 and 47, lines 101 and 285 of Mr. Mason's edition of the "Poems of Hoccleve," 1796, or to the "Letter of Cupid," by the same, in the "Works of Chaucer.' It occurs also repeatedly in the "Paston Letters." Thus in the third vol. P; 253,"beseeching you that ye wol wouchsafe to chevesshe for her at London xx marke, for her to be payed to Mastre Ponynges." Sir J. P. renders it provide but does not the lady desire him to pay that money for her, she having advanced it in the country to his lady? she is anxious that her day of payment and obligation may not be broken. She is also afraid to send up the money for fear of robbers. Perhaps in other places borrowing may be implied. By quoting from modern editions, Mr. Campbell has adopted errors of his predecessors, which, if he had critically examined, his own sagacity and experience would have avoided. The adverb tho is often made use of by our ancient writers in the sense of then. This is twice printed in the extracts, with the mark of elision, tho', as if Spenser had intended to express the sense of though or although. "And now by this Cymocles houre was spent, shame extreme." P. 192, vol. II. At page 195 of the same volume there is a similar deterioration of the meaning. This expression occurs frequently in the works of Spenser, Chaucer, Gawen Douglass, Fairfax, Hoccleve, and others; but they are chiefly worthy of notice when we find that inattention to them hath prevented all the commentators on Shakespeare (Ritson excepted) from clearly understanding some passages in which our great dramatic Bard, like his more immediate predecessors Sternhold and Hopkins, makes use of the same ambiguous phrase. Perhaps this is the 89 first time their immortal version has been quoted, as affording illustration of Shakespeare. "And Og (the Giant large) Of Basan King also: He gave his people tho." In Act 1. Sc. 1. of King John, Elinor, the widow of King Henry II. says of the Bastard, "Elinor. The very spirit of Plantagenet I am thy grandame, Richard call me so. Madam, by chance, but not by truth; what Dr. Johnson here proposed reading then, which was Shakspeare's meaning, who wrote "what tho," the old rage word for then.-And this, the for correction instead of explaining, turnis another instance in "As You Like ed into what, though, or tho'. There It," wood, no assembly but horn beasts. But "For here we have no temple but the what, though? courage! as horns are odious they are necessary." Here again, Dr. Johnson proposed then; not recollecting, or what is much more likely, not knowing any thing of the antient tho in the sense of then. The plays of Shakspeare afford other instances of ambiguity from the same cause; all of which, together with those of every reprint of every antient poem ought to be properly given, as the word is now well explained in the Rev. Dr. Jamieson's, and the Rev. Mr. Todd's excellent Dictionaries; and which I have no doubt would have been done in the extracts in Mr. Campbell's Volumes, if he had trusted less to the copies before him, and more to his own skill and experience. NUGE CURIOSE. J. S. Tile of God, and dedicated the form of a Letter to be used by his procurators" Our Lord and God commands," &c. HE Emperor Domitian assumed The time which judicial speeches were not suffered to exceed was previously fixed, according to the nature of the cause, and was regulated by the dropping of water through a glass, called Clepsydra. - Bewick, 428. Head of Melancthon introduced into a picture, by Christopher Amber ger, ger, of the Adoration of the Magi, as one of those coming to pay homage to the infant Christ.-Copied by Mr. Lewis from Dibdin's Tour. St. Ursula and her 11,000 Virgins. "Oldys is of Father Simon's opinion about this Legend, that those who first broached it, finding in some old Martyrological MSS. St. Ursula et Undecimilla, V. M. (that is, S. Ursula and Undecimilla, virgin Martyrs), and imagining that Undecimilla, with the V. and M. which followed, was an abbreviation for Undecem Millia Martyrum Virginum,-did thence, out of two Virgins, make eleven thousand.". Biog. Brit. vol. III. 370. Typog. Antiq. vol. I. 1810; p. 192. Henry VIII. having one day paid Sir Thomas More an unexpected visit to dinner, and having afterwards walked with him for an hour in the garden, with his arm round his neck, Mr. Roper, his son-in-law, took occasion, after Henry was gone, to congratulate him on his rare good fortune, in being treated by the King with a degree of familiarity never experienced by any other subject. I thank our Lord, replied More, I find his Grace my very good Lord indeed, and I believe he doth as singu larly favour me as any subject in this realm. However, son Roper, I may tell thee, I have no cause to be proud thereof, for if my head could coin him a castle in France, it would not fail to be struck off. Roper, 13. While Sir Thomas More was Speaker, to which he was chosen in 1523, he gave a very cautious and evasive answer to Cardinal Wolsey's personal application to the House for a large supply to answer Henry Eighth's extravagance; the Cardinal hastily rose and quitted the House. A few days after this transaction, the Cardinal happening to meet with him, complained loudly of his behaviour, and at length exclaimed, would to God you had been at Rome, Mr. More, when I made you Speaker. Your Grace not offended, replied More, so would I too; for then I should have seen an antient and famous city, which I have long desired to see.-Macdiarmid, 1.61. It was by Cecil's salutary regulations that the Common Soldiers were first clothed at the expence of Government, and received their weekly allowance directly into their own hands. Life, 52. - -According to previous practice, the whole pay of the corps was consigned into the hands of the superior officers, who were so little restricted, either as to the time or the amount of their distributions, that the unfortunate soldiers were sometimes absolutely left to starve. Macdiarmid, I. 220. When Protector Somerset, some time before his arrest, sent for Cecil, and communicated his apprehensions, the Secretary, instead of suggesting any means to avoid his impending danger, coldly replied, "that if he was innocent he might trust to that; and if he was otherwise, he could only pity him." King Edward's Journal.-Pity indeed, if he really felt, it was all that he bestowed; for it does not appear that he interposed either publicly or privately, to avert the destruction of his former patron.-Macdiarmid, I. 198. The framers of one of King Edward's Service Books observed, "that they had gone as far as they could in reforming the Church, considering the times they lived in, and hoped that they who came after would, as they might, do more."- Neal, v. I. p. 73. When the Dean of St. Paul's in a sermon, preached before Queen Elizabeth, had spoken with some disapprobation of the sign of the Cross, she called aloud to him from her clo set, to desist from that ungodly digression, and return to his text. Warner, II. 427. Macdiarmid, I. 144. A gentleman told me (says Berwick in a note on Apollonius, p. 140) that he was present at a meeting of Jumpers in Glamorganshire, who said, that in proportion as they jumped high, they approached nearer to the Lamb. Cicero says, Plato did well to dismiss Poets from the State which he modelled, when he enquired after the soundest policy and best ordered Commonwealth.-Berwick, 154. During the first years of the reign of Henry VIII. the shilling contained 118 grains of fine silver-in the latter part of his reign it was reduced to 40, and in the reign of Edward VI. to 20, the money price of every thing was, by this means, both exorbitantly encreased, and rendered extremely uncertain.-See Lowndes's Extract from the Mint in Locke's Essay on Coin, p. 69. A. H. REVIEW OF NEW PUBLICATIONS. 1. Views of the Cathedral Churches of England and Wales. With Descriptions. By John Chessel Buckler. 4to. with 32 plates. 1822. J. Nichols and Son. OUR UR venerable Cathedrals, after having called forth the highest efforts of taste and genius in their construction, defied by their imperishable masonry the secret advances of Time and the open attempts of Sacrilege, and patiently endured for ages the cumbrous ornaments and bold innovations of welldisposed but ill-judging friends, have at length begun to occupy their proper place in public estimation, and may in future hope for treatment better befit ting their dignity and beauty, than they have at any former period experienced. Nor have the opportunities afforded by recent events for comparing them with Foreign Churches at all diminished the regard with which we were previously disposed to view them; since, in the judgment of those best qualified to decide on the subject, our Cathedrals may not only stand the scrutiny unabashed, but may still boldly advance their pretensions to superiority over the proudest of their Rivals. For the attention which within the last twenty years this subject has excited, we are much indebted to the efforts of Mr. Buckler senior, the first artist of modern, we might perhaps say of any times, who employed his pencil in delineating the form and main architectural features of these edifices, on a scale at all suitable to their grandeur and importance. It is gratifying to observe that the good taste of the day has in many instances thrown open to public admiration points of which his pencil, surmounting all the obstacles of surrounding deformity, gave the first, and at the time, the only attainable idea. Much more of this kind will, we trust, be effected; and, judging from the past, we doubt not but every new prospect obtained will but be an additional proof of the accuracy with which it was at first represented. Mr. J. C. Buckler has therefore a kind of hereditary claim on the admiters of Cathedral antiquities, a claim which he supports by retracing (though on a reduced scale) the line of his FaGENT. MAG. January, 1822. ther's labours, and adding such verbal descriptions as the increased interest excited by the subject seems to require. The plates are thirty-two in number, of which those relating to the Welsh Cathedrals, and some others, are newwith a few exceptions, they are careful etchings, and executed with success; richness and variety of effect, the results of highly finished works of art, are not, however, to be looked for; accuracy of outline, and the correct delineation of form and proportion, essential to the illustration of his remarks on the architecture of the churches themselves, being apparently the chief object, certainly the chief merit of the author. Of some Cathedrals two views are given, and we think there are several others which deserve the like distinction, such for instance as the choirs of Wells and Gloucester, both remarkably beautiful, and the latter of the most curious and interesting character. With respect to the Descriptions, we consider them so valuable an accession to the original plan, as to believe that an edition on paper corresponding with the size of the elder Mr. Buckler's plates could not fail of being acceptable to those who possess that work. The value of such an accompaniment in general, is very apparent. A large portiou in the history of our early Prelates is occupied by the narration of their architectural achievements. Walter Gray, Archbishop of York, exhorts his Clergy to the repair and decoration of their chancels," ut possint cantare cum prophetâ, Domine,dilexi decus domus tuæ," &c.; and we know that such persuasions and precepts were warmly enforced by the examples of those who gave them; that Church work ranked high in the scale of human merit; that it summoned forth and encouraged the noblest efforts of human art and genius, while all beside was barbarism; and that the men whose profession precluded them from perpetuating a name in the wealth or honours of their posterity, sought in such works a more enduring title to immortality. Without inquiring whether this were the most laudable exercise of episcopal influence, or the most correct applica tion 42 REVIEW.-Buckler's Cathedrals of England and Wales. [Jan. ; tion of prophetic language, it is impossible to read of such undertakings, the names of those who engaged in them, and the dates of their several works, unaffected by a feeling of curiosity as to the existing monuments of their skill the result of such ample means, and the basis of such high expectations. Hence the history of a cathedral, unaccompanied by a display of its extent, architectural design, ornaments, and monumental trophies, with the probable dates of their erection, where positive record is wanting, seems tame and uninteresting, and many of its heroes escape us almost unnoticed, whose works, if fairly pointed out, would demand and receive a well-earned tribute of applause. To supply this deficiency seems to have been our Author's chief object, and as some knowledge of the styles prevalent in various periods is essential to the due consideration of the subject, his Preface traces our Ecclesiastical Architecture through its frequent gradations from the Norman Conquest to the reign of Henry the Eighth, concluding with remarks on Saxon Architecture, the Origin of the Pointed Arch, &c. The following observations on the decline of that style may be instanced as a fair specimen of the manner in which this part of the work is executed. "The causes to which the decline of the Arts in various ages of the world may be ascribed, are very uncertain. The Romans never reached the high point of excellence, in Sculpture, to which the Greeks had arrived; and in Architecture, amongst our own countrymen, the works of antiquity as far excel those buildings which have been erected in the same style, by architects of the nineteenth century, as the figures of the Venus and the Apollo are superior to the best works of a similar kind among the Romans. During the fourteenth century, when the zeal for architecture prevailed in England, perhaps, more generally than at any other period, and when great encouragement was given to works of art, Pointed Architecture declined from its perfection; and although almost two centuries intervened between the above period and the Reformation, which cramped the means aud annihilated the zeal of the architects and their patrons, yet the retrograde movement in succeeding styles first commenced at the time we have mentioned. The decline was general throughout every branch of art and science connected with Architecture. But the causes which operated to hasten its decay, have never been satisfactorily explained. The last traces of Pointed Architecture were lost in the coarse and incongruous style which prevailed in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. No efforts seem to have been exerted towards restoring it in sacred buildings; and, till the time of Inigo Jones, no considerable attempts were made to establish any chaste order of Architecture." The body of the work may be considered as a collection of examples illustrating the general principles laid down in the Preface. From a publication abounding in minute description it is difficult to select; but we refer the reader to the Introduction to St. David's as an outline which will readily enable him to judge of the Author's competency to complete the picture. Whatever merits or defects may appear in the execution of this plan, they belong to the Author alone. HisDescriptions are strictly original, and we should do him injustice, did we fail to congratu late him on what his work does not contain as well as on what it does-no borrowed plumes are discoverable, no unacknowledged extracts from other sources, no perversion of the legitimate purposes of his undertaking to the gratification of personal pique, or the attack of private character; offences, which, however unpardonable, are by no means uncommon in the Literary world. A Compendium of the History of each Church precedes the Description, or is incorporated with it. Those of St. David's, Peterborough, Lincoln, and Canterbury*, occupy more room, and are, on the whole, more minute and interesting than the others. This inequality, with that already noticed in the plates, is to be regretted, as it seems greater than the paramount splendour altogether warrant. of the subjects (splendid as they are) will The like want of keeping occasionally appears in the style the same objects will necessarily proof the work; a continual recurrence of duce a frequent repetition of the same phrases; but epithets are sometimes lavished on beautiful, yet comparatively inferior features, which leave nothing more lofty to be uttered when the mas The Author will not be displeased at our pointing out a few errors of the press in the description of Canterbury Cathedral. In p. 2, 1. 13, for "extent of beauty," read"extent and beauty." In p. 5, 1. 15, for slightness," read "lightness."-1. 25, for Pointed or Norman,"read "Pointed andNorman."-last line for "front sides," read "front and sides," and for “ design," read "designed.” ter |