1825.1 REVIEW.-Miscellaneous Writings of John Evelyn. males, properly appertaining to ac tresses only, speaks in the following manner: "Thus you see, young sparks, how the stile and method of wooing is quite changed, as well as the language, since the days of our forefathers (of unhappy memory, simple and plain men as they were), who courted and chose their wives for their modesty, frugality, keeping at home, goodhousewifery, and other economical virtues, then in reputation, and when the young damsels were taught all these in the country, and at their parents' houses, the portion they brought was more in virtue than in money; and she was a richer match than one who brought a million and nothing else to commend her. The presents which were made when all was concluded, were a ring, a necklace of pearls, and perhaps another fair jewel, the bona paraphernalia of her prudent mother, whose nuptial mirtle gown and petticoat lasted as many anniversaries as the happy couple lived together, and were at last bequeathed with a purse of old gold, rose-nobles, spur-royals, and spankees *, as an heir-loom to her grand-daughter. "They had cupboards of ancient useful plate, whole chests of damask for the table, and store of fine Holland sheets (white as the driven snow), and fragrant of rose and lavender for the bed; and the sturdy oaken bedstead, and furniture of the house, lasted one whole century; the shovel-board [explained in Encyclopædia of Antiquities, ii. 605], and other long tables, both in hall and parlour, were as fixed as the freehold; nothing was moveable save joynt-stools, the black-jacks, silver tankards and bowls; and though many things fell out between the cup and the lip, when happy ale, March beer, metheglin (a mixture of water, honey, and all sorts of herbs. Encyclop. of Antiq. i. 405], malmesey, and old sherry, got the ascendant amongst the blew coats and badges [uniformly the livery of servants. Encycl. of Antiq. ii. 564, 661]. They sung Old Symon and Cheviot Chase, and danc'd Brave-Arthur, and were able to draw a bow, that made the proud Monsieur tremble at the whizze of the grey-goose feather. 'Twas then ancient hospitality was kept up in town and country, by which the tenants were enabled to pay their landlords at punctual day; the poor were relieved bountifully, and charity was as warm as the kitchen, where the fire was perpetual." pp. 700, 701. Thus it appears that our ancestors considered hospitality, by its implying consumption of the commodities grown by the farmer, essential towards enabling them to pay their rents.. Spanish gold coins, we presume, then in circulation. See Ruding, iii. 131.—Rev. To resume: 437 "In those happy days, Sure-foot the grave and steady mare carried the good knight and his courteous lady behind him to without so many hell-carts [the term is church, and to visit the neighbourhood, before used for coaches, see p. 150], rattling coaches, and a crew of lacqueys, which a grave livery servant or two supyly'd, who rid before, and made way for his worship. "Things of use were natural, plain, and thing necessary wanting; and men of eswholesome; nothing was superfluous, notate studied the public good, and gave examples of true piety, loyalty, justice, sobriety, charity, and the good neighbourhood composed most differences; perjury, suborning witnesses, alimony, avowed adulteries, and misses [then the term for kept women, repeatedly used by Evelyn in his Diary], publickly owned, were prodigies in those days, and laws were reason, nor craft, when mens titles were secure, and they served their generation with honour, left their paheir, who, passing from the free school to trimonial estates improved to an hopeful the college, and thence to the inus of court, acquainting himself with a competent tinc ture of the laws of his country, followed the example of his worthy ancestors; and if he travelled abroad, it was not to count stee ples, and bring home feather and ribbon, and the sins of other nations, but to gain his Prince and his country upon occasion, such experience as rendered him useful to and confirmed him in the love of both of 'em above any other. "The virgins and young ladies of that golden age, quæsierunt lanam et linum, put their hands to the spindle, nor disdaine they the needle; were obsequious and helpful to their parents, instructed in the managery of the family, and gave presages of making excellent wives. Nor then did they read so many romances, see so many plays and smutty farces; set up for visits, and have their days of audience, and idle passtime, honest gleek [a game in which deuces and trays were thrown out, Complete Gamester, p. 67], Ruff and Honours [English whist, so common in England, as to be played by children of eight years old, id. 84], diverted the ladies at Christmas, and they knew not so much as the names of ombre, comet and basset. [See Nares's Glossary.] Their retirements were devout and religious books, and their recreations in the distilla tory, the knowledge of plants and their virtues, for the comfort of their poor neighbours and use of the family, which wholesome plain dyet and kitchen physick preserved in perfect health. In those days the scurvy, spleen, &c. were scarce heard of, till foreign drinks and mixtures were wantonly introduced. Nor were the young gentlewomen so universally afflicted with hysterical fits, nor, though extremely modest, at 439 REVIEW.-Nicolas's Lady Jane Grey. at all melancholy, or less gay and in good humour; they could touch the lute and virginal, sing like to the damask rose, and their breath was as sweet as their voices; they danced the Canarys, Spanish Pavan, and Selengers Round, upon sippets, with as much grace and loveliness as any Isaac, Monsieur, or Italian of them all can teach with his fop-call and apish postures." pp. 700-702. We find from the Memoirs of Mrs. Frances Sheridan, that her father Dr. Chamberlaine with difficulty allowed his daughter to learn to read; and writing he considered as superfluous, tending to nothing but the multiplication of love-letters or frivolous female correspondence. (p 4.) We only quote this passage, not to vindicate it, but to show how different opinions our ancestors entertained from ourselves. The fact is, that our ancestors in the main lived in the country, and, being out of the world, educated their girls accordingly, as if for farmers' wives, though uneducated women are only fit for coarse men. Here we must leave this interesting volume. We have only given a sketch of one or two curious matters,-more was impracticable; and it must be sufficient for us to say that the revival of these tracts, and the execution of the work, do great honour to the judgment and editorship of Mr. Upcott. Jane 78. The Literary Remains of Lady Grey, with a Memoir of her Life. By Nicholas Harris Nicolas, Esq. Fell. Soc. Antiq. Post 8vo. pp. cxlviii. 61. TO be a saint, a philosopher, and a beauty, at the early age of seventeen, is a rare characteristic of females. The latter was a gift of fortune, and the two former were acquired in that excellent but unwelcome school of wisdom,-suffering. Had Lady Jane Grey been a spoiled child, it is probable that her character would have lost all its interest, and that she would have been no other than a mere prattling and tittering spinster, studious only of dress, balls, and lovers. Her parents oppressed her in order to support such an ascendancy over her, that she might be the passive instrument of their ambition; and though it is not likely that they, however fastidious, cared much about her accomplishments, except so far as they were necessary adjuncts to her station, and recommendatory of their object, yet Lady [Nov. Jane found in these a benevolent provision of nature for converting misery into happiness; for this has ever been the effect of study and literature. regard to Lady Jane Grey, and that That our opinions are correct, with her parents unintentionally made her shewn in the following extract, which a saint and a philosopher, is clearly though not novel, is yet not so trite, as to render only reference sufficient. "In 1551, Roger Ascham, Lady Jane's early tutor, visited her at Bradgate, and his account of the interview affords interesting information of her pursuits and disposition: the Marquess and Marchioness of Dorset he states, that on his arrival he found that with their attendants, were hunting in the park, and that Lady Jane was in her chamber, reading the Phaedo of Plato in Greek; and to his inquiry why she did not join in the amusement in which her family were engaged, she replied with a smile, I wisse [think] all their sport in the park is but a shadow to that pleasure that I find in Plato, -alas! good folk, they never felt what true pleasure means.' Ascham then inquired, And how came you, Madam, to this deep knowledge of pleasure, and what did chiefly allure you into it, seeing not many women, I will tell you,' she replied, and tell you but very few men, have attained thereunto?' One of the greatest benefits that ever God a truth which perchance you will marvel at. gave me is, that he sent me so sharp and severe parents, and so gentle a schoolmas ther or mother, whether I speak, keep siter, for when I am in presence either of fa lence, sit, stand, or go, eat, drink, be merry, or sad, be sewing, playing, dancing, or doing any thing else, I must do it, as it were, in such weight, measure, and number, even so perfectly as God made the world; or else I am so sharply taunted, so cruelly threa tened, yea, presently sometimes with pinches, nips, and bobs, and other ways, which I will not name for the honour I bear them, so without measure disordered, that I think myself in hell, till the time come that I must go to Mr. Elmer, who teacheth me so gently, so pleasantly, with such fair allurements to learning, that I think all the time nothing whilst I am with him; and when I am called from him, I fall on weeping, because whatever I do else but learning, is full of great trouble, fear, and whole misliking unto me; and thus my book hath been so much my pleasure, and bringeth daily to me more pleasure, and in very deed, be but trifles and troubles unto more that in respect of it all other pleasures me. P. xxi. 1825.] REVIEW.-Nicolas's Lady Jane Grey. daughter of Frances, Marchioness of Dorset, eldest daughter and coheir of Mary Tudor, sister of King Henry VIII. In other words, Lady Jane was great grand-daughter of Henry VII. Why she was picked out for the throne, was owing to the following fashion of the day: "At no period of our history (says Mr. Nicolas) was the detestable disposition to render every connection subservient to political purposes, so much the prevailing feeling, as in the reigns of the Tudors; the ties of friendship or of kindred were seldom suffered to interfere, when opposed to the prospect of advancement; self-interest superseded every other consideration, and little as honesty and generosity are to be looked for in courtiers, the total absence of these virtues was never so manifest as when that dynasty swayed the English sceptre.” P. xix. There were two speculations concerning Lady Jane; one, to marry her to Edw. VI.; and the other, to make her Queen regnant. The first project was soon blasted by the young Monarch's early decease; but that decease gave birth to the second. Northumberland, knowing that he had not the slightest pretensions to the Crown, adopted the scheme of allying his own family to the Blood Royal, and for this purpose thought the best mode to be a marriage of his son with Lady Jane. Circumstances seemed to favour the design. In the will of Henry VIII. were certain entails (contrary to the usual laws of succession), by which, in the event of Edw. VI. and Mary and Elizabeth dying without issue, the Crown was to descend to the children of his nieces, the daughters of his youngest sister (the issue of his eldest sister being excluded), which nieces were Lady Frances, mother of Lady June Grey, and Eleanor, Countess of Cumberland. But what was singular, under the will, his nieces themselves could never have succeeded to the throne, only their issue, and the above Lady Frances having no son, Lady Jane, the senior daughter and coheir, became, under the will, heir to the Crown upon the decease of Edward, Mary, and Elizabeth, without issue: we repeat, under the will, not according to the usual laws of succession, because there was issue of the King's eldest sister Margaret, Queen of Scotland, which issue did succeed to the throne afterwards in the person of 439 James I. At all events, even under the testamentary disposition, Lady Jane could have no title, during the lives of Mary and Elizabeth. This difficulty was to be overcome; and the modes adopted for so doing were, 1. The pretended illegitimacy of the two Princesses, on account of the annulment of Heury's marriages with Catherine of Arragon and Anne Boleyn, by Act of Parliament; and, 2, an instrument executed by the King_and Privy Council, in favour of Lady Jane. The ostensible plea was the security that such a succession would afford to the Reformation. All this is very clearly and elaborately displayed by Mr. Nicolas, pp. xxv-xxxiv. Such were the cabals of men of the world; but they did not calculate that their schemes were not practicable without military power. Cæsar, Cromwell, Napoleon, and Monk, secured this point before they showed their teeth as political agitators; and a paramount General may become a successful usurper; but certainly a mere factionist cannot, because the tie of party obligation is self-interest in the followers; and under military preponderance men see their way, but not under civil matters merely subject to opinion. Because Henry VIII. governed by caprice and tyranny (a circumstance owing entirely to the civil wars of York and Lancaster having made any suffering easy, compared with a renewal of such sanguinary conflicts, and to the certainty that the vengeance of a tyrant wreaks itself upon court favourites or court enemies), therefore the Government of Edw. VI. attempted to play the same game of politics. They had hold of a boy-king, who could not help himself, and cut off the heads of his two uncles (thus murdering the Royal connexions at pleasure, not for actual civil and political crimes, but mere party rivalry), and made the short reign of Edw. VI. a similar scene to that of Murat and Robespiere. Their plans were too mighty for their means; and, when rogues fall, a reasoning man thinks that honesty is the best policy." A House of Commons like the present would have nipped all these projects in the bud, and sent these ambitious nobles to their country seats, while the newspapers made fireworks of their reputation. 64 Το 440 REVIEW.-Nicolas's Lady Jane Grey. To the purpose, however. Lady Jane Grey was guillotined; a term which we use, because it implies a conformity between ancient and modern political states and things. The memorials of this interesting girl are few. She was not old enough nor hacknied enough in the world to become artful. A strong mind, excellent principles, and beautiful simplicity, formed her character. Tormented all her short life, like a child in training for an actress or a public performer, she sighed for nature and happiness. She found the former only in solitude, and the latter only in books. Her parents made of her mere money to gamble with; and never thought that she human or entitled to feelings, till they saw her and themselves dragged to the slaughter-house. But there may be glorious scenes in death. There was one when the sublimest of Beings in passive acquiescence only raised his divine eyes to heaven; and, like him, this meek martyr paid the tribute of a few tears to the imperfections of humanity, when she saw the headless corpse of her husband borne by; and then forgot human nature for ever. was Murder a poor harmless girl of seventeen! bad as Mary was, she did not wish it; but the weak Suffolk, though he had just had a hair-breadth escape, would not be contented. He attempted a fresh rebellion, and, as he had never talent enough for a successful rogue, occasioned trouble, and suffered for so doing at a time when both he and his daughter would otherwise have withdrawn to happy retirement. When Sir Thomas Wyatt attempted to raise the county of Kent, and Sir Peter Carew that of Devon, "The Duke of Suffolk, whose unaccountable weakness neither danger nor experience could correct, seduced by the prospect of once more seeing the imperial diadem on his daughter's brow, joined the conspirators, and undertook to raise the midland counties." P. lxxix. The insurrection was founded on the unpopularity of Mary's attachment to Popery, and her projected marriage with Philip; but it was premature and badly managed and, in consequence, the Duke, Lady Jane, and her husband, were brought to the block, quam celerrimè. Mr. Nicolas candidly informs us, "that no documents hitherto inedited [Nov. could be discovered, which were in any degree connected with her life." We have therefore confined ourselves to short developements of an illustrative kind, as to history; and of a philosophical kind, as to character. The work is an excellent dissertation on the political and private history of the times, and this pre-eminent lady. It is a book which elevates sentiment, and purifies the soul. Lady Jane Grey reading the sublime Phædo of Plato, was an ominous incident. The Almighty in the blessedness of His justice conveyed her holy and heroic spirit to heaven, even before death; and the scaffold of Mary was the fiery chariot of Elijah. In a supplementary sheet the Editor states, that since the publication of this volume, he was accidentally informed that two documents of considerable interest connected with Lady Jane Grey were preserved in the li brary of New College, Oxford. They are contained in the book of original warrants addressed to the keeper of the Palace of Westminster by Edward VI., by Lady Jane Grey whilst she usurped the Royal dignity, and by Queen Mary, for the delivery of silks, velvet, jewelry, clocks, the will of Henry VII., deeds, and other writings, &c. Many of these warrants are highly curious. Mr. Nicolas then adds: "So few of the documents signed by Lady Jane Grey whilst she exercised the Royal functions, are extant, that the following are of sufficient importance to demand the exertion which has been made by printing some extra pages immediately after the Editor had transcribed them, to give them a place in this volume. The first was signed on the day of her accession, and the velvet was evidently wanted to cover her temporary throne and its appendages. From the second, dated four days afterwards, we learn that the jewels which formed the personal ornaments of the Sovereign, had been previously delivered into Lady Jane's own hands, pursuant to her verbal commands. But perhaps the most curious fact connected with these documents, besides the rigid and tradesman-like attention with which, from the marginal notes, it is manifest, each article was compared with the list, is, that the words THE QUENE' have been lined that no public instrument of the unhappy over with a pen, from which we may infer Jane's bearing the title that produced her destruction was permitted to remain in its original state among the public Archives. The 1925.] REVIEW. Davy's Discourses. The warrants themselves could not be destroyed, as they accounted for the expenditure and transfer of certain parts of the Crown property; but the loyalty of Mary's servants was of course too fervent, and their attachment to their Sovereign too jealous, to allow so hated an appellation to remain attached to her rival's name, even though the tomb covered that rival's mutilated remains!" 441 bours for inspection into their studies, for further appropriate Discourses, or improvements on past labours:-no expense was withheld in purchasing, from public librararies, every book that could give me assistance: and having, by close application, for years together, again exhausted (as far as I could find) every subject according to my plan; I applied to his Grace the Archbishop, who gave me my requested assistance-the Bishop of London refused me, as did also the then Bishop of Exeter. 79. Divinity, or Discourses on the Being of "Thus discouraged, I dropt all further apGod, the Divinity of Christ, the Personality and Divinity of the Holy Ghost, and plication; and resolved to try my own abion the Sacred Trinity, being improved Ex-lity in the case: I purchased some old type, tracts from " A System of Divinity." By and made a press myself; and, in five the Rev. W. Davy, A.B. Curate of Lust months, with unremitting labour, produced 328 pages, with prefatory matter, which I leigh, Devon. 2 vols. 8vo. Featherstone, distributed in part to such persons as I Exeter. pp. 630 and 660. thought best qualified properly to appreciate the work, and to assist it, if approved." THESE Volumes might suggest good hints to the fertile genius of Mr. D'Israeli, either for the "Curiosities of Literature," or the "Calamities of Authors," the fate of Mr. Davy's publications being remarkably unfortunate, and his personal history as remarkable for his unabated industry, as his Discourses are for personal merit. The First Edition of his Works in six volumes octavo, published by subscription in 1786, escaped our notice; but was favourably spoken of by the Critical, Monthly, and Edinburgh Reviews. Their sentiments are extracted by Mr. Davy, who thus proceeds: "The following Letter from the late Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge, to the Editor, on his receipt of the first edition, as it must be of great weight with the public, in recommendation of this work, from so distinguished a seat of learning, is here wholly inserted; franked by his Lordship, the Bishop of Peterborough; whose judgment, therefore, in this case, may well be supposed to be united. "Rev. Sir, I am extremely obliged to you for the six volumes of the System of Divinity, which I received a few days ago: heartily wish you success in so useful and laudable an undertaking. And, as I think it will best promote your intentions by making the work more generally known, I have ordered it to be deposited in the University library-an, Rev. Sir, Your obedieut humble servant, L. TURNER. Pembrook Hall, Sept. 27, 1786.' "Encouraged by these encomiums on my labour, and having exhausted the contents of my own little study for the purpose, I spared no pains in applying to my neigh Favor Virtuti dat Vela. Having been favoured by the author with one of these in every way extraordinary copies, the writer of this article lost no time in declaring his unbiassed opinion of it; as may be seen in our vol. LXV. p. 671. It bears the title of "A System of Divinity, in a course of Sermons, by the Rev. William Davy, B. A. (of Baliol College, Oxford). Lustleigh, Devon, printed by himself, pro bono publico, 1795." "As the Address is long," adds Mr. Davy, "and the design, for whieh it was given, is past away, I shall here only reprint that part of it which mentions the copies delivered, as it will manifest my endeavours to ascertain the real merit of the work, and to have it brought forward again in a proper manner by a generous assistance, if approved." Twenty-six copies were thus given away, leaving only fourteen in the author's possession. "At which limited number, the work will be proceeded on (God willing) in future, if not thought worthy of greater encourage ment. |