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Read Ebook: The Mirror of Literature Amusement and Instruction. Volume 14 No. 385 August 15 1829 by Various
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THE MIRROR OF LITERATURE, AMUSEMENT, AND INSTRUCTION.
Here is a bird's-eye view of a royal palace and domain "cut out in little stars." It is copied from one of Kipp's Views in Great Britain in the time of Queen Anne, and affords a correct idea of Hampton Court in all its olden splendour.
In 1651, the Honour and Palace of Hampton were sold to creditors of the state; but previously to 1657 it came into the possession of Cromwell, who made it one of his chief residences. Elizabeth, his daughter, was here publicly married to the Lord Falconberg; and the Protector's favourite child, Mrs. Claypoole, died here, and was conveyed with great pomp to Westminster Abbey.
The palace consists of three grand quadrangles: the western quadrangle, or entrance court is 167 feet 2 inches, north to south, and 141 feet 7 inches, east to west. This leads to the second, or middle quadrangle, 133 feet 6 inches, north to south, and 91 feet 10 inches, east to west; this is usually called the Clock Court, from a curious astronomical clock by Tompion, over the gateway of the eastern side; on the southern side is a colonnade of Ionic pillars by Wren. On the north is the great hall: as this is not mentioned by Cavendish, probably it was part of Henry's building. It certainly was not finished till 1536 or 1537, as appears from initials of the King and Jane Seymour, joined in a true lover's knot, amongst the decorations; this hall is 106 feet long, and 40 broad. Queen Caroline had a theatre erected here, in which it was intended that two plays should be acted weekly during the stay of the Court; but only seven plays were performed in it by the Drury Lane company, and one afterwards before the
Stow's Annals.
Fuller's Church History.
Rymer's Foedera.
Clarendon's History of the Rebellion.
Duke of Lorraine, afterwards Emperor of Germany. The theatrical appurtenances were not, however, removed till the year 1798. Adjoining the hall is the Board of Green Cloth Room, of nearly the same date, and hung with fine tapestry.
The grotesque forms of the gardens, and the mathematical taste in which they are disposed, are advantageously seen in a bird's-eye view as in the Engraving, which represents the tortuous beauty of the parterres, and the pools, fountains, and statues with characteristic accuracy. The formal avenues, radiating as it were, from the gardens or centre, are likewise distinctly shown, as is also the canal formed by Wolsey through the middle avenue. The intervening space, then a parklike waste, is now planted with trees, and stretches away to the village of Thames Ditton; and is bounded on the south by the Thames, and on the north by the high road to Kingston.
The palace is open to the public, and besides its splendid apartments, and numerous buildings, there is a valuable collection of pictures, which are too celebrated to need enumeration. A curious change has taken place in the occupancy of some apartments--many rooms originally intended for domestic offices being now tenanted by gentry. The whole is a vast assemblage of art, and reminds us of the palace of Versailles, which is about the same distance from Paris as Hampton Court from London.
GREECE.
Alas! for fair Greece, how her glories are failed, Her altars are broken, her trophies are gone, The Crescent her temples and shrines hath invaded, And Freedom hath bow'd to the Mussulman throne.
Fair Liberty say! shall the land of Achilles Reluctantly cherish a dastardly slave, Who can crouch at the foot of a despot, whose will is As fickle as wind, and as rude as the wave? Shall the ashes of heroes enshrouded in glory, Be spurn'd in contempt by a barbarous horde, While their sons idly tremble like boys at a story, And shudder to gaze on the point of a sword?
Rise! courage alone your base station can alter, Let Beauty, let Liberty, spirit you on, And while fetters and stripes are their portion who falter, Remember that Freedom's the stake to be won.
J.O.B.
The house in which the king rested at Brighton, is now an inn, in West Street, called the King's Head, and is kept by a Mr. Eales.
H. BERGER.
LINES WRITTEN IN A LADY'S ALBUM.
The star is set that lighted me Thro' Fancy's wide domain, And the fairy paths of poesy, I now may seek in vain.
'Tis but when Sorrow's clouds appear, In frowning darkness o'er me, The light of Song bursts forth to cheer The gloomy path before me.
As o'er the dusky waves at night, Oft Mariners behold That ocean-form, St. Ermo's light, When tempests are foretold.
MINSTREL BALLAD.
WRITTEN ON A FLYLEAF OF A VOLUME OF ONE OF THE "WAVERLEY NOVELS."
Waken, lords and ladies gay, On the mountain dawns the day, All the jolly chase is here, With hawk and horse, and hunting spear; Hounds are in their couples yelling, Hawks are whistling, horns are knelling, Merrily, merrily, mingle they, "Waken, lords and ladies gay."
Waken, lords and ladies gay, The mist has left the mountain grey, Springlets in the dawn are streaming, Diamonds on the brake are gleaming, And foresters have busy been, To track the buck in thicket green; Now we come to chant our lay, "Waken, lords and ladies gay."
Waken, lords and ladies gay, To the green wood haste away, We can show you where he lies, Fleet of foot, and tall of size; We can show the marks he made When 'gainst the oak his antlers frayed; You shall see him brought to bay. "Waken, lords and ladies gay."
Louder, louder, chant the lay, Waken, lords and ladies say, Tell them youth, and mirth and glee, Run a course as well as we, Time, stern huntsman! who can balk, Stanch as hound, and fleet as hawk? Think of this, without delay, Gentle lords and ladies gay.
C.C.
THE SKETCH-BOOK
PHYSIOGNOMY OF HOUSES.
Houses undoubtedly present to the eye of fancy, an appearance analogous to physiognomical expression in men. The remark has been made by more acute observers than myself.
Look at that beetle-browed, solemn looking mansion with a ponderous hat-roof--I mean of slates, garnished with bay windows--observe its heavy jaws of areas, its hard, close mouth of a door; its dark, deep sunken eyes of windows peering out from the heavy brow of dark stone coping that supports the slate hat in question: what a contrast to the spruce mock gentility of its neighbour, with a stand-up collar of white steps, a varnished face, and a light, jaunty, yet stiff air, like a city apprentice in his best clothes.
See the cap on the temple of that Chinese Mandarin, poking above yon clump of firs, with its bell furniture; he seems pondering on the aphorisms of Confucius, regardless of that booby faced conservatory, whose bald, rounded pate glitters in the sun. Ah! what have we here; a spruce masquerader in yellow straw hat, trying to look rural with as much success as a reed thatched summer house. Stand in this quiet nook a few hours, and give us the shadow of your mushroom covering.
LAVATERIELLO.
MANNERS & CUSTOMS OF ALL NATIONS.
CURIOUS CEREMONY OF DRIVING DEER THROUGH THE WATER IN LYME PARK, CHESHIRE.
Lyme Park is situated near the road from Manchester to London, through Buxton, adjacent to the picturesque village of Disley.
P.T.W.
History of Whalley.
STANNARY PARLIAMENT.
In the Forest of Dartmoor, Devonshire, between Tavistock and Chegford, is a high hill, called Crocken Tor, where the tinners of this county are obliged by their charter to assemble their parliaments, or the jurats who are commonly gentlemen within the jurisdiction, chosen from the four stannary courts of coinage in this county, of which the lord-warden is judge. The jurats being met to the number sometimes of two or three hundred, in this desolate place, are quite exposed to the weather and have no other place to sit upon but a moor-stone bench, and no refreshments but what they bring with them; for this reason the steward immediately adjourns the court to Tavistock, or some other stannary town.
HALBERT H.
DOWRUCK.
W.H.H.
FAITOUR LANE,
Or as it is now called, Fetter Lane, is a term used by Chaucer, for an idle fellow. The propriety of its denomination is indisputable.
W.H.H.
ROBIN HOOD.
At Brough Sowerby, in Westmoreland, is an ale-house bearing the sign of Robin Hood, with the following lines beneath it:--
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