VOL. 4.] Extracts from an Archic Navigator's Journal. NOVEL. 293 PLAN OF THE ROMANCE, OR HISTORICAL of certain vapours, and nitrous particles. When this period arrives, the colony Chapter 1. The Battle of Shrewsbury. having no means of changing their Lord Craggycliff commands King abode on land, amuse themselves with. Henry's hussars, and is slain by a short voyage or change of scene on the wind of a bullet. the back of a kraken which visits this Chapter 2. King Henry IV. dines with coast; and are much gratified by their Lady C. in Grosvenor-square, on abode on it, though the floating island his return from Shropshire. Ward which its back affords is covered only and Frescati arrange the supper with sand and sea-weeds. But this and orange-trees. Lady C. dis- monstrous fish is not without its due misses the heroine, Starchissa, her portion of sagacious instinct; and by orphan protegée, because she asked means of his large suckers, draws in so Lord John of Lancaster for an great a quantity of the supplies they ice-cream. bring with them, that the poor travellers Chapter 3. The heroine writes a sonnet are compelled to return home half famto a tea-kettle in the ruins of ished. In addition to this wandering Twenty-ghosts' Abbey, and sees propensity, I trace some traits of Enga Knight with fair hair and large lish character in their disproportioned eyes carrying mouse-traps. They number of lawyers and physicians. fall in love of course. They have also a common class of Chapter 4. Owen Glendower, the cele- thieves who resemble ours, because they brated magician assures Starchissa are openly educated for that avocation, that the mouse-trap knight is Hot- and pursue it without disguise. spur's son and heir in disguise. their prison-regulations are new, and Chapter 5. Sir Eglamour de Mouse- deserve your notice as a civilian. traps informs his beloved, that stead of imprisoning rogues, they only Lord Craggycliff's last codicil pro- shut up honest men, that (as they provides an annuity for his wife's fess) they may know where to find protegée,and advises her to claim it. them, and prevent them from becoming Chapter 6. Starchissa, in her way to thieves. This wonderfully lessens the Doctors' Commons, sees Prince number of prisoners, and the trouble of John of Lancaster driving the the police, since prevention, saith our Mail-Coach, and to conceal her- law, is easier than cure. self takes a place inside. Chapter 7. Lord C.'s ghost appears in the shape of a Proctor, and announces that the annuity is left to Lady Craggycliff's orphan lapdog of the same name. Chapter 8. Sir Eglamour de Mousetraps manity impelled him to ascertain and declares himself married to the Queen of Noland; and Starchissa, having written an ode with a gold pencil, in a damp grotto, expires. * * But In All these indications of sagacity and discretion induced Professor Cacanous, my literary companion, to consider from what imperfect conformation of organs these people's want of speech could proceed. And as both science and hu remedy it if possible, he procured the aid of our surgeon's mate; and having enticed one of the natives into a secure part of the long avenue which leads to their tenements, he began to examine his pericranium according to the rules I think you will consider me justi- of Drs. Gall and Spurzheim. From the fied in supposing these fair-haired in- outline of the os frontis, he concluded habitants of an ice-valley, ab origine the organ of communication was not English especially as they have not sufficiently developed; and being a yet lost their fondness for emigrating. practical proficient in the science, he At a certain period of the year, this sin- seized the poor native, and prepared to gular atmosphere gives every object a make an incision into his skull, intendblue tint; an operation which our nat- ing to rectify and enlarge the cell of the ural philosophers have explained very brain. He was on the point of the satisfactorily as a necessary consequence experiment, when his patient made a 294 Nuga Literarie-Mysteries of Udolpho. [VOL. 4 violent effort to escape, and begged for captain of our ship notified that our mercy in very articulate English. Our leave of absence was expired, and insurprise was great, but pleasant; and terrupted this newly-opened intercourse he assured us, that according to their by demanding our immediate return on national institutes, they were only dumb board. Still as our passage through at home. He offered to teach us their Baffin's Bay is very doubtful, we shall peculiar idiom; confessing, however, probably sail back by the same course, that they studied all languages more and renew our acquaintance with this than their own. We should have em- hospitable colony, whose origin and trabraced his kindness eagerly; but the ditions may afford us some amusement. V. From the New Monthly Magazine, November 1818. THE MYSTERIES OF UDOLPHO. THE No. III. awful ideas of " death and judgment." HERE are, doubtless, few readers On the continent there existed, before of this enchanting romance who the French Revolution, some remarkahave forgotten the appalling veiled pic- ble instances of the strictness or superture, which occasioned so much alarm stition of the devotees; for many of the to the susceptible Emily, whilst explor- convents, particularly those on the southing the uninhabited chambers of the ern frontiers, possessed images, similar castle of Udolpho. Mrs. Radcliffe re- to that described by Mrs. Radcliffe serves its explanation for her last vol- before which, the transgressing memume, where in common with other bers of their communities, were obliged, "mysteries," it is duly elucidated; by prayers and penance, to expiate the and turns out to be the representation, crimes of which they had been found in wax, of a human form, nearly de- culpable. voured by worms; before which, a pre- In the chapel, belonging to the Privious occupant of the castle had been ory of the Celestine Monks, at Heverle, doomed to do daily penance, in order near the town of Louvain, in Brabant, to expiate some deadly crime. It ap- is still exhibited a figure, executed in pears highly improbable, that the im- the most masterly manner, of the finest agination of the ingenious authoress white marble, representing a human of these volumes of wonders, unbound- body in the last stage of putrefaction; ed as it was, should have furnished her with myriads of worms apparently in with an incident so singular and unac- the act of devouring it. As such an countable, had not her mind received object, in a situation so public, could some assisting suggestion, either in the be by no means pleasing to general becourse of her very various reading, or holders, it is surrounded by a green curextensive travels. I am inclined to think, tain or veil, which is only removed that in the earlier part of the last centu- when the image is applied to the purry, the revolting custom of exhibiting poses above alluded to. Now, as our even publicly, the most disgusting em- admirable novelist is known to have blems of our mortality, was by no means travelled through this neighbourhood, it uncommon. Indeed, the emaciated may readily be supposed, that, to a figures, still observable in many of the mind so romantic as hers, such a strange cathedrals and ancient edifices of this relic could not have been passed unnoticcountry, bear abundant testimony of ed; but must, on the contrary, have had the likelihood of the conjecture. The strong claims upon her attention; nor mode of ornamenting grave stones from is it at all detracting from her exquisite time immemorial, with the skeleton head talents to infer that it gave rise to the and cross bones, is, I conceive, merely veiled picture, which forms so striking a modification of the custom, and in- a feature in her " Mysteries of Udoltended to convey to the mind the same pho." VOL. 4.] Epithets Madrigal by Lodge. On the Epithets ROSY, and ROSY-FINGERED. It is observed by Pope, in his preface to the Iliad, that " as a metaphor is a short simile, so an epithet is a short description," and it is somewhat singular that with so great a relish for them in his original, he should almost invariably have neglected to transfuse into his own compositions those emphatic expressions which Aristotle has so aptly denominated living words, The morn begun from Ida to display 295 Fairfax, who, in his translation of Tasso, not unfrequently embellishes his original by novel and ingenious thoughts of his own, has also a description of morning, by no means deficient in beauty : The purple morning left her crimson bed, Now morn her rosy steps in th' eastern clime PododanTunes rosy-fingered, is a with rosy hand," elsewhere has an allucompound epithet frequently used by sion to her rosy steps :--Homer ; and fancifully adopted by many of our English poets. Spenser, who, in his imagery, rivals every other writer, has the following beautiful description of morning, in which it is introduced : Now when the rosy-fingered morning fair, We will finish with one more quotation from Spenser, who frequently uses this epithet. Wake now, my love, awake, for it is time, Lodge. There is a tract of great rarity in the British Museum, from which Shakspeare is stated to have borrowed the Dryden has also applied it to the plot of " As you like it," entitled "Eu- same purpose : The roay-fingered morn appears, And from her mantle shakes the tears. phue's Golden Legacy," by Thomas Lodge, a poet of the Elizabethan age, who was also the author of a great And Milton, though somewhat dif- variety of valuable publications, in ferent : -The morn Waked by the circling hours, with rosy hand The simple epithet rosy, has been still more frequently applied to the morn; and although to multiply examples from the ancients would be endless, a few adductions may not be unamusing from the moderns. In Dryden's translation of Virgil it very often occurs, for instance And now the rosy morn began to rise, In a previous quotation Dryden has given Aurora rosy-fingers, but in that which immediately follows, she is described by the same poet as having rosy-cheeks: prose as well as verse, Ellis, in his 66 Specimens of the Early English Poets," has given three of his poems from the "Pleasant Historie of Glaucus and Scilla," but has omitted to menbeautiful, perhaps of all his composition the following madrigal; the most tions. The edition from which it is transcribed is believed to be unique. Love in my bosom like a bee Doth suck his sweete; Within mine eyes he makes his nest, Strike I my lute-he tunes the string, With many a rod, 296 Plagiarism-Chaucer and Dryden-Bacon's Essays. Then sit thou safely on my knee, I will not wish to part from thee. Plagiarism. [VOL. 4 There is, perhaps, no passage in the whole compass of poetry, that has had more imitators, than the following, from the 270th sonnet of Petrarch : Zefiro torna; e'l bel tempo ramena, * * * Ma per me, lasso, tornano i piu gravi Sospiri, che nel cor profondo tragge, Day or the sweet approach of eve or morn. In vain to me the smiling mornings shine, * * * * I fruitless mourn to him that cannot hear,* Parent of blooming flowers and gay desires, Now spring returns, but not to me return In the earlier ages, before the invention of typography, it is not to be wondered at, that authors transcribed with so little ceremony from each other's productions, as the very limited circution of books prevented their larcenies from being discovered; and to this may probably be attributed the depredations of Terence, Solinus and Apuleius, on Menander, Pliny and Lucian : but as, since this inducement has been removed by the press, and literature has become universal, literary theft has little or no chance of escaping detection, it is singular that so many writers should have persisted in their endeavours to profit by the talents or ingenuity of others. That those who treat on the Sciences are constrained, from the nature of their subject, sometimes to tread in the footsteps of earlier authors is indubitable, but that poets and novelists, who are allowed to range at large over the boundless regions of fancy, should frequently and servilely imitate their predecessors, is not so easily to be accounted for. Lucian's cave of banditti is introduced in other fictitious narratives, by Apuleius, Heliodorus, Ariosto, Spenser and Le Sage. Apuleius, however, not content with having borrowed from him thus much,has openly robbed him of his ass, and laden it with many additional extravagances; among It is a circumstance of literary histowhich the tale of Cupid and Psyche may particu- ry worth mentioning, that Chaucer was larly be instanced, notwithstanding the more than sixty years of age when he beauty and wildness of its imagery, wrote Palamon and Arcite, and Drywhich would almost lead us to imagine den seventy when he versified it. it of an oriental origin. Cervantes, tho' Chaucer borrowed this tale from Bocintimately acquainted with the ancients, cacio's Theseida; but it is not so well found their manners to known that our old poet is indebted to weave into the exquisite texture of his his Filistrato che Tracta de la Troylo matchless romance; nor does it appear e Greseida, for his Troilus and Cresthat he has selected any classical ad- seida. venture, if we except the encounter with the wine bags, which seems to have been suggested by Apuleius. too coarse “Cadavera illa jugulatorum hominum erant tres (caprini) utres inflati,variisque secti foraminibus, et, ut vespertinum prælium meum recordabar, his locis biantes, quibus latrones illos vulneraveram." Metamorphoseon, sive de Asino aureo l. iii. * * * * * VOL. 4.] Lewis's Monk-Sketches of English Manners. 297 and nothing can be more apposite than ductive. The success of this work inwhat the elegant Count Algarotti has duced many persons to put forth their said of him, "Lo stile di Bacone, uomo powers on a similar subject; but among di altissima dottrina, abbonda di vivissi all its namesakes of the novel tribe, there mi pensieri nella maggior profundita is only one which will bear comparison d'acqua si trovano le perle piu grosse."* with it, namely, "Manfrone, or the One Handed Monk," which is its supe Lewis's Monk. The outline of this romance is taken rior, as well in execution, as in its from the story of the Santon Barsissa, moral tendency. Ariosto. written by Sir R. Steele, and forming the 148th number of the Guardian. As A friend once expressing an astonisha master of the horrible and mysterious, ment that he who had described such Mr. Lewis has shewn considerable magnificent edifices in his poem, should powers, and has woven his materials, be contented with so poor a dwelling, borrowed from different sources, with Ariosto answered very aptly, that much dexterity into an interesting "words were much easier put together whole. The language is fine, but the than bricks ;" and leading him to the pruriency of imagination such as to door of his house, pointed to this disrender it extremely dangerous and se- tich, which was engraven on the por * I have recently seen an early edition of Bacon's Essays, which differs in numerous of its parsages, from those in general circulation at present. tico : Parva, sed apta mihi, sed nulli obnoxia, sed non The stretching landscape into smoke decays. THOMSON. I HAVE always preferred the "shady side of Pall Mall" to any shady groves or bowers in the world. Though my attachment for a town life is such, that I have refused a thousand invitations to the country, yet after a whole winter of promising to visit Lord Riverbank at his retreat, twenty miles from London, I at last did violence to my inclination and went thither. I had heard a great deal of the magnificence of his house of his improvements and his hospitality-and I was now about to judge for myself as to all these particu lars. that he was busy, but would be with me immediately. Her Ladyship was employed in stag-hunting. I next asked for the young Lord, and found that he was fishing-Lady Ann, the eldest daughter?-she was out with the coachman, learning to drive :-Lady Elizabeth ?-she was with her drill master, that is to say, with a Sergeant of the Guards, who was putting her through her facings, and teaching her to march : Lady Mary ?-she was lying down. "Bless me," said I, "the family are oddly employed! But I am sorry for Lady Mary's indisposition." She is not indisposed at all,' replied the Butler, she is lying flat on the floor for an hour, by order of her Ladyship, by way of improving her shape;" and Mademoiselle Martin, the governess ?" added I-'is,' answered the butler, 'waltzing with a young Officer who is on a visit here, for amusement's sake, whilst Lady Mary is thus stretched on a board.' "Preposterous!" muttered I to my I accordingly threw myself into a self! post-chaise, and arrived at Riverbank The nursery was now let loose, and Park about two o'clock, P. M. Iin- the infantine race crowded about me, quired for my Lord, and was informed hid under the skirts of my coat, and in 20 ATHENEUM. Vol. 4. |