FOREIGN DRAMA.

THEATRE ROYAL ITALIEN.

NORTHERN EXPEDITIONS.

Letters from Quebec, 16th August, state that intelligence has reached there, from the over-land expedition under Lieut. Franklin. It had arrived safely at Fort Chippawain, in the Athabasca country.

Parisian joke.-On the day of the eclipse, when all the inhabitants of Paris were without doors, provided with helioscopes and pieces of smoked glass, an Englishman was seen driving furiously in a fiacre along one of the principal streets." Where does my lord wish to go to?" said the driver. "To see the eclipse," exclaimed the Englishman, thrusting his head out of the coach window; only drive up as near to it as possible, for I am short-sighted."—French paper.

them. He was dragged to prison, from | Dublin Society, sometimes lectures his class thence to Petersburg; and, notwithstanding in the fields, among the productions on which all his asseverations of innocence and igno- he is lecturing. As he was thus employed Il Fazzoletto (the Handkerchief) a comic rance of offence, he was sent to Siberia. one day, treating on potatoes in the beds opera, in two acts; the music by M. Garcia. Original Anecdotes of the late Sir Peter themselves, he took occasion to speak in The subject of this opera is the well known Parker, Bart.-The late Sir Peter Parker, favour of this practice. Why, doctor, said adventure attributed to Lady Montague. It who was killed on board the Menelaus, in one of his auditors, I think you are very has already been dramatised under the title of America, in 1814, was a brave and very skilful right to lecture here by the side of the berls'; Le Mouchoir, at the Gaieté, and l'Anglaise officer, but uncommonly wild and thought- for you know the faculty always recommend à Bagdad, at the Vaudeville. Though the less. He was once on a cruize up the Me- students to attend clinical lectures. dialogue of Il Fazzoletto is superior to the ge-diterranean; and after having been some neral run of Italian operas, yet its success must months at sea, went on shore at Malta, be attributed wholly to the excellent music of where, happening to be greatly gratified by M. Garcia. We might, perhaps, occasionally a band of instrumental performers that he wish for more expression, but the most casually met with, he ordered them to go graceful melody prevails throughout the on board his ship: they did so, and he speedwhole opera, embellished by the richest ac-ily followed, and sailed off with them on a companiments. In the first act there is cruize for six or eight months, when he rather too much of recitative and chorus; unshipped them at the place where he took but we remarked a duetto, admirably sung by them on board. This lively freak nearly Madame Ronzi Debegnis and Garcia, and a lost him his commission. His father, who delightful quintetto and finale. The second was Admiral of the Fleet, was so provoked act contains an air, Ah! se a voi concesso, at his numerous irregularities, that he deterwhich is charmingly adapted to the clear and mined to hold no communication with him, pure voice of Madame Ronzi Debegnis further than what was absolutely necessary Madame Garcia played the soubrette with in his public capacity as Commander in" great spirit. The scenery, decorations, and Chief. While sailing at the head of a numedancing, are of the most superb description. rous fleet in the Atlantic, he received a communication from his mother, in which she desired to be remembered to her son, which he effected in the following manner :The late Sir Boyle Roche, in Ireland, was "Make a signal (said the Admiral) for the usually set down as the author of all des- Menelaus to lay to:" this was done. "Now criptions of bulls in his time; and he really make the signal for the Captain to come on used to make a great many. He however board:" this was done also, and Captain vented some tolerable witticisms, and in Parker, in his boat, proceeded to the Admifact, it was pretty generally suspected that ral's ship, which, when he had gained the deck the bulls were very often designedly made, of, he was met by his father, who saluted to amuse his companions in the Irish House him with the following laconic speech-"I of Commons. One of his puns is perhaps have received a letter from your honoured worth preserving. It was argued in his pre- mother, dated (so and so); she is perfectly sence, whether Dante or Milton was the su- well, and desires to be remembered to you. perior poet. "I think," said he, "Horace, a-Now pack off; I've nothing more to say very competent judge of poetry, has decided against Dante long ago." "Horace!" said one of the disputants, expecting a new bull; "when could Horace say any thing about Dante?" "Don't you recollect," replied Sir Boyle, "that he asserts most roundly Dante minor? Ep. I. xvi. 22.”

VARIETIES.

Anecdote. The silver coins of the Czar Iwan were, during the reign of the Empress Elizabeth, prohibited in Russia, under very severe penalties; at which period a carpenter, a native of Germany, who had worked several years in St. Petersburg, intending to go back to his native country, provided himself with a regular passport, and embarked at Cronstadt, in a vessel bound for Lubeck. Just as the ship was about to sail, an officer of the government came on board, and forbade hiin to take any silver, especially silver coin; asking him whether he had any? Without hesitation, the carpenter answered that he had none, except a few silver roubles, with which he intended to pay the captain for the passage. He was desired to show these roubles. He did so; and there was found among them one rouble with Iwan's effigy. He was asked from whom he had received this coin? To this he could not give any satisfactory answer, as he had laid by these roubles at different times for his voyage, without particularly noticing

to you."

SOLON'S GRAVE.

From a German Journal.-"It is well known that we have hitherto been uncertain where the great Grecian legislator, Solon, was buried. A writer at Berlin has now received from the Deserts of Siberia, a letter, containing authentic information, that Solon's grave had happily been discovered between the river Argun and the little river Urlungus, on the frontiers of Russia and China. The letter contains also a drawing of the monument over the philosopher's grave, in the form of an obelisk, the top of which is probably damaged by the effects of time; with an inscription as simple as it is remarkable: Here lies Solon, who gave us laws. Men live like him! The inscription is in the Mongol language; it has been translated by various Chinese literati, each separately, and upon comparison all the translations were found to be identical. Professor Gubitz is engaged in engraving this monument on wood, which, together with the written communication, he will insert in his Journal, called the Companion."

This must be some blunder: we always understood that Solon died and was buried in Cyprus !!-ED.

Dr. Wade, agricultural professor to the

METEOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
SEPTEMBER, 1820.
Thursday, 28-Thermometer from 38 to 64.
Barometer from 30, 25 to 30, 20.
Wind S. W. .-Generally clear till noon;
the rest of the day cloudy.

Rain fallen,2 of an inch.
Friday, 29-Thermometer from 47 to 60.

Barometer from 30, 18 to 30, 37. Wind N. and N. b. E. -Cloudy, till noon, the rest of the day clear.

Rain fallen,1 of an inch.

Saturday, 30-Thermometer from 35 to 65.

Barometer from 30, 29 to 30, 20. Wind N. 4. and S. b. W. 2-Clouds generally passing, sunshine at times. A misling rain in

the morning.

OCTOBER.

Sunday, 1-Thermometer from 46 to 58.

Barometer from 50, 28 to 30, 45.
Wind N. W. 1. and W..-Generally clear.
Rain fallen,05 of an inch.
Monday, 2-Thermometer from 45 to 56.

Barometer from 30, 53 to 30, 62.
Wind W. 16 and N. N. W. 4.-Morning clear;
clouds generally passing the rest of the day.
Tuesday, 3-Thermometer from 49 to 57.

Barometer from 30, 68 to 30, 72. Wind N. E. 3. and N. 4.-Generally clear. Wednesday, 4-Thermometer from 32 to 58.

Barometer from 30, 68 to 30, 63. Wind N. E. 2 and .-Generally clear till the evening, when it became cloudy and rained. A white frost in the morning.

On Monday the 9th at 26 minutes, 22 seconds after 7 o'clock, the 1st Satellite of Jupiter will emerge from an eclipse.

On the same day, at 40 minutes, 30 seconds after 10, the 3d Satellite of Jupiter will imminutes 47 seconds after 1 in the morning. merge into his shadow, and will emerge at 46

Moon and Jupiter will be inserted.
In our next, the time of an occultation of the
Edmonton, Middlesex. JOHN ADAMS.

Erratum. In the imitaton of Horace's Epistle to
Bullatius, in our last-in the first line, for "Ho
race" read" Florence."

BOOKS PUBLISHED THIS DAY.

Price Gs.

THE EDINBURGH REVIEW; or, Critical

Journal. No. XLVII. Contents:---1. France.

Scudamore on Mineral Waters.

In 8vo. price 10s.

A CHEMICAL and MEDICAL REPORT of

the PROPERTIES of the MINERAL WATERS of Buxton, Matlock, Tunbridge Wells, Harrogate, Bath, Cheltenham, Leamington, Malvern, and the Isle of Wight. By CHARLES SCUDAMORE, M. D. Member of the

2. Classification of Rocks. 3. Plan for a Commutation
of Tithes. 4. Farington's Life of Sir Joshua Reynolds.
5. Buckhardt's Travels in Nubia. 6. Edgeworth's Me-
moirs. 7. Hogg's Jacobite Relics. 8. The Sketch Book,
by Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. 9. Ancient Laws of the
Scandinavians. 10. Keats's Poems. 11. The new Flan
of Education for England. Quarterly List of new Pub-larged, of
lications. Printed for Archibald Constable and Co.

Edinburgh; and Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orine, and
Brown, London. Of whom may be had, all the pieced-
ing Numbers.

THE QUARTERLY REVIEW, No. XLVL

3 vols. 8vo. 14. 11s. 6d. A third edition of

ANASTASIUS. Printed for John Murray,

Albemarle Street.

Royal Academy of Physicians, &c. &c. Published by
Longman and Co. Paternoster Row. Of whom may be
had, by the same author, in a thick octavo Volume,
price 20s. the third edition, revised and materially en-

A

Price ls. 6d.

POEMS. By the Author of "The Arab."

Printed for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, London; and J. Bolster, Cork.

In royal 18mo. with an elegantly engraved title, price

3s. 6d. bound in black, the 3d edition of

THE NEW DEVOUT COMMUNICANT according to the CHURCH of ENGLAND,containing an Account of the Institution, Prayers, and Meditations before and after the Administration, and a Companion at the Lord's Table. Ipswich: Printed and sold by J. Raw; sold also by Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown; F. C. and J. Rivington; and Hatchard and Son, London; and H. Mozley, Derby. Of whom may be had, a Common Edition of the above Work, price Is. 6d. bound, which has been printed at the request of several Clergymen, for them to give away to their poor parishioners.

A TREATISE on the Nature and Cure of GOUT and RHEUMATISM; including general Considerations on Morbid States of the Digestive Organs; some Remarks on Regimen; and Practical Observations on Gravel. Morrice on Brewing and Malting. In 8vo. price 10s. 6d. boards, PRACTICAL TREATISE on BREWING A CENTURY of CHRISTIAN PRAYERS, on Faith, the various Sorts of MALT LIQUOR; with Ex-Hope, and Charity, with a Morning and Evening Devoamples of each Species, and the mode of using the tion, in 12mo. with plates, price 8s. bds. Themometer and Saccharometer; the whole forming a complete Guide ia Brewing every Description of Ale THE SKETCH BOOK of GEOFFREY CRAY- and Beer. To which are added, General Instructions for making Malt, and Tables of the Net Duties of Excise on Strong and Table Beer, payable by Common Brewers in By the same author, printed uniformly with the above, Town and Country. By ALEXANDER MORRICE, Cominon Brewer. Sixth edition; with the Laws (now first added), relating to Brewers and Malsters, by John and Jones, Paternoster Row. Williams, Esq. London: Printed for Sherwood, Neely,

In 8vo. 128. a third edition of

ON, Gent. vol. 1. Printed for Julin Murray, Albemarle Street.

a new edition of

KNICKERBOCKER's HISTORY of NEW YORK, from the beginning of the World to the end of the Dutch Dynasty, 8vo. 12s. Also, Sketch Book, 'vol. 2,

8vo. 12s.

PRAYERS for FAMILIES; consisting of a Form, short, but comprehensive, for the Morning and Evening of every day in the week. Selected by the late E. PEARSON, D. D: with a Memoir of the Editor, in 12mo. the 4th edition, price 3s. 6d. bds.

Dr. Whitaker's History of Yorkshire. Part 111. in folio, on fine demy paper, 24. 2s. and on super-royal drawing paper, with proof impressions of the plates, price 41. 4s, of

A

GENERAL HISTORY of the COUNTY of YORK. BY THOMAS DUNHAM WHITA KER, LL. D. F. 8. A. F. R. S. Vicar of Whalley, and

AND

Journal of Belles Lettres, Arts, Sciences, etc.

This Journal is supplied Weekly, or Monthly, by the principal Booksellers and Newsmen throughout the Kingdom: but to those who may desire
its immediate transmission, by post, we beg to recommend the LITERARY GAZETTE, printed on stamped paper, price One Shilling.

No. 195.

REVIEW OF NEW BOOKS.

HISTORICAL SKETCHES.

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 14, 1820.

curious, how nationally interesting, how uni-
versally instructive, the intelligence gathered
from the records of our ancestors is, it
would be supererogatory to dilate upon;
suffice it to say, that it is here we have to
look for the germs of our constitution, and
the grand sources of our habits, customs, and
feelings as a people. And we shall but
further add, that the author seeming to make
Gibbon his model for style, is himself a
model of sound unbiassed mind, candidly
stating every matter deserving of record, and
wedded to no hypothesis or theory to which
(that common curse and bane of historians)
facts are tortured and reality sacrificed.

PRICE 8d.

The inhabitants of England are descended from the first two genera; most of the modern continental nations from the second; and the natives of Russia, Poland, Bohemia, and the adjacent countries, from the third.

It is very easy, because very natural, to conceive the various causes which in the earliest ages produced the separation of families and tribes from the civilized family of mankind in the east, and taught them to roam towards other parts in search of food, independence, territory, or dominion. As wave succeeds wave, so must the human flood have rolled on, till the whole earth was

covered. We are most concerned in the motions of the nomadic Kimmerians and Kelts, who from the Asiatic Bosphorus gradually overran Europe, the former proceeding chiefly to the north-west, the latter towards the west and south.

The History of the Anglo-Saxons: comprising the History of England from the earliest period to the Norman Conquest. By Sharon Turner, F.A. S. London, 1820. 8vo. 3 vols. Considering Mr. Sharon Turner's history of our Anglo-Saxon progenitors to be perhaps the most interesting and important work that has been published in our times, it was with no small degree The inquiry is divided into books, and of satisfaction that we saw this con- these again into chapters. The first book venient and moderate-priced edition treats of men in their earliest social forms, issue from the press. Were we at setting civilized and nomadic nations. It then invesout to deliver our opinion of the author, tigates the first population of the west of we are sure we should expose ourselves Europe, and especially of Britain, by the These nations were ignorant of Grecian to the charge of flattering; for our ad- Kimmerian and Keltic tribes; the arrival of and Roman literature, and of the sciences of the Phenicians and Carthaginians, the ac- Egypt, in consequence of their early sepamiration of the indefatigable diligence,quaintance and intercourse of the Greeks, and ration from the civilized communities before the unconquerable zeal, the extraordi- the invasion and conquest by the Romans. these intellectual improvements were atnary talents, and, above all, the straightTo this book we shall at present confine tained, and their subsequent loss of interforward, honest, impartial judgment he ourselves, and endeavour to produce a sy-course. The human race was thus divided has displayed, could not be expressed nopsis of what Mr. Turner has collected on into two classes; the settled and enlightening, without employing a phraseology of the subject from the older writers most wor- and the roaming and barbarous. Their col higher panegyric than can pass without thy of belief. lisions, in after times, have created all the suspicion for truth in these jealous days. most rationally be derived from the distinc-refinement, inventions, on the one hand, and The true history of ancient Europe may varieties which we now behold. Knowledge, And it may be that even a feeble execution between the Keltic and Gothic nations, vigour, activity, and force on the other, have tion of the design which we project, suggested by Dr. Percy fifty years ago. been infused in different proportions as cirnamely, that of giving a careful analysis From the language of the former may be cumstances controuled, till the national of this excellent performance, will be at traced the ancient Gaulish; ancient British, compounds of the age in which we live have the same time a more acceptable service whence the Welsh, Armorican, and Cornish; been formed and completed. to our readers, and a more tangible il- and ancient Irish, with its derivatives the Leaving the first nations of which we have lustration of the merits of the author. Irish, Erse, and Mankx: from the latter any notice in a civilized state, the Egyptians, Sure we are, that if we succeed in fur- spring the old or Anglo-Saxon, whence the Phenicians, Assyrians, Chinese, and BabyEnglish, Lowland Scotch, Belgic, and Prus-lonians, and their later offsets the Carthaginishing any thing like a condensed ab- sic; the Franco-theories, whence German, nians, Greeks, Persians, Hindus, and Rostract and connected view of his labours Suabian, and Swiss; and the Cumbric or mans; we turn to our nomadic or wandering within the compass of a few of our old Icelandic, whence Icelandic, Norwegian, ancestors, whose migrations by land preceded Numbers, we shall be rendering to him Danish, and Swedish. But to these two those by sea, and consequently must have the most effectual eulogy, and supply- genera of languages, Mr. Turner finds it ne- rolled inland from the east, till the frozen ing to the public the most gratifying cessary to add a third, the Slavonian or Sarma-regions of the north and farthest shores of species of information, while leading stocks of the people who originally occupied, tian; and these three indicate to us the great them to consult the original. and whose descendants, with few later intermixtures, now occupy the western regions of Europe.

ocean on the west were peopled.

Language is one of the two surest guides for tracing the descent of nations; and in It is now fifteen years since the first edition many cases, particularly when the remotest of this very valuable production was conantiquity is involved, it appears to us to be cluded in parts. Mr. Turner was, happily The population of our quarter of the globe, superior to the other great means, corporeal for his contemporaries and country, induced as far as tradition and fair inference can be form and feature. There can, at least, be to devote his attention to the Anglo-Saxon brought in aid of history, seems to have no doubt that the three languages which we MSS. which lay unexamined in so many de- flowed from the east (the fountain of all emi- | have mentioned, the Keltic, Gothic, and Slapositories, by perusing the Quida or Death-gration by which the world has become in-vonic, (otherwise called from the names of song of Ragnar Lodbrog; and thus to revive, habited) in three great streams, following the nations Kimmerian, Scythian, and Sarwe may almost say to create, that spirit of each other at distinct intervals, and speaking matian) distinctly indicate the three main research into these memorable antiquities, different tongues. The earliest comprised which not only his own industry and abi- the Kimmerian and Keltic race; the second, lities, but his example, has converted from the Scythian, Gothic, and German tribes; darkness into light, and from obscurity into and the last, the Slavonian and Sarmatian a blaze of literary splendour. How peculiarly nations. YOL. IV.

streams of population, of which the first two (as we have observed) flowed to the north and west, and the last impinged upon the eastern frontier of Europe. Yet these tongues, and all their ancient and modern

variations, are so obviously related to each other, as to show that they spring from the same parent stock.

era.

high protuberances :" and the fourth Triad
derives the Kymry themselves under Hu
Gadarn (Hu the Strong) from the country of
Summer, called Deffrobani, where Constan-
tinople is.

About forty-five tribes are enumerated among the possessors of the country. From Kent to Cornwall, which became the Roman disThe first entrance of the Kimmerians into trict, Britannia Prima, were the Cantii (Kent Europe is an event lost in the deepest antiwith its four kings) Regni, Bibroces, Attrequity. The Scythians, in the time of Hero- The Kimmerians, thus presumed to be bates, Segontiaci, Belga, Durobriges, Hedui, dotus, were in their turn impelling them from our progenitors, dwelt in subterraneous ha- Carnabii, Damnonii: In the peninsula of the Danube inwards; and Homer alludes to bitations. In battle they wore a head-piece | Wales were the Silures, Ordovices, and them as dwelling on the Pontus at the ex- representing some horrible animal gaping, or Dimetæ: Between the Thames, the Severn, tremities of the ocean, enveloped in mists, other fearful figure, and added a high floating the Mersey, the Humber, and the ocean (that clouds, and darkness (whence, in all probabi-crest to enhance the terror of their appear-district which afterwards formed the Flavia lity, the Euxine or Black Sea). These dates ance. They used white shining shields and Cæsariensis), were the Trinobantes (whose carry us back above 2,500 years, or to from iron mail; and fought with the axe or long-capital was London) Jeeni, Coritani, Cassii, six to eight centuries before the christian sword: thinking it honourable to die in the Dobuni, Huiccii, Ancalites, and Carnabii: field, and base to perish of disease. Human In the Maxima Cæsariensis of the Romans, sacrifices were part of their religious rites. our Lancashire, Westmoreland, CumberUpon closely investigating the remains of land, Yorkshire, Durham, and part of Norantiquity, we discover another ancient people, thumberland, were the Setantii, Volantii, a branch of the Kimmerians, placed in some (both occasionally spelt with u instead of a) of the western regions of Europe at the era and Brigantes: The five nations of the Roman when Greek history begins. These were the province Valentia, comprising the chief part Kelts, calling themselves Celta or Kelta, of Northumberland from Hadrian's Wall and the λ, and afterwards Taλzīα of the to the Wall of Antoninus in Scotland, were Greeks, and the Galli of the Romans. These the Ottadini, Gadeni, Selgovæ, Novantes, occupied Gaul, Spain, and the southern and Damnii: Beyond these, in North Britain, parts, probably contemporaneously with the were the tribes included in the Roman Vesoccupation of the north and north-west by pasiana, the Horestii, Vecturones, Taixali, their brethren the Kimmerii, whose progress Vacomagi, Albani, and Attacoti: And in the we have just been following. Their invasions rest of Scotland were the Caledoni, Cantæ, of Greece, Italy, and Rome, are familiar to Logi, Carnabii, Catini, Mertæ, Carnonancæ, every reader of history. There can be no Cerones, Creones, and Epidii. Cæsar's acdoubt but that the intercourse between Gaul counts of many of these tribes, their habits and Britain led to many settlements of the and druidical worship, are too well known to Kelts in our island, and that from them, as warrant re-capitulation. It would also be well as from the more northern Kimri, the superfluous to dwell on the progress of Roman population of the country ensued. The Kelts, conquest; suffice it to say, that the civilizaowing to their position on the maritime re- tion, dress, language, and learning of that gions more within the reach of the civilized people, gradually spread among the natives; nations of antiquity, began to be civilized great inilitary roads were constructed, and anterior to the Kimri; and the Phocian co- great military stations were taken up, which lony at Marseilles, four hundred and fifty in time became our principal towns and years before the christian era, tended great- cities. ly to diffuse among thein commerce, literature, and the arts. In their warlike expeditions, also, the Kelts acquired a knowledge of many beneficial improvements, which they carried back, together with their plunder, into their own territories. Their diffusion in Spain further brought them into contact with the more intellectual Phenicians and Carthaginians: and therefore, we may fairly presume, that the descendants of the Kelts in Britain, rude as they were, were more refined than the descendants of the Kimmerians. But it is likely that there was a portion of the people of these isles superior in civilization to either; we allude to the offspring of these very Phenicians and Carthaginians, who, in the pursuit of their commercial enterprises, visited Britain. Inscriptions in their language have been found at Malta; and since Mr. Turner's publication appeared, we have recorded a remarkable circumstance which points to their having reached the Cape of Good Hope. At all events they were in Spain, and founded Cadiz; and therefore it is far from improbable that they sought tin in Britain (their Cassiterides).

Attacked on the European side of their Bosphorus by the Scythians, the Kimmerian nations then, if not before, seem to have receded westward towards the German Ocean; and,gradually dispersing, spread over Europe. We have no certain tradition of the way in which this occupation was effected; for barbarians, in a nomadic state, have no records to light our enquiries. About a century before Cæsar, however, we find the Kimmerians alarmingly known to the Romans under the appellation of Cimbri. At this period a great body of them quitted their settlements on the Baltic, entered the Hyrcanian forest which covered the largest part of ancient Germany, and being repulsed by the Boioi, descended on the Danube. Within a few years they penetrated Noricum, Illyricum, and even Gaul and Spain, defeating Narbo and other Roman consuls in many battles. The Celtiberi drove them from Spain into France, where they formed a junction with the Teutones, another eruption from the Baltic, and, under their kings or leaders Bolus, Bojorise, and Teutobochus, burst into Italy with tremendous force. Marius and Sylla destroyed two or three hundred thousand of them, and nearly the whole of the desolating horde was annihilated. From this period the Kimmerian power declined in Europe; and those tribes which originally marched from Thrace to Jutland, covering Europe in their intermediate course, were in the time of Claudian nearly limited to their settlements on the German ocean; on those coasts of the Elbe and its vicinity which presented the greatest facilities for emigration into England and Scotland. Indeed it is evident that the Kimmerii, or Kimbri, soon after reaching these shores, found their way across, in their rude vessels, to Britain. The most ancient inhabitants of our island, all investigation teaches us, were the Cymri (pronounced Kumri), by which name their descendants continue to be called in Welsh literature, the most pure of any that has been derived from an ancient period. The name of Cumberland, Cumbria, is also very favourable to this presumption; but the Welsh traditions are unquestionably its most important auxiliaries. The first Triad declares, that when Prydain (Britain) first assumed that name and adopted a settled government," there was no tribute to any but to the race of the Kymry, because they first obtained it; and before them there were no men alive in it, nor any thing else but bears, wolves, beavers, and the oxen with

The knowledge of Britain in early ages by the Grecians is obscurely stated by several authors; to what extent it was carried, is not now to be ascertained. After the Roman conquest, however, we arrive at clearer data.

About the beginning of the third century, the Saxons and Angles began their invasions; but as the introduction of these nations forms a memorable epoch in our history, we shall here conclude our epitome of its earliest features, and reserve for our next the view of the Saxons, their origin and connexion with Britain.

PARTICULARS OF THE DEATH OF WILLIAM
THE CONQUEror.

[Pursuant to our promise, we quote the following

from Turner's Tour in Normandy, as pecsliarly interesting upon a memorable event in English history.]

"The King's decease was the signal for general consternation throughout the metropolis of Normandy. The citizens, panic struck, ran to and fro, as if intoxicated, or as if the town were upon the point of being taken by assault. Each asked counsel of he neighbor, and each anxiously turned his thoughts to the concealing of his property When the alarm had in some measure subsided the monks and clergy made a solem procession to the abbey of St. Georges, where they offered their prayers for the repose of the soul of the departed Duke; an archbishop Willian commanded that the body should be carried to Caen, to be in

terred in the church of St. Stephen, which But the remarkable incidents dooined | town-hall to demand the wages for their William had founded. But the lifeless king to attend upon this burial, were not yet at an labors.-In the course of these outrages the was now deserted by all who had participated end; for at the time when they were laying tomb of the Conqueror at one abbey, and in his munificence and bounty. Every one the corpse in the sarcophagus, and were bend- that of Matilda at the other, were demolished. of his brethren and relations had left him;ing it with some force, which they were com- And this was, not enough, but a few days nor was there even a servant to be found to pelled to do, in consequence of the coffin afterwards, the same band returned, allured perform the last offices to his departed lord. having been made too short, the body, which by the hopes of farther plunder. It was cusThe care of the obsequies was finally under- was extremely corpulent, burst, and so in- tomary in ancient times to deposit treasures taken by Herluin, a knight of that district, tolerable a stench issued from the grave, that of various kinds in the tombs of sovereigns, who, moved by the love of God and the all the perfumes which arose from all the as if the feelings of the living passed into the honor of his nation, provided at his own ex- censers of the priests and acolytes, were of next stage of existence;-. pence, embalmers, and bearers, and a hearse, no avail; and the rites were concluded in and conveyed the corpse to the Seine, whence haste, and the assembly struck with horror, it was carried by land and water to the place returned to their homes. of its destination.

wards, in the hands of a Calvinist, one Peter
Hodé, the gaoler at Caen, who used it in the
double capacity of a table and a door.-The
worthy magistrate states, that he kept the
picture," because the abbey church was de-
inolished."

quæ gratia currâm Armorumque fuit vivis, quæ cura nitentes Pascere equos, eadem sequitur tellure repostos. The bees that adorned the imperial mantle of Napoléon were found in the tomb of Childeric. A similar expectation excited the Huguenots, at Caen. They dug up the coffin: the hollow stone rung to the strokes of their daggers: the vibration proved that it was not filled by the corpse; and nothing more was wanted to seal its destruction.

"Upon the arrival of the funeral train at Caen, it was met by Gislebert, bishop of Evreux, then abbot of St. Stephen's, at the head of his monks, attended with a numerous throng of clergy and laity; but scarcely had the bier been brought within the gates, when the report was spread that a dreadful fire had broken out in another part of the town, and the Duke's remains were a second time deserted. The monks alone remained; and, fearful and irresolute, they bore their founder "with candle, with book, and with knell," to his last home. Ordericus Vitalis enumerates the principal prelates and barons assembled upon this occasion; but he makes no mention of the Conqueror's son, Henry, who, according to William of Jumieges, was the only one of the family that attended, and was also the only one worthy of succeeding to such a father.-Mass had now been per-state De Bourgueville saw it a few years after-flight, and the bones lost." Sad doings, formed, and the body was about to be committed to the ground, "ashes to ashes, dus: to dust," when, previously to this closing part of the ceremony, Gislebert mounted the pulpit, and delivered an oration in honor of the deceased. He praised his valor, which had so widely extended the limits of the Norman dominion; his ability which had elevated the nation to the highest pitch of glory; his equity in the administration of justice; his firmness in correcting abuses; and his liberality towards the monks and clergy; then, finally, addressing the people, he besought them to intercede with the Almighty for the soul of their prince, and to pardon whatsoever transgression he might have been guilty of towards any of them.At this moment, one Asselin, an obscure individual, starting from the crowd, exclaimed with a loud voice," the ground upon which you are standing, was the site of my father's dwelling. This man, for whom you ask our prayers, took it by force from my parent; by violence he seized, by violence he retained it; and contrary to all law and justice, he built upon it this church, where we are assembled. Publicly, therefore, in the sight of God and man, do I claim any inheritance, and protest against the body of the plunderer being covered with my turf."-The appeal was attended with instant effect; bishops and nobles united in their entreaties to Asselin; they admitted the justice of his claim they pacified him; they paid him sixty shillings on the spot by way of recompence for the place of the sepulture; and, finally, they satisfied him for the rest of the

land,

"The latter part of this story accords but with what De Bourgueville relates. We learn from this author, that four hundred and thirty years subsequent to the death of the Conqueror, a Roman cardinal, attended by an archbishop and bishop, visited the town of Caen, and that his eminence having expressed a wish to see the body of the duke, the monks yielded to his curiosity, and the "De Bourgueville, who went to the spot tomb was opened, and the corpse discovered and exerted his cloquence to check this last in so perfect a state, that the cardinal caused act of violence, witnessed the opening of the a portrait to be taken from the lifeless coffin. It contained the bones of the king, features.-It is not worth while now to in-wrapped up in red taffety, and still in toleraquire into the truth of this story, or the fide- ble preservation; but nothing else. He collity of the resemblance. The painting has lected them with care, and consigned them disappeared in the course of time: it hung to one of the monks of the abbey, who kept for a while against the walls of the church, them in his chamber, till the Admiral de opposite to the monument; but it was stolen Châtillon entered Caen at the head of his during the tumults caused by the Hugonots, mercenaries, on which occasion the whole and was broken into two pieces, in which abbey was plundered, and the monks put to these," says De Bourgueville, "et bien peu reformez "He adds, that one of the thighbones was preserved by the Viscount of Falaise, who was there with him, and begged it from the rioters, and that this bone was longer by four fingers' breadth than that of a "He was himself present at the second tall man. The bone thus preserved, was reviolation of the royal tomb, in 1572; and interred, after the cessation of the troubles : he gives a piteous account of the tran- it is the same that is alluded to in the inscripsaction. The monument raised to the me- tion, which also informs us that a monumory of the Conqueror, by his son, William ment was raised over it in 1642, but was reRufus, under the superintendance of Lan-moved in 1742, it being then considered as franc, was a production of much costly an incumbrance in the choir." and elaborate workmanship: the shrine, which was placed upon the mausoleum, glitLODGE'S PORTRAITS. tered with gold and silver and precious stones. To complete the whole, the effigy Parts XI. XII. XIII. and XIV. of the king had been added to the tomb, at In these four parts the portraits are of--Anne some period subsequent to its original erec- Bullen, Sir Anthony Denny, Cardinal Woltion.-A monument like this naturally ex-sey, Thomas Lord Seymour, of Sudeley, and cited the rapacity of a lawless banditti, unre- Henry Fitzalan Earl of Arundel, the last of strained by civil or military force, and that illustrious name, by Holbein; Robert Deinveterate against every thing that might be vereux Earl of Essex, by Hilliard; Heneage regarded as connected with the Catholic Finch Earl of Nottingham, John Graham first worship.-The Calvinists were masters of Viscount Dundee, and Thomas first Lord Caen, and, incited by the information of what Clifford, of Chudleigh, by Lely, Thomas had taken place at Rouen, they resolved to Wriothesley Earl of Southampton, by Merrepeat the same outrages. Under the spe- welt, George Carew Barl of Totness, Edcious pretext of abolishing idolatrous wor-ward Somerset Earl of Worcester, and Sir ship, they pillaged and ransacked every church and monastery: they broke the painted windows and organs, destroyed the images, stole the ecclesiastical ornaments, sold the shrines, committed pulpits, chests, books, and whatever was combustible, to the fire; and finally, after having wreaked their vengeance upon every thing that could be made the object of it, they went boldly to the

Walter Raleigh, by Zucchero: Dorothy Perey
Countess of Leicester, Richard Weston
Earl of Portland, Wiliam Russell, first
Duke of Bedford, Lucius Carey Viscount
Falkland, George Gordon second Marquis
of Huntley, and Frances Howard Duchess of
Richmond, by Vandyck; Thomas Howard
Earl of Arundel, by Rubens, Robert Spen-
cer Earl of Sunderland, by Carlo Maratta;