This very curious MISSAL was, how ever, saved from the general wreck, and came into the hands of Mr. Walter Cope, in whose possession Stow had seen and admired it. The various and desultory reading of our antiquary having led him very much to observe upon the merits of ancient writers; we, therefore, rather wonder that he has not mentioned “the philosophical," or, rather, the polemical, Strode, one of the most intimate friends of Chaucer, especially as he has taken notice of the moral Gower," the other associate of our ancient bard, of whose works he was the third editor. The first was the parent of printing in this country, William Caxton, mercer, who was at the pains of collecting the manuscript poems of our Homer, which had been circulated piecemeal, dispersed in conventual libraries, and concealed in monastic cells; for it is certain, that the friars and monks of remote ages had no objection to the contemplation of those strong traits of character, picturesque descriptions, critical situations, and warm colouring, with which those tales, &c. some of which, it is said, had been recited at market-crosses and fairs, abounded, and which, it is believed, endeared them to the recluse of both sexes. The second editor through whose hands the works of Chaucer passed, was William Thynne, Esq. who published them in the reign of HENRY VIII. with considerable additions, probably obtained through the same medium, though not exactly in the same manner, as the former. These circumstances are noted by Stow, but he shall here speak for himself. "This work" (Chaucer's Poems, &c.), "since corrected, and twice increased, through my own painful labours, in the reign of Queen ELIZABETH, to wit, in the year 1567, and again beautified with notes by me collected out of divers records and monuments, I delivered to my worthy friend, Thomas Speight." This gentleman having, as it appears, mo dernized the materials of our indefatigable compiler, who was, probably, in this business, employed by him, was, with the adition of a glossary, published anno 1597. Of the works of other ancient historians Stow also possessed a great number, obtained under the circumstances adverted to in the note:* and in order *The age of Stow was, as we have before observed, a period peculiarly favorable to the cultivators and preservers of black letter literature, for the use of the present; the harvest was great, although the labourers were few but these collected with avidity those tomes that were then let loose, for many of them had been imprisoned in stone book cases, and literally confined in chains in the conventual libraries (that of the grey friars, for instance) during a long series of centuries, antecedent to the reformation ; they have consequently transmitted to us a great number of those volumes,"Whose clasps emboss'd, and coat of rough bull's hide, Have now become the Bibliographer's pride; Anxious, upon each uncouth page they pore, The LETTERS value, but their smut adore." The booksellers of Paul's, of which we have before us a list of twelve; together with two or three of those at St. Peter's, Cornhill; and the Stocks, were in those times at the head of their profession; that is, they were original publishers, and dealt only in new works. The book-brokers of the metropolis had a long range of sheds opposite the Temple conduit, and under St. Dunstan's church. The pamphlet venders kept close to the wall of Bedlam, the stallmen or stationers were to be found in the King's Field, (now Soho square) Lincoln's-inn-fields, and Bunhill-fields; the Vampers of books in Five Inkhorn Court, (Grub-street). The publishers of halfpenny histories, murders, ghosts, monsters, &c. &c. the collectors of most of the wonders of Wan series of portraits of the kings, queens, and nobility, &c. of England, whether those are correct likenesses, it is impossible to ascertain: Godwin observes,(a) we may reasonably believe that the persons they represent never sat to the delineators. Certainly they did not, nor was that either necessary, or indeed possible. The process of miniature painting upon vellum, is too tedious to admit of it. JoB, in the course of such a series of revisals and retouchments, would have shrunk from his stool through fatigue and disgust; but this is no reason why the reverend artists of former times, might ley, or indeed of his predecessors, Poole,(b) not have been able to have obtained good likenesses of their subjects from large portraits, either in possession of churches, monasteries, or in other places to which they could have as easy access. (a) Life of Chaucer, Ato. p. 168. (b) MATTHEW POOLE, a non-conformist minister, born at York 1624, educated at Emanuel College, Cambridge, rector of St. Michael le Quern, LONDON, died 1679, author of the Synopsis Criticorum, and many other works. to shew bow anxious he was to promote the studies that he loved, we must Turner,(a) &c. from a period almost coe: al to the introduction of printing, resided in Grub-street. From this literary and philosophic spot, celebrated as the Lyceum or the Academic Grove, issued many of the earliest of our English lyrics, and most of our miniature histories, and other works, the tendency of which, was "to elenate and surprise" the people. This favoured avenue gave birth to those flying-sheets and volatile pages, dispersed by such characters as SHAKSPEARE's Autolycus, who does not more truly represent an individual, than a species, common in ancient times. Those works marufactured in Crub-street, obtained from it their local appellation, a term much delighted in by Swift,(b) and other celebrated ironists; their authors, the vestiges of whose dilapidated dwellings (if that term may he applied to houses of rood, toth, and plaster) we have erst contemplated with the same respect and veneration that we frequently do those that still remain, were, most truly," the eminent hunds” of their own publishers, in whose attics they resided. Respecting the booksellers, or book-factors, of Little Britain, who formed a happy link in the coucatenation betwixt the aristocracy of the trade in Paul's, and its democracy in Moorfields, &c. they seem to have luxuriated in the revulsion of letters, which drew all the fanatical, fantastical, and polemical humours of former ages, and fixed them on one spot, whence they frequently acquired new forms, -and in calf's array, Rush'd on the world impatient for the day." Such was the state of the bibliotbecal empire, and commonwealth, which had in the time of Stow, become rich in books and MSS, from the ransack of Khravies, as other em. pires and common wealths, have erst become rich in reality from the ransack of kingdoms. Of the former species of riches he availed (a) WILLIAM TORNER, vicar of Walberton, Sussex, republished, with great additions, POOLE's Complete History of remarkable Providences, folio, 1807. Printed for John Dunton, at the Paven, in Jewin-street, Cripplegate. (b) e. g. "I have this morning sent out another pure Crib,”—“ G-strert has but 10 days to run, then an act of Parliament takes place that ruins it, by taxing every sheet a halfpenny."-" Do you know that Grub-street is dead and gone, last week? No more ghosts or murders now, for love or money. I plied it close last fortnight, and published at least seven papers of my own, besides some of other people.”—Journal to Stella, July 9, 1712, and passita, The duty alluded to took place August 7, Ele: so that Swift was mistaken in his calculation of ten days. observe, that, being acquainted with that ingenious and learned antiquary, David Powell,* D.D. whose curious conjectures upon ancient British coins are recorded by Camden, and who was writing a history of Wales, he lent him many valuable books: this Powell acknowledges in an address to the readers of his Cambrian History. "I had," says he," from Stow, Gildas Sapiens, Henry Huntingdon, William Malmsbury, Marianus Scotus,◊ Ralph Cogshall,|| John Eversden, Nicholos Trivet,** Florentus Vigorniensis,†† Simon of Durham,‡‡ Roger Hoveden,§§ which remained in the custody of John Stow, a man who deserved commendation for getting together the ancient writers of the land." It has been said of Stow, that such favourite occupation, the collection of was his avidity in the pursuit of his ancient records and ancient literature, that he did not circumscribe his researches within the walls of the metropolis, or its adjacent counties; but bimself to an astonishing extent; for it will be observed, in the text and antecedent notes, that nearly all the works which we have mentioned, though comparatively a few, to the contents of his catalogue, were written by monks or friars, and had most unquestionably formed part of the treasure of monastic libraries. DAVID POWELL was born in Denbighshire, about 155%; educated at Oxford, where he took his degree of D.D.: he pubJished Caradoc's History of the British Kings from Cadwallader to his own time, about 1144, and other works; died 1590, and was buried in the church of Randon, in Denbighshize, of which parish he was vicar. + GILDAS, called the Wist, or Badonicus,` lived in the sixth century; wrote a small treat se de Exvidio Britanniæ, in 564, in the sixty-fourth year of his age, being born the same year that the Britons were defeated by the Saxons at Badonhill.Vide Collier's Diet. A Benedictine Monk in the reign of HENRY II. &A Monk who died 1986. Or Cogeshalle, an English Cistertian Monk of the thirteenth century, who was at Jerusalem when besieged by Saladin: he wrote a Caronicle of the Holy Land. 1 A Monkish Historian. ** A Dominican Friar wrote A Chronicle of England from 1185 to 1307. &c. ++ A Monk of Worcester lived in the twelfth century. that during, and subsequent to the dissolution of abbeys, monasteries, convents, and other ecclesiastical edifices, he travelled on foot, from one scene of devastation to another, over great part of England and Wales. In these journies, which, combined, might be termed a search after truth, he was most anxious in his inquiries, and diligent in his investigation. His learning enabled him most accurately to scrutinize those subjects that came within the scope of his observation, and his judgment, correctly to appreciate their value; while his heraldic and genealogical knowledge aided his disquisitive faculties, and qualified him fully to comprehend and elucidate those historical subjects upon which he has so ably expatiated. The predominant feature in the character of Stow, and a most valuable propension it is in the mind of a historian, was, as we have just observed, his love of truth: falsehood shrunk from his grasp like the serpent from the touch of the spear of lihuriel! Hence he created against himself many enemies, which were engendered not only by his exposure and explosion of vulgar errors, but by his detection of literary, aud, indeed, as we shall now state, many other frauds. The confusion that reigned in parochial affairs during the time of his existence is well known; the misapplication of pious and charitable bequests had become proverbial. Opinion and principle, in this respect, combined to excile his indignation, to animate his disquisitive faculties, and give a keener edge to his acumen; he, therefore, with more than even his usual ardour, undertook a civic, a ward, and a parochial investigation: the result of his inquiries, the progress of which may be seen in his Survey, was certainly beneficial to the public; but with respect to himself, it seems to have been instrumental to the withholding the hands of many of his narrow-minded compatriots from contributing to his relief in the hour of distress, and even, for his humble applications, to have procured him the insulting and hard-hearted epithets of "Officious medlar," 66 Unlearned botcher," and many others, equally vulgar, abusive, and ill-founded: nay, a reverend divine* thus expresses him These and other invidious reflections were made by Dr. Matthew Sutcliffe, dean Europ. Mug. Fol. LXIV. July 1813. self of John Slow and his writings: "A worthy chronicler to set forth the acts of Tailors and Botchers, of which trade he was a member." Yet the names both of his patrons and his acquaintance indicate that he was equally honoured and esteemed: some of the former we have already mentioned; but to those notices ho ultimately added the name of Richard Lord Rich, Lord Chancellor of England, in the reigns of HENRY VIII. and EDWARD VI. whose ancestry he retraced to Richard Rich, mercer, the founder of the family of the Earls of Warwick, who was sheriff of LONDON, &c. in the year 1442, and respecting whom he dwelt with honest pride upon the connexion of civic opulence with aristocratic honours. Of the acquaintance of Stow, there were two persons who were extremely useful to him in his armorial embla zonments and genealogical researches: these were, first, William Smith, Rouge Dragon Pursuivant, whose friendship be obtained by communicating to him some remarks upon his (Smith's) professional antiquities, and he, in return, obliged Stow, by putting into his hands the historical records respecting the palace of the duchy of Lancaster called the Savoy, and favouring him with other articles, which he afterwards inserted in his survey. The second friend of our chronologist was William Segar, Portcullis Herald, who had attended the Earl of Leicester to Flanders: to this gentleman he was obliged for the true and faithful account of the manner of keeping the festival of St. George of Exeter, a man after the king's own heart; for he projected the building of, and liberally endowed a college at Chelsen, for the study of polemical divinity, called King James's college, the site of which, is now the ROYAL HOSPITAL, Sutcliffe aspersed Stow in a pamphlet he wrote in answer to "Parsons's Three Conversions;" but it appears that he was very little acquainted with the character of the man, whose original profession he reprobated. It is curious enough, that George Ballard, the antiquary, Saxonist, &c, who died the 17th of December, 1729, is said to have valued himself upon his trade, (that of a tailor and habitmaker) because it was the same as that of his great predecessor Slow. + He died in the year 1469, and was buried in the church of St. Laurence Jerry. From the Earl of Savoy, who built that once magnificent mansion. D * at Utrecht, and also for that of the investiture of HENRY II. King of France, by Henry Earl of Derby, who, in January 1584, arrived at Paris with the robes and ensigns of the Order. In fact, it appears that professional men in particular were as anxious to render him every assistance in their power, as the learned, in general, were to approve of his labours in their arrangement, and, indeed, upon many very important occasions, to avail themselves of their beneficial results. Let us here conclude our account of but also have been insulted by a mode of pity and a prospect of relief equally ostentatious, illusory, and, consequently. ineffectual; and, after he had nearly arrived at the very extremity of human life, have been obliged to linger through his latter days in POVERTY, and close his eyes in INDIGENCE. EPISTOLARY ESSAYS ON THE ANALYSIS OF ENGLISH IDIOMS. this erudite antiquary, venerable citi- (By the Author of "Fables for the Fire zen, indefatigable author, and excellent man, whose only error seems to have been, that he thought, as a writer, Side.") To the Editor of the European Magazine. SIR, N the greater number of idiomatic he was able to correct enormities which phrases, there is generally somehe had merely the power to rebuke: hence, from his frequent and severe observations upon dilapidations, confisca tions, frouds, impostors, inquests, bequests, inclosures, and a number of other grievances, he rendered himself obnoxious to many individuals, and to some parties equally numerous and powerful. An acute, a morbid sensibility, contributed with disappointment and distress to make the old age of JonN STOW unhappy radical irritability of temper was increased by the depression of his circumstances; his labours and his reward bore no kind of comparison. We, therefore, consider it as a reflection upon his times, that an author whose works had done so much honour, and so much service, to his native city, and, of course, to his country in general; a man who had sacrificed his health, his fortune, and his repose, for the benefit of his age, indeed of every age that has since elapsed, should, at a time when, although strong in his mental powers, he was enfeebled in his corporeal, not only be debarred of that remuneration which, in consequence of his talents and his exertions, he had a right to expect from his compatriots, thing figurative; and without assistance from the rhetoricians, I should hardly be able to set a foot forward in my attempts to analyse them. A metaphor, or an ellipsis, may be found in most of them, and both in many; not to mention every kind of figure in some or other of them. Vain, as it were, of their metaphoric smartness, and with an air of pert brevity from idleness or hurry, these upstarts in language are forward to thrust themselves into the company of their betters, as I hinted in my last, and that without decent respect for the laws and authority of grammar, and often, apparently, careless of the claims of common sense. In my first epistle, I gave a specimen of a modern intruder, equally bold and barbarous, sprung from the dog-kennel; and, before I proceed again to those, which may be said to have gained a settlement in our language, I am tempted to introduce to your readers a curious one of kindred origin from the Mews, and which may have had some currency in the stables of Newmarket; where it will best be confined, unless occasionally exhibited abroad, for some. purpose like the present. A groom of the place, one day,' currying his master's racer, and being applauded for his dexterity, exclaimed, in the following beautiful instance of ellipsis, Aye, gem'men, I wish I had as much money, as I could curry a horse." A deep linguist from Cambridge, who had quitted Pindar and his Grecian games and chariot-races for the day's amusement at Newmarkel, happening to be a spectator of the groom's performance, appeared ra ther puzzled at his speech; and trying to pick up the connecting ideas from which the rest had so nimbly galloped away, was soon informed by a "knowing-one" present, that Mr. Currycomb, not yet having shewn the whole extent of his adroitness, meant to say, "that he wished himself to possess as much money, as he could display skill in the currying of a horse." His wish, though something elliptically expressed, was nothing less than that of many others distinguished in their vocation by superior talents, that his fortune had borne a better proportion to his merits. But it is more than time that I return to the properer objects of my Essays, those idioms which have long taken place in our language. 1. It is all one.—Translation. It is entirely the same thing-There is no difference-The thing is in no manner changed.-Analysis. The first translation nearly solves the idiom. A thing that is "all the same," or continues without change, presents an idea of unily; not mathematically exact indeed; but sufficiently so to account for the substitution of "one" for the "same thing." The introduction of "all" makes no difficulty in the solution of this idiom: it implies nothing more than an emphasis with which, in using the phrase" all one," we mean to declare, that it makes no difference, whether we adopt one thing, or one course of action under consideration, or another nearly the same, or very like it, since in kind, elect, intent, or purpose, the idea of "unity" loosely prevails, and thus "all one" comes to mean the same thing." It is "all one" or "the same thing," whether you take this egg, or the other; or, whether you sow this grain of mustardsced, or another. 2. Over head and ears.-Tr. Deeply plunged, or immersed.-Anal. This phrase is clearly metaphorical, and taken from the desperate situation of a person drowning, or plunged into water out of his depth. To express difficulty or danger in a moral sense, we say a man is over head and ears in debt, in business, or in love. . 3. To get up.-Tr. To rise from bed, or from a recumbent posture elsewhere. -Anal. The verb "get," taken in its neutral sense, means, sometimes, says Dr. Johnson," to arrive at any state or posture by degrees, with some kind of labour, effort, or difficulty." The adverb "Up" gives us the direction of the motion in rising, whether from bed, or any other situation. The words are derived from the Saxon neutral verb “gaen and op—to go up." One, who rises corporeally, gets up in a literal sense; another, who rises in the world, gets up metaphorically. 4. To make it out -Tr. To examine or investigate the circumstances of any alfair, in order to its being understood. Anal. A matter in question contains something, which is at present enveloped, or hidden within its circum. stances, or covered partly by its adjuncts.-There is, in this idiom, some verb of the infinitive mood omitted; probably, "to come;" which being supplied, gives it an intelligible incaning. It is a common demand made on a scholar or student, to whom we have enjoined the solution of a problem in arithmetic or mathematics, &c. "Well, how does it come out?" and this, it is likely, in correspondence with our own phrase in giving the problem, namely, Make it out" Make" the demonstration or solution to come out;" or bring it from the obscurity, in which, to you, it is at present involved, into a clear light. To make it out," is often morally applied, for the same purpose, to a man's conduct, or any worldly transaction or business, when they are said to be problematical, or to need explanation. 5. Not at all. -Tr. "Not in any manner," says Johnson-Anal The learned doctor translates the idiom, not, perhaps, amiss, as conveying a strong negation. But when, under the preposition" At," he tells us, it sometimes means nearly the same as "In," he makes no approach to the developement of the idiom. May we not hope to succeed better by recourse to Horne Tooke's system of deriving all prepositions, as well as articles, conjunctions, &c. from either nouns or verbs? It is not easy, however, to assent to Tooke's derivation of both the Latin " Ad" and the English "At" from the verb agere. This may be the source of the Latin preposition; but if that be granted him, shall we not much more naturally trace our preposition." At," through the English verb "Add," to the Latin "Addere ?" "At," in all the seventeen different significations assigned it by Dr. Johnson, might, through the ideas of addition approximation, or contiguity, be traced to some relation |