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of the Tower" took by the collar very roughly." A reception of a similar kind was given to each of them. At last entered Wyat, whom

"Sir John of Bridges took by the collar in most rigorous manner, and said these or much like words, 'Oh, thou villain and unhappy traitor, how couldst thou find in thine heart to work such detestable treason to the queen's majesty, who, being thy most gracious sovereign lady, gave thee thy life and living once already, although thou didst before this time bear arms in the field against her? and now to make such a great and most traitorous stir, yielding her battle, to her marvellous trouble and

fright. And if it was not (saith he) that the law must justly pass upon thee, would strike thee through with my dagger.' And in so saying, having one hand on the collar of the said master Wyat, and the other on his dagger, shaked his bosom : to whom Wyat made no answer, but holding his arms under his side and looking grievously with a grim look upon the said lieutenant, said, 'It is no mastery now!' And so they passed on." (p. 52.)

These rebellions were followed immediately by the execution of Lady Jane Grey and her husband. Neither of them had had any connection with the rising of Wyat, but the conduct of Lady Jane's father was made a pretence for sending them both to the scaffold. It was indeed alleged, by way of excuse, that the duke of Suffolk had again proclaimed his daughter, but the papers which Mr. Nichols here prints for the first time clearly prove, by the safe evidence of Mary's proclamations, that the duke's "only pretence" in his second insurrection was "to let the coming in of the prince of Spain and his train, spreading most false rumours that the said prince and the Spaniards intend to conquer this our realm." (p. 186.) Our chronicler gives a minute narrative of the execution of Guildford Dudley, and Mr. Nichols has inserted the contemporary account of Jane's execution, which was probably written by the same author, and was originally published as a small black-letter pamphlet. It is indeed a pitiable history. Nothing in poetry or romance is more terrible than the incident of Jane's meeting the headless bleeding body of her husband as she was herself passing to execution; nor anything more touching than her groping and fumbling to find the block

when blind-folded upon the scaffold. "What shall I do ?" she asked, "Where is it?" One of the bystanders guided her. She laid her head upon its last living resting-place, uttered a brief commendation of her spirit to the Father of mercies, and in another instant the most beautiful form in England was a mangled and repulsive corpse.

The book proceeds with sad particulars of the other horrors which so quickly followed; the executions of Suffolk and of Wyat and his followers. London and Kent were set thick with hanging traitors. The children in the introducing the prince of Spain into streets played at the queen and Wyat,

their mimic contests. On one occasion the boy who represented the prince was taken prisoner, and was instantly hanged by the juvenile representatives of the Wyat party on a neighbouring tree. He narrowly escaped strangulation, and the council thought the matter serious enough to order the ringleaders of the sport to be imprisoned and whipped.

The executions continued until the arrival of the prince of Spain. The gallows trees were then suddenly cleared away, the cross of Cheap was newly gilded, the streets were filled with pageants, there was a new coinage with the heads of Philip and Mary, and whilst the land was full of rumours of coming trouble, every body was bidden to rejoice at the happy marriage. It is at this time that the Chronicle comes to an end. Amongst its last entries are the following:

"As this time there were so many Spaniards in London that a man should have met in the streets for one Englishman above four Spaniards, to the great discomfort of the English nation. The [city] halls taken up for [lodging] the Spaniards.

"Brought into the Tower four out of Suffolk for an insurrection there, and cer

tain executed.

"The 5th of September a talk of 12,000 Spaniards coming more into the realm; they said to fetch the crown."

Our brief comment upon the contents of this book must have proved the accuracy of our commencing assertion of its interest and importance. We conclude, as we began, with giving it our heartiest commendation.

THE DUKE OF CAMBRIDGE AT HANOVER.

[THE kindness of the present possessor of the following letter enables us to give publicity to a very interesting testimony to the domestic virtues of the late Duke of Cambridge, and to the popularity of his administration when occupying the vice-regal chair in Hanover. Not that his reputation on either of these points stands in need of further confirmation. Public opinion is already unanimous in his favour. But a peculiar interest will be found to attach to this new evidence, which was given in the full confidence of the most private correspondence, and relates throughout to personages in the most exalted stations.

It was addressed by the Princess Elizabeth, the Dowager Landgravine of Hesse Homburg, to her brother King George the Fourth. Having lost her husband on the 2nd of April, 1829, she was invited to Hanover for change of scene. This letter was written shortly after her arrival there. The excitement consequent upon her recent distress, will account for one or two little slips of the pen, and also for some expressions which might otherwise appear exaggerated; but the attention of the reader will be attracted, not by the imperfections of the letter, but by the many touches of natural and affectionate warm-heartedness with which it abounds.

The original was in the possession of the late Mr. French of Windsor, and was purchased at the sale of his collection of autographs (with many other valuable letters of the house of Brunswick), by Mrs. John Gough Nichols, to whom we are indebted for its communication.]

Hanover, June 17th, 1829. It was fully my intention to have written to You, my beloved and dearest dear Brother, the moment I arrived under Your hospitable roof, to thank You for giving me house room, and most comfortably situated do I find myself; but my spirits at first coming were so bad, that I could scarcely write at all. The affection, kindness, and delicacy of my dearest Adolphus I cannot speak too highly of, and it is a satisfaction to find from all quarters, high and low, how he is loved, respected, and looked up to, as he so entirely considers You in all and every thing that is done. He keeps up that devotion and respect towards You which all feel, and You are most fortunate in having one here who so thoroughly devotes himself for the good of His Sovereign and his country.

I keep to myself in the morning, only seeing one or two of Your Court whom my respect and love for You is my duty to see, and then the quiet enables me to go to dinner at Montbrilliant, where I remain till night. The air and beauty of that place does me good, only the gnats are so venomous that at this moment I am perfectly disfigured, and suffering from my eyes being nearly out of my head. I have began bathing in some delightful baths close to the town. If it is very fine I can go to breakfast with them at Montbrilliant, and come home, but to-day

I am so disfigured I was obliged to return to the Furschlosshoff, as I hope the violent swelling of my face may decrease a little before I am seen.

You may depend upon my being of very little expense to You, for I live entirely at Adolphus's; but the quiet of the place and the little garden is bliss to one situated as I am now, for I am at least twenty years older since my irreparable loss. Yet believe me I am so grateful to God for my very happy eleven years that they will ever be looked back upon with thankfulness. Never was Î so happy, or ever was more devotedly attached to anything on earth, as I was to Fitz, for his excellence was beyond what I can tell you. His life was spent in doing good, and his value is now thoroughly known and appreciated, and so, thank God, I always foretold. Nothing but religion and time can soften my grief, and that cannot be immediately. The change of scene will do much for me, and this place is so very delightful, for You have such beautiful gardens, that I am in raptures with all I see. walking quietly the other evening at Hernhausen very near was too much. I looked at Your windows, when a lump was in my throat. Thus it is in this world. Memory, which I look upon as the greatest of blessings, can recall days and hours, long gone by, which touch one's feelings, and make one thrill. Hanover is much improved;

The

many very fine houses built. The Allie is in the greatest beauty, and it is a blessing to any town having the country so close to it. When the Duchess of Cambridge goes to the play (which is now over, for it closed on Monday), then I drive out with Adolphus, and two delightful evenings I enjoyed in seeing the wood belonging to the town. We stayed out till near nine o'clock. The air was very fine, and has enabled me to sleep better. As I am bathing, I believe we shall stay on some time longer, and then return to Rothenberther, which is a most lovely thing, and your pheasantry and all belonging to that farm in the highest order that occupies me much when there. Your dairy, poultry-yard, cowstable, all in the highest order, and so well managed and taken care of by the man who overlooks it; Your working-horses so very fine. This is very unlike my usual letters, but my head is still in so bewildered a state that I write so much slower, and, my thoughts ever being on one subject, I cannot be

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P.S. It is but just that I should add a few lines on the amiable conduct of the dear Duchess of Cambridge, who has been all goodness to me, and considers me in everything. She improves upon one the more one knows her. Her conduct as both wife and mother is very delightful. As the first she would be very wrong could it be otherwise, for Adolphus adores her, and she is perfectly sensible of the treasure she possesses in her most perfect and excellent husband. The children are charming, and the greatest comfort to me. The little girl would amuse You very much. The boy, much improved and very much grown, looks stronger, and is quite healthy. Their extreme happiness and ignorance of all cares is quite a blessing to me, and soothes my broken heart.

HISTORY OF POTTERY.*

THIS work, which with pleasure we introduce to our readers, is almost restricted, as its title indicates, to collections of materials in aid of a more systematic and complete history of pottery and porcelain from the fifteenth down to the nineteenth century. To the Ceramic or Plastic art it is what Mr. Apsley Pellatt's "Curiosities of Glass Making" is in relation to the Composition and History of Vitreous Compounds, and, like the latter (noticed some time since in our pages), it is richly illustrated with woodcuts and coloured plates, an indispensable appendage to the textual description of objects such as those which this volume purposes to make known and explain. It is not merely the forms which are to be exemplified, but also, where the effect depends on a combination of colours, the hand of the painter must lend its aid to convey to the reader a proper idea of the works of art with

which he is seeking to become acquainted. For example, no unillustrated description would convey to the uninitiated any notion of the numerous and complex designs of many of the productions treated on by the author, and the elegant and tasteful Majolica, Palissy, and Sèvres vases and dishes would scarcely be recognised unless delineated in their peculiarly delicate and beautiful tints; but representations of some of the more remarkable specimens, as introduced in Mr. Marryat's volume, leave nothing to be desired, and the reader is at once enabled to jog on cheerfully pari passu with his guide, and reap the full benefit of his instruction.

In the division devoted to foreign pottery the ware known by the names of Majolica, Raffaelle, and Umbrian occupies the first place. Though the production of the fifteenth century, we are informed it owes its origin, about

* Collections towards a History of Pottery and Porcelain in the Fifteenth, Sixteenth, Seventeenth, and Eighteenth Centuries; with a Description of the Manufacture, a Glossary, and a List of Monograms. By Joseph Marryat. 8vo. Lond. 1850.

the twelfth century, to the introduction into Italy of the Moorish pottery by the Pisans; and in the walls of the ancient churches of Pisa, and of other towns in Italy, are still to be found plates or bacini apparently of Moorish pattern and origin. Respecting these curious decorations Mr. Dawson Turner, in an unpublished journal, dated Pisa, Oct. 18th, 1825, writes, "After having returned to the Conservatore the keys of the Campo Santo, he was kind enough to walk and show me several specimens of plates from Majorca, embedded in the walls of sundry churches in the city, to which they form singular ornaments. It was a custom at Pisa with the warriors returning from the Crusades and stopping at Majorca, to bring home this peculiar earthenware by way at once of testimony and trophy. They are accordingly only to be found in the oldest buildings of the style that we in England should call Norman. In St. Sisto and St. Apollonica they are on the west front, and a row of them is also to be seen running along the sides under the cornice. In St. Francisco are some near the top of the campanile, which is very lofty. I afterwards observed others in the walls of two churches of about the same date at Pavia." The early specimens of Majolica of the fourteenth century, we learn, are very similar to the Moorish pottery, being ornamented with arabesque patterns in yellow and green upon a blue ground. The term "Raffaelle ware takes its origin from the designs furnished by this great artist or by his scholars for the Majolica vessels. Marc Antonio especially, who was employed by Raffaelle, and worked under his immediate superintendence, contributed by his skill to raise the manufacture to a high degree of perfection, and to identify it with the name of his great master. Some of the very numerous forms of the vessels in Majolica are described by the author. Of these, without the aid of illustrations, we can give but a faint notion. There are "the early "Piatti da Pompa," or dishes for great occasions, made at Pesaro, and the pilgrim's bottles known by the holes in the bottom rim, through which a strap or cord was passed; the "Tazzoni da

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frutta di rilievo," or fruit basins with embossed patterns in high relief of the gold colour of Pesaro, dated 1470; cisterns of large dimensions, and vases of every quaint variety of form highly embellished with painting, with their handles formed of serpents, and rims surmounted by grotesque figures of animals and fishes; vessels used by apothecaries to hold their drugs; amatorii, a name given to various pieces, such as small basins or small deep dishes adorned with the portrait and name of a favourite lady, to be presented by a lover as a pledge, are not less admirable specimens of the art. On such was inscribed, under the portrait, the name, in this fashion: MINERVA BELLA.-CECILIA BELLA. These

portraits are interesting as giving the costume and head-dress of the period. Small plates for ices and sweetmeats, about a palm in diameter; children's plates, with paintings in the style of the Festa di Ballo; nuptial vases with appropriate subjects; vases for holding different kinds of wine, poured out from one spout; "Fiaschini," or small flasks, in the shape of lemons and apples; cups covered with tendrils and quaint devices; small statues of saints; jocose figures; birds of every kind, coloured after nature; painted tiles, used for walls and floors, many of them admirably executed, show the great variety and excellence of this ware.

In the sixteenth century the Majolica was manufactured at Nevers in France, under the name of "Fayence;" and in the seventeenth century Rouen became distinguished for its enamelled pottery. Another description of this ware peculiar to France is that known by the term Palissy, from Bernard Palissy, its inventor, whose genius, indomitable perseverance, and independence of mind, invest his memory with honour, and his works with an interest apart from their intrinsic merit.

"He was born in the beginning of the sixteenth century, of parents so poor that they could not give him any education. He learnt however to read and write, and, having acquired some knowledge of landsurveying, obtained a livelihood by following that employment. The habit of drawing lines and geometrical figures inspired him with a taste for design, which

talent he developed in copying the works of the great Italian masters. He was employed in painting images and pictures upon glass. He visited the principal provinces in France, examined the monuments of antiquity, and made numerous observations upon different mineral productions, which are astonishing even at the present day. He also studied chemistry, as it was then taught, in order to know the composition and properties of minerals. Having finished his travels before 1539, he established himself at Saintes, and there lived upon the produce of his talent for painting. Seeing at this time a beautiful cup of enamelled pottery, the idea struck him that if he could discover the secret of the composition of the enamel used, it would enable him to bring up his children creditably; and from that time his mind was solely directed to this object. After exhausting his savings in fruitless attempts, he borrowed money to construct a new furnace, and, when wood failed him, he actually burnt the tables and boards of his house to finish the operation, which succeeded but imperfectly. He discharged his only workman, and, not having money to pay him, he gave him part of his clothes. Although devoured by chagrin he affected a cheerful air, and persisted still in following up his experiments, until his efforts were at length crowned with the glorious result to the attainment of which they had been so long and so patiently directed."

In 1555, after sixteen years of laborious trial, he discovered the long sought enamel. Fame and the royal patronage rapidly followed. But he was soon called upon to re-encounter adversity. He had espoused the principles of the Reformation, and in 1562 was arrested, his workshop was destroyed, and his life was saved only by the special interposition of the king. He then gave lectures on natural history and physics until 1584. But "these services did not, however, give him favour in the eyes of the Leaguers, since he was arrested by order of the Sixteen and shut up in the Bastile." Henry III. went to visit him in prison, and said to him, "My good fellow, if you do not renounce your views upon the point of religion I shall be constrained to leave you in the hands of my enemies." "Šire,” replied this intrepid old man, "those who constrain you can never have power over me, because I know how to die." Events happily did not come to this extremity,

for the Duke de Montpensier, aware that he was not able to deliver him, humanely delayed the prosecution, and Palissy terminated in prison, about 1589, at the age of ninety, a life which he had rendered illustrious by great talents and rare virtues. His writings, little known in England, are excessively curious, especially the autobiography of his fictile career; however, from want of precise and definite details, they give little information as to the processes he employed, and after his death, and that of his brothers who succeeded him, the art was lost.

The Palissy ware, of which we are told a Paris collector possesses at least seventy varieties, is characterised by many peculiarities. The subjects of the designs are historical, allegorical, mythological, and natural objects, in relief and coloured, chiefly in yellow, blue, and gray, and sometimes green, violet, and brown; the enamel is hard, but the glaze is not so good as that of delft. The natural objects are remarkable for fidelity in form and colour, and are chiefly moulded from nature. The fossil shells with which this potter has ornamented his ware, Mr. Marryat states, are the tertiary shells of the Paris basin; the fish those of the Seine; the reptiles and plants those of the environs of Paris; and that no foreign natural production is to be seen on his ware. This fact will enable connoisseurs to know the true Palissy pottery from imitations and counterfeits.

In passing to Germany we are reminded of the excellence of the pottery manufactured in early times on the Rhine; of the German fictile mask, the subject of one of Martial's epigrams, and the workmanship of the Batavian potter Rufus, sum figuli lusus Rufi persona Batavi; and we regret that Mr. Marryat has for the present deferred the first volume of his work, in which a consecutive history of the fictile art may be expected in the primeval and medieval periods, where much matter of interest may be collected. In the present volume the author only glances at the antiquity and celebrity of the German pottery in a commentary on the work of Theophilus, where the fine glaze is mentioned as made at Schelested in Alsace in 1278, and to a passage in the "Annales Dominicarum'

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