MR. ASHTON'S ESSAYS.*

THE author has chosen a very appropriate title (though Variz -me would be more conformable to strict Latinity) for his book, for it contains seven essays on very different subjects, most of -them interesting, and all well and attractively written. The -first, entitled "Childhood's Drama," will, we fear, hardly -arrest the attention of any save persons of strangely pro- nounced dramatic tastes, and. who patronise private theatricals, -the utility of which to the rising generation some have questioned, and which is certainly a matter admitting of discussion. We agree with Mr. Ashton in his statement that in the last century some very serious anachronisms were perpetrated in the matter of theatrical costume, an error probably derived from the period when dramatic repre. -sentations were, like the chase, the amusement of Kings and -their courtiers, and when the wearing of accurate Court dress on the stage was deemed essential as a mark of due respect to Royalty. The progress of education has, we believe, done much to remedy this shortcoming; and we have -read somewhere of an eminent actor who insisted on wearing a red hat in the part of Shylock, because he had ascertained that Jews at Venice were obliged to wear this species of head- covering, and he wished to do all things as accurately as possible. We may here notice what we consider a mistake of a Shakespearian commentator, who supposes that the guests at Macbeth's castle, when aroused by the alarm of Duncan's murder, appear on the stage in their dressing-gowns, as such garments were hardly known anywhere at this early period, and Scottish chieftains most probably slept in the costumes they wore by day.

The next article gives a careful, and in some respects an interesting, account of the few years of life granted, to the little Duke of Gloucester, son of the Princess Anne (after- wards Queen) and Prince George of Denmark, celebrated in history as " Est-il possible," a phrase, however, which he may have used not so much from stupidity as from that prudent caution which foreign Princes connected by affinity with our Royal Family, have found it necessary for their reputation to adopt, and, we regret to say, too often fruitlessly. To _judge of the accounts of the character and peculiarities of this "poor little Prince," as our author designates him, we may well say,— Ostendent terris hunc tantum fata nec ultra Esse sinent.

He showed at a very early age strong military tastes, and, though in a less degree, interested himself in ships of war, had his body-guard of boys, and was a stern martinet,—pro- -pensities which some may condemn, and which perhaps prudent parents should not encourage overmuch. But at this time we were straggling in defence of our religion and liberty against the most powerful despot in Europe, and the wars and rumours of wars" with which the social atmos- phere was pervaded, doubtless penetrated into the nursery. William III., too, was well aware of his own precarious .state of health, and having but little hope of living until the war could be brought to a satisfactory conclusion, naturally wished for a successor competent to superintend our military and naval operations, and therefore favoured the

• • Voris. By John Ashton. London: Ward and Downey.

little Duke in his peculiar tastes. But though having him- self no pretensions to be deemed extensively educated, he was too German to hold the opinion, then maintained in certain classes of society, that a military officer ought and is bound to be an exceedingly ignorant person; and therefore provided for his successor an excellent instructor in Bishop Burnet, who to considerable scholarship added the advantages of some foreign travel and extensive knowledge of men, manners, and political affairs. An attempt was made in the House of Commons by the Jacobite party to procure the cancelling of this appointment, but met with failure, as it deserved. To judge from the Bishop's account, the little Prince exhibited much intellectual power, and, what is too rarely found in boys of so tender an age, an ardent curiosity about questions of importance to the British nation, and even to humanity in general. Though repeatedly attacked by fits of ague, and also manifesting symptoms of hydrocephalus, he would probably have at- tained to maturity, perhaps to longevity, had he not been carried off by smallpox in the eleventh year of his age. Vaccination was not then known, and had it been, would probably have been resisted in the sacred name of liberty. We think that the author has introduced into this essay some irrelevant and uninteresting matter, and that he unjustly censures William III. for declining to pay to Mary of Modena, the consort of James, the sum of 250,000 per annum voted by the House of Commons ; the fact being that it was to be paid only on condition of the expelled family retiring from the vicinity of Paris, and residing permanently in Italy or, at least, at Avignon. The temper of the Duchess of Marl- borough prevented her from being a trustworthy witness, as we are sure Mr. Ashton will admit.

In the next article we are introduced to "the most carious church in England,"—namely, that of Greensted, near Chip- ping Ongar, in Essex, the oldest existing specimen of the log- building of the Anglo-Saxons. This race, like their kinsfolk in Germany, seem to have used wood almost exclusively in their buildings, whether public or private, though some exceptional eases of the use of stone could be cited. This preference has left its mark in their language, timbitan, literally " to timber," being used in the sense of "to build," as we find in Alfred's ver- sion of Orasius, iErrep Pam Pe Romebuph et-unbileb Pter after Rome had been built. So the German simmers, (originally timmern, as it is still pronounced in the Baltic provinces) has the same meaning, and this idea is also found in Russian. This church, which is common-looking and small, with a wooden tower and a shingle spire, has its nave constructed of split logs, the very same which, in A.D. 1013, sheltered for one night the corpse of St. Edmund, the martyred King of the Eastern Angles. Our author, in relating the legend (if we may venture so to term it) of St. Edmund, follows the account given by his poetical biographer, Lyd- gate, who wrote in the reign of Henry VI., and who may be an accurate historian, though estimated by critics as decidedly a poet inferioris monetw. St. Edmund was the son of Alkmund, King of Saxony, and was adopted as his successor by Offa, his kinsman, King of the East Angles, a

measure to which the people do not seem to have objected, being at this time somewhat unthinking, and not apprehen- sive of an influx of Germans to "take the bread out of their

mouths." On the death of Offa, he came to England, but allowed a year to elapse before he was crowned, or discharged

any regal duty ; this period being spent in retirement and religious meditation. Lydgate's account of the cause of the Danish invasion is certainly not the " received " legend, as Mr. Ashton terms it. He tells us that the famous Viking, Ragnar Lodbrog, came to England in an open boat in pursuit of his favourite falcon ; that he was hospitably entertained by Edmund, but having by his superior skill in woodcraft aroused the envy of Bern, the chief falconer, he was assassinated by him; that the criminal, being detected through the sagacity of the Viking's dog, was banished, but repaired to Den-

mark and excited the Danes to invade England. But all other authorities, whether Scandinavian or English, agree

that Ragnar Lodbrog invaded Northumberland at the sug- gestion of a traitorous English thane (the practise of inviting foreign foes seems to be an old and time-honoured usage), that

he was defeated and captured by King Alla, who ordered him to be cast into a pit of serpents, where he chanted his death-song (a composition which has come down to us and been trans- lated) before he expired. We know some important families in our northern counties who claim to be descended from this chieftain. Edmund fought some battles with the Danes, but was finally defeated at Thetford, captured in his flight, and shot to death with arrows. His head being cut off, was carried away and guarded by a wolf of singular piety, and again miraculously joined to his body, a red mark still remaining around the neck. Though the corpse was first buried at Horne, yet it underwent many removals owing to wars, in one of which it rested for a night at the little church of Greensted. Finally, it was left to repose at Beodricsweorth, now called Bury St. Edmunds. This church is noticeable also for a little window cut in one of the logs, called the ankret or anchorite's and also the lepers' window. As the building was small and the population of the hamlet scanty, the spiritual duties were most probably discharged by a hermit, who used this orifice for hearing confessions, or for other conferences. Mr. Ashton thinks it was made available by lepers to hear the service ; but if so, it could hardly be used by other persons on sanitary grounds. The roof of this church is so low that a tall clergyman can scarcely stand upright in the pulpit.

The stern Dante would doubtless have severely condemned Richard Cromwell for abandoning the Protectorate without a struggle, and would have placed him by the side of the shade of him "chi fece per viltate II gran rifiuto," but he would not have stooped so low as to give him a nickname; that he would have left to drunken cavaliers and the well-dressed roughs who followed Lunsford and Goring. We wish Mr. Ashton had avoided this practice, for whatever faults the great Protector's successor may have had, at least he was entitled to his own name, not that of "Queen Dick," for which we find no cause assigned. Indeed, so little is known of his public or private life, that we are reminded of the Horatian maxim, "Non visit male qui virus moriensque fefellit," nor can we say that our author has given any additional information of importance. There is some reason to believe that ideas of the hereditary and divine right of Kings had entered the minds of some of the Cromwell family ; and Richard may have been actuated by scruples of conscience, which, we are told, agitated the last days of Queen Anne. In a Royalist lampoon, written in a mock chivalrous style, he is called the "Meek Knight," which is easily accounted for ; while General Lambert is designated the "Knight of the Tulip," from his fondness for these flowers, in painting which, and embroidery, he beguiled his long years of im- prisonment at Plymouth. We wish Mr. Ashton had selected a more interesting subject, though he has treated it very skilfully.

Where in the world is Javasu ? We never heard of the place, but Mr. Ashton has, and also of Mary Baker, alias Caraboo, its Princess. Princess Mary turned up first at Almondsbury, in Gloucestershire, speaking an unknown lan- guage (if it was a language at all), and intimating by signs her wish for lodging. Taken up by the squiress of the village, the idea of representing herself as an Oriental seems to have been suggested by some pictures of Chinese scenery ; while some of her actions led to the belief that she had been con- verted to Christianity. She represented herself, partly by signs and partly by a few English phrases which she appeared to have picked up, to have been carried off by pirates from her native island in the Indian seas, and eventually to have reached England. She certainly knew some words of Arabic and Hindoostanee ; but these it is supposed she had learned from the gipsies, with whom it was subsequently ascertained she had at one time consorted. She was lionised at Bristol and Bath, and even became the subject of a newspaper correspondence (probably in the silly season), which even- tually led to her imposture being detected. Her confession and narration of her past life, though perhaps not rigidly true, is plausible enough, and contains nothing seriously discreditable, merely showing that, like too many of the daughters of our working people, she had entered domestic service with a perfect ignorance of the most ordinary duties, an undisciplined mind, and an erratic disposition. We fear that she would have created but little interest had she not passed herself off as a foreigner.

The name of Benvenuto Cellini is known and his abilities recognised by the majority of educated persons, particularly those who cultivate artistic tastes. His life has come down to us in his own words, and the only fault to be found with it is its remarkable exaggerations both of facts and language, and, like the "Princess of Javasu," he seems to have been unable to remain quietly in any locality or to content him- self with any employment or any patronage,—errors trace- able to his egregious vanity. Born at Florence A.D. 1500, of middle-class parentage, he yet claimed to be descended from a race of landed gentry, and alleged that one of his ancestors had to leave his native place on account of a local feud. When only five years old, he saw, he tells us, a salamander in the fire,—not a very strong proof of veracity. Being a pre- cocious youth, he got mixed up in a duelling affair at the age of sixteen, and as he was then apprenticed to a goldsmith, we may infer that the free and enlightened tradesmen of Florence indulged in the amusements of bloated aristocrats. His skill in the various decorative arts becoming rapidly known, he was invited to England, but declined this offer, being unwilling to co-operate with Torregiano. It would take a volume to relate his rambles through the different Italian cities where the arts were cultivated, his quarrelsome temper embroiling him almost everywhere, while his noble and clerical patrons, so far from paying ready money, would frequently not pay at all. When the mutinous mercenaries of Charles V. assaulted Rome,. Cellini, by his own account, which however must be taken with reserve, had the honour of killing the Constable de Bourbon, and of wounding the Prince of Orange, as well as of managing skilfully the artillery of the Castle of St. Angelo; and this experience seems to have tired him of a military life, though not of broils and street quarrels. The lawless state of Italian society, even at this enlightened time, may be judged of from the fact that though he admits his having committed one cold-blooded assassination, he did not thereby lose the favour of his patrons, not even that of the head of the Church, though the Pope refused him an appointment he solicited, his Holiness expressing the same opinion regarding artists- that another Italian Prince held of poets and horses, i.e., that they should be fed but not fattened. He studied necromancy, saw visions, visited France on the King's invitation, found not much money there, and in disgust started on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, in which he did not persevere, but returned to Paris, where he executed several of. his best works, though often impeded by want of ready money and the hostility of court favourites. At last, finding the French monarch but a capricious patron, he returned to his native Florence, where he executed many splendid works which are still to be seen there, and died in 1570, leaving a reputation of being, as has been said of several other eminent men, "mad, but clever."

We can safely recommend Mr. Ashton's book to the favourable notice of the general reader as well as to that of the archwologist or connoisseur of the fine arts.