NOTES ON LADY FANSHAWE'S MEMOIRS.

THERE is something extremely affecting in the enumeration of the burying-places of her offspring by a widowed mother. The list of the children gone before her, as given by Lady FANSHAWE, is of this touch- ing description, with the additional trait that their resting-places are widely scattered in different countries.

"Harrison my eldest son, and Henry my second son, Richard my third, Henry my fourth, and Richard my fifth, are all dead : my second lies buried in the Protestant Church-yard in Paris, by the father of the Earl of Bristol ; my eldest daughter Ann lies buried in the Parish Church of Tankersley in Yorkshire, where she died; Elizabeth lies in the Chapel of the French Hos- pital at Madrid, where she died of a fever at ten days old ; my next daughter of her name lies buried in the parish of Footscray, in Kent, near Frogpool, my brother Warwick's house, where she died ; and my daughter Mary lies in

my father's vault in Hertford, with my first son Henry ; my eldest lies buried in the Parish Church.of St. John's College in Oxford, where he was born ; my second Henry lies in Bengy Church, in Hertfordshire; and my second Richard in the Esperanza in Lisbon, in Portugal."

What travail, what grief, what trial, what adventure, does this sim- ple narrative bespeak I. The following is one of the few bons mots attributable to the Pro- tector. It is good, and the better for being humane.

" Thus we passed the time until order came to carry him to Whitehall, where, in a little room yet standing in the bowling-green, he was kept pri-

soner, without the speech of any, so far as they knew, ten weeks, and in ex- pectation of death. They often examined him, and at last he grew so ill in health by the cold and hard marches he had undergone, and being pent up in a room close and small, that the scurvy brought him almost to death's door. " Being one day to solicit for my husband's liberty for a time, he bid me bring the.next day a certificate from a physician, that he was really ill. Im- mediately I went to Dr. Batters, that was by chance both physician to Crom-

well and to our family, who gave me one very favourable in my husband's be- half. I delivered it at the Council Chamber, at three of the clock that after-

noon, as he commanded me ; and he himself moved, that seeing they could make no use of his imprisonment, whereby to lighten them in their business, that he might have his liberty upon four thousand pounds bail, to take a

course of physic, he being dangerously ill. Many spake against it, but most Sir Henry Vane, who said he would he as instrumental, foraught he knew, to hang them all that sat there, if ever he had opportunity, but-if he had li-

berty for a time, that he might take the engagement before he went out ; upon which Cromwell said, I never knew that the engagement was a medi- cine for the scorbutic.' They, hearing their general say so, thought it obliged him, and so ordered him his liberty upon bail."

Lady FANSHAWE tells us an anecdote of her travelling in France, which makes us wonder at the state of the police in those times. It is by such marks as these that one may estimate the progress of civil- ization.

Coming one night to Abbeville, the Governor sent his Lieutenant to me, to let me know my husband was well the week before ; that he had seen him at Paris, and had promised him to take care of me in my going through his

government, there being much robbery daily committing ; that he would ad- vise me take care of the garrison soldiers, and giving them a pistole a piece

they would convey me very safely. This he said the Governor would have told me himself, but that he was in bed with the gout. I thanked him, and accepted his proffer. The next morning he sent me ten troopers well armed; and when I had gone about four leagues, as we ascended a hill, says sonic of these, ' Madam, look out, but fear nothing.' They rid all up to a well- mounted troop of horse, about fifty or more, which after some parley wheeled about into the woods again. When we came upon the hill, 1 asked how it

was possible so many men so well armed should turn, having so few to op- pose them ; at which they laughed, and said, ' Madam, we are all of a com- pany, and quarter in this town. The truth is, our pay is short, and we arc forced to keep ourselves this way ; but we have this rule, that if we in a party guard any company, the rest never molest them, but let them pass free.'

" I having passed all danger, as they said, gave them a pistole each man, and so left them and went on my journey, and met my husband at St. Dennis, God be praised !"

Lady FANSHAWE gives us an excellent account of the traverse of King CHARLES across the. Strait at the Restoration. Can any thing be more absurd than the people, whether in its joy or sorrow ?

" Upon the King's restoration, the Duke of York, then made Admiral, ap- pointed ships to carry over the company and servants of the King, who were

very great. His Highness appointed for my husband and his family a third- rate frigate, called the Speedwell ; but his Majesty commanded my husband to wait on him in his own ship. We had by the States' order sent on board

to the King's most eminent servants, great store of provisions : for our family, we had sent on board the Speedwell a tierce of claret, a hogshead of Rhenish wine, six dozen of fowls, a dozen of gammons of bacon, a great basket of bread, and six sheep, two dozen of neat's tongues, and a great box. of sweetmeats. Thus taking our leaves of those obliging persons, we had conversed with in the Hague, we went on board upon the 23rd of May, about two o'clock in the afternoon. The King embarked at four of the clock, upon which we set sail, the shore being covered with people, and shouts from all places of a good voyage, which was seconded with many volleys of shot in- terchanged : so favourable was the wind, that the ships' wherries went from ship to ship to visit their friends all night long. But who can sufficiently ex- press the joy and gallantry of that voyage, to see so many great ships, the best in the world, to hear the trumpets and all other music, to see near a hundred brave ships sail before the wind with the vast cloths and streamers, the neatness and cleanness of the ships, the strength and jollity of the naafi- ners, the gallantry of the commanders, the vast plenty of all sorts of provi- sions; but above all, the glorious Majesties of the Kin.,'' and his two brothers, were so beyond man's expectation and expression. The sea was calm, the moon shone at full, and the sun suffered not a cloud to hinder his prospect of the best sight, by whose light and the merciful bounty of God he was set safely on shore at Dover, in Kent, upon the 25th of May 1660.

" So great were the acclamations and numbers of people, that it reached like one street from Dover to Whitehall. We lay that night at Dover, and the next day we went in Sir Arnold Brem's coach towards London, where on Sunday night we came to a house in the Savoy. My niece, Fanshawe, then lay in the Strand, where I stood to see the Kine's entry with his brothers; surely the most pompous show that ever was, for the hearts of all men in this kingdom moved at his will."

Everybody knows the story of the Don who was refused lodgings at night on account of the number of his names, the landlord conceiving be had not accommodation for so many guests. This Joe Miller is at least conceived in the spirit of the old Spanish pomposity ; for if proof were wanting, here is an example, from real life, still more de- liciously ridiculous. It is Lady FANSHAWE whom the Don is addressing.

"'That afternoon the Duke of Albuquerque came to visit my husband, and afterwards me, with his brother Don Milcraa de la Cueva. As soon as the Duke was seated and covered, he said, Madam, I am Don Juan de la Cueva, Duke of Albuquerque, Viceroy of Milan, of his Majesty's Privy Council, General of the Galleys, twice Grandee, the first Gentleman of his Majesty's Bedchamber, and a near kinsman to his Catholic Majesty, whom God long preserve ; ' and then rising up and making me a low reverence with his hat off, said, These, with my family and life, I lay at your Excellency's feet' "

Lady FANSHAWE'S description of the splendour and magnificence of the reception of her husband's embassy impress the reader with an idea of the riches of old Spain ; and yet it is the poorest and most afflicted nation that boasts occasional exhibitions of barbaric splendour. The Ivhole progress of the embassy from Cadiz to Madrid is distin- guished by descriptions like the entry into Seville.

" Thursday the 27th of March, we entered Seville, being met a league from the city by the assistant, the Conde de Molina, with many hundred coaches, with nobility and gentry in them, and very many thousands of the burgesses and common people of the town. My husband, after usual compliments passed, went into the Conde's coach. I followed my husband in my own coach, as I ever did in all places ; allthe pages going next my coach on horse- back, and then our coach of state, and other coaches and litters behind, many of the gentlemen and servants riding on horseback, and many of the .gentlemen did ride before the coach. Thus We entered that great city that had been of Seville, though now much decayed. We lay in the King's pa- lace, which was very royally furnished on purpose for our reception, and all our treatment during our stay. We were 'lodged in a silver bedstead, quilt, curtains, valances, and counterpane of crimson damask, embroidered richly with flowers of gold. The tables of precious stones, and the looking-glasses bordered with the same; the chairs the same as the bed, and the floor covered with rich Persia carpets, and a great brasera of silver, filled full of delicate flowers, which was replenished every day as long as we staid. The hangings were of tapestry full of gold, all which furniture was never lain in but two nights, when his Majesty was at Seville. Within my chamber was a dressing-room, and by that a chamber very richly furnished, in which my children lay, and within them all my women : on the other side of the cham- ber as I came in, was my dining-room, in which I did constantly eat. I and my children eating at a table alone, all the way, without any company, till we came to our journey's end, where we provided for ourselves at Balletas, within a league of Madrid. In this palace, the chief room of my husband's quarters was a gallery, wherein were three pair of India cabinets of japan, the biggest and heautifulest that ever I did see in my life : it was furnished with rich tapestry hangings, rich looking-glasses, tables, Persia carpets, and cloth of tissue chairs. This palace hatri many princely rooms in it, both above and underneath the ground, with many large gardens, terraces, walks, fishponds, and statues, many large courts and fountains, all of which were as well dressed for our reception as art or money could make them."

They who study the fashions of bygone times will be amused at the Costume of an Ambassador in the days of CHARLES the Second as de- scribed by Lady FANSHAWE.

" Then my husband, in a very rich suit of clothes of a dark fillemonte bro- cade laced with silver and gold lace, nine laces, every one as broad as my hand, and a little silver and gold lace laid between them, both of very curious workmanship ; his suit was trimmed with scarlet taffety ribbon ; his stockings of white silk upon low,'' scarlet silk ones ; his shoes black, with scarlet shoe-strings and garters; his linen very fine, laced with very rich Flanders lace; a black beaver, buttoned on the left side, with a jewel of twelve hundred pounds value. A rich curious wrought gold chain, made in the Indies, at which hung the King his Master's picture, richly set with dia- monds, cost three hundred pounds, which his Majesty, in great grace and from Portugal. On his fingers he wore two rich rings; his gloves trimmed with the same ribbon as his clothes. All his whole family were very richly clothed, accord- ing to their several qualities. Upon my husband's left hand rode the Mar- quis of Malpica, Captain of the German guard, and the Major-domo to his Majesty, being that week in waiting : by him went all the German guard, and by them my husband's eight pages, clothed all in velvet, the same colour as our liveries ; next them followed his Catholic Majesty's coach, and my husband's coach of state, with four black horses, the finest that ever came out of England, none going in this Court with six but the King himself."

Among Lady FANSHAWE'S agreeable anecdotes of Spain, occurs her vindication of the quality of its provisions. It is curious. We believe, however, the allegation has generally turned upon the quantity rather than the quality of provisions : besides, an ambassador's table is hardly a fair criterion.

" l find it a received opinion that Spain affords not food either good or plentiful. True it is that strangers that neither have skill to choose, nor money to buy, will rind themselves at a loss; but there is not in the Christian world better wines than their midland wines are especially, besides sherry and canary. Their water tastes like milk ; their corn white to a miracle, and their wheat makes the sweetest and best bread in the world; bacon be- yowl belief good ; the Segovia veal much larger and fatter than ours ; mutton most excellent; capons much better than ours. - They have a small bird that lives and fattens on grapes and corn, so fat that it exceeds the quantity of flesh. They have the best partridges I ever eat, and the best sausages ; and salmon, pikes, and sea-breams, which they send up in pickle, called ashe veche, to Madrid, and dolphins, which are excellent meat, besides carps, and many other sorts of fish. The cream, called nattuos, is much sweeter and thicker than any I ever saw in England ; their eggs much exceed ours ; and so all sorts of sallads, and roots, and fruits. eggs I most admired are,

melons, peaches, burgamot pears, grapes, oranges, lemons, citrons, figs, and pomegranates; besides that I have eaten many sorts of biscuits, cakes, cheese, and excellent sweetmeats. I have not here mentioned especially manger-blanc ; and they have olives, which are no where so good ; and their perfumes of amber excel all the world in their kind, both for household stuff and fumes; and there is no such water made as in Seville."

Sir KENELM DIOBY was one of those men who are understood to be confirmed liars, without losing any of their respectability of charac- ter: for the habit-is easily traced to a too great activity of imagination, combined with a feebleness in the powers of comparison or observation. An idea presents itself to the mind, with such force and brilliancy, that that other faculty, which ought to distinguish the painting from the original, is dazzled and misled. Something is also forgiven on the score of the amusement afforded by an ingenious liar: the next best thing to amusing truth is an amusing lie. A character of this description is looked upon in society as an improviser of agreeable works of fiction. Lady FANSHAWE—a lady of rigid principles and great piety—thus leniently speaks of the "infirmity" of the inventor of "sympathetic powder."

" When we came to Calais, we met the Earl of Strafford and Sir Kenelin Digby, with some others of our countrymen. We were all feasted at the Governor's of the castle, and much excellent discourse passed ; but, as was reason, most share was Sir Kenelm Digby's, who had enlarged somewhat more in extraordinary stories than might be averred, and all of them passed with great applause and wonder of the French then at table ; but the con- cluding one was, that Barnacles, a bird in Jersey, was first a shell-fish to ap- pearance, and from that, sticking upon old wood, became in time a bird. After some consideration, they unanimously burst out into laughter, believing it altogether false; and, to say the truth, it was the only thing true he had discoursed with them; that was his infirmity, though otherwise a person of most excellent parts, and a very fine bred gentleman."

It seems that the scheme of Captain Gawky, Roderick Random's friend, who left a heavy trunk of stones in pawn to pay his lodgings, was not original—the great inventor was the author of the Century of Inventions ; which it seems he might have increased by an additional one, not altogether so creditable to his memory as the discovery of the Steam-engine.

" The owner of this house entertained us with the story of the last Marquis of Worcester, who had been there some time the year before: he had of his own and other friends' jewels to the value of eight thousand pounds, which some merchants had lent upon them. My Lord appointed a day for receiving the money upon them and delivering the jewels; being met, he shows them all to these persons, then seals them up in a box, and delivered them to one of these merchants, by consent of the rest, to be kept for one year, and upon the payment of the eight thousand pounds by my Lord Marquis to he delivered him.

" After my Lord had received the money, he was entertained at all these persons' houses, and nobly feasted with them near a month : he went from thence into France. When the year was expired, they, by letters into France, pressed the payment of this borrowed money several times, alleging they had great necessity of their money to drive their trade with ; to which my Lord Marquis made no answer ; which did at last so exasperate these men, that they broke open the seals, and opening the box found nothing but rags and stones for their eight thousand pounds ; at which they were highly enraged, and in this case I left them."

Compare the following description of Granada and the Alhambra with the picture of the Vega which we gave two weeks ago from another pen.

" The next day we went to Grenada, having passed the highest mountains I ever saw in my Jlife ; but under this lieth the finest valley that can be possibly described, adorned with high trees and rich grass, and beautified with a large deep clear river over the town, and this standeth the goodly vast palace of the King's called the Alhambra, whose buildings are, after the fashion of the Moors, adorned with vast quantities of jasper-stone; many courts, many fountains, and by reason it is situated on the side of a hill, and not built uni- form, many gardens with ponds in them, and many baths made of jasper, and many principal rooms roofed with the mosaic work, which exceeds the finest enamel I ever saw. Here I was showed in the midst of a very large piece of rich embroidery made by the Moors of Grenada, in the middle as long as half a yard, of the true Tirian dye, which is so glorious a colour that it can- not be expressed : it bath the glory of scarlet, the beauty of purple, and is so bright, that when the eye is removed upon any other object it seems as white as snow."