:

scuro.

and there is no doubt that his choice of subjects | yoke by acts of insubordination, their revolts were for his works would have been more refined if he never conducted with that spirit, or method, or had moved in a higher sphere.

general union which alone could give any chance It has been observed, also, that, if Rembrandt of success: they displayed their inability effectually had visited Italy, and studied the antique, his taste to resist quite as plainly as their determination not might have been improved; but this is very doubt-to submit, and the results were their utter degraful, for he had a collection of the finest Italian dation, and most complete and cruel subjection. engravings, drawings, and designs, many of them The great blow was struck at once, though it taken from the antiques, from which he might have was found frequently necessary to cauterize the derived improvement; but it appears that he ex- wound. perienced more real pleasure in contemplating his The transcendent effect of this conquest on the own repository of old draperies, armour, weapons, annals of England is evidenced by the influence it and turbans, which he jocularly called his antiques, has exercised over our historians, who generally than he ever felt from surveying the works of the begin the histories of the reigns of our kings from Grecian artists, or the productions of Raphael. the Norman Conquest, assigning from thence to Nevertheless, as M. Fuseli observes," Rembrandt each reign, however unimportant, a separate was, undoubtedly, a genius of the first class, in chapter, and a careful detail

, while all those whatever is not immediately related to form and monarchs who lived before the time of William, taste."

are clubbed together, and dismissed with a few As to his colouring, it is surprising; and he hasty lines of reference: thus, in effect and reality, perfectly understood the principles of the chiaro- making the Norman conquest“ a dark, determined,

The lights in his pictures were painted boundary line,” a term“ of beginning and ending," with a body of colour unusually thick, but he an era on which to found chronologies and calcuknew the nature and property of each particular lations. colour so thoroughly, that he placed every tint in But this great error is now fully understood and its proper place, and by that means preserved his carefully avoided. Historical writers of the highest colours in their full freshness, beauty and lustre. talent and deepest research have, of late years, The works of Rembrandt require to be viewed at a devoted their commanding talents to the study of certain distance, whereas those of Titian will Anglo-Saxon antiquity; and the result is, that our admit of the closest inspection.

Anglo-Saxon kings are restored to the eminence Rembrandt's portraits are excellent, and he was they so justly deserve to occupy, in niches higher, so exact in giving the true resemblance of the aye, far, than those filled by the rapacious early persons who sat to him, that he distinguished the Normans; and that the Anglo-Saxon laws and predominant feature, and the character of every legislature are proved to be the very germ and face, without endeavouring to improve or em- foundation of that freedom which now it is our bellish it.

boast to enjoy. The most important principle of Rembrandt's etchings are greatly admired, and the English constitution, which, without asserting carefully preserved in the cabinets of the curious in direct terms that the sovereign is responsible to in most parts of Europe. It is said that the sums the nation, does virtually place him in subordinahe received for these etchings, and his pictures, to the law, may be traced as it began to be dewere immense; and, as he was extremely econo- veloped in the Anglo-Saxon Empire.? mical, he must have left considerable property at It is indeed true, that the Anglo-Saxons, as a nahis decease. He died in 1674, in his sixty-eighth tion, had become enervated and debauched, and that year.

the rule of the Normans, iron as it was, awakened The genuine works of this great master are a new spring and spirit in the land ultimately benerarely to be met with, and whenever they are to be ficial. But the rigid feudality, to which William purchased they produce extremely high prices. subjected the whole nation, certainly obscured, Many of them are preserved in the rich collections if it did not tend to destroy, those " liberties" deof the English nobility; and there are several fine rived from the Anglo-Saxon constitution, for the pictures by Rembrandt in the National Gallery in restoration of which there were often such fierce London.

contentions, and which the barons wrested from the tyrannic John. Are we not right in saying that this charter, restoring their “ ancient liberties,"

and ceded on the plains of Runnymede, is the NOTICES OF SOME ANCIENT CUSTOMS foundation of the liberty we now enjoy? OF ENGLAND.

And yet it is said that the direct influence exercised by William on the legislation of the realm,

was of limited extent, that he respected the “ Those iron times, when laws of battle were,

Saxon laws, and assented to the general demand That weakly folk, of prowess small in fight,

of the people for their observance. “ Though he The galling gyves of vassalage should bear.”

Warton. hath had the name of Conqueror (says Baker, in

his Chronicle), yet he used not the kingdom as

gotten by conquest; for he took no man's living It has been well observed, that, as an historical from him, nor dispossessed any of their goods, but incident, the Norman Conquest has no parallel; such only, whose demerit made them unworthy that we look in vain, throughout the records of to hold them. Only vacancies of offices, and filling other nations, for a parallel to the circumstance of up the places of those who were slain and fled, a brave country being utterly subjugated in one were the present means he made use of for prebattle, by the chief of a comparatively insignificant state. For, though for years and years

the groaning

(1) Palgrave, Rise and Progress of the English Commonwealth, English evinced their repugnance to their new

a

ferring his followers.” But his devoted attachment fined, prices being set on every species of bruise or to the laws, customs, and government of Nor- wound with marvellous exactitude. mandy, was undeniable; and his prohibition of For example :the use of the Saxon tongue was of more destruc- If an ear be cut off, let compensation be made by tive effect, than any open opposition to the laws payment of twelve shillings. or customs of the realm. And these, his moderate If an ear be cut through, let compensation be measures, refer only to the early portion of his made by payment of three shillings. reign ; for his arbitrary and cruel temper being If a piece of the ear be cut off, let compensation driven to exasperation by the unceasing revolts of be made by payment of six shillings. the English, he became exacerbated to the utmost If an eye be lost, let compensation be made by extreme of tyranny, and “ formed the scheme of payment of fifty shillings. rivetting such fetters upon the conquered nation, Whoever fractures the chin bone, let him forfeit that all resistance should become impracticable.” twenty shillings for the offence.

He fully realized his purposes. All Englishmen, For each of the front teeth six shillings. who still held honourable offices, were deprived of For the tooth that stands by the front teeth (on them; they were deprived of all their political either side) four shillings. privileges; all their property was confiscated; the For the tooth that stands by the last-mentioned whole soil (with very slight exceptions) was divided tooth, three shillings; and for every other tooth, amongst foreigners; and the very name of English- one shilling. If the speech be affected, twelve man became a reproach.

shillings. And, in the progress of this utter subversion of If a thumb be cut off, let compensation be made old rights, in apportioning the confiscated lands on by payment of twenty shillings; and for a thumb military tenure to his Norman knights, William nail, three shillings. introduced as a universal system that foreign If the shooting finger (i.e. the forefinger) be cut feudalism which was hitherto but slightly known off, let compensation be made by payment of eight in England. No land was granted to a noble, no shillings. estate held, but on condition of rigidly specified If the gold finger (i. e. the ring or third finger) military service and feudal obligation. These be cut off, let compensation be made by payment nobles imposed correspondent obligations on their of six shillings. tenants, and multitudinous bonds, fines, and ser- If the little finger be cut off, let compensation be vices were specified and rigidly enforced, which made by payment of eleven shillings. were unheard of in the Saxon times, when the For every (finger) nail, one shilling. extent of feudality seems to have been the obliga- For a smaller disfigurement or deformity in the tion to attend the king in military expeditions, to countenance), three shillings; and for a larger one, assist in defending the royal castles, and in repair- six shillings. ing the highways and bridges. To these Knute If a man hit another on the nose with his fist, added the Heriot, or the forfeiture of a thane's let compensation be made by payment of three horse and armour, on his death, to the king. shillings. If there be a bruise on the nose, one

Thus, though the influence of the Norman inva- shilling. sion remains to this day, yet was its immediate Et cetera, et cetera.I effect not so perceptible as we might suppose If we bear in mind the difference in the value of among a great mass of the people; for the labour money then and now, we shall not consider these ing class of that day, having no acknowledged fines lenient. The weres were made to apply to station, passed like the cattle which they tended, every possible injury, from the slightest personal and the ground which they tilled, from one pro- blemish even to loss of life: and it is a singular cirprietor to another, little heeding, in the mere ex- cumstance in the jurisprudence of the Middle Ages, change of misery, whether he were Norman or that, if a person removed from one kingdom or proEnglish. “ They could not,” says Henry, “s0 vince to another, his life and limbs continued to be much as call their lives their own: for these might valued at the same rate they had formerly been, have been taken from them by their masters with whatever were the different custom of the country perfect impunity, and by any other person, for to which he was come; consequently those perpaying their price to their owners. For some time sons who removed from a rich country into a poor after the settlement of the Saxons in England, their one, had much greater, and those who migrated slaves were in the same circumstances with their from a poor country into a rich one, much less horses, oxen, cows, and sheep, except that it was security for their lives, limbs, and properties. not fashionable to kill and eat them." And though: The nose of a Spaniard (as Henry humorously this brutal disregard of human life became amelio- illustrates the custom) was perfectly safe in Engrated as the influence of Christianity prevailed, still land, because it was valued at thirteen marks; but the extreme carelessness with which the life of a the nose of an Englishman ran a great risk in slave was regarded was evidenced by a law which Spain, because it was valued only at twelve shilprevailed a considerable time afterwards, viz. that lings. An Englishman might have broken a Welshif a slave killed his master, he was punished with man's head for a mere trifle ; but few Welshmen instant death; but if he killed only a fellow- could afford to return the compliment." slave, his punishment was-just what his master One of the most interesting peculiarities of the pleased.

early legislature of England was the compurgation, By the time of the Conqueror the Anglo-Saxon branching as it did into various ordeals, and later laws were minute and multifarious, and were, for into the trial by combat. the most part, duly administered. William con- The most ancient form of clearing an accused firmed many of the laws of Ethelbert; amongst person seems to have been by oaths taken in his them the WEREs, or pecuniary compensation for behalf; and we are told that the conflicting parties personal injuries, which were most minutely de

(1) Palgrave, Proofs and Illustrations, cvii.

"1

Mar:}

have seen,

66

appeared in the court or field, attended sometimes which they would not before to any nation, that by as many as a thousand witnesses on each side, they would readily go out of his kingdom.' who discharged whole volleys of oaths at one This holy bracelet, we find, was a solemn, perhaps another.

the most solemn, oath with the Pagan Danes; yet a The person called upon to clear himself of the very solemn one of the Teuton was his sword, the imputation of crime was required to bring his com- symbol of the deity worshipped by his Scythian purgators (as those who testified in his behalf were kinsmen. He whose universality of knowledge called) to a certain place; the number of oaths re- becomes daily and yearly more a subject of wonder quired for any crime being regulated by law. These and admiration, Shakspeare, has not less beauticompurgators did not testify their knowledge of fully than faithfully illustrated this :the man's innocence, but only their belief of his Hamlet. Touching this vision here, own affirmation of the same. They each placed a It is an honest ghost, that let me tell you ; hand on the Gospels, or on a holy relic, and the For your desire to know what is between us, accused party placed his above the rest, and swore

O’ermaster it as you may. And now, good friends, by the Almighty, and by all the hands that were

As you are friends, scholars, and soldiers,

Give me one poor request. under his, that he was not guilty. In some cases,

Hor. What is't, my lord ? we will. two, three, or four hands were sufficient; in others, Ham. Never make known what you have seen to-night. fifty or a hundred were required; and if one were Hor.

My lord, we will not. withdrawn from the heap, the testimony of the whole was invalidated.

Ham.

Nay, but swear't.
Hor.

In faith,
If the party accused were a female, law and cus-

My lord, not I. tom required that she should obtain the requisite Mar. Nor I, my lord, in faith. number of women to take oaths in her behalf, Ham. Upon my sword. though in any other case they were not admitted Mar. We have sworn, my lord, already. to be compurgators. If the accused person, male Ham. Indeed, upon my sword, indeed.

Ghost. (beneath). Swear. or female, failed to clear himself by the requisite

Ham. Ha, ha, boy! Say'st thou so ? Art thou number of hands, if but one were wanting, he was

there, Truepenny ? condemned. This oath was called the oath of cre

Come on,-you hear this fellow in the cellarage, dulity, and hence arose the saying, “ he has cleared Consent to swear. himself by so many hands.”

Hor. Propose the oath, my lord. Afterwards a certain value was fixed on hands,

Ham. Never to speak of this that you

Swear by my sword. according to the different ranks of the owners;

Ghost. (beneath). Swear. thus, the hand of a thane was equal to the hands Ham. Hic et ubique ? then we'll shift our ground. of six ceorls, &c. We must not omit to add that Come hither, gentlemen, the law required compurgators to be of unblem- And lay your hands again upon my sword: ished character; a good name,” says the his- Swear by my sword torian, “ was never of more value than now;" and

Never to speak of this that you have heard.

Ghost. (beneath). SWEAR BY HIS SWORD. a man of ill reputation was compelled to undergo

Ham. Rest, rest, perturbed spirit. a triple ordeal in cases where a single one sufficed

In later times the sword has been a very usual for persons of credit. There is an ancient form of words extant, which each case a religious emblem, it has not been, as

emblem on which to pledge faith, but though in shows the solemn estimation in which an oath was

with the Danes, a Pagan, but a Christian one, from held. banished and driven from land and home, as far and in the last moments of the great and good May he who breaks his plighted troth be the handle being always made in the form of a

cross. It was long used almost as a confessional, away as men may flee! Let him be a forflemed Bayard, the knight sans peur et sans reproche, he man, whilst fire shall flame, whilst the grass shall spring, whilst the fir-tree grows, whilst the babe held the crucifix (of his sword) upright before him

whilst he prayed solemnly. shall greet after the mother, whilst the mother shall

Our solemn oaths of justice are administered on give suck to the babe, whilst the ship shall sail

, the Gospels—the holiest emblem we possess; but whilst the shield shall glitter, whilst the sun shall formerly the relics of saints and holy men were shine, whilst the hawk shall soar, whilst the esteemed, if not more holy than this, at any rate heavens shall roll

, whilst the wind shall howl, to add solemnity to the attestation, and though whilst the waves shall flow. Let him be forbidden this oath might even be obtained by fraud, it was from Church and from Christendom, from the house of God and the fellowship of all good men, and yet considered imperatively binding. À vivid

picture of the superstitious reverence attached to never let him find a resting-place except in hell!”.

relics is found in the Roman de Rou, when Can a more impressive denunciation be imagined? William Duke of Normandy, having Harold in his

But, despite all precautions as to character, the multiplication of oaths had the natural effect of power, causes him to take an oath to further bis

accession to the English throne, and Harold, makdestroying their force, and then other means were

ing a virtue of necessity, takes it. Some extraresorted to, to imbue them with a degree of solemnity which might beneficially influence the ordinary relics are placed there unknown to Harold, minds of the compurgators. Of course each nation yet so marvellous is the effect, that it is said the or province adopted such symbols as were most the chest containing them. In these days we might

hand trembled and the flesh quivered as he touched interwoven with their own prejudices and opinions. The

Danish army, we are told, A.D. 876,“ stole suppose the emotion was caused by his taking an into Wareham, a fort of the West Saxons. The oath which he did not mean to keep. After he had king afterwards made peace with them; and they gave him as hostages those who were worthiest in (2) It was often usual formerly to cause an attestator to place the army; and swore with oaths on the holy bracelet, | eucharistic emblems: hence perhaps our term corporal oath.

66

sworn, William triumphantly displayed the holy When the Powers of Hell prevail relics, which added such force to the oath, and at

O'er our weakness and unfitness,

Could we lift the fleshly veil, the sight of which he, Harold, “ was sorely

Could we for a moment witness alarmed.” We may remark, that oaths at this time

Those unnumbered Hosts that stand were always taken fasting, often in a church, or,

Calm and bright, on either hand; if not within the church walls, in a court held close by.

Conld we sce—though far, and faint,

(Sight too great for eyes unholy !) The Anglo-Saxon oaths were mostly, indeed Face of some departed Saint, very generally, clothed in alliterative rhyme, and

Tinged for us with melancholy ; great power was attached to the mere pronunci

Oh, what strength of shame and woe ation of the words, even though the mind might

Would start up to slay the foc! not follow them. They were called “ words of

Oh, what joyful hope would cheer! power.” It is said that the promise or oath pro

Oh, what faith serene would guide us! nounced in our marriage service is the identical

Great may be the dangers near,

Greater are the friends beside us. one of the Anglo-Saxons, and that, even when the

Oh, what reverent heed would then benediction and other prayers were pronounced in

Watch our footsteps among men ! Latin, this oath or promise was made in the ver

But, that these things are, we know, nacular tongue. The remains of the ancient rhythm

And we know---oh, thought of wonder! are said to be most clearly perceptible in the Old

These and us, the weak, the low, Salisbury Missal:—" I take thee, John, to be my

Nothing, but our sins, can sunder: wedded husband_to have and to hold--fro’ this

For our brows are bathed and cross d.. day forward—for better for worse--for richer for

We are of that glorious host ! poorer—in sycknesse, in hele-to be bonere and

Lord, Thy saints in evil hour busom in bedde and at borde—till death do us part

So could feel Thine armies round them, —and thereto I plight thee my troth."

That no sin could overpower, Many are the instances in which the mere pro

And no shape of Death astound them..

Make our faith what their's hath been, nouncing of the words was held binding in olden

EVIDENCE OF TUNGS UNSEEN! times, and we are not without “a case in point" in modern ones. The readers of the memoirs of Mr. Edgeworth, the father of the accomplished novelist, will remember that this gentleman, in his boyhood,

Miscellaneous. one merry evening after a dance, went through the marriage service with a young lady, the key of the door serving for a ring, and another youth, as “I have here made only a nosegay of culled flowers, and giddy as any of them, enacting parson. But so have brought nothing of my own, but the string that ties

them."- Montaigne. serious a matter did the elder Mr. Edgeworth consider this frolic, that he absolutely instigated a suit of jactitation of marriage in the ecclesiastical court

Facts are to the mind the same thing as food to the to annul this mock marriage.

body. On the due digestion of facts depends the strength If these ancient words of power do yet indeed and wisdom of the one, just as vigour and health retain their efficacy, it is, we fear, utterly bootless depend on the other. The wisest in council, the ablest that so many fair ones, with natural and praise-in debate, and the most agreeable companion in the worthy, however useless, foresight, do ever, when commerce of human life, is that man who has assimilated at the hymeneal altar, pronounce the cabbalistic to his understanding the greatest number of facts.word OBEY with a mental reservation.

Burke. (To be continued.)

I hold it a greater injury to be over-valued than un

der. For when they both shall come to the touch, the Poetry.

one shall rise with praise, while the other shall decline

with shame. The first hath more uncertain honour, [In Original Poetry, the Name, real or assumed, of the Author is but less safety: the latter is humbly secure ; and what printed in Small Capitals under the title; in Selections, it is is wanting in renown is made up in a better blessing, printed in Italics at the end.)

quiet. There is no detraction worse than to over-praise

a man, for, whilst his worth comes short of what report ANGEL WATCHERS,1

doth speak him, his own actions are ever giving the lie

to his honour.-Feltham's Resolves.
Nor unwatched by heavenly powers
Sleeps the Church's lowly daughter;

N.B. The Second Volume of this periodical is now ready; Covers
Through the night's unconscious hours

for binding, with Table of Contents, may be ordered of any
Impulses of love are taught her,

sellers.
Which, by day, she seems to win
From some kindly fount within.

CONTENTS.
As, beneath yon tender light,

Page
Weary Earth finds sweet reposing,

The Ascent of the Jung- Biographical Sketches
And the flowers that fold at night,

frau, one of the Bernese

Eminent Painters: RemAnd the birds, their soft wings closing,

brandt Van Ryn.......... Alps.......

33

Notices of some ancient Cus.
Dream not that their bloom at morn

The Great Western Railway, toms of England.......
Is of dewy moonlight born.

No. II............

36 | POETRY:So we know not what we gain

Angel Watchers, (with

The Capuchin, (with Illus-
In that silent time of sleeping;

Illustration)........
tration)..........................

40

MISCELLANEOUS............ ***
Reck not of the gracious rain
Which our hearts in mercy steeping,

BY S. M.

Book

Page

of

44

45

48 18

London Magazine:

ceil,

witness Posts that stand

either hand; F, and faint, s unholy! int, Hancholy; shame and wat as the foe; ld cheer! rould guide us :

car, beside us. ped wonld then

A JOURNAL OF ENTERTAINMENT AND INSTRUCTION

FOR GENERAL READING.

among men! -, we knop, ought of wonder! The lor,

can sunder: athed and cros". Gous host! hone mies round then, wer, h astound the at their's hath bers GS LYSEEN!

neous.

segay of culled in n, but the string

same thing as fole 'facts depends the sun st as vigour soi isest in coupeil

, the ecable companiet it man who has been catest number 1

The Landlady's Daughter.

See page 64.

o be over-valnedés all come to the ile the other side i more uncertain humbly secure; el

up in a better les I worse than to de omes short of the ons are ever give

8

WHAT IS WATER?

tion. To answer this inquiry, and furnish other inLet us imagine ourselves introduced to some old formation connected with the subject, is the object seaman who has navigated the Arctic and Antarctic of this article. Seas, and traversed those great ocean-basins It was natural that men should for ages imagine which cover more than half our globe. If he water to be a simple fluid, and the boldest speculator, possesses a fair share of observation and common as he gazed upon the sea, bad no conception that sense, we shall gain some important knowledge of the whole mass was resolvable into two gases. the strange animals and singular vegetation nour- The ancients represented chaos as the primeval ished in the wide dark-heaving world of waters. condition of the universe, but this chaos was Leaving him, suppose we betake ourselves to the rather a name for the general confusion or comsea-shore, and gaze, when all is calm, upon those mingling of all the elements, than an expression countless music-speaking waves, or listen, in the denoting their reduction to primitive substances. storm, to the roar of the same waters, when, lashed Some, who maintained air to be the origin of all by the tempest,they drive navies from their anchors, things, may seem to have thought water, with all and beat down the cliff-walls along the coast. other bodies, resolvable into some rarer element; With such scenes before us, and the narratives of but these too were far from the truth. which lay the sailor in our memory, the question “What is buried behind that mysterious veil of visible agenwater?" may naturally force itself upon our atten- cies under cover of which the sublime workings of