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stone, or shutter of wood; that, from want of chimneys, the rooms were full of smoke, which was left to make its escape by the tiles, the windows, and the door; and that amongst the accomplishments of a cook, it was expected that he should be skilful in detecting which way the wind blew, lest, if he opened the wrong kitchen-window, the smoke should be blown into the broth.

These things, and many others, they might have known, had they consulted the proper authorities. They would have seen, too, that amid all their pomp and luxury, the Romans made as much use of their fingers at a meal as Englishmen do of their forks; and that Ovid, in his Art of Love, gives it as a piece of Chesterfield advice to the young gallants of his time, "not to smear their mouths with their greasy hands" more than necessary; that a mappa or napkin, for each individual, was thus absolutely requisite; that every guest brought his own, and, lest the gravy and sauce-boats should not do it full justice, it was made further serviceable as a pocket handkerchief!

They might have learned, moreover, that the middle ranks of the citizens were clad in white woollen vestures, which were of course as habitually dirty as might be expected from the general poverty of the wearers, whilst the baser plebeians, not able to affect this shabby gentility, contented themselves with garments of the colour, and quality, and neatness of a mendicant friar's; that their shirts, too, were composed of the same materials; and that from these causes, aided by the blessing of a warm climate and the plentiful use of garlic, the effluvia of their public assemblies was so offensive, that even in a roofless theatre the emperor found it expedient to sprinkle his faithful subjects with showers of rose-water: - and having duly weighed these, and similar points of minute history, they might certainly have brought themselves to adopt more sober views of the magnificence of ancient Rome, and an ancient Roman.

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1. What have travellers taken in too literal a sense with regard to ancient Rome?

2. If they had used ordinary diligence might not travellers have been better informed?

3. If so, what then would they have known ?

4. What advice did Ovid give to the young gallants of his time?

5. What method was adopted by a Roman emperor to render the effluvia of a roofless theatre less offensive?

THE HUSBANDMAN.

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LESSON XLI. - -FEBRUARY THE TENTH.

The Husbandman.

THE husbandman, although he may be disregarded by the superficial, or viewed with contempt by the vain, will be placed by those who judge of things, not by their external appearance, but their intrinsic worth, in the most useful class of mankind. His employment is necessary, not only to the prosperity, but to the existence of society, as he prepares the ground, scatters the seed, and reaps the harvest of those vegetable productions which form the principal support of human life. For this end he braves the rigour of the winter, endures the heat of summer, and patiently supports all the vicissitudes of weather.

He is placed at a distance from most of the objects which can excite ambition or satisfy curiosity. His life is one unvaried course of hardy exertion and persevering toil. The vigour of his youth is exhausted by labour; and what are the hopes and consolations of his age? Sickness may deprive him of the opportunity of providing a supply for the closing years of life; and the gloomy confinement of a workhouse is his last and only resource.

The distance between him and the nobleman whose soil he tills may appear very great; but the labours of the peasant are connected with the plenty, affluence, and magnificence of the peer, by ties which, however they may escape common observation, are yet both strong and numerous. The enjoyments of the great are procured by the sweat of his brow, and by his toils they are enabled to run the round of pleasure and dissipation. The prince or the peer, who is surrounded by a numerous retinue, and whose luxury is supplied by the produce of every quarter of the globe, will do well to recollect, that he is every day indebted to the accumulated labour of the lower classes of society, of which the poorest and the most unhappy peasant contributes his share.

Agriculture, of which husbandry is the basis, ought to receive fair and reasonable encouragement from liberalminded men of every class and degree. It is not only indispensable to national prosperity, but is eminently conducive to the welfare of those who are engaged in it. It gives health to the body, energy to the mind, is favourable to virtuous and temperate habits, and to purity of moral character. But if the labourer who toils in the field is compelled to subsist on a scanty pittance, or is

driven to lengthen out a miserable existence by the relief afforded to abject pauperism, where then will be found the bodily health, or the mental energy, which once characterised the English husbandman? Let us not cease to remember, that

A bold peasantry—a country's pride

When once destroyed, can never be supplied!

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1. In what class of mankind should a husbandman be placed? 2. By what are the enjoyments and luxuries of the great procured? 3. From whom ought agriculture to receive encouragement?

LESSON XLII.-FEBRUARY THE ELEVENTH.

The Common Lot.

ONCE, in the flight of ages past,

There lived a man:-and WHO was HE?

-Mortal! howe'er thy lot be cast,

That man resembles Thee.

Unknown the region of his birth,

The land in which he died unknown:
His name has perish'd from the earth,
This truth survives alone:

That joy, and grief, and hope, and fear,
Alternate triumph'd in his breast;
His bliss and woe,-a smile, a tear!
Oblivion hides the rest.

The bounding pulse, the languid limb,
The changing spirits' rise and fall;
We know that these were felt by him,
For these are felt by all.

He suffer'd, but his pangs are o'er;
Enjoy'd, but his delights are fled;
Had friends,
- his friends are now no more;
his foes are dead.

And foes

He loved, but whom he loved, the grave

Hath lost in its unconscious womb;
Oh she was fair! but nought could save
Her beauty from the tomb.

He saw whatever thou hast seen;
Encounter'd all that troubles thee:
He was- - whatever thou hast been;
He is - what thou shalt be.

LADY JANE GREY AND HER HUSBAND.

The rolling seasons, day and night,

Sun, moon, and stars, the earth and main,
Erewhile his portion, life and light,

To him exist in vain.

The clouds and sunbeams, o'er his eye
That once their shades and glory threw,
Have left in yonder silent sky

No vestige where they flew.

The annals of the human race,

Their ruins since the world began,

Of HIM afford no other trace

Than this,

LESSON XLIII.

THERE LIVED A MAN!

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FEBRUARY THE TWELFTH.

Lady Jane Grey and her Husband.

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On this day, in 1554, Lady Jane Grey and her husband were beheaded. It had been intended to execute the Lady Jane and Lord Guildford together on the same scaffold, at Tower-hill; but the council, dreading the compassion of the people for their youth, beauty, innocence, and noble birth, changed their orders, and gave directions that he should be beheaded within the verge of the Tower. She saw her husband led to execution, and having given him, from the window, some token of her remembrance, she waited with tranquillity till her own appointed hour should bring her to a like fate. She even saw his headless body carried back in a cart, and found herself more confirmed by the reports which she heard, of the constancy of his end, than shaken by so tender and melancholy a spectacle.

Sir John Gage, constable of the Tower, when he led her to execution, desired her to bestow on him some small present, which he might keep as a perpetual memorial of her. She gave him her table-book, in which she had just written three sentences, on seeing her husband's dead body; one in Greek, another in Latin, and the third in English. The purport of them was, "that human justice was against his body, but the divine mercy would be favourable to his soul; and that if her fault deserved punishment, her youth, at least, if not her prudence, was worthy of excuse; and that God and posterity, she trusted, would show her favour."

Lady Jane Grey, before she was twelve years old, was

mistress of eight languages. She wrote and spoke the English tongue with elegance and accuracy. French, Italian, Latin, and even Greek, she possessed to a perfection as if they were native to her, and she had made some progress in Hebrew, Chaldee, and Arabic. Yet she did not, like some learned ladies we have heard of, in pursuit of these extraordinary acquisitions, fall into any neglect of those more useful and ornamental arts, which are peculiarly to be desired in the female sex. The delicacy of her taste displayed itself in the variety of her needlework, and even in the beauty and regularity of her handwriting. She played admirably upon various instruments of music, and accompanied them with a voice peculiarly sweet.

ཀཱ་ཀཱ་ཀའཏ

1. Who were beheaded on this day, and in what year ?
2. What did the council dread, and why?— what followed?
3. What did Lady Jane Grey give to Sir John Gage?

4. What was Lady Jane Grey famous for at an early age?
5. In what was her delicacy of taste displayed?

LESSON XLIV. - FEBRUARY THE THIRTEENTH.

William III.

WILLIAM, Prince of Orange, began his reign in England on the 13th of February, 1689. He was born in 1650; created stadtholder in 1672, and married to the Princess Mary of England, daughter of James II., in 1677. He landed at Torbay, November, 1688, and was declared king of England in the February following. The abdication of James, and the succession of this king, form the most distinguished epoch in the annals of English history. This epoch is usually denominated "The Revolution of 1688." It altered the line of succession, by a power immediately derived from the people. The means by which it was accomplished, without the effusion of blood, at least upon English ground, were as extraordinary as the importance of it was great, not only to Britain, but the common interests of Europe.

At the auspicious moment when William III. gave his assent to the Bill of Rights, the fabric of the constitution was completed. The most valuable parts of the feudal system, and the recent plans of liberty, were consolidated into one consistent and uniform mass of jurisprudence. The privileges of the people, and the prerogative of the king, were weighed in the balance of justice. That the

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