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NEW ROMANCES.*
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vignettes of the palaces of Henry VH . and , George II ., at Richmond- ' There is a wide range for comprehending a large number of what Mr . Williams denominates " . Court memorabilia , and Court celebrities ; " and he claims credit for "* having produced a continuous panorama , in which they form the foreground ; with a less studied treatment of such accessories as the demands of the subject required . " He merits praise for the completeness of his picture , and the diligence he has shown in the collection of his materials . To this kind of labour Mr . Williams tells us he has devoted
himself for thirty years , during about ten hours a day , and its severity has so told upon his sight , that he is now grateful to be spared the investigation of original documents , by the series of publications lately issued under the auspices of the Master of the Rolls and the Secretary of State for the Home Department . He has laid the calendars of State Papers under judicious contribution , and altogether composed a series of pleasant chapters . After the manner of topographers in general , " he also quotes our poets to excess , from Chaucer to Leigh Hunt . George the Third , we are told , was fond of the poets , and when at Richmond greatly preferred Thomson , for the sake of the description ,
beginning" Say , shall we wind Along the stream , or walk the silent mead , Or court the forest glades , or wander wild Among the waving harvests , or ascend While radiant Summer opens all his pride , Thy hill , delightful Shene ?" This citation brings us by a pleasant amble to the subject of Skene , the etymology of which word reminds us at once of our old poets , who were fond of its use . Spenser and Chaucer continually patronise it , in the sense of bright or refulgent . The place is said to have derived the appellation from a palace built here by Edward the Confessor , and known by the title Shene , or resplendent . For the rest , the reader must be referred to the volumes before us , the early chapters of which give a full account of the antiquities , and whatever else concerns the king ' s nianor at Shene , with its kitchen of large dimensions , like the existing examples at Durham and Glastonbury Abbey . ¦¦
well known to need description . Her majesty was not desirous that her own sex should imitate her splendour , and so managed that the dresses of the nobles and gentlemen of the Court should outshine those of the ladies . '' She continued to promenade the groves of Richmond— ' in maiden meditation fancy free , ' while on both sides of her they were rivalling each other in the display of those qualifications to which they owed their position near her stately person . " Mr . Williams justifies the regal taste in this respect , and particularly as they were all distinguished by mental and personal gifts . Never were so many able men , whether as statesmen , warriors , navigators , poets or divines , seen at court . The Queen was fond of field sports , and employed a considerable hunting establishment at Richmond .
" The Queen and court were at Richmond in the year 1586 , whence the Lords of the Council wrote to Sir William More and other Surrey magistrates respecting complaints that had been made by the inhabitants of Guildford , Godalming , and Wonerth , in that county , against an Italian , who had lately erected a glass-house in their neighbourhood , whereby the woods are likely to be consumed , to the prejudice of the whole country . Here was also dated , Richmond , Dec . 3 rd , the Queen ' s proclamation , afterwards printed under the great seal of England , for the declaration of the sentence lately ffiven against the Queen of Scots . "
Mr . Williams takes the most favourable side of the royalty that he loves to celebrate , and exempts Elizabeth , at the expense of Davison , from the hurried execution of Mary . In the same manner and spirit he denies the marriage of George the Fourth with ' Mrs . Fitzherbert . These are points of weakness in our antiquary ; but we suppose he thought he could do no less , since he has entitled his book * ' Domestic Memoirs of the Royal Family . " There is little to justify its claim to this appellation , beyond the innocent flattery to which we have alluded . Notices of Shakespeare are few in these volumes ; but those of Ben Jonson abound , from whose masques some excerpts are made . Honest Ben , however , obtains no large share of commendation from the compiler , who is not ashamed to prefer the librettos of modern opera to the poetry of the ancient masques . Here our antiquary , like others of his craft , has evidently got beyond his depth , and " inditeth words without knowledge . " ¦
The ' reigns .-of - Charles L , James II ., and the Georges , afford ample materials for a history of Richmond ; and even during Oliver CroinwellVProtectorate Richmondlias some interesting associations . A pax-Hamentary survey . was made of , Richmond Court , preliminary to its being offered for sale . This survey is" a-ciiriotrs document , from which Mr . Williams has made ample extracts . But the puritans are evidently in no favour with him ; though he speaks with some approbation of Milton , whose garden of Eden he thinks may have been conceived by him when gazing on the expansive landscape at Richmond . More congenial with his temperament are the times of Horace Walpole , when Queen Caroline was accnstomed to retire to Richmond Lodge . She made many improvements in Richmond gardens , adding a hermitage and a grotto , decorated with a figure of Merlin . The coarse king , however , ridiculed her taste ; while Gay and Pope , arid the poets of the time , were em-— plc ^ ed *~ trr-applan ^ ing ^ t ^>^ nWfc'Was-the ^ eeond— ^ Geovge ' s-brutal custom to " snub" his consort in public . . Some of the poetry of this period , illustrative of manners , is smart in its satire , and also in accordance with the representations received from Hogarth's " Marriage a la Mode" This part of the subject , however , ought not to be qiiitted without recording that the Poet of the Seasons died at Richmond , in 17-48—a tablet indicates his place of sepultui-e . These interesting volumes conclude with a brief notice of the Prince of Wales ' s residence at White Lodge , for the purpose of his education . The plain on which this is conducted gives satisfaction to Mr . Williams , whose approbation wo hope will contribute to the gratification of the Royal Family , whose domestic memoirs lie has rather symbolized than recorded .
: ¦ ¦ " - . Some illuminations of the Luttrell Psalter , * ' says Mr . Williams , " furnish curious itkistratiuns of the culinary art , but give a very inadequate idea of the busy scene that was going on during the preparation of a royal feast , with the portly master-cooks directing their numerous active subordinates in the composition of the made dishes , the nimble * turnbroaches' attending to the great joints revolving on the spits before huge fires , the bakers running with pasties to the oven , and the valets of the kitchen collecting the various articles required for the service of the meal , while fryingpans , gridirons , brass pots and kettles were in active operation every where . "
The court manners of the fourteenth and subsequent centuries are graphically and fully described , and illustrated by Mr . Williams , in relation to the manor of Shene , the gorgeous ceremonies of which really seem to have dazzled his imagination . He requires us to believe everything and anything of them , and gives us all mannpr of poetical extracts as painting its various splendours . The knights € m ~ d ~ ladieis ~^ CTe ^ haTJiis : 0 me ^ costliest fabrics , enriched with gems of gold and silver thread . One of the former is thus described in a romance of the fourteenth century ^— " She came in a violet , With white pearl overfret , ' And sapphires therein set On every aide ; All of pall work fine , With miche and nevyn Aaerlad with ermine ,. . , , And overt for pride . „ . To tell her buttons was toore , Enamelled with azure , With topaz and treasure , Overtrasyd that tydo : She was receved a span , Of any living man , Of red . gold the riban , Gleamed her aide . Her hair was hyghted on hold , With a coronal of gold , Was never made upon mould , A worthier wight . She was freely and fair , l 1 And well her seemed her gear , 3 With rich bosses a pair , That clearly were by-dight . " But we cannot follow our author in his descriptions of magnificent dresses and other accessories of grcnt tournaments and banquets , in which he delights to revel . The romances of chivalry were then the favourite court reading ; and the imitation of them the favorite practice . Add to tUede the fondness for shoit narrative poems , depicting the passion of love or the devotion of
friendship , and for the French chansons , which we are told were m much request at Shene . In these and other particulars we may accept Shene as the symbol of England , and , indeed , aa the type of the age . In the fifteenth century books began to bo considered by tb , o court as necessaries rather than luxuries , and appear more frequently in testamentary bequests and family memoranda . We may pnss on , to glean a few remarks on the reign of Queen Elizabeth . On her accession , we are told , the Court at Richmond Resumed its splendour and gaiety . Our antiquary praises the inexhaustible resources of her wardrobe . Her style of costume is too
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rpHE talented authoress of the " Lamplighter " and " Mabel JL Vaughan" appears before us for the third time in a new novel , entitled " El Fureidis . " This work is entitled to take a higher and more ambitious stand than has fallen to the lot of either of Miss Cummins ' s preceding efforts . The successful ] tale of the " Lamplighter , " in which this lady mnde her first essay as a popular novel writer , was a simple but touching recital of tire life and vicissitudes of n poor orphan , fighting an upward course in the great buttle of existence . Her present production is a story of the far East , involving the necessity of much research on the part of the authoress , extensive knowledge of human nature , and , to enable her to picture to the render with vividness and precision the manifold beauties of the glowing Orient , descriptive powers of no ordinary calibre . In saying that Mies Cummins has proved her-
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522 The Leader arid Saturday Analyst . [ June 2 , I 860 .
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* El JPttreidis . By Maria S . Cummins , Author of " The Lamplighter . " 2 Volfl . Sampson Low , Son & Co . ffquirea and , Panama . A Sketch for the Times . Saunders , Otloy & Co . Diccrif of a Poor JTovnq Gentleman , translated front the German . By W ; . Anna Chjlds . Trubner & Co . ' The Bemi-BctacJted House . Edited by Lady Thbrbsa Lewis . Richard Bentley . The Bateman Household . By Jamks Paytf , Author of " Stories nnd Sketches . Reprinted from Chambera ' s Journal . " Arthur Hall , Virtue It Co .
New Romances.*
NEW ROMANCES . *
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), June 2, 1860, page 522, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2350/page/14/
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