CHOOSING COMMON CONSTABLES.
For the Table Book.
It is annually the custom to hold a meeting, duly summoned, on Startley Common, Wilts, for the choice of new constables for the hundreds of the county. Lots are cast for those who are to serve for the ensuing year; and afterwards the parties present adjourn to a house for refreshment, which costs each individual about seventeen shillings. This may almost be regarded as an equivalent for serving the office—the lots mostly fall on the absentees.
P.
Garrick Plays.
No. XXXVI.
[From “Love’s Dominion, a Dramatic Pastoral,” by Richard Flecknoe, 1634.]
Invocation to Silence.
Still-born Silence, thou that art
Floodgate of the deeper heart;
Offspring of a heavenly kind;
Frost o’ th’ mouth and thaw o’ th’ mind;
Secresy’s Confident, and he
That makes religion Mystery;
Admiration’s speaking’st tongue,—
Leave thy desart shades, among
Reverend Hermits’ hallow’d cells,
Where retir’d’st Devotion dwells:
With thy Enthusiasms come;
Seize this Maid, and strike her dumb.
Fable.
Love and Death o’ th’ way once meeting,
Having past a friendly greeting,
Sleep their weary eye-lids closing,
Lay them down, themselves reposing;
When this fortune did befall ’em,
Which after did so much appal ’em;
Love, whom divers cares molested,
Could not sleep; but, whilst Death rested,
All away in haste he posts him.
But his haste full dearly costs him;
For it chanced, that, going to sleeping,
Both had giv’n their darts in keeping
Unto Night; who (Error’s Mother)
Blindly knowing not th’ one from th’ other,
Gave Love Death’s, and ne’er perceiv’d it,
Whilst as blindly Love receiv’d it:
Since which time, their darts confounding,
Love now kills, instead of wounding;
Death, our hearts with sweetness filling,
Gently wounds, instead of killing.
[From “Andronicus,” a Tragedy, by Philonax Lovekin, 1661.]
Effect of Religious Structures on different minds.
Crato. I grieve the Chapel was defaced; ’twas stately.
Cleobulus. I love no such triumphant Churches—
They scatter my devotion; whilst my sight
Is courted to observe their sumptuous cost,
I find my heart lost in my eyes;
Whilst that a holy horror seems to dwell
Within a dark obscure and humble cell.
Crato. But I love Churches, mount up to the skies
For my devotion rises with their roof:
Therein my soul doth heav’n anticipate.
Song for Sleep.
Come, Somnus, with thy potent charms,
And seize this Captive in thy arms;
And sweetly drop on every sense
Thy soul-refreshing influence.
His sight, smell, hearing, touch, and taste,
Unto the peace do thou bind fast.—
On working brains, at school all day,
At night thou dost bestow a play,
And troubled minds thou dost set free;
Thou mak’st both friends and foes agree:
All are alike, who live by breath,
In thee, and in thy brother Death.
[From “Don Quixote,” a Comedy, in three parts, by Thomas D’Urfey, 1694.]
Dirge, at the hearse of Chrysostom.
Sleep, poor Youth, sleep in peace,
Relieved from love and mortal care;
Whilst we, that pine in life’s disease,
Uncertain-bless’d, less happy are.
Couch’d in the dark and silent grave,
No ills of fate thou now can’st fear;
In vain would tyrant Power enslave,
Or scornful Beauty be severe.
Wars, that do fatal storms disperse,
Far from thy happy mansion keep;
Earthquakes, that shake the universe,
Can’t rock thee into sounder sleep.
With all the charms of peace possest,
Secure from life’s torment or pain,
Sleep, and indulge thyself with rest;
Nor dream thou e’er shalt rise again.[369]
C. L.
[369] i. e. “may thy sleep be so profound, as not even by dreams of a resurrection to be disturbed:” the language of passion, not of sincere profaneness.
ÆSOP IN RUSSIA.
Peter the Great’s Summer Garden.
Schræder, a celebrated Swedish gardener, was employed by the czar to execute a plan he had approved of, for the gardens of his summer palace. The work was already far advanced, and among the different parts that were finished, were two large divisions adjoining to the principal avenue, opposite to each other, enclosed with a hedge, and covered with turf. The czar, who came often to see the progress of his undertaking, on observing the two grass-plots, conceived a design of converting this place of mere amusement into a kind of school. “I am very well satisfied,” said the czar to the gardener, “with your performance, as well as with the variety and beauty of the several divisions that are finished: however, you must not be angry if I change the form of these two spots of ground. I should wish that the persons who walk in the garden might find the means of cultivating their minds; but in what way can we contrive this?”
“Sire,” said the gardener, “I know no other than to put books on the seats, protected from the rain, that those who walk in the garden may read when they sit down.”
“This is not far from my meaning,” said the czar, laughing, “but, books in a public garden! that will never do. Another idea has struck me. I should like to erect statues here, representing the different subjects of Æsop’s fables. For this purpose the ground must be differently laid out, that the division of the several parts may correspond with the fables I am speaking of.”
Schræder executed his orders with all possible intelligence and despatch, and much to the satisfaction of the emperor.
The garden consisted of four squares, with walks in the form of labyrinths leading to them. The angles were ornamented with figures, representing different subjects from Æsop’s fables, with a jet d’eau concealed in a little basin, under moss or ruins, and surrounded with shells brought from lake Ilmen, or that of Novogorod. Most of the animals were as large as life, and of lead, gilt. They ejected water from their mouths, according to their various attitudes. In this way the walks were ornamented with sixty fables, forming as many jets d’eau. At the entrance was a statue of Æsop, likewise of lead, and gilt.
The czar very naturally supposed that few people would be able to discover the meaning of these figures, and that fewer would comprehend the instruction they were designed to convey. His majesty therefore ordered a post to be placed near each of them, and to these posts sheets of tin were fastened, on which the fables and their morals were written in the Russian language.
This place was the czar’s favourite walk; in its shades he often passed whole hours, recreating himself among these creatures of his creation.
This garden was afterwards nearly destroyed by a terrible tempest and inundation. The trees it contained were torn up by the roots, and the green hedges and figures of animals damaged, either by the fall of the timber or by the elements. The trees were raised, put into their places again, and propped up; but as it was not possible to repair the injuries done to the figures, the czar’s “summer garden” ceased to be a “garden of instruction.”
LOVE OF GARDENS
In distinguished Men.
Juvenal represents Lucan reposing in a garden.[370] Tasso pictures Rinaldo sitting beneath the shade in a fragrant meadow: Virgil describes Anchises seated beneath sweet-scented bay-trees; and Eneas, as reclining, remote from all society, in a deep and winding valley.[371] Gassendi, who ingrafted the doctrine of Galileo on the theory of Epicurus, took not greater pleasure in feasting his youthful imagination by gazing on the moon, than Cyrus, in the cultivation of flowers.—“I have measured, dug, and planted the large garden, which I have at the gate of Babylon,” said that prince; “and never, when my health permit, do I dine until I have laboured two hours in my garden: if there is nothing to be done, I labour in my orchard.” Cyrus is also said to have planted all the Lesser Asia. Ahasuerus was accustomed to quit the charms of the banquet to indulge the luxury of his bower:[372] and the conqueror of Mithridates enjoyed the society of his friends, and the wine of Falernium, in the splendid gardens, which were an honour to his name. Dion gave a pleasure-garden to Speucippus as a mark of peculiar regard.[373] Linnæus studied in a bower: Buffon in his summer-house; and when Demetrius Poliorcetes took the island of Rhodes, he found Protogenes at his palette, painting in his arbour. Petrarch was never happier than when indulging the innocent pleasures of his garden.—“I have made myself two,” says he, in one of his epistles; “I do not imagine they are to be equalled in all the world: I should feel myself inclined to be angry with fortune, if there were any so beautiful out of Italy.”
Many of the wisest and the best of men have signalized their love of gardens and shrubberies, by causing themselves to be buried in them; a custom once in frequent practice among the ancient Jews.[374] Plato was buried in the groves of Academus; and sir William Temple, though he expected to be interred in Westminster abbey, gave orders for his heart to be enclosed in a silver casket, and placed under a sun-dial, in that part of his garden immediately opposite the window of his library, from which he was accustomed to contemplate the beauties and wonders of the creation, in the society of a beloved sister.[375]
[370] The epithet he applies to hortis is sufficiently curious. The scholiast cites Pliny, 1. xxxvi. c. 1. 2. The style of the Roman gardens in Trajan’s time is expressively marked:
Contentus fama jaceat Lucanus in hortis
Marmoreis.
Juv. Sat. vii. 1. 79.
It was very well said by one of the first women of the present age, (Mrs. Grant,) that Darwin’s Botanic Garden is an Hesperian garden, glittering all over; the fruit gold, the leaves silver, and the stems brass.
[371] Eneid, lib. vi. 1. 679. lib. viii. 609.
[372] Esther, vii. 7. Tissaphernes had a garden, much resembling an English park, which he called Alcibiades.
[373] Plutarch in Vit. Dion.
[374] In the middle of the Campo Santo, which is the most ancient burying-place at Pisa, is a garden formed of earth, brought from the neighbourhood of Jerusalem.
[375] Philosophy of Nature.
DUTCH ROYAL GARDEN AND SCHEVELING SCENERY.
Described by the Deputation of the Caledonian Horticultural Society.
August 26, 1817. Late in the afternoon, we took a walk to the northward of the Hague, on the Amsterdam road, and entered a forest of large and ancient trees, by much the finest which we have seen on the continent, and evidently several centuries old. Many oaks, elms, and beeches were magnificent. Some of the oaks, at two feet from the ground, measured twelve feet in circumference, and had free and clean boles to the height of about forty feet. This wood, in all probability, gave rise to the name of the city; for haag (the Dutch for Hague) signifies thicket or wood. It was originally a seat of the counts of Holland, and is often to this day called Graaf’s Haag, or Earl’s Wood.[376]
Although we had no guide, we easily found the palace called the “House in the Wood,” about two miles distant from the Hague; and having inquired for the gardener, Mr. Jacobus Munts, we readily procured access to the royal garden. It is kept in good order, and is now arranged in what is here reckoned the English style, the old formal hedges, and fantastically shaped trees, having been in a great measure removed. The grounds are now traversed by serpentine walks, laid with sand: these wind among groves of forest-trees, which have never been subjected to the shears; but the flexures are much too regular. Water, as usual, is the only defence, or line of separation, from the conterminous[377] fields, or from the high road. These ditches, though broad, brimful, and kept tolerably clean, have a dull aspect. Shrubs and flowers are planted in small compartments, cut out in the grassy covering of the lawn. The figures of these compartments are different, circles, ovals, and crescents. A bed of dahlias was now in flower, but presented nothing uncommon. Indeed, we learned that the collection had been procured from Antwerp only the year before. The plants in the borders and shrubberies were in general of the more common kinds; but some rarities also appeared. Among these the passiflora cœrulea was here displaying its gorgeous flowers in the shrubbery; but we observed that it was contained in a pot sunk in the earth, and not well concealed. Rosa Pennsylvanica was very abundant, and seemed not only to be healthy, but to produce its flowers freely.
Close by the palace is a small greenhouse, erected in 1815 for the princess of Orange. It contains a few pretty good plants; but there is nothing becoming royalty either in the size of the house or the choice nature of the collection. Datura arborea was now in flower, and filled the place with its odour; and the white variety of vinca rosea was in bloom. There are here no hot-houses for the forcing of fruit; nor did there appear to be any thing remarkable among the hardy fruits cultivated in the garden.
This garden at the House in the Wood, is the only one worth visiting at the Hague, with the exception perhaps of Mr. Fagel’s. The Portland gardens, belonging to the Bentincks, though celebrated in former times, are now in a neglected and even ruinous condition.
SCHEVELING.
Avenues of Trees.
August 27, 1817. Early this morning we walked towards the fishing village of Scheveling, by a grand avenue lined with trees, of which all Dutchmen are justly proud. The length of this avenue is nearly a mile and a half; and it is so straight and so level, that the village church very soon appeared at the termination of the vista next the sea. The tallest and finest trees are Dutch elm, abele, oak, and beech. Many of these are of great size, and have probably seen more than two centuries.[378] Sycamore, hornbeam, birch, and different species of willow, are occasionally interspersed. There are properly three roads in this noble avenue: a central one for carriages, one for horsemen, and another for foot-passengers. The breadth of the plantation, on each side, is on an average about seventy feet. In some places, the old trees appear to have been cut down; but their places are now supplied by others. Almost all the new-planted trees are white poplars, which are of rapid growth.
Fishery—Fishing Vessels, &c.
We breakfasted in the Hoff van Holland inn, the windows of which look out upon the ocean. In addition to the usual repast of coffee and rolls, a countryman of our own, whom we chanced here to meet, had shrimps served to breakfast, which had been shown to him all alive a few minutes before: by our desire, we had tong-vischen, or soles, fresh from the sea. While at breakfast, we observed, that more than two dozen of small sloops, which we easily recognised to be fishing-busses, were making directly for the low sandy beach, although it was at present a lee-shore, with a considerable surf. The sails were of various hues; Isabella yellow, chocolate brown, and milk white; and this intermixture of colours, set off by the brilliancy of a clear morning sun, increased the picturesque effect. Not a little to our surprise, the crews did not shorten sail, till their barks were just involved among the waves and breakers; and in this odd situation, generally after taking the ground, we saw them deliberately cast anchor. The propriety of the shape given to the hulls of these busses, was now manifest to us; a small British-built sloop would have been in danger of breaking up, while they shoved along among the breakers in perfect security. Indeed, that Dutch vessels in general should, of design, be built strong or clumsy, and have their hulks well rounded below, can only appear surprising to those who have not witnessed the nature of the seas which they have to navigate at home, where they must often take the ground, and where they not unfrequently sail right against the shore. As soon as the anchors were cast, the boatmen, wading up to the middle in the waves, brought out the fish on their shoulders; the sands were covered with persons of both sexes and of all ages, who began to carry off the cargoes, in broad baskets, on their heads. The principal kinds of fish were plaice, turbot, sole, skate, and thornback; a very few cod and smelts made up the list. The Dutch gave the name schol to our plaice: and our sole they call tong. Their name for the smelt is spiering; which nearly approaches that by which this little fish is distinguished in the Edinburgh market, viz. spirling.
Coast—Fishwomen—Cart Dogs.
A continuous broad and high bank of sand lines the coast as far as we could see, and forms the powerful protection of this part of Holland against the inroads of the ocean. Without this provision of nature, the country would be inundated by every extraordinary tide and gale; for it may be truly said, “the broad ocean leans against the land.” On the sand-hills, the same kind of plants prevail as in similar situations in England; sea-holly and buckthorn, asparago and Galium verum, with sea-marran, arundo arenaria, which last is encouraged here, being found very useful in binding the sand. In some places wheat-straw had been dibbled in, as at Ostend, in order to promote the same object. Considering Scheveling as a fishing-village, we were greatly pleased with it: it was extremely neat and clean, and formed a perfect contrast with our Newhaven and Fisherrow,[379] the lanes of which are generally encumbered with all sorts of filth. We must confess, too, that in tidiness of dress and urbanity of manners, the fishwomen of Scheveling are equally superior to those of the Scottish villages just mentioned.
As we returned to the Hague, numbers of the inhabitants were also on their way to the fish-market, some carrying baskets of fish on their heads, and others employing three or four dogs to convey the fish in small light carts. We had read in books, of these draught dogs being well used, and fat and sleek; but we regret to say, that those which we saw were generally poor half-starved looking animals, bearing no equivocal marks of ill usage. The diligence with which they sped their way to town, with their cargoes, in a sultry day, with tongues lolling to the ground, seemed to entitle them to better treatment.
Fish-market—Storks
We traced the steps of some of our Scheveling companions to the fish-market. As might be expected, the market proved commodious and clean, and well supplied with water. Salmon was pretty common; carp was plentiful; and a single John Dory and a single sturgeon appeared on a stall. At some seasons, we believe, sturgeons are abundant, being taken in numbers at the mouths of the Rhine, when about to ascend that river. Four tame storks were stalking up and down in the market. They were in full plumage; and did not appear to have been pinioned, so as to disable them from flying. Their food consists wholly of the garbage which they pick up about the fish-stalls. A small house, like a dog’s kennel, is appropriated to their use; for the stork seems to be held as sacred by the Dutch as by the Mahomedans.[380]
[376] Haag, hag, haigh, &c. are explained in the Every Day-Book. Art. Hagbush-lane.—Ed.
[377] Conterminous: bordering.—Johnson. Ed.
[378] Le Long, indeed, puts this beyond doubt; for, writing in 1630, he describes this avenue as being then “adorned with fine trees.” Kabinet van Outheden, &c. published in 1732.
[379] Two small towns on the shore of the Frith of Forth, near Edinburgh, chiefly inhabited by fishermen and their families.
[380] Caledonian Horticultural Tour.