[61] 17th July.
[62] This large isolated mass of rock or stone, pitched on end, near the roadway and river, a few yards from our camp, was sometimes called by us the “Hanging Rock,” sometimes the “Hanging Stone,” and very often the “Leaning Stone.” In future mention in these pages we shall call it the “Leaning Stone.” This large stone was so overhanging on the side towards Ormein, that it formed an excellent shelter for the traveller to rest and light his bivouac fire. Occasionally the “Leaning Stone” brought to mind the “Druids’ Stone” we once sketched, at Stanton, near Monmouth; sometimes it reminds us of the famous “Boulder, or Bowder Stone,” in the romantic gorge of Borrowdale, near “Castle Crag” and Derwent Water, in Cumberland; but the “Bowder Stone” has this difference, that it overhangs on both sides, and has a narrow aperture underneath, through which two persons or lovers, joining hands, it is said, will have their secret wish. Perhaps the Leaning Stone of the beautiful valley of the Sjiriaglns has some such mystic power—who knows? We leave it to some other wanderer over fjeld and fjord to discover.
[63] Alnus glutinosa.—This tree is often met with on the banks of the rivers of England and Wales, as in Norway. Occasionally we have met, in a secluded valley in Wales, a party of “cloggers,” who have bought a quantity of this wood, and are converting it on the spot into clogs. They are cloggers out for the summer. The alder wood is being worked up under a light awning, or half-tent sort of abri, from the rain and sun. The cloggers generally sleep at some house until the stock of wood is converted into men’s, women’s, and children’s clogs, which are consigned from time to time, by the nearest railway, to Lancashire. The alder wood is valuable for piles for bridges, as it lasts long under water. The Rialto at Venice is built on alder piles. The bark and leaves are useful for dyeing and tanning leather, and in staining sabots in France, which are also made of this wood. Alder wood is light in weight, and easily worked. The dark bark and foliage of the spreading branches of the tree, which overhangs the river’s edge, gives picturesque effect to many a Norwegian river scene.
[64] What is meant by a czardas, or csárdás, as it is usually spelt in the Hungarian language? It is a celebrated Hungarian dance. The Magyar peasant seldom dances anything else. The csárdás is a national dance of Hungary, as much as the sailors’ hornpipe is of England. We give the following description of the csárdás, from the interesting work of Arthur J. Patterson, “The Magyars; their Country and Institutions,” vol. i., p. 194, published by Messrs. Smith, Elder & Co. in 1859:—“Its name is the adjective form from “csárdá,” which designates a solitary public house; an institution which plays a considerable part in all romantic poems or romantic novels whose scene is laid in Hungary, as a fitting haunt for brigands, horse-thieves, gipsies, Jews, political refugees, strolling players, vagabond poets, and other melodramatic personages. The music of the csárdás is at first slow, solemn, and, I may say, melancholy. After a few bars, it becomes livelier, which character it then keeps up, occasionally becoming very fast indeed, and at last ends in a delirious whirl of confusion. The movements, of course, correspond. The dance opens with a stately promenade; then, as the music quickens, each couple take a twirl or two, and breaking away brusquely from one another, continue a series of pantomimic movements, now approaching coquettishly like parted lovers desiring reconciliation; then, as if the lady thought she had given sufficient encouragement, she retreats with rapid but measured steps, while her partner pursues, and, gradually gaining on her, again seizes her waist; they whirl swiftly round two or three times, and then, breaking away, continue the pantomime as before. What makes the csárdás unrivalled is its variety. One seldom sees the couples perform exactly the same figure at the same time.”
[65] The splendid vestiges of the Roman baths, called “thermæ,” “banios,” or hot baths, at Rome, attest their former extent and magnificence. The Romans began their bathing with hot water, and ended with cold—the hot, “caldarium;” the tepid, “tepidarium;” the cold, “frigidarium.” Vast numbers of magnificent baths were erected by the Roman emperors. They had spacious porticos, rooms for athletic exercises, halls for the declamation of poets and the lectures of philosophers. Perhaps the most interesting remains of Roman baths in England are those discovered in the buried city of Uriconium, or Wroxeter, on the banks of the river Severn, about six miles from Shrewsbury, in Shropshire. For an admirable account of this city, supposed to have been taken by force, with much carnage, plundered, and burnt, between about the year 420 and the middle of the fifth century, we refer our readers to a work of great antiquarian research, published in 1872, entitled, “Uriconium: A Historical Account of the Ancient Roman City,” by Thomas Wright, M.A., F.S.A., &c., and also to the concise and useful work, “The Roman City of Uriconium,” by J. Corbet Anderson. We believe that the private subscriptions, although considerable, which have been collected for excavation, are now all exhausted; and, unless Government aid is given, it is improbable that the excavations, however interesting, can be resumed. The number of relics of the buried city, a very small portion of which has been explored, show the antiquarian, we may say, historical importance of further research. Randall, in his interesting and beautifully illustrated work, the “Severn Valley,” published (1862) by Virtue, says—“As excavations proceed, the plan of the city unfolds itself.... The forum, the baths, the market-place, and the sites of public and private buildings become clear;” and again the author says, “but with ruins, three miles in circumference, much remains to be explored.
“All desolate lies Uriconium now,
The dust of ages piled upon his brow.”
[66] There is a favourite Hungarian melody, called by the Magyars the “Rákótzy,” of which Paget, in his comprehensive work, in 2 vols., “Hungary and Transylvania,” published in 1855, says—“I am now more than ever convinced that none but a gipsy band can do it full justice. The effect of the melancholy, plaintive sounds with which it begins, increased by the final discords which the gipsies introduce, and of the wild burst of passion which closes it, must depend as much on the manner of its execution as on the mere composition.”
[67] Fjord is pronounced Fee-or.
[68] Beautiful examples of the sidilia and piscina may be seen in Dorchester Abbey Church, Oxfordshire. The small openings or windows at the back of the niches are remarkable. Another interesting example of the sedilia and piscina may be seen at Grafton Underwood, Northamptonshire, where the niches have ogee heads, cinque-foiled.
[69] The largest number of chained Bibles we have seen are in the old library of Wimborne Minster, in Dorsetshire. The library is also interesting as associated with Matthew Prior, the poet.