The set of these knives usually consisted of four. They were kept in an upright case of stamped leather, and were placed before the singer according to the adaptation of each part to the voice indicated upon them.
GARDEN AT KENILWORTH WHEN IN ITS PRIME.
Gossiping Laneham is very eloquent about the Kenilworth Garden, at which he took a timid and surreptitious peep. It was an acre or more in extent, and lay to the north of the stately castle: a pleasant terrace, ten feet high, and twelve feet broad, even under foot and fresh with trim grass, ran beside it along the castle wall. It was set with a goodly show of obelisks and spheres, and white bears of stone, raised upon goodly bases. At each end was a fine arbour, redolent with sweet trees and flowers. The garden-plot near had fair alleys of turf, and others paved with smooth sand, pleasant to walk on as the sea-shore when the wave has just retired. The enclosure was divided into four even quarters: in the midst of each, upon a base of two feet square, rose a porphyry square pilaster, with a pyramidical pinnacle fifteen feet high, pierced and hollowed, and crowned with an orb. All around was covered with redolent herbs and flowers, varied in form, colour, and quantity, and mixed with fruit trees.
In the midst, opposite the terrace, stood a square aviary, joined to the north wall, in height twenty feet, thirteen long, and fourteen broad; it had four great windows, two in front and two at each end, and each five feet wide. These windows were arched, and separated by flat pilasters, which supported a cornice. The roof was of wire net, of meshes an inch wide; and the cornice was gilded and painted with representations of precious stones. This great aviary had also eaves in the wall, for shelter from sun and heat, and for the purpose of building. Fair holly trees stood at each end, on which the birds might perch and pounce. They had a keeper to attend to their seeds and water, and to clean out their enclosure. The birds were English, French, and Spanish. Some were from America; and Laneham is "deceived" if some were not from the Canary Islands.
In the centre of this miniature Paradise stood a fountain with an octagonal basin rising four feet high; in the midst stood the figures of two Athletes, back to back, their hands upholding a fair marble bowl, from whence sundry pipes distilled continual streams into the reservoir. Carp, tench, bream, perch, and eel disported in the fresh falling water; and on the top of all the ragged staff was displayed; on one side Neptune guided his sea-horses with his trident, on another stood Thetis with her dolphins. Here Triton and his fishes, there Proteus and his herds, Doris and her daughter, and half the Nereids, disported in sea and sand, surrounded by whales, sturgeons, tunnies, and conch shells, all engraven with exquisite device and skill. By the sudden turn of a tap, the spectator could be drenched at the pleasure of any wit.
EGYPTIAN ANTIQUITIES.
It appears from a paper recently read in the Academy of Archæology, at Rome, that Father Secchi has found a new interpretation of the Egyptian hieroglyphics, which enables him to declare, that most of them are not mere tombstone inscriptions, as is generally assumed, but poems. He has given several of his readings, which display great ingenuity, and professes to be able to decipher the inscriptions on the Obelisk of Luxor, at Paris.
THE BAYEUX TAPESTRY.
The cathedral at Bayeux is a gothic building, dedicated to the Virgin. The portal and three belfries, which belong to it, are objects of curiosity. It is in this cathedral that the celebrated tapestry, denominated of Bayeux, is kept. Its length is one hundred and thirty-two feet; its breadth, seven and a half. "I had," says Dr. Ducarel, "the satisfaction of seeing that famous piece of furniture, which, with great exactness, though in barbarous needlework, represents the history of Harold, King of England; and of William, Duke of Normandy; from the embassy of the former to Duke William, at the command of Edward the Confessor, to his overthrow and death, at the battle fought near Hastings. The ground of this piece of work is a white linen cloth, or canvas. The figures of men, horses, &c. are in their proper colours, worked in the manner of the samplers, in worsted, and of a style not unlike what we see upon the China and Japan ware; those of the men, particularly, being without the least symmetry or proportion. There is a small border, which runs at the top and the bottom of the tapestry; with several figures of men, beasts, flowers, and even fables, which have nothing to do with the history, but are mere ornaments. At the end of every particular scene there is a tree, by way of distinction; and over several of the principal figures there are inscriptions, but many of them obliterated. It is annually hung up on St. John's day, and goes round the nave of the church, where it continues eight days; and at all other times it is carefully kept locked up in a strong wainscot press, in a chapel on the south side of the cathedral, dedicated to Thomas à Becket. By tradition it is called, Duke William's toilet, and is said to be the work of Matilda, his queen, and the ladies of her court, after he had obtained the crown of England." Mr. Strutt, in his "Complete View of the Dresses and Habits of the People of England," affirms, that it is the work of half a century later than the time of the Conqueror.
ROMAN STAMP.