Sees but a part o' th' chain, the nearest link,
His eyes not carrying to the equal beam,
That poises all above.'—DRYD."
It is addressed to Mr. J(ames) R(alph), and commences: "Sir, I have here, according to your request, given you my present thoughts on the general state of things in the universe;" and concludes, "Truth will be truth, though it sometimes proves mortifying and distasteful." The pamphlet contains sixteen very closely printed pages in octavo; and the author proceeds by laying down his propositions, and then enlarging upon them, so as to form, in his opinion, a regular chain of consequences. It displays, as might be anticipated, considerable acuteness, though the reasonings, as he admits in his Autobiography, were such as to his maturer intellect appeared inconclusive. He subsequently wrote another pamphlet, in which he took the other side of the question; but it was never published, and I suppose is not now in existence.
JAS. CROSSLEY.
EARLY FLEMISH ILLUSTRATIONS OF EARLY ENGLISH LITERATURE.
The commencement of a new volume of "NOTES AND QUERIES" affords a favourable opportunity for "tapping" (to use an expressive phrase of Horace Walpole's) a subject, on which it is reasonable to suppose much light may be thrown by some of your learned correspondents. I allude to the connection which formerly subsisted between the literature of England, and that of the Low Countries. Fortunate, indeed, would it be if any communication to "NOTES AND QUERIES" might be the means of drawing some illustration from one qualified beyond all others to treat every branch of this most interesting subject. Those of your readers who had the pleasure of hearing the admirable speech of a distinguished diplomatist at the Centenary Dinner of the Society of Antiquaries, will probably understand to whom I refer.
Reserving for a future occasion some observations on the manner in which our English antiquaries have hitherto overlooked the materials illustrative of our popular literature, our popular superstitions, our early drama, our legends, and our traditions, which may be had for the gathering, from the popular literature, the popular superstitions, the early drama, the legends and traditions of the Low Countries—those Low Countries from which Chaucer married his wife—those Low Countries from which Caxton brought us his printing-press, and its long train of blessings—those Low Countries, in which, as I believe, and hope one day to prove, Shakspeare himself added to his vast stores of knowledge—I shall for the present content myself with one example, and that shall be a seasonable one, namely, of the similarity between the old Flemish carols, and those with which, at this happy season, the nights were whilom blest here in Old England.
Hoffman von Fallersleben, in the second part of his Horæ Belgicæ, that great storehouse of materials for illustrating the early literature of the Netherlands (and which second part, by the bye, was separately published under the title of Holländische Volkslieder), after showing that the sacred songs of the Low Countries are, like our own, separable into Christmas carols, Easter hymns, songs in praise of the Virgin, and songs of Christian doctrine, proceeds to characterise the former in terms in which one might well describe many of those which were formerly most popular in our country. "The carols," he remarks, "are especially deserving of our attention. In them is most clearly shown the child-like religious spirit of the olden times, when men were not content merely to relate in the simple ballad form the story of Our Saviour's birth as recorded in Holy Scripture, but sought, by the introduction of little touches drawn from social and country life, to make that story more attractive and more instructive, and so to bring it home more directly to the hearts of their pious hearers." How truly applicable these remarks are to many of our own carols, must be obvious to all who know Mr. Sandys' valuable Collection; and the following instances, which Hoffman adduces in support of his views, will, I trust, satisfy your readers that I am right in maintaining the great resemblance between the carols of Old Flanders and those of Old England.
"Many of the descriptions in these carols," he remarks, "bear a strong resemblance to some of the Bible pictures of the old masters;" and he gives, as an instance, the following simple picture of the Infant Jesus in the bath: