Page images
PDF
EPUB
[blocks in formation]

DRUNKARDS IN CHANCERY.

[blocks in formation]

Thou hast the starry gems, the burning gold,
Won from ten thousand royal argosies.
Sweep o'er thy spoils, thou wild and wrathful
main,

Earth claims not these again!

Yet more, the depths have more! thy waves
have roll'd

Above the cities of a world gone by!
Sand hath filled up the palaces of old,
Sea-weed o'ergrown the halls of revelry.
Dash o'er them, Ocean! in thy scornful play,
Man yields them to decay!

In a law work by Mr. Joseph Parkes of Birmingham, on the "Equity Jurisdiction of the United States, 1830," it appears that the American chancellor has the custody of drunkards. By the statutes of New York, whenever the overseers of the poor of any city or town discover any resident with property to the amount of High hearts and brave are gather'd to thy

250 dollars, to be an habitual drunkard they are required to apply to the court of chancery. Upon the trial of an issue a verdict determines the fact, a committee is appointed of the drunkard's person, and under the direction of the court his personal estate is apportioned in liquidating his debts, and relieving his family. He is in all respects treated as an idiot, or lunatic ward of the court. When he has real property it is mortgaged or leased, if requisite, for a term not exceeding five years; and, on his being restored to his right mind, by becoming habitually sober, he then, and not till then, is deemed capable of conducting his affairs, and is entrusted with the care of his own property.

On the authority of a gentleman who was in the Rothsay steam vessel, of Liverpool, at the time of her dreadful wreck, it is now stated that if the passengers had seized and confined the drunken captain, and confided the vessel to a pilot then on board, who knew the coast and saw the danger, and remonstrated against the persistence of the frenzied commander, the vessel and passengers might have been saved.

THE TREASURES OF THE DEEP. What hid'st thou in thy treasure-caves and cells,

Thou hollow sounding and mysterious main ? Pale glistening pearls, and rainbow-colour'd shells,

Bright things which gleam unreck'd of, and in
vain.

Keep, keep thy riches, melancholy sea!
We ask not such from thee,

Yet more, the billows and the depths have more!

breast!

They hear not now the booming waters roar,
The battle-thunders will not break their rest.
Keep thy red gold and gems, thou stormy
grave-

Give back the true and brave!

Give back the lost and lovely!-those for whom

The place was kept at board and hearth so long!

The prayer went up thro' midnight's breathless gloom,

And the vain yeaning woke midst festal song! Hold fast thy buried isles, thy tower's o'erthrown,

But all is not thine own!

To thee the love of woman hath gone down,
Dark flow thy tides o'er manhood's noble head,
O'er youth's bright locks and beauty's flowery

[blocks in formation]

SHIPPING, &c.

"that

"I am informed," says Fuller, the mystery of shipwrights for some descents hath been preserved successively in families; of whom the Pets about Chatham are of singular regard. Of ships the most, best, and biggest, are built at Woolwich, and Winter, near Chatham. The Great Sovereign, built at Dulwich, a higher ship for state, is the greatest ship our island ever saw."

Henry VII. expended £114,000 in building one ship, called the Great Henry. She was properly speaking the Before this first ship in the royal navy.

period, when the prince wanted a fleet, he had no other expedient than hiring or pressing ships from the merchants.

In 1512 king Henry VIII. built at Woolwich, which is said to be the oldest royal dock, the largest ship ever known before in England. She was of 1000 tons burthen, and called the Regent. Two years afterwards, in a terrible battle, between the English and French fleets, she grappled with the great carrick of Brest, whose commander, perceiving it impossible to separate his vessel from the Regent, let slip her anchor. The ships turned together, the Carrick on the weather side and the Regent on the leeside, and in this situation the ships maintained a cruel fight. At length the English boarded the Carrick, and she took fire; which communicated to the Regent, and both ships were blown up; and 900 men of the carrick, 700 of the Regent, with the commanders of both, were burnt and drowned. To replace the Regent, the king caused a still larger ship to be built, and named it Henry Grace de Dieu..

In the first year of queen Mary's reign, the "goodliest ship in England, called the Great Harry, being of the burthen of 1000 tons, was burnt at Woolwich by negligence of the mariners."

The famous and adventurous earl of Cumberland was the first English subject that built a ship so large as 800 tons burthen. In 1547 he employed this ship, with others, at his own expense in an expedition against Spain.

Queen Elizabeth having granted to the merchants trading to the East Indies letters patent for fifteen years, they petitioned for an enlargement to James I., who granted them a charter for ever as a body corporate and politic, under the title of the East India Company, with large privileges. This so encouraged the new company that they built a ship of 1200 tons, which being the greatest ever made in this kingdom by merchants, the king and his son, Prince Henry, went to Deptford to see, and named it the Trades' Increase. This vessel, on returning from a voyage to the Red Sea, was lost, and most of her crew cast away. After this misfortune the king himself built a ship of war of 1400 tons, mounting sixty-four pieces of great ordnance, and gave it to his son Henry, who named it, after his own dignity, The Prince.*

Hume. Fuller. Baker. Anderson.

of

About 1564, was a great sea-fight between the fleets of Eric XIV., king of Sweden, and Frederick II., of Denmark. The Swedish admiral's ship was enormous bulk, and mounted 200 brass cannon. She was separated from the rest of the fleet by a storm, and, while thus detached, this large ship sustained the attack of the whole Danish fleet, joined by the fleet of Lubeck. She sunk the Lubeck admiral by her side, but being entirely surrounded by the combined fleets, and wholly unaided, she was overpowered, set on fire, and totally destroyed. This is presumed to have been the largest vessel that ever was built, and will probably be the last of so great a size. The Dutch, in the meridian of their naval greatness, never exceeded ninety gun ships; and though first rates, with more cannon, have been built in England and France, they have been regarded ed rather as vessels of superior show than of additional practical power.

CANYNGE'S SHIPS.

[For the Year Book.]

MR. HONE,

It occurred to me on reading, under March 9, in the Year Book, first that a man so eminent as Canynge had not acquired his wealth by piracy, and secondly that the ships mentioned on his tomb were most probably Bristol built.

Mathews's Bristol Guide, 1819, p. 121, in a note upon the inscription that king Edward IV. had of the said William (Canynge) 3000 marks for his peace, to be had in 2470 tonnes of shipping says that "This has given rise to a vulgar tradition, that he had committed piracy at sea, for which he was fined 3000 marks, instead of which the king accepted 2470 tons of shipping. The truth is, Canynge having assisted Edward IV. in his necessity with the above sum, the king granted him in lieu of this loan or gift to have 2470 tons of shipping free of impost, as appears by the original instrument being in the exchequer. One of the judges who was viewing the church (St. Mary, Redcliff), and heard the sexton relate the story about piracy, reprimanded him for abusing the memory of so pious and worthy a man, and gave this explanation." The History of Bristol begun by Mr. Corry and finished by the Rev. Johr.

• Baker.

The

Evans, published in 1816, says, (ii. 384, 385), "To the name of Canynge has Deen attached a peculiar splendor. piety which in early life induced him to complete Redcliff church, which his grandfather had commenced, and which afterwards prompted him retire from the world, and to dedicate himself to religion, has been deservedly celebrated. His extensive mercantile transactions, the number and size of the ships which he possessed, his immense wealth, and his unbounded liberality, would furnish ample theme for panegyric, and will transmit his name to posterity as by far the most eminent man of the age in which he lived. But, in addition to this, Canynge has been represented as the patron of the arts, the lover of the muses, and the friend and protector of genius. He died in 1474, in the sixty-ninth year of his age, and was buried in the church of St. Mary, Red

cliff."

The same work (ii. 300) says, "The commerce and manufactures of Bristol appear to have made a considerable progress during the fifteenth century, about the middle of which flourished the celebrated Canynge. This extraordinary man employed 2853 tons of shipping, and 800 mariners, during eight years. Two recommendatory letters were written by Henry VI. in 1449, one to the master general of Prussia, and the other to the magistrates of Dantzic, in which the king styles Canynge 'his beloved eminent merchant of Bristol.""

The itinerary of William Botoner, commonly called William of Worcester, preserved in the library of Benet College, Cambridge, gives the names of Canynge's vessels, among which stand first,

The Mary and John, 900 tons.
The Mary Redcliff, 500 tons.
The Mary Canynge, 400 tons.

Botoner superadds the names and tonnage of shipping belonging to other merchants of Bristol at this time; among them are the

John, 511 tons, and the
Mary Grace, 300 tons.

At the siege of Calais, in the fourteenth century, Bristol furnished twenty-two ships and 608 mariners, while London furnished twenty-five ships and 662 mariners; and in the wars against the French king, in the reign of Henry VIII., Bristol furnished eight ships, of which two were

600 tons each, two 400 tons each, one 300, and the two remaining 120 tons each. J. T.

LAST EARL AND FIRST DUKE OF CORNWALL.

[For the Year Book.]

By Gilbert's History of Cornwall it appears that John of Eltham, youngest son to Edward II., was the last earl of Cornwall; and in the reign of Edward III., by act of parliament, and the " investiture of a wreath, a ring, and a silver rod," Cornwall became a duchy, " the first in England," his son, Edward the Black prince, being the first duke of Cornwall; since which time the title of duke of Cornwall has successively devolved to the heir apparent of the king of England.

This prince was no sooner invested with the dukedom than his duchy was invaded by the French and Scots, who spread alarm all over the western coast, burning Plymouth and other towns.

On the 4th of June, 1346, Edward III. put to sea, intending to land in Guienne, but being driven back by a storm, on the Cornish coast, steered for Normandy. Arriving at L' Hogue, he landed there, and spread fire and sword to the very gates of Paris. Then succeeded the battles of Cressy and Poictiers, in the former of which the duke of Cornwall commanded the first line of the English army, followed by some of the noblest men of Cornwall; in fact, king John surrendered himself a prisoner to Sir John Treffry, a Cornish knight.

The towns of Redruth, Liskeard, and Fowey, supplied the duke's army with many spirited and active young men. At the siege of Calais, Fowey and Love furnished as follows;Fowey. 47 ships and 770 mariners. Looe

20 do

Plymouth only 26 do

315 do.

606 do.

At this period the exchequer would have been exhausted had not Cornwall contributed a subsidy of £50,000, and placed her mines at the complete disposal of Edward, in order to supply the continued drains making upon the national treasury.

[blocks in formation]

October 24.

24th of October, 1536, died in childbed of Edward VI., the lady Jane Seymour queen to Henry VIII. He had married her the day after the execution of queen Anne Boleyn, to whom she had been maid of honour.

Granger says "Jane Seymour was the est beloved wife of Henry VIII., and had indeed the best title to his affection, as she possessed more merit than any of his queens." Henry continued a widower two years after her decease, and then he married Catherine Howard, on which occasion he ordered a public thanksgivings for his happiness, and in a few months afterwards sent her to the scaffold.

The following verses are ascribed to Queen Anne Boleyn, by Sir John Hawkins, who says they were communicated to him by "a very judicious antiquary." They are transcribed, on this occasion, from "Specimens of British Poetesses, by the Rev. Alexander Dyce."

ANNE BOLEYN'S LAMENT.

Defiled is my name full sore,
Through cruel spyte and false report
That I may say for evermore,
Farewell, my joy! adiewe comfort!
For wrongfully ye judge of me,
Unto my fame a mortall wounde;
Say what ye lyst it will not be,

Ye seek for that can not be found.

O death! rocke me on slepe,
Bring me on quiet reste;
Let passe my very guiltless goste

Out of my careful brest:
Tolle on the passinge bell,
Ringe out the doleful knell,
Let the sounde my dethe tell,
For I must dye,
There is no remedy,
For now I dye.

My paynes who can express
Alas! they are so stronge,
My dolor will not suffer strength
My life for to prolonge :
Toll on the passinge bell, &c.
Alone, in prison stronge,
I wayle my destenye;
Wo worth this cruel hap that I
Should taste this miserye.
Toll on the passinge bell, &c.
Farewell my pleasures past,
Welcum my present payne;
I fele my torments so increse,
That lyfe cannot remayne.

Cease now the passinge bell,
Rong is my doleful knell
For the sound my deth doth tell.

Death doth draw nye,
Sound my end dolefully,
For now I dye.

A LADY OF EXCELLENT CONVERSATION.

You would not only imagine all the muses, but all the graces were in her too, whilst for matter, words, and manner, she is all that is delightful in conversation; her matter not stale and studied, but recent and occasional; not stiff, but ductile and pliable to the company; high, not soaring; familiar, not low; profound, not obscure; and the more sublime, the more intelligible and conspicuous. Her words not too scanty nor too wide, but just fitted to her matter; not intricately involving, but clearly unfolding and explicating the notions of her mind. In manner ma

jestic, not inferior; conversation, that is a tyranny with others, being a commonwealth with her, where every one's discourse and opinions are free. Having too much reason, to call passion to her aid, and disdaining to use force and violence (the ordinary arms of falsehood) to defend the truth; so, if you yield not, she does, rather than contend, leaving you the shame of a victory, when, with more honor, you might have yielded, and been overcome: nor does she rashly take up argument, and abruptly lay it down again; but handsomely assume it; delightfully continue it, and, like an air in music, just then, when the ear expects it, comes unto a close; all in her being sweet, delightful, and harmonious, even to the very tone and accent of her voice; it being more music to hear her speak, than others sing. Then she's withal so easy company, and far from all constraint, as 'tis pleasure to be in it; whilst others, like uneasy garments, you cannot stir in without pain, which renders her conversation far cheerfuller than theirs who laugh more, but smile less, spending more spirits in straining for an hour's mirth, than they can recover in a month again; which renders them so unequal company, whilst she is always equal, and the same. True joy being a serious, constant thing, as far different from light and giggling mirth as elemental fire from squibs and crackers: whence she, Prometheus like, inspires all who converse with her with noble flame

and spirit; none ever departing from her company, but wiser and far better than they came. It being virtue to know her, wisdom to converse with her, refinest breeding to observe her, joy to behold her, and a species of the beatitude of t'other life only to enjoy her conversation in this. Rich. Fleckno.*

WEDDED LOVE.

How near am I to happiness
That earth exceeds not! not another like it:
The treasures of the deep are not so precious,
As are the concealed comforts of a man
Lock'd up in woman's love. I scent the air
Of blessings when I come but near the house:
What a delicious breath marriage sends forth!
The violet bed 's not sweeter. Honest wedlock
Is like a banqueting house built in a garden,
Un which the spring's chaste flowers take de-
light

To cast their modest odours.-
-Now for a welcome,
Able to draw men's envies upon man;
A kiss, now, that will hang upon my lip,
As sweet as morning dew upon a rose,
And full as long.

Middleton's Women beware Women, 1567.

If love be holy, if that mystery
Of co-united hearts be sacrament;
If the unbounded goodness have infused
A sacred ardour of a mutual love

Into our species; if those amorous joys,
Those sweets of life, those comforts even in

death,

Spring from a cause above our reason's reach;
If that clear filame deduce its heat from heaven,
'Tis, like its cause, eternal; always one,
As is th' instiller of divinest love,
Unchanged by time, immortal, maugre death.
But, oh! 'tis grown a figment; love, a jest:
A comic poesy: the soul of man is rotten,
Even to the core, no sound affection.
Our love is hollow, vaulted, stands on props
Of circumstance, profit, or ambitious passes.
Marston's What you Will, 1607.

HAWKING.

..his was once the amusement of all the sovereigns of Europe, and paramount over all other rural diversions. The post of grand falconer was a place of high dignity at all their courts, and at some of them is still continued. The duke of St. Albans is, at this time, hereditary grand falconer of the British court, with a salary of £1200 per annum.

• Enigmatical Characters, 1658.

Royal Hawking in France.

The Grand Falconer of France had the superintendence of all the king's falconers, and was a sworn officer with wages and allowances amounting to 22,200 livresyearly. All hawk merchants, both French and foreigners, were bound, under pain of confiscation of their birds, to come and present them to the Grand Falconer, for him to choose birds from for the king, before they were allowed to sell any elsewhere.

In the reign of Louis XIV., if his majesty when hawking inclined to the pleasure of letting fly a hawk, the great falconer placed it on the king's fist; and, when the prey was taken, the pricker gave the head of it to his chief, and he to the great falconer, who presented it to the king.

There were six several flights of hawks belonging to the French king's falconry1. Of the flight for the kite there was a captain, or chief, who was also lieutenant-general of the great fal falconry, lieutenant-aid, a master falconer, five prickers, and one decoy-bearer.

A second flight for the kite had the same number of officers, and like salaries and appointments.

When the captain of these flights of hawks took a black kite in the king's presence, he was to have the king's horse, his loose gown, and his slippers, for his fees, which were redeemed of him for 100 crowns, about 251. sterling.

The flight at the kite was performed with ger-falcons, tiercelets, or tassels, and sometimes sakers; and there was always a decoy to draw the kite to a reasonable height, to give him to the hawks. After the kite was taken, the hawks had their fees given them with all the speed imaginable: a hen was put into their talons, and the kite's legs were broken that he might not hurt the hawks. The kite is a rare bird in France.

2. Of the flight of hawks for the heron, there was a captain, who was also captain of the guards, and keeper of the hawks'nests in Burgundy and Bresse, with commands over all the flights, for heron, throughout the kingdom; also, a lieutenantaid, and two master falconers, and eight prickers.

The flight at the heron was performed with the same kind of hawks as that at the kite; it was done two several ways: 1. To make the herons mount, when on the ground, two or three pistols or fowling

« PreviousContinue »