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Regna firmal Pieta's

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Christianuis. 1. D.G. Rex Dania & Norvegia & Anxoj 6.1.5

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Par mor ex par terre

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Wiwe la Guerre Vrch Heritier de Norwegen Que de leswick Howling Chewayller du bes noble Ordre de la Jartière.

Si vis omma subiicere, subiice te rationi

Ebor Albania D

1609

Giunta mi piace honestà con leggiadria. min EWzabeth. P.

Published by JB Nichols & Son, 1829.

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1829.]

EARLY ALBUMS.

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There are seven Albums preserved FOR the accompanying plate we in the British Museum in the Sout

tographs, the publication of which has just been completed by Mr. Nichols. At the same time that it furnishes a specimen of the style in which the plates of that highly interesting work have been executed by Mr. Smith; it shows the manner, now we imagine but little known, in which it was formerly customary to inscribe in Albums, the fashion of keeping which has of late years again become so pre valent. We extract the Editor's remarks on these curiosities.

The first Collections of Autographs were probably those intituled "Alba Amicorum." The fashion appears to have originated in Germany, towards the close of the sixteenth century. A remarkable incident in the life of the celebrated Sir Henry Wotton was, the result of a sentence which he wrote in one of these books, and his biographer, Isaak Walton, in relating the story, defines an Albo" to be "a white paper book which the German gentry usually carry about them for the purpose of requesting" such eminent characters to write some sentence in."

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In Humphrey Wanley's Catalogue of the Harleian Manuscripts we find a inore full description. No. 933 of that collection is" a paper-book in octavo, bound long-wise [this seems to have been for some time the general form], being one of those which the Germans call Albums, and are much used by the young travellers of that nation, who commonly ask a new acquaintance (even at the first meeting) to write some sentence therein, with a compliment to the owner's learning, good sense, &c. Which done, the names gotten are laid before the next new face, and the young man upon all occasions, especially at his return, by these Hands demonstrates what good company he has kept. Nevertheless in England there may be some good use made of these books (besides the benefit of some wise and uncommon sentences to be found therein,) I mean by the original Hands of foreigners of the highest quality of both sexes, of other noblemen, ladies, learned, and otherwise eminent persons, whose Hands perhaps cannot otherwise be

come at."

GENT. MAG. June, 1829.

earliest

MSS. It was formed in 1579, as appears by part of the original binding. It commences with the motto and signature of the Duc d'Alençon, the suitor of our Virgin Queen. He has attempted to sketch something like a fire, under which is written "Fovet et disqutit. FRANCOYS." Underneath is another inscription, "Me servir quy mestre. FARNAGUES," and in the opposite page the Emperor's, 1579, Amat Victoria Curam. MATTHIAS." The book appears to have been quite filled in the course of a year or two; principally by French scribblers, by whom there are many chansons.

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That in the Sloane MSS. 3416, retains its original appearance, bound in green velvet. The arms of the writers are beautifully emblazoned; and there are the arms of England ready for an autograph, which was never written. On a page with his arms splendidly emblazoned within the Garter, the Duke of Holst, brother-in-law to our King James the First, has left his name. At the top (see Plate 1. No. 2.) is a monogram within the date 1609, and the martial motto,

"Par mer et par terre

Wiwe la Guerre." At the bottom he has signed “ULRICH Heritier de Norwegen, Duc de Sleswick Holstein, & Chewayllir du tres noble Ordre de la Jartiere." The family of Brunswick Lunenburgh have numerously contributed to this volume.

The Album in Sloane MSS. 3415 belonged to Charles de Bousy. It commenced, before some pages were misplaced, with the mottoes and signatures of the young Princes of England, Henry and Charles, and the Princess Elizabeth, written in 1609. The Princes have given those mottoes which are found in several other places as having been used by them; Henry that of Fax mentis honestæ gloria. HENRICUS P." (see No. 3.) and the Duke of York and Albany, "Si vis omnia subjicere subjice te rationi. EBOR-ALBANI D." (see No. 4). Elizabeth has written, 1609, Giunta mi piace honestà con leggiadria. ELIZABETH P." (see No. 5). In a subsequent page, the Duke of Holst has written the same as before, with the date 1613;

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490

Early Albums in the British Museum.

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A sanguine, and probably a youthful courtier has written, "Aulica vita splendissima. JOHN GIBBON;" and we find a page full of the mottoes of Edward Sackville, who slew Lord Bruce, and was afterwards Earl of Dorset. He exhibits his proficiency in six languages as follows:

"Vanish, Feare, since they who fall low must dy, [the scky. As well as they that tumble headlong from Felix perijt quicuncq' quem odit premit. Douleur D'ou l'Eur. Concilio nel guonciale. Nach Recht und elien stehet mein Begeren. Mas honra que vida.

E. SACKEVILLE."

The same volume has several drawings of figures, highly curious as specimens of costume, particularly as they give the colours. At p. 223, opposite an autograph not very legible, but with this motto, "Il fault que celuy aille droict qui se moique du boisteux," is a very curious drawing, representing a procession of ten figures, consisting of a lady carried in an easy chair by four men in yellow liveries, trimmed with silver, three before and the fourth behind. Two serjeants with halberds walk before, and another servant with a long umbrella behind; and in a personal attendance on the lady are two gentlemen dressed in white and red. In p. 205 are a lady and gentleman drawn in a most singularly shaped gaudy sledge, by one horse, the driver holding the reins standing behind them. At p. 324, are two figures in the splendid costumes of some ecclesiastical offices, each with a cross on his breast, and the robe of the first, which is black, ornamented with the emblems of the crucifixion.

The Sloanian MS. 2035, was formed of vellum, and bound in red velvet, in 1615, for Sir Philibert Vernatti. In an early page the British Princess Elizabeth, then Queen of Bohemia, has written" 1616. Io non fa stima che dell' honore. ELIZABETH." At fol. 18 is an excellent specimen of the

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writing of Christian the Fourth, King of Denmark, with the motto: "Regna firmal Pietas. CHRISTIANUS IIII.D.G. Rex Daniæ & Norwegia, &c. ANNO 1615;" and in a flourish below" scripsit man' prop'." (see the engraving, No. 1.) His brother the Duke of Holst we have a third time, in the same manner, but with the date 1615; and at fol. 43 is" 1616. Je Maintiendray. MAUDE NASSAU."-This volume, after Sir Philibert de Vernatti had procured it to be so respectably occupied, came into the possession of George Willingham, a correspondent of Prynne and Bastwick, as appears by letters of those well-known characters to him. He has inserted very numerous English signatures, cut out from the original documents, and some that are curious

RICE

and uncommon.

The preceding are the Albums of courtiers and diplomatists; those of scholars and students were less pretending both in inanufacture and contents. That in the Sloane MSS. 2360, is of paper with a leather binding, and has this title: "Album hoc immortali Patronorum, Fautorum, et Amicorum memoriæ cum debita observantia consecrat David Krieg, Annæmont. Heraund." In this a few emblems are painted, but no arms. The first autograph is at page 75 by James Bobart, the gardener at Oxford:

"Virtus sui gloria. Think that day lost whose descending sun views from thy hand no noble action done. Yr success and happyness

is sincerely wished by "Decemb. 8° 1697. JA. BOBART, Oxon." Many of those still more modestly retired in the volume (nearly all fo reigners) are of earlier date, and, from other Albums as well as the present, it appears to have been the custom to write near the end of the book, leaving the commencement for persons of the first consequence, so that it was filled in what may be styled a retrograde

course.

The Sloane MS. 2597 has this title in a clever pen-and-ink drawing: "Hortus Fautorum et Amicorum Caspari Sibelii a Goor Daventria Trans Isalani." It is an Album of humble pretensions, with a few drawings, but no illuminations.

The Album in the Harleian MSS. which occasioned the remarks of Wanley before quoted, inay deservedly

1829.]

Early Albums in Mr. Upcott's Collection.

rank last of those in the National repository. It belonged to John Hassfurter, a young man, native of Amberg in the Upper Palatinate; and who, as it seems, practised physic at Blandford in Dorsetshire about 1627 and 1628. It is surprising how many foreigners appear to have visited him at that town during those years. But Mr. Hassfurter was rather a slovenly fellow; and allowed the milk-white Album in which his friends had left so many testimonies of their regard, to degenerate into a dirty memorandum-book.

Thoresby had in his Museum two Albums. To the Autographs before mentioned" (a large collection), he says, "may fitly be added two manuscripts, viz. the Album of Lambroc. Thomas, Cambro-Britanus, an. 1636, which I purchased of his countryman; as also the other of an Hungarian, intituled 'Viridarium nominibus illustrium ac clarissimorum Virorum, concinnatum a Paulo P. Jahz-Berenii Ung. (1657),' adorned with the names of many learned Professors, Alting, Arnoldus, Boxhornius, Cocceius, Commenius, Diemerbroech, l'Empereur, Eyssonius, Frencellius, Fullenius, Heinsius, Heerebord, Heurnius, Junius (Fran. F. N.), Moll, Pasor, Polyander, Pynaiker (exlegatus Africanus), Voetius (pater et filius), Vorstius, Vossius (Ger. Jo.), Winsenius; and, of our own nation, Basire, Cawton, Conant, Cromleholm, Hurst, Pocock, Owen, Reynolds, Seaman, Wallis, Wilkinson."

Mr. Upcott, of the London Institution, has a large number of these curiosities, of all shapes and sizes. The oldest is a small quarto, of 180 leaves of paper, the pages of which are ornamented with a border printed from moveable types. On the binding is impressed the date 1591. By a singular whim a square opening has been cut on each side of the volume, and inside of one is an illumination and

autograph, dated 1568. Mr. Upcott possesses the Albums of Jeronimus Reutter, about 1600; that of John George Byrberg 1636; that of John Paul Kordenbusch of Nuremberg, made in 1644, which has several pretty drawings, and two or three exquisitely painted figures,-excellent specimens of costume; that of John Herlerseigum, in which the signature of Jer. Joh. Vossius occurs; that of John Vander Waeyen, of Amsterdam, which commences with the signature of the Palsgrave Charles Louis (nephew to our

491

King Charles the First):"1660. Dominus providebit. CAROLUS LUDOVICUs."; and those of two or three other German literati.

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Few, if any, Englishmen occur in these volumes; but Mr. Upcott has recently obtained a small volume, being also the Album of a foreigner, containing the signatures of many Englishmen, and among them several of eminence. It was the "Thesaurus Amicorum" of " M. Johannes Sictor, Robyczanus Bohemus," an Exul," as he elsewhere describes himself, and resident in this country. Of the inscriptions in this Album, about 250 in number, the dates vary from 1626 to 1645, and some of the most eminent English names are those of Archbishop Usher, Sir Theodore Mayerne, Dr. Donne, Sir Henry Wotton, James Howell, Sir Thomas Roe the antiquary, Bishop Wren, Bishop Prideaux, John Hales the Fellow of Eton, Peter Molin, and Thomas Gataker. There is also the owner's countryman John Hassfurter of Blandford, whose Album in the British Museum has been before noticed.

With a large proportion of Thoresby's manuscripts, Mr. Upcott also possesses his Album. It is a thin quarto having this inscription on the fly-leaf: "This Album was begun 31st August 1696, when his Grace the Most Reverend and Excellent Dr. John Sharp, Lord Archbishop of Yorke, condescended to view this poor Musæum." At the top of the first page are the inscriptions of two Archbishops of York. That of Sharp is

"Omnia vobis cum charitate fiant. Jo. EBOR."

That of Sir William Dawes :

10th July 1719,

[past, Enjoy the present hour, be thankfull for the And neither fear, nor wish, the approaches of the last.

Vitae summa brevis spem nos vetat inchoare longam.

W. EBOR."

Three others admitted to the bottom of this page, are Richard Thornton, Recorder of London; Edward Clarke, Vicar of Nottingham; and John Siser, Fellow of University College, Oxford. The majority of the other contributors are provincial neighbours of Thoresby; and the larger half of the volume, beginning at the other end, is occupied by a record of presents to his Museum, from some of the most distinguished characters of his time. J. G. N.

492

PRIVA

Cell or Cachet at Lancaster Castle. Mr. URBAN, May 3. DRIVATE (or rather secret) entrances, contrived for admissions or escapes, with hiding places in the walls (or even chimnies), were not uncommon in old castles and similar buildings. Instances have particularly been found in the Castle of Lancaster: of which some of the towers were built in very remote periods of our history.

On taking down the Southern Tower, about thirty years ago, a vacant space was found within the substance of the walls, leading almost round the building, of a sufficient breadth to allow passage for an individual, with occasional recesses, in which a person might stand, whilst another went by him. But in the North West Tower was also found a Cell or Cachet, of a particular construction; of which I do not know that any description has been generally given; and I therefore transmit a memorandum, which was taken at the time it was discovered.

On taking down the north-west tower of the Castle at Lancaster, in an unusual thickness of the wall was discovered a cell or cachet of a particular construction. The wall had been built in the following manner. The external and internal surfaces were either of that kind of chiselled masonry which is termed Ashler (or at least of tolerably well jointed work), whilst the whole interior had been filled with round cobble stones, into the interstices of which mortar had been poured in a fluid state, and had, at the time the walls were taken down, become so hard, that it was frequently more easy to break a stone of the most compact nature, than the mortar.

In a corner of a room, which was in the upper part of the tower, an aperture was discovered, which led down to the cell in question, which was fifteen feet in length, and six wide. It was constructed of well polished Ashler masonry; the joints accurately fitted, and terminating above in three Gothic arches of unequal heights, those at the ends being fifteen feet from the ground, whilst that in the middle was only six. There were two apertures into it, at equal distances from the ends, but no steps. The only method of descending into it, must have been by a ladder occasionally put down. The whole length of five yards was divided on the top into five equal portions; the three arches occupying

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each one yard, and the two apertures each one. One of the apertures was, as has been said, in the corner of a room, to which a door in the wall had been affixed in such a manner that it might appear to be to a closet in that room; and the other was under a flight of stairs, which led from a passage, which was in the wall of the building, to one of the rooms of the Castle, but is now in a great measure filled up.

It seems uncertain whether this place was intended for a private depot of valuable articles, or as a cachet or subliette for particular prisoners. Though the great pains which had been taken to construct the inside secure, by making it entirely of hewn masonry, when they were so sparing of this kind of work as to use all sorts of substitutes for it whenever it could be dispensed with, renders it rather probable that it has been for the latter purpose. When once a person was let down into this dreadful dungeon, escape was as impossible as any intercourse with the world. When the cell was discovered it was filled up with ashes of all descriptions, and fragments of articles of a more modern date; the room having been occupied by prisoners, they had thrown into it whatever they wished to get easily quit of.

Mr. URBAN,

SOME

2, Sidmouth-streel, Regent-square. NOME have complained that they could not discern the propriety of applying the epithet melodious to the voice; a little conversation however with the Greek writers on Music would make it evident.

Let us, for the sake of illustration, imagine a line drawn, and conceive a

monad to move in this line with two
different kinds of motion, the one
gliding and continuous, the other leap-
ing and diastematic, and we shall have
a typical representation of the respec-
tive attributes of speaking and singing.
της δε κινησεως ท άπλη πέφυκεν
μεν
ἡ ουχ άπλη, και ταύτης, ή μεν συνεχής
ἡ δε διαστηματικής κ.τ.λ.

Aristides Quintilianus.

"Omnis vox in duo genera dividitur: continuum atque divisum. Continuum est velut juge colloquiam : Divisum, quod in modulatione servamus. Est et medium, quod in utroque præmixtum, ac neque alte

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