1825.] REVIEW.-Fosbroke's Encyclopædia of Antiquities. baptismal font, to wipe the body after bath ing, and to wrap up corpses. The Towel was the Anglo-Saxon Hand-cloth; and the Kitchen-towel the Torsorium Culine of the Middle Age. In 1444 we find napkins with stripes of another stuff. Some Towels were put round the neck while chipping bread, &c." "Vignette. In the fourteenth century, the term was applied to ornaments upon silver, &c. in the manner of Vines, whence the term. Marchand says, that Rastoldt was the first printer, or artist, who introduced ornaments, capital initials, flowers, and vignettes. He lived in 1476. Pyuson is probably the first printer in England, who introduced borders and vignettes in his books. Vignettes with human figures are probably of the date of 1527." "Bankers.-The Encyclopedists say, that the Trapezite of the Greeks, and Argentarii or Nummularii of the Romans, were persons who lent money upon usury, kept the accounts of other usurers, and exchanged worn for new money, for a profit, but did not deal in cheques, drafts, &c. Beckman, however, says, that they did pay money by a bill, which process was termed perscribere and rescribere, and the assignment or draft attributio, and dealt besides in exchanges and discounts. Philip the Fair, in 1304, ordered a bank to be held upon the great bridge of Paris; and they had booths and tables before church-doors, &c. called Mensa Cambiatorum,' (our Scriptural' tables of the Money-changers') stands at fairs for changing money, &c. They were obliged to give security in property, and were formed into Gilds. We had a set of them called Caursini, from the family Caursina at Florence; it being agreed, that however divided, they should take the name of that family, penes quam summa mercaturæ erat. All the Italian merchants who practised usury were called Lombards; hence our Lombard Street. The draft of one Banker upon another, and the check, occur in Rymer. The deposit of money to be let out at interest is a practice of the Roman Argentarii, who exercised their trade in the Forum, under the inspection of the town Magistrate; and when they ceased to show themselves, their bankruptcy was declared by these words, foro cessit." "Barber, Barber-Surgeon.-The Encyclopædia is scanty. In Greece there were both Barbers and Barber-surgeons; but the shop of the latter was deemed a more genteel lounge for the news. Ticinius Mena introduced them into Rome from Sicily, A.U.C. 454. They not only dressed the hair and beard, but cut nails. The bason is mentioned by Ezekiel. It is the Cantharus of the Middle Age, of bright copper. Juvenal speaks of the snapping of the scissars, transferred in the Middle Ages to the 155 snapping of the fingers. Plutarch mentions "Auction, Auctioneer.-1. In the Roman sales, a spear was fixed in the Forum, by which stood a Cryer, who proclaimed the articles. A catalogue was made in tables, called Auctionaria. The seller was called Auctor, and the bidders Sectores. They signified their bidding by lifting up their fingers, and the highest bidder succeeded. The Magistrate's permission was necessary for a sale. About the Forum, were a number of silversmiths', or rather bankers' shops, where things sold by auction were registered and sealed. At their shops, the auctions were in general made, in order that these Argentarii might note on the tables the names of the buyers; and the goods were delivered under the Magistrate's authority. Buying in, or redemp tion, was made by giving security through a friend, which was termed Dejicere libellos. Petronius gives a hand-bill of an auction, literally thus: Julius Proculus will make an auction of his superfluous goods to pay his debts.' Estates, pictures, &c. were sold by the Romans in this way, as now, and sales sometimes lasted two months. "In the Middle Age the goods were cried and sold to the highest bidder, and the sound of a trumpet added, with a very loud noise. The use of the spear was retained, the 'auctions being called Subhastationes; and the Subhastator, or auctioneer, was sworn to sell the goods faithfully. In Nares we have, sold at a pike or spear, i. e. by public auction or outery; and auctions, called port-sales, because originally, perhaps, sales made in ports. The cryer stood under the spear, as in the Roman æra, and was in the thirteenth century called cursor. In London, sales by auction were held at Mercers' Hall, and other public places. 2. The barbarous Latin Auctionarius signified a tradesman who augmented his property,properly speaking, one who bought old, worn, and damaged goods, to sell them dearer afterwards,—a regrator," 36. Reine REVIEW-Reine Canziani. 36. Reine Canziani; a Tale of Modern SIR EGERTON BRYDGES is of opi- Now really Lord Byron has no good qualities to spare; and it is rather cruel to over-blacken his memory. Sir Egerton Brydges says (i. 263), in his Reflections, "It is unpardonable to load him with reproaches, while men who have passed their days in sleep, and their nights at the gambling house, reckless of fortune, and of all that is estimable in life, live on without in dignation or painful notice." We shall not, however, detail the contents of this Novel (because the plot is an everyday case), but proceed to notice an elegant specimen of Taste, tending to improve the barbarism and vulgarity of our funereal emblems. "There is a simple tomb in Athens, composed of one single slab of white marble; a stripling palm tree waves over it its light graceful foliage. The epitaph that is carved on the marble is one that she loved, -it is one that he whose falseness had laid her there, had fixed in her memory; it is'Farewell! A white rose has been placed above that motto; 'tis said there was on it a blemish inflicted by some profaning touch; but that spot on its delicate texture seemed [Aug. only to enhance the dazzling white of the Now what are our emblems? An infant's head with wings,-a monstrous conception which Belzoni saw in Egypt; a scull with a laurel crown any man suppose that Heaven is peo-around it,-tasteless allegories! Can pled with winged heads flying about, or that skeletons crowned with laurels sing rapturous hallelujahs around the throne of Him whose vision is beatific? Is there any suggestion favourinfluence over the mind, its recomable to the "beauty of holiness," to its contemptible, such mischievous trash? mendation of piety in such more than By what authority does a low, vulgar mechanic disgrace our consecrated cemeteries with things which excite a laugh? The moral injury is not trifling, in the view of those who know any thing of the doctrine of "associabe legally empowered to refuse admistion of ideas." The Clergyman should sion of incongruous symbols and epitaphs. There exist too such beautiful hieroglyphics, the sprig of a flower, the broken column for a public character; the ruined Gothic arch for an Antiquary; the figure on the ground, lifted arm, and raised head to Heaven, like the dying gladiator, with the upand many other fine emblems to be derived from Scripture. We assure our readers that this elegant Novel will gratify them in the perusal, and convince our fair readers that nothing is more dangerous than the Devil, when he assumes the form language of Miss Bowdler, the murof an angel of light; and that, in the derer and the seducer are similar criminals; with this aggravation, that the latter affixes infamy to the name of his victim,-brands even her meed at as a warning, though her very mory, executes her, and then hangs her in chains on a gibbet, to be pointerror originated in a virtue, the parent of all connubial fidelity and happiness, invincible attachment and singlehearted devotedness. unwise men ruin themselves, or know Cæsar, 1825.] Journal of the Siege of Quebec. REVIEW. Cæsar, Buonaparte, Byron. The latter lived like a fool, and died like a fool, as to conduct. He gave up a beloved wife and daughter from foolish pride, and he would not leave Missolonghi for Zante, as if it was any part of heroism to defy the plague and pestilential climate. The legacy which he left to an unknown female, laid the groundwork of this Novel. That female died, and, says our author, "What, it may be asked, was the fate of him, whose heart, insensible to so much gentleness, such unvarying devotion, betrayed the fond trust reposed in him? Did not his cruelty meet its reward? Did affluence, did literary fame, did the world's splendour lull to sleep the voice of Conscience? Did domestic peace dwell with him, did the society of his brilliant beautiful bride banish from his recollection the wrongs he had inflicted on Reine Canziani? Or did her image present itself to him, bowed down with suffering, her melancholy but unrepining countenance looking just as when they parted for ever?" P. 292. 37. Journal of the principal Occurrences during the Siege of Quebec, by the American Revolutionists, under Generals Montgomery and Arnold, in 1775-6, containing many Anecdotes of moment, never yet published. Collected from some old Manuscripts, originally written by an Officer, during the Period of the gallant Defence made by Sir Guy Carleton, afterwards Lord Dorchester. To which are added, a THE reduction of Canada in 1760 by the embattled forces of Britain, "far more merciful than wise," while she exhausted her treasure to guard her offspring, and extend their trade, certainly weakened the bond of allegiance among the Colonists, and made them feel less indebted to the military power of Great Britain, since they had no longer any fear from the savages of that quarter, or of aggression from the chain of French forts which had been planned and constructed by able offieers, to unite their vast colony with Louisiana, through the efforts of the Sieurs de la Jonquier and La Galissoniere, who claimed all the countries North and West of a line they had drawn, from Cape Canso to the river Penobso, and from thence nearly as far as New Orleans in the Gulf of Mexico, and thus deprived Great Bri 157 tain of her most valuable settlements, and the fur trade on Lakes Erie, Ontario, and Champlain; circumscribing her within a track of land lying be tween the sea and the Alleghany mountains. It was never, perhaps, foreseen by our Ministers, that the reduction of it, although attended with so much glory, would materially weaken the dependence of the neighbouring States on England; or that it would have hastened that disunion which sooner or later takes place, whenever the offspring of the parent State consider themselves capable of being supported by their own resources alone. Thus Mr. Shortt, Pref. p. vii. The Journal consists of course of a very valuable document, but one which, from its very nature, consists of the same thing over again,-attacks and repulses. Such details, however, are of high national import. They show future Generals what may be done, and such documents ought to be printed by order of the War Office, and distributed among the military depots. and the public libraries. Why are there not garrison libraries? Mr. Shortt annexes a valuable Aps pendix, in which he illustrates the clumsiness of ancient warfare till the late revolutionary contest; and ridicules the ancient politesse of our regiment of Guards, in taking off their hats to their opponents, and asking them to pay them the compliment of giving them the first fire. P. 110. We quote for warning sake the fol-> lowing passage, in p. 105: Stendhal) says with exultation, that we have "A French military writer (the Count de rendered ourselves particularly odious to most of the continental nations, and are at the same time detested by the Americans, who in twenty years will swarm upon our trade with five hundred privateers." 38. A Discourse concerning Transubstantiation, preached by the Rev. Dr. Harris at Salters' Hall, on the 13th of February, 1734-5, now reprinted by Rear-Admiral Bullen. 8vo. Lond. pp. 43. INTERESTED and private mo tives occasioned nonsense to be propagated, because a barbarous age presented no check to credulity. This is the whole history of Popery in general, and Transubstantiation in particular, REVIEW.-Milner's Sermons. If Christ be God, it is blasphemous to think that he made himself an article of food, or a quack medicine for creating religion, by mastication or deglutition, and making mind of the stomach. If so, man is no longer an accountable agent, because his use or abuse of the Sacrament is merely an affair of physical action. 39. Practical Sermons, by the late Joseph THESE Sermons were written by a "In the negligence of Milner, combined with his strong sense and deep piety, there is a dignity which more laboured compositions do not often reach. His appeals to the conscience, though rough, are in a high degree forcible; and there is often an exquisite tenderness, with a natural eloquence, which at once makes its way to the heart." Pref. ix. These Sermons will much gratify those who admire what is called the Evangelical form of exhibiting ChrisLianity. [Aug. 40. Proofs that the Holy Communion in both kinds was administered to the Laity within the Parish of Norham and Diocese of Durham before the Reformation. A Letter to the Honourable and Right Rev. the Lord Bishop of Durham. Raine, Rector of Meldon. 8vo. pp. 16. By James MR. RAINE having met with sundry items in certain Account Rolls that various flagons of wine were purpreserved in the Treasury of the Dean chased at Easter pro parochianis comand Chapter of Durham, purporting municandis, or communione parochianorum, deduces from hence that the cup was not withheld from the laity in the Romish æra, so far at least as concerns the parish of Norham. Without the slightest disrespect to Mr.Raine, we conceive that the words communio and communicare have misled him. By referring to Ducange, he will see public body, and by reference to the that communio implied community or parish books of Darlington, as quoted in Mr. Surtees's Durham, he will see ed. In our volume XCIV. i. p. 148, that wine was laid in for festivities and the reader will see that quarts of sack treats, when strange ministers preachpreached, and that" when the Dean of were purchased for ministers who opinion that these treats were conDurham preached, 3s. 6d. was spent in a treat with him." We are of fined to ministers who preached.That the Eucharist would not be given to laymen in both kinds, and that such a reception of it was limited to priests wood's Provincial, Oxf. edit. 1679, alone, Mr. Raine will see in Lyndrum, k. solis celebrantibus, and 1. mip. 9; and in the notes h. v. vinum pucurious collection of cobweb scholasnoribus ecclesiis; he will further see a ticisms on the subject.-Easter was the great æra of parochial festivities, and we doubt not but the wine given pro communione, i. e. community of the parishioners, had no reference whatJewel's Reply to Harding, fol. 1609, ever to the holy Sacrament. In Bp. are three pages (20-23), written to show the sense of communio as fellowship, brotherhood, &c. unconnected with the Eucharist. 41. The Gil Blas of the Revolution. By L. THE French Revolution is an event 1825.] REVIEW.-Gil Blas of the Revolution. its consequences continues to excite so important an influence upon the destinies of the civilized world, that we welcome every attempt, however faint, to throw some new light upon this topic. Histories and memoirs without end encumber our reading tables, without exhausting our patience; and here we are treated with a Novel, founded upon this endless theme. The author, M. Picard, of the French Academy, is a very successful dramatic writer; and the work is altogether such an one as might be expected to emanate from an intellect rich in the experience of many-coloured life, acutely susceptible to the ridiculous, and thoroughly master of the sophistries which influence the conduct of what are emphatically called men of the world. The story, from its nature, defies analysis, being a tissue of adventures, a narrative of the vicissitudes of the hero Lawrence Giffard, who is represented as a mere creature of circumstances, a moral camelion, assuming simultaneously the hue of proximate objects; a man devoid of fixed principle, vain, frivolous, selfish, but rather weak than wicked; a complete timeserver and sycophant. Our hero commences his career as a barber apprentice; and passing during the memorable period of the last thirty years, through the various grades of society, sometimes at the summit of fortune's wheel, and finally, as consummation of poetical justice, ends his days as a pauper in a "Maison de Charité." Commencing in 1789, we are presented with an animated and piquant sketch of society in its various phases, during a remarkable epoch, up to the second return of the Bourbons. The darker aspects of these disastrous times are cautiously kept in the background, for the author is apparently conscious of his want of power to describe passion or profound emotion. His forte is the gay, elegant, satirical delineation of common every-day life; his portraits are replete with character, and show a most amusing, and doubt less a very accurate picture of French manners. M. Picard does not assume a very lofty moral standard, but his satire is always good-humoured, and his reflections just; he generally leaves his readers, which is perhaps more judicious, to draw their own inferences. 159 In fine, there is in these volumes much to delight, and nothing to offend, and we are occasionally dazzled with the rapid succession of incidents, which, like the brilliant but evanescent images of a phantasmagoria, "Come like shadows, 42. A respectful Address to the Archbishops and Bishops respecting the necessity of Morning and Afternoon Service on Sunday in every Parish Church in his Majesty's Dominions, with a few Thoughts concerning the Residence of the Clergy. By a Churchman. 8vo. pp. 32. Riving tons. OF the propriety of the measure recommended, there can be no doubt, nor of its adoption, where there is an adequate value in the benefice. The advowsons of the Church of England are, however, private not national property, no more than are the funds of charitable institutions. The tithes, &c. were given by our ancestors, not for the sole purpose of praying their souls out of purgatory, but for that of bringing the blessing of God upon their posterity. Henry the Eighth thought proper, however, to convert a portion of these sacred funds into lay hands, for the purpose of auginenting the number of livery servants, hunters, and foxhounds, in the establishments of usurpers. A poor meek Apostle, who went about doing good, preaching up glad tidings of salvation, and peace and good will towards men, might turn out a St. John, who interfered with royal marriages, and there can be no doubt that Henry had not even the qualms of conscience upon these subjects which Herod felt. But to the purpose. A man who cares not for murder, cares less for theft; and if the nation in the name of King and Parliament, thought fit to appropriate private property to their own disposal, they ought to make up the damages by taking steps to supply the funds necessary for supporting the due performance of ecclesiastical duty. Be it recollected that our ancestors amply endowed the Church; that the consequences of the sacrilege have been Poor Rates; that Providence has therefore punished the spoliators with a permanent curse; and (as we solemnly believe) if the Church was utterly extinguished to-morrow, that the squabbles of the sects would destroy_the Con |