When she walketh abroad, (here it is on another sample) he shadeth her at two miles off with his umbrella. It is like an allegory of love triumphing over space. The lady is walking upon one of those frequent pretty islets, on a plain as if of porcelain, without any herbage, only a solitary flower springs up, seemingly by enchantment, at her fairy-like foot. The watery space between the lovers is aptly left as a blank, excepting her adorable shadow, which is tending towards her slave. How reverentially is yon urchin presenting his flowers to the grey-beard! So honourably is age considered in China! There would be some sense, there, in birth-day celebrations. Here, in another compartment, is a solitary scholar, apparently studying the elaborate didactics of Con-Fuse-Ye. The Chinese have, verily, the advantage of us upon earthenware! They trace themselves as lovers, contemplatists, philosophers-whereas, to judge from our jugs and mugs, we are nothing but sheepish piping shepherds and foxhunters.-Hood's Whims and Oddities. JACK BANNISTER AND GAR RICK. My friend, John Bannister, gave me the following accurate detail of his own reception by Garrick; and even in the narrative veneration of the actor, the reader may indulge a smile at the vanity of the manager. "I was," says the admirable comedian, a student of painting in the Royal Academy, when I was introduced to Mr. Garrick-under whose superior genius the British stage then flourished beyond all former example. "One morning I was shown into his dressing-room, when he was before the glass preparing to shave a white nightcap covered his forehead-his chin and cheeks were enveloped in soap-suds-a razor-cloth was placed upon his left shoulder, and he turned and smoothed the shining blade with so much dexterity, that I longed for a beard, to imitate his incomparable method of handling the your speech, the speech to the gnost--I can hear you. Come, let's have a roll and a tumble." (A phrase of his often used to express a probationary specimen.) "After a few hums and haws, and a disposing of my hair, so that it might stand on end, like quills on the fretful porcupine,' I supposed my father's ghost before me, armed cap à piê,' and off I started. "Angels and ministers of grace defend us! (He wiped the razor.) Be thou a spirit of health, or goblin damn'd! (He strapped it.) Bring with thee airs from heav'n or blasts from King, father, royal Dane !-O, answer me, I concluded with the usual"Say, why is this? wherefore? what should we do ?" but still continued in my attitude, expecting the praise due to an exhibition, which I was booby enough to fancy was only to be equalled by himself. But, to my eternal mortification, he turned quick upon me, brandished the razor in his hand, and thrusting his half-shaved face close up to mine, he made such horrible mouths at me, that I thought he was seized with insanity, and I showed more natural symptoms of being frightened at him, than at my father's ghost." Angels and ministers! yaw! whaw! maw!" However, I soon perceived my vanity by his ridicule. He finished shaving, put on his wig, and, with a smile of good nature, he took me by the hand. "Come," said he, " young gentleman,-eh! let us see now what we can do." He spoke the speech-how he spoke it, those who have heard him never can forget. "There," said he, 66 young gentleman; and when you try that speech again, give it more passion and less mouth."-Boaden's Life of Mrs. Siddons. The Gatherer. "I am but a Gatherer and disposer of other men's stuff."-Wotton EPIGRAM. From "Le Ramelet Moundi," by Gode- Depenus upon the ena; Sober, if for a servant, Sir, But drunk, if for a friend. A WORTHLESS ARTIC A FELLOW of atrocious ugliness But when he looked at himself, to pick up a looking-glass on it away in a rage, crying, "Cu if you were good for anything yo not have been thrown away owner." TO CORRESPONDENTS. The Illustrations of Shakspeare w sumed in our next number. J. B—, will see we had not forgott We are greatly obliged to Mr. H. M a sight of his interesting drawings, one we have forwarded to our artist for ins our columns. A LETTER is left with our publisher Con. The drawing by W. E. S. is laid out engraver. H. W. H. is received, and has our tha We have no recollection of the lines to by J. Es. P. T. W.; Tim Tobykin, M. L. B.; and H. W. Dewhurst in our next. Hector M'Turk, though mistaken in his opinions, has been read attentively, thank him for his candid epistle. Viator; A Visitor; and J. E. Wall a consideration. Paradox is too paradoxical. Charades, Conundrums, Enigmas grams, and Acrostics, are inadmissible. The following are urfit for publica E. A.; J. J. H.; P. E. P.; J. A; Tho sent not forgot; and Tony Lumpkin. Cross Readings must be very good insertion. Malvina and Zelia are just arrived. Printed and Published by J. LIM 143, Strand (near Somerset House), and mwes and Rooksellers. St. Edmund's Bury, en generally supposed magnificent build tions, important primunities, and ample er ecclesiastical and nents in England, excepted. Leland, abbey was in its full be supposed to have est splendour, says, y itself is a town;" king Sigbercht, in 5, when the town was sence of Henry VII. gh Norfolk and Sufd a great accession celebrity and conse903, the church was the receptacle of the ody, a king and maris day stands in the endar and almanacs. devoted themselves, 10 tyr, increased in number, and were incorporated into a college of priests about the year 925. The celebrity of the shrine of St. Edmund, through whose agency many extraordinary miracles were declared to have been performed, procured numerous gifts and oblations; and hence these wonder-working fooleries eminently increased the wealth and consideration of the abbey of St. Edmund's Bury. The abbey of Bury, in Shakspeare's King John and Second Part of Henry VI., is frequently alluded to; and the scenes in the neighbourhood, which to the present day, by masses of tumuli, bear evidence of the severe battles there sustained, are as faithfully laid down by the "great bard of Avon." In act iv. scene iii. of King John, mention is first made of the town of Bury, which was then the seat of parliament: "Enter Pembroke, Salisbury, and Bigot. Sal. Lords, I will meet him at St. Edmund's Bury; Scene iv. act v.: thus:"Melun. Fly, noble English, you are bought and sold; Unthread the rude eye of rebellion, And welcome home again discarded faith, In 1446, a parliament was convened at Bury, under the influence of queen Margaret and cardinal De Beaufort, the inveterate enemy of Humphrey, duke of Gloucester, the king's uncle. The real object for assembling the parliament was to bring the duke to a mock trial, and cause his destruction, which deed was perpetrated by William de la Pole, marquis of Suffolk, the queen's favourite, in an apartment of St. Saviour's hospital, an appendage to the abbey. The whole subject of the third act of the Second Part of King Henry VI. narrates these proceedings, and it must suffice us to refer the reader to the entire scenes of Shakspeare, in lieu of our giving extracts. We now hasten to give the present appearance of this celebrated monastery. The western gate, which our engraving beautifully and accurately represents, is in height about 62 feet, in length 50, and in breadth 41. It formed the grand entrance to the abbey, and is the only relic that attests the splendour of this truly magnificent establishment. Of this venerable structure, the materials and workmanship were so excellent, that, without the protection of a roof, and without the aid of repairs, it is yet in a state of preservation almost perfect. The original entrance to the abbey having been destroyed, in a violent assault, made in the year 1327, by the inhabitants of the town, the present gate, which opened into the great court-yard, in front of the abbot's palace, was erected upon a plan combining utility with ornament, and elegance with defence. The architecture is of the best period of that style which is generally termed Gothic. The composition is judicious and harmonious. In the western front, richness of design predominates; in the eastern, an elegant simplicity. The embellishments, arranged with taste, and executed with sharpness and precision, are much more numerous than those which appear in earlier specimens. They are not, however, in such extravagant profusion as the later and more florid style which prevailed in the reigns of Henry VI. and VII. presented. MOURNING. [Our respected correspondent, F. R. Y., has favoured us with the following article, which will doubtless be perused with a melancholy interest by the numerous readers of the MIRROR. Other contributions have also been received which relate to the sad event which all classes of individuals so deeply deplore. In order, therefore, to meet the wishes of our friends, we publish a Supplement with the present sheet, in which will be found accurate and copious details of the ceremonial of the remains of his royal highness lying in state, and anecdotes and recollections of the life of the duke of York.—ED.] (For the Mirror.) MOURNING, among the ancients, was expressed by very different signs, as by tearing their clothes, wearing sackcloth, laying aside crowns and the other ensigns of honour; thus Plutarch, in his life of Cato, relates, that from the time of his leaving the city with Pompey, he neither shaved his head, nor, as usual, wore the crown or garland. A public grief was sometimes testified by a general fast. Among the Romans, a year of mourning was ordained by law for women who had lost their husbands. In public mournings, the shops of Rome were shut up; the senators laid aside their laticlavian robes, the consuls sat in a lower seat than usual, and the women put aside all their ornaments. The ancients had a remarkable way of mourning for soldiers slain in battle; the whole army attended the funeral solemnities, with their arms and shields turned upside down. The mournings of the eastern nations of Indians are much more closely followed, though of much shorter duration than ours. After the death of a near relation, they mourn fifteen days, during which time they eat nothing but rice and water; they are not to chew betel, or to use the common washings; but are to perform acts of charity, such as distri buting food to the poor; and prayers are said, entreating the Almighty to forgive the sins of the deceased, and to assign him a good place in the other world. On the sixteenth day, when the mourning is ended, they make a solemn feast, according to their abilities, and invite to it all their friends and neighbours. After this they annually, on the same day, give food to the poor, and renew their prayers for the happiness of the dead person. The colours of the dress or habit worn to signify grief are different in different countries. In Europe, the ordinary colour for mourning is black; in China, it is white, a colour that was the mourning of the ancient Spartan and Roman ladies; in Turkey, it is blue, or violet; in Egypt, yellow; in Ethiopia, brown; and kings and cardinals mourn in purple. Every nation and country gave a reason for their wearing the particular colour of their mourning: black, which is the privation of light, is supposed to denote the privation of life; white is an emblem of purity; yellow is to represent, that death is the end of all human hopes, because this is the colour of leaves when they fall, and flowers when they fade; brown denotes the earth, to which the dead return; blue is an emblem of the happiness which it is hoped the deceased enjoys; and purple, or violet, is supposed to express a mixture of sorrow and hope. At the time of the invasion of Peru, by the Spaniards, the inhabitants of that country wore it of a mouse colour. Amongst the Japanese, white is the sign of mourning, and black of rejoicing. In Castile, mourning vestments were formerly of white serge. The Persians clothed themselves in brown, and they, their whole family, and all their animals, were shaved. In Lycia, the men wore female habiliments, during the whole time of their mourning. At Delos, they cut off their hair; the Egyptians tore their bosoms, and covered their faces with mud, wearing cloth of the colour of yellow, or of dead leaves. The full mourning of the Jews continues for a year, and takes place upon the death of parents. Children do not put on black, but are obliged to wear, during the whole year, the clothes they had on at the death of their father, let them be ever so tattered. They fast on the anniversary of his death every year. Second mourning lasts a month, and takes place on the demise of children, uncles, and aunts. During that period they neither wash, shave, nor perfume themselves, nor even cut their nails. They do not eat in common with the family, and the husband and his wife live separately. Slight mourning continues only for a week, and is worn on the decease of a husband, or of a wife. On returning from the funeral obsequies, the husband, wearing his mourning habits, washes his hands, uncovers his feet, and seats himself on the ground, remains in the same posture and continues to groan and weep, without paying attention to any occupation, until the seventh day. The Chinese, during the first year of mourning, wear coarse white linen; the second year, their clothes are something better, and the third year, they are allowed to wear white silk. Three years a widow mourns for the death of a husband; and the man one year for his wife, and one for a brother. The magistrate no longer exercises his functions, the counsellor suspends his suits, and husbands and wives, as with Jews, live apart from each other. Young people live in seclusion, and cannot marry till the end of three years. In Poland, when a woman of quality mourns, she wears a coarse black stuff; her linen is not much finer than canvass; and the greater the quality of the deceased, the coarser are the mourning weeds. The custom of mourning for the dead in shrieks and howlings is of great antiquity, and prevails almost universally among the followers of Mahomet. In Turkey, the women rend the air with their cries, which are continued with few intermissions till the interment, which, however, takes place with all convenient speed and relieves the survivors from this troublesome and melancholy task The men indeed wear no mourning for their deceased friends, nor express any regret at their departure, considering death as a dispensation of Providence, which ought to be submitted to without murmuring. The Mingrelians mourn for their dead with loud and doleful lamentations, beating their breasts, tearing their hair, and even wounding their flesh; the men shave their heads and beards, and rend their clothes. And this mourning lasts forty days, during all which time the body remains unburied. The Abyssinians mourn for the dead many days; begining their lamentations with the morning, and continuing them till night, when the nearest relations and friends of the deceased assemble at the grave, together with several female hired mourners, who join the solemnity with shrieks, all clapping their hands, smiting their breasts, and uttering the most doleful and pathetic expressions of grief. When a person of ordinary rank dies who is a native of Guinea, his friends and neighbours set up a loud cry round the corpse, carrying it into the open air, and asking it the cause of its death, and whether it perished through the want of food, or from the effects of necromancy-a superstition, that one could hardly suppose human nature chargeable with. The term of mourning is six weeks, during which time lamentations are made at the grave every morning and evening. F. R. Y. |