No. XXXV.] FOR THE MONTH. "I will make a prief of it in my Note-Book."-SHAKESPEARE. which [NOVEMBER, 1853. AUTOGRAPHS AND CROMWELLIAN HISTORICAL PAPERS. dering the payment of Two Thousand pounds, to Thomas HENRY the EIGHTH, a sheet folio, addressed to The King complains of the conduct of the Duke of MARTIN LUTHER, autograph letter, in Latin, of one page folio, addressed, Dilecto et observando Amico meo Domino Hermanno,' but undated. Accompanying this letter, was an official attestation of its genuineness, signed by M. Teulet, Archiviste Paléographe, et Ancien Elève pensionnaire de l'Ecole de Chartes; also a clear and exact transcript, in Latin, and a literal translation into French. The purport of this missive imports, Some meddling person, for whom Luther professes nihil me statuet.' He demands the return of some Docu- intervention of Hermann. Sold for 77. 10s. JAMES THE FIRST, a document dated Nov. 1622, or VOL. III. OLIVER CROMWELL, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, to which office he was appointed by the parliamentary authorities on Aug. 13, 1649; landed in Dublin on the 16th of that month, and on the 14th of the following month took Drogheda by storm, inflicting the most deadly vengeance on the royalists. The garrison, consisting of about three thousand soldiers, for the most part Englishmen, were, with the exception of a Lieutenant, who escaped, butchered by his troops, and the same fate befel every man, woman, and child, who were Irish, and found in the town at the time of its capture. In this collection of papers, was an autograph letter, two closely written pages, folio, addressed, “For my beloved sonne, Richard Cromwell, Esq.; at Hurstly, in Hampshire, These," DICK CROMWELL,-I take your letters kindlye, I like expressions when they come plainlye from the heart, and are not strayned nor affected. I am perswaded its the Lord's mercye to place you where you are. I wish you may owne itt, and bee thankefull, fullfillinge all relations to the Glory of God. Seeke the Lord, and his Face continualy, lett this bee the businesse of your life, and strength, And lett all thinges bee subseruient, and in Order to this, you canott finde, nor behold the Face of God, but in Christ, therefore labor to knowe God in Christ, wch the Scripture makes to bee the sum of all, euen life eternall. Because the true knowledge is not litterall or speculatiue, but inward, transforminge the minde to itt, its vnitinge to, and Its such a participating of the (2 Pet. i. 4) Divine nature. knowledge as Paul speakes off, Philip the 3rd, 8, 9, 10. How little of this knowledge of Christ is there amongst vs? My weake prayers shalbe for you. Take heed of an vnactiue vaine spirit. Recreate yourselfe wth Sr Walter Raughleyes historie, its a bodye of historie, and will add much more to your understandinge then fragments of storie. Intend to vnderstand the estate I haue setled, its your concernment to knowe itt all, and howe it stands. I have heeretofore suffered much by two much trustinge others. I knowe my Brother Maior wilbe helpfull to you in all this. You will thinke (perhaps, I need not aduise you to loue your wife. The Lord teach you how to doe itt, or else itt wilbee donn ilfauoredly. Though marriage be noe instituted sacrament, yett where the vndefiled bedd is, and loue, this vnion aptlie resembles Christ, and his Church. to his Church, and euery poore soule therin, whoe gaue If you can trulye loue your wife what doeth Christ beare himselfe for itt, and to itt. Comend mee to your wife, tell her I entyerly loue her, and reioyce in the goodnesse of the Lord to her, I wish her euery way fruitful, I thanke her sister and cozen Ann C. in my letter to my Brother for her louinge letter. I have præsented my loue to my Maior, I would not haue him, alter his affaires because of my debt. My purse is as his, my præsent thoughts are but M to lodge such a sum for my two little Gyrles, and its in his hand, as well as anywhere, I shall not bee wantinge to accomodate him to his minde. I would not haue him sollicitous. Dick, the Lord blesse you euery way, I rest your louing Father, O. CROMWELL. April 2, 1650, Carricke. Considerable competition was excited, not only by its fine condition as a wholly autograph specimen, but for its interest, looking at the period, and whence it was written. The letter produced TWENTY-SIX GUINEAS. Cromwell, constituted Captain-general, June 26, 1650, fought the memorable battle of Worcester, one of his most brilliant achievements on Sept. 3, 1651; and on Nov. 26., his son-in-law, Lieutenant-General Ireton, died of the plague at Limerick, that city having surrendered at the close of the preceding month, after a siege of fifteen months. That Cromwell felt acutely the loss of Ireton, is evidenced by a letter in this collection, one page folio, addressed to his sister, Elizabeth Cromwell, and dated Dec. 15, 1651. Commencing- 'Deere Sister, I haue receaued diuerse letters from you. I must desire you to excuse my not writing soe often as you expect, my Burthen is not ordinarie, nor are my weak nesses a few.' Concluding-What is of this world wilbe found transitorie, a cleare euidence whereof is my deere sonn Ireton's death.' Sold for NINE GUINEAS. Three letters of GEORGE MONK, as commander of the fleet, in the months of May and July, 1653. The first intimates his resolve to go in chace of Van Tromp, concluding-Pray for us, that we may be carried out with the Power and Spirit of the Lord. The last, dated, 'Off Camperdown, July 31,' details the particulars of his IMPORTANT VICTORY OVER VAN TROMP : "Great was the Lord, and marvellous worthy to be praised by His appearance in our behalfe, there being sunke five, and taken of them aboute thirty or forty saile, so farr as wee can discern, and am in good hopes of the same mighty presence of the Lord will still follow us to the disabling, taking, or destroying of some more yet." Another letter, subscribed as ALBEMARLE, in the inglorious reign of Charles the Second, dated Oct. 1, 1665; requiring the fleet to hasten to sea, as the Dutch were supposed to be then in the Downs. The four, highly-interesting as they were, sold for three pounds. Admiral ROBERT BLAKE, autograph letter, one page folio, dated "abord the George in the Hope, July 24, 1654," in favour of Mr. Whichcot, "an able and godly minister," to go with him on the pending expedition, and desiring he should have an advance of twenty pounds, Whichcot being too poor to provide his required outfit. Letters of Admiral Blake are of extreme rarity; this, it is presumed, was bought for the British Museum, for 31. 48., and yet a public depository is the source whence these letters come, why are they not wholly passed to the Museum authorities, they are not of the slightest use where they now are. RICHARD CROMWELL, autograph letter of one page folio, addressed to the Commissioners of the navy, and dated July 26, 1654; on the recommendation of Gene ral Monck, in favour of an appointment for Robert Trimmer, heretofore steward of the Black Raven, a ship that had lately become unserviceable. Letters of Richard Cromwell, written in a feeble and uncertain calligraphy, are of the greatest rarity; this specimen produced 87. 15s. Two Commissions, signed OLIVER P., the one dated Whitehall, Aug. 24, 1654, appointing his son HENRY to be Major-General of the Army, and Forces of Horse and Foot, to be raised in Ireland, sold for 21. The other, dated Whitehall, Aug. 4, 1655, appointing his son HENRY to be Colonel of a regiment of foot, to be raised in Ireland, sold for 32s. JOHN BOURNE, Commander, autograph letter, one page folio, dated, "Swiftsure, March 10, 1655–6,” expressing the hope "the Lord fight our battles for us, and we ride conquering on the necks of his enemies." Bought for the British Museum. James Scott, Duke of MONMOUTH, natural son of Charles the Second, by Lucy Barlow; signature to a power of attorney dated July 21, 1673, to receive his annuities, one of six thousand, the other of two thousand pounds. Sold for 19s. GEORGE FOX, founder of the sect called Quakers, a letter of exhortation, dated "the 3rd of the 11th moneth, 1686-7," i.e. Feb. 3, 1687, "read this in your Monethly and Quarterly Meetings," signed G. F. Sold for 21. 8s. CHARLES THE TWELFTH, the madly heroic king of Sweden, a long letter of three pages folio, with several words added and his autograph, dated 'Au Camp, Sept. 7, 1703.' Sold for 30s. An interesting series of Danish letters and papers, idiotic and imbecile Christian the Seventh; executed in mostly in reference to STRUENSEE, physician to the 1772, for falsely alleged adultery with the Queen, the ill-fated CAROLINE MATILDA, of England; collected by the priest Munter, who attended Struensee in his last moments, on the scaffold, produced 107. 7s. HANDBOOK. Current Notes, p. 82.-Oldys is the first to notice the application of the term handbook, to a portable volume. I find, not a little to the honour of our subject, no less a personage than the renowned King Alfred, collecting his sage precepts and divine sentences, with his own royal hand, into “quaternions of leaves stitched together," which he would enlarge with additional quaternions, as occasion offered; yet he seemed to keep his collection so much within the limits of a pamphlet size, however bound together at last; that he called it by the name of his handbook, because he made it his constant companion, and had it at hand wherever he was. History of the Origin of Pamphlets, 1732. HOBBES.-Among the framed and glazed fine drawings and limnings sold at Buckingham House, Feb. 24, 1763, the house having been purchased for the residence of Queen Charlotte, lot 39 was a head of Hobbes of Malmesbury, 4l. 6s. GLASS WORKS IN SUSSEX. GLASS was formerly one of the staple manufactures of Sussex, as it still continues to be at Newcastle. The abundance of timber in the Weald, was probably one of the inducements to carry on the manufactory in the first-mentioned district. Mr. Blaaw has collected some information on this subject, which he has published in the Sussex Archæological Collections, vol. i. The following extract from this work may be interesting to your correspondent :— In 1557, Thomas Charnock says, in some rude verses- At Chiddingsfold he works of his occupation.' Another author says, Neither can we match the purity of Venice glasses, and yet many green ones are blown in Sussex, profitable to the makers, and convenient to the users thereof.' Camden refers in similar terms, and Evelyn also, as to Sussex being the only county for glass-works. A severe proclamation of King James the First forbad the melting of glass with timber, or wood, or fuel made of the same; but as the glass-works increased subsequently, this was probably disregarded. Wisborough Green is the only locality known to me of these glass-works. All foreign glass was prohibited by proclamation in 1633; but an exception was made in favour of Venetian glass, which Sir C. Maunsel alone was allowed to import from Venice, and other parts of Italy, as he should think fit, for special uses and purposes. Perhaps your correspondent can inform me why the ruby-coloured glass, formerly sold at Birmingham, was called "Jew's glass," where it was made, and of what it was composed that is to say, whether it contained lead, and with what metal it was coloured? M. P. M. MR. EDITOR,-Agreeably to your desire. I have the pleasure to state what I know on the subject of ruby glass. I was not aware that there were formerly glass works in Sussex, as no remains of glass-furnaces have, I believe, been discovered; while potteries and ironworks have left many traces of brickwork, and other débris, as positive proofs of their use. The remains of old potteries, in various parts of England, are chiefly of an Anglo-Saxon origin. Klaproth, in an analysis of the ancient ruby glass, found it consisted of This composition having comparatively but very little lead in it, would require a very considerable amount of caloric to fuse and refine it. The French now make window, or flat ruby glass, on this principle, and the Bohemians manufacture ornamental vases, as above, with lead; and copper, and iron, as the colouring matter, fusing the latter with wood fuel. I consider this glass would require larger pots or crucibles, and furnaces, than those used by little-goes, or cribb-furnaces, terms used by the workmen to indicate glass made on the sly, in avoidance of the excise-duty, (now abolished.) Much of this glass was made, long before the duty was imposed, at little-goes, in very small furnaces, in which coke was, and is, still used as fuel; for making beads, and more recently, for making lumps of ruby glass, which are sold to the large manufacturers for casing or covering flint glass, with a thin film of ruby colour, for toilet vases, etc. The term "Jews glass," had probably its origin from many of the Hebrew nation having been, as now, travelling vendors of ruby and other glass. Small glasshouses superior to little-goes, are now carried on by Jews, they are chiefly employed in making small bottles from melted broken glass; but most of the littlegoes were and are owned by Christians. This description of ruby has gold for its colouring-matter, and owing to its liability to lose its depth of colour, or even to fly off altogether, during its fusion, constant watching is essential as to the degree of heat. Large furnaces have numbers of large pots of white glass founding at one and the same time, the heat could not be varied to suit the small pot of red, without the probable chance of spoiling all the white or flint-glass. The ruby glass with gold for its metallic colouring agent, may be made in the large way, by the following recipe; which before the gold is added, is called flintbatch, for making white flint glass. Carbonate of potash, 1 cwt. Add to the above, precipitate of cassius, or oxyde of gold, i. e. gold dissolved in acid, and precipitated by a salt; about four ounces. The small proportion of four ounces of gold to 10,752 ounces of batch, is as 1 to 2688, the gold having a peculiar and intense power of colorization. The proportion of lead may be increased, if the heat be insufficient to melt the above; or even more alkali be added to the above ordinary proportions of batch. A work entitled, "Curiosities of Glass-Making," of which I am the author, published by Bogue, in Fleet Street, will furnish a History of Glass-Making; in which illustrations of Venetian and other lost arts, casing, etc., are explained by diagrams. In the event of a second edition, I shall be glad to avail myself of your sources of information, with regard to the glass-workers of Sussex. APSLEY PELLATT. Staines, Middlesex, Nov. 12. EVENING HYMN OF THE MALTESE BOATMEN.-These that the ancient and handsome tower of the church of strains of the Maltese and Sicilian mariners, while chanting their evening hymns to the Virgin Mary, are simple and solemn, in harmony with the prospect presented in the harbour on the approach of night, by the superb towers and spires of Malta and Valetta, and the western parts of the heavens tinctured with a golden glow, as so happily represented in the paintings of Claude Lorraine. They are sung in excellent accordance of note, and the exact time is beaten by the immersion of the oars. The subject of the following hymn has evidently had a local origin, it is curious to observe, that by an ingenious transition, in many instances, not uncommon in Catholic countries, the Maltese refer to the Mother of our blessed Saviour, the same influence over the ocean that their Pagan ancestors attributed to Venus, the goddess of beauty. Queen of the sea, ordained to prove, Whene'erthe beating tempest roars, Whene'er the rolling billows sleep, Ye White Cross Knights, the sacred train, O beata Virgine! St. Peter contains a very beautiful and sweetly musical peal of eight bells, forming an octave. On these bells, four times in every twelve hours-viz. at three, six, nine, and twelve o'clock-chimes drawl out the tune of the Sicilian Mariner's Hymn, the apparatus being old and much out of order. This fine church was erected at a very early period, and has a square tower ninety feet high. In the morning of every day, at six o'clock, from April 6 to Oct. 11, and at seven o'clock during the other part of the year, a bell tolls for some time to call the people to work; again at one o'clock at noon, to announce the time of dinner; and at eight in the evening the old curfew is perpetuated, for the people to leave off work. When the curfew has finished tolling, the day of the month is denoted by the proper number of strokes being repeated after a brief interval. On every Sunday morning, a bell tolls at nine o'clock, when the day of the month is again shown by the number of strokes, after a cessation for a while; presumably originated before printing was invented, for the purpose of enabling the people to duly ascertain the Church serThese bells are rung on all public occasions— Queen's birthday, etc.-as well as for local purposes, such as the returning of Borough Members of Parliament, etc.; and are even now whilst I write noisily reminding us of the celebrated Popish Plot, and the arrival of firework night. I should add, that in the tower of the modern church of All Saints, an ornamental structure with a steeple and a very fine interior, are three bells, not particularly musical, nor to be admired. In the church of the Holy Trinity, built in 1824, and that of Christ Church, Fordington, built in 1846, are only bells for calling to prayers; and in the fine old tower of East Fordington Church, eighty feet high, is peal of five very musical bells, newly cast in 1734, and several of them again recast lately, now in a very good ringing condition. This church, dedicated to St. George, was erected about the fifteenth century. Dorchester, Nov. 5. vices. BELL-RINGING CUSTOMS, DORchester. BELLS! the very word is, at the same moment, sug-a gestive of everything that is merry, and of everything that is its opposite, solemn; sometimes merrily and joyously pealing, on the arrival of the little stranger, the coming of age of some fortunate young heir, and the joining of Heart to Heart in holy matrimony; and ofttimes gloomily and touchingly tolling, on the departure of a soul to its long home and awful reckoning: "Come, list and hark, the bell doth toll For some but now departing soul:" and announcing the carrying of the cold remains to the last resting-place on earth!-ringing out the old year, and ringing in the new! agreeably chiming, and calling the worshipper to the house of God! and, indeed, being heard on so many other occasions connected with our work-a-day life, that all must surely feel some attachment to such familiar and oft-heard sounds. Ringing always so much prevailing in England, has caused it to be called "The Ringing Island;" and I think our little town of Dorchester ought, par excellence, to be named "The Ringing Town.' I confess I am an admirer of bells, and therefore think the following curious customs, which remain in full force to this day, are worthy of note. I will observe, en passant, JOHN GARLAND. with your correspondent T., Current Notes, p. 82, on THE DODO.-May I be permitted to have a word the Dodo? I am very much afraid there is no such interesting news for Naturalists, as the discovery of a complete skeleton of that undoubtedly extinct bird. The bird that Leguat describes was not a Dodo, but a Solitaire-a brevi-pennate, but totally distinct bird. Again, the bird that Sir Hamon L'Estrange saw, exhibited in London, about 1638, was, in all probability, not a Dodo, but a Solitaire. The writer was the first who called the attention of Naturalists to this last point; and his opinion was considered to be sound, by the most competent authority on the subject. Moreover, there can be no connexion traced between that living specimen and Tradescant's Dodo. P. The party referred to, by our correspondent, is at present in Rome, from whence he will not return till late in January. Application will then be made as suggested.—ED. NINE MEN'S MORRIS, Current Notes, p. 81.-This | Germany under the name of "Mühlen," and in Italy game, alluded to by Shakspeare in the Midsummer under that of "Tella." Night's Dream, is thus described by Mr. Knight in his edition of the great dramatist's works: 66 Upon the green turf of their spacious commons the shepherds and ploughmen of England were wont to cut a rude series of squares and other right lines upon which they arranged eighteen stones divided between two players, who moved them alternately, as at chess or draughts, till the game was finished by one of the players having all his pieces taken or impounded. This was the nine men's morris. It is affirmed that the game was brought hither by the Norman conquerors, under the name of merelles, and that this name, which signifies counters, was subsequently corrupted into morals and morris. In a wet season, the lines upon which the nine men moved were filled np with mud,' and the quaint mazes which the more active youths and maidens in propitious seasons trod in the wanton green' were obliterated." The figure of the game may still be seen cut out of the turf on the English downs, in the same manner as it doubtless was in Shakespeare's time, when bad weather caused it to be "filled up with mud." C. S. Oct. 28. A. N. will find the game of the Nine Men's Morris described in the following works:-Brand's Popular Antiquities, edit. 1841, vol. ii. p. 253-a book that ought to be in the hands of every inquirer into old English customs; Douce's Illustrations of Shakespeare, edit. 1839, p. 114; Hone's Every-day Book, edit. 1838, pp. 983, 1661; and in Strutt's Sports and Pastimes, Hone's edit. 1841, p. 317. In the two last-mentioned books is an illustration of "the Merelle table." Leicester. W. K-Y. PUTCHESIA. Can any of your correspondents give me some information respecting this game? M. H. L. MAJOR ANDRÉ.-In Current Notes, vol. ii. p. 62, our correspondent E. C., of Belfast, seems very anxious that unfortunate officer, in 1780, entitled for the republication of the satirical verses written by 66 The CowChace," the publication of which, on the morning he was taken prisoner, is erroneously supposed to have influ enced the decision of the court-martial, that sentenced him to death. Unluckily, "The Cow-Chace," in three cantos, is much too long for our limited columns, it consists of seventy-two four-line stanzas, concluding with what was then, as now, considered as singularly prophetic-for all befel as the poet seemed to predict. And now I've closed my epic strain, I tremble as I show it, Lest this same warrior-drover Wayne, The volume, containing "The Cow-Chace," with all the circumstantial particulars of the court-martial on Major André and his execution, being hanged as a spy at 12 o'clock on Oct. 2, 1780, is in the writer's possession. Never, perhaps, did a man suffer death with more justice, or deserve it less.- EDITOR. to place them in the holes in such a way as to get, if It is singular that this game is played in the same way, almost exclusively by the lower classes, I believe throughout the whole of Europe-certainly to my own knowledge in France, Germany, Italy, and Spain; in elucidate more satisfactorily than hitherto known the true origin of that extraordinary pile? And, also, what was the nature of the opposition encountered, and which ultimately caused the extinguishment of so admirable and nationally interesting a project? Streatley, near Reading, Nov. 11. PEREGRINA. RAINOLDES, 1559, p. 22, ante; read 1599. |
