Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science, Volume 22. October, 1878.

Various

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• Publié par: nethug
• Publié le: 08 décembre 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 80
• Langue: English
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The Project Gutenberg EBook of Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science, Volume 22. October, 1878., by Various This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org Title: Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science, Volume 22. October, 1878. Author: Various Release Date: August 21, 2006 [EBook #19093] Language: English Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LIPPINCOTT'S MAGAZINE *** Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Christine D. and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net Transcriber's Note: The Table of Contents and the list of illustrations were added by the transcriber. LIPPINCOTT'S MAGAZINE OF POPULAR LITERATURE AND SCIENCE. VOLUME XXII. OCTOBER, 1878. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1878, by J.B. LIPPINCOTT & Co., in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. TABLE OF CONTENTS ILLUSTRATIONS WARWICK AND COVENTRY. 393 LITTLE BOY BLUE. 402 THE PARIS EXPOSITION OF 1878. 403 "FOR PERCIVAL." CHAPTER XLII. 418 CHAPTER XLIII. 422 CHAPTER XLIV. 424 CHAPTER XLV. 430 UNWRITTEN LITERATURE OF THE CAUCASIAN MOUNTAINEERS. 437 OF BARBARA HICKS. 447 LADY MORGAN. 466 A COMPARISON. 474 THROUGH WINDING WAYS CHAPTER XI. 475 CHAPTER XII. 479 COMMUNISTS AND CAPITALISTS. 485 AT FRIENDS' MEETING. 493 LETTERS FROM MAURITIUS.—I. 494 AN ADVENTURE IN CYPRUS 504 NEIGHBORLY LOVE. 507 OUR MONTHLY GOSSIP. POE AND MRS. WHITMAN. 508 A LITTLE PERVERSITY IN WOMEN. 510 ORGANIZATIONS FOR MUTUAL AID. 514 NEW YORK AS AN ART-PATRON. 515 ONE OF THE SIDE ISSUES OF THE PARIS EXPOSITION. 516 LITERATURE OF THE DAY. 517 Books Received. 520 Music Received. 520 FOOTNOTES ILLUSTRATIONS OBLIQUE GABLES IN WARWICK. PORCH WITH BOW-WINDOW UNDER, OUTSIDE WARWICK GATES. LORD LEICESTER'S HOSPITAL, WARWICK. COVENTRY GATEWAY. SPIRE OF ST. MICHAEL'S, COVENTRY. STREET IN COVENTRY. BABLAKE'S HOSPITAL, COVENTRY. GRAND CUPOLA AT ONE OF THE CHIEF ENTRANCES TO THE MAIN BUILDING. THE CHINESE SECTION. THE INDIAN COURT: THE PRINCE OF WALES EXHIBIT. THE CANADIAN TROPHY. INDIANS MAKING KASHMIR SHAWLS. TROPHY IN THE COURT OF THE DUTCH INDIES. WALKING TO ST. SYLVESTER'S. "SHE WAS ASLEEP." [Pg 393] WARWICK AND COVENTRY. OBLIQUE GABLES IN WARWICK. The history of England is written in living characters in the provincial towns of the kingdom; and it is this which gives such interest to places which have been surpassed commercially by great manufacturing centres and overshadowed socially by the attractions of London. The local nobility once held state little less than royal in houses whose beautiful architecture now masks a hotel, a liverystable, a girls' school, a lawyer's office or a workingmen's club, and there are places where almost every cottage, every wooden balcony or overhanging oriel, suggests something romantic and antique. Even if no positive association is connected with one of these humbler specimens of English domestic architecture, you can fall back on the traditional home of love and poetry, the recollections of idyls and pastorals daily acted out by unconscious illustrators of the poets from one generation to another. Modern life engrafted on these old towns and villages seems prosaic and unattractive, though practically it is that which first strikes the eye. New fronts mask old buildings, as new manners do old virtues; and if we come to the frame and adjuncts of daily life, we must confess that nineteenth-century trivialities are intrinsically no worse than mediæval trivialities. There are in Warwick more modern houses and smart shops than ancient gabled and half-timbered houses, but the relics of the past are still striking: witness the ancient porch of the good old "Malt-Shovel," with its bow-window, in which the Dudley retainers often caroused, and the oblique gables in one of the side streets, which Rimmer, a minute observer of English domestic architecture, thus describes: "An acute-angled street may be made to contain rectangular rooms on an upper story.... Draw an acute angle—say something a little less than a right angle—and cut it into compartments; or, if preferred, an obtuse angle, and cut this into compartments also. Now, the roadway may be so prescribed as to prevent right angles from being made on the basement, but the complementary angles are ingeniously made out by allowing the joists to be of extra length, and cutting the ends off when they come to the square. The effect is extremely picturesque, and I cannot remember seeing this peculiar piece of construction elsewhere." At the western end of High street stands Leicester's Hospital, which was originally a hall belonging to two guilds, but, coming into possession of the Dudleys, was converted into a hospital by Elizabeth's favorite in 1571. The "master" was to belong to the Established Church, and the "brethren" were to be retainers of the earl of Leicester and his heirs, preference being given to those who had served and been disabled in the wars. The act of incorporation gives a list of neighboring towns and villages, and specifies that queen's soldiers from these, in rotation, are to have the next presentations. There is a common kitchen, with a cook and porter, and each brother receives some eighty pounds per annum, besides the privileges of the house. Early in this century the number of inmates was increased to twenty-two, unlike many such institutions, whose funded property accumulated without the original number of patients or the amount of their pensions being correspondingly increased. The hospital-men still wear the old uniform—a gown of blue cloth, with the silver badge of the Dudleys, the bear and ragged staff. The chapel has been restored in nearly the old form, and stretches over the pathway, with a promenade at the top of the flight of steps round it, and the black-and-white (or half-timbered) building that forms the hospital encloses a spacious open quadrangle in the style common to hostelries. The carvings are very fine and varied, and add greatly to the beauty of the galleries and covered stair. The monastic charities founded by men of the old religion are now in the hands of the corporation for distribution among the poor of the town, and besides the old grammar-school founded by Henry VIII., with a yearly exhibition to each of the universities, and open to all boys, rich and poor, of the town, there are five other public schools and forty almshouses. The old generous, helpful spirit survives, in spite of new economic theories, in these English country towns, and landlords and merchants have not yet given up the old-fashioned belief that where they make their money they are bound to spend it to the best advantage of their poorer and less fortunate neighbors. Many local magnates, however, have departed from this rule. Country gentlemen no longer have houses in the county-town, but [Pg 394] flock to London for the purposes of social and fashionable life. They have decidedly lost in dignity by this rush to the capital, and it is doubtful how far they have gained in pleasure, though the few whose means still compel them to stay at home, or only go to town once or twice in a lifetime for a court presentation, would gladly take the risk for the sake of the experiment. The feeling which made the Rohans adopt as a motto, "Roy ne puis—Prince ne veux—Rohan je suis," is one which is theoretically strong among the country squires of England, the possessors of the bluest blood and longest deeds of hereditary lands; but the snobbishness of the nineteenth century is practically apt to taint the younger branches when they read of garden-parties given by the royal princes or balls where duchesses and cabinet ministers are as plentiful as blackberries. Their great-grandmothers, it is true, were sometimes troubled with the same longings, for among the many proclamations against the residence in London of country gentlemen in unofficial positions is one of James I., noticing "those swarms of gentry, who, through the instigation of their wives, do neglect their country hospitality and cumber the city, a general nuisance to the kingdom;" and the royal Solomon elsewhere observes that "gentlemen resident on their estates are like ships in port—their value and magnitude are felt and acknowledged; but when at a distance, as their size seemeth insignificant, so their worth and importance are not duly estimated." There is a weak point in this simile, however; so, to cover it with a better and more unpretentious argument, I will quote a few lines from an old poem of Sir Richard Fanshawe on the subject of one of these proclamations: Nor let the gentry grudge to go Into those places whence they grew, But think them blest they may do so. Who would pursue The smoky glories of the town That may go till his native earth, And by the shining fire sit down On his own hearth? [Pg 395] Believe me, ladies, you will find In that sweet life more solid joys, More true contentment to the mind, Than all town toys. The solemn county balls, to which access was as difficult as it is now to a court festivity, have dwindled to public affairs with paid subscriptions, yet even in their changed conditions they are somewhat of an event in the winter life of a neighborhood. Everybody has the entrée who can command the price of a ticket, though, as a rule, different classes form coteries and dance among themselves. The country-houses for ten or twelve miles around contribute their Christmas and New Year guests, often a large party in two or three carriages. Political popularity is not lost sight of, and civilities to the wives and daughters of the tradesmen and voters often secure more PORCH WITH BOW-WINDOW UNDER, OUTSIDE support in the next election than WARWICK GATES. strict principle warrants; but tho