ing at intervals the purest Tuscan. How like a Jesuit he looks! There never was a sly and stealthy fellow so at home as this raven, standing now at the refectory door, with his head on one side, and pretending toglance another way, while he is scrutinizing the visiters keenly, and listening with fixed attention. What a dull-beaded monk the porter becomes in comparison! He speaks like us!' says the porter: 'quite as plainly.' Quite as plainly, Porter. Nothing could be more expressive than his reception of the peasants who are entering the gate with baskets and burdens. There is a roll in his eye, and a chuckle in his throat, which should qualify him to be chosen Superior of an Order of Ravens. He knows all about it. 'It's all right,' he says. We know what we know. Come along, good people. Glad to see you!' How was this extraordinary structure ever built in such a situation, where the labour of conveying the stone, and iron, and marble, so great a height must have been prodigious? Caw,' says the raven, welcoming the peasants. How, being despoiled by plunder, fire, and earthquake, has it risen from its ruins, and been again made what we now see it, with its church so sumptuous and magnificent? Caw!' says the raven, welcoming the peasants. These people have a miserable appearance, and (as usual) are densely ignorant, and all beg, while the monks are chaunting in the chapel. Caw!' says the raven, Cuckoo !' So we leave him, chuckling and rolling his eye at the convent gate, and wind slowly down again, through the cloud. At last emerging from it, we come in sight of the village far below, and the flat green country intersected by rivulets; which is pleasant and fresh to see after the obscurity and haze of the convent-no disrespect to the raven, or the holy friars," &c. There are in this volume numerous little quaintnesses, obliquities, and oddities of expression, peculiar locutions, all Mr. Dickens's own, such as we have been used to in his previous works, modes of thinking and writing that have been habitual to him, that he cannot do without; some very amusing, some overstrained, and not to be swallowed without an effort: they are numerous enough to any one who will look after them; as for instance : P. 8. "Queer old towns, draw-bridged, and walled; with odd little towers at the angles, like grotesque faces, as if the wall had put a mask on, and were staring down into the moat. . . . extinguisher-topped turrets, and blink-eyed little casements," &c.-P. 11. "The femme de chambre of the Hotel de l'Ecu d'Or is here, and a gentleman in a glazed cap, with a red beard like a bosom friend, who is staying at the Hotel de l'Ecu d'Or, &c.-P. 16. "The courier cuts a joke. The landlord is affectionate, but not weakly so. He bears it like a man."-P. 41. "We sit upon a stone by the door, sometimes, in the evening, like Robinson Crusoe and Friday reversed; and he generally relates, towards my conversion, an abridgment of the history of St. Peter-chiefly, I believe, from the unspeakable delight he has in his imitation of the cock."-P. 53. Describing the beggars at Genoa, "Sometimes they are visited by a man without legs, on a little go-cart, but who has such a fresh-coloured, lively face, and such a respectable, well-conditioned body, that he looks as if he had sunk into the ground up to his middle, or had come but partially up a flight of cellarsteps to speak to somebody." Speaking of the loungers in the apothecaries' shops, he says, "They sit so still and quiet that either you don't see them in the darkened shop, or mistake them--as I did one ghostly man in bottlegreen, one day, with a hat like a stopper-for horse medicine." Sitting in any of the Catholic churches is likened to "a mild dose of opium." But what shall we say to the following allusion, speaking of the system of washing so prevalent on the Continent,-" The custom is to lay the wet linen which is being operated upon on a smooth stone, and hammer away at it with a flat wooden mallet. This they do as furiously as if they were revenging themselves on dress in general for being connected with the Fall of Mankind." The wild festoons and vine wreaths, which in Italy extend from tree to tree in so graceful and picturesque a manner, must strike every eye; but it is not any imagination that has described "the long line of trees all bound and garlanded together, as if they had taken hold of one another, and are coming dancing down the field. The amphitheatre of Verona has suggested many a picturesque association to the classical traveller, but probably never before that of "being like the inside of a prodigious hat of plaited straw, with an enormously broad brim and shallow crown." These are a few of Mr. Dickens's odd quaintnesses, humorous touches, and conceits-mannerisms of his own-often exciting a smile-a laugh, as often marking how much his favourite recreations and studies are in his daily thoughts; as, for instance, speaking of the Pope's Swiss Guards: "They wear a quaint striped surcoat and striped tight legs, and carry halberts like those which are usually shouldered by those theatrical supernumeraries, who never can get off the stage fast enough, and who may be generally observed to linger in the enemy's camp after the open country, held by the opposite forces, has been split up the middle by a convulsion of nature." Upon the whole, after our perusal of this volume, admirers as we are to the full of Mr. Dickens's genius, in his various works of fiction, we hardly feel that the following sentence of an animated historian, whom we have previously mentioned, describing Goldoni's talents and acquirements, would be unjust towards the character of the writer of Pictures of Italy, but without allusion to his other productions:-" His life would seem to be spent among actors and play-writers; his acquaintance was with stage heroes and heroines. He had but rare opportunities of an intimate intercourse with the best classes. Like one of our modern tourists, he travelled through, but had hardly leisure to inspect, the world: he saw it through the glare of the stage-lamps. His heroes too often remind us of the green-room; their faded lineaments are apparent through the varnish of their theatrical paint,"* &c. ON WEATHER MOUNTAINS. "Careful observers By sure prognostics may foretell a show'r."-Swift. CERTAIN mountains have for many ages received the credit of affording true tokens or prognostics of bad weather, especially of rain. Of these, the earliest of which I can find any record, are Mounts Hymettus and Panhellenium, and which are mentioned by Theophrastus in his work" On the Signs of Rain." That author has there (de Sign. Plur. cap. i. s. 20, p. 787, tom. i. Theophr. Op. à Schneider, Lips. 1818,) written, Ὕμηττος ἐλάττων, ἄνυδρος καλούμενος, ἐὰν τῷ κοίλῳ νεφέλιον ἔχῃ ὕδατος σημεῖον καὶ ἐὰν ὁ μέγας Υμηττος τοῦ θέρους λευκὰς ἔχῃ νεφέλας ἄνωθεν καὶ ἐκ πλαγίου, ὕδατος σημεῖον,—which I translate thus: "The lesser Hymettus, which is called the Arid, if it shall have a small cloud in its cavity, it is a sign of rain and if the great Hymettus, during summer, shall have white clouds on its summit, and on its side, it is also a sign of rain." And the following passage relates to Mount Panhellenium,καὶ ἐὰν ἐν Αἰγίνῃ ἐπὶ τοῦ Διὸς τοῦ Ἑλληνίου νεφέλη καθίζηται, ὡς τὰ πολλὰ ὕδωρ * See View of the History and Literature of Italy, in reference to its present state, by L. Marriotti, * yiverai. (Ibid. s. 24, p. 789.) I have rendered it thus: "and if in Egina, a cloud shall sit upon the mountain of the Hellenian Jupiter, rain will most frequently be produced." Now this latter mountain is named by the earlier Greek writers that of the Hellenian Jupiter, Theophrastus having, Atos Toû EXXaviov, and Pindar, (Nem. od. 5, v. 19,) Пarépos 'EXXaviov; but the later authors more commonly have the Panhellenian Jupiter. Indeed this mountain is expressly termed by Pausanias, (Corinth. cap. 30,) To opos Toû Haveλλnviou Ads, the mountain of Jupiter Panhellenius; and also, To Haveλλnov To opos, Mount Panhellenium, on which was the magnificent temple of Jupiter, erected by Eacus. I find in the beautiful map of Attica published in Stuart's Athens, vol. iii. (Edit. 1827,) that this mount occupies the southern portion of Agina, and that it is at this day named " Oros, or Mount St. Elias." And Col. Leake, describing that island, says, "the remainder is mountainous, and may be divided into two parts: a very remarkable conical hill, now called the Oros (rò "Opos), which occupies all the southern extremity, and the ridge of Panhellenium on the north-eastern side." (Travels in the Morea, vol. ii. p. 433.) But the latter part of this description is clearly erroneous, because the Panhellenium and the Oros are one and the same mountain, according to the above account of Pausanias. The singular conical form and height of the Oros at once decide, besides the retaining of its ancient name, that it is identical with rò"Opos of the last author, inasmuch as there is no other eminence throughout the * Some may translate this the temple of Jupiter, but I have rendered it the mountain of Jupiter. It is of little importance which of the two be used, because Pausanias has in these words distinctly written, that the temple of Jupiter was situated upon the Panhellenian mountain; τὸ δὲ Πανελλήνιον, ὅτι μὴ τοῦ Διὸς τὸ ἱερὸν, ἄλλο τὸ Ὄρος ἀξιόλογον εἶχεν οὐδὲν τοῦτο δὲ τὸ ἱερὸν λέγουσιν Αἰακὸν ποιῆσαι τῷ Διΐ(Corinth, cap. 30). whole isle, which is worthy of that term. Moreover, at the present time, this mountain still keeps its character of foretelling rain to the Greek sailors, whenever a cloudt hangs on its summit; and its modern appellation of St. Elias has evidently been conferred upon it in allusion to rain, and to the prognosticating of showery weather. This, I may here remark, is a frequent name for a mountain in modern Greece, and the true origin for it, as I apprehend, is from Elias having prayed for and obtained rain,‡ (James, chap. v., v. 18,) and, therefore, in the early days of Christian superstition he might fairly be considered as the saint of rain and clouds, and not for the following reason, which is suggested by Col. Leake, when mentioning the abrupt and sharp peak of Mount Taygetus, that is now commonly called "Ai Eliá," or Saint Elias, who, like Apollo of old, seems to delight in the protection of lofty summits." (Ibid. vol. i. p. 128.) Next, of the weather mountains in our own country I will only refer to one, in order to shew that the same opinion has long prevailed in regard to the sign of rain exhibited by it. This mountain is Roseberry Topping, which occupies a prominent situation somewhat to the east of the centre of the beautiful chain of hills called the Cleveland Hills, as seen from the opposite county of Durham, where, as from my carliest boyhood, I have often gazed on it with delight, so I frequently now at the dawn of day look + Pindar (Olymp. Od. ii. v. 2, 3,) in elegant language calls rain and heavenly showers, the children or offspring of a cloud; Χρῆσις ἔστιν δ ̓ οὐρανίων ὑδάτων It is worth observing that Elias, as St. James says, προσηύξατο, καὶ ὁ ουρα νὸς ὑετὸν ἔδωκε, καὶ ἡ γῆ ἐβλάστησε... So acus, who is said to have built the Temple of Jupiter on Mount Panhellenium, in Egina, sacrificing to Jupiter Panhellenius, and praying, caused it to rain upon the earth. Pausanius (Corinth. cap. 29, records ὁ μὲν τῷ Πανελληνίῳ Διῖ θύσας καὶ ἐυξάμενος τὴν γῆν ἐποίησεν ΰεσθαι, upon its conical summit, when just lighted by the rising sun, with extreme pleasure, and often continue to watch the varying tints and lights of the setting sun upon it; and so, I hope, that the decline of my own life may be spent within sight of it, and that my evening may pass unclouded and undisturbed by any storm. The late Mr. Graves, in his History of Cleveland (p. 216), has given the following extract from a very old MS. in the Cott. Lib. (Julius, fol. 455,) of the British Museum:-"Roseberrye Toppinge, which is a marke to the seamen and almanack to the vale, for they have this ould ryme common,— When Roseberrye Toppinge wears a cappe, Let Cleveland then beware a clappe;' thoe indede yt seldome hath a cloude on yt that some yll weather shortly followeth yt not." Also in Bishop Gibson's edition of Camden's Britannia (vol. ii. p. 115, edit. 1772,) I find this statement,"Ounesberry Topping, a steep mountain all over green, riseth so high as to appear at a great distance, and it is the landmark that directs sailors, and a prognostic of weather to the neighbours hereabouts; for when its top begins to be darkened with clouds, rain generally follows." And in the later edition of Camden by Richard Gough (vol. iii. p. 252, edit. 1806,) this account is nearly the same. "Ounsberry Topping, a steep mountain covered all over with verdure, rises distinguishable at a distance as a seamark, and a prognostic of weather to the neighbourhood; for as often as the top is overspread with clouds, rain generally follows." I believe that these ideas respecting Ounesberry or Roseberry foreboding storms, and especially showers, are still prevalent with the common people of the adjoining districts; and thus the prognostics afforded by this mountain in Cleveland, in comparison with those by the Oros, or the mountain of Jupiter Panhellenius in Ægina, long have been, and at this day are remarkably alike. As the Oros or St. Elias is par excellence the mountain of Egina, so Roseberry Topping is the mountain of its own extensive district, or, as the country people express it, "the biggest mountain in all Yorkshire." In form also they are somewhat the same, both being peaked or conical; and they are further similar in the position which they occupy, both being visible far and wide, as well for a great distance by land as by sea, and so they both are considered, not only landmarks to travellers, but likewise beacons to sailors. Among other foreign examples that might be noticed, I will merely bring forward one more, and which, were it for its name alone, I ought not to omit, viz. das Wetterhorn. This appellation, I need scarcely add, signifies "Weatherhorn;" it is the " Stormy Peak," or "Peak of Tempests" of Coxe, and of some other English travellers; and M. Ebel properly describes it as having "sa tête presque constamment voilée de nuages; il sert de Baromètre aux habitans." (p. 207, Manuel du Voyag. en Suisse, edit. 1826). In conclusion, I must state that the virgin snows of the central or great peak of the Wetterhorn, have been first trodden on last summer by an English traveller (Mr. Speer), who, after much perseverance, scaled its summit, which is one of the loftiest of the Oberland Alps.* Yours, &c. ARCHEOLOGUS. For example, the house of Peachy (late Barons Selsey), descended from a respectable family of Sussex yeomanry, or minor gentry, is made to proceed from the baronial line of Peché, of Cambridgeshire, without even a semblance of truth. Again, what proof is there of the West Indian planter Lascelles deriving his race from those of Dugdale's Baronage? of the London mercer, Ryder, proceeding from the Rythers of Wales? of * See the account in the Athenæum (p. 1055), for November 1, 1845. the Damers, from the stock of D'Ameri? of the Berties, from an illustrious line of German exiles? of the Rushouts, from the Roalts? of the Cecils, from the Sitsilts? or of the Townshends, from a Norman baron of. the same name, unheard of and unknown in that duchy? Nay, a real critic would give pause ere he admitted the claim of Fielding to legitimate consanguinity with the house of Hapsburg; whilst he could afford only smile at the invention of the flatterer who could convert the unpromising race of Dawson into scions from the house of Ossune. I was more particularly attracted to this subject by a slight inquiry, which I had rather contemplated than made, into the origin of the house of Herbert, Marquesses of Powis, and Earls of Pembroke, Montgomery, and Carmarthen; a race indeed sufficiently illustrious in its historical characters, to require no false glare of hypothetical pedigree; but whose real source, from that very circumstance, is not perhaps unworthy of investigation. The common ancestor of the various lines of Herbert is beyond doubt a Welshman, Thomas ap Gwilim ap Jenkin, of Llansanfraed, living in the reign of Richard the Second; who acquired the Castle of Ragland, in Monmouthshire, by his marriage with Maud, daughter of Sir John Morley, lord of that place, which possession is at this day inherited by the Duke of Beaufort, as representative of his ancestress, Elizabeth Herbert, the daughter and heiress of William second Earl of Pembroke of the first creation, married to his direct male ancestor, Charles Somerset, first Earl of Worcester. This Thomas ap Gwilim is said by Collins to have descended in the fifth degree from a Peter Herbert, married "as the British Heralds assert," to Alice, daughter and heir of Brethin Brodespere. To this point there is, I think, sure, at least fair evidence, inasmuch as Reginald Herbert, the son of Peter, inherited Llanhowel through his mother Brethin. But who this Peter Herbert might be, seems a question to Collins himself, who is startled at the anachronism of the Herald Glover, when that functionary introduces him as the son of Reginald Herbert, the brother and heir of Herbert Fitz-Peter. There is, I presume, sufficient evidence that Herbert Fitz-Peter (who, if not a Baron of the realm, at least held his lands by military service, and appears to have been Lord of Brecknock, among many other possessions) died in 1247, or 1248, leaving Reginald his brother and heir; but whether Reginald himself had a brother named Peter, or whether Reginald had a younger son of that name, or whether one or the other is identified with Peter Herbert, the husband of Alice Brodespere, who, from whatever stock derived, was, I think, the ancestor of the Herberts,-is a matter of doubt, so far as Collins's information extends. The same sort of tangible evidence which proves that Herbert Fitz-Peter died without issue, and left his brother Reginald his heir, shews him also to be the son of Peter Herbert, a baron of the realm in the reign of King John, and that his father, Herbert Fitz-Herbert, was chamberlain to King Stephen, from whom, says Camden (perhaps with passive caution), "the noble family of Herbert deduce their original."-Brit. 233. But if we ascend higher up this mountain of genealogy, to ascertain the precise fountain from whence issued this subsequently potent stream, we are again assailed by the doubt, whether to fix on "Herbert a natural son of Henry the First, or on Henry Fitz-Herbert, chamberlain to the said king." If your correspondent X. Y. or any other, can throw any light on these difficulties, he will oblige a retired lover of antiquity, who has no means of searching those stores of information which are deposited in our national archives, and who has no longer the opportunity of conveniently consulting those luminaries of genealogy and topography, who, by the diligence, learning, and acuteness which they have brought to the task, have spread so much interest over those objects of their pursuit. Yours, &c. WILTONENSIS. |