ginals from which they are said to be taken: this I always thought to be an unfounded assertion, and the more so since I discovered the true and strong semblance of the painting with the above engraving; and further, by consulting Montfaucon's engravings of the famous Bayeux tapestry, the Conquest of this country by William of Normandy, with four selected specimens from that tapestry, of drawings made for the Society of Antiquaries last Summer, by Mr. Stothard, juu.; it is found that the performances strongly resembled each other; of course they both are authentic imitations of the originals. Thus deciding, it will be no great stretch of belief to conclude the whole of Montfaucon's Work to be a fine and accredited publication; and the wore so as it was brought out under the patronage of Lewis the Fifteenth. Projecting from the monument (centrically) is the small altar of Dagobert; the table curious Mosaic enlaying; top of the table and sides covered with fine lining; on the table a cushion and missal; no other furniture. The back, or altar-screen in three departments, exhibiting a most gorgeous display of goldsmiths work and jewellery; and so exquisitely pencilled was the combination, that it might be said to dazzle the sight. The screen had three com partments containing the figures of God, and saints on each side. Above, a small shrine, wrought in the same profuse style, with a cross, so wonderfully embellished, that no descriplion can do adequate justice to its merit. Green velvet curtains on each side to veil the altar when not in use. Pavement; another elaborate effort of Mosaic. On the left of the altar a pageant of a descending angel presenting to the priest at the altar a pen and scroll of parchment. In the distance, the choir-screen and roodloft over it, but not remarkable for any peculiar decorations. In the extreme distance, the windows of the gallery over the Eastern aile of choir, in strict consonance with Major Anderson's views; fronts of gallery hung with various-coloured embroideries. The priest has the alb, over which a plain black velvet cope, lined with crimson; on it (at the back), a rich embroidered cross, set with an assemblage of small religious figures: he is in the act of holding up the wafer. His cope borne by a kneeling laic, with the left hand, the right hand holding a lighted taper. On the left of altar is a King of France kneeling in regal robes of green velvet faced with ermine, and an ermine cope, or mantle; long bushy hair and beard, and wearing an excessively rich jewelled crown, having four bows springing from it, supporting a globe and cross; the King's hands are held up in devotional surprize: a number of persons in attendance, standing. A priest in a black habit is, holding back the altar curtain to give view of the sacred ceremony. Costume, time of our Henry VII. Before we quit the subject, let us turn back our eyes through the scenes of revolving Time, and conceive, that if a small and circumscribed object like Dagobert's altar gives to the wondering sense so much of high transporting art, what must have been the effect of the wide and immense overlayings and setting-forth of the altars and screens in our Cathedrals on holidays and festivals! What indeed! Imagination fades, and proves our mental retrospect vain and nugatory! Yours, &c. Mr. URBAN, J. CARTER. May 10. justly consi Tdered as the seat of every inprovement in Art and Science, and no less is it the seat of Humanity. The late Establishment of a Dispensary for the Diseases of the Ear will fill up that chasm which was alone wanting to complete the Charitable Institutions; and, by its being under the superintendance of an eminent Phy sician, and Surgeon, (Dr. John Sims and Mr. Curtis, Aurist to the Prince Regent,) it cannot fail to be attended with success. Mr. Curtis, in his Lectures on the Ear, has introduced a variety of inventions for assisting bearing, particularly his artificial Ears, which are much approved of by deaf persons; he has also invented a Hearing Trumpet, which shuts up in a small case for the pocket. Yours, &c. A SUBSCRIBER. *** Mr. T. FISHER's Letter reached us too late for insertion this month; as did also CLERICUS LEICESTRIENSIS, and AN ADVOCATE FOR THE POOR LAWS. REVIEW OF NEW PUBLICATIONS. 59. Curiosities of Literature, in Three Vols. 8vo. pp. 537, 520, 483. Murray. THE public approbation, which for five and twenty years has been uniformly bestowed on two of these volumes, unequivocally evinced by the sale of Five Editions, has been the most gratifying reward the intel ligent Collector of these "Curiosities" could have received; and, fortunately for the Literary World, has stimulated the exertion which has produced a Third Volume-the fruits of a maturer age, and of long and laborious research-still more entertaining, and even more instructive, than the former volumes. "This Miscellany," Mr. D'Israeli with unaffected modesty says, "was first formed, many years ago, when two of my friends were occupied in those anecdotical labours, which have proved so entertaining to themselves, and their Readers *. I conceived that a Collection of a different complexion, though much less amusing, might prove somewhat more instructive; and that Literary History afforded an almost unexplored source of interesting facts. The Work itself has been well enough received by the publick to justify its design. "Every class of readers requires a book adapted to itself; and that book which interests, and perhaps brings much new information to a multitude of readers, is not to be contemned, even by the learned. More might be alledged in favour of works like the present, than can be urged against them. They are of a class which was well known to the Ancients. The Greeks were not without them, and the Romans loved them under the title of Varia Eruditio; and the Orientalists more than either, were passionately fond of these agree able collections. The fanciful titles, with which they decorated their variegated miscellanies, sufficiently express their delight. The design of these arrangements, is to stimulate the literary curiosity of those, who, with a taste for its tranquil pursuits, are impeded in their acquirement. The characters, the events, and the singularities of modern literature, are not always familiar, even to those who excel in classical studies. But a more numerous part of mankind, by their occupations, or their indolence, both unfavourable causes to literary improvement, require to obtain the ma terials for thinking, by the easiest and readiest means. This Work has proved useful; it has been reprinted abroad, and it has been translated; and the ho nour which some writers at home have conferred on it, by referring to it, has exhilarated the zealous labour which six Editions have necessarily exacted." The subjects which are discussed in the new volume, are: "The Pantomimical Characters; Extempore Comedies; Massinger, Milton, and the Italian Theatre; Songs of Trades, or Songs for the People; Introducers of Exotic Flowers, Fruits, &c. ; Usurers of the Seventeenth Century; Chidiock Titchbourne (a Roman Catholic's History); Elizabeth and her Parliament; Anecdotes of Prince Henry the son of James I. when a child; the Diary of a Master of the Ceremonies; Diaries, Moral, Historical, and Critical; Licensers of the Press; Of Anagrams and Echo Verses; Orthography of Proper Names; Names of our Streets; Secret History of Edward Vere, Earl of Oxford; Ancient Cookery and Cooks; Ancient and Modern Saturnalia; Reliquiæ Gethinianæ; Robinson Crusoe; Catholic and Protestant Dramas; The History of the Theatre during its Suppression; Drinking Customs in England, On Literary Anecdotes; Condemned Poets; Acajou and Zirphile, of its Preface; Tom o' Bedlams; Introduction of Tea, Coffee, and Chocolate; Charles the First's Love of the Fine Arts; Secret History of Charles I. and his Queen Henrietta ; The Minister, the Cardinal Duke of Richelieu; The Minister, Duke of Buckingham, Lord Admiral, Lord General, &c. &c.; Felton the Political Assassin and Johnson's Hints for the Life of Pope." If we were to select the Articles which appear to have been formed on the most extensive reading, condensed in a very concise and entertaining form, the three earliest Essays in the Volume, and more especially that on the "Pantomimical Characters," would not fail to delight our Readers. But for these we refer to the Volume which contains them; and content ourselves with a few extracts that may be considered of a more ge * "The late William Seward, esq. and nerally popular description. James Pettit Andrews, esq." In the fifth Section we are told, GENT, MAC. May, 1817. "The "The greater number of our Exotic Flowers and Fruits were carefully transported into this Country by many of our travelled nobility and gentry; some names have been casually preserved. The learned Linacre first brought, on bis return from Italy, the Damask rose; and Thomas Lord Cromwell, in the reign of Henry VIII. enriched our fruitgardens with three different Plums. In the reign of Elizabeth, Edward Grindal, afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury, returning from exile, transported here the medicinal plant of the Tamarisk. The first Oranges appear to have been brought into England by one of the Carew family; for a century after, they still flourished at the family seat at Beddington, in Surrey. The Cherry-orchards of Kent were first planted about Sittingbourne, by a gardener of Henry VIII.; and the Currant-bush was transplanted when our commerce with the Island of Zante was first opened in the same reign. To Sir Walter Rawleigh, we have not been indebted solely for the luxury of the Tobacco-plant, but for that infinitely useful root, which forms a part of our daily meal, and often the entire meal of the poor man-the Potatoe, which deserved to have been called a Rawleigh. Sir Anthony Ashley first planted Cabbages in this country, and a Cabbage at his feet appears on his monument. Sir Richard Weston first brought Clover grass into England from Flanders, in 1645; and the Figs planted by Cardinal Pole at Lambeth, so far back as the reign of Henry VIII, are said by Gough to be still remaining there: nor is this surprizing, for Spil man, who set up the first paper-mill in England, at Dartford, in 1590, is said to have brought over in his portmanteau the two first Lime-trees, which he planted here, and which are still growing, and worth seeing. The first Mulberry-trees in this country are now standing at Sion-house. The Reader find more dates amassed respecting the introduction of Fruits, &c. in Gough's British Topography, vol. I. p. 133. may "The very names of many of our Vegetable Kingdom indicate their locality: from the majestic Cedar, of Lebanon, to the small Cos-lettuce, which came from the isle of Cos; the Cherries from Cerasuntis, a city of Pontus; the Peach, or Persicum or mala Persica, Persican apples, from Persia. The Pistachio, or Psittacia, is the Syrian word for that nut. The Chesnut, or Chataigne, in French, and Castagna in Italian, from Castagna, a town of Magnesia. Our Plums coming chiefly from Syria and Damascus, the Damson, or Damascene Plum, gives us a recollection of its distant origin. It is somewhat curious to observe on this subject, that there exists an unsuspected intercourse between nations, in the propagation of exotic plants, &c. Lucullus, after the war with Mithridates, introduced Cherries from Pontus into Italy; and the newly-imported fruit was found so pleasing that it was rapidly propagated, and six and twenty years afterwards, as Pliny testifies, the Cherry tree passed over into Britain. Thus a victory obtained by a Roman Consul over a King of Pontus, with which, it would seem, that Britain could have no concern, was the real occasion of our countrymen possessing Cherry orchards. Yet to our shame must it be told, that these cherries from the King of Pontus's city of Cerasuntis, are not the cherries we are now eating; for the whole race of cherry trees was lost in the Saxon period, and was only restored by the gardener of Henry VIII. who brought them from Flanders-without a word to enhance his own merits, concerning the bellum Mithridaticum!” The Section on "the Names of our Streets" is curious, and amusing. "Lord Orford has, in one of his letters, projected a curious Work to be written in a walk through the Streets of the Metropolis, similar to a French Work entitled Anecdotes des Rues de Paris.' I know of no such Work, and suspect the vivacious Writer alluded in his mind to Saint-Foix's Essais historiques sur Paris, a very entertaining work, of which the plan is that projected by his Lordship. We have had Pennant's 'London,' a Work of this description; but, on the whole, this is a superficial performance as it regards Manners, Characters, and Events. That antiquary skimmed every thing, and grasped scarcely any thing: he wanted the patience of research, and the keen spirit which revivifies the past. Should Lord Orford's project be carried into execution, or rather, should Pennant be hereafter improved, it would be first necessary to obtain the original names, or from the disguise in which time has contheir meanings, of our Streets, free cealed them. We shall otherwise lose many characters of persons, and many remarkable Events, of which their ori ginal denominations would remind the historians of our streets. "I have noted down a few of these modern misnomers, that this future bistorian may be excited to discover more. "Mincing-lane was Mincheon lane ; from tenements pertaining to the Min 'Pliny, Nat. Hist. lib. xv. c. 25." cheons, cheons, or Nuns of St. Helen's, in Bishopsgate-street. "Gutter-lane corrupted from Guthurun's-lane; from its first owner, a citizen of great trade. "Blackweil-hall was Bakewell's-hall, from one Thomas Bakewell; and originally called Basing's haugh, from a considerable family of that name, whose arms were once seen on the antient building, and whose name is still perpetuated in Basing's lane. "Finch-lane was Finke's-lane, from a whole family of this name. "Thread needle-street was originally Thrid-needle street, as Samuel Clarke dates from his study there. or could have told what a Pickadilly had been, either fish or flesh.' "This is sufficient to shew how the ́names of our Streets require either to be corrected, or explained, by their his torian. The French, among the numerous projects for the moral improvement of civilized man, had one, which, had it not been polluted by a horrid faction, might have been directed to a noble end. It was to name Streets after eminent men. This would at least preserve them from the corruption of the people, and exhibit a perpetual monument of moral feeling, and of glory, to the rising genius of every age. With what excitement and delight may the young contemplatist, who first studies at Gray's Inn, be reminded of Verulambuildings. The names of Streets will often be found connected with some singular event, or the character of some person. Not long ago, a Hebrew, who had a quarrel with his community, built a neighbourhood at Bethnal-green, and retained the subject of his anger in "Garlick hill was Garlick-hithe, or the name the houses bear, of Purimhive, where Garlick was sold. place. This may startle some theologi"Gracechurch-street, sometimes call-cal Antiquary at a remote period, who "Billiter-lane is a corruption of Belzetter's-lane; from the first builder or owner. "Crutched friars was Crowched or Crossed-friars. Lothbury was so named from the noise of Founders at their work; and, as Howel pretends, this place was called Lothbury' disdainedly.' ed Gracious street, was originally Grass- Galley hey has preserved its name, but its origin may have been lost. Howel, in his Londinopolis, says, here dwelt strangers called Galley, men, who brought wine, &c. in Galleys.' "Greek street, says Pennant, I am Borry to degrade into Grig-street:' whether it alludes to the little vivacious Eel, or to the merry character of its tenants, he does not resolve. "Bridewell was St. Bridget's-well, from oue dedicated to Saint Bride or Bridget. may idly lose himself in abstruse conjectures on the sanctity of a name, derived from a well-known Hebrew Festival; and, perhaps, colonize the spot with an ancient horde of Israelites." Weshall conclude our account of this truly valuable Work, by copying Dr." Johnson's Hints for the Life of Pope." "I shall preserve," says Mr. D'Israeli, "a literary curiosity, which perhaps is the only one of its kind. It is an original memorandum of Dr. Johnson's, of hints for the Life of Pope, written down as they were suggested to his mind, in the course of his researches. The lines "Marybone was St. Mary-on-the- in Italicks, Johnson had scratched with Bourne, corrupted to Mary-bone; as red ink, probably after having made use Holborn was Old Bourne, or the Old of them. These notes should be comRiver; Bourne being the ancient Eng-pared with the Life itself. The youthful lish for river; hence the Scottish Burn. "Newington was New town. "Piccadilly was named after a hall called Piccadilly-hall, a place of sale for Piccadillies or Turn-overs; a part of the fashionable dress which appeared about 1614. It has preserved its name uncorrupted, for Barnabe Rich, in his Honestie of the Age, has this passage on the body makers that do swarm through all parts, both of London and about London. The body is still pampered up in the very dropsy of excess. He that some fortie years sithens should have asked after a Pickadilly, won der who would have understood him; : student will find some use, and the cyrious be gratified in discovering the gradual labours of research and observation; and that art of seizing on those general conceptions which afterwards are opened by meditation, and illustrat ed by the powers of a man of genius. I once thought of accompanying these hints by the amplified and finished passages derived from them: but this is an amusement which the Reader can contrive for himself. I have extracted the most material potes. “This fragment is a companion-piece to the engraved fac simile of a page of Pope's Homer, in the second volume of this Work, of which I shall now observe, that there never was a more minutely perfect copy of a manuscript. "That fac-simile was not given to shew the autograph of Pope-a silly practice which has lately so generally prevailed-but to exhibit to the eye of the student, the fervour and the diligence required in every work of genius: this could only be done by shewing the state of the manuscript itself, with all its erasures, and even its half-formed lines; nor could this effect be produced by giving only some of the corrections, which Johnson had already, in printed characters. My notion has been approved of, because it was comprehended by writers of genius; yet this fac-simile bas been considered as nothing more than an autograph by those literary blockheads, who, without taste and imagination, intruding into the province of Literature, find themselves as awkward as a once popular Divine, in his 'Christian life," assures us would certain sinners in Paradise, like Pigs in a Drawing-room.' "POPE. "Nothing occasional. No haste. No rivals. No compulsion. Practised only one form of verse. Faci- Emulated former pieces. Cooper's-hill. Affected to disdain flattery. Not happy Cibber's abuse will be better to him than Satire and praise late, alluding to some- He had always some poetical plan in his head +. Echo to the sense. Would not constrain himself too much. Motives to study-want of health, want Prudent and frugal-pint of wine. "He has added in the Life the name of Burlington." +"In the Life Johnson gives Swift's complaint that Pope was never at leisure for conversation because he had always some poetical scheme in his head.” "Johnson in the Life has given Watts's opinion of Pope's poetical diction." Neglect of fame. Indifference about every thing. Sometimes gay and airy, sometimes sober and grave. ance. Too proud of living among the great, His letters to the ladies-pretty. No conversation. No writings against Swift. Parasitical epithets. Six lines of Iliad †. He used to set down what occurred of thoughts-a line-a couplet. The bumourous lines end sinner. Pru First line made for the sound, or v. versa. More notice of books early than late. The line on Philips borrowed from Pope did not increase the difficulties of |