Sir,

THE

MODERN GOTHS.

getting rid of their time, pass over the most beautiful scenes of art and HE Goths have long been stig- nature with the most frigid indiffermatised as a barbarous people, ence, whose only pleasure is in a not only themselves ignorant of all good inn, and whose greatest annoyarts and sciences, but enemies of ance is a bad post-chaise or a pair of them in others: it is true they were bad horses; they travel post, by the ignorant compared to the enervated, most splendid remains of antiquity or though polished, Romans whom they the finest specimens of modern art, conquered; but Pinkerton has proved without once stopping either to exthat they possessed some principles of amine or enquire; they can hardly knowledge, and that they were the tell a castle from a cottage, and would authors of those stupendous works visit the ruins of Melrose and our which are generally termed Celtic or best preserved cathedrals with equal Druidical; that they were the inven- indifference; or if they happen to be tors of that style of architecture which possessed of any beautiful remains of has long passed under their name, is antiquity, would pull down or connow completely disproved, and if vert a church into a stable, a castle they had been, we should not have into a cow-house, or a priory into a been justified in calling them barba- barn, without the smallest regard to rians; but these buildings were all the beauty of the workmanship, or the erected by Christians, and there is no smallest feeling for the feelings of evidence of any Gothic nation being others, or for any thing but their own converted to christianity. The an- convenience. cient Goths then were not so igno- The modern Goths are greater barrant as is generally supposed, though barians than their ancestors; for they they destroyed the works of the Ro- live in the light of civilization and mans; but there is a sort of modern science, when books are every where Goths who deserve the title from to be had which might open their their barbarous ignorance of every eyes to the treasures and the beauties thing in which knowledge, taste, and of antiquity, so that they have no eximagination are concerned, and these modern Goths are to be found in every rank of society.

cuse for their ignorance but a sordid, stupid disposition. Much more might be added to shew the unpardonable blindness of the modern Goths, but I have not time to add more at present.

I remain, &c.

Hartford, near Morpeth,

May 15, 1808.

W. BURDON.

HINTS respecting the real Character of MARY, QUEEN of ENGLAND, By Mr. BREWER.

Among those employed in arts and professions they are those who know none but their own, and of the rich who have no need to follow any employment, they comprise almost the whole division; for it is the duty of every man, who has leisure and opportunity, both for his own sake and for the sake of others, to possess himself of every branch of useful and ornamental knowledge, to refine and cultivate his mind by the study of polite literature, and to be acquainted with [Concluded from p. 398.] those arts which are justly termed erected that Mary did not N regard to elegant, since there are few men who will not at some time or other stand in a situation pointedly dissimiprofit by such an acquaintance; and lar to that in which Elizabeth herself yet how many are there of the mo- was afterwards placed with Mary dern Goths who, when any subject Queen of Scots. As it appears to of knowledge becomes the topic of me, the conduct of the two sisters in conversation, turn away with dread this predicament would, if related and aversion, or turn the discourse by some fool-born jest or conceited pleasantry! How many, who in travel ling through the different parts of the country for the mere purpose of UNIVERSAL MAG. VOL. IX.

will be

with impartiality, redound by comparison (to adopt the historical fashion) to the high honour of the elder.

The behaviour of Elizabeth (though some minute circumstances may ad3 M

mit of controversy) is too well Smithfielde, untoo Westminster, with known to need in this place any re- a hundred velvet cotts after her grace. semblance of a prolix detail. Mary's And her grace rode in a charytt open chief offence, except precedence in on both sides; and her Grace had, rydpersonal beauty, was her right of heir- ing after her, a hundred in cotts of ship to the crown, for which Eliza- fine redde, gardyd with velvett," &c. beth hated and feared her. Mary With this pomp was the person conthrew herself on her kinswoman's ducted to London, who was acctised protection, and was imprisoned, with of conspiring against her sister's life! circumstances of severity incredible, Surely a sanguinary tyrant should if not authenticated. Á rumour of be made of "sterner stuff?" conspiracy was spread, and she was put to death.

As so much publicity of grandeur was allowed to the princess on her Elizabeth was also heir to the entry, it is but just to conclude that crown, and was accused by Sir Tho- she could not satisfactorily exonerate mas Wyat of a conspiracy against her herself from the heavy charge presister's government. Thus, even in ferred against her, when more strerespect to political motives, was nuous measures were resorted to. Mary as strongly tempted to rid her- This supposition is strengthened by self of the danger of a rival caballer the deliberation with which the cir as was afterwards the "virgin queen." cumstances were investigated, as she But Mary as a woman had much remained a fortnight at court before stronger temptations than as a sove- she was ordered to the tower. While reign. The Earl of Devonshire, a in confinement, under the suspicion young nobleman of the most engag- of treasonable practices, though at ing qualifications, had won the heart first she was attended only by the of Mary in earliest youth. He was a lieutenant's servants, yet, suddenly, particularly suitable match. He was an order came for her table to be an Englishman, and nearly allied to served by a part of her own estathe crown. But the first ardent wish blishment, viz. two yeomen of her of the queen was defeated, and that chamber, one of her robes, two of her by her sister, for the Earl attached pantry and ewry, one of her buttery, himself to the princess: the Queen one of her cellar, another of her larder, was slighted, and Elizabeth tri- and two of her kitchen. By all but the umphed. prejudiced it must be admitted probaThe ancient quarrel between their ble, that the first indignity offered the mothers, likewise, must be supposed princess was by command of the privy not quite forgotten in the breast of council, at whose head was Bishop the ruling party, especially when the Gardiner; and that on her applying to great share Anna Boleyn took in the the Queen for a more respectful atReformation is duly considered: yet tendance, her wish was immediately these two circumstances conjoined granted. It is certain that Mary rewere insufficient to provoke her to ceived letters from her at this juncthat foul crime which Elizabeth ture, as one is quoted by Camden in taught the world, on a future occa- his Eliz.

sion, how to commit without a blush. When Wyat, at the place of execu It is true the rivalry of Elizabeth tion, made confessions favourable to caused the Queen to look with cool- the character of Elizabeth, she was reness on her; and therefore the prin- leased from the tower, and conveyed cess retired to her house of Ashridge, to Woodstock, where she lodged in a in Hertfordshire; but the style in chamber curiously carved, and paint which she there resided may be ga- ed blue sprinkled with gold." We thered from the parade with which can scarcely avoid supposing that her she entered London, when sum- confinement here was not the most moned thither on account of the ac- dreary imaginable, since, when Queen, cusation of Sir Thomas Wy Vyat. "Be- she was particularly attached to this tween four and five of the clock at palace as a residence; and Bedingnight," says a MS. quoted in Ni- field. her "jailor," whom history re chols' Progresses," my Lady Eliza- presents in all the terrific colours of the beth's grace came to London, through hired assassin, with a scowling brow,

a curled lip, and a hand ever grasping devise of a castell of cloth of gold, a dagger, which points to a poisoned &c. At night the cuppboard in the bowl-this horrible janitor she vi- hall was of twelve stages, mainlie sited during her progress in 1578, and furnished, with garnish of gold and was in the habit of receiving fre- silver vessul, and a banket of seventie quently at court!! To common dishes, &c.. The next day the play sense I propose these queries:-Is it of Holophernes was performed." likely that a female, possessed of Not only were the personal exsovereign power, would fondly revisit penses of the princess unlimited, and the prison in which she had often her liberty entire, but she was alslept under the horrible dread of as- lowed to maintain a sort of court at sassination? And could human le- Hatfield, and possessed a palace in nity so far conquer the natural sug- town. Strype tells us, that, on such gestions of repugnance, as to allow a day," the Lady Elizabeth came the possibility of a voluntary and con- riding from her house at Hatfield to vivial intercourse with the wretch London, attended with a great comfrom whose poinard she had escaped panie of lords, and nobles, and gentleby chances little short of miracles?- men, unto her place called Somerset The prison-room, iron-bars, assassin, Place, beyond Strond Bridge, to do bowl of hemlock, &c. were the off- her duty to the Queen." In another spring of Fox's poetical imagination. part, he says, "that aforenoon the From Fox, Holinshed transcribes; and Holinshed, succeeding historians refer to as authority! Such is the basis of historical assertion!!

Lady Elizabeth's grace took her horse, and rode to her palace of Shene, with many lords, knights, ladies, and gentlemen, and a goodlie company of horse, (i. e. attendants)."

But the part of Queen Elizabeth's story rendered most dramatic by the Her visits to court were far from legend-bearers is the circumstance of infrequent, and her entertainment her being removed from a PRISON to there, now that she preserved herself a throne. Here is contrast in perfec- from all suspicion of political intion. A frightful, excavated recess trigue, was friendly and magnificent. on one hand, with bolts and bars In one of her visits she went by warusted by noxious vapours: on the ter in the Queen's barge, which was other, a crown, the dazzling rays of richly hung with garlands of artificial diamonds, the homage of a world, flowers, and covered with a canopy the possession of absolute power. In of the most costly description. Six the back-ground (a striking figure!) boats attended the procession, filled behold blood-thirsty Mary!" In with her highness's retinue, habited dreadful secresy she sharpens the in russet-damask, and blue embroiknife intended to pierce, in the dark dered sattin, spangled with silver. solitude of a dungeon, the bosom of On Christmas eve, the great hall of her enchained sister!-The vizor the palace was illuminated with a would be highly attractive, says the fable, if it had brains; and this story would be extremely interesting if it

were true.

thousand lamps, curiously disposed. The princess supped at the same table in the hall with the King and Queen,

next to the cloth of state. On the 29th day of December, she sat with their majesties, at a grand spectacle of justing, &c.

The prison from which Elizabeth was moved, on the death of her sister, was, it may be recollected, the palace of Hatfield. Here she had a retinue From these brief quotations, the and establishment befitting her ex- nature of Mary's severity towards her alted rank. An extract from a cu- sister must fully appear; and the rious MS. Chronicle describes one of drama of history be proved deficient her entertainments as "a great and in all but poetical justice. Would rich maskinge, wher the pageants the woman, who treated an offensive were marvellously furnished. There sister with so much real generosity, were thar twelve minstrels, anticly ave beheaded Mary Queen of Scots ? disguised, with forty-six, or more, The invidious comparison between gentlemen and ladies, many of them the sister-queens, suggested by most knights or nobles; and there was a historians, and admired by many rea

ders, surely, in this particular, defeats without determined to be partial and its own purpose. On a strict and unjust, we must suppose that she fair parallel, Mary would be found was equally indeterminate on all deficient in two instances, which un- other subjects to which her assent happily rendered nearly useless that was necessary.

natural integrity of heart, which, But Sir Thomas Wyat's conspiracy from her demeanor towards Eliza- (a rare opportunity for ridding herself beth, I must believe she possessed:- of her rival, if such a purpose had She was inferior in strength of mind, occupied her mind) occurred before and in those qualifications which are her marriage. From this peril there. the result of instruction. It is well fore, of course, Elizabeth was not known that the papists of this distant preserved by her brother-in-law. age were not fond of disseminating Philip was likewise absent in Spain learning among the laity; and the for a considerable period, and a sanpriests from whom Mary received her guinary tyrant would scarcely have education had a particular and ob- failed to profit by his absence. A vious interest in preserving her in thousand hands only waited for her such a state of mental deficiency, as signal to stretch Elizabeth a corpse would render her a more obedient on the floor of that Hertfordshire painstrument of their wishes, should lace, which, by favour of a poetical she ever attain supremacy in the license, our historians are pleased to state. On every occasion Mary's term a dungeon.

want of expanded views and exten- Should any writer undertake the sive information may be readily de- history of this reign, with the genetected. In no one instance did she rous wish of eliciting truth, he will eyer exhibit proofs even of natural find more MS. chronicles to assist his shrewdness, or untutored political labour than would the narrator of any ability. Is it not then equitable to other remote period of our history; place her acquiescence in the religious and I repeat that, from Mary's concruelty which marked her reign, ra- duct in regard to Elizabeth accurately ther to her want of independence of investigated, be will be able to exhisentiment than to such a constitu- bit her personal character in a light tional barbarity as would entitle her quite different from that in which it to the opprobrious appellation of a has usually been placed. sanguinary tyrant? When we view the extreme forbearance with which she acted in regard to Elizabeth, so truly offensive in so many particulars, we must be bigots, though in an opposite direction to Mary, if we persist in thinking otherwise.'

I am, Sir, &c.

J. N. BREWER.

On HEALTH and LONGEVITY. By the Rev. JOSEPH Townsend, Rector of Pewsey, Wilts.

If (intent on preserving the stigma bear much in colleges of the which to the Vis inertiæ of matter, that is name of this unfortunate princess) it of its tendency to persevere in a state is contended that Elizabeth was saved of rest or of motion in oue right line, from destruction, purely by the inter- till it is either moved or diverted ference of Philip, Mary's husband, I from its course by some foreign reply, that in no instance, on valid power. Such is Inertia is found in authority, can this be proved the case; the human constitution, which, by the but even admitting the possibility of laws of nature, will preserve its course such a presumption being correct, it even to extreme old age, unless dismust assuredly strengthen the grounds turbed by some error, in, what by on which I affirm that scarcely any physicians have been denominated, act of Mary's reign was the result of the non-naturals. Of these, the most her personal inclination. Since, if subject to our dominion are the she spared her most offensive foe, retenta et excreta. To them therewhether we look on the enmity as fore our principal attention should be religious or otherwise, at the solicita- directed, that we may set a watch tion of the man who had not indivi- over the door of our lips, or if, through dual power to command, certainly, want of caution, we have suffered the

enemy to enter the fortress; we may cay, and in our decrepitude not one
hasten his departure by those means, tooth remains.
It is well understood that plethora
which nature has placed within our
reach. For this purpose the adage produces apoplexy. What precaú-
of Lord Bacon should never be for- tion then can be applied? What re-
gotten: Nil tam ad sanitatem & medy provided against immoderate
longevitatem conducit quam crebræ increase in bulk and repletion of the

& domestice purgationes."

to

vessels? Next to occasional absti-
nence and habitual temperance none
can be so effectual as that recom-

cre

So much for plethora, and for the most fatal disease attendant upon it

as the immediate cause.

But independently of this, should the intestines themselves be overloaded, various diseases must be the Among these, and consequence. not the least formidable, is to be rec

It is universally understood, that temperance contributes much health, and health to protracted life. mended by Lord Bacon, his " But few men, when they sit down to bræ & domesticæ purgationes." pleasant food, are strictly temperate. Hence it comes to pass, that want of health is frequently attendant upon afBluence. Disease, however, and premature decay are not the peculiar inheritance of wealth. All men are liable to exceed the bounds of moderation, and to overload the alimentary canal. In such circumstances the best preventative against disease is to young and old, who indulge, beyond the bounds of moderation, their aphasten the discharge of this superabundance from the body by some petite for food. slight cathartic, such as may give relief without impairing the powers of digestion.

koned apoplexy, so fatal to both

The apoplexy here brought forward to our notice, is not the same species with that which is attendant upon plethora, but may be produced As we advance in years, modera- either by the pressure of a loaded tion becomes more essentially need- stomach on the descending aorta, or ful to the preservation of health. Till by spasmodic stricture of the dia we have arrrived at the acme of our phragm in that part, through which growth, a constant supply is to be this artery descends. provided, not merely for reparation The proper remedy for this repleof daily waste, but for increase in tion of the bowels is temperance; bulk. After this period the quantity but, as the bowels when overcharged of food should be diminished, be- with food become more sluggish in. cause one principal purpose of the in- their peristaltic motion, the remedy creasing demand has been completely proposed by Lord Bacon will here answered, and nothing remains to be apply, and it will be found that "Nil provided for but the daily waste. tam ad sanitatem & longevitatem conShould, however, the supply of ali- ducit quam crebræ & domesticæ purment continue undiminished, this gationes." superabundance, if digested and received into the system, must produce immoderate repletion of the vessels, and tend to bring on apoplexy, which may terminate either in palsy or in

death.

The greatest number of the human race perish by acute diseases, cut off before the maturity of age.

Those are commonly attended by inflammatory symptoms, at least in their commencement, and never fail Nature herself suggests to us the to be aggravated, when the intestines necessity of some regulation as to our happen to be loaded with indigested quantity of food, and provides a re- sordes. Hence on their first attack, medy against inordinate repletion. the expert physician is ever anxious For as from our infancy, till we ar- to begin his operations by evacuating rive at maturity, the number of teeth the alimentary canal. But frequently is constantly increasing, and with our it happens that he is called in too late; increasing years new grinders are the strength of the patient has been produced; so, when we have reached exhausted by the disease, and the the acme of our growth, the last ac- whole class of evacuants must then quired teeth are the first in their de- be most sparingly applied.