LETTER XII. I AM SO charmed with the two specimens of Erse poetry, that I cannot help giving you the trouble to inquire a little farther about them, and should wish to see a few lines of the original, that I may form some slight idea of the language, the measures, and the rhythm. Is there any thing known of the author or authors, and of what antiquity are they supposed to be? Is there any more to be had of equal beauty, or at all approaching to it? I have been often told that the poem called Hardicnute (which I always admired, and still admire) was the work of somebody that lived a few years ago.* This I do not at all believe, though it has evidently been retouched in places by some modern hand: but, however, I am authorized by this report to ask, whether the two poems in question are certainly antique and genuine. I make this inquiry in quality of an antiquary, and am not otherwise concerned about it: for if I were sure that any one now living in Scotland had written them to divert himself, and laugh at the credulity of the world, I would undertake a journey into the Highlands only for the pleasure of seeing him. It has been supposed the work of a lady of the name of Wardlaw, who died in Scotland not many years ago, but upon no better evidence, that I could ever learn, than that a copy of the poem, with some erasures, was found among her papers after her death.-No proof surely of its original composition, as few but persons of business, which women seldom are, take the precaution of docketing, or writing "Copy" upon every thing they may transcribe. LETTER XIII. I HAVE been very ill this week with a great cold and a fever, and though now in a way to be well, am like to be confined some days longer: whatever you will send me that is new, or old, and long, will be received as a charity. Rousseau's people do not interest me; there is but one character and one style in them all, I do not know their faces asunder. I have no esteem for their persons or conduct, am not touched with their passions; and, as to their story, I do not believe a word of it-not because it is improbable, but because it is absurd. If I had any little propensity, it was to Julie; but now she has gone and (so hand over head) married that Monsieur de Wolmar, I take her for a vraie Suissesse, and do not doubt but she had taken a cup too much like her lover.* All this does not imply that I will not read it out, when you can spare the rest of it. LETTER XIV. Sunday, February 28, 1762. I RETURN you my best thanks for the copy of your book, which you sent me, and have not * Were we not in possession of Mr. Gray's opinion of the Nouvelle Heloise, (see Letter xli. p. 285.) how would such a criticism, from such a critic, astonish all those more happily constituted readers, who, capable of appreciating varied excellence, have perhaps read with equal delight the exquisite odes of the one author, and the extraordinary and (with all its faults) inimitable romance of the other! + The Anecdotes of Painting. at all lessened my opinion of it since I read it in print, though the press has in general a bad effect on the complexion of one's works. The engravings look, as you say, better than I had expected, yet not altogether so well as I could wish. I rejoice in the good dispositions of our court, and in the propriety of their application to you: the work is a thing so much to be wished; has so near a connexion with the turn of your studies and of your curiosity; and might find such ample materials among your hoards and in your head; that it will be a sin if you let it drop and come to nothing, or worse than nothing, for want of your assistance.* The historical part should be in the manner of Henault, a mere abridgment,† * See a note from Lord Bute, in the Letters to and from Ministers, inviting Mr. Walpole to turn his thoughts to a work of this kind; and Mr. Walpole's answer, offering to point out and collect materials, and take any trouble in aiding, supervising, and directing the whole plan. + This method Mr. Walpole had already adopted before he received his friend's letter; for a large memorandum-book of his is extant, with this title-page: COLLECTIONS FOR A HISTORY OF THE MANNERS, CUSTOMS, HABITS, FASHIONS, CEREMONIES, &c. &c. &c, ОР ENGLAND, BEGUN FEBRUARY 21, 1762. BY MR. HORACE WALPOLE. Co'l tempo, Tutto. a series of facts selected with judgment, that may serve as a clue to lead the mind along in the The heads of the subjects he meant to treat are there arranged alphabetically, and several pages of blank paper left between each, intended to have been filled up with matter relative to the objects in question, as it occurred to him.-We have only to regret, that though a number of curious scattered notes remain among Lord Orford's papers, evidently intended for this work, its farther arrangement was never pursued; as in the hands of an eminent antiquary, diligent, accurate, and lively, as Mr. Walpole, it must have proved a most entertaining as well as a curious work. The notes, or heads of chapters, in his memorandum-book, are as follows: Coats of Arms. Arms and Armour. Armies. Books. Buildings. Burials. Coaches. When first used. Battle Axes. Coats of Mail. Habergeons. Hauberks. How raised and paid, and fleets. Admiral of western What books were in libraries before printing. Pay of copyists. Vide catalogue of books at Canterbury at end of Dart. Brick only for chimneys. No glass. Sudley Castle glazed with beryl. Old London of chesnut. Licenses for embattling. Soul-shot. Posthuma. Paid at interments. Vide Spelman's When first used. Saddles. Anne of Bohemia. side-saddles. of De Critz. Coins. Customs. Deer. Embassadors. Exchequer. Fools. Forests. First Chairs. Litter. Chariot. Vide Life Easterlings. Copper tokens. What, Saxons, Normans, Poitevins, &c. introduced. When brought into England. To inquire what the domain of the crown at different periods. What their pay and privileges. Vide Madox. See Account of Harrison prefixed to Hollingshed's Chro- Vide Anecdotes of Painting, in Holbein. Henry Statutes of. New Forest. Inquiry how many in the midst of those ruins and scattered monuments of art, that time has spared. This would be suffi Games. May games. At cards. Tables. Dice. Numbers of small dice found under floor of Inner Temple-hall. Havering in the Bower. When built. Jointure-house of what queens. When Habits. Heralds. The Marches. Masks and Masking. Mumming. Mathematics. Marriage. Meals. New Year's Gifts. Ordeal. Pleshy. Parks. Poets Laureate. Provisions. destroyed. See Peck's Account of them. Figures in Speed's Maps. When first wigs. Tom Derry. Lord Holland. Account of Fashions in Harrison's Treatise before Hollingshed's Chronicle. Hollar's habits. Coats and waistcoats. Vide MS. of Lord Sandwich. Keeping Christmas. Grands jours. When first planted. See Fuller. See my Green Book. Often crowned. How made. Ceremonies at creation of knights of Bath. See the plate in Dugdale's Warwickshire. Knight's service. Knight's fees. Account of them in Lord Monmouth's Memoirs. When brought in. Roger Bacon. What the ceremonies attending it. See bills of fare of Henry IV. in Bishop Lyttelton's book and in Dugdale. Embroidered with black. My head of Henry, Duke of Trials. When built. Thomas, Duke of Gloucester apprehended there. When demolished. King's proveditors. Forestalling of markets. |