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The beautiful sculptures and paintings of Italy are too well known to need further remark; they begin very early, and in these arts they seem at all periods to have excelled all other nations, at least since the time of the ancient Greeks. The ancient Etruscans excelled in sculpture; their tombs, with recumbent or semi-recumbent effigies upon them, are very abundant in all parts of Etruria, and there are many of them in Rome itself. They are often very well executed, so much so as to rival the works of the ancient Greeks. Yet it is evident that the Etruscans lived in wooden houses and in caves; they built stone walls to enclose and fortify their cities, but the buildings within those walls were of wood only, or had merely foundations of stone with wooden superstructures, as in the middle ages. This is evident from the fact that there are no remains of houses in the Etruscan cities, while such massive walls as they built could hardly have been entirely destroyed. Also in their sepulchres, which are cut out of the solid rock, there is no attempt to imitate stone vaults or stone walls, but the wooden beams of the roof of a house and the wooden supports on which they rested are very closely imitated in the stone carving of the roof of the sepulchre. In architecture Italy was very much behind other nations at all periods, excepting in the fifteenth century, when the second great architectural movement, the revival of the Antique, originated at Rome, as was natural, from the abundance of models which the people had before their eyes.

THE MOST INTERESTING PART OF HISTORY-MANNERS AND CUSTOMS a.

WE had just received a book which has what we believe is termed a taking title, and our first glance at it made us think that it was as good in substance as in name. Opening it at random, before settling down to a formal examination, we were pleased to light at once upon a really graphic description of the difficulties and perils of travelling in England in the seventeenth century. We saw in it our old friends Ralph Thoresby and Samuel Pepys, the one losing his way between Newbury and Reading, the other in danger of drowning in the Trent, and Prince George of Denmark all but engulfed in the mud of the Weald. Though we soon found that the sparkling passage belonged to Lord Macaulay, we turned like a conscientious critic to the Preface, and read with satisfaction that the object of the author who had set this gem in this work was to give a correct idea of the manners, customs, and curious particulars of our forefathers, which to most persons are the most interesting part of our history" -that these were worked up into "a connected narrative of events not to be found in any other volume"-and that he "had made no statement without the most patient research."

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A book that even in a moderate degree should justify these "brave words" has long been a desideratum, but we cannot congratulate Mr. Brookes

"Manners and Customs of the English Nation, from the Invasion of Julius Cæsar to the Present Time. By John Brookes." (London: James Blackwood.)

on having supplied it. We are ready, however, to award him the praise of having spoiled what might, with ordinary pains, have been a very pleasant volume, and collected a large number of" Popular Errors" and "Things not generally known," which we hope will not escape the notice of Mr. John Timbs.

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As the work is announced as one of patient research, we naturally looked to the authorities cited, and we were pleased to discover from the first page or two that they were indeed first rate. Herodotus, Book IV., Plutarch in Mario, and Welsh Triads, 4 and 5," for a beginning, followed closely by "Strabo, Book III.," "Cæsar, De Bell. Gall., Lib. V. v. 14," and "Pliny, Hist. Nat.," ought to assure any one that he was really to learn all that could be told about the ancient Britons, and make him believe that when he came to more modern times the most trustworthy, impartial, and well-informed writers would alone be brought forward. Great, then, was our surprise to find that, though Mr. Planché had been rather freely laid under contribution for scraps about wimples and kirtles and long-toed shoes, "patient research" as to facts had been content with Miss Strickland's Tales from History, the Popular Encyclopædia, and the Pictorial History of England, (not by Charles Knight, but by Smith and William Howitt), and Adams's New History of Great Britain, which we are not ashamed to confess we never heard of before; while impartiality was satisfied with Howitt's "Priests and Priestcraft," Wade's "History of the Middle and Working Classes," Langford's "English Democracy," and Herbert Spencer's "Social Statics."

We are much inclined to suspect that the classical authors who figure so conspicuously in the early pages of Mr. Brookes have been but very carelessly consulted. The assertion that the Britons were "few in number when invaded by Julius Cæsar," is certainly at variance with his own statement, "Hominum est infinita multitudo b," and we know of no passage in which he describes them as wearing "their hair turned back upon the crown of the head, and falling in long and bushy curls behind;" he merely says, "Capilloque sunt promisso." Should it be the fact that the whole work is a mere second-hand compilation, and the "patient research" a myth, we shall not be surprised at the strange collection of odds and ends, some of which we will point out for the amusement of our readers, but we shall certainly" stand amazed" at the modest assurance of the Preface.

In such a work, of course, it is no wonder to see the errors of old writers faithfully reproduced, and the light that modern research has thrown on many once doubtful matters altogether neglected. The Druids have their name from Apûs, as if the Britons ever spoke Greek; following Ingulf, the monk of Croyland attains the patriarchal age of 168 years; Alfred divides England into shires; the Templars were suppressed for " their extreme wickedness and profligacy d;" the first paper-mill and the first newspaper both date from the era of Elizabeth, though "Bess," as she is unceremoniously termed, is no favourite with the author, for it appears she was no real reformer, though she doubtless acted up to the light she possessed;" but then she was unhappy enough not to live in this enlightened age, when everything is fast approaching perfection, and "the people are daily taking some link from the chain which bound them, and are daily walking this fair earth with freer, firmer step, more upright form

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b Cæs., de Bell. Gall., lib. v. c. 12.

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Ibid., c. 14.

For documents bearing on the question, see GENT. MAG., 1857, 1858.

and sparkling eye-sparkling with the consciousness of manhood, freedom, and power."

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The man who can indite such bombast as this may be readily taken as one with small regard for Church or State in earlier times. Accordingly we find that Cromwell is his idol; he is not merely "that great man,' a distinction that he shares with Julius Cæsar, but "that mighty man," and "immortal" into the bargain. On the other hand, the sovereigns that are mentioned are "fops," or "snobs," or " Whitechapel butchers," and the clergy, of course, fare even worse. The two following short passages are fair specimens of the vulgar, swaggering tone of the book:

"There could be no greater impositions on the credulity of mankind than those fiery ordeals. The ceremony was performed by a priest, in whose charge the prisoner was for three days before the trial. All persons were excluded from the church till the iron was heated. Of course this gave the prisoner every opportunity to make it all right' with the priest; and in brief, it always so happened that, if he had made it 'all right' with the priest, he was pronounced innocent, but, if he had not done so, he afterwards had reason to regret it. No friend of the Church or priests ever suffered, an enemy or opponent invariably did."

"In 1463, two years after the ascension [sic] of Edward IV., an act was passed prohibiting any one making or wearing shoes or boots with pikes exceeding two inches! But in that reign, as if to shew their contempt of the law, nobles, rich men, and even burghers, wore shoes in which the points were more ridiculously long than ever. As no notice was taken of the law, the power of the Church was called in, and the wearers of the prohibited boots and shoes were excommunicated. Holy, pure, just, and infallible Church, to send a man to perdition rather than allow him to wear long-pointed shoes! But neither the law nor the Church could control the fashion."

Many works, we are aware, might be found to compete with this in coarseness, but we do not think that it would be quite so easy to point out one which, professing to be the fruit of "the most patient research," gave currency to so many misstatements of all kinds. One brief extract will shew the happy manner in which the information given is jumbled together, in defiance of chronology, even if it happens to be accurate, and that is not often the case :

"Edward I. ordered that when he died his heart should be cut out and sent to Palestine.

"Edward II. was the first English king deposed by the people.

"In the reign of Henry III. Guinea fowls were introduced into this country from Guinea in Africa.

"In Edward II.'s reign the interest of money was as high as forty-five per cent. In the same reign earthenware was introduced."

This last great fact about earthenware is repeated in a subsequent page, yet the author's "patient researches" among classic writers might have informed him that such a thing as Roman pottery was "introduced" in Britain more than a thousand years before the time of Edward II.

Among the "things not generally known" we reckon the information that"Conobline" was the father of Caractacus, and was also "the first who struck the British coin." What about Tasciovanus, who is generally taken as the father of Cunobelin, and whose coins exist?

Equally new is the fact that the Danes took their name from " Dan," [O'Connell?]" who was one of their earliest kings after their separation from the parent stock." We are prepared for the information that England derives its name from Anglen, a village in Denmark, having observed the statement in Gilbert's "Outlines," but the source should have been acknowledged.

See GENT. MAG., March, 1859, p. 265.

We recognise the ingenuity of the inference about St. Dunstan; the saint "could play the Æolian harp," because, Pennant says,—

"The harp, with strings and all,

Untouched by hand did twang."

An explanation of surnames (p. 84,) is very satisfactory, as it increases our stock of Latin :

"It was during the period under consideration that surnames were introduced into England. Family names were so called because they were originally written over the Christian name-sur or sursum is the Latin word for over."

But this, clever though it is, is exceeded by the restoration of their true name to the famous Northumbrian earls. It should be Pierce-eye, because one of them thrust a spear into the eye of a Scottish king.

William I. "introduced beheading;" which shews that Thorpe is quite wrong in his " Ancient Laws and Institutes of England," for he makes it a capital punishment among the Anglo-Saxons.

Henry V., like "Bess," acted up to "the light that was in him," and was such a master of tactics, that troops drilled by him gained the victory not only at Agincourt, but at "Cressy, Poictiers, &c.," long before he was born. It would be an improvement to attribute this wonder to Sir David Dundas, or “Old Peevot," as he was called, and his nineteen manœuvres.

The Stock Exchange, as well as the Royal Exchange, was built in the time of Elizabeth, but we are not told whether the "first English newspaper," which belongs to the same auspicious era, contained the price of consols or a railway share list.

The place and period of the invention of the mariner's compass has hitherto been a subject of debate; it will be so no longer. "The mariner's compass was invented [before the time of Edward I. we learn incidentally] by Murphy, a Dutchman." We regret to say that no authority is given for this important statement, any more than for the following, which shall be our last specimen of "things not generally known:"

"In the year 1770 an act was introduced into Parliament against hoops, false hair, high heels, and matrimony. Its provisions ran thus:-That all women, of whatever age, rank, profession, or degree, whether virgins, maids, or widows, that shall, from and after such act, impose upon, seduce, and betray into matrimony, any of his Majesty's male subjects, by the scents, paints, cosmetic washes, artificial teeth, false hair, Spanish wool, iron stays, hoops, high-heeled shoes, &c., shall incur the penalty of the law now in force against witchcraft and like misdemeanours, and that the marriage, upon conviction, shall stand null and void.'"

Such are a few of the "curious particulars of our forefathers" that the industry of our author has collected, and there is an air of originality about most of them that must recommend them to attention. We can hardly allow as much praise to the "manners and customs," for we have seen much the greater part of what we find here in the very accessible pages of Pinnock and Goldsmith, and they hardly needed collecting again. Yet, with happy tact, Mr. Brookes contrives to impart a certain degree of freshness by his peculiar mode of treatment.

We are told, for instance, that the ancient Britons were remarkable for their fair complexions, so much so that—

"the women were fairer, perhaps, than most Englishwomen of the present day, but not so delicate. They had blue eyes, which they much admired, and long hair, of which they were very proud. The last and most earnest request of a young warrior who was taken prisoner and condemned to be beheaded, is said to have been, that no slave might be permitted to touch his hair, and that it might not be stained with his blood."

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This, of course, is an adaptation of the romantic story of Sigurd, one of the Jmsburg rovers, as related in the Saga of that name; but not content with having used it once, Mr. Brookes tells it again, and this time makes the hero a young Danish warrior," and favours us with his authority, "Jomswikinga Saga, in Bartholinus de Caus. Contempt. Mort., Lib. I. c. 5." Like poor Parson Primrose, we are sorry to interrupt so much learning, but we have heard it before."

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In the same spirit of giving a new reading to history, we also observe that a whole series of Welsh customs is transferred to the Anglo-Saxons, particularly that of "the king's feet-bearer," and the Anglo-Saxon laws are represented as "extremely mild," money being accepted instead of life, 66 even for the worst crimes." A mere dip into the Ancient Laws and Institutes of England, and of Wales, would have shewn that the "piece of state and luxury unknown to modern times" belongs to the British princes, and that it was only as between individuals that the Anglo-Saxon laws were "mild." Treason, brawling in the king's hall, coining, and many other state offences were "death-worthy;" and a fearful list of capital punishments appears, as beheading, hanging, burning, drowning, and stoning.

One of the most remarkable pictures of the state of things in England in the fifteenth century is to be found at pp. 178, 179, where we are told that the winter of 1434 was so severe that the Thames was frozen over,a statement to be found in Stowe's Chronicle. But the venerable writer was not a man of such patient research as Mr. Brookes, and he says nothing of a sheep roasted whole, and sold at a shilling a slice, nor of the "grand walk, called the City-road, from London to Blackfriars-bridge," nor even of the eight or ten printing presses hard at work to commemorate the glories of Frost Fair. This is all, no doubt, quite correct, but if we had not a firm reliance on our author's accuracy, we should really think that he had inadvertently copied from our own pages a description of the doings of the Frost Fairs of 1740, or 1789, or 1814.

Meaning to part the best of friends with Mr. Brookes, we gladly cite his opinion on a much-vexed question, no less, namely, than the origin and signification of the term Britain. This, then, is the true interpretation, and we warn all concerned not to dispute it, as the views of others have been duly considered and rejected :—

"Bruit was the Celtic for tin, so that Bruit-tan might be the derivation, meaning metal or tin land, being smoothed down by the Greeks and Romans into Britannia, and afterwards by others into Britain. This is, we think, the real derivation of the word Britain, though we have given the opinions of others on this subject."

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We are quite aware that it often happens to authors who have bestowed great and conscientious pains" on their works to have them reduced almost to nonsense by the shameless carelessness of their printer, and themselves being unable to stoop to "the mechanical drudgery of revising the press." Poor Mr. Brookes has not escaped this affliction. His printer perseveringly uses Briton" for Britain," mentions King Lacius (Lucius,) tells us of "Milfrid and Benedict Biscop, two clergymen travellers," Bishop Elfega, and the town of Giscore (Gisors), makes "Odericus" a contemporary of Froissart, hangs Mrs. Turner, the poisoner, "up by her ruff," throws Van Eyck and the invention of oil-painting back to the time of Edward III., makes that king build Windsor Castle in 1386, nine years after his death, dates the union with Scotland under George I., places the GENT. MAG. VOL. CCVII.

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