concerning the valuable papers which we recently submitted to the public concerning the Gaelic language; as well as of some of less recent date, touching the language and literature of the Anglo-Saxons. It is in this manner that by patient research, and united labours, errors are gradually removed, correct information is obtained, and the sparks of truth flash forth from the obscurity in which they have been long involved by time. LIST OF EMBELLISHMENTS TO THE VOLUME. Those marked thus are Vignettes printed with the letter-press. *Representations of the Badge of Anthony Bastard of Burgundy, at the castle of Tournehem, in Artois 248 *Representation of a Barbican, from a MS. in the Royal Collection, Brit. Mus... ib. View of Winchester House, Broad Street, London ..372 *View of the Old Chelsea Bunhouse .466 Plan of the Roman Amphitheatre at Dorchester, co. Dorset... .473 View of the Altar Screen in Aylsham Church, Norfolk *View of an Ancient Timber House, at Lincoln.. ...580 *Representations of ancient Ogham Stones in the South of Ireland ......614-617 .....579 GENTLEMAN'S MAGAZINE. JANUARY, 1839. BY SYLVANUS URBAN, Gent. CONTENTS. MINOR CORRESPONDENCE.-Hourson in armour?-The Wakehurst Family- PAGE 2 THE DIARY OF A LOVER OF LITERATURE; by Thomas Green, Esq. The Proceedings of the Commissioners for the Publication of State Papers State Papers relating to Scotland, temp. Henry VIII. Vols. IV. and V. The Kingsborough Elm, Isle of Sheppey (with a Cut) Descriptive Account of Hever Castle, Kent (with a Plate) ON DIALECTS AND INTERMIXTURE OF LANGUAGES-The Cimbri distin- guished from the Celts-Non-affinity of the Gaëlic and Semitic-The Bas ON ASTROLOGERS AND ALMANACS-Poor Robin's Almanac-Moore's Alma- nac-The Protestant Almanac for 1669-Catholic Almanac for 1686-Yea and Nay Almanac for 1680.............. Mr. Loudon's Arboretum and the Quarterly Review Mr. Jesse's Letter on Herne's Oak, Windsor Little Park MSS. of Chaucer in the Bodleian Library-The Cuckoo and Nightingale POETRY.-Lines on the Rev. W. Kirby's Bridgewater Treatise.... RETROSPECTIVE REVIEW.-The MSS. of the Royal Library at Paris..... Lord Lindsay's Letters from Egypt, 57.-Sherer's Imagery of Foreign Travels, 58.-Wilberforce's Parochial System, 60.- Reminiscences of Half a Century, 61.-Sharpley's Coronation, 62.-The Charters, &c. of the Priory of Finchale, 63.-Jesse's Gleanings in Natural History, 66.- The Mabinogion, Part I.-The Lady of the Fountain, 68.-The Cork Re- membrancer, 72.-ANNUALS: Portraits of Children of the Nobility, 73.- Gems of Beauty, 74.-Horse-Emancipation, 75.-Lowndes's Librarian New Publications, 77.—Universities, London, Kensington, and Hull Literary Institutions; Royal, Botanical, and Geological Societies, 80, 81.-Institute of British Architects, and Architectural Society ANTIQUARIAN RESEARCHES.- Society of Antiquaries, 82.- Society for Historical Monuments of France, 83.-Sepulchral Memorials of the Knights of Malta, 83.-Ancient Mexican Sepulture, &c. HISTORICAL CHRONICLE.-Foreign News, 84; Domestic Occurrences OBITUARY; with Memoirs of Marshal Lobau; Baron Silvestre de Sacy: Rt. Hon. Sir R. C. Fergusson; Major-Gen. Sir R. M'Cleverty; General Peachy; Cornelius Ives, Esq.; James Mangles, Esq.; Mrs. Grant, of Laggan; John Taylor, Esq.; C. J. Smith, Esq.; Mr. Charles Nesbitt; Embellished with Views of HEVER CASTLE, KENT, and of the KINGSBOROUGH 2 MINOR CORRESPONDENCE. In the "Memoirs of C. A. Stothard," 8vo. 1823, p. 335, is the following passage, "The camail, and what was called by the French a hourson, to which may be added a strap, was to attach the whole [i. e. bacinet and appendages] by means of a buckle to the haubergeon or plates." F. M. would feel obliged to any one who could point out to him the authority for this term hourson. The Glossarists have been consulted in vain. Sir W. S. E. sends the following notices of the Wakehurst family, who at an early period had considerable possessions in Sussex, and whose residence was Wakehurst Place, a structure in the Elizabethan style, at Ardingly, in that county; and if any of our correspondents can supply further information, he will be much obliged William de Wakehurst, living 1285-1295, had issue John, who had issue John, who had issue Richard, who had issue another Richard. Notices of John are to be found under 1319, 1332, 1415; and of Richard from 1415 to 1450. Richard Wakehurst was knighted at the siege of Carlaverock. The latter Richard had two sisters, Margaret, married to Edward Sackville, who died 1459, leaving issue Humphrey, his son and heir, under guardianship of Richard Wakehurst & al.; and Ann, who died in 1460, having married J. Gainsford. Richard de Wakehurst died Jan. 7, 1457, and was buried at Ardingly, having married Elizabeth, daughter of Robert Eckingham, esq; she died 19 July 1464, buried at Ardingly, having had issue Margaret, who married Richard Culpeper, and died 25 July 1509, s. p. (Ardingly Reg.); and Elizabeth, the wife of Nicholas Culpeper, who died in 1510, leaving her surviving, and had issue Richard, living in 1534. There was also an Alicia Wakehurst, married to Adam Walleys, and living in 1373. I. A. R. remarks: "In perusing Mr. Bell's Huntingdon Peerage, 4to. 1821, I find a beautiful engraving of a portrait of Jane Shore, from a drawing by Lethbridge, after an original picture in the possession of the noble family of Hastings, painted in 1484. Perhaps some of your Correspondents, or rather the owner of the picture, can give us some account of it. The authenticity of the picture must be doubtful from the introduction of the two towers of Westminster Abbey, as they were built by Sir C. Wren, and of course did not exist in the year 1484. In the Memoires et Observations en Angleterre, 1698,' there is a print of West minster Abbey, but without the towers. This portrait is subsequently copied as a wood-cut in 'The Graphic and Historical Illustrator,' but the view of the tower and spire of Old St. Paul's inserted, instead of the towers of Westminster Abbey. So much for humbugging the public with fictitious portraits! This reminds me of an anecdote related by my father, who was present with Burke and Windham at Sir Joshua Reynolds's, when a beautiful female portrait by Michael Angelo (or rather a copy) was exhibited. The parties were puzzled to give a name to the ladywhen Burke recommended Zenobia. This picture was afterwards engraved, and stuck up in one of the shops in London, with a recommendation of Zenobia Soap '!'' Mr. W. S. LANDOR, in his " Pericles and Aspasia," has the following note: "The use of gunpowder, for instance, if not of guns, was known to the priests in countries the most distant, and of the most different religions. The army of the Macedonians was smitten by its lightnings under the walls of the Oxydracians, the army of the Gauls under the walls of Delphi!" We do not know how this assertion would be supported: long after the events mentioned, we know that what was called the Greek fire, Le feu gregois,' was used; but this being inferior in power to gunpowder, was the art of making the latter lost, and recovered afterwards in modern times? C. inquires, "from whence arose the custom of tolling the knell on the death of a person? Did not the Roman Catholic Church institute the practice for the purpose of protecting and driving the spirits from the soul of the deceased in its ærial progress? If so, does our Church, I mean the Protestant, recognise the remains of a Popish superstition, or does it substitute any other reasons for admitting the ceremony?" Toll the bell, a solemn toll, Slow and solemn let it be, We beg to acknowledge the receipt of Dr. WALKER's memoir on the Druidical remains in Yorkshire, and hope to have room for its insertion in the next number. P. 612, b, l. 2, for Venta Silcorum, read Silurum. P. 656 The marriage of George Caswal Newman, esq. is a fiction. There is no such person as the party to whom he is stated to be married. GENTLEMAN'S MAGAZINE. THE LIFE OF WILLIAM WILBERFORCE. By his Sons, R. J. Wilberforce, M.A. and S. Wilberforce, M.A. 5 vols. IF the effect which the perusal of these volumes leaves upon the mind of the reader is not so impressive or agreeable as might have been expected from the very interesting character which they attempt to pourtray, it will be found, we think, to arise, partly from the nature of the materials of which it is composed, and partly from the undue length to which it is extended. Mr. Wilberforce left behind him a Diary, in which the daily occurrences of his life were noted down. This extended from 1783 to 1835; also a Journal, begun in 1785 and ending in 1818, devoted exclusively to religious reflections, and principally the work of Sundays. Besides these, there exist also MS. or conversational memoranda, dictated late in life by Mr. Wilberforce, of which only some small and detached parts are as yet made public by his biographers. From these sources the chief materials of his Life are drawn and delivered in his own words, and the "callida junctura" is supplied by the narration of his sons. The stream of biography, it must be confessed, is thus impeded and broken in its course, and the component parts do not pleasantly assimilate. Secondly, we consider the whole work to be too long by two volumes, at the least"Pagina turgescit:"-but the increase of bulk is derived, first, from the insertion of many letters casually written, without talent or effort, and affording no amusement, and throwing little additional light upon the subjects under discussion; and secondly, by the publication of much of Mr. Wilberforce's private devotional exercises, his closet prayers, his pious ejacu lations;-the rebukes of a tender and distrusting conscience, or the warm spontaneous effusions of a grateful and overflowing heart. We must say, though with feelings of respect to the filial duty which has laid them open to public gaze, that we think these communings of the spirit, to be a thing too sacred to be submitted to general inspection, or that at least a much more sparing and partial selection of them might have served to satisfy, if such was the object in view, the reader of the high devotional feeling which was the guiding spirit of their parent's life. However, we have no wish to pause upon the defects, if such they are, of the work, and our only reason for mentioning them, is with the hope of seeing a future edition of the biography presenting us the life of this most interesting person, in such a form as will give us the full and perfect portrait, without any unnecessary or unbecoming details; and thus increase our standard stock of biography with the history of one whom nature and divine grace had alike gifted, who possessed an union of rich and rare qualities such as are seldom seen in the same individual, aud to whom, more than to any other person of the present age, society is indebted for the inculcation of those principles upon which alone it can safely rest, the tendency of which is to harmonise the business of this life with the interests of the next, and to teach men pass through things temporal, so as finally to lose not the things eternal." to |