how many successive protections the blade went through before it reached the skin, and after that went through the flesh, and then the bone; whereas both the vizor and the crest, or plume, are on the outside of the helmet. Now the helmet was either the cylindrical of the time of Henry III. or the conical one of the succeeding reign. This was placed, as we learn from the "Critical Inquiry into antient Armour," on the coiffe de mailles, which was kept in a flattened, a conical, 'or spherical form, by the shape of the cap underneath. This pengwch pwrgwin, or conically woven bonnet, was called cerebrarium, or skull-cap, and was sometimes made of steel, though not in the instance before us. It is said that Michael Scott, domestic astrologer to the Emperor Frederick, was the first to have one of metal.

That the costume of this Mabinogi is not earlier than the close of the reign of Henry III. is evident from the mention of athroelleu yr ysparduneu, "the rowels of the spurs,' "which are too particularly spoken of to doubt their existence; so that its date may be assigned to the latter half of the thirteenth century, a hundred years after that assumed for the Chevalier au Lion. Indeed rowelled spurs did not become common before the time of Edward II. Whatever, therefore, may have been the materials from whence the French romance was taken, it is clear that it could not have been copied from this composition.

The period of the Welsh Mabinogi being thus pretty nearly ascertained, the picture of manners it affords becomes the more interesting.

The ceremony of washing the hands at the banquet, still retained in genteel society, and more especially according to ancient ideas at royal tables, where, except by their dispensation, it is confined to the princes themselves, is an Oriental custom, and like many others introduced by the Crusaders. The salvers for that purpose here mentioned are, by way of eminence, stated to have been of the precious metals, but those generally used were of copper enamelled. One such is preserved in the Norwich Museum, and four other varieties are in the Doucean collection at Goodrich Court, Herefordshire. They are all of the time

of Edward I. and two of the latter have been engraved and illustrated in the Vetusta Monumenta, Vol. IV. published by the Society of Antiquaries. The subjects engraven on them are from romance, the chace, or exhibit single combats by grotesque figures.

With respect to the ancient mode of decorating apartments, we have a valuable notice in the following passage, p. 56; and which may instruct those who build Gothic mansions,that, instead of being confined to the cold effect of merely oak and gilding, our ancestors availed themselves of all the glow and brilliancy of warm and splendid colours: "And Owain looked around the chamber, and beheld there was not even a single nail in it that was not painted with gorgeous colours, and there was not a single panel that had not sundry images in gold pourtrayed upon it." What the subjects generally were at this period may be ga. thered from the several authorities collected in the preface to Shaw's "Ancient Furniture."

We have next described a magnificent bed; for though in the English, p. 57, the word" couch" is used, the Welsh term, p. 16, is gwely, and we are told that it was decorated with scarlet and fur, satin and sendall, aud fine linen. So in the romance of Arthur of Lytle Brytayne, composed in the time of Edward II. we read: "Upon the bed there was a riche quilt wrought with coten, covered with crimson sendal, stitched with threddes of golde, and shetes of white silke, and over al a rych furre of ermynes." The furs, therefore, made the coverlid.

The armour has been already alluded to in the endeavour to ascertain the date of this Mabinogi; but there are other passages relative to it well deserving of notice. Near the castle of Gerberoy, Robert Duke of Normandy encountered a knight, and unhorsed him.

In his fall his nasal helmet fell back, and the broad piece which had covered his nose being thus removed, the features were quite exposed, and Robert saw it was his father, William the Conqueror, whom he immediately with the utmost courtesy assisted to remount. So we read, p. 68, "The knight gave Gwalehmai a blow that turned his helmet from off his face." Now the nasal helmet had become

disused before this time; it must, therefore, refer to one of the kind before suggested. These were generally kept from turning, for the inconvenience had been felt, and was remedied, by little cords, one on each side, which fastened to the shoulders: for John of Gaunt was called on to decide whether it was fair at a tournament for a knight to allow these to be loose. An illumination in the Royal Library of the British Museum, marked 20. D. 1. entitled "Livre des Histoires," and written in the middle of the thirteenth century, fully exhibits these cordons to a cylindrical helmet, which falls from the face of a knight, as he is knocked off his horse by his adversary. Now the blow in this case must have turned the helmet not round, as it might have done had these fastenings not have been used, but upwards; and therefore the sword must have struck against the projection of the ocularium, or sight, which would have forced it in that direction.

At p. 74, it is said, "The Countess bade them bring out a beautiful black steed, upon which was a beechen saddle and a suit of armour (literally "plenty of armour") for man and horse. Here we have another help as to date. The practice of protecting the horse as well as the knight in mail, commenced in the middle of the thirteenth century; and in the lists of troops raised by Edward I. we read of equi cooperti and equi non cooperti, a distinction that points out the armed from the unarmed steeds.

The note on the expression "Strong lances," p. 68, is, as it appears to us, couched in terms calculated to induce a belief that the Welsh knights had several weapons which were unknown to the English. The passage runs thus: "It would be in vain to attempt to find English terms corresponding precisely with those used in the Welsh text, to designate the various kinds of arms which the knights fought with in this tale." Now the fact is, that they commenced the encounter with ordinary lances. On the next day they resumed it with apheleidyr godeudawc, those of superior rare quality; and on the third with apheleidyr kadarnvras godeudawc, such as were not only of the best quality, but particularly powerful at the butt

end, or that portion which from the gripe passed under the arm. Having unavailingly tried these three pairs of lances, successively increased in power, they then fought with swords, as was the usual practice among actual combatants.

"

The word translated daggers," p. 42, is cyilleill, i. e. knives. These, under the name of coustel and cultellus, were carried by the archers on foot and other infantry, in the latter half of the thirteenth century, in the girdle without sheaths, and answered every other purpose as well as for war; while the dagger, which accompanied the sword as the weapons of a knight, was like it worn in a scabbard, but at the right side. The infantry, indeed, except the archers, who made use of this military knife, were thence called coustrels, custrels, or coûtrels, which has given the name of Cottrell and Cotterell to several existing families.

"

The allusion to archery has in the notes been well illustrated by an extract from a tale of the time of Edward III. taken from a MS. in the library of the Cymmrodorion Society, entitled Cydymaith Diddau, in which the arrow is described as a straight round shaft, with a compass rounded knock, and long slender feathers fastened on with green silk, and a steel head heavy and thick, and an inch across. Such a one, wanting the feathers, and probably the only ancient specimen in existence, which is of the time of Henry VI. was found in the moat of Clifford's Tower, York, and is preserved in the armoury at Goodrich Court. On examining the engraving in Skelton's "Illustrations of Ancient Arms and Armour" from that collection, it will clearly be seen that the knock and head exactly answer this description.

When we reflect on the elevated feelings that were generated by the refinement of chivalry, and how much it depended on devotion to the fair sex, it seems astonishing that a barbarous custom, more suited to the degradation and contempt in which women were held by Mahometans, should have continued to exist for above seven hundred years. The cruel death of being burnt at the stake, was by law decreed as the lot of all women whose condemnation was put on the issue of

judicial combat, in case their champions were vanquished. Thus, in the Assisiæ Hierosolym, c. xxxvii. it is decreed: "If the battle be for a thing deserving of death, and the guarantee is vanquished, he and the person for whom he fought shall be hanged; and if the guarantee be of such a rank that he can have a champion to fight for him, and his champion is vanquished, they shall all three be hanged. And if a woman makes the appeal, and her guarantee and her champion be vanquished, she shall be burnt; and the guarantee, if he fights and is vanquished, he shall be hung; and if he substitutes a champion for himself, and he is overcome, they shall both be hung, and the woman be burnt." With this enactment agree the Grand Coustumier of Normandy, as well as the contemporary laws of other parts of Europe. And this unfeeling punishment for man's delicate helpmate continued in England till within the last sixty years; as Cobbett mentions that when he first came to London, he observed a smoke and smell of burning, and that the answer to his inquiries was, that a woman had just been consumed at Tyburn. Proh pudor! shame to Christianity! shame to chivalry! shame to England!-but the dreadful truth ought not to be concealed. Thus, according to the manners of the times, we have in this Mabinogi an accusation against Luned, who is allowed to appeal by her champion to the issue of battle. She names Owain :-" And when he came to the meadow, he saw a great fire kindled, and two youths with beautiful curling auburn hair were leading the maiden to cast her into the fire. And Owain asked them what charge they had against her? and they told him of the compact that was between them, as the maiden had done the night before; and they said, Owain has failed her, therefore we are taking her to be burnt." She was, therefore, like Rebecca, in Sir Walter Scott's interesting novel of Ivanhoe, saved by the sudden appearance and intrepidity of her champion at the last moment.

It is observed, in a note on a passage p. 39, where it is intimated that there was a master of the ceremonies, but no porter, at Arthur's palace, that "the absence of a porter was formerly considered as an indication of hospi

9

tality," and authorities are cited in proof of this assertion. He had to guard the door; and, as his office was of much importance, it was never conferred but on persons of approved fidelity and great personal strength. Hence we find the porters in chivalrous romances often transformed into grim giants, who scowled away all intruders, and guarded with inflexible severity the persons of those who had been cast into the gloomy dungeons of their castles. The porter was armed with an enormous club bristled with iron spikes, wore the keys at his girdle, and was attended by a bloodhound, or mastiff. In this manner he is represented in a drawing illustrating the MS. of Rous's Life of Richard Earl of Warwick, in the British Museum, marked" Cotton. Julius E. iv." His peculiar business being more the exclusion of strangers than the introduction of guests, at once points out his absence as an indication of hospitality.

Some remarks are made in a note to p. 40, on the custcm of strewing the floors with rushes. We will merely observe, that such a practice prevailed generally with regard to those of pews in Welsh churches within the last thirty years.

Here we may close our annotations; and, as in the course of them we have had occasion to cite some of the passages from the translation, we need not adduce others to shew the style of language in which that has been done. A chaste and simple diction was all that could be required, and such her Ladyship has adopted.

The Cork Remembrancer; or, Annals of the County and City of Cork. With an Introductory Essay. By Francis H. Tuckey. 8vo.

WE are informed in the preface to this work, that a small volume under this title was first published in 1783. It consisted, however, for the most part, of a general chronology of the world; as did a second impression in 1792. The author adds,

they were filled, I have supplied its place with copious extracts from the rolls of Chancery, and from other sources, sufficient to enable me to devote a volume exclusively to the annals of this county and city; thus preserving from oblivion many events which, though beneath the notice of a historian, are yet valuable from their local interest."

"For a great portion of the annals from the year 1303 to 1500, I am indebted to the rolls of Chancery lately published by order of government.”

This is one instance, among many, of the useful results of printing the records of the country, and placing them within the reach of provincial inquirers. Mr. Tuckey's design is a meritorious one, and its execution, as far as we see (one-third of the volume only being before us), is judiciously and creditably performed. We make an extract relative to a family whose modern representatives Ireland has to reckon amongst the most illustrious of her sons:

"The word Englishman ordinarily meant one who was entitled to use, and did use, English law; thus Sir Henry Colley, (whose descendants have attained great note under the name of Wellesley,) was called an Englishman (Lodge's Peerage), though his family were Irish, as far as can be traced. The peerages begin with his father, and presume that he was a native of England; but this is a mistake; his grandfather, Robert Cowley, was bailiff of Dublin in 1515 (Holinshed); he was afterwards a confidential servant of the Earl of Ossory or Ormond, as was also his son Walter Cowley (State Papers). Their subsequent advancement was doubtless owing to the power and interest of the Butler family. Robert continued in their service until 1537, when he became Master of the Rolls in Ireland; but in 1542, King Henry VIII. wrote to the

written le) was commissioned in the reign of Henry VI. to provide bread, wine, &c. for the table of the Earl of Ormond, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland; and as far back as the reign of Edward III. Thomas Colleye had a grant of the office of gauger of wines for England, Ireland, and Wales."

In p. 41 we notice a serious error of George Duke of Clarendon, instead of Clarence; and in p. 55 it is stated that "in 1571 Queen Elizabeth gave a silver collar of the order of St. Simplicius to Maurice Roche, mayor of rebels (which collar is said to be now Cork, for his assistance against the in the possession of John C. Kearny, esq. of Garrettstown)"-though it has now been well ascertained the letter S. in that collar (still worn by the Lord Mayors of London, Dublin, &c.) originated as the initial of Henry the Fourth's motto of Souveraine.

THESE pictures of what Goldsmith calls harmless little men and women," are very captivating, from the grace and elegance with which the youthful forms of Nature are designed. The daughters of Lord Jersey, by Chalon, form a group of exceeding beauty; and William Forrester, Lord A. Conyngham's son, by Maclise, shows all the cleverness of that accomplished artist. The engravers have done their

was a man seditious and full of contention and disobedience, and ordered him to be dismissed from his office. Walter Cowley was made Solicitor-General for Ireland; but was dismissed in 1546. The editors of the State-papers observe, that he was a tool in the hands of Chancellor Allen. He was for some time a prisoner in the Tower of London. His son Henry above-mentioned was knighted by Sir Henry Sidney. Their family seems to have been settled in Ireland from remote times: a John Cowley was made gauger of Ireland by Henry VII. John Cowle (probably the same person as the final syllable ley is often in records GENT. MAG. VOL. XI.

What read those glances? serious, and yet Seeming to penetrate the mystic veil [sweet, That shrouds your graceful future-for 'tis

meet

Your lot should be as brilliant as your birth-
Fair daughters of a mother that the Earth
Hath ever welcom'd, with its brightest flowers,
Like the gay Princess in the fairy tale,
Whose very steps were roses. Beauteous Girls!
Link'd in domestic love, like three rare pearls,
Soft, and yet precious, when the coming hours
Shall, with a smile that struggles with a tear,
Remove you from the hearth your forms endear,
Your tender eye shall dwell upon this page,
That tells the promise of your earlier age.

L

The Portrait of Fenella Fitzhardinge

Berkeley, by Barry Cornwall.

Child! what is there in thy dream?—
Tell me what the hope or theme
That doth now thy soul possess?
Thought in all its loveliness

Sometimes dawneth on the brain
Of the lone and musing child,
Amidst visions rich and wild,

Touching it with tender pain.
Dost thou see thy future story
Soaring out of mists of glory,
Figured half and half conceal'd,
Like some oracle reveal'd

By the Priestess pale
At the Delphian altars old,
Where Apollo's will was told
(So runs the tale).

Let thy fancy have its fill,
Yield thee to thine own sweet will;
Gaze thou, whilst the Dragon rideth

O'er the cloudy plains above ;-
Gaze thou, whilst the Naiad glideth

Through the greenwood to her love;
Hearken to the murmuring air,
Trust aye all that seemeth fair;
Every pleasure, howe'er brief,
Is a conquest won from grief.
I remember (many a day

Since that merry time hath fled)
When the skies were ever gay,
Ever open over head;
When my heart ran o'er in showers
At the beauty of the flowers :
Even now I try to rhyme
Of that faded flowery time;
Loving more that morning gay,
Than the later years serene;
Happier, though 't be lost for aye,
Than if it had never been.
Gentle child! may Time's soft hand
Lead thee at last to th' happy land.
Meantime gather, whilst thou may,
Every sweet of every day;
And when dull November cometh
With its melancholy sun,
And the Bee no longer hummeth,

Tell them, too, as I have done,
Of those times and stainless pleasures,
Which the heart so wisely treasures,
When thy thoughts were fresh and light,
And the hour was always bright,
And the World was without end,
And the Kitten was thy friend.

The loveliness of Nature around Art; It is a lovely fantasy, thus bringing

Sweet links, and graces otherwise apart.

Be it through life an omen! thou, fair child! [childhood; Keep at thy heart some memory of thy When the small buds look'd up to thee and smil'd [wild wood. 'Mid the green mosses of the shelter'd Fair art thou!-fair-a young and happy

creature!

[smile, Yet with the falcon in thine eye and The large clear brow, the high heroic feature, [isle. Brought by the stately Norman to our Soon the soft hours of April pass away,The girl is woman ere we mark'd the changing;

Then come the trial of life's afterdayGrief, Joy, and Care, the troubled future ranging.

And such must be thine own-no love's devotion

Can keep thee from the universal share Of common sorrow, and the deep emotion With which all struggle-but which all must bear.

Let not these wild scenes utterly depart, Keep them amid the world with strong

endeavour,

With its first freshness cherish'd at the heart; [ture never! Other things may deceive thee-Na

Gems of Beauty displayed in a Series of Twelve Engravings of Spanish Subjects from Designs of the first Artists, with Illustrations. By the Countess of Blessington. 4to.

THIS is a work of extreme elegance of design and execution; the only fault we are inclined to find with it is, that some of the artists, as Mr. I. Bostock in the Dejected, Mr. Dyce in

ON THE PORTRAIT OF LADY M. M. F. E.

COMPTON,

Daughter of the Marquess of Northampton. Not in a cultur'd garden dost thou seem, Fair child! whose hands are filled with early flowers,

"

Duenna, have not preserved the Spanish character of face or form; but the "Prado" and the " Bull-fight are all that we could desire. The verses of Lady Blessington are in general clever and sprightly; we will give as a specimen