and it becomes an actual debt to the Queen's Majesty by the mere recording the fine. Blackstone adds, that "these matters of royal grace and favour, out of which the Aurum Regina arose, were frequently obtained from the crown, by the powerful intercession of the Queen!" The learned judge, then mentions a curious anecdote respecting the Aurum Regina in the reign of Charles I. a time (says he) fertile in expedients for raising money. "The King, on the petition of his Queen, Henrietta Maria, issued out his writ for levying it; but afterward purchased it of his Consort, at the price of ten thousand pounds. ELEGANCIES. "Our modern age is not so distinguished for improvement as is generally thought."-GOETHE. ALTHOUGH Our ancestors, in their sports and pastimes, exhibited a noisy, rough joviality, by no means inviting our imitation; yet in their embellishments they very generally displayed a delicate and expressive elegance which we have not surpassed. In their jewellery, of which they were so fond, in this their taste was often displayed acrosstically; for instance, a ring, or any other brilliant toy set with a ruby, an emerald, a garnet, an amethyst, another ruby, and a diamond, the initial letters of these gems would form the word REGARD; and was considered a tasteful, sentimental, expressive present. From the humidity of the climate, they seldom indulged in fountains, but where nature favoured, art joined its powers, and furnished waterfalls in their walks, parterres, and pleasure grounds; and where there was a spring, they would form it into some ornamental object, furnish it with an iron drinking cup, The above are some of the principal waterfalls in Great Britain. Thornton Force, Rocky Linn, Scotland, Wother-Cott, England, do do and give it a motto,* of which the following is one, LABITER ET LABIETER, The stream flows, and will flow. The wells were occasionally ornamented with flowers. Spencer, in his "Fairie Queen," thus speaks of a fountain : "And in the midst of all a fountain stood, Of richest substance that on earth might bee, Through every channel running one might see." And Drayton, a later poet, in his "Quest of Cynthia," writes: "At length I, on a fountain light, The banks with daffodilies dight, And thus wrote Dyer, a still later poet : -With light fantastic toe, the nymphs Thither assembled, thither every swain, Mix'd with green of burnet, mint, and thyme, In many instances, (as at Tissington, in Derbyshire,) there were annual festivals, and then the wells were fresh decorated. The above lines apply to such times as these. At the entrance to the delightful grounds of the Leasowes, in Warwickshire, there is the following inscription: "Would you, then, taste the tranquil scene? Be sure your bosom be serene ; Devoid of hate, devoid of strife, And much it 'vails you, in this place The oldest known letter with sealing wax is dated London, August 3d, 1554. The oldest one with a wafer is dated 1624. The colours of the sealing wax were expressive of much * Innumerable were the instances of their sculpturing mottoes, conveying sententious instructive sentences; forcibly were they impressed with the truth conveyed by St. Luke, ch. xiv. v. 34, "The light of the body is the eye." The decline of sculpturing sentences may, perhaps, be owing to a remark of Lord Chesterfield, who writes, "A man of fashion never has recourse to proverbs and vulgar aphorisms;" but many men of more acknowledged worth than he, felt no shame in using quaint and pithy maxims. In former days, our wiser forefathers had proverbs stamped on their knife blades, and the borders of their pewter plates; indeed, according to an old dramatist, they "conned them out of goldsmiths' rings." etiquette, and the wax was highly scented; besides their heraldric family seals, they had others with curious devices and expressive mottoes, thus, CLAVSA SECRETA TEGO, I keep close secrets. Another, which expressed that the letter might be opened by some one in attendance, although not addressed to them, thus, OMNIBUS AD QUOS, To all to whom, meaning, to any one whom it might concern. There is a very old seal which belongs now to the Salopean Masonic Lodge; the device is a death's head, pick-axe, and shovel; above it an hour-glass with wings, the motto is QUALIS VITA FINIS ITA, such is the end of life. Dr. Donne, Dean of St. Paul's, 1611, used a novel seal, in the shield was our Saviour crucified on an anchor: the family arms was a sheaf of snakes; he made this alteration when he entered into holy orders, and gave the following reasons for so doing : "Adopted in God's family, and so Our old coat lost, unto new arms I go, The cross (my seal of baptism) spread below, A collection of these ingenious devices might be formed, that would fill a small duodecimo. CARDS. Although cards are now mostly used for the purpose of gambling, yet in former times, they were occasionally applied to more useful purposes. Although our ancestors were arrant gamblers, some of them knew the happy tact, of how "To please by scenes unconscious of offence, I select the following account of some of them from the catalogue of the Doucean Museum, Goodrich Court, Herefordshire. "Grammatical cards, printed in 1677, for S. Mearn and A. Clark, bound together in a book." "A set of cards to teach heraldry, time of Charles I. "Ditto, time of James II., being a collection of the arms of sovereigns and nobility, arranged according to the suits, with explanations in French." "Another set of grammatical cards in Latin, time of Charles I." "A set of orthographical cards, time of Queen Anne." "A set of optical cards, by Ryland, in 1773." "A pack of comical cards, quite modern." "An imperfect set of modern geographical cards." "A set of Spanish cards to teach fortification, time of Charles II." "Three cards about the time of Queen Anne, which were part of a pack, to describe the ancient buildings in England; the northern countries being marked by clubs, the western spades, the eastern hearts, and the southern diamonds." "Sixteen cards to illustrate surveying, time of William III.” "The literary cards, by Thomas Foubert, 1758." "Orme's puzzle cards." "Asiatic circular cards, two of moons, one of barrels, one of hats, and one of caps, these are of ivory." "Asiatic square cards of ivory, twelve with Arabic inscriptions, eleven with barrels, twelve with moons, twelve with caps, twelve with hats, twelve with suns, one tiger and one sun, two pictured, two with European costume, two Asiatic," &c. CASKETS. During the 13th, 14th, and 15th centuries, there were beautiful caskets made of silver, ivory, and wood, for the ladies to hold their bijouterie; they were elegantly inlaid, and tastefully decorated with numerous quaint devices. But as money, from the discovery of this continent, became more plentiful, they became transferred from the ladies' toilettes to the gentlemen's bureaux. Francis Douce, Esq., of Goodrich court, collected some hundreds, many were made in England, and many had been originally presents from foreign powers. The following description of one, is from that judicious collector's extensive catalogue: "A lady's casket, of ivory, said to have once belonged to Agnes Sorel, the favourite mistress of Charles VII., King of France. The costume upon it fixes its date to the early part of Henry VI.'s reign. Its length is seven inches, breadth six inches, height two and a quarter, and is made to open at nearly half its apparent thickness. On the lid, which contains the principal subject, is a representation of the Morris or Moorish dance, and the characters who compose it are the lady of the May, called Marian the shepherdess, who was generally a boy in a girl's dress, which seems pointed out, by the leg being so much exposed, three Morris dancers, a fool, and a piper. Four subjects are consecutively represented on the sides of the box. The first is a pastime in which the lover beats the leaves of a tree, to be caught in the lap of his mistress, attended by male and female minstrels, the former with a pipe, the latter with a harp and Cauchoise head-dress. Next is a joust, the combatants in which, wear those large fanciful sleeves, of Lombard fashion, which became general at this period. The immense spurs, with rowels so disproportioned, are characteristic of the time, as are the jousting helmets. The long bow is introduced, in the next compartment, as used in the chase. Hunting with staff and horn, is the subject of the last compartment. The bottom of the casket has on it a chess table." In his choice cabinets modern belles might see every variety of the most beautiful articles for their toilettes and work boxes, with their fittings up of every age, and for all purposes, both ornamental and useful, combined with an arrangement the most instructive; verily, the sight is a great treat; for, if I may be a little jocose, Here, "heroes' wits are kept in pondrous cases, And beaux, in snuff-boxes and tweezer cases.' This selection was made by a gentleman who fortunately had ample means, and was in the possession of two other rare qualities, which, with the ample means, are seldom united together; which Lord Bacon calls, "a diligent and delicate curiosity." It is so extensive, and descends to such minute articles, that "He shows, on holidays, a sacred pin, That touch'd the ruff, that touch'd Queen Bess's chin." YOUNG. The keys of their caskets, and also of their grand, massive wardrobes, cabinets, and bureaux, were very elegant in the bows, curiously inlaid, and elaborately chased and carved, with initials, heraldry, mottoes, and other tasteful designs. And although the locks were poor things, compared with the patent ones of our day, of which we may say : "Loud as the bull makes hills and vallies ring, So roard'd the lock, when it releas'd the spring." Yet this historical circumstance proclaims with true heraldric pomp, the sounder morality of these reigns, arising from their more easy mode of living, and political condition. This little incident alone should make statesmen and rulers reflect that taxation can only be carried to a certain extent, without deteriorating the morals of a nation. Paine says: "People have other things to do with their money, besides paying taxes." When taxation is forced beyond a certain point, it produces misery, and criminality is the inevitable result. "The belly has no ears when hunger comes upon it," is a saying as old as the hills. The clergy may preach, the moralist may lecture, law-makers may make laws more severe, and, consequently, * Since writing the above, I have been informed he is no more, and therefore it may be perfectly proper for me to say, shortly, in his praise, that heside his antiquarian zeal, proofs innumerable of which he left behind him, he daily exhibited, "With all; the gentle morals, such as play Around life's cultur'd walks and charm the way." |