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1831.]

Foreign Literary Fragments.

choice of such as shall receive that help; and if the lord of the manor will not permit the copy plece therein to be applied to that good use, then I give that copy piece, after Ambrose and his now wife's death, to Thomas my youngest son, and his heirs; the intent of me is that the headboroughs of Laneham have the estate of the land to the only use beforesaid."

Ambrose having died in or about Nov. 1644, and Judith his wife on the 3d of Nov. 1675, the charity was, soon after the demise of the latter, applied in accordance with the will of

the testator.

The following account of the first appointment of persons to partake of the charity, is extracted from the "Account Book :"

"Of all the five sonnes which the donor, by his will, did appoint to joyne with the parson and head boroughs of the towne, in the choice of the foure poore persons, there was none that was alive at the death of Mrs. Judith Copinger, save only Mr. Henry; who, being requested to joyne in the said choice, did refuse, and made his owne request to the other electors that HE HIMSELF might be chosen for one of the foure to partake of the benefit. To whom, being very aged and low in estate, his said request was readiely granted."

FOREIGN LITERARY FRAGMENTS.
MR. URBAN,

Jan. 2.

ONE of the earliest specimens of a Diatessaron, is the third part of Le Romant des trois Palerinaiges, 4to. b. 1. 15.—The first part contains the Life of Man in this world; the second, treats of the soul separate from the body; and the third is a life of Jesus Christ, compiled from the four Gospels. The author was Guillaume de Guileville, monk of Chaaliz (Chalus ?).

The first mention of the Small-pox is in an essay on that disorder, by Aaron of Alexandria, a priest and physician of the seventh century. He derives its origin from Egypt, where the Arabs caught it, and introduced it by their conquests into Europe.

Thomas d'Andrada, a Portuguese monk of the Augustine order, followed Don Sebastian into Africa, and was taken prisoner at the battle of Alcazer Kebir. The court sent over a sufficient sum of money to purchase his freedom, but he nobly preferred remaining in slavery, that he might console his fellow-captives. He composed a little treatise, on the Sufferings of Christ, during his detention, which has been often re-printed.

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A remarkable story is told of a French dog, in the Variétés sérieuses et amusantes. The bridge St. Michel at Paris fell down in 1616; a child, who was buried among the ruins, owed the preservation of his life to two beams falling, and formed a sort of shed over which struck against each other in him. his side, and escaped in the same A dog happened to be close to manner. Finding himself a prisoner, he barked with all his might, and drew several persons to the spot, who extricated him; but missing the child, who had not been observed, he returned to the ruins, resumed his former place, and began to bark again, till he attracted attention once more, and was taken out, as well as the child.

the laws as shoemakers do leather; Louis XII. said that lawyers treat they stretch, bend, and batter them, till they bring them to what shape they please.

Hobbes observes, that ignorance of true principles is less dangerous than pertinacity in false ones.

Manilius has a line well worth the attention of Reviewers :-" Pro captu lectoris habent sua fata libelli."

To think and reason justly in a confined sphere, says a French writer, is by no means easy. This should be suggested to those who are fond of solitude.

The well-known lines, "Sunt aries, taurus, &c." were made by Anianus, an astronomer of the 15th century, author of a Latin poem on astronomy.

Angran d'Alleray, a magistrate of Paris, was brought before the revolutionary tribunal, in 1794, at the age of 69, on the charge of having forwarded money to the royalists. He acknowledged that he had done so to M. de la Luzerne, his son-in-law. 'Were you ignorant that the law forbade it?" said one of the judges. "No," he replied; "but the law of nature spoke louder to my heart than the law of the republic."

"

The practice of computing by the æra of Jesus Christ, was first invented by Dionysius, surnamed the Less, a Roman monk, in the year 532.

Vosgieu (l'advocat) says, in his Dictionnaire Géographique, that one part of the city of Orense, in Spain, which is situated at the foot of a hill, suffers

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Remarks on French Writers.-Syrian Christians.

the severest cold, while another quarter enjoys the mildness of spring.

Who is the author of the pentameter, which alludes to the frequent vicissitudes of the Margraviate of Brandenburgh?

Mutavit dominos Marchia sæpe suos. Kirloff, a living Russian poet, is the author of several dramatic pieces, but his fame is chiefly owing to his talents as a fabulist. The Countess Orloff, an admirer of his writings, formed the idea of extending their reputation throughout Europe, by translations; but her design was interrupted by death, in 1824. However, her husband completed it, and published two volumes with French and Italian versions. The principal French poets, of both sexes, were concerned in the work, particularly Ségur, Daru, Jouy, the Delavignes, Rouget de l'Isle (author of the Marsellais Hymn), Stassart, Madame Delphine Gay, &c. The typographical part was executed by Firmin Didot. On account of the many composers, this work has been compared to the famous Garland of Julia. CYDWELI.

CRITICAL REMARKS ON FRENCH

WRITERS.

Character of Crevier.-His arrangement of facts (in the History of the Roman Empire) does not want order: it contains just remarks, useful reflections, and good feeling in the course of the narrative; but the style is heavy, diffuse, generally careless, faulty, and without elevation.-Sabatier de Castres.

Maupertius.-Good philosopher, and able literatist. In his works, elegance does not detract from depth, or precision from perspicuity. Method renders every thing intelligible, as well as easy to retain. By turns, geometrician, astronomer, naturalist, geographer, moralist, he is always an instructive and amusing writer, because lessons are pleasing when they do not come as lessons, and when one has the art of informing, without the repulsive tone of dictation.-Ibid.

Saint Real.-Pupil of Varillas, whose style, taste, and love of the marvellous, he has adopted. However, he excels his master in purity of style, and exactness of language, and has more ability, though he has written less. If he had rejected untrue anecdotes, and chosen better authenticated facts, his pieces of history might have passed for models; but his conspiracy of Ve

(Jan.

nice, that of the Gracchi, and the history of Don Carlos, are now regarded, and with reason, as ingenious romances, which contain nothing true but the names of the parties, and some facts which are too much adapted to his brilliant imagination. In spite of these defects, we cannot refuse him the praise of genius, and of having shed over his style a seductive illusion, which makes us regret that we cannot add conviction to the interest which he produces in the mind of his readers. -Ibid. CYDWELI.

MR. URBAN,

Jan. 3.

THE Syrian Christians of St. Thomas, in the South of India, appear, from the narrative of Dr. Buchanan, to be a very interesting people, though, indeed, the late Bishop Heber, a less sanguine judge, was inclined to think his representations overcharged. One of the most obscure points in their history is the origin of their name; some referring it to St. Thomas the Apostle, and others, I believe, to a Nestorian missionary of the sixth century.

There is, however, a legend on this subject, which ought to be examined, even if rejected at last. I mean the Apostolical History of Abdias, discovered by Wolfgang Lazius in a monastery of Germany, and published in 1551. It is supposed to have been written about the sixth century, and to have been framed from older materials, perhaps from the apocryphal Acts of the Apostles. I have not seen it myself, but extract this information from a French miscellany.

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The

The chapters are entitled as follow: 1. Peter; 2. Paul; 3. Andrew (nothing is said of his coming into Scotland); 4. James the Great; 5. John; 6. James the Less, Simon, and Jude; 7. Matthew; 8. Bartholomew; Thomas; 10. Philip. The labours of Bartholomew, as well as of Thomas, are placed in India, but in what part is not mentioned in the extract. legend of Thomas is as follows: An Indian merchant passing through Syria, stopped at Jerusalem. The Deity appeared to him in open day, in a human form, and demanded what brought him so far from his country. He replied, that he came from his master, King Gundafer, and was seeking a skilful architect to build him a palace. He was led to the house of St. Thomas, who was pointed out to him as a fit person, and they departed together for India. They arrived after

1831.]

Syrian Christians of St. Thomas in India.

a journey of three months, which in ordinary cases took as many years. The merchant presented the apostle to the king, who pointed out the site of his future palace, outside the town, and departed to another city till it should be finished. Coming one day to see it, he found no building whatever begun; and in his fury he bade the apostle shew it, or prepare for instant death. It is finished, said the apostle, but you cannot see it now; you will see it, and inhabit hereafter. The king in a rage ordered him to be cast into prison.

At this time the king's brother fell ill; some days after, he told the king that two men had led him to the palace which the apostle had built, and he was so charmed with it, that he requested it for himself. This struck the king (the legend says converted him); he went in person to the prison, asked the apostle's pardon, and declared his belief in the Deity he preached. Seven days after, St. Thomas baptised the king, his brother, and all his people. After this, he traversed the whole of India, preaching the gospel, healing the sick, raising the dead, and casting out devils. In the territory of King Mesdeus, he exhorted his female converts to quit their earthly spouses, being now united to a hea venly one. This, and the strict continence he enjoined, raised him inveterate enemies; they complained to the king, who sent some of his soldiers to dispatch him, which they did with their spears.

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deeply impressed during sickness. The rapid acknowledgment of the gospel by king and people is no more extraordinary than the conversion of our Ethelbert of Kent. I can imagine, also, that St. Thomas exhorted Christian married women to separate from idolatrous husbands, when there was no hope of converting them. And this, by exasperating the men, might have been the cause of his cruel death. There is an account of the Syrian Church, by Professor Lee, appended

I have omitted in this abstract some of the legendary tales, which only disfigure the story. There appears, however, to be a vein of truth running through it. Tradition leads us to believe that St. Thomas preached in India. That he should have gone thither with a merchant whom he met at Jerusalem, is quite probable; he may have preached the gospel to King Gundafer by the metaphor of a palace, as that monarch's thoughts were then employed on building one. Such is the language of Rev. xxi. and of many passages in the prophets; though of course I do not mean to imply that St. Thomas quoted his contemporary John. The king, far from understanding the apostle, may have been irritated, and have imprisoned him; while his brother's mind may have been more GENT. MAG. January, 1831.

to

the Seventeenth Report of the Church Missionary Society. It appears that John, Bishop of India, signed the acts of the Council of Nice, in 325. (Query, was he a titular Bishop, residing nearer home?) But Cosmas Indicopleustes, who flourished in the sixth century, mentions expressly a church of the faithful in Ceylon, and at Malabar. From this time downward, their history is clear. Particulars concerning them are to be found in all Histories and Dictionaries of Religions, in the Asiatic Researches, and in various recent works.

The wishes of many pious persons, to promote an union between this church and the English in India, have not yet been blest with any permanent effect.

The name of Menezes, Archbishop of Goa, is well known as the persecutor of these primitive protestants. The Dictionnaire Historique, 1827, gives a short notice of him. Alexis de M. was born at Lisbon, in 1559; entered into the Augustine order; was nominated Archbishop of Goa, on the union of the two Crowns of Spain and Portugal, and Viceroy of the Indies, in 1607. In 1608, he was appointed Archbishop of Braga, and returned home; in 1614, he was constituted Viceroy of Portugal, and in 1616, he fixed his residence at Madrid, as President of the Council for Portuguese Affairs. He died at Madrid, in 1617. A journal of his voyage to the Indies (Visitation, I presume), was published by Antonio de Gouveau, at Coimbra, in 1606. The Virorum illustrium ex ordine eremitarum div. Augustini elogia, contains a tribute to his memory, far different from the horror in which his memory is held at Malabar.

Yours, &c.

M.

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MR. URBAN,

*

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Trial by Combat temp. Richard II. Grimsby, Nov. 8. I SEND you a drawing, taken from an illuminated Manuscript, which was made about the latter end of Richard the Second's reign, and is now preserved in the Cotton Collection of the British Museum, Nero, D. 17. It has been delineated as the representation of a combat which was fought between a gentleman of Grimsby, and a foreigner of some distinction; of which the following are the particulars.

In the reign of Richard II. (1384), the King of Navarre was in alliance with England, and a friendly intercommunity was preserved between the inhabitants of both nations. The town of Great Grimsby, ever distinguished by sentiments of loyalty towards the Sovereign, amidst every fluctuation of its fortunes, was, at this period, agitated with consternation and terror by a formal charge of High Treason, which had been preferred against one of its principal inhabitants. John

Walsh, descended from the noble family of St. Walerie, a man of honourable principles and unblemished reputation, was the individual thus charged with infamy by Martileto de Vilenos, a gentleman of Navarre. This disgraceful imputation was urged with all the inveteracy that attends a disjointed friendship; for Vilenos conceived himself dishonoured, and hoped to dismiss his suspicions, and satiate his vengeance, by subjecting his oppohent to an ignominious death. Walsh had been appointed to the office of Captain or Vice-Governor of Cherburg, where the Navarrois resided; and they lived for some time in perfect harmony and friendship; but at length his brain was fired with jealousy, and he suspected the English officer of an improper familiarity with his wife. Destitute of proof, however, he was incapable of charging Walsh with the fact, and adopted other means less honourable to remove his former friend.

[Jan.

Goaded by the foul and groundless accusation, Walsh laid himself at the foot of the throne, and demanded the privilege of Trial by Combat. His suit was granted, the day named, and on a Wednesday at St. Andrew's tide," accompanied by his sponsor, he entered the lists completely armed, in the presence of the King and all his Court, at Westminster, and calling for his accuser, declared himself innocent of the crime alleged against him, and ready to prove its falsehood at the peril of his life. The challenge was accepted by his fierce accuser, who immediately appeared, caparisoned in a rich suit of armour, to answer the summons, and declared himself prepared to substantiate the charge in the utmost extremity of battle. The armour of both these champions is described, in reference to the illumination before-mentioned, as being "of silver, and the plates at their elbows and their girdles gilt. The first figure to the right is the same. The King is in light pink, with a blue robe lined with ermine. The figure next to the King is in silver armour, the body of which is purple. The back ground is red, flowered, the ground of the lists is green, and the rails are red. The figure of the King much resembles his portrait."+ Before the commencement of the battle, the usual oaths were administered to the combatants, that their cause was just, and that they did not bear about them any secret spell or charm which might interfere with the righteous decision of heaven, and interrupt the course of equal fight.‡

And now the trumpets sounded to the charge, and the battle began with great fury on both sides; but the Grimsby champion, having truth and justice on his side, pressed his antagonist so closely, that he soon gave way; and as he lay at length fainting under the conqueror's sword, he confessed that the charge was groundless, and emanated solely from feelings of jealousy. The King, indignant at his

*This illumination has been engraved in Strutt's "Regal and Ecclesiastical Antiquities," pl. lviii.; and also in Dr. Meyrick's "Critical Inquiry into Antient Armour," p. 56; and described by Dr. Meyrick, in p. 81.

+ Strutt's Regal and Eccles. Antiq. p. 115.

The Words of this Oath were as follows :-" This heare, you Justices, that I have this day neither eate, drunke, nor have upon me either bone, stone, nor glasse, or any enchantment, sorcerie, or witchcraft, where through the power of the Word of God might be inleased, or diminished, and the devil's power increased: and that my appeale is true, so helpe me God, and his saintes, and by this booke."-Antiq. Repert, vol. i. p. 118.

1831.]

Organic Remains at Blackdown Hills, Devon.

baseness, commanded that the vanquished Frenchman should be despoiled of his armour, and conveyed in disgrace to Tyburn, where he terminated his career by a death of infamy. The victor returned to Grimsby full of honour, amidst the universal acclamations of his townsmen, and having secured the esteem of King Richard, equally by his valour and loyalty, he was appointed High Sheriff of Lincolnshire; and the execution of various confidential trusts was committed to him in 1396. GEO. OLIVER.

MR. URBAN, Upper Southernhay, Exeter, Jan. 11. HAVING frequently received several interesting specimens of organic remains from the caves of Blackdown Hills, (Devon), I had long contemplated to visit them, more especially having also another object in view, of examining the curious variegated flints and siliceous substances, with which I knew the surface of those eminences was overspread; and lately, in a mineralogical excursion in that neighbourhood, I accomplished my design, and beg leave to submit to your notice a few cursory sketches and observations on the subject connected with my ramble.

The north-east side of Blackdown is situate within twenty miles of this city, and is plainly observed at no great distance on the road from Cullumpton to Wellington. I was informed that the estate where the greater number of these caves are situated, consist of three hundred acres of land, the property of a gentleman of Honiton, but that the strata containing the caves were let separately, for the purpose of excavating a sandstone of a peculiar quality for sharpening iron; these whetstones are manufactured on the spot, and considered the best of the kind in England; and a small trade is carried on of them at Cullumpton, and sent to different parts of the kingdom. On my arrival at a short distance from Blackdown, I ascended to the summit of the hill, the prospect from which is very extensive, grand, and imposing; towards the S.W. about sixteen miles distant, part of the English channel is seen; though this delightful picturesque scenery was so animating, I was still more gratified on looking beneath my feet, to behold the chequered, mossy coating

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of the earth, strewed over with countless coloured flints of various hues, many of them magnificent, and of the brightest colours; I selected some of the choicest to deposit in my cabinet collection, as a precious addition, far surpassing any I possessed before; among them were some singularly fine, viz. one that the greater part had passed into a light transparent crystallization, bordered with a rich ruby-red; another that had turned into an orangered carnelian, but more diaphanous; one into a deep crimson jasper, and another of a light amber complexion, speckled with flowery golden spots, &c. These flints, which are so diffusely scattered over the Blackdown and Halsdown Hills, seemed to perplex Deluc how they could come there. I consider that they were an immense shower of large and small pebbles which were thrown from the coast at the deluge, and in process of time obtained their present siliceous quality; for the loose fossil shells found here near the surface are often of the same substance; as I have met with large fossil bivalve shells become black flints; also clumps of fossil univalves and bivalves from the same hills, that have passed into red jasper of a very fine

texture.

Proceeding on my route easterly, 1 stretched at too great a distance beyond the caves; I then turned to the left to a steep declivity, and with difficulty descended, it being almost perpendicular, and about half way down the hill alighted on a compact sandbank terrace, which extended the whole length and range of the entrances to the different caves, which were of a western aspect, and nearly similar to each other at the openings, from five to six feet in height, and four broad, but wider and higher internally, extending horizontally more or less from 200 to 300 feet, and some ancient ones, which are now closed, were 400 feet and upwards; but the length of time it required in conveying the sand-stones to the mouth of the cave, rendered it more convenient to cut new apertures, as it would be liable to imminent danger to widen the caves too near each other; for should the mass give way, the workmen must inevitably be crushed to death. The fine ruby complexion of the youths employed in excavating the earth excited my surprise, as it ex

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