Pagina-afbeeldingen
PDF
ePub

POOR LITTLE JOE.

BY MRS. G. M. TWEDDELL.

Joseph D. Blackburn, jun., of Middlesbrough, died August

24th, 1872, aged 10 years.

Poor little Joe

Has gone to his rest!
It seems hard to lose him;
But God knows best :
Knows best what 's good for all;
But still-friends feel the blow,
And silently their tears fall
For poor little Joe.

Things look dark and gloomy
Without poor little Joe!
He brighten'd all the household:
Oh! why had he to go?
"T was sad to see him suffering
Before he went to rest;
And sadder still to bury him-
But God knows best!

We never more shall see him
In this our world of woe.
Brighter day has dawn'd at last
On poor little Joe.

Father, Mother, grieve not!

Your boy is now at rest: Another link binds you to heavenAnd God knows best.

A MIDDLESBROUGH MAN'S FIRST PILGRIMAGE TO STRATFORD-ON-AVON AND ITS VICINAGE.

[The following account of a visit to the land of Shakspere was written for, and appeared in, the pages of The Freemasons' Magazine and Masonic Mirror, which will account for those Masonic allusions which I have no inclination to omit.]

(Continued from page 90.)

A shilling in the hands of the sexton, and he was soon accompanying me, with willing steps, along the pleached avenue of lime-trees which leads up to the fine old parish church of Stratford. This noble avenue reaches from the gateway into the churchyard, up to the north porch or doorway of the nave of the church. Peace to the ashes of him or her who planted these trees; and may the name of the vicar* be held in remembrance, who, in 1798, had the good taste to cause the boughs to be so intertwined as to form a pleasant bower. I question whether any other church in Eng

land can boast of such an avenue as this.

The church, which is dedicated to the Holy Trinity,

is situated on the right bank of the Avon, to the south

of the town. In the churchyard repose the ashes of

some of the inhabitants of Stratford and its neighbourhood who had attained to unusual longevity.

The Rev. James Davenport, D.D.

[ocr errors]

There, fast rooted in their bank,
Stand, never overlook'd, our favourite elms.
COWPER.

So that Shakspere had not far to go in order to see "the female ivy" entwining "the barky fingers of the elm," which supplied him with that fine comparison in which Titania indulges in the fourth act of A Midsummer Night's Dream: for elms and willows about Stratford are as plentiful as blackberries. It is a pleasant spot, this God's-acre of Stratford, and very near to that New Place where Shakspere spent the evening of his life, and where he at last "shuffled off this mortal coil."Who would not much sooner choose to be interred in such a place as this, than in those odious black burial grounds in large towns ?-where, as my friend PROCTER graphically observes, "treeless, flowerless, grassless, and completely walled in, the dead seem imprisoned, rather than buried."*

The church is a venerable looking and spacious edifice, -a fit one to contain the ashes of Shakspere. It is a cruciform building, as every Christian church ought to be; with a low square tower, surmounted by an octangular spire. The fabric appears to have been erected by our ancient brethren at various periods. The tower is twenty-eight feet in length, by the same in breadth, and eighty feet in height; is built in the early Norman Gothic style, upon four pointed arches, supported by massy clustered pillars. The entire height of the tower and spire is one hundred and sixty-three feet; and, were it not for the low situation of the church, it would show to a great distance. WASHINGTON IRVING, in his delightful Sketch Book, has observed :-"How would it have cheered the spirit of the youthful bard, when, wandering forth in disgrace upon a doubtful world, he cast back a heavy look upon his paternal home, could he have foreseen that, before many years, he should return to it covered with renown; that his name should his ashes should be religiously guarded as its most become the boast and glory of his native place; that precious treasure; and that its lessening spire, on which his eyes were fixed in tearful contemplation, should one landscape, to guide the literary pilgrim of every nation day become the beacon, towering amidst the gentle Washington Irving gazed were not identical, though to his tomb!" But the spires on which Shakspere and they both rose from that same old tower. "There was, originally," says WHELER, "on this tower, a timber steeple, covered with lead, and measuring in height about forty-two feet; which, besides wanting frequent repairs, seemed of too mean and diminutive a size for

so noble an edifice; the parishioners, therefore, in the year 1763, obtained a faculty from the Bishop of Worcester to take down their decayed spire, and erect a new * Literary Reminiscences and Gleanings, by RICHARD WRIGHT PROCTER, author of The Barber's Shop.

+ History and Antiquities of Stratford-upon-Avon.

one of Warwick hewn stone," which was done the year following-when the first centenary of the birth of Shakspere ought to have been celebrated.

No portion of the present church seems to go back to the Norman Conquest, though it is supposed to occupy the site of St. Egwin's monastery; but a charnel-house, taken down in the year 1800, is supposed to have been a Saxon building. One cannot help regretting the destruction of this receptacle for the last remains of mortality, for doubtless to it we owe some of the fine meditations of our great dramatist, in whose plays the charnel-house is far from being overlooked; take, for instance, his tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, of which SCHLEGEL has said :-"The sweetest and the bitterest love and hatred, festivity and dark forebodings, tender embraces and sepulchres, the fulness of life and self-annihilation, are all here brought close to each other; and all these contrasts are so blended, in the harmonious and wonderful work, into a unity of impression, that the echo which the whole leaves behind in the mind resembles a single but endless sigh.' But old Kempe has opened a sort of side-door, and we soon stand in the magnificent church, which is doubly sacred in my eyes as the mausoleum of Shakspere. It is indeed a noble building; the nave being one hundred and three feet long, twenty-eight broad, and fifty in height; the side aisles, the same length as the nave, twenty feet broad, and twenty-five feet high; the transept, ninety-four feet long. twenty broad, and thirty in height; the chancel-in which the bard and his family lay buried-is sixty-six feet in length, twenty-eight in breadth, and forty in height; and the entire length of the church from east to west is a hundred and ninety-seven feet.

[ocr errors]

The nave is well described by WHELER as and handsome structure, raised on six hexagonal a regular pillars, terminating in pointed arches; above which the sides are divided into twelve compartments, forming as many well furnished Gothic windows in trisections. The principal, and by far the grandest, entrance into the nave, is at the west end, under a Gothic receding arch or doorway over which are three niches conjoined, evidently designed to contain three statues, and probably of tutelary saints; the spiral canopies, which are much carved and ornamented, shoot into the large and noble west window, which is nearly the width of the nave, and is justly admired, as well for the masterly design as the beautiful workmanship. Under this window is placed the font, which is a large vase of blue marble, put up in the beginning of the last century." Of the old font I shall have occasion to say something by-and-bye. The roof of the nave is surmounted by battlements, which need something to break their monotony, Mr. WHELER informs us that they are "greatly inferior in elegance and grandeur to those taken down in 1764, which were much

ornamented, and were further enriched by six fine
pinnacles on each side." The eighteenth century was
a barbarous one for church architecture, and our
lodges, which ought to be schools wherein all the
liberal arts and sciences are cultivated, as well as the
moral virtues, proved recreant to their trust.
is a revival of architecture in our day; literature,
There
science, and art seem to be finding their way into every
cottage; God forbid that they should ever again be
locked up in lodge or cloister; but without seeking to
make either a mere mutual improvement society or an
antiquarian and archæological institution of the Craft,
I for one will never rest content with our present high
pretensions and poor practice. We have, as we ever
have had, an immense amount of talent and learning in
our ranks; let us turn it to good account; let us have
Masonic Halls, of chaste design, in every town of con-
sequence throughout the habitable globe; let them be
reserved exclusively for the Craft, and never let for
hire; let us have lectures on all the liberal arts and
as can be handled without sectarianism, whenever the
sciences delivered therein, and on such literary subjects
halls are not needed for our solemn rites; and instead
of Masonry being a stumbling-block to thousands of
good men, who judge it by the heartless and brainless
fellows whom they sometimes see strutting in Masonic
clothing, to the immense injury of the Royal Craft, we
shall number in our ranks the best portion of the
wealth, the intelligence, and the virtue of the age.
Unless we do this, let the degree of a Fellow Craft be
remodelled, and the valued privilege of laying the foun-
dation-stones of public buildings foregone, and all the
ancient landmarks and traditions of the Order cast to
"the fat weed

That rots itself in ease on Lethe wharf."
Hamlet, Act i., sc. v.

(To be Continued.)

PHILO.-There were not fewer than forty eminent men amongst the ancients who bore the name of PHILO (including three other physicians besides the inventor of the famous medicine to the Rabbinical learning of his race, added a knowledge of mentioned by GALEN). PHILO JUDÆUS, a native of Alexandria, the philosophy of Greece, especially that of Plato. MANGEY terms him, to the Christian writers." "the chief of the Jewish, and not much inferior but of British linguists, the late Rev. John Oxlee,-a native But I know him mostly by a few quotations in the works of the greatest not only of Cleveland of Gisbrough, whose intimate knowledge of the Targumists, Talmudists, Cabbalists, and all sorts of rarely-read writers, is Jews of Alexandria-then, perhaps, the most civilised city in the world-to plead their cause against Apion,-when they almost bewildering. PHILO JUDEUS was chosen by his fellow were charged with want of respect to the royal monster, Caligula! He is known to have been again in Rome during the reign of Claudius. priest," mentioned in the sixth verse of the fourth chapter of His brother, (Alexander Lysimachus,) is supposed to be the Alexander "of the kindred of the high The Acts of the Apostles, before whom Peter, "filled with the Holy Ghost," pleaded at Jerusalem.-Peter PROLETARIUS.

REVIEWS.

Illustrations of Yorkshire in the Last Century.Under this title, Mr. Henry Ecroyd Smith, who is already favourably known by his antiquarian labours in connection with the Roman remains at Aldborough, has published a series of superior photographs from the valuable bird's eye views of some of our chief county mansions, executed by Knyff and Kip, about 1690-1700, and of miscellaneous views of interest in Yorkshire, engraved from 1700 to 1800, as advertised in another column of our Miscellany. Being fortunate enough to possess several of the original engravings, we can speak with full confidence of the photographs, which are admirably executed, and, being reduced in size, form better pictures even than the engravings from which they are taken. But the original engravings having become very scarce, Mr. Smith has done good service to the topography of his native county by reproducing them in their present form, and we sincerely trust that he will meet with that liberal patronage which his efforts undoubtedly deserve. We will have great pleasure in showing the photographs to any of our readers who will call upon us, as we feel sure that they have only to be seen by persons of good taste to be at once properly appreciated.

King Solomon's Temple, a Masonic Poem. By BRO. AUGUSTINE J. H. DUGANNE.

This is a true poem, which must delight the heart of every genuine Freemason, and which will give to the uninitiated reader the best idea of Speculative Masonry of any publication we know of. It is worth waggon loads of the rubbish which has been imposed upon the Craft for Masonic poetry, scribbled by doggerel versifiers who ought never to have been admitted into any Lodge of Freemasons, and who can only be described in the pithy line of CowPER, as

"Fools that cannot teach, and will not learn." Every real Freemason should possess a copy of this beautiful poem, and not only read it himself, but lend it freely to such of his intelligent neighbours as really wish to know what useful object Freemasonry can have to serve in the present day.

HOME AND FRIENDS.

By CHARLES SWAIN.

Он, there's a power to make each hour
As sweet as Heaven design'd it;
Nor need we roam to bring it home,
Though few there be that find it!
We seek too high for things close by,
And lose what Nature found us;
For life hath here no charm so dear
As Home and Friends around us!
We oft destroy the present joy

For future hopes-and praise them;
Whilst flowers as sweet bloom at our feet,
If we'd but stoop to raise them!
For things afar still sweetest are

When youth's bright spell hath bound us; But soon we're taught that earth had nought Like Home and Friends around us!

The friends that speed in time of need,
When Hope's last reed is shaken,
That show us still, that, come what will,
We are not quite forsaken :-
Though all were night: if but the light

Of Friendship's altar crown 'd us,

"T would prove the bliss of earth was thisOur Home and Friends around us!

[graphic]
[merged small][ocr errors][merged small]

KANGAROO SOUP.-Ever since European Colonies were founded in Australia, the excellence of the flesh of the Kangaroo has been univerally recognised by the Colonists. The tail, which is very muscular or fleshy, is regarded as an especial luxury, and kangaroo-tail soup is probably one of the It comes to this country in a perfectly fresh state, in tins, best kinds of soup ever placed upon the table in any country. like Australian beef and mutton, and is sold under the name of Kangaroo Venison.-Food Journal.

[blocks in formation]

CURE FOR TIC DOLOREUX, OR

PAIN IN THE TEETH, FACE, AND HEAD,

NEURALGIA, SCIATICA, AND PAIN

IN THE LIMBS.

Bthese painful affections.

ARLOW'S CELEBRATED POWDERS quickly remove They contain nothing injurious, but are, in every respect, conducive to health. They are in'vigorating, and go alone to the cause of the complaint. Testimonials from many well-known philanthropists, medical men, Clergy, Wesleyan, Baptist, and other ministers, who have given extensive distribution to this sterling remedy, shall be sent FREE on application; and, in submitting these to notice, I distinctly state that every attestation is genuine; the whole of them furnish evidence which will bear the strictest investigation.

The Powders are sent post paid to all parts of the Kingdom, on receipt of letter stamps by the sole Proprietor, SAMUEL BARLOW, Chemist, Darlington; and sold by most Chemists, in Packets at 2s. 9d. and in Half-packets at Ïs. 6d. each.

See that S. BARLOW's name is on the Packet, and do not be persuaded to take any other.

"I consider them to be worth double the money they are sold for."-Thomas Bowes, Easthorpe Hall, Malton.

[ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]

BY

H. G. REID,

[ocr errors]

Skinner," Etc.

CONTENTS:-The Church and the People-Margaret Linwood (the Romance of the Manse)-Discord and Superstition-James Bruce (Freebooting)-Dwellings for the People: Co-operation-John Wilson (a House or a Home)-The Rural Labourer-Robert Gray (from the Plough to the Pulpit)-The Fisher Folk-Old Oscar (the Faithful Dog).

GENERAL GRANT.-Mr. JAMES M. WYNN, (whose father, the late Mr. John Wynn, was a Cleveland man, who emigrated from Great Broughton, and had the honour to materially assist in the election of "honest Abe Lincoln" as President,) Author of "Lowland Legends," Life of the Rev. John writes from Scipio, Jenning's County, Indiana, in the true spirit of a devoted son of the great republic:-"We Republicans rejoice with you in the knowledge of the fact that the difficulty between America and England is settled without an appeal to arms; and we thank God and our beloved President, General Grant, for it. The Democrats call him a tyrant and a military despot: but the peaceful settlement of the Alabama claims, and his peace Indian policy,—and many other peace measures that have been instituted by him-stamp him as the very opposite of the character they try to fix on him. No President since the days of Washington has ever managed the affairs of the nation more successfully than has General Grant; and the overwhelming majority he received over Mr. Greeley, in the late presidental contest, bears me out in the assertion.-I expect to spend the remainder of the winter at Indianopolis, (our State Capital,) as Representative of my County in the Indiana Legislature."

AMERICAN PEACH-PRESERVING.-Six fruit-canning establishments, in Delaware, last year, used above 75,000 baskets of Peaches, and turned out over 600,000 cans of fruit.

ILLUSTRATIONS:-Co-operative Dwellings (Frontispiece)-The Village Church-The Shepherd-Old Oscar.

Edinburgh: EDMONSTON & DOUGLAS; London: HAMILTON, ADAMS, & Co.; GAZETTE OFFICE, Middlesbrough; HERALD OFFICE, Stockton; and of the Local Booksellers.

TWEDDELL AND SONS, Cleveland Printing and Publishing Offices, Stokesley; to whom all communications must be addressed.

THEC

MIDDLESBROUGH MISCELLANY

No. 10.

OF LITERATURE AND ADVERTISEMENTS.

To be completed in Eighteen Numbers.

A MIDDLESBROUGH MAN'S FIRST ILGRIMAGE TO STRATFORD-ON-AVON AND ITS VICINAGE.

[The following account of a visit to the land of Shakspere was written for, and appeared in, the pages of The Freemasons' Magazine and Masonic Mirror, which will account for those Masonic allusions which I have no inclination to omit.]

(Continued from page 102.)

upon

Why should we not have a library, and museum, and scientific apparatus, belonging to every Lodge? The money which some lodges spend in refreshment alone would furnish these; but they, alas! cannot afford so much as a tracing-board! When I look those fine old structures which our ancient brethren erected before the divorce of operative and speculative Masonry-take this church of the Holy Trinity of Stratford as an example-and think of the bauble which some of" my incompetent brothers," as THOMAS CARLYLE would very properly call them, make of our venerable and ever-to-be-venerated Craft, "I could brain them with my lady's fan."

Price 1d.

prove my historical ignorance and total unfitness to write on a subject like Shakspere. The trouncing which Wordsworth and Keats received for their poetry at the hands of the reviewers, or that Bro. Collier is receiving now, would be mildness itself compared to the cutting-up I should catch at the hands of the Mac Grawlers and Augustus Tomlinsons of the press. But the Clopton information would be curious and important in its way; for when this William died, our William had become a husband and a father, a player, a shareholder in the Blackfriars Theatre, and a dramatist who had received the published praise of Edmund Spenser,t and the envy of poor Robert Greene and others. And when the lady, whose ashes now repose with those of her husband beneath this gorgeous tomb, departed to

"The undiscover'd country, from whose bourne No traveller returns,"

our bard had published his poems of Venus and Adonis and The Rape of Lucrece, both dedicated to his noble patron, The Right Honourable Henry Wriothesley, third Earl of Southampton, who (like his unfortunate friend, the Earl of Essex) was then a popular and powerful peer; SPENSER was writing his Colin Clout's Come Home Again, with its genial allusion to Shakspere, under the feigned name of Aetion,—

At the east end of the north aisle is the chapel of the Holy Virgin, which is filled with monuments of the ancient family of Clopton, men of mark in their day, one of whom (Sir Hugh) was elected Lord Mayor of London in the year 1491, and erected the noble bridge of fourteen arches over the Avon, at the northern extremity of the town. The monuments are, many of them, costly ones; that against the north wall, with the two recumbent figures in white marble, Ben. Jonson, then twenty years of age, having aban

rather interested me. As the William Clopton, Esq., who died April 18th, 1592, and who is here represented in marble beside his wife, Anne, who survived him until September 17th, 1596-as both these persons must have known the youthful Shakspere and his Anne Hathaway, with many of their kith and kin, I would have given old Kempe something handsome if he could have roused them up for an hour from their dreamless sleep, so that I might have asked a few. simple questions concerning the great poet of humanity. And then, if I had ascertained all that I could have wished, what savage criticisms and learned dry-as-dust" treatises would have been written to

"And there, though last not least, is Aetion,
A gentler shepherd may nowhere be found,
Whose muse, full of high thoughts' invention,
Doth, like himself, heroically sound." +

[blocks in formation]
« VorigeDoorgaan »