In the hiftory of human nature the difficulty of fatisfying the variable and contradictory tempers of mankind is demonftrated when the mind of man is humbled by fuperftition, he will tamely fubmit to the tyranny of every impoftor, and refift with fpirit every effort to fet him at liberty. At the beginning of the Reformation, when Henry the Eighth emancipated his fubjects from the oppreffion of the Romish church, the people murmured at the bleffing: they made the Almighty a party in their cenfures upon that glorious innovation! for they attributed every misfortune that happened in the realm to the departure of the priests.' A popular ballad of that time will explain the general turn of their mind: Chill tell thee what, good vellowe, Before the vriers went hence, A bufhell of the beft wheate And vorty egges a penny, That were both good and newe; And this che zay myself have zeene, From the oftentatious reign of Henry the Eighth, when pomp and grandeur were fo much affected, Mr. Strutt has procured us an inventory of the furniture in the house of Mr. Richardo Fermer (the ancestor of the prefent Lord Pomfret) a gentleman of great wealth and diftinction; and although at that time it was reckoned a mighty ftretch of vanity and expence, in our refined age it would difcredit the pantile habitation of a Lincolnfhire grazier. The inventory has too many articles to transcribe, but it is very curious and entertaining, and, by comparing it with earlier times, marks the fimplicity and inclination of our ancestors, when commerce began to expand their minds to an emulation in taste and elegance. That fort of pride which is feen in the fuperfluous expence of coftly furniture, advanced with hafty ftrides in Elizabeth's reign, for now fays Harrifon (in his defcription of Britain) the furniture of our houfes is growne, in maner even to paffing delicacie: and herein I do not fpeake of the nobilitie and gentrie onely, but even of the loweft forte that have any thing at all to take to. Certes in noblemens houfes it is not rare to fee abundance of arras, riche hangings of tapiftry, filvor veffell, and so much other plate, as may furnish fundrie cupbordes, to the fumme often times of a thoufand or two thousande pounde at the leaft: wherby the value of this and the reaft of their ftuffe doth grow to be ineftimable. Likewise in the houfes of knightes, gentlemen, marchauntmen, and fome other wealthie citizens, it is not gefon to beholde generallye their great provifion of tapiltrie, Turkye worke, pewter, braffe, fine linen, and therto coftly cupbordes of plate woorth five or fixe hundred pounde, to be demed by eftimation, But as herein all these fortes dos doe farre exceede their elders, and predefeffours, fo in time paft, the coftly furniture ftayed there, whereas now it is defcended yet lower, even unto the inferiour artificers and moft fermers, who have learned alfo to garnish their cupbords with plate, their beddes with tapistry and filke hanginges, and their tables with fine naperie, whereby the wealth of our countrie doth infinitely appeare. Neyther do I fpeake this in reproach of any man, God is my judge, but to fhew that I do rejoyce rather to fee how God hath bleffed us with hys good giftes, and to beholde howe that in a time wherein all thinges are grown to moft exceffive prieces, we do yet finde the meanes to obtayne and atchieve fuch furniture as heretofore hath been unpoffible." -And fays Stow, in his Chronicle, in the life of King James the First, Cufhens, and window pillowes of velvet, and damask, &c. in former times were only used in the houses of the chief princes, and peers of the land; though at this day thofe ornaments of eftate, and other princely furniture, be very plenteous in moft citizens 'houfes, and many other of like eftate." Drefs and voluptuous living kept pace with every other extravagancy, and the fatire of those times will ferve as a lash for the prodigals of the present day: Time ago Men, good hufbands, look'd into their stocks, And afterwards, Who can endure to fee The fury of mens gullets now a days, What fires, what cooks, what kitchens might be spared? And laces might they lack ?—What need hath nature Of perfumed napkins, or a numerous train Of lazy waiting men to fee her eat? Formerly the men of drefs took the fame methods to enlarge their botoms, as the modern ladies take to extend and elevate their tops; and the fame bill of complaint was exhibited to the Public in ridicule of it: For now of late in leffer thinges, To furnyshe forthe theare pryde, What hurt, what damage doth enfue, For want of wool and flaxe of late, O 2 I will I will not fpeake, for that I think But haire hath fo poffefs'd of late And after he thus concludes: I woulde that fuche as weare thys haire, With every haire a loufe to have, And then I trufle they would not weare, And the women to occupy as much of the feat as the men, invented the large hoop farthingales, as a companion to the trunk hofe or breeches. Thofe women who could not purchase the farthingales provided for themfelves the bum-rolls, which they put up under their petticoats and gowns, to make them flick out.' Fashion never confiders the graces of fymmetry and proportion; on the contrary, by fetting Judgment and Tafte at variance, endeavours to reconcile Fancy to the moft fhocking de formities; and we have at this time fome apprehenfions, that our hecclefs ladies of quality will blunder again upon the old prepoftercus fashion of hoops, and, by making the bafe too large, degrade the beautiful Grecian column into the irregular clumfy pillar of the most barbarous nations. Youth has little occafion to be impatient for fwelled hips, and broad bottoms, age will provide thofe tumefactions foon enough: or perhaps our emblematical ladies may mean to fhew the firmness of their virtue in the ftability of their figure: as a certain lady exhibited a fow and pigs, to reprefent the filthinefs of the head, and the fenfuality of the mind: another fported a windmill to fymbolize the inconftancy of the fex: and many appeared at court with clufters of fruit upon their heads, to fignify that in all feafons they ripened into folly in the atmosphere of a drawing-room. In the following notes relative to the prices of provifions, tranfcribed from a MS. in old French, there are feveral words which Mr. Strutt not understanding, we will endeavour to explain. In the reign of Edward the Third it was enacted, by proclamation, that no poulterer fhould fell one of the beft fwans for more than four fhillings, and that he fhould fell the perce (porcellus a fucking pig) for eight-pence, the beft ewe for fixpeace, the beft capon for fix-pence, the beft hen for four репсе, pence, the best pullet for two-pence halfpenny, the best poucyn, regin a young chicken) for two-pence, the belt conynge (perhaps concy) or a peel for four pence, the beft teal two pence, the best river mallard five-pence, the best mallard of the fyns three pence, the beft fnype one penny, four allowes (alouettes, larks) one penny, the belt woodcock three pence, the belt partridge five-pence, the beft plover three-pence, the best pheafant one fhilling and four-pence, thirteen of the best thrushes fix-pence, twelve eggs one penny, twelve (mall birds one penny, the best curbi ten-pence.'-For want of a more certain explanation we fee no great impropriety in our venturing to fuppofe that curbi ftands for corbeau, a raven*; for ravens delicately fed, for what we know, may be as good eating as a cuckow, which, we are told, was once a delicious morfel, even in this ifland, and only ferved up at the table of voluptuoufnefs; nay, by the above lift, we find that a fwan in Edward the Third's time, was valued at four times the price of a pheafant! a bird that now ftands in a city bill of fare, only as a faggot on a mufterroll! for fo much are our palates deceived by fashion, that the Vitelli of the prefent age, if they were to allow any preeminency in the fwan, it must be from the weight of it. Mr. Strutt, in this and the preceding volumes, has favoured the Public with an arrangement of historical anecdotes, compiled from MSS. and printed authors of the earlieft dates: alfo a number of illuminations, very faithfully copied from drawings prefixed to MSS. &c. with apt and judicious obfervations of his own that follow throughout: which, together, form a very curious, entertaining, and interefting work to every inquifitive reader, and will add to the number of fuch valuable books as give credit to a gentleman's library. Or, perhaps, from fome mistake in the copy from the old French MS. Curbi may be written for curlevs. ART. VI. A Four Months Tour through France. 12mo. 2 Vols. 5 s. Kearfly. 1776. TH HESE two little volumes contain many remarks that cannot fail to intereft and to entertain the Reader,—not from the Author's depth of thought, or vivacity of expreffion, but on account of a certain genuine turn and air of fimplicity, which fpeaks them to be, as the Writer profeffes, the fubftance of letters really fent from the Traveller, during his peregrinations, to a friend at home. Hence it is, that we, in fome meafure, excufe the frequent complaints of the impofitions of voituriers and auber giftes, laquais, &c. And, for this reafon, we forbear to comment too nicely on the mode of travelling The Author of this work is faid to be a young clergyman, of the name of Palmer. 03 adopted adopted by our Tourist: taking it for granted that he only means to relate what he has feen and experienced,-not to prefcribe his method to fucceeding voyagers. The whole work confifts of 29 letters; of which the 25th runs thus: Toulouse, July 13, 1775 • We are continually changing from water to land, and land to water. Languedoc was not to be paffed, without feeing the Canal rial, that joins the Mediterranean to the Ocean: fo we quitted our voiture at Beziers, and got into one of those boats, that put off every day for Toulouse. These boats are like the others, in which we have fpent many hours; and which I have already defcribed to you. They are drawn by two horfes, at the rate of four or five miles an hour; and are commodiously fitted up for the reception of travellers. Whether they have paffengers or not, like the diligences, one of them fets off every day both from Toulouse and Beziers; and the boatmen from each place contrive to meet about noon, and their companies generally dine together. I he first defign of this canal is by fome attributed to Anftitius Vetus a Roman, who was in Gaul, in the reign of Nero; and by others to Henry the Fourth: but whatever conjectures may be made about the first projector, certain it is, that Mr. Riquet, under the aufpices of Colbert, was the perfon, who had fpirit great enough to undertake the work, and a head to plan and complete it. To the honour of Louis the Fourteenth be it fpoken, he fupported Riquet in the profecution from his treafury; and, when the canal was finished, granted to him and his heirs male, all the profits and revenues arifing from it. The fum, that it now brings in to a descendant of his, must be immenfe: but I could not learn what, as the proprietors have been faid, induftriously to have baffled all inquiries of this kind. In the year 1681, the Cardinal Bonzy, with feveral Bishops, and a multitude of religieux, made a folemn proceflion, to pronounce a benediction on the waters of the canal: and when the first stone was laid of the first lock, Louis the Fourteenth had a medal ftruck, to be placed under it, with thefe words: LUDOVICUS XIV. FRANC & NAV: REX On the reverse: EXPECTATA DIU POPULIS A little beyond Beziers, the canal is carried under a mountain, which has been cut through for that purpose: and in other places on arches, over vallies and rivers. Where the inequality of the ground is not great, they have found locks fufficient; and fometimes you fee not fewer than eight or ten, within twenty feet of each other. If thefe were all to be paffed through, by the boats that carry only paffengers, it would take up a deal of time, and create a tedioufnefs: therefore in order to remedy this inconvenience, when we came to fuch places, we were defired to walk to an empty boat, that was provided for us beyond them: and that we left, remained for thofe, |