public records, fupply us with evidence in fupport of the former part of the fuggeftion; and the probability of the latter is ftrengthened by paffages in feveral of the old hiftorical descriptions of pomps and folemnities, fome of which defcriptions, for the better elucidation of their fubject, refer to paintings and fculptures wherein such folemnities were represented. "Part of the ceremony of the coronation of Knute and his queen Elfgiva is painted at the beginning of a very curious coeval manufcript formerly belonging to Hyde abbey, of which Knute was the founder. The conqueft of England by William the Norman, together with the circumftances that contributed thereunto, from the firft embaffy on which Harold went into Normandy until the conclufion of the battle of Haftings, was, by command of Queen Matilda, represented in painting; and afterwards, by her own hands and the fiftance of the ladies of her court, worked in arras, and prefented to the cathedral at Bajeux, where it is ftill preferved t. Simeon, IXth abbot of Ely, who was a near relation to the Conqueror, and founder of that cathedral, caufed the hiftory of Saint Etheldreda daughter of Anna King of the Eaft Angles, to be carved in baffo-relievo on the capitals of the eight pillars that fupport the dome and lantern . King Henry III. who, throughout the courfe of his long reign, fhewed his great regard to the liberal arts, and entertained and en couraged their profeffors §, frequently commanded that his palaces and chapels fhould be adorned with English hiftorical paintings and fculptures. Although that monarch doth not mention what were the fubjects of thofe hiftorical pieces which he ordered to be painted in his queen's chamber at Winchester **; yet he is more explicit as to others, which were the effects of his royal mandate. Such as the hiftories of the two royal faints, Edmund and Edward, which were painted in his round chapel at Woodstock ++. The hiftory of the Crufade in the king's great chamber within the Tower of London, and in a low room in the garden near his Jewry at Weftminster, which laft mentioned room, on account of its being fo decorated, was thenceforth to be called the Antioch chamber §§. The ftory of Edward the Confeffor taking off his ring and giving it to a poor ftranger, painted in St. John's chapel within the Tower of London, and in the queen's chapel at Weftminster***; and the life of The manufcript is now in the Library of Thomas Aftle, Efq; + Memoires de l'Academie R. des Sciences, tom. VIII. Monumens de la Monag chie Francoife, tom. IV. Memoires de l'Academie R. des Infcriptions et Belles Lettres, tom. VI. Ducarel's Antiquities in Appen. Bentham's Hift. and Antiq. of the Church of Ely, p. 52, &c. where thefe carvings are engraved. See Mr. Walpole's Anecdotes of Painting in England. Rot. Clauf. 20 Hen. III. m. 12. A 22. m. 3. A 29. m. 4. Ao 35. m. 5. Ao 36. m. 22. Ao 44. m, 9. Rot. Liberat. Ao 21 Hen, III. m. 5. A° 22, m. 3. ç 44• m. 6. A° 49. m. 7. A°. 51. m. 8. &. 10. **Rot. Liberat. A° 17 Hen. III. m. 6. ++ Ibid. Rot. Clauf. A 35 Hen. III. m. 11. Ibid. m. 10. Rot. Clauf. A° 20 Hen. III. m. 12. *** Rot. Clauf. Ao 29 Hen. III. King Edward the Confeffor, both in painting and sculpture, round his chapel in Westminster Abbey *, executed by the hand of Peter Cavalini f. Many parts of our English story are represented in the illuminations which adorn that copy of Matthew Paris which he prefented to King Henry III. . Langton, Bishop of Litchfield, caufed the coronation, marriages, wars, and funeral of his patron king Edward I. to be painted in the hall of his epifcopal palace, which he had newly built §. The ftory of Guy Earl of Warwick was wrought in a fuit of arras, and prefented by King Richard II. to his halfbrother Thomas Earl of Surry . And the hiftory of the latter part of the reign of that unfortunate king was, by one of his courtiers, reprefented with great accuracy in fixteen paintings, which adorn a manufcript prefented to his queen, and now in the British Mufeum **, Many other inftances might likewife be produced. "However intrinfic the merits of thefe performances might have been, the fatisfaction they afforded at the time of their being compleated was much inferior to the advantages of which fuch as ftill remain have fince been productive, their utility to antiquaries, and the light which they have thrown upon many fubjects of hiftorical enquiry, have been much greater than could have been originally apprehended. To this, the conduct of the artists employed on fuch occafions evidently contributed, and that in no fmall degree. Inftead of loading their compofitions with allegory, fiction, and emblems; instead of introducing a variety of imaginary and romantic figures and embellishments, that never exified but in the wildnefs of fancy; and instead of grouping together things which in fact were ever diftant from each other, practices too much indulged by later painters; they confined themfelves, with the greatest attention, to truth, reality, and accuracy. They reprefented perfons and things exactly in the fame mode, form, attitude, habit, colour, fituation, and condition, as they actually faw them; and that without any difguife, diminution, addition, or other alteration; and, by drawing from the life every principal figure in the piece, exhibited exact portraits of the perfonages concerned in that particular tranfaction which they endea voured to commemorate. "Hence it is, that fuch pieces, whilft they difplay the grandeur and magnificence of former ages, and point out the tafte, fashions, cuftoms, and manners of our ancestors, at the fame time fhew us the armour, weapons, habits, furniture, implements, and ornaments, The paintings are now loft; but the fculptures, confifling of fourteen elegant compartments, remain on the fafcia of the cornice of the wall which feparates the Confeffor's chapel from the choir. The paintings on the thrine of king Sebert, and thofe in the prefs which contain the figures commonly called the ragged regiment, were executed by order of king Henry III. Mr. Walpo e's Anecdotes of Painting. This curious and truly valuable MS. is now in the British Mufcum. Harleian Library, No. 1319. This MS. was written and painted by John de la Marque, a French gentleman, who attended king Richard II. from his expedition into Ireland to the time of the delivery of the young queen to the commiffioners of her father the French King. which which they used; give us real and faithful views, not only of their towns, churches, palaces, and other buildings, as they actually were, but of the decorations of their feveral parts; fet before us a variety of interefting particulars unnoticed by our hiftorians; and convey to us a clearer idea of the whole, than can be attained by reading the moft elaborate and defcriptive narrative *.' [To be concluded in our next. xt.] Amongst these the following may be reckoned ; videlicet, K. Richard II. feated on his throne, and attended by his uncles [1]. John Lord Lovel fitting in his great hall, and receiving a book from father John Sifernes [2]. The coronation of king Henry V. [3]. King Henry V. and his family [4]. The confecration of St. Thomas Becket, prefented to King V. by his uncle the Duke of Bedford [5]. The battle of Agincourt, formerly in the palace at St. James's [6]. The marriage of king Henry VI. and Margaret daughter of Reyner, Duke of Anjou [7]. King Edward IV. his queen, edeft fon, and the nobility of his court [8]. The landing of Henry Duke of Richmond, afterwards king Henry VII. and the marriage of his fon Arthur, wrought in tapestry, and fold by order of the parliament after the death of king Charles I. [9]. The battle of Bofworth enamelled on a jewel, ufually worn by king Henry VIII. and fold among king Charles I.'s pictures [9]. A grand geographical chart of the kingdom of England, in which the feveral places wherein any battles had happened between the houfes of York and Lancafter were marked [10]. A fea-fight between the French and English off Dover in the year 1400, wrought in tapestry, and preferved in the great wardrobe at St. James's [10]. The interview between king Henry VIII. and the emperor Maximilian at Tournay, now in a private apartment in Kenfington palace; two pictures, reprefenting the entry of king Henry VIII. into Calais, accompanied by feveral perfons of diftinétion, painted from the life; and another picture of Henry VIII's interview with the Emperor Charles V. at Calais, all which were kept in a gallery at the palace of St. James in the reign of queen Elizabeth [10]. The landing of the Emperor Charles V. and his reception at Dover; the interview of Henry VIII. and Francis I. ; the fiege of Bulloign; the fight between the English and French fleets near Spithead; the proceffion of King Edward VI. and other hiftorical pieces, at Cowdry, in Suffex, the feat of the Viscount Montagu. The battle of the spurs, in the picture gallery at Windfor. The taking of Kinfale by the Spaniards, which hung in the gallery next the playhouse at St. James's palace [10]. Henry VIII. giving a charter of incorporation to the company of Barber-furgeons [11]. Edward VI. delivering to the Lord Mayor of London his royal charter, whereby he gave up his royal palace of Bridewell to be converted into an hospital and workhoufe [12]. The glorious deftruction of the boafted Spanish armada, wrought in tapery, and now the hangings of the house of lords. A limning of the Spanish armada, by old Hilliard [13]. A map of all the country about, Kinfale, where the Spaniards were beaten [13]; and many others. [1] In an illuminated copy of Froifart, in the British Museum. 2 In a miflal, ibid. [3] In alto relievo, on the outfide of the wall of the feretry of that king in Weft minster abbey. [4] In poffeffion of the late James Weft, Efq. In poffeflion of the late James Weft, Efq. [6] Manaetlo's Voyage to England in the year 1640, vol. iv. p. 617, &c. [7] Belonging to H. Walpole, Esq. [8] MSS. in the Lambethian library. [9] Belonging to H. Walpole, Efq. [10] Mandeflo. [11] At Barbers Hall. [12] In the great hall at Bridewell. [13] Cat, of King Charles I.'s pictures. ART. III. ART. III. A Voyage to the Ifland of Mauritius. Continued from page 66. Of our Voyager's turn for moral and political observation, we have already given a fufficient fpecimen, in his remarks on the inhabitants and manners of this fingluar and important Ifle. The Naturalift will meet with equal information and entertainment in his botanical remarks on the agriculture, plants and produce of the foil. Among the herbs, vegetables and flowers imported into this Ifle; of whose state of vegetation he gives a particular account, he obferves that the "Afparagus is not much larger than a packthread, and has degenerated in talle as well as in bulk, and fo have carrots, parfuips, turneps, fafafras, and radishes, which are of a biting tafte. There is, however, a radish from China, that grows very well here. The beetroot grows beautifully, but is very sticky. Potatoes, folanum Americanum, are not bigger here than nuts. The Indian ones, called Cambar, frequently weigh above a pound a-piece; their skin is of a beautiful violet-colour, but within they are very white and tasteless; they however, ferve for food for the blacks. They increase very fast, as well as the Jerufalem artichoak, fome forts of which are preferable to our chefnuts. Saffron is an herb that tinges the ragouts with yellow, as do the ftamina of the European kind. The ginger here, is not fo hot as that of India. What is called here, the pistachianut, which is not the fruit of the pistachia-tree, is a fmall almond, that grows in the ground in a wrinkled fhell. It is pleafant eating when roafted, but it is hard of digeftion. They cultivate it here, in order to extract oil for burning. This plant is a fort of phenomenon in botany, it being uncommon for vegetables that yield fruit of an unctuous nature, to bear them below the furface of the ground." Of the plants of the flower-garden, he remarks, that "The tuberofe, larksfoot, the large daify of China, pinks of a fmall fpecies, flourish here as in Europe; large pinks, and lilies bear a number of leaves, but feldom flowers. The anemony, ranunculus, Indian-pink, and rofe, do not thrive here, any more than the July-flower or poppy. I faw no other flowers that we know of in Europe among the curious, except the above mentioned. Many people have attempted, but in vain, to tranfplant hither, thyme, lavender, the field-daify, violets, and wild-poppy, the red of which, with the azure of the blue-bell, fo beautifully decorate our golden Having in our former article, refpecting this work, [fee page 64] infinuated our with that, for the credit of our London Ironmongers, the ftory, the Tranflator told about the Iron muzzles fabricated here to put on the black flaves, was not true, Mr. Parith was pleafed to fend to the editor one of the muzzles in question, with the following card: "Mr. Parish prefents his best compliments to Dr. Kenrick, and fends him one of "the iron maks. deftribed in that note in the Voyage to Mauritius, which, in his "laft Review, Dr. K. feemed to doubt the truth of. The maik was bought at "Meffrs. C-1-y's and Co. Ironmongers of this city. "Mr. P. hopes Dr. Kenrick will do him the juftice to acknowledge the truth of that note in a future Review." "19 Aug. 1775." harvests. harvests. Oh! happy France! a corner of whofe fields, is, in my eyes, more defirable, than the most beautiful garden this ifland affords." "Among the flowering-plants of Africa, I know but one, the belle immortelle of the Cape, the feeds of which are as large and red as firawberries, and grow in a clutter at the top of a stem, the leaves of which are like pieces of grey cloth ;-another immortelle, with purple flowers, grows all over the island: a reed, the fize of a horfe hair, which bears a group of leaves, white in the infide, and violetcoloured without: at a distance, that bouquet appears in the air; it comes from the Cape, as does alfo a fort of tulip, bearing but two leaves which lie upon the ground, and feem to adhere to it: a Chinefe plant that fows itfelf, and bears little flowers like rofes; upon its flem there are five or fix, variegated alike, from a deep blood-red to the brightelt fcarlet. None of thefe flowers have any fmell, and thofe which are known to have it in Europe, lose it on their being tranfplanted hither. "Aloes flourish here. Their leaves turn to good account,-the fap of them afford a medicinal gum, and the threads are very fit for a manufacture of cloth. They grow upon the rocks, and in the parts fcorched by the fun. The one grows out in leaves, ftrong, thick, and as large as a man, and is armed with a long fhaft: from the center grows a ftem as high as a tree, furnished with flowers, from which drops gum-aloes in a perfect flate. The others are upright, like tapers, feveral fpans high, and have a number of very harp prickles about them: thefe laft are marbled, and refemble ferpents that crawl upon the ground. "Nature feems to have treated the Africans and Afiatics as barbarians, in having given them thefe at once magnificent, yet monftrous vegetables, and to have dealt with us as beings capable of fenfibility and fociety. Oh! when fhall I breath the perfumes of the honeyfuckle? again repofe myself upon a carpet of milk-weed, faffron, and blue-bells, the food of our lowing herds? and once more hear Aurora welcomed by the fongs of the labourer, blessed with freedom and content." In treating of the fhrubs and trees brought into the Ifle of France, he gives the following peculiar account of the cocoa-tree. "The cocoa-tree is planted here, it is a kind of palm, which thrives in the fand: this is one of the most useful trees in the Indian trade, though it affords nothing else than a bad fort of oil, and cables as bad in their kind. It is reckoned at Pondicherry that each cocoa-tree is worth a pistole a year. Travellers fpeak much in praise of its fruit; but our flax will ever be preferred to cotton, for making cloth, our wines to its liquor, and our filberds to its nut. "The cocoa tree flourishes fo much the best near falt-works, that falt is always put in the hole, wherein the fruit is fown, to facilitate the blowing of the bad. The cocoa feems defigned to float in the In hofe parts of the Eaft-Indies, where fith are in plenty, a quantity of the refafe of them is laid about the bottom of every cocoa-tree. But this practice is very prejudicial to the health of the inhabitants;--the island of Bombay was the moit unwholefome of all our fettlements, till a flop was put to the corruption of the air by this animal putrefaction, and the natives now have recourfe to fome lefs peftiferous manure for their cocoa trees. T. fea, |