The Press. — London, England, 1858-01-23 00:00:00

38 lished reputation, or now making his first essay towards amusing the public, we should not feel inclined to say a single word in his disparagement. But under existing circum stances we feel compelled to act differently. Being professedly a caterer of light literature, the Doctor is here very ponderous ; and he has now had too much practice at his trade to merit any applause for mere research and in• dustry. In a " light writer" these qualities are worthless for their own sake. On serious subjects, the man of research who brings out a great mass of information, in however cum brous a shape or• repulsive a style, performs a service to the world. But no "Joculator " is entitled to plead industry as a set-off against dulness or dryness, and both dull and dry we are obliged to pronounce " The History of Court Fools." One work, however,Dr.Doran must he allowed to have performed completely, even if ho has lowered his own reputation in the process. He has for ever dissipated any exalted notions we might have entertained concerning the wit and wisdom of the class whose history he has undertaken to write. if his facts are correct — and even with a very large deduction they would prove the same—the professional jester who has filled so conspicuous a place in our fictions of the middle ages, and been represented as the ancestor of the Jerrolds,Thackerays,and Sydney Smiths of the present, was nothing but a stupid and impudent parasite. He served to gratify the taste for practical jokes which distin guished our ancestors, and to please his patron by gibing at those whom he disliked, but whom it was not politic to insult in person. But that he had any of those qualities which many of our best writers have attributed to him, and which, strange to say, Dr. Doran himself believes in, none can any longer believe after a perusal of the Doctor's own pages. We will hazard an assertion that, from the first page to the last, not a single saying is recorded that has the faintest flavour of wit ; and, making all allowance for differences of taste, and any other changes which might rob a joke of its point, we must confess that the staple humour of our ancestors as herein repre sented is such as to inspire us with much envy of the facility with which they were amused. But the learned Doctor has exhumed much information to delight the antiquary, many little picturesque tableaux to entertain the general reader? We are sorry to say that here, too, his volume is a failure. It would perhaps be impos sible that it should not contain some few scraps either curious or interesting, or both. . But they are as few as can well be imagined. The book abounds in names and dates, births and deaths, and is spun out by a succession of witticisms attributed to the Fools of various European countries. But if the latter are bad we do not care for the former. An author is in some measure bound to show that his work is worthy of the pains bestowed upon it. We should not thank the Doctor for giving us the lives of London scavengers, however curious the information which they must in evitably contain. The " Fools " are not in teresting in themselves, throw no light on things or parsons who are, and are unadorned by either elegance or wit at the hands of their historian. Some passages which are least stupid we subjoin : ZIOLISII MINSTREL AND JESTER. Tim Court always thought better of them than the Church. " Actors and jesters," says John of Salisbury (1180 arc.), may not be admitted to the Sacrament. —His. trionss et mini non possunt recipere sacrists Communionem." And forty years later, there were some people who as much objected to marry their daughters to the King's jesters, as the coachman of George 11. did to his son ing a utaid-of-honour. One of the Pipe Rolls, sup pose to be of the date of 1200, informs us that " Nicola, wife of Girard of Canville, accounts to the King for one hundred malice, for the privilege of marrying her daughter Maud to whatever person she pleases,—the King's jester excepted—exceptis tnimicis Regis." The mimici, whatever their exact othce was, had as part of their duty, evidently, to amuse the King (John), and they would appeal, from the reference made to them, to have been but a disreputable set of fellows. They were probably a sort of actors,—pantomimic, if not altogether dramatic; for the descent of the ancient minstrel through poet and player to mere jester, is easy to be traced in the history of the profession in nearly every nation. THE LAST ENGLISH FOOL. - The last recorded instance of a domestic fool being kept is an English family, is that of the jester retained at Hilton Castle, Durham, by John llilton, the descendant of THE PRESS, 3 ANUARY 23, 1858. the old barons of that name, who died 1746. Surtees, in his " History of Durham," notices this fact, and adds one touch of the wit of this anonymous fool, who seems to have borrowed a traditionary joke of his great predecessor, Archie Armstrong. His master, we are told, on one occasion of his returning to his northern seat from Lon• dun, left his carriage at the ferry near the castle, and proceeded towards that building over a foot-bridge, at the end of which the fool was awaiting his patron. The latter was attired in a gaily gold•embroidered dress, according to the fashion of the times, and made in the south by a fashionable tailor. The fool gazed on his master with mingled astonishment and vexation, and, in place of greeting his return with a welcome, boldly looked him in the face, and inquired, " Who's the fool now?" This is the last recorded joke of the last recorded jester; awl the long line could not have gone out with a milder, though it might have done so with a less impertinent, jest. Hilton's fool may, I think, fairly rank as the ultinteu alullorum (he was remembered by aged Cumberland people, as late as 181'2). The following is really curious and in teresting : be acquired in land, and this by a statement (xi.—xiii.) of the mutual Property-ri g h ts of Husband and Wife, and of the law relati ng to the custody of children. The subject s o f Mortgages, Leases, Settlements, Wills, a n d Trustees occupy nine more letters, and t h e work concludes by a view of the operation of time on Title, on the charges on land, and on the privileges essential to its enjoyment. High as the reputation of Lord St. Leonards deservedly is for his unrivalled knowledge of Property Law, his professional works are more than usually difficult to read, owing to the style in which they are written. There are sentences in the " Vendors and Pur chasers" which are absolutely ungrammatical, and others which are so obscure that it is necessary to reconstruct them in the mind in order to retain a clear idea of their purport " Sugden on Powers" from this cause, as well as from the extreme subtlety of its reasoning, is proverbially a sort of Pons Asinorum among young lawyers : and Mr. Warren tells a story of the late Sir Robert Peel sitting down, or rather up, to master the chapter on the scin tilla juris, because he had been told that it was the toughest bit of reasoning in the English language. Under these circumstances it might have been supposed that nothing was to be less expected from the learned ex-Chan (senor than a popular exposition of the law, and that if he wished one to be written, he would do better to delegate the task to some one with more literary ability though perhaps with less legal knowledge. The reverse, how- ever, proves to be the case, and affords one more instance of what we have frequently observed, that thorough knowledge of a sub ject and complete familiarity with all its details will force its way out through all obstacles, and stand in the stead of the smoother quali. ties usually considered necessary for reaching the popular ear. The grasp of a master, how ever rough, makes itself felt, and gives that directness and simplicity of treatment which are essential to real success. Lord St. Leonards has undertaken to write popularly, and for the most part not in vain. His larger works, like most law-books, are to a great extent made up by extracting the marginal sum maries appended to tho reports of decided cases, classifying them as precedents under the divisions proper to the subject in hand, and arguing upon points in which they con firm or reverse one another. These summa ries are of course extremely condensed—a sort of legal pemmican—and it is amusing to see how in the work before us a remnant of them occasionally crops out, like a bit of hay once subjected to hydraulic pressure, and still retaining its concentrated form. But, as we have said, the general tone of the book is easy and popular, mid does not belie its pre tensions as a railway volume though it may be doubted whether Chapter X. is not too brief and too technically expressed for the entire comprehension of a lay reader. To at tempt in any way to abridge a book which in 192 pages contains the pith of about a dozen stout octaves, would of course be absurd. We shall therefore make a few extracts, which may induce those who are thinking of marrying, mortgaging, investing, or bequeathing, to lay out a modest half-crown upon this very useful volume. After speaking of the defects in his estate which a seller is bound to disclose to a pur chaser, Lord St. Leonards says, " I shall now " tell you what falsehoods you may utter in " regard to your estate." This sounds some what alarming; but as we are taught Fallacies in Logic, not that we may deceive, but that we may detect, the author comforts us a few pages further by saying:— I shall now dismiss you from your character of a seller, and treat you as a buyer. In running over, in my last letter, the misstatements which a seller may with impunity make, I of course was looking to the situation in which I now consider you to stand ; fur s hen you know how far an unprincipled vendor may with safety go, you can guard against fraud by not trusting to misrepresentations which are made without fear of retribution. The old rule of " caveat emptor " is, in fact, that which underlies most of the cases whore any kind of misrepresentation or concealment 1:4 made, though of course there is a debate able margin where precedent alone is of avail. PRINCES THEIR OWN FOOLS. The Spanish royal family of the last century affords us an instance of the Heir to the Throne not only being his own fool, but of his raising his friends to the dignity of folly by conferring on them its insignia. Lord Ligo nier, the husband of one of Alfieri's wor'hless idols, was English Ambassador at the Court of Madrid during a portion of the reign of Charles 111., which lasted from 1759 to 1788. After Lord Ligonier's introduction to the King, he was conducted to the apartments of the Heir to the Crown, the Prince of the Asturias. The latter was, subsequen'ly, that Charles IV. who was his own Queen's especial fool throughout the term of their married lives. As Lord Ligonier approached the Prince's chamber, he saw issuing therefrom a number of grandees, each wearing, with proud gravity, a fantastic fool's cap. On inquiring the meaning of such a pageant, he was in formed that his Royal Highness possessed the fancy of distinguishing his most cherished friends as his " fools." The Prince, too, was often pleased to confer this mark of his favour on celebrated foreigners. Lord Ligonier was alarmed. " I represent," he said, "a great sovereign; and am myself a foreigner not altogether unknown. I must add, that my gracious master would be seriously offended, if the Prince of the Asturias were to think proper to cover the representative of the King of England with this decoration. You had better go in, sir," said he to his introducer, " and say as much to his Royal Highness." The reluctant official undertook the mission ; but he presently returned, with the intimation that the Prince could not give up an old-established custom. Upon which, Lord Ligonier turned on hie heel, declaring that he would not visit a Prince who thus exposed an Am bassador to insult. The Court officials were thrown into a state of amusing terror by this declaration ; they main tained, that if the Ambassador retired, it would be a flagrant insult on the Prince. Ultimately, and after many messages and countermessages had passed between the Prince in his room, and the English Envoy in the antechamber, announcement was made that the Prince of the Asturias would not attempt to clap the fool's cap on the head of Lord Ligonier. His lordship consequently en tered the apartment, but not without being more than Usually vigilant against surprise. He found the sage Prince with his back to the hearth, and with his hands behind him. The Prince remained in that position, and invited the Ambassador to approach. The English lord obeyed ; but as he advanced, he perceived that the Prince held a paper object, and the Ambassador stopped short to converse with his Royal Highness at a very respectful distance. At the conclusion of the interview, he had to bow low ; but, as • sailor might say, his weather eye was open, and he watched the Prince narrowly. The latter was resolved upon effecting his object, and as narrowly watched the Ambassador. The bow was almost at its lowest, when the Prince, seizing the most favourable opportunity, suddenly brought the fool's cap from behind him, and endeavoured to fix it on the bead of Lord Ligonier ; but the old soldier who, by one glorious action at Laffeldt, had disconcerted all the projects of Marshal Saxe, was not to be foiled by • foolish prince. As soon as his eye caught sight of the cap, his hand was upon it, and almost as soon it lay crumpled up beneath his feet. His sudden action nearly threw the Prince out of hits equi librium; and leaving that illustrious fool's-cap maker to recover himself as he hest might, the old warrior quitted the apartment with a smile of scorn upon his lip. The " History of Fools" may be a valuable accompaniment to the " Things not Generally Known" of Mr Ti►nbs, but that is the highest p►wise we can award it. A Handy Book on Property Law. In a Series of Letters. By Lord St. Leonards. Lon• don : Blackwoods. THIS attractive.looking little volume is not a new work, but is nearly identical with the " Letters to a Man of Property " published by its learned author some years ago. It has, however, been thoroughly revised and cor rected, and adapted in all respects to the alterations which have taken place in the law. It consists of twenty-five letters, the first nine of which relate to Sales and Purchases, and contain the pith of the author's elaborate work on the same subject. These are followed by a sketch of the various interests which may