The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1825-10-24 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

THE ANTIQUARY'S PORTFOLIO.
IT J. S. IOSISTT7I.
We have here two very eriaertaini,ng volumes, in which
not only. the lover of historic research will meet with much
curious information, but the philosoptieretfier will find-a
fund of materials which his reflactions may turn to goad
account. We extract the following amusing articles as a
specimen of their contents:—
.

" Two Priests and a Lawyer burnt, and a Cook boiled,
ac.—This year, leale two priests and a lawyer suffered
death by fire in Smithfield, on account of some disturb-
ances between the superior and interior clergy. And a
cook, named RICHARD Roua, boiled to death ia the mtne
place, by an ex post, facto law, for poisoning seventeen pre.
sons in the Bishop of Roehester's family.—Stow, arc.
Th,aekof an eb.gadi bat igliortunnte Scholar.—ln 1582
died an elegant but unfortunate scholar, RICIIA RD Penes
who, from ato extraction in Woeceittershire; hid, by his
great talent, under the successive patronage of the pre-
lates, LANGTON and Beetaatuee, become Dear, of st.
Paul's, secretary to the king, and frequently his envoy to
foreign parts. He had prepared himself for these preat
employmenti by long study, and by a particular attention
to languages at Padua, and other Italian. uelversitier.
From an embassy to Venice, he returned to England sick,
but lade; with kind recommendations from the Doge
Sood after his arrival at London he fell into disgrace with
CARDINAL WOLSET ; soon he sank beneath the frown of
that capricious protector ; was sent to the Tower, and in
1532 died raving mad. He was an almost universal lie.
guise., and wrote many curious treatises; one of which is
entitled, ' De fractu qua ex Doctrine pereipitur ; " ef the
profit which may accrue from learning. —Bale, Pitts.
Sir Edmund Inerett's Sentence,. 4c.—ln June 1540 Sir
EDMUND KW/VETT Was adjudged to lose his right hand,
for striking' Master Clete of Norfolk,' servant to the LORI)
ear, within the limits of the court. All wit preset:al;
s the servant of the wood-yard, with his mallet and bloeke,
•the insister 000 k with his knife, the seryeant of the larder
to set the knife right on the joint, the seryeant farrier with
the searing irons, the seryeant of the poultrie with a cozke,
which cocke should have its head smitten of on the rune
blocke, and with the same knife,' amend poor Sir Edmund
only requested that the king would take his left, and spare
his richt hand, as that might ' yet do good service to his
grace,' when happily he received, on a sudden, his full
. pardon for limb and goods.—Holissehed. .
Sir Thomas Wyatt, Poet.—ln 1641 died of a fever,
which he caught by too earnestly attending in sultry sea.
then on an ambassador of the Emperor, Sir Therms
Wyeer, the elder, an elegant poet, and a highly-aecome
plished gentleman. He was born of an honourable family
in Kent, at Allington Castle, which he is said by Fuller
to have repaired and beautified. Canihtlen says he was
splendide dodos.' Wood calls him the delight of the
muses.' Ascham, Leland, and Sir Thomas Chalmer, are
loud in his praise; and Earl Henry of Surrey held him as
his friend, and wrote his epitaph. He had at times greet
weight With his capricious king, and sometimes he felt his
risen tenenl.
HENRY delighted in Wyatt's conversation. An apoe
Logue of his about ' curs baiting a butcher's dog,' is said
to have caused the fall of Wolsey. Again, when Clement
delayed the divorce of Henry and Catherine, ' Lord,' Baia
Sir Thomas, that a man cannot repent him of his sins
without Me Pores leave ! ' The king heard him, it is
said, and determined on the separation from papal audio-
rity. When "Henry hesitated as to seizing the church
lands, be was encouraged by a bon mot of Wyatt: ' But-
ter the rooks' nest, and they will not trouble you' teferring
to a distribution of abbey lauds among the nobility.
Though attached to the Reformation, he was once tried for
corresponding with Cardinal Pole ; immediately after which
he was made sheriff of Kent, and rewarded for his Olen-
try against the rebels of that country. On the whole, his
family, though brave and well-meaning, were unfortunate.
His lather, Sir Henry, would have been starved in the
Tower, had not a cat, with uncommon fidelity, brought him
a pigoon : Sir Thomas, the elder, was tried for his life,
and Sir Themes, the younger, was executed for treason, to
the reign of Mary.—li elpolea Misc. Antiquities.
Fashions and Dress of the Fine Gentlemen of the Fij•
teenth Century.--Of the fashions in general it may be oL.
served, that folly is fickls.when it is let alone, but obstinate
when opposed. No fashion could be more absurd and
troubleeotne than that of the long-pointed shoes,with which
one could not walk till they were tied with chain'. This
fashion was condemned by the papal bulls, and the decrees
of councils, and declaimed against with great vehemence by
the clergy ; and yet it prevailed, in some degree, almost
three centuries. At length the parliament of England, by
an ecr, A D. 1463, prohibited the use of boots and sines
with pikes exceeding two inches in length, and all shoe-
makers from making shoes or boots with longer pikes, under
seeere penalties: but even this was tiot sufficient to pat en
end to this ridiculbus fashion, till the dreadful tenteete e f
excommunication was denounced against all offenders
against this law.
At this period, tl:e dress of the fine gentlemen of Erg-
land was remarkably light. Their stockings and breeches
were of one piece, as tight to their limbs as possible, like
the tartan trouse of the gentlemen in the Highlands of
Scotland. Their coats or jackets were very short, reaching
only an inch or two below the top of their breeches • and
Join Rows, of Warwick; complains bitterly of the short.
Bess of their coats; and parliament also, in the same year,
Firmed an act to lengthen them. But the power et fashion
wes greater than the power of parliament. Long hair was
much admired by the gay, and as much condemned by the
grave, particularly the clergy. John Roves reproaches the
beaux of his time for suffering their long hair to cover emir
fare/scads, on which the had been marked with the sign
of the cross at their baptism. On their heads they wore
bonnets of cloth, silk, or velvet, adorned with pearls and
prec'ous stones. In winter and bad weather they used
mantles, which were sotnetitnes as short as their jackets,
anti at other times so long, that their sleeves reached the
ground. These are thus ridiculed by the poet OCCLETR !
" Now bath this land little need of Uroornes,
Te sweep away the filth out of the streets,
For side sleeves of pennyless groomts
Will it uplicke. be it dry or wee.e."
When the Prince of Wales, afterwards Hexer V, wait-
ed upon hie father, in order to Make his peace, he was
dressed in a mantle or gown of blue satin, fell of small
eyelet-holes, with a needle hanging by a silk thread at
every hole. This dress was truly ridiculous, but it was the
fashion.
The Head-Dresses of the Ladies were exceedingly lansei
lofty, and broad. 'fhis fashion prevailed long both is
France and England, and at length arrived at a most enor-
inons pitch. When Isabel, the vain, voluptuous et:insert cf
Charles VI, kept her court at Vincennes in 1416, it mr'
found necessary to make all the doors of the palace both
higher and wider, to admit the head-dresses of the mien
and her ladies. To support the breadth of these dresses.
they had a kind of artificial horn on each side of the head,
bending upwards, on, which many folds of ribbon were
suspended. From the top of the horn, on the right side,
streamer of silk, or some other light fabric, was hung,
which was sometimes allowed to fly loose, and sometimes
brought over the bosom, and wrapt about the left arm. In a
word, the extravagance to which both sexes proceeded in
dress was such, that the parliaments of England and Scot-
land attempted to restrainsit by sumptuary laws.

The new law for regulating British weights and mea-
sures conies into operation on the Ist of January.
With a reference to the dispute about copper sheathing.
a Correspondent states that the Egeria, DOW eff
way, adjoining the City Canal, Limehouse, sheathed with
patent copper two years ago, has just returned from bey
fourth voyage (three to St. Kitts, and one to St. Doming())
with her copper 33 smooth and as bright as when put on•
The rapid increase of the corn trade in Wakefield mi y
be estimated by the fact, that within the space of the la•t
three years warehouses for corn have been built, calculated
to contain nearly 100 of - At the commena-
ment of this period,
were not estimated t(
tera ; so that the accorn.
t'cles of general consuin,
within the short space ot

10,000 qrs. of grain. At the con-menet-
I, all the corn yrarehouses in the town
to hold more than about 100,000 guar•
commmlation for storing these great ar-
unsuinption has been nearly doubled
tee of three pears.--Wakrfithl Jororsa••
.♦ 4#1.-