1818.]

Original Letter of James I.-Mr. Booth, the Comedian.

berg vous apporte la responce de tout ce qu'il m'a proposé de votre part, a la suffisance du quell i'en remect la relation; ie suis marri d'avoir entendu de la dispute que vous aves eu aveques ma fille, touchant la præséance, mais ie ne puis m'estonner asses, que vous en ayés faict une si publique contestation, sans avoir premièrement sondé mon aduis la dessus en privé. Mais ie m'asseure que votre bon naturell a esté abusé en ce poinct par quelque pernicieus conceill; pour ma part, vous vous pouves asseurer, que iaimais pere ne s'evertuera plus que moy de faire sa fille humblement obéissante à son mary; mais en ce qui concerne sa qualité et l'honneur de sa naissance, elle serait indigne de vivre, si elle quiteroit sa place sans mon sceu et aduis. J'espère que de vous mesmes, vous trouveres quelque moyen en vostre prudence, d'esclaircir au monde vostre bonne intention et le respect que vous portes à la naissance de ma fille; mais si vous ne Vous y pouves resoudre de vous mesmes, ie ne faudray point, Dieu aydant, de vous envoyer un de miens, qui vous en dira mon opinion et vous assistera de meilleurs consels, de celuy qui demeurera iaimais, votre très affectionné père,

JAQUES, R.

To the Editor of the New Monthly Magazine. I AM returned from passing a few weeks in London and somewhat disappointed that I had not an opportunity during my visit of seeing Mr. Booth per form at Covent Garden, especially as Mr. Kean was absent on a tour in Scotland. I had seen Mr. Booth last year, and had given my family such an account of his abilities, that I believe one of the greatest pleasures they promised themselves from the journey to London was to witness the display of his uncommon talents. I am the more disappointed at this as the bills of Covent Garden Theatre of last year (which I happened to have by me) spoke of this gentleman in the highest terms of panegyric, giving several days notice of his performance, and mentioning with considerable exul tation that the managers had succeeded ia engaging him for the succeeding three: years. You will naturally conceive that I must also feel some little astonishment, when, on enquiry, I found that Mr. Booth was not only living in London, in the vicinity of the Theatre, but in excellent health, and had by study and application | prepared himself for several new characters, especially some in which Mr. Kean has not yet appeared, that the

387

public might have an opportunity of being assured that he possesses original genius, although a disciple of the Kean school. I have not the pleasure of a personal acquaintance with Mr. Booth, or I should have taken the liberty of asking him to explain the (to me unaccountable) cause of his talents being wrapped in a napkin; and my principal motive for troubling you with this is the hope that you or some of your readers may be able to explain the enigma. I have heard it whispered that the managers are in the habit of engaging performers of talent though they may not exactly need their services, to prevent the other house from engaging them. Is this the case in this instance? or has Mr. Booth offended their high mightinesses, and is he to use a theatrical phrase, laid on the shelf?

That there is some hidden cause is evident, as Mr. Booth's last performance at the Theatre proved his powers undiminished, and that he fully justified the encomiums which the managers last year passed on him in their bills. I confess I am anxious to rescue talents such as Mr. Booth's from obscurity, and I think the managers, who are caterers for a generous public, and who are so well paid by that public for their exertions, are bound to account to them for the cause of their being deprived of Mr. Booth's services; and I also think that no private misunderstanding (if any such exist) should authorize managers of a Theatre to lessen the gratification of the public. I am, &c. T. Q.

Bath, April 10, 1818.

VISIT TO MOUNT VESUVIUS, BY PROFESSOR
MORGENSTERN.

Here I mounted my ass, accompanied by Salvator Madonna, whose father, Raimondo,replaced Bartolomeo, jocosely yclept the Cyclops of Vesuvius. In order to possess himself of my good graces, he produced a certificate of recommendation written by Sir William Hamilton. A little boy, one of Salvator's brothers, carried my bag of neces-* saries. I had agreed to pay for my donkey and guide at the rate of a piastre and a half from the noon of the one day to that of the next; so that I might spend the night on Mount Vesuvius.The terms stated in Reichardt's Guide des Voyageurs are less than what they really are, and the traveller who is bent

The learned traveller sets out from Herculaneum.

388 Professor Morgenstern's Visit to Mount Vesuvius.

on adhering to them, will find himself involved in endless bickerings.

Our road lay through Rosina; whence a gradual ascent led us through vineyards close behind it. Dwarf aloes, the offspring of a warmer clime, accosted me, as it were, in the African tongue on the road side. Even here its flower is seldom seen, for it is late in attaining its bloom, and withers immediately after it has blown. I did not meet with the slightest vestige of it. On leaving these vineyards, the volcanic soil of which is highly favourable to the growth of the Lachryma Christi, in consequence of the fertility it has acquired from former eruptions of Vesuvius, our track wound close beside old streams of lava; and we met with a tree only here and there till at last not one was to be seen. Of these few, besides the fig-tree, I observed only the poplar and one or two others. After climbing to a moderate elevation, a delightful prospect meets the eye as you look back towards the sea. To the right lies Naples on its margin, with its various forts, among which is Castel l'Uovo, whose narrow tongue pierces the briny deep, and beyond it is seen part of the Bay of Gaeta: in this quarter my guide pointed out the Lacus Avernus, &c.Near the shore lies the little oblong isle of Nisita; farther to the left are the larger islands of Procida and Ischia; still farther on the opposite side, lies Capri, widely severed by the ocean from its companions; and quite away on the left, stretching as far as Sorrento, the contrary end of the bay spread itself at my feet with its white-tinted clusters.Fishing boats skimmed along the surface of the bay like nut-shells. The serenity of the firmament was here and there diversified by a cloudy streak, and the wide-spreading ocean reflected back its features. There was something etherial in the glorious spectacle which this noble expanse of waters, with its bays and islands exhibited: it seemed rather the fragment of a lightly clouded sky, than to belong to our mundane sphere.

After a ride of an hour and a half, I reached the hermitage of St. Salvador, situated on a lower acclivity of the Somma, which is connected with Vesuvius. A semi-circle of lofty elm-trees, at that time stripped of foliage, surrounds the ground in front of it. The nearest villages upon which the eye looks down from this spot, are S. Giovanni di Tiduccio and La Bana,

The hermit cautioned me against losing a moment in starting for Mount

[June 1,

Vesuvius, as the weather wore but a du-
bious aspect. I took his advice and
pushed forward on my ass, accompanied
by the guide who came with me from
Rosina, to a point on the mountain which
is marked by a cross: here you leave
your donkey behind you, and climb on
foot to the crater. Our excursion had
hitherto been pleasant enough; but the
difficulties of the ascent here began to
annoy us. The Vesuvian cone of ashes
now became steep; nothing was to be
seen on every side but the dismal, scorch-
ed corpse of nature; a frightful wilder
ness reigned around us. Above us,
spots, resembling patches of a grassy
carpet, glimmered here and there; but,
on our approach, we discovered them to
be nothing but bright yellow masses of
crystallized sulphur, forming a dazzling
contrast with the jet black soil. Our
progress became more and
duous; every step in advance threw us
half a step backwards on the deep bed
of ashes, nor did the sharp-edged layers
of lava render our toils the sweeter.-
Our guide somewhat facilitated our as-
cent by binding a cloth round his body
by which he, in some measure, drew up
the person who followed him.
We
passed over places which were so hot
that we could not keep our feet upon
them, and set fire to a piece of paper as
soon as we held it to the ground. One
of these singed relics I put in my pocket
by way of remembrance, as well as a
piece of crystallized sulphur which lay
near to it.

more ar

At length I reached the crater, and found myself enveloped in a sulphurous vapour, which the wind drove straight towards the quarter whence we were come. Its suffocating fumes took away my breath; the recollection of Pliny, who had fallen a victim to his curiosity, darted across my brain, and I retreated precipitately; over and above this ap prehension, I felt that I was along with a being who was an utter stranger to me, and that darkness was closing upon us. These circumstances deterred me from looking down into the crater; I had ishaled its vapourous greeting, and there fore considered I had seen as much of it as any reasonable body could require.Moreover, the mountain sprite, apparently resolved upon removing every doubt I might entertain of his real pre sence, further bestowed a couple of hollow groans, or gurglings, from his hideous throat upon me, and sent up with them a brace of fiery flakes. But this was all his welcome. Indeed, Vesuvius

E

7818.]

Professor Morgenstern's Visit to Mount Vesuvius.

had not for a length of time" slept so deep a sleep" as when I was in his neighbourhood.

Our descent from this steep cone of ashes was a much quicker operation, though it was not without its impediments. Loose fragments frequently came rolling down upon our heels. Travellers often talk of the boots and shoes they are obliged to sacrifice at the shrine of Hefaistos, as they draw near to his my steries, in their course towards the crater of Vesuvius. But the Parisian boots, by favour of which I had climbed up Mount Arveyron in Savoy, and Mount Rigi on the Vierwaldstädter Lake, were as faithful servants as ever on the present occa sion.

Having had no dinner, my wearied frame was daintily refreshed by the supper which I had ordered at the hermit's it consisted of a boiled fowl, rendered more savoury by a good flask of Lachryma Christi. At first I felt inclined at once to commit the unfaded impressions of this day's occurrences to paper; but I was too much jaded: indeed it befel me just as it befel Goethe on his journey through the valley at the foot of Mont Blanc, when he was desirous of bringing his description to book :"On these occasions," says he, "we feel for all the world as if we were going to plunge from a comfortable glow into cold water." I was fain, therefore, to Test content with reading a book I had brought in my pocket, and skimming over one of the Stranger's Guides to Mount Vesuvius; a thing in no wise superior to the tract on Heinrich's Height upon the Brocken, full of trash and jokes, bat unworthy of a second thought. "Some of the later works of this sort, which, however, were not at band, may probably contain more edifying matter. I recorded my visit in these terms:-" Amicorum si quis olim huc ascenderit et altiùs, his solis scripsi; et ego in Hesperia, et in Vesuvio, quamquam autumno sero, die xxv. Nov. 1809."-Late in autumn! so it was indeed, and so I felt it to be; not merely in the autumn of the year,

In the fifth chapter of St. Non's "Voyage Pittoresque," there is a history of the eruptions of Vesuvius to 1779, from Pliny, Hamilton, Serrao, P. delia Torre, and others. Count Stollberg was on the cope of ashes and at two-thirds of its elevation, during a shower of stones in 1792.(Journey, vol. 3.) He also witnessed an eruption of lava. Kotzebue describes an eruption in 1804, which forms one of the most interesting tracts of his Travels.

NEW MONTHLY MAG, No. 53.

but perhaps in that of my earthly pil-
grimage. I gossiped away the rest of
the time with the hermit, who has no
other companions than his dog and a
boy, who is a sort of servant to him. He
is full forty years old and was born at
Venice, if I mistake not. He is a tall,
stout-limbed personage. I had been led
to entertain some apprehensions on the
score of this said hermit; for it was ru
moured about that he was in league with
the robbers who had now and then made
their appearance in this wilderness, in
the direction of Somma. So far it seem
ed not quite so safe to spend a whole
night there. For my own part, I must
confess, there appears to me to be no
ground for this evil report of him; he
complained of having once been plun-
dered and stripped of his all, although
that, it is true, was many a year ago.-
His manners and conversation by no
means bespoke the hermit, dead to the
world and buried in loftier regions; his
character seemed rather to partake of
that of the common inn-keeper, with a
touch of the village curé. In spite of the
unedifying picture which others had
drawn of him, I slept very soundly in the
room where we had been eating, though
I was occasionally disturbed by the au-
tumnal blasts which hallow the night in
this region. Now and then, methought,
the distant rumbling of the mountain's
bowels sometimes broke the stillness.--
In truth, it is scarcely to be expected
that one should sleep as soundly when

for the first time so close to the slumber

ing dragon, as when one is quietly at hoine, or accustomed to the spot, like one who is himself at home here.

Could a fine sunrise and a clearer morning have been anticipated, I should have taken wing betimes, and stolen another peep at the crater. But as it rained a little, and had blown a storm during the night, to which succeeded the sluggish autumnal morning, that dawned in frowns, I was diverted from my purpose. It might have been about nine o'clock or so, when I mounted my donkey on my descent to Resina, accompanied by Salvator Madonna, my guide.*

To the Editor of the New Monthly Magazine. miscellany any direct answer to the reNOT having observed in your valuable

Mad. Brun in her "Diary kept at Rome" (see vol. ii. p. 337-357) under the head of" Hermitage on Vesuvius," gives an interesting account of that spot, and particularly of the country round about it. 3 E

VOL. IX.

300

Ecclesiastical Benefices-Byron's Siege of Corinth. [June 1,

1,551-11,743

Churches of the Establish. 10,192
Chapels
Number of Persons they can con-
Glebe Houses fit for residence

tain

Benefices which have no Glebe
Houses

Glebe houses not fit for residence

quest of AN INCUMBENT (vol. iv. p. 381),
perhaps the subjoined article, which has
lately appeared in many of thedaily jour
nals, may be deemed worthy of a place
in your pages, as on being compared with
my letter inserted vol. v. p. 105, your
readers will be enabled to see what the
Corporation of Queen Anne's Bounty ac- Livings not exceeding 10 -
complished in the seven intervening
years of the two returns (viz. augment-
ing 493 Benefices to the value of 1501.
per ann.). Both returns will thereby be
preserved in the same excellent miscel-
lany, together with the "Statement of
Church Livings in 1708," (vide vol. v. p.
296), the period when the Corporation
was created. I am, &c.
H-N.
April 14, 1818.

In the year 1810, the Secretary of State was commanded by his Majesty, in consequence of an Address from the House of Lords, to desire the Archbishops and Bishops to procure from the Clergy, Returns of the Capacity of the Places of Worship belonging to the Established Church in Parishes of which the population amounted to 1000 persons and upwards.

These Returns were laid before the House of Lords in 1811 and 1812, by command of the Prince Regent, in consequence of an Address from that House.

Upon investigation, these Returns proving imperfect, the Archbishops and Bishops in pursuance of a Minute of Council, bearing date the 13th December, 1814, sent out a

list of Queries to every parish in their dioceses, for the purpose of ascertaining the capacity of the Churches and Chapels, and the number and condition of the Glebe Houses, and the value of Livings not exceeding 1501. per annum.

Answers to these Queries were received in 1815 and 1816, and in consequence of an Address to his Royal Highness the Prince Regent, extracts from them were laid before the House of Lords in 1816, as far as they related to the capacity of Churches and Chapels in Parishes containing more than a certain population.

20

30

40

50

60

4,770,975

5417

2526

9183

12

70

130.

140-
150-

Total number of Benefices not ex-
ceeding 1501.

Number of Livings, the values of
which are not specified, being re-
turned as Impropriations, or Ap-
priations
Sinecures

Number of Livings not included in
the preceding classes, and there-
fore presumed to exceed the value
of 1501. yearly

219

8503

5995

To the Editor of the New Monthly Magazint.

IN No. 50 of your valuable miscel lany are some remarks conveying, cen sure on a passage in Lord Byron's Siege of Corinth, which most of the reviewers have agreed to applaud. The author of the letter to which I allude may pro bably think that a mind accustomed to decide impartially, will not hesitate to received, if they appear to be erroneous. dissent from opinions however generally But in the present instance the popular judgment seems to be the most correct; for if we sacrifice to a fastidious delicacy such lines as those censured by Mr. LEMPRIERE, we must erase not from the works of Lord Byron only, but from those of our most celebrated Poets, their most striking and original passages. Far be it from me to apologize for the gross ness of a Swift or a Rochester, but surely it would be idle to prohibit the employ tions the chief end of which is to un ment of terrific imagery, in composi press the mind with awe and fill the heart with harrowing expectations. In From the Abstract of these Returns, the lines which Mr. L. has selected for which extend to 214 large folio pages, we animadversion, there appears much to find the following to be the total results:- admire, and little to blame. It may be Number of Benefices 10,421 thought that the mode of expression Population 9,940,391 might have been softened with advan

Further inquiries being found necessary, in order to approach more nearly to accuracy, the Returns at large could not be laid before Parliament in the last Session. But

since then they have, as far as practicable, been completed, by supplying their deficiencies from such materials as were in the possession of the Privy Council, or of the Bounty Board, or from the Population Returns; and by command of the Prince Regent, they have now been presented to both

Houses of Parliament.

口

1

+

On the Administration of Oaths.