"But have you not invented a fable for our amusement? Where is it stated that the opera was given eight days before that same hunt?" Here," answered the manager, coolly pointing to the chronicle before

him.

The count read: "Rossini's opera of Othello, March 12th.' And here, on the margin, is written, March 20th, Prince Ferdinand was shot while hunting.'

The friends gazed silently at one another for a few moments; they wished still to treat it lightly, but the solemn earnestness of the old man, and the singularly fearful coincidence of the events he had related, had made a deeper impression on them than they liked to confess. The major turned over the leaves of the Chronicles, and hummed a tune to himself; the count rested his head on his hand, and was for several moments lost in thought. At last he rose from his chair, and, turning to the old man, said, "It cannot be helped, you must give the opera. The court, the embassies, all know that it is commanded. Here are four hundred thalers, which a few patrons of art have collected, so that Othello may be put upon the stage in the most brilliant manner; you can do what you please with it, even bribe exorcists to lay the ghost, but Othello must be produced."

"Gentlemen," said the old man, "it is probable that when I was younger I should have laughed as you now do; but I am old, and have learned to believe that there are things which we must not despise nor utterly reject as impossible. I thank you for your present, which I shall know how to spend worthily; but only in obedience to the strictest commands will Othello be performed in this theatre. My God!" continued he, mournfully, "if our hearts' delight, the lovely Princess Sophie, should be the victim."

"Be silent," cried the count, turning pale; "really your mad ideas are infectious. Adieu, and remember, Othello must, under any circumstances, be given; and mind, there are to be no catarrhs, or fevers, or sudden and unexpected obstacles to prevent it; for, by the heavens above us, if there is no Desdemona forthcoming, I will call up the spirit of the Fandauer to take the part herself."

The old man crossed himself, and walked nervously up and down the room. "What if she should, like the marble statue, now make her appearance?" he exclaimed. pray you not to speak thus."

"I

The major and count laughingly bade farewell to the manager, who, in his Florentine cap and tight dress-coat, long served as a target at which to aim their wit.

GLEANINGS FROM AN OLD ENGLISH CHRONICLE.*

We have recently derived much instruction and amusement from the perusal of a quaint old English Chronicle, published last year in the Master of the Rolls's new series of Historical Documents, and it has occurred to us that half an hour in the company of its author, John Capgrave, may afford some amusement and instruction to our readers

too.

Having premised that he was a monk-an Augustinian of Lynn, in Norfolk, where he flourished in the beginning of the fifteenth centuryit is scarcely necessary to add that he had a great horror of heretics, and, of course, could not have written the history of his country without indulging himself in an occasional fling at them. But in this he appears only in his ecclesiastical character; as a man, he was a thorough Briton, and hated popes and cardinals, and all manner of foreign interferers whatsoever, with a bitter hatred. Nor does he appear to have made any secret of his insular feelings; on the contrary, having first satisfied the Papal Nemesis by retailing a few of the stereotyped slanders-pardon the anachronism-against the Lollards, he evidently feels himself quite at liberty to divulge his plain, unvarnished opinions about the Papacy.

An example or two of the former: it is the hooded monk, and not John Capgrave, that says (p. 240) of the great pioneer of the Reforma

tion:

"In the ix yere of this Kyng [Richard II. ], John Wiclef, the orgon of the devel, the enmy of the Cherch, the confusion of men, the ydol of heresie, the meroure of ypocrisie, the norischer of scisme, be the rithful dome of God, was smet with a horibil paralsie thorw oute his body. And this veniauns fell upon him on Seynt Thomas day in Cristmasse ; but he deyed not til Seynt Silvestir day. And worthily was he smet on Seynt Thomas day, ageyn whom he had gretely offendid, letting men of that pilgrimage; and conveniently deied he in Silvestir fest, ageyn whom he had venemously berkid for dotacion [endowment] of the Cherch."

In the same spirit, but with less bitterness, perhaps, our chronicler details the accusation and defence of Sir John Oldcastle, when he was arraigned for his religious opinions in 1414. The story is told in so graphic a manner, that we cannot forbear giving it entire :

6

"There the bischop rehersed that for contumacie he stood acursed; and if he wold mekely submitte him to the Cherch, he wold asoile him. Oldcastel stood, and wold non ask; but took out of his bosom a bille endented; and, whan he had red it, took it to the bischoppis. Then seid the archbischop, Lo, Ser Jon, here be many good thingis in your bille but ye must answer to othir thingis that be put on you, touching the Sacrament of the Auter, and the powere of the Cherch, and mech othir thing. He seide, to, this, that he wold gyve no othir answere than was writin in his bille. Thanne the archbischop took him certeyn

The Chronicle of England. By John Capgrave. Edited by the Rev. F. C. Hingeston, M.A. London: Longmans. 1858.

Articules in a bille, to whech he assigned him that he schuld answere on the Moneday folowand. And whan the day was come, the archbischop inqwired of him if he wold be assoiled after the forme of the Cherch. He seid, nay; he loked aftir no absolucion but of God. And of the Sacrament of the Auter he said thus- Evene as Crist, whil He went here, was God and man, the manhod mite men se, but not the Godhed; so in this sacrament is Christis bodi and bred: the bred may men se, but not Cristis bodi.' He seid more- That the determinacion of the Cherch, and the Doctouris, that sei the revers, ar pleynly ageyn Holy Scripture.' For the Sacrament of Penauns, he seide That what man is in grevous synne, and coude not rise fro his synne, it is ful necessarie that he have a wise preest to telle him the maner of his amendment. But that a man schuld be schrive to his propir prest, or to a othir preest, it is no nede; for contrition withoute confessioune purgith al synne. For worchipyng of the Crosse, he seid-That Body that hing on the Crosse schuld be worchipid, and nothing but He.' And whan thei asked him what worchip he wold do to the ymage on the Crosse, he seide he wold wipe it, and kepe it clene. Than thei asked him what he seid of the Pope. He seid, "The Pope is Antecrist; bischoppis be his membris, and freres be his tayl.'" (Pp. 305, 306.)

We will now see what Capgrave himself thought of the Pope, premising only that the free expression of the opinions of a fifteenth-century monk, writing not long after William Sautre had been burnt to death for a trifle, must carry great weight with it to all unprejudiced minds, and is especially valuable in these days, when Cardinal Archbishops of Westminster are in the way of starring it in Ireland, and publishing to the world, with something like Papal imprimaturs, an account of their " progress," afterwards. This is the old monk's account of the state of the Emerald Isle in the year of grace 1393:

"In the month of Auguste was it proclamed thorow oute Ynglond, that alle Erischmen be at home, in her [their] owne lond, in the fest of Nativite of oure Lady, in peyne of lesing of her hed. It was proved be experiens that there were com to Ynglond so many Erischmen that the Erisch cuntre, whech longeth to the King of Ynglond, was so voyded fro his dwelleris that the wilde Erisch were com in, and had dominacioune of al that cuntre. And, more ovyr, it was noted, that in Kyng Edward tyme the Thirde, whan he had set there his bank, his juges, and his chekyr, he received eviry yere xxx M. pound; and now the Kyng Richard was fayn to paye yerly to defens of the same cuntre xxx M. mark." (Pp. 258, 259.)

And thus (page 210) he manifests his thoroughly English hatred of Papal interference:

"This Pope [Clement VI.] gave the benefices of England to the Cardinales that were vacaunt, and mad newe tytiles thereto. That herd the Kyng, and withstood it, and forbad in peyne of prisonment no man bryng no swech provysiones into his lond. And upon this he wrote a solempne letter onto the Pope that he schuld not interrupt the privilege of this lond, ne prive hem of her right that were patrones of cherches. For whanne a aliene hath care of a puple that knowith not her tonge, the goodes of the Cherch are trewly gadered, but the teching of soule is not had. Eke he wrote that it was perel onto the rem, that swech men schuld be promoted here that were enmyes to the lond, which schuld knowe al

the councel of the lond, to confusion of the same. And the clerkys of this lond, that were of gret letterure and of blessed lyf, schulde be rejecte, and alienes accepted: this schuld growe to gret mischef of the lond; for few men schuld have appetite for to lerne. Many othir suasiones were in that lettere ageyn thoo provisiones."

What can be more clear than that the heart of the writer was with his own English king, and not at all with the intrusive Italian pontiff? Again, at page 281, we find the following complimentary allusions:

"In this tyme [A.D. 1402] cam oute a bulle fro the Court, which revokid alle the graces that had be graunted many yeres before; of whech ros mech slandir and obliqui ageyn the Cherch; for thei seide pleynly that it was no more trost to the Pope writing than to a dogges tail waggyng, [] for as oft as he wold gader mony, so oftyn wold he anullen eld graces, and graunt new!"

A dog's tail wagging! So much, then, for the Pope's infallibility! Let us see an old English monk's reason for giving him the title of "his Holiness:" "Solempne embassiatouris of the Kyngis party of Ynglond were sent [A.D. 1354] to the Court of Rome,-Herry, duk of Lancastir; Richard, erl of Arundel; William, biscop of Norwich, and Gy Brian, knyte. But whan thei come thidir, with fraude of the courtesanes whech were comensalis [table-companions] with the Pope, thei were illuded!" Pretty company this for St. Peter's chair, to say nothing of his lineal successor, its worthy occupant! And with stories such as these we could fill many a page; but it is better to refer our readers to the volume itself, especially bidding them remember, while they peruse its pages, that these accounts of medieval popery cannot be set aside as Protestant exaggerations, seeing they are the work of "a pore Frere of the Heremites of Seyut Austyn, in the Convent of Lenne," who died nearly a century before the Reformation was accomplished.

We will conclude with an extract which has peculiar interest in these days of volunteer companies and rumours of wars. We have got rid of the Pope, and only allow him to play at bulls and censures now, but we have not got rid of our old brave spirit. With the memories of our recent wars within us, and the dangers of the present war threatening us, it is something to be able to boast that the children are worthy of the fathers,-just as careless and grumbling in time of peace, just as prepared to meet sudden war, and go in, safely, for victory. The following extract reads more like a paragraph from some recent number of the Times, than the grumbling of a monk in the fifteenth century:

"What does it avail us to read of the examples of illustrious men, and not to imitate them? For it is the opinion of many that, if the sea were kept by our navy, many good results would follow; it would give a safeconduct to merchants, secure access to fishers, the quiet of peace to the inhabitants of the kingdom, to our king himself a large measure of glory. Our enemies laugh at us, and say, "Take the "ship" off from your precious money, and stamp a "sheep" upon it, showing thereby your own cowardice,' since we, who used to be conquerors of all nations, are now being conquered by all nations. The men of old used to call the sea 'the wall of England,' and what think you that our enemies, now that they are upon the wall, will do to the inhabitants who are unprepared to receive them? Forasmuch as this matter hath already for the space of many years been neglected, it hath happened that already our ships are

scanty, our sailors few in number, and those unskilled in seamanship for want of practice. May the Lord take away this our reproach, and raise up the spirit of bravery in our nation! May he strip off the false and feigned friendships of nations, lest on a sudden, when we dread them not, they come upon us!"*

We have gleaned one extract more-a French invasion in 1403, and how it was met:

"In this same tyme the Frenschmen cam to the Ylde of Wite, ask yng tribute of the dwelleres to the sustenauns of qwen Isabelle. And thei of Wyte answered that Kyng Richard was ded, and the qwen pesabely sent hom; wherfor thei wold non pay: if thei cam for to fite, they schuld be welkom, and thei schuld gyve hem leve to entyr the lond, and rest hem III dayes befor the batayle. The Frenschmen herd this answere, and sayled fro that cuntre.”—(P. 285.)

And so we bid good old John Capgrave farewell.

We cannot conclude without saying a word or two on the getting up and editing of this work. On both we heartily congratulate the Master of the Rolls,-who projected and directs the plan for the publication of our ancient historical documents, as well as his readers, the English people, to whom this national scheme for throwing all possible additional light upon the glorious deeds of our forefathers, and the terrible struggles by which they won for us that blessed heritage of civil and religious liberty which we now enjoy, has been most acceptable hitherto, and will continue to be so, if the remainder of the series be worthy of the volume before us, and of the others which have already appeared.

How interesting and valuable Capgrave's "Chronicle of England" is, our Gleanings and they afford a fair sample of the work-amply testify. They show, also, how very great were the difficulties which the editor was called on to encounter, and how well he has succeeded in overcoming them.

We rejoice to learn, from the list of "Works in preparation," that Mr. Hingeston is now engaged on a collection of Royal and Historical Letters, written during the reigns of Henry IV., V., and VI. Of the Lancastrian period of our history we know less for certainty than of any other; many are the blanks to be filled up, many the blunders which require correction. We have no doubt that Mr. Hingeston's volumes will be worthy to stand on the same shelf with the valuable contributions of Sir Harris Nicolas and Sir Henry Ellis to the history of this period, and will carry us far towards a just appreciation and a true understanding of our domestic and foreign relations in those troublous times. That this can be done completely it is vain to expect; the wholesale destruction of valuable historic documents during the disastrous wars of the Roses cannot be undone. But an opportunity now presents itself of rescuing from oblivion a great quantity of most important matter, which might as well have been destroyed with the rest for all we have known of it hitherto ; and we confidently hope that Mr. Hingeston will make the best of it. The letters will, we presume, be arranged in chronological order; they will, however, necessarily present a disjointed and fragmentary rather than a continuous narrative, and we shall look to Mr. Hingeston's Preface for a full and skilful résumé of their contents.

* See Capgrave's "Book of the Illustrious Henries" (Longmans, 1858), p. 155. July-VOL. CXVI. NO. CCCCLXIII. 2 A