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CARBO being always put for charcoal. It appears to have been used by the Saxons, but probably in no great quantity; in fact, it never came into common use before the decay of wood fuel; the first charter licensing the digging of coal was granted by Henry 3d. 1239, and in 1281 Newcastle was famous for the trade in the article; but in 1306 the use of it was prohibited in London, from a belief that the smoke rendered the air pernicious.

(Compare p. 22, of the present volume.)

LOVE APPLES are now to be seen in great abundance at all our vegetable markets; but I do not find (observes Phillips in his late work on fruits) that they are used by the middle or lower classes of English families, who have yet to learn the art of improving their dishes with vegetables. This fruit has long been in use by the wealthy Jew families in this country; and within these last few years it has come into great use with all our best cooks, as it possesses in itself an agreeable acid, a very unusual quality in ripe vegetables, and which makes it quite distinct from all garden vegetables that are used for culinary purposes in this country. When boiled in soups and sauces it imparts an acid of a most agreeable flavour: it is also served at table boiled or roasted, and sometimes fried with eggs. This author states the Spaniards, as Barham observes, use them in their sauces and gravies, because the juice, as they say, is as good as any gravy, and so, by its richness warms the blood. Parkinson mentions the plant as being cultivated in this country so early as 1656; but it was then planted for ornament and curiosity only; and even at the present time they are grown in many gardens in England merely for the singularity of their appearance. We learn that one gardener at Isleworth gathered 133 bushels last summer from 600 plants only.

BIBLIOMANIA. In 1819 The library of the White Knights,for some reason

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or other, was brought to the hammer. The generality of the books sold very high, particularly the well-known "Il Decamerone di Boccaccio," first edition,printed by Valdarfer, in 1471. This book, more extraordinary for its history than for its merit, was purchased in queen Anne's time by the earl (afterwards duke) of Roxburgh, from Vallant the bookseller, for £100, and it remained in the Roxburgh library till June 17,1812, when it was sold to the marquis of Blandford, now Duke of Marlbro' for £2260. I shall add no epithet to this I shall neither call it amazing nor absurd; this and many more the reader may supply. Seven yearsseven short years had expired since it was sold to the Duke of Marlborough, and it was now contrived to put the Boccaccio a little out of its order in the catalogue, in order to be disposed of on the anniversary of the former sale. It was brought to the hammer again on June 17, 1819, and put up at £378; from thence it rose rapidly, and was knocked down for

sum;

918.15 to Messrs. Longman and Co. from whose hands it passed into the, library of earl Spencer, where it will, perhaps, repose for generations.

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TO CORRESPONDENTS. ROMEO's observation is correct: a poem has,by an oversight been reinserted at p. printed in our second volume (p. 296) 246 of the present, but as this, we believe,is the first time such a circumstance has occurred, our readers, we trust, will overlook it.-G. Drago says, "Give me leave to correct an error, in the article on Watches, inserted page 241, of the present volume, where it is stated that a, watch ticks, 18,000 times in an hour, 3,024,000 in a week, and 157,784,400 in a year; but here there is an error in calculation: it should be 157,248,000 in a year."-G. D's last contributions shall appear immediately.

LONDON--Printed and Published by T. Wallis Camden Town ; and also Published by C. Harris, Bow Street, Covent Garden, by whom Communications, for the Editor are received; Dunbar, Wych Street Drury Lane: andArcher, Berwick Street, Suho.

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THE FATAL MASQUERADE, 1392.

A DANCE of satyrs appears to have commonly formed a part of the rude entertainments of the middle ages, and one occasion caused a most lamentable catastrophe. At a great, festival celebrated in Paris, in the vear 1592, the king, Charles the 6th, in company with several of his nobles, made their appearance attired in close habits tufted or shagged all over with

hair, to imitate satyrs. They began a wild dance, and in the midst of their merriment one of them went too near a candle, and set fire to his garb, the flame instantly ran over the loose tufts, and spread itself to the dresses of those who were next him, great number of whom were cruelly scorched, being neither able to throw off their coats, nor extinguish them.

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The king was saved by the duchess of Burgundy, who with great presence of mind threw her robe over him, and smothered the flames.

A particular account of this occurrenee is given by Froissart, in his Chronicle," book 4, chap. 52, which is thus quaintly epitomised by the puritanical John Beard, in his " Theatre of God's Judgments, 1633:

"It happened in the raign of Charles the Sixt, to six that masked it to a marriage at the Hostell of St. Paul's in Paris, being attired like wild horses, couered with loose flaxe dangling downe like haire: albedaubed with grease for the fitter hanging thereof, and fast bound one to an

other; and in this guise entered the hall, dancing with torches before them: but behold sodainly their play turned to a tragedie, for a spark of one of their torches fell into the greasie flax of his neighbor, and set It immediately on fire, so that in the turning of an hand they were all on flame, then gave they out a most horrible outcrie: one of them threw himselfe headlong into a tub of water prouided to rense their drinking cups and goblites, and upon that occasion standing not farre off; two were burnt to death without stirring once from the place: the bastard Foix and the Earle of Jouy escaped indeed from present death, but being conveyed to their lodgings they survived not two days; the King himselfe being out of the six was saved by the Duchesse of Berry, that couering him with her loose and wide garments quenched the fire before it could scage upon his flesh. Froysard the reporter of this tragedie, saith, that the next morrow every man could say that this was a wonderfull signe and aduertisement sent by God to the King, to warn him to renounce all such

fond and foolish deuices which hee delighted too much in, and more than it became a King of France to do: and this was the event of that gallant masque."

The curious cut prefixed to this article, which was copied from an il

lumination in a fine manuscript copy of Froissart, preserved at the British Museum, will serve to convey some idea, not only of the manner in which these 66 hairy men' were habited, but also of the rude simplicity of an ancient ball-room. The Duchess of Burgundy, enveloping the King in her robe, is seen in the centre.

Melvil's Memoirs, p. 152, edit. 1735, bear additional testimony to the prevalence of this species of mum

mery:

embassadors who assembled to cou"During their abode, (that of the gratulate Mary Queen of Scots on the birth of her son,) at Stirling, there was daily banqueting, dancing, and triumph. And at the principal banquet there fell out a great grudge among the Englishmen : for a Frenchman called Bastian devised a number of men formed like satyrs, with long tails, and whips in their hands, runing before the meat, which was brought through the great hall upon a machine or engine, marching as ap like maids, singing, and playing upon peared alone, with musicians clothed

all sorts of intruments. But the sa

tyrs were not content only to make behind to their tails, which they way or room, but put their hands wagged with their hands in such sort, been devised and done in derision of as the Englishmen supposed it had which they should not have appeared them; weakly apprehending that to understand. For Mr. Hatton, Mr. Lignish, and the most part of the gentlemen, desired to sup before the queen and great banquet, that they might see the better the order and ceremonies of the triumph; but so soon as they perceived the satyrs wagging their tails, they all sat down upon the bare floor behind the back of the table, that they might not see themselves derided, as they thought. Mr. Halton said unto me, if it were not in the queen's presence, he would put a dagger to the heart of that French knave, Bastian, who he alledged had done it out of despight that the queen made more of them than of the Frenchman."

ANECDOTES OF DRESS.

(Resumed from p. 262,)

The love of novelty, it has been truly observed, is the parent of fashion. As the fancy sickens, says a writer on this subject, with one image, it longs for another. This is the cause of the continual revolutions of habit and behaviour, and why we prove so industrious in pursuing the change; this makes fashion universally followed, and is the true reason why the awkwardest people are as fond of this folly as the genteelest.

The passion for novelty, particularly in the article of dress, seems for ages to have been a predominant feature in the English character, and with the exception of our neighbours, the French, may be said to be almost peculiar to it. Most of our early writers makes some allusions to it in their works, and Dr. Andrew Borde, in a satirical tract published by him in the reign of Henry VIII., to show the then excess of the folly, has prefixed, in a rude wood-cut, the figure of a naked Englishman with a piece of cloth and pair of sheers, debating on the fashion he shall have his clothes made in Purposing in the few slight notices which follow, to confine our observations merely to the costume of the last century, we shall pass over the fashions of those which preceded it, with only quoting some general reInarks.

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"The party-coloured coat." says the author of a Treatise on Dress, published in 1761. "was first wor in England in the time of Henry ́ 1. Chaplets, or

wreaths of artificial flowers, in the time of Edward III.; hoods and short coats without sleeves, called tabarts, in the time of Henry IV.; hats in the time of Henry VII.; ruffs in the reign of Edward VI.; and wrought caps and bonnets in the time of Queen Elizabeth. Judge Finch introduced the band in the reign of James I.; French hoods, bibs and gorgets were discontinued by the Queen of Charles I.: the commode, or tower, was introduced in the year

1687; shoes of the then fashion, in 1633; breeches instead of trunk hose, in 1634; and perukes were first worn after the Restoration.

About the year 1700, the ladies wore Holland petticoats embroidered in figures, with different coloured silks and gold, with broad orrices at the bottom. Muffs were at this period in use, but very different in shape and materals from those of the present day; being in general very small, and frequently made of leopard's skin. Diamond stomachers adorned the ladies' bosoms, which were composed of that valuable stone set in silver, in a variety of figures, upon black silk, and which must be admitted to have been a brilliant, if not elegant ornament.

Satin gowns were lined with Persian silk; and handkerchiefs, and Spanish leather shoes, lined with gold, were common with persons of respectability To these different articles the ladies added bare necks, with gold and other crosses suspended from them. Those odd little circular pieces of black silk called patches, prevailed also at this period to a most extravagant degree. These were stuck on different parts of the female face, and varied in size. Frequent allusions are made to these fancied "beauty spots," by early comic wri

ters.

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In 1609, a lady's dress is thus described in an advertisement to recover one that was lost: A black silk petticoat, with a red and white calico border; cherry coloured stays, trimmed with blue and silver; a red and dove-coloured damask gown, flowered with large trees; a yellow satin apron, trimmed with white Persian; muslin head cloths, with crows-foot edging double ruffles, with fine edging; a black silk furbelowed scarf, and spotted hood," In 1711, a lady's riding dress is advertised for sale in theSpectator," of blue camblet, well laced with silver; being a coat, waistcoat, petticoat, hat, and feathers. And another advertisement, in 1712, mentions an Isabella coloured Kincob gown, flowered with green and gold; and a dark coloured cloth

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