



Produced by Jonathan Ingram and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team.




THE MIRROR OF LITERATURE, AMUSEMENT, AND INSTRUCTION.

VOL. 13, No. 351.] SATURDAY, JANUARY 10, 1829. [PRICE 2d.


[Illustration: Macclesfield Bridge, Regent's Park.]



MACCLESFIELD BRIDGE.


This picturesque structure crosses the Canal towards the Northern verge
of the Regent's Park; and nearly opposite to it is a road leading to
Primrose Hill, as celebrated in the annals of Cockayne as was the
Palatino among the ancient Romans.

The bridge was built from the designs of Mr. Morgan, and its
construction is considered to be "appropriate and architectural." Its
piers are formed by cast-iron columns, of the Grecian Doric order, from
which spring the arches, covering the towing-path, the canal itself, and
the southern bank. The _abacus_, or top of the columns, the mouldings or
ornaments of the capitals, and the frieze, are in exceeding good taste,
as are the ample shafts. The supporters of the roadway, likewise,
correspond with the order; although, says Mr. Elmes, the architect,
"fastidious critics may object to the dignity of the pure ancient Doric
being violated by degrading it into supporters of modern arches." The
centre arch is appropriated to the canal and the towing-path, and the
two external arches to foot-passengers, and as communications to the
road above them. Mr. Elmes[1] sums up the merits of the bridge as
follows:--"It has a beautiful and light appearance, and is an
improvement in execution upon a design of Perronet's for an
_architectural_ bridge, that is, a bridge of _orders_. The columns are
well proportioned, and suitably robust, carrying solidity, grace, and
beauty in every part; from the massy grandeur of the abacus, to the
graceful revolving of the beautiful echinus, and to the majestic
simplicity of the slightly indented flutings." He then suggests certain
improvements in the design, which would have made the bridge
"unexceptionably the most novel and the most tasteful in the metropolis.
Even as it is, it is scarcely surpassed for lightness, elegance, and
originality by any in Europe. It is of the same family with the
beautiful little bridge in Hyde Park, between the new entrance and the
barracks."

We are happy to quote the above praise on the construction of
_Macclesfield Bridge_, inasmuch as a critical notice of many of the
structures in the Regent's Park would subject them to much severe and
merited censure. The forms of bridges admit, perhaps, of more display of
taste than any other species of ornamental architecture, and of a
greater means of contributing to the picturesque beauty of the
surrounding scenery.


    [1] Letter-press to Jones's "Metropolitan Improvements."

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TRIBUTES TO THE DEAD, &c.

_(For the Mirror.)_


            "When our friends we lose,
  Our alter'd feelings alter too our views;
  What in their tempers, teazed or distress'd,
  Is with our anger, and the dead at rest;
  And must we grieve, no longer trial made,
  For that impatience which we then display'd?
  Now to their love and worth of every kind,
  A soft compunction turns the afflicted mind;
  Virtues neglected then, adored become,
  And graces slighted, blossom on the tomb."

CRABBE.


"It was the early wish of Pope," says Dr. Knox, "that when he died, not
a stone might tell where he lay. It is a wish that will commonly be
granted with reluctance. The affection of those whom we leave behind us
is at a loss for methods to display its wonted solicitude, and seeks
consolation under sorrow, in doing honour to all that remains. It is
natural that filial piety, parental tenderness, and conjugal love,
should mark, with some fond memorial, the clay-cold spot where the form,
still fostered in the bosom, moulders away. And did affection go no
farther, who could censure? But, in recording the virtues of the
departed, either zeal or vanity leads to an excess perfectly ludicrous.
A marble monument, with an inscription palpably false and ridiculously
pompous, is far more offensive to true taste, than the wooden memorial
of the rustic, sculptured with painted bones, and decked out with
death's head in all the colours of the rainbow. There is an elegance and
a classical simplicity in the turf-clad heap of mould which covers the
poor man's grave, though it has nothing to defend it from the insults of
the proud but a bramble. The primrose that grows upon it is a better
ornament than the gilded lies on the oppressor's tombstone."

The Greeks had a custom of bedecking tombs with herbs and flowers, among
which parsley was chiefly in use, as appears from Plutarch's story of
Timoleon, who, marching up an ascent, from the top of which he might
take a view of the army and strength of the Carthaginians, was met by a
company of mules laden with parsley, which his soldiers conceived to be
a very ill boding and fatal occurrence, that being the very herb
wherewith they adorned the sepulchres of the dead. This custom gave
birth to that despairing proverb, when we pronounce of one dangerously
sick, that he has need of nothing but parsley; which is in effect to
say, he's a dead man, and ready for the grave. All sorts of purple and
white flowers were acceptable to the dead; as the amaranthus, which was
first used by the Thessalians to adorn Achilles's grave. The rose, too,
was very grateful; nor was the use of myrtle less common. In short,
graves were bedecked with garlands of all sorts of flowers, as appears
from Agamemnon's daughter in Sophocles:--


  "No sooner came I to my father's tomb,
  But milk fresh pour'd in copious streams did flow,
  And _flowers_ of ev'ry sort around were strow'd."


Several other tributes were frequently laid upon graves, as ribands;
whence it is said that Epaminondas's soldiers being disanimated at
seeing the riband that hung upon his spear carried by the wind to a
certain Lacedaemonian sepulchre, he bid them take courage, for that it
portended destruction to the Lacedaemons, it being customary to deck the
sepulchres of their dead with ribands. Another thing dedicated to the
dead was their hair. Electra, in Sophocles, says, that Agamemnon had
commanded her and Chrysosthemis to pay this honour:--


  "With drink-off'rings and _locks of hair_ we must,
  According to his will, his _tomb_ adorn."


It was likewise customary to perfume the grave-stones with sweet
ointments, &c.

P.T.W.

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SONG.

_(For the Mirror.)_


  I've roam'd the thorny path of life,
    And search'd abroad to find.
  Amid the blooming flowers so rife,
    That germ called peace of mind.
  At length a lovely lily caught
    My anxious, longing view,
  With all the sweets of "Heartsease" fraught,
    That fragrant flower was YOU.

  Thy smile to me is Heaven divine,
    Thy voice the soul of Love--
  In pity, then, sweet maid, be mine,
    My "heartsease" flow'ret prove.
  Nor wealth nor power would I attain,
    Though uncontrolled and free--
  All other joys to me are pain,
    When sever'd, love, from THEE.


ELFORD.

       *       *       *       *       *

CHARLES BRANDON, AFTERWARDS DUKE OF SUFFOLK.

_(For the Mirror.)_


An event in the life of this nobleman gave Otway the plot for his
celebrated tragedy of "The Orphan," though he laid the scene of his play
in Bohemia. It is recorded in the "English Adventures," a very scarce
pamphlet, published in 1667, only two or three copies of which are
extant. The father of Charles Brandon retired, on the death of his lady,
to the borders of Hampshire. His family consisted of two sons, and a
young lady, the daughter of a friend, lately deceased, whom he adopted
as his own child.

This lady being singularly beautiful, as well as amiable in her manners,
attracted the affections of both the brothers. The elder, however, was
the favourite, and he privately married her; which the younger not
knowing, and overhearing an appointment of the lovers to meet the next
night in her bed-chamber, he contrived to get his brother otherwise
employed, and made the signal of admission himself, (thinking it a mere
intrigue.) Unfortunately he succeeded.

On discovery, the lady lost her reason, and soon after died. The two
brothers fought, and the elder fell. The father broke his heart a few
months afterwards. The younger brother, Charles Brandon, the
unintentional author of all this family misery, quitted England in
despair, with a fixed determination of never returning.

Being abroad for several years, his nearest relations supposed him dead,
and began to take the necessary steps for obtaining his estates; when,
roused by this intelligence, he returned privately to England, and for a
time took obscure lodgings in the vicinity of his family mansion.

While he was in this retreat, the young king, (Henry VIII.), who had
just buried his father, was one day hunting on the borders of Hampshire,
when he heard the cries of a female in distress in an adjoining wood.
His gallantry immediately summoned him to the place, though he then
happened to be detached from all his courtiers, where he saw two
ruffians attempting to violate the honour of a young lady. The king
instantly drew on them; and a scuffle ensued, which roused the _reverie_
of Charles Brandon, who was taking his morning walk in an adjoining
thicket. He immediately ranged himself on the side of the king, whom he
then did not know; and by his dexterity, soon disarmed one of the
ruffians, while the other fled.

The king, charmed with this act of gallantry, so congenial to his own
mind, inquired the name and family of the stranger; and not only
repossessed him of his patrimonial estates, but took him under his
immediate protection.

It was this same Charles Brandon who afterwards privately married
Henry's sister, Margaret, queen-dowager of France; which marriage the
king not only forgave, but created him Duke of Suffolk, and continued
his favour towards him to the last hour of the duke's life.

He died before Henry; and the latter showed, in his attachment to this
nobleman, that notwithstanding his fits of capriciousness and cruelty,
he was capable of a cordial and steady friendship. He was sitting in
council when the news of Suffolk's death reached him; and he publicly
took that occasion, both to express his own sorrow, and to celebrate the
merits of the deceased. He declared, that during the whole course of
their acquaintance, his brother-in-law had not made a single attempt to
injure an adversary, and had never whispered a word to the disadvantage
of any one; "and are there _any of you_, my lords, who can say as much?"
When the king subjoined these words, (says the historian,) he looked
round in all their faces, and saw that confusion which the consciousness
of secret guilt naturally threw upon them.

Otway took his plot from the fact related in this pamphlet; but to
avoid, perhaps, interfering in a circumstance which might affect many
noble families at that time living, he laid the scene of his tragedy in
Bohemia.

There is a large painting of the above incident now at Woburn, the seat
of his Grace the Duke of Bedford; and the old duchess-dowager, in
showing this picture a few years before her death to a nobleman, related
the particulars of the story.

A CORRESPONDENT.


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THE TO