Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Notes On Literature , Science And Art.
with p leasure the History of the Dunmow Flitch of Bacon Custom , by William A ndrews , F . R . H . S ., Avhich ( for a single shilling ) g ives the entire particulars of this curious remnant of the manners of our ancestors , told in a pleasing manner , ancl illustrated by Hogarthian engravings .
' ' I would not , if I could , recall the Past ; Unless 't were for a day or two , to SIIOAV Better than tongue or pen can ever do , What was the real condition oS our Isle , In palace , castle , monastery , and cot , In our forefathers' days . And yet 1 love All innocent enjoyments for their sakes ; And good Old Customs are to me as bonds
To bind us in a loving brotherhood , Though passing through . the grave . And thine , Dunmoiv ! That gave a Flitch of Bacon to the Wife Aud Husband who could sAvear they ne ' er had rued , E ' en for a moment , that they plighted troth ; Thatfor twelvemonth and at least
, a a day , They never once had done an unkind thing , They never once had spoken unkind word , They ne ' er had harbour'd unkind thought at all Of one another ; but had lived and loveel AA'ith that delightful harmony of soul All married couples always ought to do ; Thine was a Custom , Dunmow , that I love . "
In another-Note , aided by Mr . Andrew ' s interesting little book , I hope to give a summary of the history of this quaint Old Custom . Professor Draper , of New York , claims to have discovered oxygen ancl nitrogen in the atmosphere of the sun .
It appears from the report of the Charity Commissioners for 1876 , that the total income of the endowed charities in England and Wales is £ 2 , 198 , 461 . Of this sum , £ 666 , 863 is applicable to education ; £ 87 , 865 , for apprenticing poor children , etc
. ; £ 90 , 843 , for clergymen and lecturers ; ¦ £ 112 , 895 , for other church purposes ; £ 38 , 832 , for nonconformist chapels and ministers ; 66 , 875 for parochial ancl general public uses ; £ 552 , 119 for alms-houses and pensioners ; £ 199 , 140 for medical hospitals and
dispensaries ; and 383 , 028 for distribution amongst the poor . What an immortality of fame is that of Homer , though too f ' eAv , in our moneygrubbing age , pay their devotions at his shrine ! Holland , which is said to possess £° good translation of his Avorks , is to be favolu-ed Avith a new rendering of the Wad , which is to be into Dutch
hexameters , from the pen of poet Vosmaer , the biographer of Rembrandt . "I have a great liking ancl reverence for Homer , who is the great master of all tragic poets , " remarks Plato , in his Republic— " indeed from childhood I have loveel his name ; but I love truth better . And Avhat has
Homer clone for us after all ? He has not given us laAvs , like Solon or Lycurgus ; he has not g iven us inventions , like Thales and Anacharsis ; nor has he founded a brotherhood , like Pythagoras ; nor , again , has he taught us any of the arts of Avar and peace .
If he had done any real good to men , is it likely that he Avould have been alloAved to wander about , blind and poor 1 No ; all that he does is to give us a secondhand imitation of reality , to exult the feelings Avhich are an inferior part , of
outsold , to thrill us with pity or terror , ancl so render us unmanly ancl effeminate . " Plato would have no poets in his republic ; but one mig ht just as ivell say that reading such ballads as " Chevy Chase , " would unfit the British soldier for service I I
rather think that Bonaparte took a wiser vieAv of the noble old Greek , Avhen he said to Las Cases at St . Helena : " Homer , in his epic poem , has proved himself a poet , an orator , an historian , a legislator , a geographer , ancl a theologist . He may be justly called the encyclopedist of the
period in which he nourished . " Even the divine Plato showed himself fallible in his estimate of Homer . We have of late years clone a little in England by Avay of ornamenting our towns with a few trees and evergreens , so that
human eyes . may have something occasionally to look at to remind them of the country ; but they really " order these things better in France , " as Sterne Avould say . In Paris , is spent nearly £ 80 , 000 a year over treesshrubsseatsand such
, , , like ; the trees in the cemeteries numbering more than 10 , 000 ; and those in the squares , and other places Avhere the people can . see them , exceed 8 , 000 ; and there are upwards of 8 , 000 seats for the citizens aud visitors . Nor is Paris less liberally
supplied Avith water , for all purposes , useful and ornamental . Surely John Bull might copy the example of his neighbours , Avithout Frenchifying too much English institutions . The British Constitution Avould survive it .
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Notes On Literature , Science And Art.
with p leasure the History of the Dunmow Flitch of Bacon Custom , by William A ndrews , F . R . H . S ., Avhich ( for a single shilling ) g ives the entire particulars of this curious remnant of the manners of our ancestors , told in a pleasing manner , ancl illustrated by Hogarthian engravings .
' ' I would not , if I could , recall the Past ; Unless 't were for a day or two , to SIIOAV Better than tongue or pen can ever do , What was the real condition oS our Isle , In palace , castle , monastery , and cot , In our forefathers' days . And yet 1 love All innocent enjoyments for their sakes ; And good Old Customs are to me as bonds
To bind us in a loving brotherhood , Though passing through . the grave . And thine , Dunmoiv ! That gave a Flitch of Bacon to the Wife Aud Husband who could sAvear they ne ' er had rued , E ' en for a moment , that they plighted troth ; Thatfor twelvemonth and at least
, a a day , They never once had done an unkind thing , They never once had spoken unkind word , They ne ' er had harbour'd unkind thought at all Of one another ; but had lived and loveel AA'ith that delightful harmony of soul All married couples always ought to do ; Thine was a Custom , Dunmow , that I love . "
In another-Note , aided by Mr . Andrew ' s interesting little book , I hope to give a summary of the history of this quaint Old Custom . Professor Draper , of New York , claims to have discovered oxygen ancl nitrogen in the atmosphere of the sun .
It appears from the report of the Charity Commissioners for 1876 , that the total income of the endowed charities in England and Wales is £ 2 , 198 , 461 . Of this sum , £ 666 , 863 is applicable to education ; £ 87 , 865 , for apprenticing poor children , etc
. ; £ 90 , 843 , for clergymen and lecturers ; ¦ £ 112 , 895 , for other church purposes ; £ 38 , 832 , for nonconformist chapels and ministers ; 66 , 875 for parochial ancl general public uses ; £ 552 , 119 for alms-houses and pensioners ; £ 199 , 140 for medical hospitals and
dispensaries ; and 383 , 028 for distribution amongst the poor . What an immortality of fame is that of Homer , though too f ' eAv , in our moneygrubbing age , pay their devotions at his shrine ! Holland , which is said to possess £° good translation of his Avorks , is to be favolu-ed Avith a new rendering of the Wad , which is to be into Dutch
hexameters , from the pen of poet Vosmaer , the biographer of Rembrandt . "I have a great liking ancl reverence for Homer , who is the great master of all tragic poets , " remarks Plato , in his Republic— " indeed from childhood I have loveel his name ; but I love truth better . And Avhat has
Homer clone for us after all ? He has not given us laAvs , like Solon or Lycurgus ; he has not g iven us inventions , like Thales and Anacharsis ; nor has he founded a brotherhood , like Pythagoras ; nor , again , has he taught us any of the arts of Avar and peace .
If he had done any real good to men , is it likely that he Avould have been alloAved to wander about , blind and poor 1 No ; all that he does is to give us a secondhand imitation of reality , to exult the feelings Avhich are an inferior part , of
outsold , to thrill us with pity or terror , ancl so render us unmanly ancl effeminate . " Plato would have no poets in his republic ; but one mig ht just as ivell say that reading such ballads as " Chevy Chase , " would unfit the British soldier for service I I
rather think that Bonaparte took a wiser vieAv of the noble old Greek , Avhen he said to Las Cases at St . Helena : " Homer , in his epic poem , has proved himself a poet , an orator , an historian , a legislator , a geographer , ancl a theologist . He may be justly called the encyclopedist of the
period in which he nourished . " Even the divine Plato showed himself fallible in his estimate of Homer . We have of late years clone a little in England by Avay of ornamenting our towns with a few trees and evergreens , so that
human eyes . may have something occasionally to look at to remind them of the country ; but they really " order these things better in France , " as Sterne Avould say . In Paris , is spent nearly £ 80 , 000 a year over treesshrubsseatsand such
, , , like ; the trees in the cemeteries numbering more than 10 , 000 ; and those in the squares , and other places Avhere the people can . see them , exceed 8 , 000 ; and there are upwards of 8 , 000 seats for the citizens aud visitors . Nor is Paris less liberally
supplied Avith water , for all purposes , useful and ornamental . Surely John Bull might copy the example of his neighbours , Avithout Frenchifying too much English institutions . The British Constitution Avould survive it .