SONNET TO CARISBROOKE CASTLE IMPERIAL tow 'rs! juft emblem of the age, When vice and folly threat our swift decay, And faction murmurs at a Brunswick's sway, Which fails by lenity to ftem their rage! Still may thy fcite the loyal mind engage, With time or treafon what fhall battle wage? Fall'n is thy creft, and moulder'd is thy wall, As regal pow'r feems tottering to its fall, While treads democracy the bloody stage! But e'er, like Charles, he here expects his doom; Where gallant Charles, long struggling in May Britons shield their King, or find a com the toils That fixed a bold ufurper in the spoils, Gives, by his woes, importance to my page ! mon tomb! THE RIGHT OF SANCTUARY CONSIDERED. LEAVING the fabulous ftories of In ancient times, the right of fanc Of the fanctuary at Weftminster, once fo famous, little now remains. Its privileges have been long fince taken away, and the part which still retains its ancient name, is not, as it is conjectured, more than one third of its original dimenfions: yet, upon the veftiges of that little, it is no unpleasant pursuit for a contemplative mind to dwell; and in a moment of reflection, endeavour to retrace the events that have happened, the fcenes that have paffed, and the changes which a feries of ages have wrought in the narrow compafs of the few acres fur rounding the venerable and auguft fabric, which feems to have reared its head impervious to the ftorm, and to have triumphed over the ruin of time. The Conftitution of the Benedictine Monattery of St. Peter at Westminster, it was once thought, refted upon as firm a bafis as the Abbey itself; and, fenced around by laws ecclefiaftical and civil, was for centuries unallailed, and indeed deemed unaffailable. It was a fortunate circumftance for this Nation, that the perions to whom its fall was owing, though rapacious, were not philofopbers; confequently, they did not attempt to root up one religious establishment, without planting another in its ftead; and, although we owe little to their motives, we have great obligations to Providence for the iffue of an event, which has been a fingular bleffing to the ages which have fucceeded that memorable epoch in the hiftory of this Country. Although it is more than probable that the fuppliants and fugitives who fought the protection which the shrine and cloisters of St. Peter afforded, were, in periods far remote, very numerous, I do not find any that have been deemed of fufficient consequence to attract the attention of the Historian, from the reign of Edward the Confeffor down to that of Richard the Second, when not only the Sanctuary, but the Church fuffered a violation, which, as it caufed a con * The Printer has to apologize for the discontinuance of this Article for two months i a circumftance which has arisen from the Copy having been accidentally mislaid. The fecurity of Ecclefiaftics from arrefts in any Church, whether the right of Sanctuary appertained to it or not, was, it should seem, specially provided for. "If any hall arreft priests, or their clerks, or any person of holy church, in churches or church-yards, and thereof be convict, he fhall have imprisonment, and be ran.fomed at the Kin's will, and make gree to the parties."-1. Rich. 2. c. 15. fiderable emotion while it was recent, and has been differently reprefented by Hiftorians who have lived near to or remote from the time when it happened. I fhall, to conclude this ipeculation, relate in my own words, as they have occurred upon comparing the several authorities to which I have in the courfe of it alluded. In the year 1378*, a very remarkable circumstance relating to Sanctuary, happened in that of St. Peter at Westminster : Robert Hawley and John Schakell, two men famed for their valiant actions in the war engaged in by the Black Prince, in favour of the Spanish Monarch Peter the Cruel, had, in 1367, taken prifoner the Count of Denia, a perion of great importance in that country. In thofe ancient times, when the law of Chivalry retained its full force, the prifoner, and confequently his ranfom, belonged to thofe that had captured him. The Count, it fhould feem, ill brooking confinement, foon after he arrived in England, endeavoured, by his correfpondent in his own country, to raite money in order to procure his emancipation; but failing in this, he fent for his eldelt fon, and left him as an hoftage for his remittance of the ranfom. He fet out for Spain, procured a command, and went upon an expedition; in the courfe of which, his fon and his ranfem were equally forgotten. Thos. Walfingham. Whether any circumftance in a courfe of years brought to the father's memory the young man, is uncertain; but it is certain, that fome application was made to the Duke of Lancaster, who, in right of his wife, claimed the Crown of Caftile; and that he demanded the youth of his keepers Hawley and Schakcii, who, refuting to deliver him up without a pro. per remuneration, were committed to the Tower. Schakell had a favourite domeftic, who, ftruck with the misfortunes, and much attached to the perion of his mafter, requested to accompany him; which requeft was, after fome difficulty, complied with. The two warriors and this fervant had been but a fhort time in confinement before they found means to elcape from the Tower, and to fly to the Sanctuary at Westminster for protection. Sir Alan Boxhull, Constable of that Fortreis, with Sir Ralph Ferrars his deputy, and fity armed men, immediately pursuing, feired Schakell and the youth just as they had gained the verge of the Abbey, and reconveyed them to their former àpartments in the prifon. While this was tranfacting, fome of the party followed Hawley into the Church, and most inhumanly murdered him in the choir, at the time when high mafs was celebrating t. It was not without reafon, that great The day of the month when this act of cruelty occurred was noted in fome veries engraved in the ftone pavement on the very spot where the unfortunate Hawley fell; "M. Domini C.ter, feptuaginta, his dabis octo "Planxit militiæ immunis Ecclefiæ." The festival of Taurinus, mentioned in these verses, and who, according to the legendary accounts, was Bishop of Eureuxe in Normandy in the first century, was kept on the eleventh day of Auguft (u); and was, by the Monks, confidered as a day of extraordinary folemnity. Hawley was buried in the South part of the Crefs, and had an epitaph, of which, in Cambden's (b) time, there were the following remains; but which, alas! have been long fince obliterated: "Me dolus, ira furor multorum, militis atque complaints were made of this violation of Sanctuary; for although, as I before obferved, this privilege had been much abused, and the Church had frequently become a refuge for bad men, and even the fcene of great enormities; yet furely, in fuch a cafe as this, the Jus afyli ought to have been allowed. Here the ecclefiaftical arms fhould have been opened to have fheltered innocent fugitives, who flew to them for protection. Befides, the Abbey itself, but more efpecially the Choir, was always confidered as more facred than the diffrict and liberties around it; and the hour of prayer, and offices of public worship, thought to be, above all other times, entitled to peculiar veneration and refpect. In all the reign of the unfortunate Richard, there was scarce a circumstance, however untoward, that caufed a greater agitation in the public mind, than did this murder. Every one fhuddered with horror at the atrocity of the offence. The profanation of the Abbey was deemed fo great, that it was ordered to be fhut during the space of four months, and that the taking off this interdiction might be attended with a folemnity calculated to imprefs the minds of the people with an awe and veneration fuitable to the occation, the Archbishop of Canterbury and five other Bifhops, went thither, with their fuites, in proceffion, and after fome ceremonies neceffary to the purification of the Church, did publickly excommunicate Boxhull, Ferrars, and all others concerned with them in the facrilegious murder that had been committed: which excommunication the Bishop of London repeated on every Wedneiday and Friday for near four fuccceding months, at St. Paul's. for difperfing the impending thunder of the Church, not to let the ftorm fubfide by their liberation from its anathemas. He accordingly, in a Parliament which was fhortly after holden at Gloucester, made a long and pathetic appeal against this recent violation of Sanctuary, which had fuch an effect upon the minds of his auditors, that when they next met at Westminster it was remembered; and, being again taken up with great fpirit by the Abbot, the privileges of Sanctuary were unanimously confirmed, with this reafonable exception, that the goods of the perfons who fought its protection, fhould be liable to be feized for the payment of their debts. By this time the old Count of Denia being dead, and the fituation of Schakell having attracted the attention of the Privy Council, he was ordered to be brought before them, and his hoftage demanded but he refufing to deliver him up, or inform them where he was, they came to an agreement to random him. The fum ftipulated was five hundred marks in hand, and one hundred yearly during his life. When this was fettled, he was called upon to produce the young Count of Denia. He retired for a few minutes, and, to the astonishment of every one, returned with the youth, who had defired to be imprifoned with him, and who had for feveral years acted as his valet. Proper perions were immediately fent for, who to the fatisfaction of the Council, identified the young Nobleman; and while the whole Court applauded his high fenfe of honour and integrity, which had induced him to aflume a menial character, rather than violate an engagement which his father had made, they paid equal compliments to his quondam matter Schakell, for his affection and attachment towards him. The affairs of the Count demand In thofe times the Saxon cuftom of commuting crimes for money, had not been totally abolished. Boxhull and Fer-ing his attendance in Spain, that Gentle rars agreed to pay to the Abbey two hundred pounds, by way of fine or penance, which, it appears, was confidered as an ample remuneration; and then interdiction confequently ceased. But tho the culprits were thus relieved from the ecclefiaftical cenfure, Nicholas Litlington, the then Abbot, determined, whatever might have been his reafon § N. Quat. f. 38. man was permitted to accompany hin. + Thomas Walfingham. Probably the interference of the Duke of Lancaster. This Abbot, Litlington, at the age of feventy-two, upon an apprehension of an invafion by the French, with two of his Monks, armed themfelves, and prepared to go to the fea coaft, in defence of their country. The invasion not taking place, the armour of one of the Monks (John Canterbury) was carried to London to be fold, but had this remarkable circumftance attending it, that it was of fuch an enormous fize, no perfon could DROSSIAN A. NUMBER XCIII. ANECDOTES of ILLUSTRIOUS and EXTRAORDINARY PERSONS PERHAPS NOT GENERALLY KNOWN. A THING OF SHREDS AND PATCHES! [Continued from Page 331.] CATHERINE THE SECOND, EMPRESS OF RUSSIA. THE gallantries of this extraordinary woman were pretty well known to her fubjects; fhe was, however, very nice with respect to the most diftant allufion to them in her prefence. Signor Talaffi, the celebrated Italian Improvifatori, whom we have heard fome years ago in England with fomuch pleafure, was one day finging his verses before the Empress and her Court at Peterburgh, when, for the fake of the rhyme, he called her "Della Ruffia la Grand Sultana." She blushed, and ordered that he fhould no more be permitted to improvifare in her prefence. In one of her letters to M. de Voltaire, the fays, "Sir, I have just now received your laft letter, in which you give me a decided place amongst the Stars. I hardly look upon thofe kind of places as worth taking much pains to obtain. Indeed, I have no inclination to be placed amongst thofe whom the human race has fo long adored, unlefs by yourself and your worthy friends. Whatever felf-love one may feel, it feems impoflible, I think, for any one to defire to fee himfeif put upon a level with Calves, with Oxen, with Crocodiles, with Onions, Serpents, and beasts of all kinds, &c. After this enumeration, where is the perfon who can defire to be deified? "You will tell me, that fince the fuccefs of my laft campaign, I give my feif great airs; but it is only fince I have been fuccessful that Europe has found out that I have fome fhare of understanding; yet at forty years, you know, one does not in general increafe in beauty or in understanding. Adieu, Sir; keep yourself in good health, and pray to God for us. "CATHERINE. "Peterburgh, O&. 17, 1770." This Princefs, in another of her letters to Voltaire, fays, "I intend to an HAMLET. fwer the Prophecy of J. James Rouffeau, in giving him, I hope as long as I live, the lie; not very civilly, perhaps. This, Sir, is my intention; it only remains to fee the effects of it. After this, Sir, I am almost tempted to fay, Pray to God for me. I have received, with great gratitude, the second volume of your History of Peter the Great. If when you began that Hiftory I had been in the fituation in which I am now, I could have fent you several papers relative to it. It is indeed true, that one cannot fufficiently exprefs one's admiration of the genius of that great man. I am about to print his Origina! Letters, which I have gotten together from all quarters. He has painted himfelf in them. What has always truck me as the nobleft feature in his character, is, that, however he might fome times give way to paffion, truth had always an infallible afcendancy over him; and for this alone, in my opinion, he would deferve a statue. "The Princes and Republics of Chriftian Europe are themselves the caufes of the infults their Ambaffadors receive at the Ottoman Porte. They make too much of thefe Barbarians. To behave in an intriguing and reptile manner, is not the way to obtain the efteem of any one. This is, in general, what Europe has followed, and which has fpoiled thofe Savages. William, King of England, ufed to fay, that there was no honour to be kept with the Turks. "I doubtlefs with for Peace, and to arrive at it it is neceffary that I should go on with the War as long as matters remain in their prefent ftate, and you will then at leaft have fome hopes of feeing the end of the captivity of the Turkish Ladies. "So then, with the fentiments which you know I entertain of you, and with the fincereft gratitude for every inftance of your friendship towards me, I fhall ever continue to with your life as long as that of Methufalem, or at least as long as that of the Englishman who lived *Rouffeau had fomewhere in his works faid, that the Ruffians never would be a polished and a great Nation, and that Peter had been in too great a hurry in his attempt to civilize them. in chearfulness and good health to the age of one hundred and feventy-three. Follow his example, you, whose example no one can follow. "CATHERINE. "My idea of a code of Criminal Law is, that it fhould not contain a long lift of many crimes, and that the punishments should be proportionate to the crimes. This I will own to you is a nice matter, and will require much reflection. "I had nearly forgotten to mention, that the experience of two years has convinced us, that the Court of Equity established in Peterburgh by my regulations, is become the grave of chicanery and pettifogging. "Peterburgh, "20th Sept. 1777." RACINE. Voltaire ufed to fay, that nothing couldbe fo eafy as to make a commentary upon the writings of this elegant writer, for that the author would have nothing to do but to put under every paffage, "fine, admirable, excellent, charming, &c." The French scholars univerfally prefer his verfes to thofe of any Poet in their unmufical language. Racine was by no means a man of good temper, and was extremely rough and impetuous in converfation. He had once a long and a violent difpute with his friend Boileau ; when it was over, Boileau, with great fang froid, faid to him, "Had you any real intention juft now of making me uneasy?" "God forbid, my good old friend," replied Racine.— "Well then," faid Boileau, "you have done what you did not intend to do, for indeed you have made me uneafy." Yet Racine had fo great an attachment to Boileau, that when the fatyrift vifited him on his death-bed, he said, throwing his arms around him, "I look upon it as a great happiness that I die before you.' Racine read extremely well. Louis the Fourteenth fent to him one day when he was indifpofed, to read fomething to him. Racine propofed the celebrated Tranflation of Plutarch's Lives by Amyot. "The language is antiquated," faid the King." Well, then, Sir," replied Racine, "I can correct that defe&t; I. will put him into modern French." This Racine did, and pleafed his Sovereign extremely. Racine, foon after his appointment to the place of Hiftoriographer to Louis the Fourteenth, requested an audience Louis "Sire," faid he, an Hiftorian ought not to flatter; he is bound to reprefent his hero exactly as he is. He ought indeed to pafs over nothing. In what way does your Majefty choose that I fhould fpeak of your gallantries:" "Pass them over," replied the King, coolly. "But, alas! Sire," replied Racine, with great manlinefs, "what I omit, the reader will fupply." replied, "Pafs them over, I tell you.' -Racine added, "As there are many incredible things, Sire, in the life of your Majefty, the fincerity with which I fhould avow the weakneffes of my Hero to my reader, will perfuade him that I regard the truth, and this regard to truth will, in his mind, be a paffport for my history.” Louis replied, "I am not yet decided in my opinion what you ought to do: All that I can tell you at prefent is, to pafs over my intrigues.' EDMUND SPENSER. Ben Jonfon told Mr. Drummond, of Houthorden, that by the Blated Beaft in the "Fairy Queen," Spenfer meant the Printers, and by the falfe Dueffa, the Queen of Scots. He faid too that Spenfer's goods were robbed by the Irith, and his houfe and a little child burnt, and that he and his wife efcaped; and that afterwards he died in King-ftreet for want of bread; and that he refufed twenty pieces fent him by Lord Effex, and faid he had no time to spend them. BEN JONSON. This learned man used to curfe Petrarch for feducting verfes into fonnets, which, he faid, was like that tyrant's bed, where fome who were too fhort were racked, others too long cut short. He faid, that Petronius, Plenius Secundus, and Plautus, spoke best Latin, and that Tacitus wrote the fecrets of the Council and Senate, as Suetonius did thofe of the Cabinet and the Court; that Lucan taken in parts was excellent, but altogether naught; that the fixth, feventh, and eighth books of Quintilian were not only to be read, but altogether digefted; that Juvenal, Horace, and Martial were to be read for delight, and Hippocrates for health. Of the English Nation, he faid, that "Hooker's Ecclefiaftical Hiftory" was good for Church matters, and "Seddon's Titles of Honour for Antiquities." Heads of a Converfation between Ben Fonfon and William Drummond of Houthorden, Jan. 1619. |