SIXTEENTH CENTURY.
a»3
HThis Missal, or Prayer-book, is bound in purple velvet ; the leaves are of a rich vellum of a large 8vo. size ; it is ten inches long, seven broad, and an inch and a half thick. The sheets are highly illuminated with pictures of saints, with Saxo-Latin inscriptions under them. In various parts were originally blank spaces that had been filled up with observations and lines of poetry in French, in the queen's own hand-writing, and with her signature : of which the following are translations.
On the first page —
Tbis belongs to me, Mary. Subsequently —
Sad fate! that renders life aa drear. As nAcless. e*cn as tUath could be,
Whilst all, to add to mf despair, Seems in its nature chang*d towards me.
No longer, as in times of old,
Tlie wings of fame are spretd. With soaring flight, impartial, bold—
Those times, alas! arc fled.
Her pleasores now are all confin'd.
And all her favoors shine. On those whom fortune (frail and blindj
Regards vrlth smile benign.
Dull hoon. which guided by my fate,
lu sad soccesslon flow. The glorious sun in all its state.
Seems but to mock my woe.
Mary queen of Scots wrote poems on various occasions, in Latin, Italian, French, and Scotch. Advice to her Son, in two books, the consolation of her long imprisonment A great number of her original letters were preserved in the library of the ung of France, and in the Royal, Cotto- nian, and Ashmolean libraries.
A catalogue has been preserved of the royal library,* or rather of the remains of it ; delivered over with the other chattels of queeu Mary, by the regent Morton, to James VI. The following extract will show the nature of this collection ;
• * • * • •
The third volume of Titus Livius
The ellevint bulk of St. Augustine
'ne first bulk of sauct Augustine
« « * * «
Aae parte of Flutarche in Frenche The legend aurie « * « • *
Essais In Greik and Hebren be Mnnster The singular combat of Darid and GoUas The his&ries of the bible in figures The sectis of hereseis in this tyme Clement Marot The Epistle of Ignatius Four homoleis anent the images in France The treatie of the sacrament be Fetir Martir The ansuer to Johnne Oalvynis epistle Sangis of the bible in Frenche be Ijuicclote de laCarle The complaint of the universitie of Pareis contra the Jesnlttes.
• A document found by Mr. Thomson, of the Record office. Edinburgh, and published by the Bannantyne club, TMe Library of Mary queen of Scott and JameM VI. 4to.
In lfi7I, Morgan Phillipps* Defence of Mary queen of Seottther right and title to the crown of England, in three books, Sva was printed at Leige, a city of the Netherlands. A copy of this scarce volume Is in March's library, at DulUin, on the title page of wtiich, a coteroporaneous liand has written, from nrjme and women, good Lord de- iyveruaf
In taking a review of the state of literature in the reign of Elizabeth, we are struck with admiration at the rapid progress which was made in the arts and sciences in this kingdom. Some have carried their encomiums so far as to repre- sent it as the golden age of English literature. The mode of cultivating the Greek and Roman learning became universal ; and the literary cha- racter was no longer appointed to scholars by 5rofession,bnt a.ssumed by the nobility and gentry, 'he ecclesiastics had foundit their interest to keep the languages of antiquity to themselves, and men were eager to know what had been so long injuriously concealed. Truth propagates truth, and the mantle of mystery was removed not only from religion butlilcrature. The general curiosity for new discoveries, heightened cither by just or imaginary ideas of the treasures contained in the Greek and Roman writers, excited all persons of leisure and fortune to study the classics. The books of antiquity being thus familiarised to the great, every thing was now tinctured with an- cient history and mythology. The heathen gods, although discountenanced by the Calvin- ists, on a suspicion of their tending to revive and to cherish a spirit of idolatry, came into general vogue. When the queen paraded through a country town, almost every pageant was a pantheon. When she paid a visit to the house of any of her nobility, at entering the hall she was saluted by the Penates, and condi%ted to her privy-chamber by Mercury. The pages of the family were converted into wood-nymphs, who peeped from every bower; and the footmen gambolled over the lawns in the figure of satyrs. After sleeping in a room hung with tapestry of the voyage of .£neas, when her majesty hunted in the park, she was met by Diana, who pro- nouucing our royal bride to be the brightest paragon of unspotted chastity, invited her to groves free from the intrusions of Acteon. The truth is, she was so profusely flattered for this virtue, because it was the characteristic orna- ment of the heroines, as fantastic honour was of the champions, of the old barbarous romance. It was in conformity to the sentiments of chivalry which still continued in vogue, that she was celebrated for chastity: the compliment, how- ever, was paid in a classical allusion.
Elizabeth sought all occasions of being ex- tolled for her beauty, of which, indeed, in the prime of her youth she possessed but a small share, whatever might have been her pretensions to absolute virginity. Nonegociation succeeded unless she was addressed as a goddess, which was totally inconsistent with her high station. Encomiiistic harangues drawn from this topic, even on the supposition of youth and beauty, were surely superfluous, unsuitable, and un- worthy; and were offered and received with an equal impropriety. Yet, when she rode through the streets of the city of Norwich, Cupid, at the command of the mayor and aldermen, advanc- ing from a group of gods who had left Olympus to grace the procession, gave her a golden arrow, the most effective weapon of his well-fumishcd
3d
VjOOQ IC
