274 JUL Visitation of the Virgin Mary—Queen Mary-St. Swithin, &c. [vol. 3 TIME'S TELESCOPE, FOR JULY. From the London Time's Telescope, July 1818. ULY. This word is derived from usual with other bishops; and his request the Latin Julius, the surname of C. was complied with: but the monks on Cæsar, the dictator, who was born in it. his being canonized, considering it disMark Antony first gave to this month graceful for the saint to lie in a public the name of July, which was before called cemetery, resolved to remove his body Quintilis, as being the fifth month in the into the choir, which was to have been year, in the old Roman calendar estab- done, with solemn procession, on the lished by Romulus. July was, by the 15th of July. It rained, however, so viSaxons, called heu-monat, or hey-monat, olently, for forty days succeeding, that that is to say, hay-month, because the design was abandoned as heretical therein they usually mowed, and made and blasphemous, and they honoured his their hay-harvest.' "July, to whom the Dog-Star in her train, MARY, JULY 2. memory by erecting a chapel over his grave, at which many miraculous cures of all kinds are said to have been Wrought. To the above circumstance may be traced the origin of the old sayThis festival was first instituted by ing, "that if it rains on St. Swithin's, Pope Urban VI, in commemoration of it will rain forty days following!" a saythat remarkable journey which the Mother ing that has been very often verified duof our Lord took into the mountains of ring the last eight or nine years. Judæa, in order to visit the mother of St. John the Baptist. QUEEN MARY BEGAN TO REIGN, JULY 6, 1553. PETRARCH DIed, July 18, 1374. Petrarch thus describes his retirement at Vaucluse: Here (says he) I make war The loss of Calais, the only place then upon my senses, and treat them as my enemies. My eyes, which have drawn remaining to England in France, is said me into a thousand difficulties, see no to have broken Mary's heart, who died longer either gold or precious stones, or in 1558, in the 42d year of her life, and ivory or purple; they behold nothing, 6th of her reign. In this short period save the firmament, the water and the WERE BURNT, 1 archbishop, 4 bishops, rocks. The only female who comes with21 divines, 8 gentlemen, 84 artificers, in their sight, is a swarthy old woman, 100 husbandmen, servants, and labour- dry and parched as the Lybian deserts. ers, 26 wives, 20 widows, 9 virgins, 2 My ears are no longer courted by those boys, and 2 infants. Several also died harmonies of instruments or voices which in prison, and many cruelly treated. have often transported my soul; they This queen is not inappropriately termed hear nothing but the lowing of cattle, the the bloody Mary.' bleating of sheep, the warbling of birds, and the murmurs of the stream. 6 SAINT SWITHIN, JULY 15. Swithin, in the Saxon Swithum, re- I keep silence from morn to night. ceived his clerical tonsure, and put on the There is no one to converse with; for monastic habit in the old monastery at people constantly employed, either in Winchester; he was of noble parentage, spreading their nets, or taking care of and passed his youth in the study of phi- their vines and orchards, have no knowllosophy and the scriptures. Swithin was edge of the intercourses of the world, or promoted to holy orders by Helmstan, the conversations of society. I often bishop of Winchester, at whose death content myself with the brown bread of King Ethelwolf granted him the see. In my old fisherman, and even eat it with this he continued eleven years, und died pleasure; and when I am served with in 868. Swithin desired that he might white, I almost always return it. be buried in the open churchyard, and This old fisherman, who is as hard as not in the chancel of the minster, as was iron, earnestly remonstrates against my VOL. 3.] St. Margaret's Day-Burns the Poet-Dog-star Days, &c. manner of life; says it is too hardy, and assures me I cannot long hold out. I am, on the contrary, convinced, that it is more easy to accustom one's self to a plain diet, than to the luxuries of a feast. Figs, raisins, nuts, and almonds, these are my delicacies. I am fond of the fish with which this river abounds: it is an entertainment to see them caught, and I sometimes employ myself in spreading the nets. As to my dres, here is an entire change; you would take me for a labourer or a shepherd. Still o'er these scenes my memory wakes, Where is thy place of blissful rest? DOG-DAYS BEGIN, JULY 25. 273 before and after the heliacal rising of My mansion resembles that of Cato or Fabricius: my whole household consists of a dog and my old fisherman. His cottage is contiguous to mine. When I tempers want him, I call; when I no longer stand in need of him, he returns to bis cottage. I have made myself two gardens, which please me marvellously; I do not think they are to be equalled in all the world. And must I confess to you a more than female weakness with which I am haunted? I am positively angry that there is any thing so beautiful out of Italy. They are my Transalpine Parnassus. SAINT MARGARET, JULY 21. She was born at Antioch, and was the daughter of a Pagan priest. She was first tortured, and then beheaded, in the year 278. ROBERT BURNS DIED, JULY 21, 1796. Thou lingering star, with less'ning ray, Again thou usher'st in the day My Mary from my soul was torn O Mary! dear departed shade! Where is thy place of blissful rest? Seest thou thy lover lowly laid? Hear'st thou the groans that rend his breast? That sacred hour can I forget, Can I forget the hallowed grove, Where by the winding Ayr we met, To live one day of parting love! Eternity will not efface Those records dear of transports past; Thy image at our last embrace; Ah little thought we 'twas our last! Ayr gurgling kissed his pebbled shore, 2M ATHENEUM. Vol. 3. See Hoid, lib. 1. They did not consider that mer's Iliad, lib. v, 10, and Virgil's Enemuch in the course of a few years, and the heliacal rising of this star varies indeed in the same year in different latitudes; as is now well known. The . dog-days in our modern almanacks occu4; the name being applied now, as it py the time from July 25 to September was formerly, to the hottest time of the year. SAINT JAMES, JULY 25. James was surnamed the Great, either on account of his age, being esteemed older than the other James, or for some peculiar honour conferred upon him by. our Lord. He was a Galilean, and partner with Peter in fishing, from which our Lord called him to be one of his disciples. Mark i, 19, 20. He cheerfully complied with the call, leaving all to follow him. Soon after this, he was made an apostle; and, with Peter and John his brother, was taken to see the miraculous raising of Jairus' daughter,-Christ's glorious transfiguration,-and was also with our Saviour in the garden a witness of those bitter sufferings which he there endured for us. Of his ardent zeal, no other proof is necessary, than his becoming the victim of Herod Agrippa. The Spaniards esteem James their tutelary saint. This day is commemorated by the Jews, on account of Moses breaking the Tables of Stone; a breach made in Jerusalem during the second Temple, &c. This sublime and tender elegy will be found in Cromek's Renques of Burns. 274 Madame Brun's Biographical Portrait of Madame de Stael. [VOL. 3 BIOGRAPHY. From the Literary Gazette, March, 1818. PORTRAIT OF ANNA GERMAINE DE STAEL NECKER. Having delivered our own opinion of this celebrated amuse. Natura la fece e poi ruppe la Stampa. WH ARIOSTO. without being heavy. She could hardly be called well made, as the right shoulder was rather larger than the left, the neck short, and the nape rather high. Her head had by no means the oval outline, which is the first requisite of a beauHILE my hand is preparing to tiful form; it was quite round, and I add this great image to the sad have seldom seen a head flatter behind; gallery of my melancholy recollections, the forehead too, which was low, almost tears overflow my eye, and doubts fill my pressed in over the root of the nose, did mind! I am forced to say to myself re- not announce the lofty soul that dwelt peatedly, "She is gone!" The most therein; but above the eyes (those gloribrilliant representative + of life in all its ous eyes, the most splendid assertors of forms, has left it-the brightest star in its presence!) the organs of the penetrathe firmament of my sex is set! She tive faculty were powerfully marked.— who acknowledged only one season in The nose was one of those which belife, the summer-like spring, has prolon- come idealized in half profile, one knows ged it by all the charms of her character, not how, though in front they appear too to the greatest possible duration, and short. The mouth large, the upper lip has sunk into slumber without beholding the dreaded winter! elevated; the teeth, which were white and large, were always visible. The chin short, round, but not falling back. The hair black, short, distributed on the head in strong natural curls; the face of a very brown complexion, and the skin of it remarkably rough.§ The breast and neck were well formed, and of dazzling whiteness; the arms full, but well made, and delicately fair: the hands not small, but, down to the nails and finger ends, well formed, and every motion of them full of expression. Her feet were not small but well proportioned; she walked well, and trod with dignity. But her eye! her eye! though nothing of what the Italians calls incassature near or above it, was beautiful-though in a word, it did not inhabit a beautiful house, yet it was (as in the whole body, the lovely inhabitant of the soul) in and of itself so great, so darkly beautiful, so deep, so radiant with every intellectual light, so beaming with sensibility and Perhaps from having written young, for means were taken to when she was only ten years of age. not at all perceive it. too much when remedy the defect In front, one did { Probably from the use of rouge; for I know that in her early youth she had a fine clear complexion. I first saw her in 1801, and last in 1800. VOL. 3.] Biography-Portrait of Madame de Stael. 275 goodness! so inexpressibly engaging a stranger to cold coquetry. She requiwas its sincere and cordial expression, red to be loved by those whom she lov that its look immediately attracted again, ed; and this happened, if she suffered and encouraged those who had shrunk, the resistless attractions of her nature to dazzled by its splendor. About the operate, always first with minds suscepmouth too, the traces of ingenuous good nature were evidently predominant, though the most delicate wit played a round it. Es hatt' ihr witz auch lippen ohne rosen Beliebt gemacht; ein witz, dem's nie au kraft ge brach, Zu stechen oder liebzukosen. Wieland. Her wit would have made even lips without roses lovely; a wit which never wanted power to sting or to caress. altar. tible of loftier feelings; and the sentiments of love, admiration, and friendship for her, blended so together, that it was often difficult to distinguish the one from in his bosom, could remain cold for her? the other. Who that had a living heart loved anew, and with equal violence! But though easily kindled, she always her heart was faithful, and, when pasWhen these lips opened, when in the sion was no more, a warmly active and silver tones of an organ, such as I have tender friendship remained, as a faithful never known but hers, at once power- household deity upon its extinguished ful and pleasing, all the beams of her genius flowed in harmony--when a man- She was worthy of every kind of conner of speaking, quite her own, for its en- fidence; this is saying much; and in her ergy and grace, combined with a copi- diversified relations, applicable only to so ousness and novelty of ideas (still more great a heart as hers. But was not this nopeculiar to her) poured at once clear and ble heart the seat of every generous feelstrong, like a silver stream,-when, ing honorable to man? She was unawhile she enchanted all, she, however, ble to hate, except upon principle, as she always particularly effected (and often for example, hated Buonaparte; and nowished to effect) some favorite object; body more readily pardoned personal of ah! who did not then forget how far she fences. Though her wit was sharp and was from being beautiful, or in whose penetrating, it was without bitterness, eyes did she not then appear so? Her gait and her whole carriage had in them something bold and triumphant, with which one was struck one knew not how, and which, without further reflection, one considered as belonging to her, and liked to see. and was directed in preference against thoughtless falsehood, and its concomitant hardness of heart, which is often concealed under the most pleasing forms, and is the favorite vice of the great world. The weaknesses of others she bore smiling, and with all the indulgence I have never known a mere open- of conscious superiority, but without mahearted being; she was so even to etour- king it felt, which was what gave such a derie, for herself and others. But though tone of good humour to the circle in her strength of mind was too great, her which she lived. Sound in mind and bowill too firm, for her not to be able to be silent and reserved out of prudence, yet the frankness of her nature always appeared, and she had the most difficulty in concealing her own weaknesses; for she was utterly unable to dissemble. dy, she had neither peculiarites nor habits, and every thing in and around her moved with freedom and ease in its natural course. But false pretensions could not indeed pass current, where every thing beamed with light. Every thought kindled into flame, eve- I have more than once seen ber forry sentiment flashed like lightning; and give injuries, while the wounds inflicted so the most powerful of all, love! It was by them were still bleeding; but to do ever again new, profound, painful, thril- good to her enemies was quite natural ling through the innermost sources of to her, and cost her magnanimity nothlife, and her generous nature was always ing. She was desirous both of honor and I A great deal has been said on this subject: her of praise, and denied neither; but she pronunciation and accentuation were clear; and she spoke like a person who is used to see" people unwil- willingly acknowledged the merit of othking to lose a word of what is spoken." But she never had the piercing tone of violent or eloquent women, ers, and with sweetly eloquent lips, and but a pure silver sound, and modulations of the voice from the bottom of her soul, bestowed in speaking that were peculiar to herself. 276 Biography.-Portrait of Madame de Stael. [VOL 3 the praise which she was so delighted to her as a French woman: I mean her love receive. But above all, her heart, her of Germany, and her esteem for our litemind, her soul, thirsted for love! and rature. Her work on this subject gives though this feeling, veiled in earthly im- irrefragable proofs of this; and never has perfection, and predominant in her, was a foreign writer appreciated it more highthe cause of all her sufferings, and in the ly, and more deeply and purely felt its end the occasion of her premature death, spirit.§ + yet its ardent source was in her pure, And from those who knew her intimateand purifying for every one whom her ly, the reason could not be long concealall-powerful feeling drew into its enchan- ed. She sought and found in it the true ted circle! All were exalted, and be- home of her soul, whose mighty pinions came better, as long as she ruled in them; had long beaten against the narrow but never did the failings and weaknes- bars of her own, and which the daring ses of a beloved object re-act upon her; flight of her language had long since partand while she raised to her own level, ly broken through; she alone first laid she never degraded herself. For this open to the other cultivated nations of reason, after more intimate ties were dissolved, the highest esteem, and the most devoted friendship for her, always remained, where a warmer feeling had once prevailed.‡ Europe, the extent, the copiousness, the depth of the German literature; and though this great undertaking of a foreign writer could hardly be free from faults, yet what she has performed in her To speak of her intellectual powers work upon Germany is astonishing; and - would be useless. She has given the it is almost a miracle that she was so most splendid proofs of them, both to seldom mistaken. Every page bears her cotemporaries and posterity; and evidence of the purest intention, and of a her posthumous writings will perhaps mind congenial with the highest minds shew them in still greater lustre. So of Germany, and she has rendered it immuch is certain; never did a mightier possible for other nations to continue in spirit appear in a female form! and that all the innocence of ignorance, to be truly manly comprehensiveness, that pre- strangers to the great services which cision of thought which is so rare in wo- Germany has done to advance the immen, united with the most lively imagi- provement of the human mind, if they nation, the most rapid facility of percep- should still think fit not to acknowledge tion,and the profoundest sensibility, gave it. She loved Germany! She consideto her intellectual effusions the overflowing red it as the heart of Europe, and powenergy, the enchanting grace, which were erfully contributed to its deliverance.* peculiar to her, and that colloquial eloquence of which she was the only example. || Though I refrain from speaking of her character and influence as an author, which will not fail to be duly appreciated, I cannot, as a German, wholly pass over what so particularly distinguished Apresent louez-moi, cela fait si bien, she exclaim ed to me (after having charmed me in the character of Phaedra) when I went to her in the little dressingroom attached to the mean theatre (hastily put together in the loft of a house at Geneva) which her genius transformed into a temple. + When she concealed her marriage with M. Rocca of Geneva (and of course the consequences of it) not sparing her health, and bearing all the pain of a secret passion, when she soon after saw the beloved object of it threatened with an incurable disorder of the lungs, which has since terminated his life. + This is precious sentimental morality! !-Ed. A common friend told me, that when she was a child of ten or eleven years of age, he had seen a ball interrupted, because all the dancers, attracted by the voice of the animated little speaker, had crouded a round her in a threefold circle. The whole art of social intercourse was never exercised in a higher degree than by her; for as she easily and with certainty penetrated the character of every individual, she knew how to put every one in his proper place, and in conversation developed in many, more than they gave themselves credit for: she did not do this merely to please; her good heart willingly spared every one a painful feeling, and every body left her more cheerful, and with increased self-confidence. Nothing narrow, little, or false, could thrive in her circle, and the most perfect too soon for the world and for his friends; but why Villers and Degerando included: the former died does the noble Degerando speak no more for the glory of Germany? When she lost her second son in so melancholy a manner in the beginning of 1813, she wrote to me from London. "Ah, s'il avait peri en combattant pour la liberte de l'Allemagne, J'aurois la mvitie moins de douleurs !" |