BRAMSHILL IN HAMPSHIRE. BRAMSHILL, the seat of Sir John Cope, Bart., is a large and ancient mansion situated in the north-east part of the county of Hampshire, a little removed from the high road leading from London to Winchester. Being built on a bold eminence in a spacious park it presents a very commanding and attractive appearance. Large as it is at present, it forms but the central part of the building originally designed; indeed there is a plainness and abruptness about the ends which seem to show that the mansion was not intended to be comprised within its present limits. This building is erected in the peculiar style that marked the reign of James the First, in whose reign it was built; and as there have been no attempts to❘ "modernize it," it still remains nearly in the same state as it was centuries back, and serves as a type of the prevailing national taste of architecture at the time of its erection, when much of our old Gothic manner was retained, with some Italian improvements then newly introduced. Although the whole edifice as at present existing forms but the central portion of the building originally designed, yet the centre itself has wings, one on each side of the entrance. The wings, or projecting extremities, are rather plain, and are constructed of brick, excepting that the numerous windows have stone dressings. The central portion is built wholly of stone, and is very profusely decorated. The portal leads to a vestibule or corridor of three divisions, enriched with an open carved parapet. The very elaborate ornaments which decorate the exterior of part of the building are a mixture of Grecian and Gothic; and the whole centre is carried up in rich compartments with pilasters from story to story, and surmounted by a pediment. From the pediment is continued a balustrade, perforated in quatrefoils. The interior of this noble mansion presents a suite of splendid apartments, fully equal to the wants of a noble or wealthy family. Bramshill was built for the highly accomplished and amiable Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales, the eldest son of King James the First; and his coronet still surmounts the pediment in the middle of the building. But it appears never to have been inhabited by the prince. The earliest occupant of whom we have a distinct account was Edward, eleventh Lord Zouch, of whom the following incident is related. Archbishop Abbott, who used to go into Hampshire, in the summer, for the sake of recreation, was invited by Lord Zouch to hunt in his park at Bramshill, when he accidentally killed that nobleman's game-keeper, by an arrow from a cross-bow, which he shot at one of the deer. This accident threw the archbishop into a deep melancholy, and he ever afterwards kept a monthly fast, on Tuesday, the day on which this fatal accident happened: he also settled an annuity of twenty pounds per annum on the widow of the unfortunate man. In 1625 the Lord Zouch just alluded to died; and it was probably of this nobleman that Fuller spoke, in his English Worthies, when he says:"Next Basing, Bramsell, built by the last Lord Zouch, in a bleak and barren place, was a stately structure, especially before part thereof was defaced with a casual fire." How much damage this fire occasioned, we have no means of knowing. In 1673, Bramshill was the residence of Sir Andrew Henley, Bart. After this, but we do not know exactly at what period, Bramshill came into the possession of the family of Cope, one of the members of which built Holland House Kensington, now the seat of Lord Holland. In the latter part of the last century Bramshill was the residence of the Rev, Sir Richard Cope, B.D., Bart., and is now occupied by Sir John Cope, Bart. Mr. Nash, in his "Mansions of England in the Olden Time," has given two representations of Bramshill. In one is the porch, which presents a superb example of the curious admixture of styles in the Architecture of the reign of James the First. In the other the terrace is represented, occupied by a company of guests attired in the fashion of Charles the First's time, and playing at the now almost obsolete game of bowls. The terrace is formed by a recess extending along the south side of the mansion, with arcades under the projecting wings, at each end, and is a beautiful feature of the edifice, giving it a stately air of grandeur. These details will be sufficient to convey to the reader a general idea of Bramshill; but the characteristic introduction, by Mr. Nash, of a party playing at the once fashionable game of bowls, on the terrace of Bramshill, will furnish us with an opportunity to give a slight sketch of that game. The game of bowls consisted of hurling or rather bowling a ball on a smooth flat surface, each player endeavouring to obtain a certain object, of which we shall presently speak. Strutt was able to trace back the existence, or rather practice, of this game to the thirteenth century. In a MS. of that century, in the Royal Library, is a drawing in which are represented two small cones placed upright at a distance from one another, and the business of the player seems to be to bowl at them alternately; the successful candidate being he who could lay his bowl nearest to the mark. In another MS. of the next following century is a representation of three persons playing at bowls: they appear to have a small bowl, or jack, which serves as a mark for the direction of the bowls. A flat and smooth plot of grass is the favourite site for this amusement; or else a flat piece of ground without grass, where the latter could not easily be procured. Until the latter end of last century bowling-greens were to be found in most country towns of any note, and there were many in the vicinity of the metropolis. But as bowling greens were, to a certain extent, public places, and as this game was at one time a favorite sport among the higher classes, it was naturally to be expected that more private spots would be selected by those who were able to pay for them. This led to the construction of bowling-alleys, which, being covered over, might be used when the weather would not permit the pursuit of the pastime in the open air. Ladies were frequent spectators of the sports carried on in these bowling-alleys. In an old ballad or poem called "The Squire of low degree," one of the characters, a king of Hungary, promises his daughter that, for her amusement, An hundredth knightes, truly tolde, Shall play with bowles in alayes colde, As these bowling-alleys occupied but little room, they became, in time, attached to many places of public resort in and near the metropolis; and general complaints were made, in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, of the demoralizing effects too frequently produced thereby: the bowling-alleys became the resort of idle and dissolute characters, and were the means of promoting a pernicious spirit of gambling among the younger and most unwary part of the community. In playing the game of bowls, the players divide themselves into opposite parties. Each player has two bowls, numbered or marked so that he may know them from those of his opponent. The first player throws a small bowl or jack, to a distance of twenty or thirty yards: this is to serve as a mark. He then rolls one of his balls as near to the mark as as he can: a second player follows, and endeavours to approach the jack nearer than his predecessor. All the other players follow in their turn; or if there are only two, they bowl alternately, until all the bowls are bowled out. As the game advances, there are four objects held in view, to one or other of which the player directs his attention, according to the circumstances of the case: 1st, to place his ball as near the jack as he can: 2nd, to drive away the ball of the adverse player, when it lies between the jack and one of his own: 3rd, to shield, with his ball, one of the other balls of his own party, in order to prevent it from being driven away by that of an adverse player: 4th, to strike the jack itself, so as to bring it nearer to a ball previously thrown by one of his party. When all the bowls are thrown, that one which is nearest to the jack counts one point, or if the same party has two bowls nearer than any one thrown by the opposite party, he reckons two points. A certain number of points, generally five, constitute the game. When the game is played in a bowling. alley instead of a bowling-green, there is a block or mark placed at each extremity of the alley; at which the bowls are directed. Such is the nature of the game of bowls. An old writer has described it as "a pastime in which a man shall find great art in choosing out his ground, and preventing the winding, hanging, and many turning advantages of the same, whether it be in open, wilde places, or in close allies; and for this sport, the chusing of the bowle is the greatest cunning; your flat bowies being the best for allies, your round byazed bowles for open grounds of advantage, and your round bowles, like a ball, for green swarthes that are plain and level." There are technical terms used in the game, to indicate the kind and merit of the throw, &c. But these we need not explain; and we only mention the circumstance here to account for some of the words in an old poem or address to the game of bowls, called A Parallel betwixt Bowling and Preferment, contained in one of the Harleian MSS. In these three stanzas, the word in italics are, or were, used in the game of bowls. Preferment, like a game at boules, To feede our hope, hath divers play: The same by whom themselves are made; Whose own true biass cuts the way. But bowls may now be almost reckoned as a game of other days. It was a game for princes and nobles two centuries ago: when given up by them, it was still patronized by the middle and humble classes; but other employments and other games,-the former more intellectual, and the latter more athletic,-have almost superseded it at the present day. THE FORCE OF EXAMPLE. EVERY man will admit that example is better than precept, most men also are well convinced of the great efficacy of example over the manners and morals of society, throughout its whole system of connections and dependencies. But there are few perhaps who see the full extent of the obligation such an admission, or such a conviction, carries home. It may perhaps be said to be the most important of those truths, which a man should take everywhere about with him, in the manner of those useful editions of works, which are called "pocket editions." In every moment of doubt as to the propriety of this or that action, in the daily occurrences of his life, let this conviction be ever present, warning him of the possible influences which it may exercise over the society with which he is connected, and whether such influences will be to their advantage, or otherwise, since he becomes in this sense the author of good or evil to a great portion or perhaps the whole of the circle, of which he forms a part. The more elevated his station--the more prominent his position, the greater the extent, and more powerful becomes the influence, of his example. Inferiors ever ape the manners, and too often the morals, of those above them. The lady's maid ever imitates the worst part of her mistress's character-its foibles and its more serious faults. My lord's gentleman is too often the fac-simile of my lord, in the least amiable part of his character. It is a fatal tendency in human nature, to be sooner affected by the allurements of vice than the attractions of virtue, and hence we can easily perceive how necessary it must be to strengthen the latter, by all the weight and authority that high station and prominent positions in life, can give to the force of example. But every man in this world has a certain sphere of action, from which he must necessarily borrow much of example, but which also he has the power of stimulating to improvement by his own, especially in those many instances where a man's conduct is always left to the direction of his own good sense and judgment; let him pause therefore and look round the world, and observe the paramount authority of precedent, in all its doubts and difficulties. Let him consider then that every action which he performs will in all probability, directly or indirectly, become a precedent for others, who either know and associate with him, or look up to him, perhaps as a guide or a master. Therefore when we attentively consider this subject, will it be asserting too much to say, that every individual in the great world around us, however humble his station and circumstances, may, if he chooses, become important and accessory to the promotion of general improvement, and therefore to the best interests of his fellow men, and that nothing is more necessary to one who would conduce to this end, than to consider the possible influence of his own example, in apparently the most trivial actions of a life in which nothing is lost, and in which some of the greatest of errors and the most brilliant displays of virtue, may without doubt be attributed to the force of example. if we would converse pleasingly, we must endeavour to set others at ease, and it is not by flattery that we can succeed in doing so, but by a courteous and kind address.-MRS. SANDFORD. GEMS AND PRECIOUS STONES. I. Th' unfruitful rock itself, impregn'd by thee, At thee the ruby lights its deepening glow, THE rare and beautiful productions of the mineral to the diamond and to the natural magnet, on the supposition that they were in fact the same substance, Pliny describes and blends the properties of the diamond with the loadstone, except where they were too manifestly opposed to each other to admit of such a combination. He nevertheless attempts to distinguish false from real gems, by a reference to their mechanical properties, and speaks of the electric property possessed by some stones of attracting light bodies when rubbed; for instance, he mentions that he found carbuncles, some of a purple colour, others red, which heated by the sun attracted straw and paper shavings. Many superstitious accounts are handed down to us from the ancients, of the extraordinary power of gems in effecting the cure of diseases, preventing the occurrence of accidents, &c.: nor is it to be wondered at that such virtues were attributed to these precious substances, at a period when every thing that was rare, or highly esteemed, obtained the credit of working beneficial results, if worn as an amulet, or taken as a medicine. All the treatises containing accounts of gems, from that of St. Epiphanius, to that of the eminent Boyle, are devoted either to an explanation of the nature of the twelve jewels in the breast-plate of the Jewish High Priest, or to the praise of the medical virtues of electuaries, confections, &c., made of gems. Boyle has a learned treatise on the origin and virtues of gems; and he was about the last writer on this subject, for the advancing state of science soon proved the fallacy of such views. Even supposing some of the precious stones to have possessed medicinal virtues, the ignorance of the ancients would have rendered them, in their case ineffectual. Lapis lazuli was said to be endowed with wonderful pro to whom a dose of it was administered. From the mention of the places in which the so-called lapis lazuli was found, there is no doubt but that blue carbonate of copper, which is a deadly poison, was mistaken for the true stone. is Gems may be called the flowers of the mineral world, for they exhibit greater brilliancy of colouring than any other production of the kingdom to which they belong and yet the sparkling beauties of many of them may rather remind us of the dew-drop on the flower than of the flower itself. Unlike our vege-perties, and yet we read of the sudden death of many table treasures they do not readily present themselves to the eye and hand to be plucked without trouble or difficulty. They are not to be discovered without much persevering toil, nor to be extracted from their hiding place, deep in the solid rock, without the exercise of patient skill and industry. An experienced eye is also wanting to distinguish them from the commonest pebbles; for their beauties are hidden by a dull rough covering which requires to be ground away with much care, to the form most favourable for displaying the brilliancy of the gem and for receiving that exquisite polish which enables it to reflect, refract, and otherwise modify the light in so extraordinary a manner. Precious stones are the hardest bodies in nature or art; consequently the labour and perseverance required in working them are immense, and the unremitting labour of years is frequently employed to grind a rough diamond into its best form. The difficulty thus experienced, together with the great scarcity of gems, renders them extremely valuable: indeed of all the known articles they contain the greatest value within the smallest bulk, so that a diamond or a ruby, not larger than a nut, may be sold for a sum equal to a princely fortune. From the various names applied by the ancients to these bodies, it is often difficult to ascertain what particular stone is meant; for they had no better mode of distinguishing them than by comparing their several colours and markings, and noting their peculiar lustre or scarcity. Thus they often called the same stone by many different names, on account of the presence or absence of spots, veins, &c., or by the number and position of such markings. Every transparent blue stone they called a sapphire, and the name of adamas or loadstone was given, by them, both The term GEMS has been applied to such mineral bodies as are remarkable above all others for their hardness, transparency, beauty of polish, or of colour, durability, scarcity, and value; but it is extremely difficult to decide what precious stones or jewels possess all the above properties, in a sufficient degree, to entitle them to the name of gems, or in other words it is very difficult to distinguish between a gem and a precious stone. All mineral bodies however which are transparent or semi-transparent, whose specific gravity is greater than three, that of water being one, and which are harder than quartz or rockcrystal, and incapable of being scratched by them, may safely be called gems, together with a few others, whose rarity or beauty prevents them from being excluded, though they scarcely come up to the degree of hardness just stated. Gems cannot be made to form a distinct mineral class, since in composition and properties they differ so much from each other as to be widely separated in natural methods of classification, accordingly we do not find them placed by themselves, in either of the systems of mineralogical arrangements now in general use, namely, those of Werner and Häuy. Daubenton classified them according to their colour, but this, though the most palpable mode, is one of the worst which could have been conceived, for so far is it from being constant in one kind of stone, that almost every variety of colour is found in substances whose properties are essentially the same; this is especially the case with the sapphire and topaz. IDOL. The nomenclature of the ancients, with regard to ACCOUNT OF A REMARKABLE PERSIAN their precious stones, was, as we have before stated, exceedingly confused, and when a better distinction than that of mere colour was established, a new arrangement of names also became necessary. This was in part effected; but the retention of many of the old names, and the manner in which they are applied by various authors, still occasion much confusion on the subject. Adhering strictly to the definition of gems given above, we may reckon the following as stones which distinctly merit the appellation. 1. The DIAMOND ; 2. The SAPPHIRE; the oriental RUBY, oriental AMETHYST, oriental TOPAZ, and oriental EMERALD; for all these are really the same mineral differently coloured. 3. The CHRYSOBERYL, which has also many other names. 4. The SPINELLE, or BALLAS RUBY. 5. The ZIRCON JARGON, or HYACINTH, though this latter name is applied to several other gems. 6. The proper or occidental TOPAZ, which is of many colours, and has received many names. 7. The EMERALD and BERYL. 8. The GARNET. 9. QUARTZ, the different coloured varieties of which are distinguished as Amethyst, Prase or Chrysoprase, Onyx, Sardonyx, Calcedony, Cornelian, &c. We purpose to give, in a short course of articles, a description of each of these gems, together with a notice of such bodies, as have (though inferior in hardness to quartz,) been ranked among gems by universal consent. We will then briefly consider the ingenious modes which have been adopted in the fabrication of what are called ARTIFICIAL GEMS. We will then enter into some details respecting the curious art of the LAPIDARY; after which we will conclude our subject with a notice of the GLYPTIC art, or the art of SEAL-ENGRAVING. SPANISH SHEEP DOGS THE shepherds of Mont Perdu, in Arragon, are particularly careful of their flocks, whose docility is remarkable. Not less so is the good understanding subsisting between the sheep and the dogs. The celerity with which the shepherds of the Pyrenees draw their scattered flocks around them is not more astonishing than the process by which they effect it is simple and beautiful. If they are at no great distance from him he whistles upon them, and they leave off feeding and obey the call; if they are afar off and scattered, he utters a shrill cry, and instantly the flock are seen leaping down the rocks and scampering towards him. Having waited until they have mustered round him, the shepherd then sets off on his return to his cabin or resting place, his flock following him behind like so many well trained hounds. Their finelooking dogs, a couple of which are generally attached to each flock, have nobler duties to perform than that of chasing the flock together and biting the legs of stragglers: they protect it from the attacks of the wolves and bears, against whose approach they are continually on the watch, and to whom they at once offer battle. So well aware are the sheep of the fatherly care of these dogs, and that they themselves have nothing to fear from them, that they crowd around them, as if they really sought their protection: and dogs and sheep may be seen resting together, or trotting after the shepherd in the most perfect harmony.-MURRAY, Summer in the Pyrenees, THERE are few things so exhilarating to the spirits, especially in the season of ardent and buoyant youth, as the first visit to a foreign land. Amongst things purely plea surable, it is perhaps one of the most unalloyed gratifications which occur in the course of our life. But, like all other pleasures, it may be made, accordingly as we use it, a source of present vanity and future regret, or, on the other hand, of lasting and solid improvement. Our object should be, not to gratify curiosity, and seek mere temporary amusement, but to learn and to venerate,-to improve the heart and understanding.-GRESLEY. PERSIA may be deemed in many respects rather a country of the dead than of the living; for everywhere are scattered the remnants of other days, showing the existence of a more flourishing state of the nation than that which now exists. But if we may judge from the bas-reliefs and other monuments of antiquity which still survive the lapse of ages, a state of religious belief formerly existed of as degrading a character as that which now holds a superstitious people in ignorance. It seems probable that the basrelief represented above is connected in some way with the ancient religion of the country, though to what degree is uncertain. We will, however, shortly describe the spot from whence it is copied, and state the views respecting it of one of our most intelligent modern travellers. At about two hundred miles south-east of the city of Ispahan, the capital of Persia, is a plain called Mourgaub, the supposed site of the ancient city of Pasargada; and over this plain are scattered numerous remains of ancient buildings, such as altars, temples, tombs, &c. At one part of this plain Sir Robert Ker Porter found a spacious marble platform, about a hundred feet square, at the corners of which are four pillars. Each of these pillars seems to have been composed of three stones, surmounted by a kind of cornice; and to have been originally about fifteen feet in height. The north-eastern side of these pillars is hollowed out into a concave form, and on the opposite side of each pillar is an inscription near the top. In the middle of the area or platform marked out by these four pillars, is a much larger one, evidently the most important part of the whole. It is a perfectly round column, as smooth as if it were polished: the length of the shaft is not much less than fifty feet, but the lower part of it is totally buried in the surrounding rubbish: it is composed of four pieces of marble, the lowest of which occupies Sir Robert Ker nearly one half of the entire height. Porter could not find any vestiges of a wall connecting the four corners of the platform; and he con tains the figure is in tolerably good preservation. cluded that, whatever might have been the nature of | suffered much in various parts, but that which con- At some little distance from this is the block of marble containing the bas-relief represented in our cut; and we have given the description contained in the preceeding paragraph, in order to explain the probable nature of this isolated stone. It appears to have been in the centre of a rectangular platform, as is likewise the round column just described; but this second platform appears to have been of larger dimensions. The ruins which mark its boundary show it to have been a hundred and fifty feet long, by eighty-one broad. There are two rows of pedestals, each composed of four stones, of a dark kind of rock found in Persia: they measure from three to four feet in every direction, and our traveller supposes that the largest were to support an elevated floor, while the smallest were intended to sustain columns. One only of the bases is formed of white marble, and is about six feet square: it was probably intended to support the image of the deity of the temple, supposing this to have been the true character of the spot. At a few feet distant from one side of this platform is an isolated stone, consisting of a block of marble about fifteen feet high, and on one surface of this block is the bas-relief to which we allude. Sir Robert Ker Porter examined this with great minuteness, and describes it fully. The bas-relief consists of the figure of a man, clothed in a long garment which fits rather closely to the body, and reaches from the neck to the ankles. His right arm is put forward, half raised from the elbow; and, as far as can be judged from the mutilated state of its extremity, the hand is open and elevated. The head is covered with a cap, close to the skull, reaching behind almost to the neck, and showing a small portion of hair beneath it. There is a circle just over the ear; and three lines marked down the back of the head seem to indicate braidings. His beard is short, bushy, and curled with great regularity; but the face is so much broken that the contour only of it can be distinctly traced. From the bend of the arm to the bottom of the garment, runs a border of roses, carved in a very beautiful style; from which flows a waving fringe extending round the skirt of the dress: the whole being executed with great precision. From the shoulders issue four large wings; two spreading on each side, reach high above the head; the others open downwards, and nearly touch the feet, The chiselling of the feathers is exquisite, and constitutes, in some respects, the most remarkable feature of the production. From the crown of the head project two large horns, supporting a row of three balls or circles, within which are seen smaller ones. Three vessels, shaped somewhat like decanters, rest upon these balls, and are surmounted by three other balls. On each side of these, stand two small creatures resembling mummies of the Ibis, but bent at the lower extremity. The figure from head to foot is about seven feet in height: he stands on a sort of pedestal about two feet from the ground; and above his head, on the block of marble is an inscription in arrow-headed characters *. This inscription is too minute to be introduced into our cut. The pillar on which this figure has been sculptured has a deep concavity running from top to bottom on the side opposite to that which is sculptured, the object of which does not easily appear. The pillar has The term cuneiform, or arrowheaded, is applied to the character in which inscriptions are written on many antique remains in Persia. It is supposed to have been a written language used in Persia between the times of Cyrus and of Alexander. Sir Robert Ker Porter conjectures that, from the peculiar appearance of this figure,-its vast quadruple wings, its long and richly decorated robe,the horns on the head, which have long been held as a type of regal strength in the East, and the numerous symbols resting on the horns,-it probably represents a superior spirit, perhaps the tutelary genius of the country in general. He farther observes, that, with the exception of the mitre, or symbolical head covering, "there is nothing I have ever seen or read of which bears so strong a resemblance to the whole of the figure on the pillar, as the ministering or guardian angels, described under the name of seraphim or cherubim, by the different writers in the Bible; and, if we are to ascribe these erections to Cyrus, how readily may he have found the model of his genii, either in the spoil of the temple of Jerusalem, which he saw among the treasures at Babylon, or from the Jewish descriptions, in the very word of prophecy which mentions him by name; and which, doubtless, would be in the possession of Daniel, and open to the eye of the monarch to whom it so immediately referred." The passages in the Bible from whence a comparison may be drawn between what are called cherubims and seraphims, and the figure described by Sir Robert Ker Porter, are chiefly the following: Exodus xxv. 18, 20. "And thou shalt make two cherubims of gold, of beaten work shalt thou make them, in the two ends of the mercy-seat. And the cherubims shall stretch forth their wings on high, covering the mercy-seat with their wings, and their faces shall look one to another; toward the mercy-seat shall the faces of the cherubims be." 1 Kings vi. 23-27. "And within the oracle, he made two cherubims of olive tree, each ten cubits high. And five cubits was the one wing of the cherub, and five cubits the other wing of the cherub: from the uttermost part of the one wing unto the uttermost part of the other, were ten cubits. And the other cherub was ten cubits, and so was it of the other cherub. And he set the cherubims within the inner house; and they stretched forth the wings of the cherubims, so that the wing of the one touched the one wall, and the wing of the other cherub touched the other wall." 2 Chronicles iii. 13. "The wings of these cherubims spread themselves forth twenty cubits; and they stood on their feet, and their faces were inward." Isaiah. vi. 1, 2. "In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings: with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly." If the supposition of Sir Robert Ker Porter be correct, it forms a curious instance of the manner in which the outward symbols of one form of religion came to be adopted by a people, the spirit of whose religion was so very different; for the religion of Persia was, as may be supposed, a species of paganism. Cherubim, among the Jews, were only symbols; but the sculptured figures of the ancient Persians were in all probability idols; and the reader will bear in mind the vast difference between the two terms. Ir was a clumsy and cruel contrivance of the Romans to SOUTHEY. 1 |