CHINESE MYTHOLOGY ON PORCELAIN.

The following Notes, though written by the late Mr. James Christie, so long since as 1807, will be found to proffer much curious detail in reference to the embellishments and mythological figures on various objects of Oriental Porcelain, and will doubtless be considered as explanatory of many incidents and persons generally considered inexplicable.

The scanty reports of Missionaries, and even of later travellers in China, leave much to be known respecting that country; and the difficulty of the Chinese language prevents our deriving much intelligence from the natives. Amidst this dearth of information, it is satisfactory to know that we possess valuable documents at home. The proficiency of the Chinese in the chief branch of their manufactures, the state of their fine arts, and even the religious opinions of the people may be collected from their Porcelain.*

In the numerous private cabinets in this metropolis are specimens of the most precious kinds of Porcelain, for which the Chinese have been for many centuries pre-eminent, and the manufactories of our own country already experience the benefit of these models. With the advantages of more correct principles of design, the

* The etymology of the word 'porcelain,' has long been the subject of different opinions. The inventory of the goods of the Duc d'Anjou, 1360, in which is noticed.-Une escuelle d'une pierre appelée pourcellaine; is sufficiently conclusive as to the use of the word in France in the fourteenth century; but this "stone called porcelain," appears to have been some precious material, for the object to which it is attached when mentioned in other instances, is

66

always richly attached or set in gold with pearls or precious stones. It was possibly chalcedony which resembling porcelain in its milky hue and its semi-translucent character, the name porcelain may have been transferred to the substance of the pottery subsequently introduced into Europe by the Portuguese, early in the sixteenth century. Porcellana in the Portuguese language, originally signified a little pig," and the cowries or small shells used for money in the East, from the similarity of their shape to the back of a little pig, were called by the Portuguese, 'porcella.' Whether the Portuguese who first doubled the Cape of Good Hope, at the close of the fifteenth century, really believed these vessels were made of such shells or of some composition which resembled them, is doubtful, but certain it is, porcellana is found in later Portuguese dictionaries to signify a cup,' and the derivation of the word is thence generally deduced.

Porcelain, or China ware, appears to have been known in England in the time of King Henry the Eighth. Sir Edward Montague, an ancestor of the Duke of Manchester, by his will dated July 17, 1556, directed his sons whom he appointed his executors, to "sell as much of his plate, china, rings and jewels, as they think convenient." Later, we find among the New year's gifts presented to Queen Elizabeth on new year's day 1588, Lord Burghley proffered oneporrynger of whyte porselyn,' garnished with gold; and Mr. Robert Cecill, afterwards Earl of Salisbury, cup of green pursselyne.'

6

a Collins' Peerage of England, edit. 1756, vol. ii. p. 638.

a

knowledge of perspective, and of the harmony of colours, we are only deficient in understanding the mixture of the materials, and the plastic part, to rival the productions of Eastern Asia in this line. The former may be made good to us by our superior chemical science, the latter will no doubt be acquired by patience and care. Every one must therefore, applaud the curiosity which leads to forming such collections, and must cease to wonder at the high price at which objects of such beauty and importance have been estimated.

The kind of Porcelain chiefly prized, is termed MANDARIN, or Egg-shell. It displays the greatest ingenuity in the fabric, its characteristic is extreme delicacy, and the objects depicted upon it are of the most exquisite pencilling and enamel. The marks however by which the Mandarin Porcelain may be known are not decidedly agreed upon: some persons have ventured to recommend it by the thinness and transparency of the material; others by the contrast of some rich colour on the outside, with a green verditer within ; others again rely, and perhaps with juster reason, upon bottom of the vessels. These groups, it is believed, are the quadrangular cluster of characters inscribed on the the most ancient characters of China, changed from their hieroglyphical to a quadrate form, and are used as a court character. The inscription merely records the Dynasty and Emperor, under which the specific piece of porcelain was made.

The CRACKLE China is admired for the cracks observable in the varnish, which it is believed, are occasioned by the vase being suddenly exposed to a cool draught of air, while the varnish is yet warm.*

The more thick ENAMEL China is less to be admired

for its earth and painting, than for the richness of the colours laid on in varnish, and for the curious symbols

with which it is embellished.

The BURNT-IN China is considered of inferior quality, but this mode of colouring gives admirable richness and effect, when introduced upon the genuine specimens of the Old Japan, which is of massive manufacture, and admired for its weight.

The properly so called, OLD JAPAN, combines almost lain of China. The broad flowers depicted upon it are every quality that is separately admired in the porcedisplayed in blue and red, burnt in, with the addition of a little enamel. But what chiefly gives richness to these specimens, is the bold relief in which some of the flowers are executed, and afterwards gilt and burnished.

The Chinese have discovered a fertile source for the embellishment of these different kinds, in the Fables of their religion; and it is remarkable, that like the Greeks, they have chosen their earthenware to commemorate their most secret doctrines.

* In Marryat's Collections towards a History of Pottery and Porcelain, 1850, 8vo. p. 108, Father Solis, a Portuguese Missionary, is quoted as describing some of these operations as arising from the use of oils of several kinds, some of which are metallic, and by laying the china some months in the mud so soon as it comes from the furnace.

A Chinese Emperor is said to have observed, that the dragons upon his vest were designed for more than merely ornament, that they had a moral signification; we may affirm that many subjects depicted upon porcelain have also a recondite meaning. The operation of the elements upon each other to produce the first created universe, according to the material notions of the gentiles, seems to be expressed by the combinations of the fiery dragon, with the Fung Hoang, or bird of Paradise, expressive of air; the Ky-lin or horned-dog, perhaps denoting earth; and the tortoise, fish or the lotus, which indifferently imply water.

FOнI, the ancient founder of the Chinese empire, coeval with Noah, is reported to have seen a tortoise issue from the water, bearing on its back a mystical diagram. This subject is expressed upon some vases, and on this account we find a tortoise-shell pattern adopted upon china, as a border, having open compartments in which flowers are painted and enamelled in natural colours. Hence the date of this appearance to FoнI being considered, we may conclude, the combined emblem denotes the vegetable creation arising from Water. We collect from Bayer, that FoнI appointed eight Tchin or Spirits; these were preserving spirits to watch round mortals; they are probably no more than the eight persons preserved at the general destruction of mankind, with which FоHI must have been coeval, but which he and a few others survived. These persons may be seen on bowls, plates, and other ware, standing on water, generally supported upon a fish or aquatic animal, and are thus distinguished :

1. How Cing Koe-a female with a landing net. 2. Hon Chong lie -a boy with a flute.

3. Lit Hit Quay-a man with a crutch and doublegourd.

4. Tong-fong-sok—a man with a fan, and the fruit of immortality.

5. Tchow lok how-a man with rattles or castanets. 6. Lut hong pan-a man with a sword and cowtail. 7. Tchang colao-a man with a bamboo tube and pencils.

8. La mi tsui woo—a youth, or female with a basket of flowers.

The implements depicted upon enamel China, are the symbols of these divinities, and the fruit borne by the fourth person above named has suggested the form of many vessels in porcelain : were a Chinese to present liquor in a vessel so shaped, it might be deemed a flattering mode of salutation.

We find a ninth person superior to these, who may perhaps represent the material heaven; he is almost invariably seated, he rides upon the stork, a bird of supposed longevity, he is bald and aged, and he carries a sceptre. He seems to be THE ANCIENT ONE, a title well known in the Egyptian, Scythian and Greek Mythologies, as Pi-apas and Jupiter Pappæus.

enlarging upon it. The contest seems to correspond with the Titan war of the Western Pagans.

These very imperfects hints may be thought improperly obtruded upon notice; they need not however arrest the attention of the lover of elegant form and ornament: the inquisitive may possibly turn them to useful account.

SCHOLA SALERNITANA.

The author of this work was John of Milan, one of the doctors of the Medical School at Salerno; and the Rex Anglorum' to whom it was inscribed was EDWARD THE CONFESSOR, as shown by Muratori. Antiquitates, Tom. III., Dissert. xl. See also Gibbon, chap. 56, vol. x. p. 279, where he remarks upon the opinion or rather error of Pasquier. Recherches de la France, vii. 2, and Ducange sub verbo Leonini.

Louis Vaslet, who at the end of his edition of Alvarez's Latin Prosody, 1730, thus gives the title from an old copy-Schola Salernitana præcepta de Conservanda Valetudine, a Johanne de Mediolano medico Salernitano composita, adds-Inscripsit Roberto Gulielmi primi, Angliæ Regis Conquestoris, filionatu minori, circa 1100. Here is a double mistake, for Robert was not the youngest but the eldest surviving son of the Conqueror.

In Stephens' Geographical Dictionary, by Lloyd, under Salernum, we read-Cujus doctores librum conscripserunt, et Anglorum regi dedicarunt, non Henrico octavo, ut quidam putant, sed Ricardo Secundo, sive Edvardo primo. Heylyn in his Cosmographie, p. 71, makes the same observation, but for Richard the Second writes Richard the First.

That Arnold de Villanova was the author, has been asserted by some who were seemingly led into error by the title of the editio princeps Regimen Sanitatis Salernitanum a Magistro Arnaldo de Villanova Catalano* veraciter expositum ac noviter correctum et emendatum per doctores Montispessulani regentes anno 1480, predicto loco actu† moram trahentes; or of that of another edition, without place or date, which reads― Regimen Sanitatis ad regem Aragonum‡ a Magistro Arnaldo de Villanova directum et ordinatum. In other editions the titles read thus-Schola Salernitana, auctore Joanne de Mediolano, cum Arnoldi Villanovani exegesi in singula capita. An English metrical translation of the Schola Salernitana, by an M.D., published not long since in London. Hawkshead, August 9.

D. B. H.

was

De Villa nova Cathallani, is the reading in a subsequent edition, with the imprint, Venetiis, per Bernardum de Vitalibus. i.e. in the discharge of their office.

own commentary to him, as John of Milan inscribed the original text to Edward the Confessor.

The tradition in the family is, that they are descended from one of considerable antiquity in the North of England, one of whom is noticed by Dugdale as an itinerant justice in 1165, 11 Hen. II. The ancestor of the Suffolk branch is said to have been disinherited by his father, and to have settled at Halesworth in that county during the troubles in the time of the great rebellion.

John Kirby, originally a schoolmaster at Orford, but subsequently the occupier of a Mill at Wickham Market, was the compiler of the Suffolk Traveller, printed at Ipswich in 1735,* and of a small map of Suffolk.

His son, Joshua Kirby, F.R. and A. S., born at Parham, near Wickham Market, settled at Ipswich as a house painter. He had a genius for painting, but it must be admitted was a very young artist, when he made the drawings of Schole Inn, and what are called 'the Twelve Prints.' He was however principally eminent for his knowledge of perspective, and his book published in 1755, entitled, 'Dr. Brook Taylor's Method of Perspective made Easy,' contained much original matter, and was received with general approbation. It obtained for him the notice of the Earl of Bute, by whom he was ever afterwards deservedly and highly esteemed; and he introduced him to his present Majesty [King George the Third] when Prince of Wales. Under his patronage, and by his munificent aid, he published in 1761, his magnificent volume, entitled The Perspective of Architecture, deduced from the principles of Dr. Brook Taylor.' The architectonic sector explained in that work was the Earl's invention. In conjunction with my father, he in 1766 published an improved edition of my grandfather's map of Suffolk, upon a larger scale, with engravings of the arms of the principal families in the County, and Views of the Castles of Burgh, Mettingham, Framlingham, Orford, and Bungay; Leiston Abbey, and the gateway to Bury Abbey, the Priories of Butley and Blighburgh; Covehithe Church and St. James's Church, Dunwich.

Joshua Kirby married Bull, by whom he had two children. William, a very promising artist, who was employed by his Majesty to make drawings in Italy for the Royal Collection. He married Elizabeth Anderson, of Chelsea, and died v. p. leaving no issue. His second child, Sarah, who married Mr. James Trimmer, of Old

An edition of this work, with considerable additions by the Rev. Richard Canning, perpetual curate of St. Laurence, Ipswich, was printed anonymously in 1764, 8vo.

These iron grated yets or gates were formerly used as inner doors to the principal entrances of old castles in Scotland; several of them remain and present perfect representations of their construction and strength. Their general application appears to have followed upon the disuse of the portcullis, and were well adapted as effective safeguards against the invasion of the Cateran, or highland robber, as well as a sure defence against the premeditated assault of one baron upon the home and dependents of another. All baronial buildings situated near any pass in the highlands, or usual roadway or thoroughfare in the lowlands, were provided with them, and remain an incontestable proof of the general insecurity consequent on the lawless state of North Britain, till a very recent date. Still, these yets or gates, however needfully required for the protection of life and property, were not permitted to be attached to private dwellings without especial leave and license from the king, and as these documents are now of ex* Mrs. Trimmer died Dec. 15, 1810, in her 69th year.

treme rarity, the following yet extant among the archives of the family of Ogilvy of Inverquharity, and kindly communicated by Sir John Ogilvy, will doubtless be read with much interest. It is entitled, "License be the King to Al. Ogilvy of Inercarity to fortifie his house and put ane iron yet therein," and proceeds thus

JAMES be the grace of God Kinge of Scottis. To all and sindry oure liegies and subdits to qwhais knawlage theis oure Llez [Letters] sall cum gretinge. Wit yhe vs to haue gevin and grauntit full fredome facultez and sp[eci]ele licence to oure loued familiare Sqwier Alex. of Ogilby of Inuerquharady for to fortifie his house and to strenthit with ane Irne yhet. Quharfor we straitly bid and commaunde that na man take on hande to make him impediment stoppinge na distroublace in the makinge, raisinge, hynginge, and vpsettinge of the saide yhet in his said house vndir all payne and charge at eftir may follow.

Geuin vndir oure signet at Streviline the xxv° day of September ande of oure regne the sevint yhere [1573.]

The lands and castle of Inverquharity were held by the ancestors of the present baronet from a period anterior to the year 1405, and were, with the exception of the old messuage and the surrounding park only recently alienated. The house and park are still retained by the family, but the castle is now a ruin. The "Irne yhet" for which the above licence was obtained is still there in its original position. These iron gates hung on strong hinges, and secured by two or three bolts, varying in diameter from two to four inches, were not unfrequently aided in their repellative quality by a thick bar of oak, one end of which being placed in an aperture in the wall, passed immediately behind the gate to an opposite niche chiselled in the stone work to receive it. At many other fortalices in the same district, such gates as here described are remaining; and among them that at Invermark Castle, in the romantic valley of Glenesk, affords a satisfactorily picturesque specimen; that castle, as shewn in the accompanying view

having been erected in the sixteenth century, and the "irne yet "" or gate being a type of all others which I have noticed, is represented at the commencement of this paper.

I am not aware that gates of this or a similar construction can claim any earlier antiquity in Scotland than the reign of James the Sixth. On this point, possibly some of your correspondents can inform me; but connected with the one above engraved, there is a peculiarity which may be briefly noticed. Towards the close of the sixteenth century, while the extensive lordship of Glenesk was held by the old family of Lindsay of Edzell, Sir David Lindsay and his brother Lord Menmuir, founder of the noble house of Balcarras, discovered in the glen, minerals, including gold, silver, brass, and tin, which were leased to a skilful German, and it is stated the gate above depicted was the work of a native blacksmith, from iron ore raised and smelted in Glenesk; in fact, the whole of the iron about the castle of Invermark, of which the gate is almost the only vestige, is also recorded to have been obtained and worked from and upon the same soil. Subsequently, these mineral discoveries were attempted to be continued by the York Buildings Company, but their operations failing of success the works were abandoned.

The tower or castle of Invermark,* now roofless and a ruin, appears to owe much of its dilapidated condition to neglect, as between the time that the estate was sold by the last Lindsay of Edzell, to James, fourth Earl of Panmure, by whom as a Jacobite it was forfeited within the year following the purchase; and the sale of the lands by the Government to the York Buildings Company, the castle is noticed as gradually falling to decay.

Invermark Castle stands on a rising ground near the junction of the rivers Mark and Lee, in the valley immediately below the fine shooting lodge lately erected by Lord Panmure, and forms a beautiful object in the landscape. Here, almost under the shadow of the venerable ruin, Alexander Ross, author of the well known Scottish poems of Helenore, or the Fortunate Shepherdess; the Rock an' the Wee Pickle Tow, etc., taught the youth of the parish upwards of fifty-two years, and his ashes repose in the old romantically situated kirkyard at the foot of the Loch of Lee, surrounded by rugged mountains from three to four hundred feet in height. The ruins of his humble dwelling are laudably preserved. Some years since a monument of Aberdeen granite was subscribed for by his admirers and erected to his memory, but through the influence of the parish minister of the period, was most absurdly placed in the new kirk, which is about a mile distant from the grave of the bard, it is however hoped that a change for the better will remedy this evil, no person being more alive to the propriety of having both men and things in their right place than Lord Panmure, who is sole proprietor of the large and interesting lordship of Glenesk, much of which has received great improvement within the short space of three years.

The shooting lodge recently erected by Lord Panmure is on the side of the hill, to the left of the Castle of Invermark, more than 200 feet above the level of the Loch of Lee. It is built of native granite, in the picturesque style of English cottage architecture, with a tower on the east front.

The house represented in the view, to the right of the castle, is the residence of the parish schoolmaster.

In 1729, the Burlawmen, or those appointed to value the lands and houses on the forfeited properties of the Stuart adherents, in reference to this edifice, made a report, that--the present value of the castle of Innermark, of stone and slate roof is three hundred and sixtyfour pounds; and the reparations necessary thereto, is one hundred and ninety pounds, twelve shillings, which it must have in all haste to prevent its going to ruin.* The repairs suggested by the report were immediately made, and the factor or manager of the Panmure portion of the York Buildings' Estates made it his occasional residence. Two of his female descendants were its last occupants, they having continued to inhabit the castle till 1803, when the stone work of the offices, and the timber of the interior were taken to build the adjoining manse for the use of the parish minister. Brechin, August 9.

SPES ET FORTUNA VALETE.

A. J.

COMBUSTIBILITY OF THE DIAMOND.

In Current Notes, p. 44, Rouelle the French chemist is said, from Prior's Life of Goldsmith, to have been the first person who ascertained the composition of the Diamond by submitting it to combustion; but that fact had been long since foreseen. Boetius de Boot in his History of Gems, printed in 1609, spoke of the Diamond as an inflammable substance. In the chapter "De Adamante," he intimates

Quod itaque mastix, quæ igneæ naturæ est, Adamanti facile pingi possit, signum est id propter materiæ similitudinem fieri, ac Adamantis materiam igneam et sulphuream esse, atque ipsius humidum intrinsecum et primogenium, cujus beneficio coagulatus est, plane fuisse oleosum, et igneum, aliarum vero gemmarum aqueum.

Non mirum itaque si pinguis, oleosa, et ignea masticis substantia illi absque visus termino adpingi, et applicari, alius vero gemmis non posset.

Celestial Pryncesse thow blessed Virgin Marie,
Thy Servant Margret Cantlowe, call to Remembraunce,
And pray to thy dere Sonne the Well of all Mercy,
To pardon her Trespas and Fautes of Ignoraunce;
Whiche to Hen. Cantlowe was Wyffe wythoute Varyaunce,
And Dowhtyr also to Nicolas Alwyn,

Mercers of London, God shelde them all from Synne. The sayd Margrete died V. Day of Marcii, Ao. 1486. In the north aisle of Carshalton church, in Surrey, is the figure of a woman praying, with this inscription from her mouth :

O blessed Lady of Pittie, pray for me,
That my soul savyd may be.

On the north wall in the chapel of Windsor, is a figure in vestments kneeling before the Virgin and Child, above are the words

MAGISTER ROBERTVS HONYWODE LEGVM DOCT. Behind him stands St. Catherine with her sword and wheel; and from his mouth issues this scroll

Virgo tuum natum pro me precor ora. And below is inscribed

Orate pro anima Magistri Roberti Honywode, Legum Doctoris, nuper Archi-Diaconi Tawnton, ac Canonici hujus Collegii. Qui obiit 22 die Januarii, Anno Dni 1522.

At Hungerford, in Berkshire, occurs this inscription : Pry pour Mons. Robert de Hungerford, tant cum il vivera, Et pour l'alme de ly appressa mort priere: Synk Cents et sinquante jours de pardon avera grante de quatorse et veoques tant come il fust en vie : per quei en noum de charite: Pater et Ave.

Many monumental inscriptions end in this manner. For instance at East Shelford :

For whose Soulè, of your Charitie say a Pater Noster and Ave.

At Cookham, in the same county, against the north side of the chancel, is a monument, with the figures of a man and a woman, and this inscription under their feet :

Of your Charitie pray for the Soules of Robert Pecke, Esq., sumtyme Master Clerke of the Spycery with King Harri the Sixt. and Agnes hys Wyfe. Robert decessyd the 14th day of January, in the Yere of our Lord God, a Thousand CCCCC and XVII. Whos Soules and all Crysten Soules Jhesu have Mercy.

Out of the man's mouth issues the words

Sancta Trinitas, unus Deus, miserere nobis. And out of the woman's

Virgo Dei digna, peccantibus esto benigna.