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ancient pantomime are degenerated to the bizarre adventures of Harlequin, Pantaloon, and Merry Andrew. The first pantomime performed by grotesque characters in this country was at Drury Lane Theatre, in the year 1702. It was composed by Mr. Weaver, and called "The Tavern Bilkers." In 1717, the first harlequinade was performed at the theatre in Lincoln's Inn Fields, called " Harlequín Executed." It was composed by Mr. Rich.

HARLEQUIN.

Writers differ as to the origin of the term Harlequin; one says, "There was a young Italian actor of eminence in this style of character came to Paris in the time of Henry 3d of France, and having been received into the house of the President, Achilles de Harlai, his brother actors are said to have called him Harlequin, from the name of his master." Another says, "There was a knight called Harlequin, an extravagant dissipated man, who spent his substance in the wars of Charles Martel against the Saracens, and afterwards lived by pillage. Tradition says, he was saved from perdition in consequence of his services against the infidels, but condemned for a certain time to appear nightly on earth, with those of his lineage.

PANTALOON.

The old character of Zany was similar to our modern clown, who now is generally the possessor of all the wit in the performance. The name of Pantaloon is said to be derived from the watch-word of the Venetians, pianta-leone; if so (which is doubtful), it must have been applied in derision of their fallen state, as compared with their former splendour.

MERRY ANDREW.

"Cant you see by my Hunch, Sir,
1 am Mister Punch, Sir."

Some have derived the term Merry Andrew from the time of the Druids, an Drieu, i. e. Arch-Druid, others, from the celebrated Andrew Borde, the writer and empiric. The Merry Andrew used at fairs to wear a patched coat like the modern Harlequin, and sometimes a hunch on his back. It has been remarked, that the common people are apt to give some well known facetious personage the name of a favourite dish; hence the Jack-pudding of the English; the Jean-potage of the French; the Macaroni of the Italians, &c.

GOD SAVE THE KING.

This popular anthem has been attributed to a minstrel, an illegitimate son of Henry 2d, who composed it, in reference to the absence of Richard Coeur de Leon, in Palestine, whom the nation loved for his spirit of chivalry.

Another writer, however, says-This popular song was sung, as an anthem, at the Chapel Royal, in the reign of James 2d. It is uncertain by whom the words were written, but the music was composed by Dr. John Bull, belonging to the choir of that chapel. It first became a popular song (with the alteration of the name of our James to George), through the late Dr. Arne, who set it in parts, and introduced it at one of the London Theatres during the Irish rebellion in 1746, where it met with unbounded applause, and has

continued to be a favourite national air from that period to the present time.

Another writer observes-It was composed by Shirley, the dramatic poet in the reign of Charles the 2d, who was patronized by Lauderdale and Rochester. The anthem in Latinity was written at the time as under :

O! vivus omnibus,
Salvus ab hostibus
Carolus Rex.

Tibi victoriam
Deus et gloriam
Det et memoriam
Optime Rex.

Probe cœlipotens

Deus omnipotens

Solus armipotens
Auxilia.

RULE BRITANNIA.

The words of this celebrated national anthem, or song, were taken from Thomson's "Masque of Alfred," and was composed by Doctor Arne.

TE DEUM.

"On the joyful occasion Te Deum was sung in all the churches."

The name of a celebrated hymn, used in the Christian church, and so called, because it begins with these words, Te deum laudamus-We praise thee, O God. It is sung in the Romish church with great pomp and solemnity upon the gaining of a victory, or on other happy events.

SWEET LASS OF RICHMOND HILL.

The long popular, and still well known song, of the Lass of Richmond Hill, is founded on the following true and pathetic story:“A young lady, equally accomplished in mind and person, the daughter of a merchant of immense wealth, resident at Richmond Hill, had consented to receive the addresses of a young officer, of exemplary character, and of respectable but poor parents. He belonged to a regiment of cavalry, then quartered at Richmond; but his offers were rejected by her father, on account of his poverty. Apprehensions of a clandestine marriage being entertained, the officer was forbidden the house, and the young lady was strictly confined within its walls. Continued grief, and irritation of spirits, led her, in a fit of despair, bordering on insanity, to precipitate herself from an upper window of her father's house, and she was dashed to pieces on the steps that formed the ascent from the garden into the house. The unfortunate young man afterwards served in America, and was shot at the head of his company."

DRYDEN'S CELEBRATED ODE.

Dryden's Ode on the Power of Music is the most unrivalled of his compositions. By that strange fatality which seems to disqualify authors from judging of their own works, he does not appear to have valued this piece, because he totally omits it in the enumeration and criticism he has given of the rest, in his preface to his works. "I shall add nothing to what I have already said on this subject (says

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Dr. Warton in his Essays on the Writings and Genius of Pope, vol ii.), but only tell the occasion and manner of writing it. Mr. St. John, afterwards Lord Bolingbroke, happened to pay a morning visit to Dryden, whom he always respected, found him in an unusual agitation of spirits, even to a trembling. On enquiring the cause, 'I have been up all night,' replied the old bard, my musical friends made me promise to write them an Ode for the feast of St. Cecilia. I have been so struck with the subject which occurred to me, that I could not leave it, till I had completed it; here it is, finished at one sitting.' And immediately he showed him this Ode, which places the British lyric poetry above that of any other nation. This anecdote, as true as it is curious, was imparted by Lord Bolingbroke to Pope, by Pope to Mr. Gilbert West, by him to his ingenious friend (Richard Berenger, Esq.) who communicated it to me. The rapidity, and yet the perspicuity of the thoughts, the glow and expressiveness of the images, these certain marks of the first sketch of a master, conspire to corroborate the truth of the fact."

CATHERINE AND PETRUCHIO.

The play of Catherine and Petruchio, or the Taming of the Shrew, was derived from an Italian tale, called Silverio and Pizardo. See particulars, which would take up too much space here, in New London Gleaner, 2d vol. 1809.

THE BALLAD "AULD ROBIN GRAY."

The following extract from a letter, written to the late Thomas Hammersley, Esq. by the Rev. Wm. Jervis, rector of Wrington, in Somersetshire, in June 1812, has been handed to us. It shows, that the words of the ballad of Auld Robin Gray were written by Lady Ann Lindsay, and that the music was composed by Wm. Jervis. A gentleman now residing in Edinburgh, and intimately acquainted with the composer, can answer for the authenticity of this letter:My dear Sir-Anxious as you have ever been for the sake of right, as well as for the fair fame of your friends, you have more than once solicited that I should publicly claim an offspring, which, for more than forty years, has been of uncertain origin. Nothing could have induced me to undertake this at my time of life, but the offer of your kind testimony to the genuineness of this my early production, with an acquaintance with it in manuscript, long before it surreptitiously found its way to the public eye, enables you so convincingly to bear. As to the ballad or story, you may remember that I received it from the Hon. Mr. Byron, and understood it to have been written by Lady Ann Lindsay.

THE POPULAR ROMANCE" CASTLE OF OTRANTO."

The ingenious author of this popular romance, in a letter to Mr. Cole, now in the British Museum, gives the following account of its origin" I waked one morning in the beginning of last June from a dream, of which all I could recover was, that I had thought myself in an ancient castle, and that on the uppermost bannister of a great staircase I saw a gigantic hand in armour. In the evening I sat down, and began to write, without knowing in the least what I intended to say or relate. The work grew on my hands, and I grew fond of it, so that I was very glad to think of any thing rather than politics. In short, I was so engrossed with my tale, which I com

pleted in less than two months, that one evening I wrote from the time I had drank tea (about six o'clock) till half an hour past one in the morning, when my hands and fingers were so weary, that I could not hold my pen to finish the sentence, but left Matilda and Isabella talking in the middle of a paragraph."

EASTWARD HOE.

The title of "Eastward Hoe" was taken from the exclamations of watermen plying for fares on the Thames. Of this the play of "Eastward Hoe" furnishes some evidence; but with regard at least to another play, "Westward Hoe," it is clearly shown by the following quotation from George Peele's old historical play of Edward the first, printed in 1593. The Queen is at Potter's (afterwards called Queen's) Hithe, and the stage direction when she has entered is

(Make a noise Westward How.)

Queen.-Woman, what noise is this I hear?

Potter's Wife.-And like your Grace, it is the watermen that call for passengers to go to westward now.

VELUTI IN SPECULUM.

"Let scenic virtue form the rising age."

The stage motto, Veluti in Speculum, or, As in a Mirror, was first used in the Theatre at Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the reign of George the First, about the same period when soldiers first mounted guard at the Theatres Royal.

THEATRICAL BENEFITS.

Mrs. Barry is recorded as the first performer, male or female, who ever had, what is now understood by the term, a benefit. This privilege was procured for her, through the influence of James 2d, and she alone possessed it, until just before the commencement of the 18th century. The poverty of the divided theatrical companies then induced the managers to employ this expedient for paying their actors and actresses more directly out of the pockets of the public; and it not unfrequently happened (at least the performers made the accusation) that the patentees appropriated to themselves all the proceeds, under the pretext of house expenses, and left the performers to their remedy.

SECTION V.

UNIVERSITIES, COLLEGES, SCHOOLS, PUBLIC
LIBRARIES, RELIGIOUS SECTS, ORIGIN OF
NICENE CREED, INQUISITION, &c.

UNIVERSITIES,

Had their first rise in the 12th and 13th centuries. Those of Paris and Bologna are said to be the first that were set on foot; but

then they were on a different footing from the Universities among us. Our own Universities, of Oxford and Cambridge, seem entitled to the greatest antiquity of any in the world; and Baliol and Merton Colleges in Oxford, and St. Peter's in Cambridge, all made Colleges in the 13th century, may be said to be the first regular endowments of this kind in Europe. For though University College in Cambridge had been a place for students ever since the year 872, yet this, like many of the other ancient Colleges beyond sea, and Leyden to this day, was no proper College; but the students without any distinction of habit, lived in citizen's houses, having only meeting places to hear lectures and disputes. In after times there were houses built for the students to live in society; only each to be at his own charge, as in the inns of court; these at first were called inns, but now halls. At last plentiful revenues were settled on several of these Halls, to maintain the students in diet, apparel, &c. and these were called Colleges. In the University of Oxford, there are 2220 members of convocation, and 4792 members on the Boards. In the University of Cambridge, there are 1854 members of the senate, and 1866 members on the boards, making a total of 9658 students on the boards at both Universities. In 1748, there were 1500 members on the Cambridge boards; in 1813, there were 2805; in 1825, they had increased to 4700; and in 1826, to 4866, as above stated. The Universities of Scotland are four, St. Andrew's, Aberdeen, Edinburgh, and Glasgow. In Ireland there is only one University, that of Dublin.

BALIOL COLLEGE,

Was founded by Thomas Baliol, the father of Baliol, king of Scotland; and from whence it derives the appellation of Baliol College.

ORIEL COLLEGE.

This College was founded by Adam de Blome, Baron L'Oriel' who was almoner to King Edward the Second; and from whence it is called Oriel College. Founded 1326.

SORBONE COLLEGE.

Sorbon, or Sorborne College, was the first and most considerable of the University of Paris. It was founded in the reign of St. Lewis, 1250, by Robert Sorbon, which name is sometimes given to the whole University of Paris.

MERTON COLLEGE.

Merton College, in Oxford, derives its name from Walter de Merton, Bishop of Rochester, who founded it in 1274.

EXETER COLLEGE.

Exeter College, in Oxford, so denominated from Walter Stapledon, Bishop of Exeter, who founded it in 1315.

CLARE HALL.

Clare Hall, in Cambridge, derives its name from Elizabeth Countess of Clare, who founded it, but had its original from Richard Padew, anno 1326.

PEMBROKE HALL.

Pembroke Hall, in Cambridge, receives its name from Mary, Countess Dowager of Pembroke, who founded it in 1326.

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