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traits. There were several eminent Dutch painters in this style, Varelst being the most celebrated. Varelst was patronized by the duke of Buckingham, and few artists have ever equalled him as a flower-painter. Sculpture during this period was almost exclusively applied to decoration: there were only two artists, however, who excelled in this art, namely, Gabriel Cibber, a native of Holstein, and Grinling Gibbons, the latter of whom was the most celebrated. The art of engraving now made considerable progress. Faithorne was the best engraver of the age; but there were several foreigners who vied with him in excellence, as David Loggan, Abraham Blooteling, Gerard Valek, and Peter Vanderbank. The invention of mezzotint had been introduced into England by prince Rupert; and the superior excellence of our engravers had by this time made it into an English art. In no country has it been practised with such success as in England.

Music had been almost discarded from England during the commonwealth; but at the Restoration it was again revived as an art. Organs were again set up in cathedrals, and choirs were re-formed throughout the kingdom: many musical composers appeared, the most celebrated of whom was Henry Purcell. The works of Purcell form a part of our national wealth: they surpass everything of the kind that England had before produced, and some of them yet continue unrivalled by any musicians of English birth. Up to the period of his decease he had no equal either in England, France, Germany, or Italy. Secular music, also, received attention at this period: regular concerts were established at Oxford and in London, though their character was far infe rior to those of the present age. The most noted concerts in London were performed in a room over the coal-shop of one Thomas Britton, who lived in Aylesbury-street, Clerkenwell; but though the place of resort was humble, it was frequented by the young, the gay, and the fair of all ranks, including the highest order of the nobility.

Commerce. From the period of the Restoration to that of the Revolution trade appears to have been upon the whole more considerable, and more steady in its progress, than in any former period of the same length. The two Dutch wars, by disturbing the trade of that republic, promoted the navigation of Britain; and after Charles had made a separate peace with the states, his subjects enjoyed the trade of Eu

rope unmolested. How far commerce had increased may be seen from the following figures. In 1622, the entire value of the exports and imports was £4,939,751; but in 1669, the imports alone were £4,196,139, and the exports £2,063,274. These figures indicate a steady progress of mercantile activity and national wealth. It was in this period that tea was first brought into England. Pepys in his Diary, records, in 1661, "I sent for a cup of tea-a Chinese drink of which I never drank before." The poet Waller has some lines on the birthday of queen Catherine, from which it would seem that her example brought this new beverage into fashionable use :

"The best of queens, and best of herbs we owe,
To that bold nation, which the way did show
To the fair region where the sun does rise,
Whose rich productions we so justly prize.
The muse's friend, tea, does our fancy aid;
Repress those vapours which the head invade;
And keeps that palace of the soul serene,
Fit on her birthday to salute the queen."

Tea was brought into England by the East-India Company, whose charter was renewed by Charles II.; but the quantity brought into the country for many years was very limited. In 1664 the company could only procure two pounds and two ounces, which cost them forty shillings a pound; and in 1666 they had to pay fifty shillings a pound for twenty-two pounds and three quarters. These two parcels were both presented to the king. Their first importation was in 1669, when they received two canisters, containing one hundred and forty-three pounds and a half, from Bantam: after this their importations gradually increased; but it was not till after the Revolution that the consumption of tea began to be general in England.

The growth of London, during the present period, proceeded at an accelerated rate. Several acts were passed for its improvement. One of these acts ordered several " common highways and new-built streets" to be new paved; directed the inhabitants to sweep the streets, before their respective houses, twice a week, under a penalty of 3s. 4d. for every instance of neglect; and commanded every person whose house fronted the street, to hang out candles in lanterns, or otherwise, in some part of his house next the street, every night between Michaelmas and Lady-day, from

dusk until nine in the evening, under a penalty of one shilling. The same act authorized the lord-mayor and city authorities to receive subscriptions for repairing certain streets, which were so narrow that they incommoded coaches, carts, and passengers, and were prejudicial to commerce and trad ing. By other acts two new parishes were erected at the west end: one, that of St. Anne's, Westminster, consisting principally of streets that had recently been built on a piece of ground called Kemp's Field; the other, that of St. James's, Westminster, comprehending Jermyn-street and other neighbouring streets, lately erected on ground called St. James's Fields. This proves the increase of London; but its size and importance were insignificant to what that proud city

now is.

After the Restoration, the money of the commonwealth was all called in, and a new gold and silver coinage was struck, similar to that of the reign of Charles I. There was, however, one marked difference in the coinage of these two periods. On all the English money of Charles II. his head is made to look to the left, being the opposite direction to that in which his father's head is placed; and ever since it has been observed as a rule, to make two successive sovereigns look in opposite directions on their respective coinages. James II. coined gold pieces of the value of five pounds; and after his abdication he coined money in Ireland, out of old brass guns and kitchen utensils; and when brass failed him, he fabricated crowns, half-crowns, shillings, and sixpences out of pewter!

Manners and Customs.-The furniture of this period continued nearly the same as noticed in the preceding; but it may be mentioned, that the famous manufactory of Gobelin tapestry was established in France, in 1677, and that specimens of it soon appeared on the walls of the palaces and mansions of our nobility. A great change took place in the female costume of the upper classes in the reign of Charles II.; but citizens' wives and countrywomen continued to wear the high-crowned hat, the French hood, the laced stomacher, and the yellow starched handkerchief. ́ At this period it would appear from the Diaries of Pepys and Evelyn, that ladies began to paint their faces; to have their hair" frizzed up to the ear;" and to wear perukes and vizards. There were three distinct fashions of male costume in this period, but a description of them is unnecessary: it will

be sufficient to say, that they were in direct opposition to the plain and humble garb of the Puritans.

It was not only in dress that the Royalists differed from the Puritans, but in manners. Swearing, which during the commonwealth had been punished by a fine, and profligate conversation, were so common, that a young nobleman or man of family was accounted no gentleman, nor person of honour, who could not, in two hours' sitting, invent some new modish oath, or make lampoons and drolleries on the sacred Scriptures themselves. Even the ladies themselves were as profligate as the king and his nobles: they would game, and swear, and drink, and sport with as easy a conscience as the most dissolute libertine. Combined with this spirit of licentiousness, was a recklessness of life. In the reign of Charles II. the rage for duelling increased beyond all former precedent. Fatal encounters were of daily occurrence, from the worst of causes, or for no cause at all. In a word, the whole head of society in the upper classes was sick: the whole heart faint with corruptions. But, notwithstanding the frivolity and profligacy of the higher classes, the bulk of the community still retained much of the good old English spirit. The Puritans generally, and some even of the Royalists, regarded with contempt the dissoluteness which had become so fashionable. This was especially the case in the country, where the contagion of the court had failed to reach. Persons of this class adhered to the primitive hours of their forefathers in rising, transacting business, and going to rest; and to the simplicity which had distinguished the English character in former periods.

The chief amusements of this period were similar to those which had been in vogue before the days of the commonwealth. Abhorrence of the drama had been one of the chief distinctions of Puritanism: a habit of play-going became a badge of loyalty after the Restoration. The theatres were re-opened, and their benches crowded more eagerly than ever. The public theatre, indeed, absorbed the chief taste and talent of the country. All the sports of the reign of James I.. and Charles I. were resuscitated; and to these were added foot-racing, and boat and yacht-racing. Skating, also, was newly introduced, or rather, perhaps, a revived amusement in England at this time, and was performed "after the manner of the Hollanders." Most of the old holidays were still observed, according to the old English fashion.

CHAPTER XIX.

THE PERIOD FROM THE REVOLUTION

GEORGE III.

TO THE REIGN OF

WILLIAM III.

A. D. 1688. William, prince of Orange, had been invited to England by a coalition of parties, united by a common sense of danger; but this tie was no sooner broken than they flew asunder, and each party resumed its original bias. Their mutual jealousy and hatred revived; and William soon found himself at the head of a faction. He was acknowledged king of England and Scotland; but he soon began to experience the difficulty of governing a people, who were more ready to command than to obey their superiors. His reign commenced with an attempt similar to that which had been the principal cause of all the disturbances of the preceding reign, and which had excluded the monarch from the throne. As he had been bred a Calvinist, and always expressed an abhorrence of persecution, the Presbyterians and other Protestant dissenters considered him as their peculiar protector, and entered into his interests with the utmost zeal. For the same reasons the friends of episcopacy became jealous of his proceedings, and employed all their influence in thwarting his measures. In his first parliament William proposed a repeal of the Test Act, conceiving that the great dread of the Papists would be removed with the removal of a Roman Catholic king, and that the professions of good-will which had passed between the established church and the dissenters would lead to some amicable and lasting agreement. The repeal, however, was rejected by the lords, by a great majority. At the same time the house of lords eagerly grasped at a clause, recommended by William, which went to dispense with the oaths of the bishops and established clergy to the new government. But the dissenters in the commons showed as little regard to the consciences of churchmen, as the churchmen had shown to theirs. An amendment was moved and carried in the commons, obliging the established clergy to take the oaths of allegiance, under pain of suspension, to be followed in six months by deprivation. The

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