temperate, no cold but lyttell. There is never snowe nor froste with yse. And yf there com e ony froste with a lytell yse, they will shewe it eche to other for a mervayle." He thus commences his account of what was seen in Jerusalem. "On a sondaye in the mornynge they began theyr pylgrymage. And a freer of Mount Syon wente with them to enfourme the places and the pardones of every place. These ben the pylgrymages within the cytee of Jerusalem. The fyrste is before the temple of the sepulcre dore. There is a foure square stone whyte, whereupon Chryste rested hym with his crosse whan he wente towarde the mount of Calvary, where is indulgence vii yeeres and vii lentes. Also the house of the ryche man whiche denyed Lazare ye crommes of breed," &c. &c. When we add, that the signs are A 8, B 4, C 8, and that there are 32 lines on each full page, our account of this rare work will be, we think, considered amply sufficient. We should observe, that on the reverse of C 8 is the device No. 6. Dibdin, Typ. Ant. vol. 2, of W. de Worde. ART. IX. Gesta Romanorum. Colophon. Thus endeth the boke of Gesta Romanorum. Enprynted at London in Flete Strete. By me Wynkyn de Worde. BLACK letter. sm. 4to. No date. The following quotation, from the Typographical Antiquities of Mr. Dibdin, will shew the extreme rarity of this volume, and excite an interest in the description which we are enabled to give of it. "The observations of Mr. Douce are well worth attending to, respecting this edition: As the English Gesta appears to have been extremely well known to both these writers (Lydgate and Gower) and also to Occleve, it is by no means improbable that the above translation was made by one or the other of them. Whether it has ever been printed is another question. Mr. Warton has twice mentioned (vol. ii. p. 18. vol. iii. p. lxxxiii.) an edition, without date, by Wynkyn de Worde; and Dr. Farmer has also, in a note prefixed to the Merchant of Venice, referred to the same edition. It had escaped the researches of the industrious Herbert, who has only mentioned it after Warton, and has, in vain, been sought for on the present occasion.' "I have examined numerous Bibliographical Treatises and Catalogues for this edition, without effect. It does not appear to have been in Dr. Farmer's own collection."-Dibdin's Typ. Ant. vol. 2, p. 366. The edition before us is doubtless the one to which Warton referred, and it is not improbable, that we have the same copy before us which Farmer had read. This curious volume consists of 164 full pages, in a close and beautiful black letter type. After the words Gesta Romanorum, on the title page, is a woodcut of an emperor, with a crown and sceptre; and on the reverse, a device of the same emperor, with a youth kneeling to him, behind whom stands a female, apparently in the act of introducing him; two guards are seen in the back ground. The same devices occur again in various parts of the "boke,” accompanied with others, alluding to and illustrating some of the Gesta. There are forty-three Gesta, or stories, each of which is followed by the moralization. We give the following story as a specimen; it is the fifth of the deeds of the Emperours of Rome. "Sometyme there reygned, in ye cyte of Rome, a myghty Emperoure, and wyse, named Frederyk, whiche had onely but one sone, whom he loved moche. This Emperoure, whan he lay in the poynte of deth, he called unto hym his sone, and sayd, Drede sone, I have a balle of golde, whiche I gyve the, upon my blessynge, that you, anone, after my deth, shall gyve it to the moost fole that you mayest find. Than sayd his sone, My lorde, without doubt, thy wyll shall be fulfylled. Anone, this yonge lorde, after the dethe of his fader, wente and sought in many realmes, and founde many foles richeles, bycause he wolde satysfye his fader's wyll, laboured ferther, tyll he came into a realme, where the lawe was suche, that every yere a newe kynge sholde be chosen there, and this kynge hath only the gydynge of that realme but a yere's ende, he shall be deposed and put in exyle, in an ylonde whereas he sholde wretchedly fynyshe his lyf. Whan th'emperoure's sone came unto this realme, the newe kynge was chosen with grete honoure, and al maner of mynstralsie wente afore hym, and brought him with grete reverence and worship unto his regal sete; and whan the Emperour's sone saw that, he came unto hym, and salued him reverently, and sayd, My lorde, lo, I give to ye this balle of golde on my fader's behalfe. Than sayd he, I praye the tell me the cause why thou gyvest me this ball? Than answered this yonge lorde, and said thus, My father, quod he, charged me, in his deede bedde, under payne of his blessynge, that I sholde gyve this balle to the moost fole that I coulde finde, wherefore I have sought many realmes, and have found many foles, nevertheless, a more fole than thou arte founde I never, and therefore this is the reason. It is not unknown to the that thou shalt reygne but a yere, and at the yere's ende thou shalt be exyled into suche a place, where as thou shalt dye a myschevous deth, wherefore I holde the for the moost fole that ever I founde, that for the lordshyp of a yere thou woldest so wylfully lese thyself, and therefore, before all other, I have gyven to thee this balle of golde. Than sayd ye kynge, without doute, thou sayeth me sothe, and, therefore, whan I am in full power of this realme, I shall send before me grete treasoure and rychesse, wherwith I may lyve and save myself from myschevous deth whan that I shall be exyled and put doune; and so it was done: wherefore, at the yeere's ende, he was exyled, and lyved there in pease, upon suche goodes as he had sent before, and he deyed afterwards a good dethe.-Dere frendes, this Emperour is the fader of heven, &c." The signatures run from A to M inclusive, 8 and 4 alternately, with N 6, O 4; and on the reverse of O 4 is the Colophon. ART. X. Remains of Sir Walter Raleigh. London, 1675; 24mo. pp. 396. In this collection of the Remains of Sir Walter Raleigh, there are some pieces well worthy of perusal. They are all in prose, with the exception of his 'Pilgrimage,' a few verses found in his Bible, and the two lines written the night before his execution; and are composed in the spirit which might have been expected from the character of their extraordinary author. Sir Walter Raleigh, in a life of adventure and of peril, became learned in the ways of the world--Possessing a keen and penetrating mind, "He was a deep observer, and he look'd Nature made him acute-misfortune, cautious-and experience, wise; but his wisdom rather resulted from distrust than confidence. He had naturally "high thoughts seated in a heart of courtesy," but care fretted against it and wore away its softer fibres. His wariness was, indeed, warranted by the events of his life, and it is no wonder that his feelings retired into the centre of his own heart, as the flower which expands in the sunshine of a fair day, closes its bosom at night-fall when the air breathes cold and chill. Hence his wisdom is rather calculated to teach us how to eschew evil, than to sail placidly into the haven of felicity. Sir Walter Raleigh's thoughts are astute, and his language pregnant and expressive. There is something captivating in the mixture we find, in his writings, of forcible and uncommon thought and striking metaphor, which are so amalgamated as to be inseparable. The one is not appended to the other for the sake of ornament, but is its natural language; and is as necessary to its existence as the bark to the tree. His Advice to his Son on the Choice of a Wife is so excellent in its kind, that we shall introduce the whole of it; though, to say the truth, it betrays almost as much cunning as wisdom. "The next and greatest care ought to be in the choice of a wife, and the only danger therein is beauty, by which all men, in all ages, wise and foolish, have been betrayed. And though I know it vain to use reasons or arguments to disswade thee from being captivated therewith, there being few or none that ever resisted that witchery, yet I cannot omit to warn thee, as of other things, which may be thy ruine and destruction. For the present time, it is true, that every man prefers his fantasie in that appetite before all other worldly desires, leaving the care of honour, credit, and safety in respect thereof: but remember, that though these affections do not last, yet the bond of marriage dureth to the end of thy life; and, therefore, better to be borne withal in a mistress than in a wife; for when thy humour shall change, thou art yet free to chuse again, (if thou give thyself that vain liberty.) Remember, secondly, that if thou marry for beauty, thou bindest thyself all thy life for that which perchance will neither last nor please thee one year; and when thou hast it, it will be to thee of no price at all, for the degree dieth when it is attained, and the affection perisheth when it is satisfied. Remember, when thou wert a sucking child, that then thou didst love thy nurse, and that thou wert fond of her; after a while thou didst love thy dry-nurse and didst forget the other; after that, thou didst also despise her; so will it be with thee in thy liking in elder years; and, therefore, though thou canst not forbear to love, yet forbear to link, and after awhile thou shalt find an alteration in thyself, and see another far more pleasing than the first, second, or third love; yet I wish thee, above all the rest, have a care thou dost not marry an uncomely woman for any respect; for comeliness in children is riches, if nothing else be left them. And if thou have care for thy races of horses and other beasts, value the shape and comeliness of thy children before alliances or riches: have care, therefore, of both together, for if thou have a fair wife and a poor one, if thine own estate be not great, assure thyself that love abideth not with want, for she is thy companion of plenty and honour: for I never yet knew a poor woman, exceeding fair, that was not made dishonest by one or other in the end. This Bathsheba taught her son Solomon: Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vanity: she saith further, That a wise woman overseeth the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness. Have, therefore, ever more care that thou be beloved of thy wife, rather than thyself besotted on her, and thou shalt judge of her love by these two observations: first, if thou perceive she have a care of thy estate and exercise herself therein; the other, if she study to please thee, and be sweet unto thee in conversation, without thy instruction, for love needs no teaching nor precept. On the other side, be not sowre or stern to thy wife, for cruelty engendreth no other thing than hatred let her have equal part of thy estate whilst thou livest, if thou find her sparing and honest; but what thou givest after thy death, remember that thou givest it to a stranger, and most times to an enemy; for he that shall marry thy wife will despise thee, thy memory, and thine, and shall possess the quiet of thy labours, the fruit which thou hast planted, enjoy thy love, and spend with joy and ease what thou hast spared, and gotten with care and travel. Yet alway remember, that thou leave not thy wife to be a shame unto thee after thou art dead, but that she may live according to thy estate; especially if thou hast few children, and them provided for. But howsoever it be, or whatsoever thou find, leave thy wife no more than of necessity thou must, but only during her widowhood; for if she love again, let her not enjoy her second love in the same bed wherein she loved thee, nor fly to future pleasures with those feathers which death hath pulled from thy wings; but leave thy estate to thy house and children, in which thou livest upon earth whilst it lasteth. To conclude, wives were ordained to continue the generation of men, not to transfer them and diminish them either in continuance or ability: and, therefore, thy house and estate, which liveth in thy son, and not in thy wife, is to be preferred. Let thy time of marriage be in thy young and strong years; for, believe it, ever the young wife betrayeth the old husband, and she that had thee not in thy flower will despise thee in thy fall, and thou shalt be unto her but a captivity and sorrow. Thy best time will be towards thirty, for as the younger times are unfit either to chuse or to govern a wife and family, so, if thou stay long, thou shalt hardly see the education of thy children, which being left to strangers are in effect lost, and better were it to be unborn than ill-bred; for thereby thy posterity shall either perish or remain a shame to thy name and family. Furthermore, if it be late ere thou take a wife, thou shalt spend the prime and summer of thy life with harlots, destroy thy health, impoverish thy estate, and endanger thy life; and be sure of this, that how many mistresses soever thou hast, so many enemies thou shalt purchase to thyself; for there never was any such affection which ended not in hatred or disdain. Remember the saying of Solomon, There is a way which seemeth right to a man, but the issues thereof are the wages of death; for howsoever a lewd woman please thee for a time, thou wilt hate her in the end, and she will study to destroy thee. If thou canst not abstain from them in thy vain and unbridled times, yet remember that thou sowest on the sands, and dost mingle the vital blood with corruption, and purchasest diseases, repentance, and hatred only. Bestow, therefore, thy youth so that thou mayst have comfort to remember it when it hath forsaken thee, and not sigh and grieve at the account thereof: whilest thou art young, thou wilt think it will never have an end; but, behold, the longest day hath his evening, and that thou shalt enjoy it but once, that it never turns again; use it therefore as the spring-time which soon departeth, and wherein thou oughtest to plant and sow all provisions for a long and happy life." His rules for the preservation of a man's estate are equally pertinent and just, although it cannot be denied that they savour of a sad experience and worldliness. 66 Amongst all other things of the world, take care of thy estate, which thou shalt ever preserve, if thou observe three things; first, that thou know what thou hast, what every thing is worth that thou |