The Cornhill Magazine, February, 1860 (Vol. I, No. 2)Various
General
The Cornhill Magazine, February, 1860 (Vol. I, No. 2)
Various
England -- Periodicals; English literature -- Periodicals; Short stories, English -- Periodicals
who was a gentleman of good family, and manifestly of the court way
of thinking. The conclusion is: either that there was more impartial
justice in the reign of James II. than we have given that bad time
credit for, or that the court let Francis swing through fear of the
mob. You see that the mob in those days did not like to be baulked of
a show, and that the mob derived equal pleasure from seeing Francis
hanged as from seeing Dangerfield whipped. The moral of this apologue
is, that Oates and Dangerfield being very much alike in roguery,
especially Oates, one got not quite so much as he deserved, and the
other not quite enough; which has been the case in many other instances
that have occurred in society, both vulgar and polite, since the days
of William III.
There, I land you at Temple Bar, on whose gory spikes are the heads of
the last conspirators against William the Dutchman’s life. “_Forsitan
et nobis_,” whispered Goldsmith slyly to Johnson as they gazed up at
the heads which, late in the reign of George III., yet rotted on those
fatal spikes. We will not linger at Temple Bar now. Little boy Hogarth,
years hence, will take us backwards and forwards through it hundreds
of times. The three last years of century seventeen glide away from
me. Plumed hats, ye are henceforth to be cocked. Swords, ye shall be
worn diagonally, not horizontally. Puffed sleeves, ye must give place
to ruffles. Knickerbocker breeches, with rosettes at the knees, ye
must be superseded by smalls and rolled stockings. Shoe-bows, the
era of buckles is coming. Justaucorps, flapped waistcoats will drive
you from the field. Falling bands, your rivals are to be cravats of
Mechlin lace. Carlovingian periwigs, the Ramillies’ wig is imminent.
Elkanah Settles, greater city poets are to sing the praise of city
custards. Claude du Val and Colonel Jack, greater thieves will swing
in the greater reign that is to come. And wake up, little boy Hogarth,
for William the Dutchman has broken his collar-bone, and lies sick to
death at Kensington. The seventeenth century is gone and passed. In
1703 William dies, and the Princess of Denmark reigns in his stead. Up,
little boy Hogarth! grow stout and tall--you have to be bound ’prentice
and learn the mystery of the cross-hatch and the double cypher. Up,
baby Hogarth, there is glorious work for you to do!
Unspoken Dialogue.
Above the trailing mignonette
That deck’d the window-sill,
A lady sat, with lips firm-set,
And looks of earnest will:
Four decades o’er her life had met,
And left her lovely still.
Not to the radiant firmament,
Not to the garden’s grace,
The courses of her mind were bent,
But where, with sweetest face,
Forth from the other window leant
The daughter of the place.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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