The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction. Volume 12, No. 327, August 16, 1828Various
General
The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction. Volume 12, No. 327, August 16, 1828
Various
Popular literature -- Great Britain -- Periodicals
In these days of "hobgoblin lore," it may not be incurious to add, that
Woodstock is distinguished in Dr. Plot's _History of Oxfordshire_ (the
_title_ of which is well known to all readers of the marvellous) as the
scene of a series of hoax and disturbance played off upon the
commissioners of the Long Parliament, who were sent down to dispark and
destroy Woodstock, after the death of Charles I.; and Sir Walter Scott
thinks it "highly probable" that this "piece of phantasmagoria was
conducted by means of the secret passages and recesses in the Labyrinth
of Rosamond"--it must be admitted, a very convenient scene for such a
farce. Sir Walter says, "I have not the book at hand"--neither have we;
but we may probably allude to this curious affair on some future
occasion. In the meantime, if our present reference should kindle the
curiosity of the reader, and he may not be disposed to await our time,
we beg to recommend him to Glanville's well-known work on witchcraft,
which not only contains Dr. Plot's narrative of the Woodstock
disturbances, but a multitude of argument for all who are sceptical of
this and similar mysteries. This is an age of inquiry, and we do not see
why such follies should be left unturned--from Priam's shade to the
murderous dreams and omens of our own times.
[1] SAGITTARIUS--and T.W. of Hoxton.
[2] For an abstract of "Woodstock," an engraving, and much
valuable information respecting the palace, see our vol. vii.
pp. 289--316--322--327--338, &c.
[3] As there is a vulgar error on Rosamond's being buried in the
labyrinth, we subjoin the following by another correspondent.
Many readers of the MIRROR, perhaps, have hitherto been only
acquainted with the fictitious part of Fair Rosamond's history.
The few subjoined facts, relative to the eventful life of that
lady, may be implicitly relied on, as they are very carefully
gleaned from the _most authenticated sources_.
The first mistress to king Henry II. was Rosamond, daughter of
Walter Clifford, Baron of Hereford. She was esteemed the
greatest beauty in England, and her intrigue with Henry was most
probably began when he was not much above sixteen years of age.
Very soon after his amorous acquaintance with this lady, the
state of political affairs in England required his absence, and
he did not again return to this country until the year 1153; so
that there must have been a lapse of nearly six years from the
period of his first intimacy with Rosamond, to the renewal of
that intimacy at his return.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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