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 SIXTEENTH CENTURY.

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of the Grecian tragedy ; but if this did not reauire the highest genius, it did the utmost intrepiatty ; for the people were through long habit, intoxi- cated with the wild amusement they amply re- ceiTed from their farces and moralities.

The enthusiastic fondness of the populace for such extravagant productions may be presumed, from the multiplied impressions of them which distinguish the annals of the Parisian gothic presses. Amongst other countries, Italy and £ng-Iand also, it is well known, had their " Rap> presentazionl," or their mysteries and moralities; which were spectacles of no less interest and importance to our own progenitors. For more than a century they maintained the same influ- ence over the vulgar mind. These and other theatres were abolished by the state on the 17th Nov. 1548 : which, says De Bure, involved in a correspondent destruction a very considerable portion of the printed copies of these dramas. The general contempt he adds, which the licen- tiousness of many or them occasioned for nearly a century afterwards, consigned them to dis- regard and oblivion. The consequence of this and such causes was, that notwithstanding the original multiplicity of impressions, copies of most of them became so uncommon, that their present rarity is not exceeded by that of any other description of works.*

1552. Z>tM, Hans (John) Holbein, who was DO less a finished artist than Albert Durer, and besides being celebrated as a painter, designed and engraved on wood with incredible delicacy. On the walls of a church yard at Basil, in Swit- zerland, Holbein painted the {a.mo\is Dance of Death aJfler the disaster of a plague anterior to his time. In 1538 it was printed at Lyons, small 4to, forty-one culs.f Holbein came to England in the reign of Henry VIII. who libe- rally patronized him on the recommendation of or Thomas More. He painted a number of portraits and historical pieces.

The other paiuters of this reign were Marc Willems, a native of Antwerp; John Bossam, an Englishman, and who does not appear to have had encouragement equal to his merit ; and Guillam Stertes, who was painter to Edward VI. and who received fifty marks {£33 6t. 8d.) for the execution of three great pictures; two of

• Tbese mysteries were theatrlcul representations of sobjecti in the Old and New Testament, which originated is Oie entiinaiasm of crusaders and ^n^cism of pU^ms. It was DSnal for the pilgrims on their return to travel in companies, and stop in tlie public places of towns to recite the songrs wtiicli they had composed in their Journey ; In which some parts of the life and passion of Clirist were gTDerally introduced. A troop of these, fantastically dressed, with hats and cloaks, covered with cociile shells, excited the pity of some citizens of Paris, to raise a fund for the purchase of a theatre, where they could have these amusements on holidays, wtiich soon produced a regular theatrical society, under the name of " Con/rerea 4e ia Pauwn ie J. C- They sometimes gave public invi- tations to any who chose to act a part ;n them.

+ Facsimilea of "The Bride," "The Nun," and "The Knight," are given by Mr. Dibdln and Mr. Ottley ; the design and execution are most tieautiful. Mr. Ottley, who possesses a copy of the first edition of the work, describes it as printed with the greatest clearness and brilliancy of effect, on one aide o( the paper only.

which were of his majesty, and the third of the earl of Surry. The last is supposed to have been taken after the death of that nobleman. , The value of money, and the increase of our opulence, might form, says Dr. Johnson, a curi- ous subject of research. In this reign Latimer, preaching before the king, mentions itasa proof of his father's prosperity, that though but a yeoman, he gave his daughters five pounds each for their portion.

1553, July 6. Died, King Edward VI. in the sixteenth year of his age, and the seventh of his reign, greatly regretted by all, as his early virtues gave a prospect of the continuance of a happy reign. This prince was solemnly struck with the feeling that he was not seated on a throne to be a trilier or a sensualist : and this simplicity of mind is very remarkable in the entries of his Diary* which he wrote with his own hand, and conveys a notion of that precocity of intellect, which would not suflcr his infirm health to relax in his royal duties. He died at Greenwich, and was buried at Westminster.

The hopes which had been entertained of the prog^ress of the Reformation under this youth- ful and amiable monarch, were, to the great grief of the nation, disappointed by his prema- ture death. During his last sickness, he settled the crown on lady Jane Grey, his cousin, mar- ried to lord Guildford Dudley. On his death, this lovely and learned female, who was then about eighteen years of age, and versed in the Hebrew, Chaldee, Arabic, Greek, Latin, French, and Italian languages, was, in opposition to her own wishes, proclaimed queen. Her regal splen- dour was sustained only for a few days. Mary obtained the throne, and lady Jane Grey and her husband were beheaded on Tower-hill, Februaiy 12th, 1654. The evening before she suffered, she sent her sister. Lady Katherine, a letter, written on the blank leaf of a Greek Testament; and which is so excellent in its sentiments, and so clearly exhibits the piety of

thmgt Kkick concern himielf, would be a good definition of uie use and purpose of a diary. Shaftesbury calls a diary, " A Fault-book," intended for self, correction } and a colonel Harwood, in the reign of Charles I., kept a diary, which in the spirit of the times he entitled " Slips, Infirmities, and Passages of Providence." Such a diary is a moral instrumeat, should the writer exercise it on himself, and on all around him.
 * Marcos AntODinns's celebrated work, entitled Of the

One of our old writers quaintly observes, that "the ancients used to take their stomach-pill of self-examina- tion every night. Some used little books, or tablets, which they tied at their girdles, in which they kept a memorial of what they did, ag:alnst their night -reckoning." We know that Titns, the delight of mankind, as he has been called, kept a diary of all his actions, and when at night he found upon examination that he had performed nothing memorable, he would exclaim " Amid! diemper- didimtu .'" Friends I we have lost a day I

It is always pleasing to recollect the name of Alfred, and we have deeply to regret the loss of a manual which this monarch, so strict a manager of his time, yet found leisure to pursue: it would have interested us much more even than his translations, which have come down to us. Alfred carried in his bosom memorandum leaves, in which he made collectiona fh>m his studies, and took so much

Eleasure in the fk-equent examination of this journal, that e called it his hand book, because, says Spelman, day and night be ever had it in hand with bim.

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