WILLIAM HOWITT'S REMARKABLE PLACES.

THE disposition of mankind to visit the scene of any remarkable event, or which has been connected with any remarkable person, has been too frequently noticed, and is rendered too obvious by the shoal of tourists that annually runs to such places, to require com- ment. A stronger and kindred feeling, if' not so widely acted upon, is that which induces us to linger over the remnants of the past, whether appearing in the shape of a tomb or ruin, a decaying ancestral hall or religious house, or any other memorial of huma- nity,. Of its age, of its occupants, we may know nothing ; their

very names may be lost ; but to have once lived seems sufficient to excite the nil humanum a me aliennm putt) when the mind is at leisure to indulge in speculation. The entire or partial obscurity which veils our knowledge of them, adds perhaps to the interest we feel. It touches that spirit of romance which exists uncon- sciously in many a heart—perhaps in all hearts except those of the muckworm by nature.

It is thereibre a happy idea which induced WIT.LIAM HOWITT to choose Remarkable Places for the subject of a book. It furnished many a pleasant trip for himself to examine the spots he writes upon ; his pages will call up agreeable reminiscences to those who have already visited them, and be a guide-book to those who may go hereafter; whilst to the majority who may be unable to perform such pilgrimages, the volume will form an agreeable substitute, and give them much more information to boot than the mere inspec- tion of the original " places" themselves would bestow. The execution too is good, as the design is happy. The sub- jects and their treatment are both well varied; history, antiquities, and old family biography, with touches of the mysterious or the extraordinary, alternate with notices of' painting, architecture, and sketches of' landscape, in Howerr's best style. Many pleasant little incidents that occurred to him on his tours also contribute to enliven the book ; the disquisitional remarks are fewer and of a much soberer and healthier tone than the author has written of late ; and the work is full of matter.

The " Remarkable Places" visited are fifteen ; almost all dis- tinguished by some principal characteristic, whatever incidental topics vary them. The battle-field is, of course, the main feature in his excursions to Culloden and to Edge where CHARLES first met his people in arms. Flodden partakes of a similar cha- racter ; but also serves to illustrate ScoTT's 21/armioa; as does Bolton Priory Woanswoarn's White Doe Rylston, though serving besides as a vehicle for some remarks on the practical effects of genius, and for some enticing pictures of scenery. The visits to Winchester and Hampton Court embrace a good deal of historical illustration, with what may be termed the curiosities of sight-see- ing ; those of Winchester consisting of ecclesiastical architecture and sculpture ; those of' Hampton of palatial pleasure-grounds and paintings—thcn latter valuable (hr their importance as illustrations of history or of art. Penshurst in Kent, the ancient seat of the &D- riers, now the possession of Lord DI: L'IsLE, is one of the most favourable specimens of an English aristocratical flintily mansion. Of high antiquity, in good preservation, surrounded by an exten- sive and well-wooded park, with trees touched by hoar antiquity ; skim family memorials within the house, and a name distinguished in history and not without lustre in literature, Penshurst possesses attractions well worth the expense of" a few shillings," for which, says our author, a coach will set one down upon the spot "three times a week"—with a pleasant ride into time bargain. Combe Abbey, the residence of ELIZABETH, daughter of JAMES the First, and Compton Winyates, a deserted place of the house of Northampton, still refer to aristocratical family history, but are of a lower kind than Penshurst ; the owners less distin- guished, the homes less peaceful, and more connected with deeds of chicanery, crime, or persecution. Stratford-on-Avon and the haunts of SHAKSPERE UlllIOUIICC themselves. Wotton Hall in Staffbrdshire, the residence of RousssAu during his sojourn in Eng- land, gives occasion to a sketch both of him and of ALFIERI ; the only bond of connexion being that they both came to England. The Jesuits' College at Stonyhurst involves a history of the man- sion, a description of the place, and of the college discipline, toge- ther with some conversation with the Father Jesuits, probably Jesuitical. Staffit and Iona is a description of scenery and of a steam-boat trip ; Sacrament Sunday at Kilmorac is an account of a day's journey to see the communion administered in Gaelic, in the open air ; and a Day Dream at Tintagel rock in Cornwall, where there are the ruins of a castle called King Arthur's, is merely the somewhat hacknied figure of painting a fancied scene, followed by a disquisition on poetry and romance. And these three last, though not overdone, add little to the interest of the volume.

When WILLIAM HOWITT was at Stratford, he visited time place of the luckless Sir THOMAS Lucy, who persecuted SILIKSPERE from his native spot ; and, touched by the hospitable graces of the present hostess, and by the "good character" the family bear in the neighbourhood, our Friend groans in spirit over the revenge, which, long years after the offence, contrived Justice Shallow. Ile also visited the native place and the cottage of Arm HATnIWAY, afterwards Mrs. StrAusPERE, and fancied that he could trace the source of many allusions in her husband's dramas, to the scenery of' Showy and the orchard behind her cottage. One illus- tration he has, however, picked up, which, besides being conclusive in itself, is curious as proving how the poet turned all his ac- quirements to account, no matter whence they came, or how humble they were in seeming. Titania, in the Midsummer Night's Dream, bids the fairies, amongst other fruits, feed Bottom on dew- berries.

" These same dewberries have cost the expounders of his text a world of trouble. As apricots, grapes, and figs are very good tidings, they could not bring their fimeies to believe that the fairies would feed Bottom on aught lesa dainty, even though he yearned hungrily after good oats and a bundle of hay. All kinds of' fruits were run over in the scale of delicacies, and not finding any of the finer sorts which ever bore the name of dewberry., they at last sagely concluded that it must be a gooseberry, because the gooseberry is only once mentioned as a gooseberry in all his dramas. A wise conclusion! What a pity that those laborious and ingenious commentators would but step occa- sionally out of their studies, and go into Shakspearea own neighbourhood, and hear the peasantry there talk, They would not only have long ago discovered what a dewberry is, but might hear many a phrase and proverb that would have thrown more light on the text of Shakspeare than will ever stream in through a library window in half a century. A dewberry is a species of blackberry, but of a larger grain, of a finer acid, and having upon it a purple bloom like the violet-pfum. It is a fruit well known by that name to botanists, (rubies ecesim,) and by that name it has always been well known by the common people in the midland counties. As I walked round the orchard of Ann Hath- away, I was quite amused to see it growing plentifully on the banks ; and taking up a sprig of it with some berries on it, I asked almost every country- man and countrywoman whom 1 met during the day what they called that frait. In every instance, they at once replied, • the dewberry.' While I was in that neighbourhood I repeatedly asked the peasantry if they knew such a thing as a dewberry. In every CASC they replied, • To be sure, it is like a black- berry, only its gains are larger, and it is more like a mulberry.' A very good description. ' Yes,' said others, it grows low on the banks; it grows plenti- fully all about this country.' So much fin all the critical nonsense about the dewberry."

There is a just and manly truthfulness in these mingled reflec- tions and descriptions.

HOW THE PEOPLE ENJOY HAMPTON COURT.

The palace has only been fairly thrown open this summer, and for some thou the fact was but very little known ; yet through spring and summer the resort thither has been constantly increasing; the average number of visiters on Sunday or Monday is now two thousand five hundred, and the amount of them for the month of August was thirty- two thousand I

And how have these swarms of Londoners of all classes behaved ? With the exception of some scratches made on the panels of the grand staircase—for the discovery of the perpetrator of which an ominous placard is pasted on the door-post as you enter, offering five pounds reward, but of which slight injury no one can tell the date, (the police, who arc always on the spot, never having witnessed the doing of it since they were stationed there,) I cannot learn that the slightest exhibition of what has been considered the English love of demo- lition has been made. Never have I seen, at all times that I have been there, a more orderly or more well-pleased throng of people. I happened accidentally to be there on Whit-Monday, when, besides the railway, upwards of a dozen spring-vans, gayly adorned with ribbons and blue and red hangings, had brought there their loads of servants and artisans, all with their sweethearts, and in fine spirits for a day's country frolic ; and not less than two thousand people were wandering through the house and gardens, y'et nothing could be more de- corous than their behaviour. Never, indeed, did I behold a scene which was more beautiful in my eyes, or which more sensibly affected mc. Here were thousands of those whose fiithers would have flir preferred the brutal amuse- ment of the bull-baiting or the cock-pit ; who would have made holyday at the boxing-ring, or in guzzling beer in the lowest dens of debauch—here were they, scattered in companies and in family groups ; fathers, mothers, brothers and sisters, old people, and children of all ages, strolling through the airy gardens, admiring the flowers, or resting on the benches, or watching the swarming shoals of gold and silver fish in the basin of the central fountain, and feeding them with crumbs of bun amid shouts of childish delight. Here were these poor people, set free from the fret and fume, the dust and sweat and mental and bodily wear and tear of their city trades and domestic cares, well-dressed, amongst their more wealthy neighbours, clean, and jocund from the sense of freedom and social affection, treading walks laid down only for royal feet, listening to the lapse of waters intended only for the ears of greatne,s and high-born beauty, though all constructed by the money of their forefathers; and here were they enjoying all these more than king or cardinal ever could do, beneath a sunny sky, that seemed to smile upon them as if itself rejoiced at the sight of so much happiness. There, too, through the open windows, you saw the passing crowds of heads of men and women wandering through the rooms intent on the works of Raphael, Titian, Correggio, Lely, Vandyke, Eneller, Rembrandt, Rubella, Ricci, Giulio Romano, and many another master of the sublime and beautiful ; pausing to behold forms of power, and grace, and loveliness, and to mark many a Lee of man or woman whose names are so bruited in our annals that even the most ignorant most have heard something of them. Here surely was significant indication of a change in the popular mind in the course of one generation, which must furnish an answer to those who ask what has education done for the masses, and most pregnant with matter of buoyant augury for the future. Those who do not see in such a spectacle that the march of intellect, and the walking abroad of the school- master, are something more than things to furnish a joke or a witticism, are blind indeed to the signs of the times, and to the certainty that the speed of sound knowledge amongst the people will yet make this nation more deserving of the epithet of a nation of princes, than ever Rome deserved from the Parthilin

ambassador. I could not help asking myself, as my eye wandered amid the throng, how much more happiness was now enjoyed in any one day on that ground, than had been enjoyed in a twelvemonth when it was only the resort of kings and nobles, and the scene of most costly masks and banquets. Nothing more than the sight of that happiness was needed to prove the rationality of throwing open such places to diffuse amongst the million at once the truest pleasure and the most refining influences.

Besides the Sidney Papers, already published, our author states that Penshurst is still rich in family archives. This is his account of one document, which shows at least how orderly our ancestors were, and how well such regularity must have qualified the youth trained up to it for public aflhirs.

"There are also two volumes of the Household. Book of the Sidneys re- maining. They are those of Algernon Sidney's father, and are thus entitled- 1624.

Household Expenses of the Right Honourable Lo. vicont Lisle, at London and Pencehurst, from the xiii of Aprill unto xxi of March. Expenses

In Kitchens, Larders, Buttric, Sellers, Brewhouse, Laundreys, Stables, fewell, and in other places, As here-after may appease. " In this book, as in the Household Book of the Percys, which has been pub- lished, there is a most exact and well-kept account of all expenses throughout the entire establishment. Of the methodical and business habits of our great families in the days of tilting and court revelry, nothing can give more ample proof. Every thing is entered, and every thing is valued. The accounts are not only clear and minute, but they are set down in the most leisurely and precise hand. Such accounts were, no doubt, of the greatest value in their own day, and to us they are not a whit the less so. They are standing evi- dences, not only of what was the consumption of a great house, and what were the kind of articles used, but they give us the value of every article of life at this period, and become data for any calculation of the change of value in money and goods between that day and this. We have meat, flour, eggs, fish, fowls, turkies, pigs, wheat, oats, hay, brushes, mops, cloths, etc. etc., all in their sepa- rate identity. There is no lumping them in sundries. You see too what was the peculiar style of serving the several tables kept in the house, for the old days of all dining in hall were over ; there were, therefore, separate entries for every day and every room where a table was set. There was the lord's table ; the table in the hall, probably for the steward, yeomen, and retainers; the kitchen for the kitchen servants; the nursery ; and Algernon's room. "We find continual entries in 1625, l for Algernone,' of puddings, birds mutton, etc. If Algernon was born in 1622, as it has been asserted, he would now only be three years old, and would be in the nursery; but if in 1617, as is more probable, he would be eight, and thus at a more suitable age to be advanced to the dignity of a separate table. Whatever be the fact, these, how. ever, and such, are the entries.

"We find also that one day there is veal in the kitchen mutton in the hall, and a capon in the nursery ; the same general dishes sehlom appearing at the different tables on the same day. Lord de L'Isle's eldest daughter, a fine lively girl of eleven, hearing us mention the nursery, was curious to know what the children of the family had two hundred years ago and was ;unused to find that it was just what they themselves had had that ago, fowl. "In these books are duly entered the names of all the guests, so that by looking through them we can tell ivho were the visitants and associates of the family for those years. Many of these entries are very curious, as they regularly note how many attendants the guests brought, and how long they stayed. We may give a few samples, which are sufficiently indicative of the whole. Thus-

"1624—Monday, 14th March.—At dinner, Lo. Percie and La. Percie; La, Carlisle ; La. Mailers ; Sir Henry Lea; Mrs. Coniston. At Supper, Lord Percie, Ladic Delawar, and remaining a week. Wednesday 16th, Lo. and La. went to Syon." * • • "Prices of expenses for this weeke.—Kitchen, for flesh, fish, poultrie butter, eggs, groceries, 29/. 17s. 10d.; Pantry and seller, in bread, beere, sack, claret, etc. 14/. 13s. 10d. ; Brewhouse—Laundrie, swipe and steep, Is. Ild.; Stables, for hay and oats, 1/. 14s. Rd. ; Fewell, in charcoal and billets, 3/. 9s."

"Time singularity of the entry is, that even these gifts have a value attached to them as thus, in 1625 : —Gifts to the Lo. of Leycester : from the Earl of Dorset,1 stag, 21.—from Goodman Edmunds, 1 pig, Is. Rd."