The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction. Volume 17, No. 493, June 11, 1831

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Various. The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction. Volume 17, No. 493, June 11, 1831

BOAT-HOUSE AT VIRGINIA WATER

PEERAGE OF THE UNITED KINGDOM

LADY OF WALSINGHAM

TAPESTRY IN WINDSOR CASTLE

COWSLIPS.—A SONNET

The Naturalist,

THE WHITE-HEADED, OR BALD EAGLE.2

Notes of a Reader

CHOLERA MORBUS

FRUITS OF INDUSTRY

FRENCH POETRY FOR CHILDREN

BLUE BEARD

EFFECT OF STEAM-COACHES

DIALLING

The Selector

AND LITERARY NOTICES OF NEW WORKS. ATHERTON,

Public Journals

LINES ON THE VIEW FROM ST. LEONARD'S

THE LATE MR. ABERNETHY

The Gatherer

REMARKABLE JURY AT HUNTINGDON

THE NEW PARLIAMENT "DISHED."

EPITAPHS

EPITAPHS IN BROMSGROVE CHURCHYARD

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Lakers and lovers of the picturesque will, doubtless, be flocking to Virginia Water in the coming summer. The rides and walks on its banks are thrown open to the public; but we hope this privilege will not be abused, as of old; for "there was a time when Virginia Water was profaned by the presence of prize-fighters, who were accustomed to train in the secluded alleys that bordered the lake; and it was, therefore, quite necessary that the privilege of admission to the grounds should be withdrawn from the inn to which these persons resorted." We hope better things from the improved taste of our times.

The attractions of the place are of no common order: all that art and luxury could suggest have been lent to its embellishment. "The artificial water is the largest in the kingdom, with the single exception of Blenheim; the cascade is, perhaps, the most striking imitation we have of the great works of Nature; and the grounds are arranged in the grandest style of landscape gardening."1

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"What led (says Britton) to the great celebrity which the town of Old Walsingham, Norfolk, obtained for centuries, was the widow lady of Ricoldie Faverches founding, about the year 1061, a small chapel, in honour of the Virgin Mary, similar to the Sancta Casa at Nazareth.

"Sir Geoffrey de Favenches, or Faverches, her son, confirmed the endowments, made an additional foundation of a priory for Augustine canons, and erected a conventual church. The numerous gifts and grants to this famous religious house form one of those extensive and dull mazes of ecclesiastical record, through which the historic topographer is constrained to wade. At the Dissolution, the annual revenues of the monastery were valued, according to Speed, at 446l. 14s. 4d. That its wealth should have been immensely great is not surprising, when the fame of the image of the Lady of Walsingham is taken into the account; for it was as much frequented, if not more than the shrine of St. Thomas à Becket, at Canterbury. Foreigners of all nations came hither on pilgrimage; many kings and queens of England also paid devoirs to it: so that the number and quality of her devotees appeared to equal those of the Lady Loretto, in Italy. Spelman observes, that it is said King Henry the Eighth, in the second year of his reign, walked barefooted from the village of Basham to this place, and then presented a valuable necklace to the image. Of this costly present, as well as the other saleable appendages, Cromwell doubtless took good care, when, by his master's orders, he seized the image, and burnt it at Chelsea.

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