NOTES AND QUERIES. [n s. x. JULY is, 1914.
Pageant of the Birth, Life, and Death of Ri<-liur<l
Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, K.G., 1-W-14-M
Edited by Viscount Dillon and W. H. St. John
Hope. (Longmans & Co., 11. la.)
THE original manuscript is in the British Museum, and has here been reproduced in photogravure by Mr. Emery Walker. This is not the first reproduction. In 1775 Strutt included it, in rather an imperfect version, in vol. ii. of his
- Horda Angel-cynnan ' ; and the late Lord Carys-
fort presented to the Roxburghe Club a magni- ficent facsimile, of which a very small edition was made. The present volume is issued at a price not absolutely beyond the reach of the student of mediaeval history, and it may be said that, for the sake of those who have not a guinea to spare, as well as for the benefit of the curious general reader, every public library should acquire this authentic document.
Who was its author ? Sir E. Maunde Thompson in the Roxburghe edition opines that he was a foreigner. The present editors give reasons which wetcannot but think to be sound for believing him to have been an Englishman. He shows a minute knowledge of English quarterings such as a foreigner would hardly possess, while he leaves blank the banners both of the Emperor and of the Duke of Burgundy, which a Continental artist would almost certainly have known how to emblazon.
The main importance of the work is no doubt archaeological, and from this point of view it instructs us chiefly as to the equipment of knights and men-at-arms, and the dress of ecclesiastics, illustrating delightfully the use of badges, of coats of armour, crests, and other heraldic appurtenances. The treatment of buildings, and in some degree also of vessels, is largely conventional.
The artistic interest of these fifty -three or fifty-four drawings is, if unequal, extraordinarily great. W T e notice first the pleasant qualities belonging to work which has the touch about it of script or hieroglyphic. In the faces and figures beauty or grace counts only secondarily. Clothes, because they express intention, count for more. Still the treatment of feature and form has both force and charm, and in three or four of the battle-scenes the grouping of the figures is strong and eloquent, while some of the scenes with ships are managed splendidly. Secondly, the wealth of detail and the intelligence with which it is used are both remarkable. And thirdly, gone through as a history in pictures, the series will "be found to have an unexpected cumulative impressiveness. Earl Richard, distinguished at first from the other characters merely by his crest or coat, imperceptibly gets differentiated out, and comes to be truly felt as the centre of the work. When, after so many appearances in magnificent array, he is seen, on turning the page, lying naked on his death-bed, one feels what the artist, one may conjecture, did not feel I something of the shock that comes with tragedy.
There are several drawings of peculiar interest/ Earl Richard being invested with the Garter ; Earl Richard's three encounters with three French Icnights at the time when he was Captain of Calais ; Earl Richard at the Council of Constance, bearing the Emperor's sword in procession before him, and courteously refusing the gift of St. George's heart, that Sigismund might himself
present it at Windsor ; the sea-fight, in which
he won two carracks ; how he was made " Mas-
ter " to King Henry VI. we might mention
three or four more not less excellent. But
perhaps the best of all are the three pictures
which tell how in the long journey through
Europe and the East which he made when a young
man ' Sir Baltirdam, the Soldan's lieutenant,
received Earl Richard ' ; ' How Sir Baltirdam
entertained Earl Richard at Dinner,' and ' How
Earl Richard feasted Sir Baltirdam's Men.' The
artist had evidently great delight himself in the
portraying of these Oriental figures. They are
expressive beyond almost any others in this
series in their stateliness and their air of cour-
tesy, and almost anxious kindness. The details
of their dress are given with great exactness and
care, and might have been taken, as the editors
justly observe, from some Afghan magnate of
the present day.
It is hardly necessary to give an account here of Richard Beauchamp 's life. He was an heroic figure among the men of his day. That he actually moved among them equipped as these pages depict him is, however, improbable. So far as can be ascertained, it seems likely that this manuscript was made for his daughter Anne, the King-maker's wife, and that it represents the knighthood belonging to her generation rather than to that of Earl Richard, as does also the famous tomb at Warwick. The earliest covenant for this dates from February, 1449/50, or ten years after his death, and may be taken to repre- sent the armour worn some forty years after the exploits of Earl Richard at the tilt before the King of France.
to Comspontottts.
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R. T. and DR. WILLCOCK. Forwarded.
R. K. For " Easter eggs and the hare " see 1 S. i. 244, 397, 482 ; ii. 52 ; 10 S. iv. 306 ; v. 292 ; 11 S. iii. 285-
MR. WILLIAM CUBBON. Many thanks for reprint of letter on the Standish family from The Isle of Man Examiner.
