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Article ANTIQUARIES AND ANTIQUITIES. ← Page 9 of 18 →
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Antiquaries And Antiquities.
have other representations of trumpets , both later and earlier . The seals of Dover , Hythe , Winchelsea , and other sea-ports , represent trumpeters sitting on the high stern-castles of vessels , lustily bloAving long trumpets . This was done either to cheer the sailors at their departure , or to announce the arriA'al of the vessel in port— -an old and common custom . That tlie Spaniards
were peculiarly addicted to it , may be known from many sources of information . HOAV old the practice was among them let Minot tell us , AVIIO , about A . D . 1532 , describes them as " Sailing forth , in a summer ' s tide , With trumpets and tabors , And miekle other pride . "
Nor does glorious old Froissart leaA r e sea-trumpets Avithout a notice . In tlie library of Sion College there is a magnificentlyilluminated copy of the old chronicler , whose pen and pencil alike set forth the duty of the trumpeters . Hear the old knight : his very language is like the sonnet of the martial instrument he describes . He is speaking of various English and French
knights , on an expedition to Africa , to assist the Genoese against the pirates : — " They Avere embarked on board of ships and galleys . It was a beautiful sight to view this fleet , AA'ith the emblazoned banners of the different lords glittering in the sun and fluttering in the wind , and to hear the minstrels and other musicians sounding their pipes , clarions , and trumpets , whose sounds were re-echoed back to the sea . "
These trumpets Avere long and straight , with bosses for steadying the hand , * and the trumpet represented by Mr . Smith has one only . But , UOAV it will be asked , Why do Ave say that this trumpet belonged not improbably to one of the ships of the Spanish armada ? Neither Mr . Smith , nor Mr . Waller , nor Mr . Fairholt , seem to have imagined this : the latter supposed it to
be ofthe same date as those in use A . D . 1289 , and supported his opinion by other representations of the same era . Mr . Waller Aras inclined to bring the date of it down to the commencement of the sixteenth century . We shall now give our reasons for assigning to it a period a little later . The instrument itself is made of the thin metal termed latten brass . At the top and
bottom it is red , in the middle yelloAV , ancl it is clamped and brazed throughout the entire length of the tube . It is adorned with interlaced work , both round the mouth and the boss ; and this work is Moresque in design , and the A'ery pattern is to be found in the traceries of the Alcazar at Seville . To leave no doubt on the subject of its Spanish origin , there are round the mouth , and in the interstices of the traceries before mentioned , armorial bearings—those alternately of Castille , Leon , ancl a
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Antiquaries And Antiquities.
have other representations of trumpets , both later and earlier . The seals of Dover , Hythe , Winchelsea , and other sea-ports , represent trumpeters sitting on the high stern-castles of vessels , lustily bloAving long trumpets . This was done either to cheer the sailors at their departure , or to announce the arriA'al of the vessel in port— -an old and common custom . That tlie Spaniards
were peculiarly addicted to it , may be known from many sources of information . HOAV old the practice was among them let Minot tell us , AVIIO , about A . D . 1532 , describes them as " Sailing forth , in a summer ' s tide , With trumpets and tabors , And miekle other pride . "
Nor does glorious old Froissart leaA r e sea-trumpets Avithout a notice . In tlie library of Sion College there is a magnificentlyilluminated copy of the old chronicler , whose pen and pencil alike set forth the duty of the trumpeters . Hear the old knight : his very language is like the sonnet of the martial instrument he describes . He is speaking of various English and French
knights , on an expedition to Africa , to assist the Genoese against the pirates : — " They Avere embarked on board of ships and galleys . It was a beautiful sight to view this fleet , AA'ith the emblazoned banners of the different lords glittering in the sun and fluttering in the wind , and to hear the minstrels and other musicians sounding their pipes , clarions , and trumpets , whose sounds were re-echoed back to the sea . "
These trumpets Avere long and straight , with bosses for steadying the hand , * and the trumpet represented by Mr . Smith has one only . But , UOAV it will be asked , Why do Ave say that this trumpet belonged not improbably to one of the ships of the Spanish armada ? Neither Mr . Smith , nor Mr . Waller , nor Mr . Fairholt , seem to have imagined this : the latter supposed it to
be ofthe same date as those in use A . D . 1289 , and supported his opinion by other representations of the same era . Mr . Waller Aras inclined to bring the date of it down to the commencement of the sixteenth century . We shall now give our reasons for assigning to it a period a little later . The instrument itself is made of the thin metal termed latten brass . At the top and
bottom it is red , in the middle yelloAV , ancl it is clamped and brazed throughout the entire length of the tube . It is adorned with interlaced work , both round the mouth and the boss ; and this work is Moresque in design , and the A'ery pattern is to be found in the traceries of the Alcazar at Seville . To leave no doubt on the subject of its Spanish origin , there are round the mouth , and in the interstices of the traceries before mentioned , armorial bearings—those alternately of Castille , Leon , ancl a