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The two classes of antiquaries are treated of not more graphically , but rather more concisely , we think , in the article upon Tytier ' s Collection of Ancient Letters , which appeared in a number of the Quarterly Review " , for 1839 . " There are men , " says the writer , " who batten on the husk of antiquity , and never reach the kernel ; but pronouncing the outer rind inimitable nutriment , insist upon all
the world not only swallowing and digesting , but delighting in this pabulum . . But there is a better sort : these love ancient things , not because they are ancient , or even because they are rare , but because in the contemplation of them they are able to detect the spirit of ages gone by , to obtain a wider field for the exercise of their sympathies , to enlarge the sphere of their knowledge and intellectual enjoyment . "
At the risk of being esteemed untrue and superficial antiquaries , let us endeavour , in the words of the mighty Shakspeare , "to be instructed by the antiquary times , " and then may the succeeding line apply to us all individually :
" He must , he is , he cannot but be wise . " Certainly the olden days teem with instruction ; for , whether we trace out the curious etymology of common English words , examine old china with its strange hieroglyphical monograms , olden coins , and ancient tombs , or strive , with eagle eye , to decipher the records
of antiquity , there seems to be a silent voice preaching earnestly the while a great and solemn lesson , telling us by what means we may unite with golden cord the present with the past , and make it subservient to the requirements of the future . At the same time , it becomes us to remember that , among much sterling gold , there is a vast amount of ore and rubbish ; and it is the duty of the true
antiquary , as it is of the alchemist , to sever the good from the pernicious , to extract from the sham the true , and because true , the priceless sovereign metal . Look at the days when our ancestors dressed in the costumes which Sir Peter Lely has left upon the canvas , and Planche , in his " British Costume , " so ably depicteddays , when our great-great-grandmothers inflated themselves with
hoops , and lined their garments with so much " bombast , " that the word for cotton became gifted with a new meaning , and wore headdresses , a la lime , if we may be allowed the expression , and fans adorned with mirrors , to reflect beaming eyes , and highly rouged cheeks , and hair drawn tightly off the face . Those were days when our great-great-grandfathers adorned their legs with ruffs , and wore artificial calves , as some footmen may do in 1855 , for aught we know
to the contrary . There is nothing , surely , in those exaggerated fashions which we would desire to imitate ; yet , some who are wedded to olden things for the sake of their age , might think that there was ; and such should in the same spirit , if they wish to be at all consistent , prefer the gay , brilliant , and licentious Congreve , to the calm and cheerful Addison , because the one lived farther removed from us than the other in "the antiquary times . "
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Untitled Article
The two classes of antiquaries are treated of not more graphically , but rather more concisely , we think , in the article upon Tytier ' s Collection of Ancient Letters , which appeared in a number of the Quarterly Review " , for 1839 . " There are men , " says the writer , " who batten on the husk of antiquity , and never reach the kernel ; but pronouncing the outer rind inimitable nutriment , insist upon all
the world not only swallowing and digesting , but delighting in this pabulum . . But there is a better sort : these love ancient things , not because they are ancient , or even because they are rare , but because in the contemplation of them they are able to detect the spirit of ages gone by , to obtain a wider field for the exercise of their sympathies , to enlarge the sphere of their knowledge and intellectual enjoyment . "
At the risk of being esteemed untrue and superficial antiquaries , let us endeavour , in the words of the mighty Shakspeare , "to be instructed by the antiquary times , " and then may the succeeding line apply to us all individually :
" He must , he is , he cannot but be wise . " Certainly the olden days teem with instruction ; for , whether we trace out the curious etymology of common English words , examine old china with its strange hieroglyphical monograms , olden coins , and ancient tombs , or strive , with eagle eye , to decipher the records
of antiquity , there seems to be a silent voice preaching earnestly the while a great and solemn lesson , telling us by what means we may unite with golden cord the present with the past , and make it subservient to the requirements of the future . At the same time , it becomes us to remember that , among much sterling gold , there is a vast amount of ore and rubbish ; and it is the duty of the true
antiquary , as it is of the alchemist , to sever the good from the pernicious , to extract from the sham the true , and because true , the priceless sovereign metal . Look at the days when our ancestors dressed in the costumes which Sir Peter Lely has left upon the canvas , and Planche , in his " British Costume , " so ably depicteddays , when our great-great-grandmothers inflated themselves with
hoops , and lined their garments with so much " bombast , " that the word for cotton became gifted with a new meaning , and wore headdresses , a la lime , if we may be allowed the expression , and fans adorned with mirrors , to reflect beaming eyes , and highly rouged cheeks , and hair drawn tightly off the face . Those were days when our great-great-grandfathers adorned their legs with ruffs , and wore artificial calves , as some footmen may do in 1855 , for aught we know
to the contrary . There is nothing , surely , in those exaggerated fashions which we would desire to imitate ; yet , some who are wedded to olden things for the sake of their age , might think that there was ; and such should in the same spirit , if they wish to be at all consistent , prefer the gay , brilliant , and licentious Congreve , to the calm and cheerful Addison , because the one lived farther removed from us than the other in "the antiquary times . "