spectators, and among them a respectable grey-headed man, with a very long white beard, dressed in a scarlet uniform laced with gold, and having the letters H. R. embroidered on his breast. Both his bands (his bonnet is in his right) are held up with pleasure and astonishment. This figure, being highly finished, and singularly dressed, was probably some old servant of the crown, well known and respected at the time.

In the back-ground of the middle part of the picture, is seen the place of interview, represented as a spacious. circular plain, on the summit of an elevation, between the town of Guines and the road from thence to the vale of Ardern or Ardres. It is marked out by white* camp colours, and surrounded by several demi-lance men, and other guards and attendants, of both nations, on horseback. Within its area is a circular line of round tents and square pavilions, placed alternately, and communicating with each other. Their coverings and curtains are painted green and white, the favourite colours of the house of Tudor. In their centre is pitched a large single tent, covered with cloth of gold, flowered with red, and lined with blue velvet, powdered with fleurs de lys. On its top stands a gold or gilt figure of St. George and the dragon. The curtains are thrown back, and discover the two monarchs embracing one another being drawn somewhat larger than the surrounding figures, and highly finished, the resemblance of each is perfectly well expressed. Before the front of this tent stand several attendants, and also the masters of the horse to the two kings, each holding his sovereign's courser; that of King Henry is white, and that of Francis is dun.

According to the scale of the picture, this plain is exactly half a mile from Guînes (the distance assigned by Wolsey in his regulations), just before the entrance into the vale of Ardres; in which, part of that village is shewn, and the whole chorography of the country is minutely observed.

At the top of the picture, towards the left, is a slight view of the town of Ardres, from whence Francis and his train issued; and the whole valley between that and the place of interview is filled with French soldiery, completely armed. Lower down, and nearer to Guînes than the place of interview, is a group of tents, covered with linen cloth, some paned green and white, and others red and white, to accommodate such of the English as could not be lodged

* For the reason of these colours being white, or French, see Hall, eol. lxxix.

within that town. Between these tents and the temporary palace, stands a large pavilion, consisting of one long and two round tents, all covered with cloth of gold, flowered with black. On the finiall of each of the round tents is a vane, charged with the arms of France and England quarterly. In this pavilion, Henry and Catharine frequently entertained at dinner the French king and queen, and their principal nobility. At a small distance from it is a view of the culinary offices set up on the plain, consisting of a large group of ovens, at which several bakers are busied; and two spacious tents, whose fronts being thrown open, discover the one to be intended for boiling, and the other for roasting, in which offices several cooks are employed. From these kitchens fourteen yeomen of the guard, each carrying a covered dish, are going towards the royal pavilion, preceded by the lord steward (earl of Shrewsbury), bearing his white staff, and attended by a gentleman wearing a sash.

Near to the ovens, is a cabaret, at the door of which several persons are drinking; and not far from thence is a lady carried in a horse-litter, covered with crimson velvet embroidered with gold, preceded by a groom, and followed by two other ladies and a man-servant. She turns her face out of the window, and seems talking to a page, behind whom is another lady masked and on horseback, with a female attendant. These ladies seem persons of great dignity; she in the litter may be one of the queens going incognito to view the offices.

Beneath these, and in a line with the palace, is an open circular tent of white cloth, embroidered with blue tracery, over which are an union rose and a fleur de lys. Its curtains thrown open discover a magnificent sideboard of plate, and a table spread, at the upper end of which sits an elderly gentleman, on one side is a lady, and at the lower end another gentleman, partaking of a repast, which is served up by several attendants. This, probably, was the tent of the lord steward. Behind this, and in the adjacent fields, are pitched several others, for the use of sutlers, covered with green and white, and red and white, linen cloth.

In the back-ground, and at the extremity on the lefthand side, appear the lists or camp set apart for the justs and tournaments. On the left is a scaffold, or long gallery, for the royal personages and their attendants; and the whole, except the entrance, is fenced with a rail and barrier, guarded by demi-lance men and others on horseback,

completely armed. French soldiers, in a blue and yellow uniform, with a salamander, the badge of Francis I. embroidered on it, keep the entrance on one hand; and the English yeomen, with their partisans, on the other. Close to the gallery-end, on a rise at the left, stands a large artificial tree of honour; its trunk is wrapped round with red velvet, embroidered with gold, and on its branches hang the shields of arms of the two challengers, and of their respective aids, the tables of the challenges, the several answers, &c. This tree, thirty-four feet in height, spreading 129 feet, and from bough to bough forty-three feet, historians say, was composed of the raspberry, the badge of Francis, and of the hawthorn, Henry's badge, artificially twined and twisted together.

In the gallery stand the two kings, Francis on the right, and Henry on the left; with their queens, and attendant ladies. A carpet of cloth of gold covers the front before the kings; and rich tapestry, the rail before the queens. Within the area are two combatants, armed cap-a-pee, mounted on horses richly based and barbed, and tilting against each other; near them is a herald picking up the pieces of a broken spear, his perquisite.

Near to the lists are a few tents for the use of the combatants.

The remaining upper part of the back-ground gives a most correct and faithful view of the adjacent country, with a variety of figures, farm-houses, mills, cottages, woods, cattle, sheep, fowls, &c. all of them highly finished. To introduce such a variety of subjects, the horizon is remarkably high.

Towards the top of the picture is a dragon, flying in the air, and hovering over the English cavalcade; which some conceive to be a memorial of a firework in that form exhi bited during the interview-[but we rather think, that, as it seems attendant on King Henry, the painter had in view one of his supporters, which, at the beginning of his reign, was a red drugon; and if our former conjecture of the greyhounds should not be admitted, those animals, perhaps, might be intended for the other, his left supporter (in right of his mother) being, at the same time, a greyhound argent; and in this very piece, as before observed, the king's pages have on their backs a greyhound and a dragon.]

The picture here described, which is five feet six inches high, by eleven feet three inches in breadth, has been generally ascribed to Hans Holbein, but without foundation, as he did not arrive in England till ncar six years after the

interview; and, besides, his style, colouring, &c. are widely different. The name of the painter, however, is immaterial.

We must add, that the head of King Henry appears to have been cut out of the picture, and afterwards restored. This was a contrivance of Philip earl of Pembroke, after the death of King Charles I. to prevent a French agent, who was in treaty for it, from purchasing the piece and it succeeded, for, finding it thus mutilated, the Frenchman declined the purchase. By this means it was preserved in the palace till the Restoration, when the earl of Pembroke delivered the mutilated piece to King Charles II. who immediately ordered it to be restored to its place.

Of this remarkable picture, at the request of the Society of Antiquaries, his majesty having given permission for a drawing to be taken, it was accordingly executed, with great correctness, by Mr. Edwards, of the Royal Academy, and is now said to be in the possession of the earl of Huntingdon, and from it Mr. Basire, at the society's expense, engraved his plate (just published), the largest ever engraved in England, being, in height, two feet three inches; in breadth, four feet and one inch; and equally an honour to those artists and their employers.

The frame for the paper (which is two feet seven inches, by four feet four inches) was made on purpose by Mr. What man, near Maidstone, at the expense of about 501. for which (we hear) there has since been a great demand from abroad, as plates can thus be worked off of a larger size than before was practicable.

The above exact description, which we have abridged from that which was read at the Society of Antiquaries, by Sir Joseph Ayloffe, Bart. in 1770, will enable any purchaser of this most curious print to have it coloured with tints of the original picture; of which (if executed with judgment) it will then have all the effect. And every other reader of taste, we doubt not, will be gratified by the historical anecdotes here conveyed.

1775, June.

LIV. Effects of Salt in fattening Cattle.

MR. URBAN,

IN looking over the first volume of the Memoirs of the Royal Academy of Sciences at Paris, I met with a paper entitled," Physical Observations on the Effects of Salt in fattening Cattle." The title excited my curiosity; and, on reading the memoir, the author's reasoning appeared to me not only plausible, but convincing. His views are certainly enlarged, and directed to objects of the most important kind, viz. the improvement of land, and the increase of cattle. He lays it down as an axiom, or self-evident truth, that by increasing cattle, land may be improved; and, by improving land, cattle may be multiplied.

The farmer, he says, who has a more than ordinary stock of working cattle, reaps a double advantage: one, by having his work done in season; the other, by enriching a greater proportion of his land by means of their additional manure; the only difficulty is, how to maintain an increased number without increasing the expense. This, he asserts, may be done by the use of salt; and advances the three following propositions:

1. That salt, given with the food of cattle, augments the nourishment of that food.

2. That, in proportion to the quantity of salt eaten by cattle, the effects of that augmentation will be perceivable.

3. That no ill consequences will follow from excess of salt eaten by cattle, even though it should be given them without stint.

These propositions he endeavours to support by unquestionable facts.

In the jurisdiction of Arles, in the county of Provence, there is, he says, a district called the Crau, extending in length about six leagues, and in breadth about three, the whole surface of which is covered with small rough stones, and not a tree or bush is to be seen in the whole district, except here and there on the borders; yet on this spot, so seemingly sterile, by the free use of salt, more numerous flocks of sheep are bred and reared, than upon any other common of equal extent throughout the whole kingdom; and, what is no less remarkable, the sheep are healthier, hardier, and endure the severity of the winter with less loss, though they have fewer sheep-cotes for covering, than those bred and fed on more copious pastures, and that have,