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diff --git a/10845-0.txt b/10845-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c9aef2c --- /dev/null +++ b/10845-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1622 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 10845 *** + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustrations. + See 10845-h.htm or 10845-h.zip: + (http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/1/0/8/4/10845/10845-h/10845-h.htm) + or + (http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/1/0/8/4/10845/10845-h.zip) + + + + +THE MIRROR OF LITERATURE, AMUSEMENT, AND INSTRUCTION. + +VOL. 12, NO. 332.] SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 1828. [PRICE 2d. + + + + + * * * * * + + + + +ANNE HATHAWAY'S COTTAGE. + +[Illustration: Anne Hathaway's Cottage.] + + +This is another of Mr. Rider's beautiful "Views to Illustrate the Life of +SHAKSPEARE,"[1]--it being the exterior of the cottage in which the poet's +wife (whose maiden name was _Hathaway_) is said to have resided with her +parents, in the village of Shottery, about a mile from Stratford-upon-Avon. + + [1] Merridew and Rider, Warwick and Leamington, and Goodhugh, + Oxford-street, London. + +Neither the exterior nor interior of this humble abode, says Mr. Rider, +appears to have been subjected to any renovating process; and as there +exists no reasonable ground for distrusting the fact of its having been +the abode of _Anne Hathaway_, previous to her marriage with Shakspeare, it +must ever be regarded as one of the most interesting relics connected with +his history. The occupier of the cottage in July, 1827, was an old woman, +the widow of John Hathaway Taylor, whose mother was a Hathaway, and the +last of the family of that name. + +[Illustration] + +The widow Taylor showed Mr. Rider the old carved bedstead, mentioned by +"Ireland," and assured him she perfectly recollected his purchasing of her +mother-in-law the piece of furniture which had always been known by the +designation of _Shakspeare's Courting-Chair_. From the wood-cut of this +chair, given by Ireland in his "Views on the Avon," Mr. Rider has been +enabled to introduce it in his representation of the interior of the +cottage. + +We have accordingly detached it for a vignette, and as the throne where + + The lover, + Sighing like furnace, with woeful ballad + Made to his mistress' eye-brow-- + +it will probably be acceptable to the most enthusiastic of Shakspeare's +admirers; not doubting that scores of our lady-friends will provide +themselves with a chair of the same construction, if they would insure the +fervour and sincerity of the poet's love, or by association become more +susceptible of his inspirations of the master-passion of humanity. + + * * * * * + + + +THE NOVELIST. + +ANTONELLI; + +_(A Tale, from the German of Goethe.)_ + + +When I was in Italy, Antonelli, an opera-singer, was the favourite of the +Neapolitan public. Her youth, beauty, and talents insured her applause on +the stage; nor was she deficient in any quality that could render her +agreeable to a small circle of friends. She was not indifferent either +to love or praise; but her discretion was such as to enable her to enjoy +both with becoming dignity. Every young man of rank or fortune in Naples, +was eager to be numbered among her suitors; few however, met with a +favourable reception; and though she was, in the choice of her lovers, +directed chiefly by her eyes and her heart, she displayed on all +occasions a firmness, and stability of character, that never failed to +engage even such as were indifferent to her favours. I had frequent +opportunities of seeing her, being on terms of the closest intimacy with +one of her favoured admirers. + +Several years were now elapsed, and she had become acquainted with a +number of gentlemen, many of whom had rendered themselves disgusting by +the extreme levity and fickleness of their manners. She had repeatedly +observed young gentlemen, whose professions of constancy and attachment +would persuade their mistress of the impossibility of their ever +deserting her, withhold their protection in those very cases where it +was most needed; or, what is still worse, incited by the temptation of +ridding themselves of a troublesome connexion, she had known them give +advice which has entailed misery and ruin. + +Her acquaintance hitherto had been of such a nature as to leave her mind +inactive. She now began to feel a desire, to which she had before been a +stranger. She wished to possess a friend, to whom she might communicate +her most secret thoughts, and happily, just at that time, she found one +among those who surrounded her, possessed of every requisite quality, +and who seemed, in every respect, worthy of her confidence. + +This gentleman was by birth a Genoese, and resided at Naples, for the +purpose of transacting some commercial business of great importance, for +the house with which he was connected. In possession of good parts, he had, +in addition received a very finished education. His knowledge was +extensive; and no less care had been bestowed on his body, than on his +mind. He was inspired with the commercial spirit natural to his countrymen, +and considered mercantile affairs on a grand scale. His situation was, +however, not the most enviable; his house had unfortunately been drawn +into hazardous speculations, which were afterwards attended with expensive +law-suits. The state of his affairs grew daily more intricate, and the +uneasiness thereby produced gave him an air of seriousness, which in the +present case was not to his disadvantage; for it encouraged our young +heroine to seek his friendship, rightly judging, that he himself stood in +need of a friend. + +Hitherto, he had seen her only occasionally, and at places of public +resort; she now, on his first request, granted him access to her house; +she even invited him very pressingly, and he was not remiss in obeying the +invitation. + +She lost no time in making him acquainted with her wishes, and the +confidence she reposed in him. He was surprised, and rejoiced at the +proposal. She was urgent in the request that he might always remain her +friend, and never shade that sacred name with the ambiguous claims of a +lover. She made him acquainted with some difficulties which then perplexed +her, and on which his experience would enable him to give the best advice, +and propose the most speedy means for her relief. In return for this +confidence, he did not hesitate to disclose to her his own situation; and +her endeavours to soothe and console him were, in reality, not without a +beneficial consequence, as they served to put him in that state of mind, +so necessary for acting with deliberation and effect. Thus a friendship +was in a short time cemented, founded on the most exalted esteem, and on +the consciousness that each was necessary to the well-being of the other. + +It happens but too often, that we make agreements without considering +whether it is in our power to fulfil their conditions. He had promised to +be only her friend, and not to think of her as a mistress; and yet he +could not deny that he was mortified and disgusted with the sight of any +other visiter. His ill-humour was particularly excited by hearing her, in +a jesting manner, enumerate the good or bad qualities of some favourite, +and after having shown much good sense in pointing out his blemishes, +neglect her friend, and prefer his company that very evening. + +It happened soon after that the heart of the fair was disengaged. Her +friend was rejoiced at the discovery, and represented to her, that he was +entitled to her affection before all others. She gave ear to his petition, +when she found resistance was vain. "I fear," said she, "that I am parting +with the most valuable possession on earth--a friend, and that I shall get +nothing in return but a lover." Her suspicions were well founded: he had +not enjoyed his double capacity long, when he showed a degree of +peevishness, of which he had before thought himself incapable; as a friend +he demanded her esteem; as a lover he claimed her undivided affection; and +as a man of sense and education, he expected rational and pleasing +conversation. These complicated claims, however, ill accorded with the +sprightly disposition of Antonelli; she could consent to no sacrifices, +and was unwilling to grant exclusive rights. She therefore endeavoured in +a delicate manner to shorten his visits, to see him less frequently, and +intimated that she would upon no consideration whatever give up her +freedom. + +As soon as he remarked this new treatment, his misery was beyond endurance, +and unfortunately, this was not the only mischance that befel him; his +mercantile affairs assumed a very doubtful appearance; besides this, a +view of his past life called forth many mortifying reflections; he had +from his earliest youth looked upon his fortune as inexhaustible, his +business often lay neglected, while engaged in long and expensive travels, +endeavouring to make a figure in the fashionable world, far above his +birth and fortune. The lawsuits, which were now his only hope, proceeded +slowly, and were connected with a vast expense. These required his +presence in Palermo several times; and while absent on his last journey, +Antonelli made arrangements calculated, by degrees, to banish him entirely +from her house. On his return, he found she had taken another house at a +considerable distance from his own; the Marquess de S., who, at that time, +had great influence on plays and public diversions, visited her daily, and +to all appearance, with great familiarity. This mortified him severely, +and a serious illness was the consequence. When the news of his sickness +reached his friend, she hastened to him, was anxious to see him +comfortable, and discovering that he was in great pecuniary difficulties, +on going away she left him a sum of money sufficient to relieve his wants. + +Her friend had once presumed to encroach on her freedom; this attempt was +with her an unpardonable offence, and the discovery of his having acted so +indiscreetly in his own affairs, had not given her the most favourable +opinion of his understanding and his character; notwithstanding the +decrease of her affection, her assiduity for him had redoubled. He did not, +however, remark the great change which had really taken place; her anxiety +for his recovery, her watching for hours at his bedside, appeared to him +rather proofs of friendship and love, than the effects of compassion, and +he hoped, on his recovery, to be re-instated in all his former rights. + +But how greatly was he mistaken! In proportion as his health and strength +returned, all tenderness and affection for him vanished; nay, her aversion +for him now was equal to the pleasure with which she formerly regarded him. +He had also, in consequence of these multiplied reverses, contracted a +habit of ill-humour, of which he was himself not aware, and which greatly +contributed to alienate Antonelli. His own bad management in business he +attributed to others; so that, in his opinion, he was perfectly justified. +He looked upon himself as an unfortunate man, persecuted by the world, and +hoped for an equivalent to all his sufferings and misfortunes in the +undivided affection of his mistress. + +This concession he insisted on, the first day he was able to leave his +chamber, and visit her. He demanded nothing less than that she should +resign herself up to him entirely, dismiss her other friends and +acquaintances, leave the stage, and live solely with him, and for him. She +showed him the impossibility of granting his demands, at first mildly, but +was at last obliged to confess the melancholy truth, that their former +relation existed no more. He left her, and never saw her again. + +He lived some years longer, seeing but few acquaintances, and chiefly in +the company of a pious old lady, with whom he occupied the same dwelling, +and who lived on the rent of an adjoining house, her only income. During +this interval, he gained one of his law-suits, and soon after the other; +but his health was destroyed, and his future prospects blasted. A slight +cause brought on a relapse of his former illness; the physician acquainted +him with his approaching end. He was resigned to his fate, and his only +remaining wish was, once more to see his lovely friend. He sent the +servant to her, who, in more happy days, had often been the bearer of +tender messages. He prayed her to grant his request: she refused. He sent +a second time, entreating most ardently she might not be deaf to his +prayers, with no better success. She persisted in her first answer. The +night was already far advanced, when he sent a third time; she showed +great agitation, and confided to me the cause of her embarrassment, (for I +had just happened to be at supper, at her house, with the Marquess, and +some other friends.) I advised her--I entreated her, to show her friend +this last act of kindness. She seemed undecided, and in great emotion; but +after a few moments she became more collected. She sent away the servant +with a refusal, and he returned no more. + +When supper was over, we sat together in familiar conversation, while +cheerfulness and good humour reigned among us. It was near midnight, when +suddenly a hollow, doleful sound was heard, like the groaning of a human +being; gradually it grew weaker, and at last died away entirely. A +momentary trembling seized us all; we stared at each other, and then +around us, unable to explain the mystery. + +The Marquess ran to the window, while the rest of us were endeavouring to +restore the lady, who lay senseless on the floor. It was some time before +she recovered. The jealous Italian would scarcely give her time to open +her eyes, when he began to load her with reproaches. If you agree on signs +with your friends, said the Marquess, I pray you let them be less open and +terrifying. She replied, with her usual presence of mind, that, having the +right to see any person, at any time, in her house, she could hardly be +supposed to choose such appalling sounds as the forerunners of happy +moments. + +And really there was something uncommonly terrifying in the sound; its +slowly lengthened vibrations were still fresh in our ears. Antonelli was +pale, confused, and every moment in danger of falling into a swoon. We +were obliged to remain with her half the night. Nothing more was heard. On +the following evening the same company was assembled; and although the +cheerfulness of the preceding day was wanting, we were not dejected. +Precisely at the same hour we heard the same hollow groan as the night +before. + +We had in the meantime formed many conjectures on the origin of this +strange sound, which were as contradictory as they were extravagant. It is +unnecessary to relate every particular: in short, whenever Antonelli +supped at home, the alarming noise was heard at the same hour, sometimes +stronger, at others weaker. This occurrence was spoken of all over Naples. +Every inmate of the house, every friend and acquaintance, took the most +lively interest; even the police was summoned to attend. Spies were placed +at proper distances around the house. To such as stood in the street the +sound seemed to arise in the open air, while those in the room heard it +close by them. As often as she supped out all was silent, but whenever she +remained at home, she was sure to be visited by her uncivil guest; but +leaving her house was not always a means of escaping him. Her talent and +character gained her admittance into the first houses; the elegance of her +manners and her lively conversation, made her everywhere welcome; and, in +order to avoid her unpleasant visiter, she used to pass her evenings in +company out of the house. + +A gentleman, whose age and rank made him respectable, accompanied her home +one evening in his coach. On taking leave of him at her door, the well +known voice issued from the steps beneath them; and the old gentleman, who +was perfectly well acquainted with the story, was helped into his coach +more dead than alive. + +She was one evening accompanied by a young singer, in her coach, on a +visit to a friend's. He had heard of this mysterious affair, and being of +a lively disposition, expressed some doubts on the subject. I most +ardently wish, continued he, to hear the voice of your invisible companion; +do call him, there are two of us, we shall not be frightened. Without +reflecting, she had the courage to summon the spirit, and presently, from +the floor of the coach arose the appalling sound; it was repeated three +times, in rapid succession, and died away in a hollow moan. When the door +of the carriage was opened, both were found in a swoon, and it was some +time before they were restored and could inform those present of their +unhappy adventure. + +This frequent repetition at length affected her health; and the spirit, +who seemed to have compassion on her, for some weeks gave no signs of his +presence. She even began to cherish a hope that she was now entirely rid +of him--but in this she was mistaken. + +When the Carnival was over, she went into the country on a visit, in the +company of a lady, and attended only by one waiting maid. Night overtook +them before they could reach their journey's end; and suffering an +interruption, from the breaking of a chain, they were compelled to stop +for the night at an obscure inn by the road side. Fatigue made Antonelli +seek for repose immediately on their arrival; and she had just lain down, +when the waiting-maid, who was arranging a night-lamp, in a jesting tone, +observed, "We are here, in a manner, at the end of the earth, and the +weather is horrible; will he be able to find us here?" That moment the +voice was heard, louder and more terrible than ever. The lady imagined the +room filled with demons, and, leaping out of bed, ran down stairs, +alarming the whole house. Nobody slept a wink that night. This was the +last time the voice was heard. But this unwelcome visiter had soon another +and more disagreeable method of notifying his presence. + +She had been left in peace some time, when one evening, at the usual hour, +while she was sitting at table with her friends, she was startled at the +discharge of a gun or a well-charged pistol; it seemed to have passed +through the window. All present heard the report and saw the flash, but on +examination the pane was found uninjured. The company was nevertheless +greatly concerned, and it was generally believed that some one's life had +been attempted. Some present ran to the police, while the rest searched +the adjoining houses;--but in vain; nothing was discovered that could +excite the least suspicion. The next evening sentinels were stationed at +all the neighbouring windows; the house itself, where Antonelli lived, was +closely searched, and spies were placed in the street. + +But all this precaution availed nothing. Three months in succession, at +the same moment, the report was heard; the charge entered at the same pane +of glass without making the least alteration in its appearance; and what +is remarkable, it invariably took place precisely one hour before midnight; +although the Neapolitans have the Italian way of keeping time according to +which midnight forms no remarkable division. At length the shooting grew +as familiar as the voice had formerly been, and this innocent malice of +the spirit was forgiven him. The report often took place without +disturbing the company, or even interrupting their conversation. + +One evening, after a very sultry day, Antonelli, without thinking of the +approaching hour, opened the window, and stepped with the Marquess on the +balcony. But a few moments had elapsed, when the invisible gun was +discharged, and both were thrown back into the room with a violent shock. +On recovering, the Marquess felt the pain of a smart blow on his right +check; and the singer, on her left. But no other injury being received, +this event gave rise to a number of merry observations. This was the last +time she was alarmed in her house, and she had hopes of being at last +entirely rid of her unrelenting persecutor, when one evening, riding out +with a friend, she was once more greatly terrified. They drove through the +Chiaja, where the once-favoured Genoese had resided. The moon shone bright. +The lady with her demanded, "Is not that the house where Mr. ---- died?" +"It is one of those two, if I am not mistaken," replied Antonelli. That +instant the report burst upon their ears louder than ever; the flash +issuing from one of the houses, seemed to pass through the carriage. The +coachman supposing they were attacked by robbers, drove off in great haste. +On arriving at the place of destination, the two ladies were taken out in +a state of insensibility. + +This was, however, the last scene of terror. The invisible tormentor now +changed his manner, and used more gentle means. One evening, soon after, a +loud clapping of hands was heard under her window. Antonelli, as a +favourite actress and singer, was no stranger to these sounds; they +carried in them nothing terrifying, and they might be ascribed to one of +her admirers. She paid little attention to it; her friends, however, were +more vigilant, they sent out spies as formerly. The clapping was heard, +but no one was to be seen; and it was hoped that these mysterious doings +would soon entirely cease. + +After some evenings the clapping was no longer heard, and more agreeable +sounds succeeded. They were not properly melodious, but unspeakably +delightful and agreeable; they seemed to issue from the corner of an +opposite street, approach the window, and die gently away. It seemed as if +some aerial spirit intended them as a prelude to some piece of music that +he was about to perform. These tones soon became weaker, and at last were +heard no more. + +I had the curiosity, soon after the first disturbance, to go to the house +of the deceased, under the pretext of visiting the old lady who had so +faithfully attended him in his last illness. She told me her friend had an +unbounded affection for Antonelli; that he had, for some weeks previous to +his death, talked only of her, and sometimes represented her as an angel, +and then again as a devil. When his illness became serious, his only wish +was to see her before his dissolution, probably in hopes of receiving from +her some kind expression, or prevailing on her to give him some consoling; +proof of her love and attachment. Her obstinate refusal caused him the +greatest torments, and her last answer evidently hastened his end; for, +added she, he made one violent effort, and raising his head, he cried out +in despair, _"No, it shall avail her nothing; she avoids me, but I'll +torment her, though the grave divide us!"_ And indeed the event proved +that a man may perform his promise in spite of death itself. + +_Weekly Review._ + + * * * * * + + + +UGGOLINO. + +MODERNIZED FROM THE "MONK'S TALE" IN CHAUCER. + +_(For the Mirror.)_ + + + Of Uggolino, Pisa's hapless Count, + How shall my Muse the piteous tale relate! + Near to that city, on a gentle mount, + There stands a tow'r--within its donjon grate + They lock'd him up, and, dreadful to recount, + With him three tender babes to share his fate! + But five years old the eldest of the three-- + Oh! who could rob such babes of liberty! + + Doom'd was the Count within that tow'r to die, + Him Pisa's vengeful bishop did oppose; + With covert speech and false aspersions sly + He stirr'd the people, till they madly rose, + And shut him in this prison strong and high; + His former slaves are now his fiercest foes. + Coarse was their food, and scantily supplied, + A prelude to the death these captives died. + + And on a luckless day it thus befell-- + About their surly jailer's wonted hour + To bring them food, he enter'd not their cell, + But bolted fast their prison's outer door. + This on the County's heart rang like a knell-- + Hope was excluded from this grizzly tow'r. + Speechless he sat, despair forbade to rave-- + This hold was now their dungeon and their grave. + + His youngest babe had not seen summers three; + "Father," he cried, "why does the man delay + To bring out food? how naughty he must be; + I have not eat a morsel all this day. + Dear father, have you got some bread for me? + Oh, if you have, do give it me, I pray; + I am so hungry that I cannot sleep-- + I'll kiss you, father--do not, do not weep." + + And day by day this pining innocent + Thus to his father piteously did cry, + Till hunger had perform'd the stern intent + Of their fierce foes. "Oh, father, I shall die! + Take me upon your lap--my life is spent-- + Kiss me--farewell!" Then with a gentle sigh, + Its spotless spirit left the suff'ring clay, + And wing'd its fright to everlasting day. + + (He who has mark'd that wild, distracting mien, + Which for this Count immortal Reynold's drew, + When bitter woe, despair, and famine keen + Unite in that sad face to shock the view, + Will wish, while gazing on th' appalling scene, + For pity's sake the story is not true. + What hearts but fiends, what less than hellish hate, + Could e'er consign that group to such a fate?) + + And when he saw his darling child was dead, + From statue-like despair the Count did start; + He tore his matted locks from off his head, + And bit his arms, for grief so wrung his heart. + His two surviving babes drew near and said, + (Thinking 'twas hunger's thorn which caus'd his smart,) + "Dear sire, you gave us life, to you we give + Our little bodies--feed on them and live!" + + Like two bruis'd lilies, soon they pin'd away, + And breath'd their last upon their father's knee; + Despair and Famine bow'd him to their sway; + He died--here ends this Count's dark tragedy. + Whoso would read this tale more fully may + Consult the mighty bard of Italy; + Dante's high strain will all the sequel tell, + So courteous, friendly readers, fare ye well. + +P. HENDON. + + * * * * * + + + +A LAPLANDER'S FAREWELL TO THE SETTING SUN. + +_(For the Mirror.)_ + + + Adieu thou beauteous orb, adieu, + Thy fading light scarce meets my view, + Thy golden tints reflected still + Beam mildly on my native hill: + Thou goest in other lands to shine, + Hail'd and expected by a numerous line, + Whilst many days and many months must pass + Ere thou shall'st bless us with one closing glance. + My cave must now become my lowly home, + Nor can I longer from its precincts roam, + Till the fixed time that brings thee back again + With added splendour to resume thy reign. + +IOTA. + + * * * * * + + + +ANCIENT VALUE OF BOOKS. + +_(For the Mirror.)_ + + +We have it from good authority, that about A.D. 1215, the Countess of +Anjou paid two hundred sheep, five quarters of wheat, and the same +quantity of rye, for a volume of Sermons--so scarce and dear were books at +that time; and although the countess might in this case have possibly been +imposed upon, we have it, on Mr. Gibbon's authority, that the value of +manuscript copies of the Bible, for the use of the monks and clergy, +commonly was from four to five hundred crowns at Paris, which, according +to the relative value of money at that time and now in our days, could not, +at the most moderate calculation, be less than as many pounds sterling in +the present day. + +H. W. P. + + * * * * * + + + +MARINE GLOW WORMS. + +_(For the Mirror.)_ + + +These extraordinary little insects are more particularly noticed in Italy, +during the period of summer, than in any other part of the world. When +they make their appearance, they glitter like stars reflected by the sea, +so beautiful and luminous are their minute bodies. Many contemplative +lovers of the phenomena of nature are seen, soon after sun-set, along the +sea coast, admiring the singular lustre of the water when covered with +these particles of life, which it may be observed, are more numerous where +the _alga marina_, or sea-weed abounds. + +The marine glow-worm is composed of eleven articulations, or rings; upon +these rings, and near the belly of the insect, are placed fins, which +appear to be the chief instruments of its motion. It has two small horns +issuing from the fore part of the head, and its tail is cleft in two. To +the naked eye of man, they seem even smaller than the finest hairs; and +their substance is delicate beyond description. They first begin to make +their appearance upon the sea-weed about the middle of April, and very +soon after multiply exceedingly over the whole surface of the water. + +I think it is more than probable, that the heat of the sun causes the +marine glow-worm to lay its eggs; at all events it is certain, that +terrestrial insects of this species shine only in the heat of summer, and +that their peculiar resplendency is produced during the period of their +copulation. + +G. W. N. + + * * * * * + + + +EPITAPHS. + +(_For the Mirror._) + + +The origin of epitaphs, and the precise period when they were first +introduced, is involved in obscurity; but that they were in use several +centuries prior to the Christian era is indisputable. The invention of +them, however, has been attributed to the scholars of Linus, who, +according to Diogenes, was the son of Mercury and Urania; he was born at +Thebes, and instructed Hercules in the art of music; who, in a fit of +anger at the ridicule of Linus, on his awkwardness in holding the lyre, +struck him on the head with his instrument, and killed him. The scholars +of Linus lamented the death of their master, in a mournful kind of poem, +called from him _Aelinum_. These poems were afterwards designated +_Epitaphia_, from the two words [Greek: epi], _upon_, and [Greek: taphios], +_sepulchre_, being engraved on tombs, in honour or memory of the deceased, +and generally containing some eloge of his virtues or good qualities. + +Among the Lacedaemonians, epitaphs were only allowed to men who died +bravely in battle; and to women, who were remarkable for their chastity. +The Romans often erected monuments to illustrious persons whilst living, +which were preserved with great veneration after their decease. In this +country, according to Sir Henry Chauncy, "Any person may erect a tomb, +sepulchre, or monument for the deceased in any church, chancel, chapel, or +churchyard, so that it is not to the hindrance of the celebration of +divine service; that the defacing of them is punishable at common law, +the party that built it being entitled to the action during his life, and +the heir of the deceased after his death." + +Boxhornius has made a well chosen collection of Latin epitaphs, and F. +Labbe has also made a similar one in the French language, entitled, +"_Tresor des Epitaphes_." In our own language the collection of Toldewy is +the best; there are also several to be found among the writings of Camden +and Weaver, and in most of the county histories. + +In epitaphs, the deceased person is sometimes introduced by way of +prosopopaeia, speaking to the living, of which the following is an +instance, wherein the defunct wife thus addresses her surviving husband:-- + + "Immatura peri; sed tu, felicior, annos + Vive tuos, conjux optime, vive meos." + +The following epitaphs, out of several others, are worth preserving. That +of Alexander:-- + + "Sufficit huic tumulus, cui non sufficeret orbis." + +That of Tasso:-- + + "Les os du Tasse." + +Similar to which is that of Dryden:-- + + "Dryden." + +The following is that of General Foy, in Pere la Chaise:-- + + "Honneur au GENERAL FOY. + Il se repose de ses travaux, + Et ses oeuvres le suivent. + Hier quand de ses jours la source fut tarie, + La France, en le voyant sur sa couche entendu, + Implorait un accent de cette voix cherie. + Helas! au cri plaintif jeté par la nature, + C'est la premiere fois qu'il ne pas repondu" + +The following is said to have been written by "rare Ben Jonson," and has +been much admired:-- + + "Underneath this stone doth lie + As much virtue as could die; + Which, when alive, did vigour give + To as much beauty as could live." + +To these could be added several others, but at present we shall content +ourselves with quoting the two following, as specimens of the satirical +or ludicrous:-- + + _Prior, on himself, ridiculing the folly of + those who value themselves on their + pedigree_. + + "Nobles and heralds, by your leave, + Here lie the bones of Matthew Prior, + The son of Adam and Eve, + Let Bourbon or Nassau go higher." + + * * * * * + + "Here, fast asleep, full six feet deep, + And seventy summers ripe, + George Thomas lies in hopes to rise, + And smoke another pipe." + +B. T. S. + + * * * * * + +The following inscription, in a churchyard in Germany, long puzzled alike +the learned and the unlearned:-- + + O quid tua te + be bis bia abit + ra ra ra + es + et in + ram ram ram + i i + Mox eris quod ego nunc. + +By accident the meaning was discovered, and the solution is equally +remarkable for its ingenuity and for the morality it inculcates:--"O +superbe quid superbis? tua superbia te superabit. Terra es, et in terram +ibis. Mox eris quod ego nunc."--"O vain man! why shouldst thou be proud? +thy pride will be thy ruin. Dust thou art, and to dust shalt thou return. +Soon shalt thou be what I am now." + +W. G. C. + + * * * * * + + + +THE COSMOPOLITE. + +WET WEATHER. + +(_For the Mirror_.) + + +"John's temper depended very much upon the air; his spirits rose and fell +with the weather-glass."--ARBUTHNOT. + +No one can deny that the above is a _floating_ topic; and we challenge all +the philosophy of ancients or moderns to prove it is not. After the +memorable July 15, (St. Swithin,) people talk of the result with as much +certainty as a merchant calculates on _trade winds_; and in like manner, +hackney-coachmen and umbrella-makers have their _trade rains_. Indeed, +there are, as Shakespeare's contented Duke says, "books in the running +brooks, and good in every thing;"[1] and so far from neglecting to turn +the ill-wind to our account, we are disposed to venture a few seasonable +truisms for the gratification of our readers, although a wag may say our +subject is a dry one. + + [1] Only the other evening we heard two sons of the whip on a + hackney-coach stand thus invoke the showery deity: "God send us a + good heavy shower;" then the fellows looked upwards, chuckled, and + rubbed their hands. + +In England, the weather is public news. Zimmerman, however, thinks it is +not a safe topic of discourse. "Your company," says he, "may be _hippish_." +Shenstone, too, says a fine day is the only enjoyment which one man does +not envy another. All this is whimsical enough; but doubtless we are more +operated on by _the weather_ than by any thing else. Perhaps this is +because we are islanders; for talk to an "intellectual" man about the +climate, and out comes something about our "insular situation, aqueous +vapours, condensation," &c. Then take up a newspaper on any day of a wet +summer, and you see a long string of paragraphs, with erudite authorities, +about "the weather," average annual depth of rain, &c.; and a score of +lies about tremendous rains, whose only authority, like that of most +miracles, is in their antiquity or repetition. In short, _water_ is one of +the most popular subjects in this age of inquiry. What were the first +treatises of the _Useful Knowledge_ Society? _Hydrostatics_ and +_Hydraulics_. What is the attraction at Sadler's Wells, Bath, and +Cheltenham, but water? the Brighton people, too, not content with the sea, +have even found it necessary to superadd to their fashionable follies, +artificial mineral waters, with whose fount the grossest duchess may in a +few days recover from the repletion of a whole season; and the minister, +after the jading of a session, soon resume his wonted complacency and good +humour.[2] Our aquatic taste is even carried into all our public +amusements; would the festivities in celebration of the late peace have +been complete without the sham fight on the Serpentine? To insure the run +of a melo-drama, the New River is called in to flow over deal boards, and +form a cataract; and the Vauxhall proprietors, with the aid of a +_hydropyric_ exhibition, contrive to represent a naval battle. This +introduction during the past season was, however, as perfectly +_gratuitous_ as that of the _rain_ was uncalled for. Had they contented +themselves with the latter, the scene would have been more true to nature. + + [2] Even the greatest hero of the age, who has won all his glory _by + land_, has lately been drinking the Cheltenham _waters_. The proprietor + of the well at which he drank, jocosely observed that his was "the best + _well-in-town_." + +We carry this taste into our money-getting speculations, those freaks of +the funds that leave many a man with one unfunded coat. The Thames tunnel +is too amphibious an affair to be included in the number; but the ship +canal project, the bridge-building mania, and the _penchant_ for working +mines by steam, evidently belong to them. The fashion even extends to +royalty, since our good King builds a fishing-temple, and dines on the +Virginia Water; and the Duke of Clarence, as Lord High Admiral, gives a +_dejeuné à la fourchette_ between Waterloo and Westminster bridges. + +Whoever takes the trouble to read a paper in a late _Edinburgh Review_ on +the _Nervous System_, will doubtless find that much of our predilection +for hanging and drowning is to be attributed to this "insular situation." +Every man and woman of us is indeed a self _pluviometer_, or rain-gauge; +or, in plain terms, our nerves are like so many musical strings, affected +by every change of the atmosphere, which, if screwed up too tight, are apt +to snap off, and become useless; or, if you please, we are like so many +barometers, and our animal spirits like their quicksilver; so "servile" +are we to all the "skyey influences." Take, for example, the same man at +three different periods of the year: on a fine morning in January, his +nerves are braced to their best pitch, and, in his own words, he is fit +for any thing; see him panting for cooling streams in a burning July day, +when though an Englishman, he is "too hot to eat;" see him on a wet, muggy +ninth of November, when the finery of the city coach and the new liveries +appear tarnished, and common councilmen tramp through the mud and rain in +their robes of little authority--even with the glorious prospect of the +Guildhall tables, the glitter of gas and civic beauty, and the six pounds +of turtle, and iron knives and forks before him--still he is a miserable +creature, he drinks to desperation, and is carried home at least three +hours sooner than he would be on a fine frosty night. Then, instead of +fifteen pounds to the square inch, atmospheric pressure is increased to +five-and-forty, not calculating the _simoom_ of the following morning, +when he is as dry as the desert of Sahara, and eyes the pumps and +soda-water fountains with as much _gout_ as the Israelites did the water +from Mount Horeb. + +Man, however, is the most helpless of all creatures in water, and with the +exception of a few proscribed pickpockets and swindlers, he is almost as +helpless on land. This infirmity, or difficulty of keeping above water, +accounts for the crammed state of our prisons, fond as we are of the +element. On the great rivers of China, where thousands of people find it +more convenient to live in covered boats upon the water, than in houses on +shore, the younger and male children have a _hollow ball_ of some light +material attached constantly to their necks, so that in their frequent +falls overboard, they are not in danger. Had we not read this in a grave, +philosophical work, we should have thought it a joke upon poor humanity, +or at best a piece of poetical justice, and that the hollow ball, &c. +represented the head--fools being oftener inheritors of good fortune than +their wiser companions. As the great secret in swimming is to keep the +chest as full of air as possible, perhaps the great art of living is to +keep the head a _vacuum_, a state "adapted to the meanest capacity." But +had kind Nature supplied us with an air-bladder at the neck, the heaviest +of us might have floated to eternity, Leander's swimming across the +Hellespont no wonder at all, and the drags of the Humane Society be +converted into halters for the suspension and recovery of old offenders +and small debts. + +_A wet day in London_ is what every gentleman who does not read, or does +not recollect, Shakspeare, calls _a bore_,[3] and every lady decides to be +a _nuisance_. Abroad, everything is discomfiture; at home all is fidget +and uneasiness. What is called a smart shower, sweeps off a whole stand of +hackney-coaches in a few seconds, and leaves a few leathern conveniences +called cabriolets, so that your only alternative is that of being soaked +to the skin, or pitched out, taken up, bled, and carried home in "a state +of insensibility." The Spanish proverb, "it never rains but it pours" soon +comes to pass, and every street is momentarily washed as clean as the most +diligent housemaid could desire. Every little shelter is crowded with +solitary, houseless-looking people, who seem employed in taking +descriptions of each other for the _Hue and Cry_, or police gazette. On +the pavement may probably be seen some wight who with more than political +obstinacy, resolves to "weather the storm," with slouched hat, which acts +upon the principle of capillary attraction, drenched coat, and boots in +which the feet work like pistons in tannin: now + + The reeling clouds, + Stagger with dizzy poise, as doubting yet, + Which master to obey. + +Company, in such cases, usually increases the misery. Your wife, with a +new dress, soon loses her temper and its beauty; the children splash you +and their little frilled continuations; and ill-humour is the order of the +day; for on such occasions you cannot slip into a tavern, and follow Dean +Swift's example: + + On rainy days alone I dine, + Upon a chick, and pint of wine: + On rainy days I dine alone, + And pick my chicken to the bone. + +Go you to the theatre in what is called a wet season, and perhaps after +sitting through a dull five-act tragedy and two farces, your first +solicitude is about the weather, and as if to increase the vexation, you +cannot see the sky for a heavy portico or blind; then the ominous cry of +"carriage, your honour"--"what terrible event does this portend"--and you +have to pick your way, with your wife like Cinderella after the ball, +through an avenue of link-boys and cadmen,[4] and hear your name and +address bawled out to all the thieves that happen to be present. Or, +perchance, the coachman, whose inside porosity is well indicated by his +bundle of coats, as Dr. Kitchiner says, is labouring under "the +unwholesome effervescence of the hot and rebellious liquors which have +been taken to revive the flagging spirits," and like a sponge, absorbs +liquids, owing to the pressure of the surrounding air. + + [3] This expression is not the exclusive property of Oxford, + Cambridge, or the Horse Guards. See Shakspeare's Henry VIII, where + the Duke of Buckingham says of Wolsey, "He _bores_ me with some + trick;" like another great man, the Cardinal must have been a great + bore. + + [4] Towards the close of the last opera season we heard a ludicrous + mistake. One of these fellows bawled out "the Duke of Grafton's + carriage;" "No," replied the gentleman, smiling, and correcting the + officious cadman, who had caught at the noble euphony, "Mr. + Crafter's." + +That we are attached to wet weather, a single comparison with our +neighbours will abundantly prove. A Frenchman seldom stirs abroad without +his _parapluie_; notwithstanding he is, compared with an Englishman, an +_al fresco_ animal, eating, drinking, dancing, reading, and seeing +plays--all out of doors. A shower is more effectual in clearing the streets +of Paris than those of London. People flock into _cafés_, the arcades of +the Palais Royal, and splendid covered passages; and as soon as the rain +ceases, scores of planks are thrown across the gutters in the _centre_ of +the streets, which species of _pontooning_ is rewarded by the sous and +centimes of the passengers. In Switzerland too, where the annual fall of +rain is 40 inches, the streets are always washed clean, an effect which is +admirably represented in the view of Unterseen, now exhibiting at the +_Diorama_. But in Peru, the Andes intercept the clouds, and the constant +heat over sandy deserts prevents clouds from forming, so that there is no +rain. Here it never shines but it burns. + +_Wet-weather in the country_ is, however, a still greater infliction upon +the sensitive nerves. There is no club-house, coffee-room, billiard-room, +or theatre, to slip into; and if caught in a shower you must content +yourself with the arcades of Nature, beneath which you enjoy the +unwished-for luxury of a shower bath. Poor Nature is drenched and drowned; +perhaps never better described than by that inveterate bard of Cockaigne, +Captain Morris: + + Oh! it settles the stomach when nothing is seen + But an ass on a common, or goose on a green. + +We were once overtaken by such weather in a pedestrian tour through the +Isle of Wight, when just then about to leave Niton for a geological +excursion to the Needles. Reader, if you remember, the Sandrock Hotel is +one of the most rural establishments in the island. Think of our being +shut up there for six hours, with a thin duodecimo guide of less than 100 +pages, which some mischievous fellow had made incomplete. How often did we +read and re-read every line, and trace every road in the little map. At +length we set off on our return to Newport. The rain partially ceased, and +we were attracted out of the road to Luttrell's Tower, whence we were +compelled to seek shelter in a miserable public-house in a village about +three miles distant. No spare bed, a wretched smoky fire; and hard beer, +and poor cheese, called Isle of Wight rock, were all the accommodation our +host could provide. His parlour was just painted; but half-a-dozen +sectarian books and an ill-toned flute amused us for an hour; then we +again started, in harder rain than ever, for Newport. Compelled to halt +twice, we saw some deplorable scenes of cottage misery, almost enough to +put us out of conceit of rusticity, till after crossing a bleak, dreary +heath, we espied the distant light of Newport. Never had we beheld gas +light with such ecstasy, not even on the first lighting of St. James's +Park. It was the eve of the Cowes' regatta, and the town was full; but our +luggage was there, and we were secure. A delicious supper at the Bugle, +and liberal outpourings of Newport ale, at length put us in good humour +with our misfortunes; but on the following morning we hastened on to Ryde, +and thus passed by steam to Portsmouth; having resolved to defer our +geological expedition to that day twelve months. Perhaps we may again +touch on this little journey. We have done for the present, lest our +number should interrupt the enjoyment of any of the thousand pedestrians +who are at this moment tracking + + The slow ascending hill, the lofty wood + That mantles o'er its brow. + +or coasting the castled shores and romantic cliffs of Vectis, or the Isle +of Wight. + +PHILO. + + * * * * * + + + +MANNERS & CUSTOMS OF ALL NATIONS + + +DUELS IN FRANCE. + + +Duels had at one time become so frequent in France as to require +particular enactments for their prevention; as, for example, when the debt +about which any dispute occurred did not amount to five-pence. The +regulation of the mode in which the barbarous custom might be maintained +had engaged the attention of several of the French kings. In 1205, Philip +Augustus restricted the length of the club, with which single combat was +then pursued, to three feet; and in 1260, Saint Louis abolished the +practice of deciding civil matters by duelling. With the revival of +literature and of the arts, national manners became ameliorated, and duels +necessarily declined. It was still, however, not unusual for the French to +promote or to behold those single combats over which the pages of romance +have thrown a delusive charm, and which were, in early times, hallowed, in +the opinion of the vulgar, by their accompanying superstitious ceremonies. +When any quarrel had been referred to this mode of decision, the parties +met on the appointed day, and frequently in an open space, overshadowed by +the walls of a convent, which thus lent its sanction to the bloody scene. +From day-break the people were generally employed in erecting scaffolds +and stages, and in placing themselves upon the towers and ramparts of the +adjacent buildings. About noon, the cavalcade was usually seen to arrive +at the door of the lists; then the herald cried, "Let the appellant +appear," and his summons was answered by the entrance of the challenger, +armed cap-a-pie, the escutcheon suspended from his neck, his visor lowered, +and an image of some national saint in his hand. He was allowed to pass +within the lists, and conducted to his tent. The accused person likewise +appeared, and was led in the same manner to his tent. Then the herald, in +his robe embroidered with fleur-de-lis, advanced to the centre of the +lists, and exclaimed, "Oyez, oyez! lords, knights, squires, people of all +condition, our sovereign lord, by the grace of God, King of France, +forbids you, on pain of death or confiscation of goods, either to cry out, +to speak, to cough, to spit, or to make signs." During a profound silence, +in which nothing but the murmurs of the unconscious streamlet, or the +chirping of birds might be heard, the combatants quitted their tents, to +take individually the two first oaths. When the third oath was to be +administered, it was customary for them to meet, and for the marshal to +take the right hand of each and to place it on the cross. Then the +functions of the priest began, and the usual address, endeavouring to +conciliate the angry passions of the champions, and to remind them of +their common dependence on the Supreme Being, may have tended to benefit +the bystanders, although it generally failed of its effect with the +combatants. + +If the parties persisted, the last oath was administered. The combatants +were obliged to swear solemnly that they had neither about them nor their +horses, stone, nor herb, nor charm, nor invocation; and that they would +fight only with their bodily strength, their weapons, and their horses. +The crucifix and breviary were then presented to them to kiss, the parties +retired into their tents, the heralds uttering their last admonition to +exertion and courage, and the challengers rushed forth from their tents, +which were immediately dragged from within the lists. Then the marshal of +the field having cried out, "Let them pass, let them pass," the seconds +retired. The combatants instantly mounted their horses, and the contest +commenced.--_Foreign Review_. + + * * * * * + + + +SUPERSTITION RELATING TO BEES. + + +On further inquiry, it has been found that the superstitious practice, +formerly mentioned,[1] of informing the bees of a death that takes place +in a family, is very well known, and still prevails among the lower orders +in this country. The disastrous consequence to be apprehended from +noncompliance with this strange custom is not (as before stated) that the +bees will desert the hive, but that they will dwindle and die. The manner +of communicating the intelligence to the little community, with due form +and ceremony, is this: to take the key of the house, and knock with it +three times against the hive, telling the inmates, at the same time, that +their master or mistress, &c., (as the case may be,) is dead! + + [1] See page 75. + +Mr. Loudon says, when in Bedfordshire lately, "we were informed of an old +man who sung a psalm last year in front of some hives which were not doing +well, but which he said would thrive in consequence of that ceremony. Our +informant could not state whether this was a local or individual +superstition."--_Magazine of Natural History_. + + * * * * * + + + +NOTES OF A READER + +LAW REFORMS. + + +We copy the following eloquent and impassioned paragraph from the last +_Edinburgh Review_:-- + +"Thanks unto our ancestors, there is now no _Star-chamber_ before whom may +be summoned either the scholar, whose learning offends the bishops, by +disproving incidentally the divine nature of tithes, or the counsellor, +who gives his client an opinion against some assumed prerogative. There is +no _High Commission Court_ to throw into a gaol until his dying day, at +the instigation of a Bancroft, the bencher who shall move for the +discharge of an English subject from imprisonment contrary to law. It is +no longer the duty of a privy councillor to seize the suspected volumes of +an antiquarian, or plunder the papers of an ex-chief justice, whilst lying +on his death-bed. _Government licensers of the press_ are gone, whose +infamous perversion of the writings of other lawyers will cause no future +Hale to leave behind him orders expressly prohibiting the posthumous +publication of his legal MSS., lest the sanctity of his name should be +abused, to the destruction of those laws, of which he had been long the +venerable and living image. An advocate of the present day need not +absolutely withdraw (as Sir Thomas More is reported to have prudently done +for a time) from his profession, because the crown had taken umbrage at +his discharge of a public duty. It is, however, flattery and self-delusion +to imagine that the lust of power and the weaknesses of human nature have +been put down by the Bill of Rights, and that our forefathers have left +nothing to be done by their descendants. The violence of former times is +indeed no longer practicable; but the spirit which led to these excesses +can never die; it changes its aspect and its instruments with +circumstances, and takes the shape and character of its age. The risks and +the temptations of the profession at the present day are quite as +dangerous to its usefulness, its dignity, and its virtue, as the shears +and branding-irons that frightened every barrister from signing Prynne's +defence, or the writ that sent Maynard to the Tower. The public has a deep, +an incalculable interest in the independence and fearless honour of its +lawyers. In a system so complicated as ours, every thing must be taken at +their word almost on trust; and proud as we, for the most part, justly are +of the unsuspectedness of our judges, their integrity and manliness of +mind are, of course, involved in that of the body out of which they must +be chosen. There is not a man living whose life, liberty, and honour may +not depend on the resoluteness as well as capacity of those by whom, when +all may be at stake, he must be both advised and represented in a court of +justice." + +Our readers will easily recognise the great events in the history of the +law in England, to which the reviewer alludes. Seldom have we read a more +masterly page; it would even form an excellent rider to Mr. Brougham's +recent speech on the same subject. + + * * * * * + + +SUPPERS. + + +It is a mere mistake to condemn suppers. All the inferior animals stuff +immediately previous to sleeping; and why not man, whose stomach is so +much smaller, more delicate, and more exquisite a piece of machinery? +Besides, it is a well-known fact, that a sound human stomach acts upon a +well-drest dish, with nearly the power of an eight-horse steam-engine; and +this being the case, good heavens! why should one be afraid of a few +trifling turkey-legs, a bottle of Barclay's brown-stout, a Welsh rabbit, +brandy and water, and a few more such fooleries? We appeal to the common +sense of our readers and of the world. + + * * * * * + + +TEA + + +The consumption of tea is increasing every year. In 1823, the importation +was 24,000,000 lb.; in 1826 it was 30,000,000 lb.; and in the year ending +Jan. 5, 1828, 39,746,147 lb.--_Oriental Herald_. + + * * * * * + + +POETS NOT BOTANISTS. + + +Addison, who was probably unacquainted with the flower described by Virgil, +represents the Italian aster as a purple bush, with yellow flowers, +instead of telling us that the flower had a yellow disk and purple rays. + + Aureus ipse; sed in foliis, quae plurima circum + Funduntur, violae sublucet purpura nigrae. + +_Virgil, Georgic iv_. + + The flower Itself is of a golden hue, + The leaves inclining to a darker blue; + The leaves shoot thick about the root, and grow + Into a bush, and shade the turf below. + +_Addison_. + +Dryden falls into the same error:-- + + A flower there is that grows in meadow ground, + Aurelius called, and easy to be found; + For from one root the rising stem bestows + A wood of leaves and violet purple boughs. + The flower itself is glorious to behold, + And shines on altars like refulgent gold. + + _Mag. Nat. History_ + + * * * * * + + +RIVAL SINGERS. + + +In 1726-7, there was a sharp warfare in London between two opera singers, +La Faustina and La Cuzzoni, and their partizans. It went so far that young +ladies dressed themselves _a la Faustina_ and _a la Cuzzoni_. We need not +wonder, therefore, at the hair _à la Sontag_ in our days, or gentleman's +whiskers _à la Jocko_. + + * * * * * + + +SHARKS. + + +In a recent voyage from Bombay to the Persian Gulf, an Arab sailor of a +crew, who was the stoutest and strongest man in the ship on leaving Bombay, +pined away by disease, and was committed to the deep by his Arab comrades +on board, with greater feeling and solemnity than is usual among Indian +sailors, and with the accustomed ceremonies and prayers of the Mohamedan +religion. The smell of the dead body attracted several sharks round the +ship, one of which, eight feet in length, was harpooned and hauled on +board.--_Oriental Herald_. + + * * * * * + + +JONAH'S "WHALE." + + +At a late meeting of the Wernerian Society at Edinburgh, the Rev. Dr. Scot +read a paper on the great fish that swallowed up Jonah, showing that it +could not be a whale, as often supposed, but was probably a white shark. + + * * * * * + + +MUSHROOMS. + + +The large horse-mushroom, except for catsup, should be very cautiously +eaten. In wet seasons, or if produced on wet ground, it is very +deleterious, if used in any great quantity.--_Mag. Nat. Hist._ + + * * * * * + + +USEFUL KNOWLEDGE. + + +The sweat of the brow is not favourable to the operations of the brain; +and the leisure which follows the daily labour of the peasant and +manufacturer, will, even if no other demands are made upon it, afford but +little scope for the over acquisition of knowledge. Long will it be ere +the English husbandman renounces for study the pleasures of his weekly +holiday, and long may it be ere the Scottish peasant be withdrawn by a +thirst for knowledge from the duties of his Sabbath, and from the simple +rights of his morning and evening sacrifice.--_Foreign Rev_. + + * * * * * + + +MR. CANNING. + + +A beautiful medal in memory of this celebrated statesman, has lately been +struck at Paris, under the direction of M. Girard. + + * * * * * + + +NATURE AND ART. + + +It is curious enough that people decorate their chimney-pieces with +imitations of beautiful fruits, while they seem to think nothing at all of +the originals hanging upon the trees, with all the elegant accompaniments +of flourishing branches, buds, and leaves--_Cobbet's English Gardener._ + + * * * * * + + +THE KING OF PRUSSIA + + +Lives in comparative retirement, in a small palace fitted up with the +greatest simplicity, and his bed is really not better than that usually +allotted to a domestic in England. His study is quite that of an official +man of business. He has a large map of his own dominions; and in each town +where troops are stationed he fixes a common pin, and on the head of the +pin is a small bit of card, on which are written the names of the +regiments, their numbers, and commanding officers, in the town. He thus, +at any moment, can see the disposition of his immense army, which is very +essential to such a government as Prussia, it being a mild despotic +military system. He has a most excellent modern map of the Turkish +provinces in Europe, and upon this is marked out every thing that can +interest a military man. A number of pins, with green heads, point out the +positions of the Russian army; and in the same manner, with +red-and-white-headed pins, he distinguishes the stations of the different +kinds of troops of the Turkish host.--_Literary Gazette_. + + +THE OPERA OF "OTELLO." + + +Othello is altogether unsuited to the lyrical drama, and supposing the +contrary, Rossini, of all composers, was the most unfit to treat such a +subject in music. The catastrophe in the English tragedy is necessary; we +see it from the beginning as through a long and gloomy vista. We weep, or +shudder, we draw a long sigh of despair, and feel that it could not have +been otherwise. But in the opera, Othello is a ruffian, without excuse for +his crime. We have suddenly a beautiful woman running distracted about the +stage to a symphony--and a very noisy symphony--of violins, and butchered +before our eyes to an allegro movement.--_Foreign Review_. + + * * * * * + + +FRENCH NOVELS. + + +When last in Paris we were curious to know wherefore M. Jouy had written +such exceptionable and abominable stuff as his last novel; and the +gentleman to whom we addressed ourselves, answered, in a light lively vein; +"Oh! M. Jouy has a name, and the booksellers pay well; and as they are +very stupid, and depend on names for the sale of their books, he wrote +down the first matter that came into his head."--_Foreign Review_. + + * * * * * + + +AMBER. + + +Polangen, the frontier town of Russia, is famous for its trade in amber. +This substance is found by the inhabitants on the coast, between Polangen +and Pillau, either loosely on the shore, on which it has been thrown by +the strong north and westerly winds, or in small hillocks of sand near the +sea, where it is found in regular strata. The quantity found yearly in +this manner, and on this small extent of coast, besides what little is +sometimes discovered in beds of pit coal in the interior of the country, +is said to amount to from 150 to 200 tons, yielding a revenue to the +government of Prussia of about 100,000 francs. As amber is much less in +vogue in Western Europe than in former times, the best pieces, which are +very transparent, and frequently weigh as much as three ounces, are sent +to Turkey and Persia, for the heads of their expensive pipes and hookahs. +Very few trinkets are now sold for ornaments to ladies' dresses; and the +great bulk of amber annually found is converted into a species of scented +spirits and oil, which are much esteemed for the composition of delicate +varnish. In the rough state, amber is sold by the ton, and forms an object +of export trade from Memel and Konigsberg.--_Granville's Travels in +Russia_. + + * * * * * + +The head of the late Dr. Gall has been taken off agreeably to his wishes, +and dissected and dried for the benefit of science. + + * * * * * + + +MUSICAL TALENT. + + +All the principal Italian composers were _in flower_ about the age of +twenty-five. There is scarcely an instance of a musician producing his +_chef-d'oeuvre_ after the age of thirty. Rossini was not twenty when he +composed his _Tancredi_, and his _Italiana in Algieri_. + + * * * * * + +The most important principle perhaps in life is to have a pursuit--a +useful one if possible, and at all events an innocent one. The unripe +fruit tree of knowledge is, I believe, always bitter or sour; and +scepticism and discontent--sickness of the mind--are often the results of +devouring it.--_Sir Humphry Davy_. + + * * * * * + + +COFFIN OF KING DUNCAN. + +A coffin has been discovered among the ruins of Elgin cathedral, supposed +to be that of the royal victim of Macbeth. + + * * * * * + + +AN IMPERIAL ENCORE. + +When Cimarosa's opera of _Matrimonio Segreto_ was performed before the +Emperor Joseph, he invited all the singers to a banquet, and then in a fit +of enthusiasm, sent them all back to the theatre to play and sing the +whole opera over again!--_Foreign Review_. + + * * * * * + +_Dinner_ is a corruption of _decimer_, from _decimheure_, or the French +repast _de dix-heure. Supper_ from _souper_, from the custom of providing +soup for that occasion. + + * * * * * + + +LARKS. + + +We have heard much of _Dunstable larks_ but the enthusiasm with which +_gourmets_ speak of these tit-bits of luxury, is far exceeded by the +Germans, who travel to Leipsic from a distance of many hundred miles, +merely to eat a dinner of larks, and then return contented and peaceful to +their families. So great is the slaughter of this bird at the Leipsic fair, +that half a million are annually devoured, principally by the booksellers +frequenting the city. What is the favourite bird at the coffee-house +dinners of our friends in Paternoster Row? + + * * * * * + + +PAINTING CATS. + + +Gottfried Mind, a celebrated Swiss painter, was called the _Cat-Raphael_, +from the excellence with which he painted that animal. This peculiar +talent was discovered and awakened by chance. At the time when +Freudenberger was painting that since-published picture of the peasant +cleaving wood before his cottage, with his wife sitting by, and feeding +her child with pap out of a pot, round which a cat is prowling, Mind cast +a broad stare on the sketch of this last figure, and said in his rugged, +laconic way, "That is no cat!" Freudenberger asked, with a smile, whether +Mind thought he could do it better. Mind offered to try; went into a +corner, and drew the cat, which Freudenberger liked so much that he made +his new pupil finish it out, and the master copied the scholar's work--for +it is Mind's cat that is engraven in Freudenberger's plate. Imitations of +Mind's cats are already common in the windows of printsellers. + + * * * * * + + +PLAY-WRITING. + + +When the manager of a theatre engaged Sacchini to write an opera, he was +obliged to shut him up in a room with his mistress and his favourite cats, +without them at his side he could do nothing. The fifth act of _Pizarro_ +was actually finished by Sheridan on the first evening of its performance, +when the illustrious playwright was shut up in a room with a plate of +sandwiches and two bottles of claret, to finish his drama. + + * * * * * + + +RETROSPECTIVE GLEANINGS. + +THE BISHOPRICKS OF ENGLAND AND WALES + + +Were instituted according to the following order of time, viz. London an +Archbishoprick and Metropolitan of England, founded by Lucius, the first +Christian king of Britain, A.D. 185; Llandaff, 185; Bangor, 516; St. +David's, 519. The Archbishoprick of Wales from 550 till 1100, when the +Bishop submitted to the Archbishop of Canterbury as his Metropolitan; +St. Asaphs, 547. St. Augustine (or Austin) made Canterbury the Metropolitan +Archbishoprick, by order of Pope Gregory, A.D. 596; Wells, 604; Rochester, +604; Winchester, 650; Lichfield and Coventry, 656; Worcester, 679; +Hereford, 680; Durham, 690; Sodor and Man, 898; Exeter, 1050; Sherborne +(changed to Salisbury) 1056; York (Archbishoprick) 1067; Dorchester +(changed to Lincoln) 1070; Chichester, 1071; Thetford (changed to Norwich) +1088; Bath and Wells, 1088; Ely, 1109; Carlisle, 1133. The following six +were founded upon the suppression of monasteries by Henry VIII.--Chester, +Peterborough, Gloucester, Oxford, Bristol, and Westminster, 1538. +Westminster was united to London in 1550.--_Vide Tanner's Notitia +Monastica_. + +C. G. E. P. + + * * * * * + + +ADDINGTON, SURREY. + + +The lord of this manor, in the reign of Henry III. held it by this service, +viz. to make the king a mess of pottage at his coronation; and so lately +as the reign of Charles II. this service was ordered by the court of +claims, and accepted by the king at his table. + +C. G. E. P. + + * * * * * + + +THE BELL-SAVAGE INN + + +On Ludgate-hill, has, for more than a century, since its name was +mentioned by Addison in the _Spectator_, occasioned a great variety of +conjectures. These conjectures, however, all appear to have been erroneous, +as the inn took the addition to its name from its having belonged to, or +been kept by, a person of the name of _Savage_. The sign originally +appears to have been a bell hung within a hoop, a common mode of +representation in former times. This origin has been proved by a grant in +the reign of Henry VI. in which John French, gentleman of London, gives to +Joan French, widow, his mother, "all that tenement or inn called Savage's +Inn, otherwise called the Bell on the Hoop." In the original "vocat" +Savagesynne, alias vocat "Le Belle on the Hope." Perhaps the phrase +"Cock-a-Hoop," may be derived from the sign of that bird standing on a +hoop, thus most conspicuously displaying himself, as we find that sign or +rather design existed in the reign above mentioned. + + * * * * * + + + +PARISH FEASTING. + + +A dinner always accompanies meetings on public occasions; feasting was +formerly attached in like manner to chantries, anniversaries, &c.; and, as +it appears in part of the curious items in the parish books of Darlington, +clergymen officiated for a donation of wine. It appears, too, that both +ministers and parishioners were saddled with charitable aids to itinerants +of various kinds; that noblemen granted passes in the manner of briefs; +and that it was deemed right and proper for even churchwardens and +overseers to patronize knowledge. Accordingly we have, + +"1630. To Mr. Goodwine, a distressed scholer, 2s. 6d." + +"1631. Given to a poor scholler, 12d.--Given to Mary Rigby, of Hauret West, +in Pembrokeshire, in Wales, who had the Earle of Pembroke's passe.... To +an Irish gentleman that had fouer children, and had Earl Marshall's passe, +12d." + +"1635. To a souldier which came to the church on a Sunday, 6d." + +"1639. For Mr. Thompson, that preached the forenoone and afternoone, for a +quart of sack, 14d." + +"1650. For six quartes of sacke to the ministre that preached, when we had +not a ministere, 9s." + +It is to be observed that this was in the _puritanical era_. + +"1653. For a primer for a poore boy, 4d." + +"1666. For one quarte of sacke, bestowed on Mr. Jellet, when he preached, +2s. 4d." + +"1684. To the parson's order, given to a man both deaf and dumb, being +sent from minister to minister to London, 6d.--To Mr. Bell, with a letter +from London with the names of the Royal Family, 6d." + +This is a curious item; for it shows that the Mercuries, diurnals, and +intelligencers of the day, were not deemed sufficient for satisfactorily +advertising public events. + +"1688. To the ringers on Thanksgiving Day, for the young Prince, in money, +ale, and coals, 7s. 4d." + +This must have been for the birth of +the Pretender, of warming-pan celebrity. + +"1691. For a pint of brandy, when Mr. George Bell preached here, 1s. +4d.--When the Dean of Durham preached here, spent in a treat with him, +3s. 6d.--For a stranger that preacht, a dozen of ale, 1s." + +Thus it plainly appears that church-wardens had a feast jointly with the +minister at the parish expense, at least whenever a stranger preached. + + * * * * * + + + +THE GATHERER + + "A snapper-up of unconsidered trifles." + +SHAKSPEAKE. + + * * * * * + +STATIONERY LETTER. + +( _For the Mirror_.) + + + TO MR. ----, STATIONER, HOLBORN. + + SIR,--Sometime ago I wrote to you to send me a _ream_ of _foolscap_, + which I begged might be sent without delay, as it was for the purpose of + writing out my Christmas bills. I think you must have forgotten me; and + if I do not have the _paper_ soon, I may wear a _fool's-cap_ on account + of not having my bills out in time. Mr. ----, who, in your absence, must + sustain the greatest weight of business, and is, as I may say, the + _Atlas_ of your house, was the person I chiefly depended on. As for + Mr. ----, one of your household, he dresses in _royal purple_, and being + but in a _medium_ way between sickness and health, was drinking + _imperial_ when I saw him, and therefore did not in-_quire_ about the + business; nor did I choose to come _cap_ in _hand_ to a gentleman that + seemed as stately as an _elephant_, though to my thinking he is a + _bundle_ of conceit, all _outside_ show; in short, a piece of + _lumberhand_, on whom I would not _waste paper_ to write him a _note_. + + My journeyman, who is but a _demy_ sort of a chap, will make but a + _small hand_ of the bills, and I shall go to _pott_. You also will be a + sufferer, if you _post_-pone sending my _paper_, for you shall have + neither _plate paper_,[1] nor a _single crown_, no, nor a _cartridge_ of + halfpence from me this half year, unless you play your _cards_ better. I + have more bills to write out than a _bag cap_, made of the largest + _grand eagle_ you have in your warehouse, could contain; so that I shall + look as _blue_ as your _sugar_-paper, and bestow on you to boot some + very ugly prayers, not in _single hand_, but by _thick_ and _thin + couples_, that will be a _fine copy_ for my young man to take example by, + if you disappoint. + + Your humble servant, J. J. + + [1] Bank notes. + + * * * * * + + +RUSTIC SIMPLICITY. + + +A village pastor was examining his parishioners in their Catechism. The +first question in the Heidelberg Catechism is this: "What is thy only +consolation in life and in death?" A young girl, to whom the pastor put +this question, laughed, and would not answer. The priest insisted. "Well, +then," said she, at length, "if I must tell you, it is the young shoemaker, +who lives in the Rue Agneaux." + + * * * * * + + +TALL PEOPLE. + + +The king of France, being at Calais, sent over an embassador, a verie tall +person, upon no other errand but a complement to the king of England. At +his audience he appeared in such a light garb, that afterwards the king +ask'd Lord-keeper Bacon "what he thought of the French embassador?" He +answer'd, "That he was a verie proper man."--"I," his majestie replied, +"but what think you of his head-piece? is he a proper man for the office, +of an embassador?"--"Sir," returned he, "it appears too often, _that tall +men are like high houses of four or five stories, wherein commonlie the +upper-most room is worst-furnished_." + + * * * * * + +The following anecdote is perfectly indicative of that dry humour which +forms what Oxonians call a _cool hand_:--When Mr. Gurney, afterwards +rector of Edgefield, in Norfolk, held a fellowship of Bene't, the master +had a desire to get possession of the fellows' garden for himself. The +rest of the fellows, resigned their keys, but Gurney resisted both his +threats and entreaties, and refused to part with his key. "The other +fellows," said the master, "have delivered up their keys."--"Then, master," +said Gurney, "pray keep them, and you and I will keep all the other +fellows out."--"Sir," continued the master, "am not I your +master?"--"Granted," said Gurney, "but am I not your fellow?" + + * * * * * + +Louis XIV. was such a gourmand, that he would eat at a sitting four +platesful of different soups, a whole pheasant, a partridge, a plateful +of salad, mutton hashed with garlick, two good sized slices of ham, a dish +of pastry, and, afterwards, fruit and sweetmeats. The descendant Bourbons +are slandered for having appetites of considerable action; but this +appears to have been one of a four or five man power. + + * * * * * + + +A FLASH CARD. + +C. HAMMOND, Slap Kiksis Builder. Long Sleeve Kicksis got up right, and +kept by an artful dodge from visiting the knees, when worn without straps. +Trotter Cases, Mud Pipes, and Boot Kiv'ers, carved to fit any Pins, and +turned out slap.--(_Verbatim et literatim copy_.) + + * * * * * + + +_Printed and Published by J. LIMBIRD. 143 Strand, London; by ERNEST +FLEISCHER, 626, New Market, Leipsic, and by all Newsmen and Booksellers._ + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 10845 *** |