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diff --git a/11312-0.txt b/11312-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..56d971e --- /dev/null +++ b/11312-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1610 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 11312 *** + +THE MIRROR OF LITERATURE, AMUSEMENT, AND INSTRUCTION. + +VOL. XII, NO. 339.] SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 1828. [PRICE 2d. + + + + +Great Milton. + + +[Illustration: Great Milton.] + + +Great Milton, a picturesque village, near Thame, in Oxfordshire, is +entitled to notice in the annals of literature, as the family seat of +the MILTONS, ancestors of Britain's illustrious epic poet. Of this +original abode, our engraving is an accurate representation. One of +Milton's ancestors forfeited his estate in the turbulent times of York +and Lancaster. "Which side he took," says Johnson, "I know not; his +descendant inherited no veneration for the White Rose." His grandfather +was under ranger of the forest of Shotover, Oxon, who was a zealous +Papist, and disinherited his son for becoming a Protestant. Milton's +father being thus deprived of his family property, was compelled to quit +his studies at Christ Church, Oxford, whence he went to London, and +became a scrivener. He was eminent for his skill in music;[1] and from +his reputation in his profession, he grew rich, and retired. He was +likewise a classical scholar, as his son addresses him in one of his +most elaborate Latin verses. He married a lady of the name of Caston, of +a Welsh family, by whom he had two sons, John, THE POET,[2] and +Christopher, who studied the law, became a bencher of the Inner Temple, +was knighted at a very advanced age, and raised by James II. first to be +a Baron of the Exchequer, and afterwards one of the Judges of the Common +Pleas. He was much persecuted by the republicans for his adherence to +the royal cause, but his composition with them was effected by his +brother's interest. + + [1] Dr. Burney says he was "equal in science, if not in genius, to + the best musicians of his age." + + [2] Born in his father's house, at the Spread Eagle in Bread-street, + Cheapside, December 9, 1608. + +Besides these two sons, he had a daughter, Anne, who was married to a +Mr. Edward Philips, of Shrewsbury; by him she had two sons, John and +Edward, who were educated by the poet, and from whom is derived the +only authentic account of his domestic manners. + +MILTON was thus by birth a gentleman; but had his descent been +otherwise, his works would ennoble him to posterity. + + The lord, by giddy fortune courted, + Stalks through a part by thousands played; + The minstrel, proud and unsupported, + Stands forth the Noble God has made[3] + + [3] W. Kennedy--in the _Amulet_ for 1829. + +We sought our illustration of GREAT MILTON in the "Oxfordshire" of that +voluminous and expensive work, "the Beauties of England and Wales;" but, +strange to say, the family name of Milton is not even mentioned there, +although the house is still + + By chance or Nature's changing course untrimm'd. + + +The editor, however, tells us, on the authority of Leland, that there +was at Great Milton a priory "many yeres syns;" and quotes the following +quaint lines from a tablet in the church:-- + + Here lye mother and babe, both without sins, + Next birth will make her and her infant, twins. + + * * * * * + + + +ANCIENT FEASTINGS IN GUILDHALL, &c. + +(_For the Mirror_.) + + +The first time that Guildhall was used on festive occasions was by Sir +John Shaw Goldsmith, knighted in the field of Bosworth. After building +the essentials of good kitchens, and other offices, in the year 1500, +he gave here the mayor's feast, which before had usually been done in +Grocers' Hall. None of these bills of fare (says Pennant) have reached +me; but doubtless they were very magnificent. They at length grew to +such excess, that in the time of Queen Mary a sumptuary law was made +to restrain the expense both of provisions and _liveries_; but I +suspect, (says Pennant,) as it lessened the honour of the city, it was +not long observed, for in 1554, the city thought proper to renew the +order of council, by way of reminding their fellow citizens of their +relapse into luxury. Among the great feasts given here on public +occasions, may be reckoned that given in 1612, on occasion of the +unhappy marriage of the Prince Palatine with Elizabeth, daughter of +James I. The next was in 1641, when Charles I. returned from his +imprudent and inefficacious journey into Scotland. But our ancestors far +surpassed these feasts. Richard, Earl of Cornwall, brother to Henry III. +had, at his marriage feast, (as is recorded,) 30,000 dishes of meat. +Nevil, archbishop of York, had, at his consecration, a feast sufficient +for 10,000 people. One of the abbots of St. Augustine, at Canterbury, +invited 5,000 guests to his installation dinner. And King Richard II., +at a Christmas feast, had daily 26 oxen, 300 sheep, besides fowls, +and all other provisions proportionably. So anciently, at a call of +sergeants-at-law, each sergeant (says Fortescue) spent 1,600 crowns +in feasting. + +P.T.W. + + * * * * * + + + +MAXIMS TO LIVE BY. + +(_For the Mirror_.) + + +To have too much forethought is the part of a wretch; to have too little +is the part of a fool. + +Self-will is so ardent and active that it will break a world to pieces +to make a stool to sit on. + +Remember always to mix good sense with good things, or they will become +disgusting. + +If there is any person to whom you feel a dislike, that is the person of +whom you ought never to speak. + +Irritability urges us to take a step as much too soon, as sloth does too +late. + +Say the strongest things you can with candour and kindness to a man's +face, and make the best excuse you can for him with truth and justice, +behind his back. + +Men are to be estimated, as Johnson says, by the mass of character. +A block of tin may have a grain of silver, but still it is tin; and a +block of silver may have an alloy of tin; but still it is silver. Some +men's characters are excellent, yet not without alloy. Others base, yet +tend to great ends. Bad men are made the same use of as scaffolds; they +are employed as means to erect a building, and then are taken down and +destroyed. + +If a man has a quarrelsome temper, let him alone; the world will soon +find him employment. He will soon meet with some one stronger than +himself, who will repay him better than you can. A man may fight duels +all his life if he is disposed to quarrel. + +A person who objects to tell a friend of his faults, because he has +faults of his own, acts as a surgeon would, who should refuse to dress +another's wound because he had a dangerous one himself. + +Some evils are irremediable, they are best neither seen nor heard; by +seeing and hearing things that you cannot remove, you will create +implacable adversaries; who being guilty aggressors, never forgive. + +W.J. + + * * * * * + + + +Manners & Customs of all Nations. + +CUSTOMS RELATING TO THE BEARD. + +(_For the Mirror_.) + + +It was a custom among the Romans to consecrate the first growth of their +beard to some god; thus Nero at the Gynick games, which he exhibited in +the Septa, cut off the first growth of his beard, which he placed in a +golden box, adorned with pearls, and then consecrated it in the Capitol +to Jupiter. + +The nations in the east used mostly to nourish their beards with +great care and veneration, and it was a punishment among them, for +licentiousness and adultery, to have the beard of the offending parties +publicly cut off. Such a sacred regard had they for the preservation +of their beards, that if a man pledged it for the payment of a debt, +he would not fail to pay it. Among the Romans a bearded man was a +proverbial expression for a man of virtue and simplicity. The Romans +during grief and mourning used to let their hair and beard grow, (Livy) +while the Greeks on the contrary used to cut off their hair and shave +their beards on such occasions.[4](Seneca.) When Alexander the Great was +going to fight against the Persians, one of his officers brought him +word that all was ready for battle, and demanded if he required anything +further. On which Alexander replied, "nothing but that the Macedonians +cut off their beards--for there is not a better handle to take a man by +than the beard." This shows Alexander intended close fighting. Shaving +was not introduced among the Romans till late. Pliny tells us that P. +Ticinias was the first who brought a barber to Rome, which was in the +454th year from the building of the city. Scipio Africanus was the first +among the Romans who shaved his beard, and Adrianus the emperor (says +Dion,) was the first of all the Caesars who nourished his beard. + + [4] From this custom probably originated that in England, of widows + concealing their hair for a stated period after the death of + their husbands. Indeed, we know of more than one instance of a + widow closely _cutting off_ her hair. But these sorrowful + observances are becoming less and less frequent.--ED. + +The Roman servants or slaves were not allowed to poll their hair, +or shave their beards. The Jews thought it ignominious to lose their +beards, 2 Sam. c. x. v. 4. Among the Catti, a nation of Germany, a young +man was not allowed to shave or cut his hair till he had slain an enemy. +(Tacitus.) The Lombards or Longobards, derived their Fame from the great +length of their beards. When Otho the Great used to speak anything +serious, he swore by his beard, which covered his breast. The Persians +are fond of long beards. We read in Olearius' Travels of a king of +Persia who had commanded his steward's head to be cut off, and on its +being brought to him, he remarked, "what a pity it was, that a man +possessing such fine mustachios, should have been executed," but added +he, "Ah! it was your own fault." The Normans considered the beard as an +indication of distress and misery. The Ancient Britons used always to +wear the hair on the upper lip, and so strongly were they attached to +this custom, that when William the Conqueror ordered them to shave their +upper lip, it was so repugnant to their feelings, that many of them +chose rather to abandon their country than resign their mustachios. In +the 15th century, the beard was worn long. In the 16th, it was suffered +to grow to an amazing length, (see the portraits of Bishop Gardiner, and +Cardinal Pole, during Queen Mary's reign,) and very often made use of +as a tooth-pick case. Brantome tells us that Admiral Coligny wore his +tooth-pick in his beard. + +C.B.Z. + + * * * * * + + + +SINGULAR CUSTOM AT ROUEN. + +(_For the Mirror_.) + + +The chapter of Rouen, (which consists of the archbishop, a dean, fifty +canons, and ten prebendaries,) have, ever since the year 1156, enjoyed +the annual privilege of pardoning, on Ascension-day, some individual +confined within the jurisdiction of the city for murder. + +On the morning of Ascension-day, the chapter, having heard many +examinations and confessions read, proceed to the election of the +criminal who is to be pardoned; and, the choice being made, his name is +transmitted in writing to the parliament, which assemble on that day at +the palace. The parliament then walk in procession to the great chamber, +where the prisoner is brought before them in irons, and placed on a +stool; he is informed that the choice has fallen upon him, and that +he is entitled to the privilege of St. Romain. After this form, he is +delivered into the hands of the chaplain, who, accompanied by fifty +armed men, conveys him to a chamber, where the chains are taken from his +legs and bound about his arms; and in this condition he is conducted +to a place named the Old Tower, where he awaits the coming of the +procession. After some little time has elapsed, the procession sets +out from the cathedral; two of the canons bear the shrine in which +the relics of St. Romain are presumed to be preserved. When they +have arrived at the Old Tower, the shrine is placed in the chapel, +opposite to the criminal, who appears kneeling, with the chains on his +arms. Then one of the canons, having made him repeat the confession, +says the prayers usual at the time of giving absolution; after which +service, the prisoner kneeling still, lifts up the shrine three times, +amid the acclamations of the people assembled to behold the ceremony. +The procession then returns to the cathedral, followed by the criminal, +wearing a chaplet of flowers on his head, and carrying the shrine of the +saint. After mass has been performed, he has a very serious exhortation +addressed to him by a monk; and, lastly, he is conducted to an apartment +near the cathedral, and is supplied with refreshments and a bed for that +night. In the morning he is dismissed. + +G.W.N. + + * * * * * + + + +THE SKETCH-BOOK + + * * * * * + +ABBOTSFORD, + +_And Sir Walter Scott's Study_. + +[The following extracts are from the private letter of a distinguished +American gentleman, and form part of one of the most striking articles +in "The Anniversary for 1829," edited by Allan Cunningham. We intended +the whole article for our Supplementary "Spirit of the Annuals;" but +as our engraving will necessarily occupy a few days longer, during +which time this description of _Abbotsford_ will be printed in +fifty different forms, we are induced to take it by the forelock, and +appropriate it for our present number. It is, perhaps, one of the +most, if not the most, graphic paper in the whole list of "Annuals," +notwithstanding there are scores of brilliant gems left for our +Supplement. Certain arts must have their own pace; but, in our arduous +catering for novelties for the MIRROR, we often have occasion to wish +that _block-machinery_ could be applied to engraving on wood.] + +"Stepping westward," as Wordsworth says, from the hall, you find +yourself in a narrow, low, arched room, which runs quite across the +house, having a blazoned window again at either extremity, and filled +all over with smaller pieces of armour and weapons, such as swords, +firelocks, spears, arrows, darts, daggers, &c. &c. &c. Here are +the pieces, esteemed most precious by reason of their histories +respectively. I saw, among the rest, Rob Roy's gun, with his initials, +R.M.C. i.e. Robert Macgregor Campbell, round the touch-hole; the +blunderbuss of Hofer, a present to Sir Walter from his friend Sir +Humphrey Davy; a most magnificent sword, as magnificently mounted, the +gift of Charles the First to the great Montrose, and having the arms +of Prince Henry worked on the hilt; the hunting bottle of bonnie +King Jamie; Bonaparte's pistols (found in his carriage at Waterloo, +I believe), _cum multis aliis_. I should have mentioned that +stag-horns and bulls' horns (the petrified relics of the old mountain +monster, I mean), and so forth, are suspended in great abundance above +all the doorways of these armories; and that, in one corner, a dark one +as it ought to be, there is a complete assortment of the old Scottish +instruments of torture, not forgetting the very thumbikins under which +Cardinal Carstairs did _not_ flinch, and the more terrific iron +crown of Wisheart the Martyr, being a sort of barred headpiece, screwed +on the victim at the stake, to prevent him from crying aloud in his +agony. + + * * * * * + +Beyond the smaller, or rather I should say, the narrower armoury, +lies the dining parlour proper, however; and though there is nothing +Udolphoish here, yet I can well believe that when lighted up and the +curtains drawn at night, the place may give no bad notion of the private +snuggery of some lofty lord abbot of the time of the Canterbury Tales. +The room is a very handsome one, with a low and very richly carved roof +of dark oak again; a huge projecting bow window, and the dais elevated +_more majorum_; the ornaments of the roof, niches for lamps, &c. +&c. in short, all the minor details, are, I believe, fac similes after +Melrose. The walls are hung in crimson, but almost entirely covered with +pictures, of which the most remarkable are--the parliamentary general, +Lord Essex, a full length on horseback; the Duke of Monmouth, by Lely; a +capital Hogarth, by himself; Prior and Gay, both by Jervas; and the head +of Mary Queen of Scots, in a charger, painted by Amias Canrod, the day +after the decapitation at Fotheringay, and sent some years ago as a +present to Sir Walter from a Prussian nobleman, in whose family it had +been for more than two centuries. It is a most deathlike performance, +and the countenance answers well enough to the coins of the unfortunate +beauty, though not at all to any of the portraits I have happened to +see. I believe there is no doubt as to the authenticity of this most +curious picture. Among various family pictures, I noticed particularly +Sir Walter's great grandfather, the old cavalier mentioned in one of +the epistles in Marmion, who let his beard grow after the execution of +Charles I., and who here appears, accordingly, with a most venerable +appendage of silver whiteness, reaching even unto his girdle. + + * * * * * + +A narrower passage leads to a charming breakfast room, which looks to +the Tweed on one side, and towards Yarrow and Ettricke, famed in song, +on the other: a cheerful room, fitted up with novels, romances, and +poetry, I could perceive, at one end; and the other walls covered thick +and thicker with a most valuable and beautiful collection of watercolour +drawings, chiefly by Turner and Thomson of Duddingstone, the designs, +in short, for the magnificent work entitled "Provincial Antiquities of +Scotland." There is one very grand oil painting over the chimney-piece, +Fastcastle, by Thomson, alias the Wolf's Crag of the Bride of +Lammermoor, one of the most majestic and melancholy sea-pieces I ever +saw; and some large black and white drawings of the Vision of Don +Roderick, by Sir James Steuart of Allanbank (whose illustrations of +Marmion and Mazeppa you have seen or heard of), are at one end of the +parlour. The room is crammed with queer cabinets and boxes, and in a +niche there is a bust of old Henry Mackenzie, by Joseph of Edinburgh. +Returning towards the armoury, you have, on one side of a most religious +looking corridor, a small greenhouse, with a fountain playing before +it--the very fountain that in days of yore graced the cross of +Edinburgh, and used to flow with claret at the coronation of the +Stuarts--a pretty design, and a standing monument of the barbarity of +modern innovation. From the small armoury you pass, as I said before, +into the drawing-room, a large, lofty, and splendid _salon_, with +antique ebony furniture and crimson silk hangings, cabinets, china, and +mirrors _quantum suff_, and some portraits; among the rest glorious +John Dryden, by Sir Peter Lely, with his gray hairs floating about in a +most picturesque style, eyes full of wildness, presenting the old Bard, +I take it, in one of those "tremulous moods," in which we have it on +record he appeared when interrupted in the midst of his Alexander's +Feast. From this you pass into the largest of all the apartments, the +library, which, I must say, is really a noble room. It is an oblong of +some fifty feet by thirty, with a projection in the centre, opposite the +fireplace, terminating in a grand bow window, fitted up with books also, +and, in fact, constituting a sort of chapel to the church. The roof is +of carved oak again--a very rich pattern--I believe chiefly _a la_ +Roslin, and the bookcases, which are also of richly carved oak, reach +high up the walls all round. The collection amounts, in this room, to +some fifteen or twenty thousand volumes, arranged according to their +subjects: British history and antiquities, filling the whole of the +chief wall; English poetry and drama, classics and miscellanies, one +end: foreign literature, chiefly French and German, the other. The cases +on the side opposite the fire are wired and locked, as containing +articles very precious and very portable. One consists entirely of books +and MSS. relating to the insurrections of 1715 and 1745; and another +(within the recess of the bow window), of treatises _de re magica_, +both of these being (I am told, and can well believe), in their several +ways, collections of the rarest curiosity. My cicerone pointed out, in +one corner, a magnificent set of Mountfaucon, ten volumes folio, bound +in the richest manner in scarlet, and stamped with the royal arms, the +gift of his present majesty. There are few living authors of whose works +presentation copies are not to be found here. My friend showed me +inscriptions of that sort in, I believe, every European dialect extant. +The books are all in prime condition, and bindings that would satisfy +Mr. Dibdin. The only picture is Sir Walter's eldest son, in hussar +uniform, and holding his horse, by Allan of Edinburgh, a noble portrait, +over the fireplace; and the only bust is that of Shakspeare, from the +Avon monument, in a small niche in the centre of the east side. On a +rich stand of porphyry, in one corner, reposes a tall silver urn, +filled with bones from the Piraeus, and bearing the inscription, +"Given by George Gordon, Lord Byron, to Sir Walter Scott, Bart." It +_contained_ the letter which accompanied the gift till lately: it +has disappeared; no one guesses who took it, but whoever he was, as my +guide observed, he must have been a thief for thieving's sake truly, +as he durst no more exhibit his autograph than tip himself a bare +bodkin. Sad, infamous tourist, indeed! Although I saw abundance of +comfortable-looking desks and arm chairs, yet this room seemed rather +too large and fine for _work_, and I found accordingly, after +passing a double pair of doors, that there was a _sanctum_ within +and beyond this library. And here you may believe, was not to me the +least interesting, though by no means the most splendid, part of the +suite. + +The lion's own den proper, then, is a room of about five-and-twenty +feet square by twenty feet high, containing of what is properly called +furniture nothing but a small writing-table in the centre, a plain +arm-chair covered with black leather--a very comfortable one though, for +I tried it--and a single chair besides, plain symptoms that this is no +place for company. On either side of the fireplace there are shelves +filled with duodecimos and books of reference, chiefly, of course, +folios; but except these there are no books save the contents of a light +gallery which runs round three sides of the room, and is reached by a +hanging stair of carved oak in one corner. You have been both at the +Elisée Bourbon and Malmaison, and remember the library at one or other +of those places, I forget which; this gallery is much in the same style. +There are only two portraits, an original of the beautiful and +melancholy head of Claverhouse, and a small full length of Rob Roy. +Various little antique cabinets stand round about, each having a bust +on it: Stothard's Canterbury Pilgrims are on the mantelpiece; and in +one corner I saw a collection of really useful weapons, those of the +forest-craft, to wit--axes and bills and so forth of every calibre. +There is only one window pierced in a very thick wall, so that the +place is rather sombre; the light tracery work of the gallery overhead +harmonizes with the books well. It is a very comfortable-looking room, +and very unlike any other I ever was in. I should not forget some +Highland claymores, clustered round a target over the Canterbury people, +nor a writing-box of carved wood, lined with crimson velvet, and +furnished with silver plate of right venerable aspect, which looked as +if it might have been the implement of old Chaucer himself, but which +from the arms on the lid must have belonged to some Indian prince of +the days of Leo the Magnificent at the furthest. + +The view to the Tweed from all the principal apartments is beautiful. +You look out from among bowers, over a lawn of sweet turf, upon the +clearest of all streams, fringed with the wildest of birch woods, and +backed with the green hills of Ettricke Forest. The rest you must +imagine. Altogether, the place destined to receive so many pilgrimages +contains within itself beauties not unworthy of its associations. Few +poets ever inhabited such a place; none, ere now, ever created one. +It is the realization of dreams: some Frenchman called it, I hear, +"a romance in stone and lime." + + * * * * * + + + +SPIRIT OF DISCOVERY + +_Aerial Voyages of Spiders_. + + +The number of the aëronautic spiders occasionally suspended in the +atmosphere, says Mr. Murray, I believe to be almost incredible, could +we ascertain their amount. I was walking with a friend on the 9th, and +noticed that there were four of these insects on his hat, at the moment +there were three on my own; and from the rapidity with which they +covered its surface with their threads, I cannot doubt that they are +chiefly concerned in the production of that tissue which intercepts the +dew, and which, illuminated by the morning sun, "glitters with gold, +and with rubies and sapphires." Indeed, I have noticed that, when the +frequent descent of the aëronautic spider was determined, a newly rolled +turnip field was, in a few hours, overspread by a carpet of their +threads. It may be remarked that our little aëronaut is very greedy of +moisture, though abstemious in other respects. Its food is perhaps +peculiar, and only found in the superior regions of the sky. Like the +rest of its tribe, it is doubtless carnivorous, and may subserve some +highly important purpose in the economy of Providence; such, for +instance, as the destruction of that truly formidable, though almost +microscopically minute insect, the Fùria infernàlis, whose wounds are +stated to be mortal. Its existence has been indeed questioned, but by +no means disapproved; that, and some others, injurious to man, or to +the inferior creation, may be its destined prey, and thus our little +aëronaut, unheeded by the common eye, may subserve an important good. + +Mr. Bowman, F.L.S. says, "We arrested several of these little aëronauts +in their flight, and placed them on the brass gnomon of the sundial, and +had the gratification to see them prepare for, and recommence, their +aerial voyage. Having crawled about for a short time, to reconnoitre, +they turned their abdomens from the current of air, and elevated them +almost perpendicularly, supporting themselves solely on the claws of +their fore legs, at the same instant shooting out four or five, often +six or eight, extremely fine webs, several yards long, which waved +in the breeze, diverging from each other like a pencil of rays, and +strongly reflecting the sunbeams. After the insects had remained +stationary in this apparently unnatural position for about half a +minute, they sprang off from the stage with considerable agility, and +launched themselves into the air. In a few seconds after they were seen +sailing majestically along, without any apparent effort, their legs +contracted together, and lying perfectly quiet on their backs, suspended +from their silken parachutes, and presenting to the lover of nature a +far more interesting spectacle than the balloon of the philosopher. One +of these natural aëronauts I followed, which, sailing in the sunbeams, +had two distinct and widely diverging fasciculi of webs, and their +position in the air was such, that a line uniting them would have been +at right angles with the direction of the breeze."--_Mag. Natural +History_. + + +_The Ichneumon Fly_. + +There are several species of ichneumon which make thinnings among the +caterpillars of the cabbage butterfly. The process of one species +is this:--while the caterpillar is feeding, the ichneumon fly hovers +over it, and, with its piercer, perforates the fatty part of the +caterpillar's back in many places, and in each deposits an egg, by +means of the two parts of the sheath uniting together, and thus forming +a tube down which the egg is conveyed into the perforation made by the +piercer of the fly. The caterpillar unconscious of what will ensue keeps +feeding on, until it changes into a chrysalis; while in that torpid +state, the eggs of the ichneumon are hatched, and the interior of the +body of the caterpillar serves as food for the caterpillars of the +ichneumon fly. When these have fed their accustomed time, and are about +to change into the pupa state, they, by an instinct given them, attack +the vital part of the caterpillar (a most wonderful economy in nature, +that this process should be delayed until they have no more occasion +for food.) They then spin themselves minute cases within the body of +the caterpillar; and instead of a butterfly coming forth (which, if a +female, would have probably laid six hundred eggs, thus producing as +many caterpillars, whose food would be the cabbage,) a race of these +little ichneumon flies issues forth, ready to perform the task assigned +them, of keeping within due limits those fell destroyers of our +vegetables.--_Mr. Carpenter--in Gill's Repository._ + + +_Hawking_. + +Professional falconers have been for many years natives of the village +of _Falconsward_, near Bois le Duc, in Holland. A race of them was +there born and bred, whence supplies have been drawn for the service of +all Europe; but as there has been no sufficient inducement for the young +men to follow the employment of their forefathers, numbers are dead or +worn out; and there only remains John Pells, now in the service of John +Dawson Downes, Esq., of Old Gunton Hill, Suffolk. + +The hawks which have been trained for the field, are the slight falcon +and the goshawk, which are the species generally used in falconry. The +former is called a long-winged hawk, or one of the _lure_; the +latter, a short-winged hawk, or one of the _fist_. + +The Icelander is the largest hawk that is known, and highly esteemed by +falconers, especially for its great powers and tractable disposition. +The gyr falcon is less than the Icelander, but much larger than the +slight falcon. These powerful birds are flown at herons and hares, and +are the only hawks that are fully a match for the fork-tailed kite. The +merlin and hobby are both small hawks and fit only for small birds, as +the blackbird, &c. The sparrow-hawk may be also trained to hunt; his +flight is rapid for a short distance, kills partridges well in the early +season, and is the best of all for landrails. + +The slight falcon takes up his abode every year, from October and +November until the spring, upon Westminster Abbey, and other churches in +the metropolis. This is well known to the London pigeon-fanciers, from +the great havoc they make in their flight.--_Sir John Sebright_ + + +_Technicalities of Science_. + +The inutility of science, written in a merely technical form, is well +exemplified in the instance of Cicero. He was advised by his friends not +to write his works on Greek Philosophy in Latin; because those who cared +for it would prefer his work in Greek, and those who did not would read +neither Greek nor Latin. The splendid success of his _De Officiis_, +his _De Finibus_, his _De Natura Deorum_, &c., showed that his +friends were wrong. He persevered in the popular style, and led the +fashion.--_Mag. Nat. Hist._ + + +_Doubtful Discoveries_. + +It may serve, in some measure, to confirm M. Dutroehet's recent opinion +of the non-existence of miscroscopic animalcula, that the celebrated +Spallanzani persuaded himself that he could see Animálcula infusòria +which could be seen by nobody else. He attributed his own superiority of +vision, in this respect, to long practice in using the microscope. The +philosopher exulted in his enviable distinction, when a peasant, to whom +he showed his animalcula, could perceive nothing but muddy +water.--_Ibid._ + + +_Faculties of Brutes_. + +The dog is the only animal that dreams; and he and the elephant the +only animals that understand looks; the elephant is the only animal +that, besides man, feels _ennui_; the dog, the only quadruped that +has been brought to speak. Leibnitz bears witness to a hound in Saxony, +that could speak distinctly thirty words.--_Medical Gazette._ + + +_Sea Air_. + +The atmosphere, in the vicinity of the sea, usually contains a portion +of the muriates over which it has been wafted. It is a curious fact, but +well ascertained, that the air best adapted to vegetables is pernicious +to animal life, and _vice versa._ Now, upon the sea-coast, +accordingly, animals thrive, and vegetables decline.--_Hurwood's +Southern Coast._ + + * * * * * + + + + +Chingford Church. + + +[Illustration: Chingford Church] + + + The roof with moss is green, and twines + Dark ivy round the sculptur'd lines. + +DELTA. + + +The pleasant village of CHINGFORD, in Essex, may be called a vignette of +the topographer's "_rus in urbe_," it being only nine miles distant +from the heart of London, and consequently almost within its vortex. +It stands on the banks of the river Lea, and derives its name from the +Saxon word Cing and _ford_, (signifying the king's ford,) there +having formerly been a ford here; the adjoining meadows being designated +the king's meads, and the Lea, the king's stream. There appears to have +been two manors in this parish, one of which was granted by Edward +the Confessor to the cathedral of St. Paul's, but surrendered at the +reformation to Henry VIII.; the other, according to Domesday Book, was +held by Orgar, the Thane; and from the latter another manor has since +been taken. + +The "ivy-mantled" church, represented in the above vignette, is +dedicated to St. Peter and St. Paul, and consists of a chancel, nave, +and south aisle, with a low square tower at the west end, containing +three bells. Within the church are a few interesting monuments, among +which is one to the memory of Robert Rampton, who died in 1585 and was +yeoman of the chamber to Edward VI., and the Queens Mary and Elizabeth. +It stands in the south aisle, with an inscription on a brass plate +against the wall, underneath which is an altar tomb covered with a slab +of black marble, on which are the effigies, in brass, of Robert Rampton, +and his wife Margaret, who died in 1590. + +Altogether, Chingford is one of the prettiest villages near London, and +its church is a picturesque attraction for pedestrian tourists, and such +as love to steal away from the maelstroom of an overgrown metropolis, to +glide into scenes of "calm contemplation and poetic ease;" although much +of the journey lies through avenues of bricks and mortar, and trim roads +that swarm with busy toil. + +In the parish of Chingford is an estate called Scots Mayhew, or +Brindwoods, which is held of the rector by the following singular +tenure:--"Upon every alienation, the owner of the estate, with his wife, +and a man and maid servant, (each upon a horse) come to the parsonage, +where the owner does his homage, and pays his relief in manner +following:--He blows three blasts with his horn, carries a hawk on his +fist, and his servant has a greyhound in a slip--both for the use of the +rector that day. He receives a chicken for his hawk, a peck of oats for +his horse, and a loaf of bread for his greyhound. They all dine, after +which the master blows three blasts on his horn, and they all +depart."[5] + + [5] Morant's Essex, vol. i. p. 57. + +For the original of the engraving, and the substance of this +description, our thanks are due to S.I.B. + + * * * * * + + + +OLD SONG. + +The old minstrels saw far and deep, and clear into all +heart-mysteries--and, low-born, humble men as they were, their tragic or +comic strains strike like electricity.--_Blackwood._ + + * * * * * + + + + +SPIRIT OF THE +Public Journals. + + * * * * * + + +THE SHAVING SHOP + + + 'Tis not an half hour's work-- + A Cupid and a fiddle, and the thing's done. + +FLETCHER. + + +"Hold back your head, if you please, sir, that I may get this napkin +properly fastened--there now," said Toby Tims, as, securing the pin, he +dipped his razor into hot water, and began working up with restless +brush the lather of his soapbox. + +"I dare say you have got a newspaper there," said I; "are you a +politician, Mr. Tims?" + +"Oh, just a little bit of one. I get Bell's Messenger at second +hand from a neighbour, who has it from his cousin in the Borough, +who, I believe, is the last reader of a club of fourteen, who take +it among them; and, being last, as I observed, sir, he has the paper +to himself into the bargain.--Please exalt your chin, sir, and keep +your head a little to one side--there, sir," added Toby, cammencing +his operations with the brush, and hoarifying my barbal extremity, +as the facetious Thomas Hood would probably express it. "Now, sir--a +_leetle_ more round, if you please--there, sir, there. It is +a most entertaining paper, and beats all for news. In fact, it is +full of every thing, sir--every, every thing--accidents--charity +sermons--markets--boxing--Bible societies--horse racing--child +murders--the theatres--foreign wars--Bow-street +reports--electioneering--and Day and Martin's blacking." + +"Are you a bit of a bruiser, Mr. Tims?" + +"Oh, bless your heart, sir, only a _leetle_--a very _leetle_. +A turn-up with the gloves, or so, your honour. I'm but a light +weight--only a light weight--seven stone and a half, sir; but a rare bit +of stuff, though I say it myself, sir--Begging your pardon. I dare say I +have put some of the soap into your mouth. Now, sir, now--please let me +hold your nose, sir." + +"Scarcely civil, Mr. Toby," said I, "scarcely civil--Phroo! let me spit +out the suds." + +"I will be done in a moment, sir--in half a moment. Well, sir, speaking +of razors, they should be always properly tempered with hot water, a +_leetle_ dip more or less. You see now how it glides over, smooth +and smack as your hand.--Keep still, sir; I might have given you a nick +just now. You don't choose a _leetle_ of the mustachy left?" + +"No, no--off with it all. No matrimonial news stirring in this quarter +just now, Mr. Tims?" + +"Nothing extremely particular.--Now, sir, you are fit for the king's +levee, so far as my department is concerned. But you cannot go out just +now, sir--see how it rains--a perfect water-spout. Just feel yourself at +home, sir, for a _leetle_, and take a peep around you. That block, +sir, has been very much admired--extremely like the Wenus de +Medicine--capital nose--and as for the wig department, catch me for +that, sir. But of all them there pictures hanging around, yon is the +favourite of myself and the connessoors." + +"Ay, Mr. Tims," said I, "that is truly a gem--an old lover kneeling at +the foot of his young sweetheart, and two fellows in buckram taking a +peep at them from among the trees." + +"Capital, sir--capital. I'll tell you a rare good story, sir, connected +with that picture and my own history, with your honour's leave, sir." + +"With all my heart, Mr. Tims--you are very obliging." + +"Well then, sir, take that chair, and I will get on like a house on +fire; but if you please, don't put me off my clew, sir.--Concerning that +picture and my courtship, the most serious epoch of my life, there is +a _leetle_ bit of a story which I would like to be a beacon to +others; and if your honour is still a bachelor, and not yet stranded on +the shoals of matrimony, it may be _Werbum Sapienti_, as O'Toole, +the Irish schoolmaster, used to observe, when in the act of applying the +birch to the booby's back. + +"Well, sir, having received a grammatical education, and been brought up +as a peruke-maker from my earliest years--besides having seen a deal of +high life, and the world in general, in carrying false curls, bandeaux, +and other artificial head-gear paraphernalia, in bandboxes to boarding +schools, and so on--a desire naturally sprung up within me, being now in +my twenty-first year, and worth a guinea a week of wages, to look about +for what old kind Seignor Fiddle-stringo, the minuet-master, used to +recommend under the title of a _cara sposa_--open shop--and act +head frizzle in an establishment of my own. + +"Very good, sir--In the pursuit of this virtuous purpose, I cast a +sheep's eye over the broad face of society, and at length, from a number +of eligible specimens, I selected three, who, whether considered in the +light of natural beauty, or mental accomplishment, struck me forcibly as +suitable coadjutors for a man--for a man like your humble servant." + +"A most royal bow that, Mr. Tims. Well, proceed, if you please." + +"Very good, sir--well, then, to proceed. The first of these was Miss +Diana Tonkin, a young lady, who kept her brother's snuff-shop, at the +sign of the African astride the Tobacco Barrel--a rare beauty, who was +on the most intimate talking terms with half a hundred young bloods and +beaux, who looked in during lounging hours, being students of law, +physic, and divinity, half-pay ensigns, and theatrical understrappers, +to replenish their boxes with Lundyfoot, whiff a Havannah cigar, or +masticate pigtail. No wonder that she was spoiled by flattery, Miss +Diana, for she was a bit of a beauty; and though she had but one eye--by +heavens, what an eye that was!" + +"She must have been an irresistible creature, certainly, Mr. Tims," +said I. "Well, how did you come on?" + +"Irresistible! but you shall hear, sir. I foresaw that, in soliciting +the honour of the fair damsel's hand, I should have much opposition to +encounter from the rivalry of the three learned professions, to say +nothing of the gentlemen of the sword and of the buskin; but, thinks +I to myself, 'faint heart never won fair lady,' so I at once set up a +snuff-box, looked as tip-topping as possible, and commenced canvassing. + +"The second _elite_ (for I know a _leetle_ French, having for +three months, during my apprenticeship, had the honour of frizling the +head-gear of Count Witruvius de Caucason, who occupied private +state-lodgings at the sign of the Blue Boar in the Poultry, and who +afterwards decamped without clearing scores)--the second _elite_ +(for I make a point, sir, of having two strings to my bow) was Mrs. Joan +Sweetbread, a person of exquisite parts, but fiery temper, at that time +aged thirty-three, twelve stone weight, head cook and housekeeper to Sir +Anthony Macturk, a Scotch baronet, who rusticated in the vicinity of +town. I made her a few evening visits, and we talked love affairs over +muffins and a cup of excellent congou. Then what a variety of jams and +jellies! I never returned without a disordered stomach, and wishing +Highland heather-honey at the devil. Yet, after all, to prove a +hoax!--for even when I was on the point of popping the question, and had +fastened my silk Jem Belcher with a knowing _leetle_ knot to set +out for that purpose, I learned from Francie, the stable-boy, that she +had the evening before eloped with the coachman, and returned to her +post that forenoon metamorphosed into Madam Trot. + +"I first thought, sir, of hanging myself over the first lamp-post; but, +after a _leetle_ consideration, I determined to confound Madam +Trot, and all other fickle fair ones, by that very night marrying Miss +Diana. I hastened on, rushed precipitately into the shop, and on the +subject--and hear, oh heaven, and believe, oh earth! was met, not by a +plump denial, but was shown the door." + +"Upon my word, Mr. Tims," said I, "you have been a most unfortunate man. +I wonder you recovered after such mighty reverses; but I hope----" + +"Hope! that is the word, sir, the very word, I still had hope; so, after +ten days' horrible melancholy, in which I cropped not a few heads in a +novel and unprecedented style, I at it again, and laid immediate and +close siege to the last and loveliest of the trio--one by whom I was +shot dead at first sight, and of whom it might be said, as I once heard +Kean justly observe in a very pretty tragedy, and to a numerous +audience, 'We ne'er shall look upon her like again!'" + +"Capital, Mr. Tims. Well, how did you get on?" + +"A moment's patience, with your honour's leave.--Ah! truly might it be +said of her, that she was descended from the high and great--her +grandfather having been not only six feet three, without the shoes, but +for forty odd years principal bell-ringer in the steeple of St. Giles's, +Cripplegate; and her grandmother, for long and long, not only head +dry-nurse to one of the noblest families in all England, but _bona +fide_ twenty-two stone avoirdupois--so that it was once proposed, by +the undertaker, to bury her at twice! As to this nonpareil of lovely +flesh and blood, her name was Lucy Mainspring, the daughter of a +horologer, sir,--a watchmaker--_vulgo_ so called--and though +fattish, she was very fair--fair! by Jupiter, (craving your honour's +pardon for swearing,) she fairly made me give all other thoughts the +cut, and twisted the passions of my heart with the red-hot torturing +irons of love. 'Pon honour, sir, I almost grow foolish when I think of +those days; but love, sir, nothing can resist love." + +"I hope, Mr. Tims, you were in better luck with Miss Mainspring?" + +"A _leetle_ a _leetle_ patience, your honour, and all will be +out as quick as directly--in the twinkling of a bed-post.--For three +successive nights I sat up in a brown study, with a four-in-the-pound +candle burning before me till almost cock-crow, composing a love-letter, +a most elaborate affair, the pure overflowing of _la belle passion_, +all about Venus, Cupids, bows and arrows, hearts, darts, and them things, +which, having copied neatly over on a handsome sheet of foolscap, turned +up with gilt, (for, though I say it myself, I scribble a smart fist,) I +made a blotch of red wax on the back as large as a dollar, that thereon +I might the more indelibly impress a seal, with a couple of pigeons +cooing upon it, and '_toujours wotre_' for the motto. This I popped +into the post-office, and waited patiently--may I add confidently?--for +the result. + +"No answer having come as I expected _per_ return, I began to smell +that I was in the wrong box; so, on the following evening, I had a +polite visit from her respectable old father, Daniel Mainspring, who +asked me what my intentions were?--'To commence wig-maker on my own +bottom,' answered I.--'But with respect to my daughter, sir?'--'Why, to +be sure, to make her mistress, sir.'--'Mistress!' quoth he, 'did I hear +you right, sir?'--'I hope you are not hard of hearing, Mr. Mainspring. +I wish, sir--between us, sir--you understand, sir--to marry her, +sir.'--'Then you can't have her, sir.'--'But I must, sir, for I can't +do without her, sir.'--'Then you may buy a rope.'--'Ah! you would not +sign my death-warrant--wouldn't you not now, Mr. Mainspring?'--'Before +going,' said he, rummaging his huge coat-pockets with both hands at +once, 'there is your letter, which I read over patiently, instead of my +daughter, who has never seen it; and I hope you will excuse the liberty +I take of calling you a great fool, and wishing you a good morning.' + +"Now, though a lad of mettle, you know, sir, it would not have been +quite the thing to have called out my intended father-in-law; so, with +amazing forbearance, bridling my passion, I allowed him to march off +triumphantly, and stood, with the letter in my hand, looking down the +alley after him, strutting along, staff in hand, like a recruiting +sergeant, as if he had been a phoenix. + +"A man of my penetration was not long in scenting out who was the +formidable rival to whom Daddy Mainspring alluded. _Sacre_! to +think the mercenary old hunks could dream of sacrificing my lovely +Lucy to such a hobgoblin of a fellow as a superannuated dragoon +quartermaster, with a beak like Bardolph's in the play. But I had some +confidence in my own qualifications; and as I gave a sly glance down at +my nether person, 'Dash-the-wig-of-him!' thought I to myself, 'if he can +sport a leg like that of Toby Tims.' I accordingly determined not to be +discomfited, and took the earliest opportunity of presenting Miss Lucy, +through a sure channel, with a passionate billet doux, a patent pair of +gilt bracelets, and a box of Ruspini's tooth-powder. By St. Patrick and +all the powers, it was shocking to suppose that such an angel as the +cherry-cheeked Lucy should be stolen from me by such an apology for a +gallant, as Quartermaster Bottlenose of the Tipperary Rangers. 'Twas +murder, by Jupiter." + +"I perfectly agree with you, Mr. Tims; Did you challenge him to the +duello?" + +"A _leetle_ patience, if you please, sir, and you shall hear +all. During the violence of my love-fits, I committed a variety of +professional mistakes. I sent at one time a pot of bear's grease away +by the mail, in a wig-box, to a member of parliament in Yorkshire; and +burned a whole batch of baked hair to ashes, while singing Moore's 'When +he who adores thee,' in attitude, before a block, dressed up for the +occasion with a fashionable wig upon it--to say nothing of my having, in +a fit of abstraction, given a beautiful young lady, who was going that +same evening to a Lord Mayor's ball, the complete charity-workhouse cut, +leaving her scalp as bare as the back of my hand. But cheer up!--to my +happy astonishment, sir, matters worked like a charm. What a +parley-vooing and billet-dooing passed between us! We would have +required a porter for the sole purpose. Then we had stolen interviews +of two hours' duration each, for several successive nights, at the +old horologer's back-door, during which, besides a multiplicity of +small-talk--thanks to his deafness--I tried my utmost to entrap her +affections, by reciting sonnets, and spouting bits of plays in the +manner of the tragedy performers. These were the happy times, sir! The +world was changed for me. Paddington canal seemed the river Pactolus, +and Rag-Fair Elysium! + +"The old boy, however, ignorant of our orgies, was still bothering +his brains to bring about matrimony between his daughter and the +veteran--who, though no younger than Methusalem, as stiff as the +Monument, and as withered as Belzoni's Piccadilly mummy, had yet +the needful, sir--had abundance of the wherewithal--crops of yellow +shiners--lots of the real--sported a gig, and kept on board wages a +young shaver of all work, with a buff jacket, turned up with sky-blue +facings. Only think, sir--only ponder for a moment what a formidable +rival I had!" + +"I hope you beat him off, however," said I. "The greater danger the more +honour you know, Mr. Tims." + +"Of that anon, sir.--Lucy, on her part, angelic creature, professed that +she could not dream of being undutiful towards kind old Pa; and that, +unless desperate measures were resorted to, _quamprimum_, in the +twinkling of a bed-post she would be under the disagreeable necessity to +bundle and go with the disabled man of war to the temple of Hymen. +Sacrilegious thought! I could not permit it to enter my bosom, and +(pardon me for a moment, sir) when I looked down, and caught a glance of +my own natty-looking, tight little leg, and dapper Hessians, I +recommended her strongly to act on the principle of the Drury-lane +play-bill, which says, 'All for Love, or the World well lost.' + +"Well, sir, hark ye, just to show how things come about. Shortly after +this, on the anniversary of my honoured old master, Zachariah Pigtail's +birth, when we were allowed to strike work at noon, I determined, as +a _dernier resort_, as a clincher, sir, to act the genteel, and +invite Miss Lucy, in her furs and falderals, to accompany me to the +Exhibition of Pictures. Heavens, sir, how I dressed on that day! The +Day and Martin of my boots reflected on the shady side of the street. +I took half an hour in tying and retying my neckcloth _en mode_. +My handkerchief smelt of lavender, and my hair of oil of thyme--my +waistcoat of bergamot, and my inexpressibles of musk. I was a perfect +civet for perfumery. My coat, cut in the jemmy fashion, I buttoned to +suffocation; but 'pon honour, believe me, sir, no stays, and my shirt +neck had been starched _per order_, to the consistence of tin. +In short, to be brief, I found, or fancied myself killing--a most +irresistible fellow. + +"I did not dare, however, to call for Miss Lucy at old Pa's, but waited +for her at the corner of the street, patiently drumming on my boot, with +a knowing little bit of bamboo; and projecting my left arm to her, off +we marched in triumph. + +"The Exhibition Rooms were crowded with the _ton_; and to be sure a +great many fine things were there. Would you had seen them, sir. There +were admirals in blue, and generals in red--portraits of my lord this, +and my lady that--land scenes, and sea scenes, and hunting scenes, with +thips, and woods, and old castles, all amazingly like life. In short, +sir, Providence seems to have guided us to the spot, where we saw a +picture--_the_ picture, sir--the pattern copy of that there +picture, sir--and heavens! such a piece of work--but of that anon--it +did the business, sir. No sooner had I perused it through my +quizzing-glass, which, I confess, that I had brought with me more for +ornament than use--having eyes like a hawk--than I pathetically +exclaimed to Lucy--'Behold, my love, the history of our fates!' Lucy +said, 'Tuts, Toby Tims,' and gave a giggle; but I went on in solemn +gravity, before a circle of seemingly electrified spectators. + +"'Spose now, Miss Lucy,' said I, holding her by the finger of her +Limerick glove; 'spose now, that I had invited you to take an outside +seat on the Hampstead Flying Phoenix with me, to go out to a rural +junketing, on May day in the afternoon. Very well--there we find +ourselves alive and kicking, forty couple footing it on the green, +and choosing, according to our tastes, reels, jigs, minuets, or +bumpkins. 'Spose then, that I have handed you down to the bottom of +five-and-twenty couple at a country-dance, to the tune of Sir Roger +de Coverley, Morgiana in Ireland, Petronella, or the Triumph; and, +notwithstanding our having sucked a couple of oranges a-piece, we are +both quite in a broth of perspiration. Very good--so says I to you, +making a genteel bow, 'Do you please to walk aside, and cool yourself in +them there green arbours, and I will be with you as quick as directly, +with a glass of lemonade or cherry brandy?' So says you to me, dropping +a curtsey _a la mode_, 'With ineffable pleasure, sir;' and away you +trip into the shade like a sunbeam. + +"'Now, Lucy, my love, take a good look of that picture. That is you, +'spose, seated on the turf, a _leetle_ behind the pillar dedicated +to Apollar; and you, blooming like a daffodilly in April, are waiting +with great thirst, and not a little impatience, for my promised +appearance, from the sign of the Hen and Chickens, with the cordials, +and a few biscuits on a salver--when, lo! an old bald-pated, oily-faced, +red-nosed Cameronian ranter, whom by your elegant negligee capering you +have fairly danced out of his dotard senses, comes pawing up to you like +Polito's polar bear, drops on his knees, and before you can avert your +nose from a love-speech, embalmed in the fumes of tobacco and purl, the +hoary villain has beslobbered your lily-white fingers, and is protesting +unalterable affection, at the rate of twelve miles an hour, inclusive of +stoppages. Now, Lucy, love, did you ever,--say upon your honour,--did +you ever witness such a spectacle of humanity? Tell me now? + +"'Very well. Now, love, take a peep down the avenue, and yon is me, yon +tight, handsome little figure, with the Spanish cap and cloak, attended +by a trusty servant in the same costume, to whom I am pointing where he +is to bring the cherry-brandy; when, lo! we perceive the hideous +apparition!--and straightway rushing forward, like two tigers on a +jackass, we seize the wigless dotard, and, calling for a blanket, the +whole respectable company of forty couples and upwards, come crowding to +the spot, and lend a willing hand in rotation, four by four, in tossing +Malachi, the last of the lovers, till the breath of life is scarcely +left in his vile body. + +"'Now Lucy,' says I, in conclusion, 'don't you see the confounded +absurdity of ever wasting a thought on a broken-down, bandy-legged, +beggarly dragoon? Just look at him, with an old taffeta whigmaleerie +tied to his back, like Paddy from Cork, with his coat buttoned behind! +Isn't he a pretty figure, now, to go a-courting? You would never forsake +the like of me--would you now? A spruce, natty little body of a +creature--to be the trollop of a spindle-shanked veteran, who, besides +having one foot in the grave, and a nose fit for three, might be your +great-grandfather?' + +"It was a sight, sir, that would have melted the heart of a +wheel-barrow. Before the whole assembled exhibition-room, Lucy first +looked blue, and then blushed consent. 'Toby,' said she, 'don't mention +it, Toby, dear,--I am thine for ever and a day!' Angelic sounds, which +at once sent Bottlenose to Coventry. His chance was now weak indeed, +quite like Grantham gruel, three groats to a gallon of water. In an +ecstacy of passion, sir, I threw my silk handkerchief on the floor, and, +kneeling on it with one knee, I raised her gloveless fingers to my lips! + +"The whole company clapped their hands, and laughed so heartily in +sympathy with my good luck! Oh! sir, had you but seen it--what a sight +for sore eyes that was!" + +"Then you would indeed be the happy man at last, Mr. Tims," said I. "Did +you elope on the instant?" + +"Just done, please your honour.--Next morning, according to special +agreement, we eloped in a gig; and, writing a penitent letter from the +Valentine and Orson at Chelsea, Daddy Mainspring found himself glad to +come to terms. Thrice were the banns published; and such a marriage as +we had! 'Pon honour, sir, I would you had been present. It was a thing +to be remembered till the end of one's life. A deputation of the +honourable the corporation of barbers duly attended, puffed out in full +fig; and even the old quartermaster, pocketing his disappointment, was, +at his own special petition, a forgiven and favoured guest. Seldom has +such dancing been seen within the bounds of London; and, with two +fiddles, a tambourin, and a clarionet, we made all the roofs ring, till +an early hour next morning--and that we did." + +"You are a lucky fellow, Mr. Tims," said I. + +"And more than that, sir. When old Mainspring kicks, we are to have the +counting of his mouldy coppers--so we have the devil's luck and our own; +and as for false curls, braids, bandeaux, Macassar oil, cold cream, +bear's-grease, tooth-powder, and Dutch toys, show me within the walls +of the City a more respectable, tip-topping perfumery depot and +wig-warehouse, than that wherein you now sit, and of which I, Tobias +Tims, am, with due respect, the honoured master, and your humble +servant!" + +_Blackwood's Magazine_. + +In addition to the foregoing, (which is one of the happiest pieces +in Goldsmith's style that we have read for a long time,) there is in +_Blackwood's Magazine_ an article of extraordinary graphic spirit, +occupying twenty-two pages. But we will attempt to abridge it for our +columns, as well as to give a sprinkling from the _Noctes_ in the +same number. All are in the best style of their vigorous masters. + + * * * * * + + +ELEGY + + +_To the Memory of Miss Emily Kay, (cousin to Miss Ellen Gee, of Kew,) +who lately died at Ewell, and was buried in Essex_. + +D.T. Fabula narratur. + + + Sad nymphs of UL, U have much to cry for, + Sweet MLE K U never more shall C! + O SX maids! come hither and VU, + With tearful I this M T LEG. + + Without XS she did XL alway-- + Ah me! it truly vexes 1 2 C + How soon so DR a creature may DK, + And only leave behind XUVE! + + Whate'er I O to do she did discharge, + So that an NME it might NDR: + Then Y an SA write? then why N? + Or with my briny tears her BR BDU? + + When her Piano-40 she did press, + Such heavenly sounds did MN8, that she, + Knowing her Q, soon I U 2 confess + Her XLNC in an XTC. + + Her hair was soft as silk, not YRE, + It gave no Q nor yet 2 P to view: + She was not handsome: shall I tell U Y? + U R 2 know her I was all SQ. + + L8 she was, and prattling like AJ. + O, little MLE! did you 4 C + The grave should soon MUU, cold as clay. + And U should cease to B an NTT! + + While taking T at Q with LN G, + The MT grate she rose to put a(:) + Her clothes caught fire--I ne'er again shall C + Poor MLE, who now is dead as Solon. + + O, LN G! in vain you set at 0 + GR and reproach for suffering her 2 B + Thus sacrificed: to JL U should be brought + And burnt U 0 2 B in FEG. + + Sweet MLE K into SX they bore, + Taking good care her monument to Y 10, + And as her tomb was much 2 low B 4, + They lately brought fresh bricks the walls to I 10. + +_New Monthly Mag_. + + * * * * * + + + + +Notes of a Reader. + + * * * * * + + +A NEW CYCLOPAEDIA. + + +A "Cabinet Cyclopaedia" is announced for publication, under the +superintendance of Dr. Lardner. It is to consist of a series of +"Cabinets" of the several sciences, &c. and upwards of 100 volumes, to +be published monthly, are already announced in the prospectus; or nine +years publishing. The design is not altogether new, it being from +the _Encyclopaedie Methodique_, a series of dictionaries, now +publishing in Paris; and about four years since a similar work was +commenced in England, but only three volumes or dictionaries of +the series were published. If this be the flimsy age, the "Cabinet +Cyclopaedia" is certainly not one of the flimsiest of its projects; +and for the credit of the age, we wish the undertaking all success. + + * * * * * + + +"A GENTLEMAN" + + +Is a term very vaguely applied, and indistinctly understood. There +are Gentlemen by birth, Gentlemen by education, Gentlemen's Gentlemen, +Gentlemen of the Press, Gentlemen Pensioners, Gentlemen, whom nobody +thinks it worth while to call otherwise; _Honourable_ Gentlemen, +Walking Gentlemen of strolling companies, Light-fingered Gentlemen, +&c. &c. very respectable Gentlemen, and God Almighty's +Gentlemen.--_Blackwood's Magazine_. + + * * * * * + + +ROMAN THEATRES. + + +There are five theatres at Rome to a population very nearly as +considerable as that of Dublin. Each of these establishments is the +property of one of the noble families in the city, who prefer doing by +themselves what is usually done in England by committee. + + * * * * * + + +CATS AND FELINE ANIMALS (_once more!_) + + +Animals of the cat kind are, in a state of nature almost continually in +action both by night and by day. They either walk, creep, or advance +rapidly by prodigious bounds; but they seldom _run_, owing, it +is believed, to the extreme flexibility of their limbs and vertebral +column, which cannot preserve the rigidity necessary to that species of +movement. Their sense of sight, especially during twilight, is acute; +their hearing very perfect, and their perception of smell less so than +in the dog tribe. Their most obtuse sense is that of taste; the lingual +nerve in the lion, according to Des Moulins, being no larger than that +of a middle-sized dog. In fact, the tongue of these animals is as +much an organ of mastication as of taste; its sharp and horny points, +inclined backwards, being used for tearing away the softer parts of the +animal substances on which they prey. The perception of touch is said +to reside very delicately in the small bulbs at the base of the +mustachios.--_Wilson's Zoology_. + + * * * * * + + +TEA AND TAY. + +_From Blackwood's last "Noctes."_ + + +_North_. As you love me, my dear James, call it not tea, but +_tay_. That though obsolete, is the classical pronunciation. Thus +Pope sings in the _Rape of the Lock_, canto i. + + "Soft yielding minds to water glide away, + And sip with nymphs their elemental tea." + + +And also in canto iii-- + + "Where thou great Anna, whom these realms obey, + Dost sometimes counsel take, and sometimes tea." + + +And finally in the Basset Table-- + + "Tell, tell your grief, attentive will I stay, + Though time is precious, and I want some tea." + + +_Shepherd_. A body might think frae thae rhymes, that Pop had been +an Eerishman. + + * * * * * + + +"MERRY ENGLAND." + + +The people of England, we fear, have at last forfeited the proud title +of "merry," to distinguish them from other and less happy, because more +serious, nations; for now they sadden at amusement, and sicken and turn +pale at a jest; so entirely have they forfeited it, that an ingenious +critic cannot believe they ever possessed it; and has set himself +accordingly to prove, that, in the old English, _merrie_ does not +mean merry, but sorrowful, or heart-broken, or some such +thing.--_Edin. Rev._ + + * * * * * + + +SYMPATHY. + + + There is a tear, more sweet and soft + Than beauty's smiling lip of love; + By angel's eyes first wept and oft + On earth by eyes like those above: + It flows for virtue in distress. + It soothes, like hope, our sufferings here; + 'Twas given, and it is shed, to bless-- + 'Tis sympathy's celestial tear. + +_Amulet._ + + * * * * * + + +MR. ABERNETHY + + +Was one day descanting upon the advantages of a public education for +boys, when he concluded by saying, "And what think you of Eton? I think +I shall send my son there to learn manners." "It would have been as +well, my dear," responded his wife, "had you gone there too." + + * * * * * + + +ENGLISH BENEVOLENCE. + + +For several years previous to 1823, the crops in Ireland had been +scanty, particularly those of potatoes. In 1821 the potato crop was _a +complete failure_; and in 1822 it is impossible to tell, and dreadful +to think, of what might have been the consequence, had not the English +people come forward, and by the most stupendous act of national +generosity which the world ever saw, and which none but a country so +rich as England could afford, arrested "the plague of hunger," which +must otherwise have desolated the country. + + * * * * * + + +PAINTING IN FRESCO. + + +The revival of this beautiful art is strongly recommended by a writer +in the _Edinburgh Review_, for the internal decoration of private +residences. "As we have begun to build houses upon a handsome scale in +London, the lovers of art may venture to hope, that instead of spending +enormous sums solely on the upholsterer for his fading ornaments, +something may now be spared to the artist, for conferring on the walls +unfading decorations of a far more delightful and intellectual kind. If +the work be well executed, it will not suffer injury from being washed +with clean and cold water." The reviewer then goes on to suggest "small +foundations, like the fellowships at our universities. The fellow, a +young artist of promise, might spend two or three years in painting the +interior of a church, or other public building, maintaining himself +meanwhile on his fellowship, or two or three hundred pounds a year." +"If, however, the objections to painting our churches be deemed +insuperable, we have buildings designed for civil purposes in abundance, +which are well adapted for this species of decoration." He then +instances Westminster Hall, the walls of which might be covered with +fresco; and the outsides of houses in many German cities and towns in +the German cantons of Switzerland, the outsides of which are painted +with scriptural and historical subjects. "Painting," observes he, "were +the use of it universal, would be a powerful means of instruction to +children and the lower orders; and were all the fine surfaces, which are +now plain and absolutely wasted, enriched with the labours of the art, +if they once began to appear, they would accumulate rapidly; and were +the ornamented edifices open to all, as freely as they ought to be, a +wide field of new and agreeable study would offer itself." + + * * * * * + + +PHILANTHROPY. + + + Hast thou power? the weak defend, + Light?--give light: thy knowledge lend. + Rich?--remember Him who gave. + Free?--be brother to the slave. + +_Amulet._ + + * * * * * + + +LITERARY CLUBS. + + +O what curses, not loud, but deep, has not old Simpkin, of the Crown +and Anchor, in his day, and Willis and Kay in later times, groaned at +the knot of authors who were occupying one of his best dining-rooms +up-stairs, and leaving the Port, and claret, and Madeira to a death-like +repose in the cellar, though the waiter had repeatedly popped his head +into the apartment with an admonitory "Did you ring, gentlemen?" to +awaken them to a becoming sense of the social duties of man.--_New +Monthly Mag_. + + * * * * * + + +ALLIGATORS SWALLOWING STONES. + + +The Indians on the banks of the Oronoko assert, that previously to an +alligator going in search of prey, it always swallows a large stone, +that it may acquire additional weight to aid it in diving and dragging +its victims under water. A traveller being somewhat incredulous on this +point, Bolivar, to convince him, shot several with his rifle, and in all +of them were found stones, varying in weight according to the size of +the animal. The largest killed was about 17 feet in length, and had +within him a stone weighing about 60 or 70 pounds. + + * * * * * + + +CRICKET. + + +Miss Mitford, in one of her charming sketches, tells us of a +cricket-ball being thrown five hundred yards. This is what the people +who write for Drury-lane and Covent-garden would call "pitching it +pretty strong." + + * * * * * + + +ADVANTAGES OF CHEAP BOOKS. + + +When Goldsmith boasted of having seen a splendid copy of his poems in +the cabinet of some great lord, saying emphatically, "This is fame, Dr. +Johnson," the doctor told him that, for his part, he would have been +more disposed to self-gratulation had he discovered any of the progeny +of his mind thumbed and tattered in the cabin of a peasant.--_Q. +Rev._ + + * * * * * + + +REMEMBRANCE. + + + I recollect my happy home, + My pleasures as a child; + The forest where I used to roam, + The rocks so bleak and wild. + That home is tenantless; the spot + It graced is rude and bare; + The lov'd ones gone, our name forgot. + And desolation there. + +_Forget Me Not_--1829. + +In how many thousand hearts will this lament find an echo! + + * * * * * + + + + +The Gatherer + + + A snapper up of unconsidered trifles. + +SHAKSPEARE. + + * * * * * + + +QUID PRO QUO. + + +A canon of the cathedral of Seville, who was very affected in his dress, +and particular in his shoes, could not in the whole city find a workman +to his liking. An unfortunate shoemaker to whom he applied, after +quitting many others, having brought him a pair of shoes which did not +please his taste, the canon became furious, and seizing one of the tools +of the shoemaker, gave him with it so many blows on the head, that the +poor shoemaker fell dead on the floor. The unhappy man left a widow, +four daughters, and a son fourteen years of age, the eldest of the +indigent family. They made their complaints to the chapter; the canon +was prosecuted, and condemned _not to appear in the choir for a +year_. + +The young shoemaker, having attained to man's estate, was scarcely able +to get a livelihood; and overwhelmed with wretchedness, sat down on the +day of a procession at the door of the cathedral of Seville, in the +moment the procession passed by. Among the other canons he perceived the +murderer of his father. At the sight of this man, filial affection, +rage, and despair got so far the better of his reason, that he fell +furiously on the priest, and stabbed him to the heart. The young man was +seized, convicted of the crime, and immediately condemned to be +quartered alive. Peter, whom we call the cruel, and whom the Spaniards, +with more reason, call the lover of justice, was then at Seville. The +affair came to his knowledge, and after learning the particulars, he +determined to be himself the judge of the young shoemaker. When he +proceeded to give judgment, he first annulled the sentence just +pronounced by the clergy; and after asking the young man what profession +he was, "_I forbid you_," said he, "_to make shoes for a year to +come._" + + * * * * * + + +When Demetrius conquered the city of Magara, and every thing had been +plundered by his soldiers, he ordered the philosopher Stilpon to be +called before him, and asked him whether he had not lost his property in +this confusion? "No," replied Stilpon, "as all I possess is in my head." + + * * * * * + + +LORD MAYOR'S DAY. + + +A country gentleman, much averse to city revelry, made the following +couplet: + + Music hath charms to sooth the savage beast, + And therefore proper at a city feast. + + +A city gentleman, who had laid up a store of wealth, replied:-- + + The chink of gold with gold, transporting sound! + Exceeds the Timbrel, or the Syren's voice + Harmonious, when collective plates go round, + And Hock and Turtle make the heart rejoice. + + * * * * * + + +An inveterate sportsman, hearing early his favourite cry of beagles from +the wood, exclaimed:-- + + Hark, friend, what heavenly music meets the ear; + Haste, farmer, we shall lose it all, I fear. + + +The rustic, who dreads hounds over his new-sown wheat, replies:-- + + Music! I cannot hear it for the noise + Of those curs'd dogs, loud shouts, and bellowing boys. + + * * * * * + + +Antigonus, being in his tent, heard two soldiers, who were standing +outside, speak very disrespectfully of him. After he had listened some +time, he opened the tent and said to them, "If you wish to speak thus of +me, you might at least go a little aside."--_Sulzer._ + + * * * * * + + +A supplementary number of the Mirror, containing the "_Spirit of the +Annuals_," with a fine engraving, will be published with our Number +on Saturday, November 15." + + * * * * * + + +Purchasers of the Mirror, who may wish to complete their sets are +informed, that every volume is complete in itself, and may be purchased +separately. The whole of the numbers are now in print, and can be +procured by giving an order to any Bookseller or Newsvender. + +Complete sets Vol I. to XI. in boards, price £2. 19s. 6d. half bound, +£3. 17s. + + * * * * * + +_LIMBIRD'S EDITIONS_. + +Cheap and popular works published at the Mirror office in the Strand, +near Somerset House. + + The ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS. Embellished with nearly 150 + Engravings. Price 6s. 6d. boards. + The TALES of the GENII. Price 2s. + The MICROCOSM. By the Right Hon. G. Canning. &c. Price 2s. + PLUTARCH'S LIVES, with Fifty Portraits, 2 vols. price 13s. boards. + COWPER'S POEMS, with 12 Engravings, price 3s. 6d. boards. + COOK'S VOYAGES, 2 vols. price 8s. boards. + The CABINET of CURIOSITIES: or, WONDERS of the WORLD DISPLAYED. + Price 5s. boards. + BEAUTIES of SCOTT. 2 vols. price 7s. + The ARCANA of SCIENCE for 1828. Price 4s. 6d. + +Any of the above Works can be purchased in Parts. + + GOLDSMITH'S ESSAYS. Price 8d. + DR. FRANKLIN'S ESSAYS. Price 1s. 2d. + BACON'S ESSAYS. Price 8d. + SALMAGUNDI. Price 1s. 8d. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, +and Instruction, by Various + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 11312 *** |