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| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 04:36:36 -0700 |
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| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 04:36:36 -0700 |
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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/11320-0.txt b/11320-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2752148 --- /dev/null +++ b/11320-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1608 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 11320 *** + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustration. + See 11320-h.htm or 11320-h.zip: + (http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/1/1/3/2/11320/11320-h/11320-h.htm) + or + (http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/1/1/3/2/11320/11320-h.zip) + + + + +THE MIRROR OF LITERATURE, AMUSEMENT, AND INSTRUCTION. + +VOL. 12, No. 331.] SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 1828. [PRICE 2d. + + + + * * * * * + + + +Charlecote Hall, near Stratford-upon-Avon. + + +[Illustration] + +"One of the most delightful things in the world is going a journey." Now +if there be one of our million of friends who, like the fop in the play, +thinks all beyond Hyde Park a desert, let him forthwith proceed on a +pilgrimage to _Stratford-upon-Avon_, the birthplace of SHAKSPEARE; and +though he be the veriest Londoner that ever sung of the "sweet shady +side of Pall Mall," we venture to predict his reform. If such be not the +result, then we envy him not a jot of his terrestrial enjoyment. Let him +but think of the countless hours of delight, the "full houses," the +lighted dome and deeping circles, of the past season; when + + Dread o'er the scene the ghost of Hamlet stalks; + Othello rages, &c. + +and then will he not enjoy a visit to the place where-- + + ----Sweetest Shakspeare, Fancy's child, + Warbled his native wood-notes wild. + +Sterne, the prince of sentimental tourists, says, "Let me have a +companion of my way, were it but to remark how the shadows lengthen as +the sun declines;" but, for our part, we should prefer a visit to +Stratford, _alone_, unless it were with some garrulous old guide to +entertain us with his or her reminiscences. + +This brings us to _Charlecote Hall_, one of the Shakspearean relics. It +consists of a venerable mansion, situated on the banks of the Avon, +about four miles from Stratford, and built in the first year of the +reign of Elizabeth, by Sir Thomas Lucy; + + "A parliamente member, and justice of peace. + At home a poor scare-crow, at London an asse," + +and so well known as the prosecutor of Shakspeare.[1] + +The principal front, here represented, assumes, in its ground plan, the +form of the letter E--said to have been intended as a compliment to the +queen, who, as appears from the Black Book of Warwick, visited this +place in 1572. + + [1] At Stratford, the family maintain that Shakspeare stole Sir + Thomas Lucy's buck, to celebrate his wedding-day, and for that + purpose only. But, in that age, when half the country was + covered with forests, deer-stealing was a venial offence, and + equivalent to snaring a hare in our days. + +The above is copied from one of a Series of Views illustrative of the +Life of Shakspeare, drawn and etched by Mr. W. Rider, of Leamington. +These engravings are five in number, but the artist explains that he has +selected such subjects only, "as from tradition, or more certain record, +might fairly be presumed to bear direct relation to the life of the +poet. But while he regrets that the number of authenticated subjects are +so few, he feels that from innovation or decay, they are almost hourly +becoming fewer; and is, therefore, prompted to secure the few remnants +left, while they are yet within his reach." + +There is no doubt that the grounds around Charlecote Hall, were the +early haunts of SHAKSPEARE; and that in the house itself sat the +magisterial authority, before which he was doomed to meet the charges, +to which his youthful indiscretions had rendered him liable; and, as it +remains, to the present time, for the most part, unaltered, and +_presents to the spectator of the present day the same image that was +often, and under such peculiar circumstances, impressed on the eye of +our_ SHAKSPEARE, it cannot but be regarded with the most intense +interest by all his admirers. + +In conclusion, we would recommend the illustrators of Shakspeare to +possess themselves of a set of Mr. Rider's "Views;" whilst the visiter +of Stratford-upon-Avon would do well to lay a copy in his +portmanteau--for they are in truth so many faithful memorials of the +great poet of nature. + + * * * * * + + + +ON NATIONAL VARIETIES. + +(_For the Mirror_.) + + +There are few more familiar subjects than that of the varieties of +national character, and the resemblances and differences that exist +between ourselves and the inhabitants of other countries. Few +conversations occur upon circumstances which may have happened abroad, +in which some one has not an anecdote to relate to illustrate the known +peculiarities of the nation in question; and the greater part of the +travels and tours which now issue in such formidable numbers from the +press, are naturally filled with stories and incidents, either to show +the correctness of our ideas of the manners and opinions of our +neighbours, or (perhaps more frequently) to prove that the public were +in error in that respect, up to the time when the traveller in question +had discovered the truth, or a clue to it. The daily accounts of the +outrages perpetrated in Ireland, and the alarms that are sounded ever +and anon, touching the state of that unhappy country, are continually +exciting surprise, that the natives of the sister island should be so +unaccountably deficient in that sense of order and sobriety which +prevails in Great Britain. We associate with a Scotchman the ideas of +shrewdness and prudence; with a Frenchman, gaiety and frivolity; with a +Spaniard, gravity and pride; with an Italian, strong passions of love +and revenge: with a German, plodding industry and habits of deep +thinking; and with the northern nations, an honest sincerity and +persevering courage. We sometimes judge with tolerable correctness; at +others are wholly mistaken, and not unfrequently run into such extremes, +that having established a principle, that a particular people are +knavish, or cowardly, or stupid, we are unwilling to admit any +exceptions, but include the whole race in our sweeping censure. We are +prejudiced at first sight against a Portuguese or Italian, and are +careful of our communications with him, even though we meet him on the +high road, or by mere accident in a public place. There can, however, be +no mistake in the common notion, that each nation has a peculiar +collection of qualities and habits, distinguishing it in a greater or +less degree from its neighbours, and the rest of the world; and it is, +therefore, at all events, an interesting, if not an useful topic, to +reflect a little how these differences arise. Not that we intend here to +give even any particular description of the various races of mankind, or +to enter into any inquiry upon the degrees of their mental and bodily +capacities; such would be foreign to our purpose, and would exceed our +limits. We shall merely hazard a few observations upon the several +causes to which the diversities in men have been referred, not +pretending to any decided opinion on so nice a point, as whether these +causes are wholly of a physical or of a moral kind, or whether they are +compounded of both. The question is, perhaps, one of the most difficult +in the whole range of philosophical experience; we say experience, +because it is obvious that all theory on the subject must be the result +of observation and analysis; and that no general principles can be laid +down in the first instance, as the ground work of any hypothesis we +might be inclined to frame. + +The scientific men to whom we are chiefly indebted for the facts +accumulated on this subject, are Dr. Blumenbach, of Göttingen, Dr. +Pritchard, of Edinburgh, and the eminent surgeon, Mr. Lawrence. It has +been a favourite matter of speculation with Lord Monboddo, as well as +with Voltaire, Rousseau, and the philosophers of the French school, who +have endeavoured to show that men and other animals are endowed with +reason or instinct of the same kind, but of different degrees. According +to these fanciful writers, the monkey is but another species of the +human race, and has been termed by them _Homo Sylvestris_. They made the +most diligent researches into all accounts concerning men in a savage +state, and were delighted beyond measure with the discovery alleged to +have been made in the island of Sumatra, of men with tails regularly +protruding from their hinder parts, who, according to Buffon, walked and +talked in the woods like other gentlemen:-- + + And backwards and forwards they switched their long tails, + Like a gentleman switching his cane. + +The appearance of Peter the Wild Boy, who was found in the woods of +Hamela, in Hanover, living on the bark of trees, leaves, berries, &c. +threw Voltaire into transports of joy. He declared the event to be the +most wonderful and important that ages had recorded in the annals of +science, as it demonstrated the fact of man living after the fashion of +beasts, without the least spark of civilization, and without speech; +thereby forming a species of a nature having more in common with monkeys +than with men, and presenting the regular degree, or intermediate class, +between the _homo civilis_ and the _homo sylvestris_. The circumstance, +however, which afterwards transpired, of Peter's having been found with +the remains of a shirt-collar about his neck, threw considerable +discredit on the whole story; and the young savage, on being brought to +England by order of Queen Caroline, lived in Hertfordshire for many +years, perfectly harmless and tractable, and behaving pretty much the +same as other idiots. The idea, therefore, of a race of men, in a +healthy, natural condition, having ever existed without the possession +of reason, is now deemed wholly fallacious. It is even maintained by +Schlegel, and other authorities of great weight, that the civilized +state is the primitive one, and that savage life is a degeneracy from +it, rather than civilized society being a graft upon barbarity. By +Schlegel's theory, the East, especially India, was the earliest seat of +arts and sciences; from the Sanscrit, or Indian language, now extinct, +are the Hebrew, the Chaldaic, the Greek, and many others of the most +ancient tongues, derived; and from the wisdom and learning of the East +"was the whole earth overspread." Undoubtedly it is difficult to imagine +by what gradation language could have proceeded, from the howl of +savages, and the cries of nature, till it reached the eloquent music, +the heart-stirring oratory of the Greek; and besides this, and other +considerations, Schlegel is supported by the opinions of Adelung, the +learned author of "Mithridates, oder Allgemeine Sprachenkunde," upon the +probable habitation of the first family of the human race. Adelung says, +that civilization began in Asia, as is, indeed, universally admitted to +have been the case; and that when the waters of the flood subsided, the +highest ground, we may naturally conclude, must have been the earliest +inhabited. We may also reasonably presume that a beneficent Providence +would place the first family in a situation where their wants could be +easily satisfied; in a garden, as it were, stocked with all herbs and +fruits, fit and agreeable to their use and taste. Now such a country is +actually to be found in Central Asia, between the degrees of 30 and 50 +North lat. and 90 and 110 long. E. of Ferro; a spot as high as the +Plains of Quito, or 9,500 feet above the level of the sea. It contains +the sources of most of the great rivers of Asia; the Seleuga, the Ob, +the Lena, the Irtisch, and the Jenisey flow from hence to the North; the +Jaik, the Jihon, and the Jemba to the West; the Amur and the Hoang Ho to +the East; and the Indus, Ganges, and Burrampooter to the South. The +valleys within this space, which our readers, by referring to a map, +will find to be correctly delineated, abound with nutritive fruits and +vegetables, and with all animals capable of being tamed. There is +evidently, therefore, some plausibility in the notion that mankind +sprung originally from the East, and that from that quarter civilization +is derived; but what portion of knowledge was allotted to the primitive +people, or how far their descendants have surpassed or fallen short of +these olden times, must, we fear, be for ever beyond the reach of our +investigation. + +If we call to mind a summary of the general divisions of human beings +throughout the world, we shall find little room to doubt of the identity +of their genus, and shall, without much trouble of reflection, class +them as different species of that genus:-- + + ------Facies non omnibus una, + Nec diversa, tamen. + +Such seems to be the result of Mr. Lawrence's judgment; and though we +are aware that the descent of mankind from one common stock has been +much questioned and controverted, particularly in Germany, we prefer +resting upon the received opinion at present, to running the risk of +shocking established notions, by entering into the merits of the +contrary theory. + +Men are classed by Dr. Blumenbach under five great divisions, viz. the +Caucasian, Mongolian, Ethiopian, American, and Malay. The Caucasian +family may be asserted, though by its own members, to have been always +pre-eminent above the rest in moral feelings and intellectual powers, +and is remarkable for the large size of their heads. It need not be more +minutely described, than by saying it includes all the ancient and +modern Europeans, (except the Laplanders and Fins;) the former and +present inhabitants of Western Asia as far as the Ob, the Caspian Sea, +and the Ganges, viz. the Assyrians, Medes, Chaldeans, Sarmatians, +Scythians, Parthians, Philistines, Phoenicians, Jews, and Syrians; the +Tartars on the Caucasus, Georgians, Circassians, Mingrelians, Armenians, +Turks, Persians, Arabs, Hindoos of high caste, Northern Africans, +Egyptians, Abyssinians, and Guanches. They are supposed to have +originally had brown hair and dark eyes. + +The Mongolian family is of an olive colour and black eyes, flat nose and +face, small stature, black hair, no beard, and thick lips. It comprises +the people of Central and Northern Asia, Thibet, Ava, Pegu, Cambodia, +Laos, and Siam; the Chinese, Japanese, Fins, and Esquimaux. + +The Ethiopian family is black, with black and woolly hair, compressed +skull, low forehead, flat nose, and thick lips. It includes all Africans +not comprehended in the Caucasian family. + +The American family has a dark skin, a red tint, straight hair, a small +beard, low forehead, and broad face. It includes all the American +tribes, except the Esquimaux. + +The Malay family is brown, varying from a light tint to black. Their +hair is black and curled, head narrow, bones of the face prominent, nose +broad, and mouth large. They inhabit Malacca, Sumatra, Java, and the +adjacent islands; Molucca, the Ladrones, New Holland, Van Dieman's Land, +New Guinea, New Zealand, and the South Sea Islands. They speak generally +the Malay language. + +The difference of character and disposition of these five families is +familiar to every one; they are as well known as is the superiority of +the Caucasian to the other races, and as the outward distinctions of +their bodies and complexions. The reasons of this difference have been +variously assigned, some ascribing it to natural, others altogether to +moral causes. By natural causes we understand either that the +constitutions of the races are such, that their capabilities of +informing their minds, and raising their intellectual powers, are +essentially not the same; or that the climate has an influence over both +their bodies and minds. By moral causes, we mean artificial or +accidental ones arising out of the state of society; such as the nature +of the government, the plenty or poverty in which people live, a period +of war or peace, the power of public opinion, and such circumstances. + +The effect of climate cannot of itself be sufficient to change the +manners and habits of a people. The instances of migratory nations seem +to show this; the Jews are as cunning and fond of money in Asia or +Africa as they are in Poland or England; that extraordinary race, the +Gipsies, (which are now ascertained to be a Hindoo tribe, driven from +their country in the fifteenth century,) are not less thievish in +Transylvania than in Scotland. The Armenians of Constantinople, and +other parts of the Levant, are represented to be of the same mild and +persevering temper, of the same honesty and skilfulness in their +dealings, and the same kindness and civility of manners, as before they +were driven from their country by Sha-Abbas the Great. The changes, +however, in the habits and character of this people seem to mark the +influence of their several domestic situations. They were originally the +most warlike of the Asiatic tribes; after their subjection by the +Persians, they engaged themselves entirely in the patient cultivation of +the soil; and since the period of the depopulation of Armenia, and their +migrations into Persia, Russia, Turkey, and other countries, they have +been celebrated for their industry in commercial concerns. They are +bankers, money-brokers, merchants, surgeons, bakers, builders, +chintz-printers, and of all trades that can be imagined, and are +represented as the most useful subjects in the Ottoman empire, retaining +at the same time an almost patriarchal simplicity in their domestic +manners. The English in the East and West Indies, in New South Wales, +and in Canada, seldom lose a relish for the habits and enjoyments they +have been bred up in, whether they migrate to the extremes of heat or of +cold. John Bull is an Englishman in heart, and will remain so under +whatever sun his lot of life may be cast; for, + + Coelum, non animum, mutant, qui trans mare currunt. + +We rarely find the Spaniards or Italians, or the natives of the South of +Europe, lose their ideality of character and their warm passions when +settled permanently in England; the only alteration in them seems to be +such as the forms of society and intercourse with others has led them +to. Still the man is the same, though he may have adopted a new regime +in the fashion of his clothes, or the dishes of his dinner. + +(_To be continued_.) + + * * * * * + + +FAIR ROSAMOND. + +(_To the Editor of the Mirror_.) + + +In a late Number of the MIRROR, in which you have given a view of the +Labyrinth at Woodstock, and several particulars respecting Fair +Rosamond, many doubts are stated relative to her death, viz. _how_ and +what time. I therefore send you the following account from _Collins's +Peerage of England:_-- + +"Rosamond de Clifford was the eldest of the two daughters of Walter de +Clifford, by Margaret his wife, daughter and heir of Ralph de Toeny, +Lord of Clifford Castle, in Herefordshire, (and had with her the said +castle and lands about it as an inheritance.) This Rosamond was the +unfortunate concubine of Henry II., for whom the king built that famous +Labyrinth[2] at Woodstock, where she lived so retired, as not easily to +be found by his jealous queen. The king gave her a cabinet of such +elegant workmanship,[3] as showed the fighting of champions, moving of +cattle, flying of birds, and swimming of fish, which were so artfully +represented, as if they had been alive. _She died 23rd Henry II. anno +1176_, by poison (as was suspected) given her by Queen Eleanor, and was +buried in the Chapter-house of the Nunnery of Godstow." + +G.F. + + [2] Chron. Joreval, 1151. + [3] Ibid. + + * * * * * + + +GODSTOW NUNNERY. + + +On the banks of the Isis, about two miles from Oxford, are the remains +of Godstow Nunnery. It was founded towards the end of the reign of Henry +I. by Editha, a lady of Winchester, and when dissolved in the reign of +Henry VIII. it was valued at £274. per annum. A considerable portion of +its buildings remained until the end of the reign of Charles I. about +which time they were accidentally destroyed by fire. The present remains +consist chiefly of ranges of walls on the north, south, and east sides +of an extended area. Near the western extremity of the high north wall +are the remains of two buttresses. There is a small building which abuts +on the east, and ranges along the southern side, which was probably the +Chapter House of the Nuns. The walls are entire, the roof is of wood, +and some of the rafter work is in fair preservation. It is in this +building that the remains of Rosamond are supposed to have been +deposited, when they were removed from the choir of the church, by the +order of Hugh, Bishop of Lincoln, in 1191. On the north wall is painted +a pretended copy of her epitaph in Latin. Many stone coffins have at +various times been found on this spot. + +HALBERT H. + + * * * * * + + +SCRAPS FROM TURKISH HISTORY. + +(_For the Mirror_.) + + +_First Landing of the Turks in Europe._--Orchanes, second king of the +Turks, having settled his monarchy in Lesser Asia, was determined to get +footing in Europe. Solyman, his eldest son, being willing to undertake +the enterprise, was accordingly despatched with an army of veterans, who +crossed the Hellespont, and arrived on the European side. They soon +afterwards seized many considerable castles and cities belonging to the +Greeks, who offered little or no resistance to the invaders of their +empire. These occurrences transpired about the year 1358. + +_A Woman's Revenge._--Mahomet the Great, on being proclaimed Sultan, +caused his two innocent brothers to be put to death; the mother of the +youngest immediately afterwards went to the new king, and reproached him +severely for his cruelty. In order to appease her, he said, "that it +consisted with the policy of his state to do as he had done, but that +whatever she asked of him should be granted her." The lady, therefore, +determining to be revenged, demanded one of the sultan's chief bassas to +be delivered to her. Mahomet, to keep his word, gave orders that it +should be done without delay; and the enraged lady, seeing the bassa +bound before her, first stabbed him, and then plucked out his liver, +which she cast to the dogs. + +_Turkish Superstition._--Scanderbeg, prince of Epyrus, after many +glorious victories, died on the 17th of January, 1466, in the 53rd year +of his age, and 24th of his reign. He was buried with great solemnity in +the cathedral at Lyssa. The Turks, nine years afterwards, took the city, +and dug up his bones for the purpose of setting them in rings and +bracelets, thinking, by this means, that they should partake of his +invincible fortune. + +_Amurath's Dream._--About the year 1594, Amurath III. dreamed that he +saw a man of prodigious stature, with one foot raised upon the Tower of +Constantinople, while the other reached over the Bosphorus, and rested +on the Asiatic shore. In one hand, the figure sustained the sun, while +the other held the moon. He struck his foot against the Tower of +Constantinople, the fall of which overthrew the great temple, and the +imperial palace. Amurath, being greatly discomfited by this dream, +consulted his wizard, who informed him, "that it was a warning sent by +their prophet Mahomet, who threatened the overthrow of their religion +and empire, unless Amurath engaged his whole force against the +Christians." This interpretation had so much influence with the emperor, +that he vowed not to lay down his arms until he had utterly exterminated +the Christians. + +G.W.N. + + * * * * * + + +TROUT FISHING. + +(_To the Editor of the Mirror_.) + + +Sir,--I shall now sum up this _ticklish_ subject, by acquainting you +with three more methods of catching trout in Westmoreland. + +_Flood-netting_.--A flood net is a small net with a semi-circular frame +at the mouth of it, from which projects a long handle. This is used only +when there are floods; the fisher draws it up the rivulets, and every +now and then pulls it up to look for his success. Sometimes he nets a +great many at a time, and especially if he wait the arrival of the +flood, because a large shoal mostly comes down with the first torrents. + +_Pod-netting_.--This derives its name from the habitation of the trouts +(the banks of the "becks") which are called "hods" or "holds" and more +frequently "pods," and this net therefore goes by these three names. I +have before described to you the situation generally of these "_holds_" +to be either in the ledge of some rock or stone in the water, or under +some bank reaching over the stream. This net is used in fine weather, +and when the water is "_clear as crystal_;" the fisherman takes hold of +the handles of the net,[4] and wades through the stream as gently as +possible, placing the net just at the side of a trout's "hold," taking +care to keep it as close to the bottom as possible, to afford the trout +no room for escape. Then another with a long pole drives the trouts from +the mouth of the "_hold_," when they immediately dart into the net, and +nothing remains but to draw the net quickly up. This is a famous method +of fishing. I have been with parties when we have completely cleared the +beck. We went to "Carmony" in the spring of 1825, and caught an immense +quantity by fishing with the hand and pod. This brings to my +recollection an amusing circumstance, which I intend troubling you with, +though you may think it unworthy of notice. It was reported in that year +that there was a large quantity of trouts in the beck; and I went at the +recommendation of those who had seen a particularly large one (when +passing by) "basking" in the streams. I was referred to a _certain_ +"_lum_," and thither I went one afternoon with two friends, to try if we +could have an opportunity of seeing him. We had scarcely reached the +spot when we perceived him lying at the mouth of his "_hold_," a fine +grassy bank at the side of which grew a small bush; and I employed my +friends to watch the trout should he escape me. I crossed the brook (my +friends remaining on the opposite side), pulled off my coat and +waistcoat, and tucked up my shirt ready for action. He was still lying +very quietly, and as I knew I had no chance with him then, I touched him +gently with a twig and he moved into his habitation. I then leaned over +the bank, thrust in my arm, touched his back, I felt his size, and was +all caution. So first I began to secure him by building a piece of wall +before the bank to prevent his going out; but I had no sooner laid the +first stone than out he bounced, and darted down the river about twenty +yards, (we running after him all the while) then up again, and so on for +about a quarter of an hour, till at length he became tired and waddled +into his dwelling. I now thought all secure, and once more put in my +hand, when he jumped at least three or four yards out of the water. I +must confess, I was a little confused with my friends' dictation, who +feared I should lose him. Again housed, I made a kind of fort at one end +of the hold, and this done, I again thrust in my arm, when he was as +soon out again, and on getting up I found my hand covered with blood. +Still he came back to his favourite place, and I tried again, after +giving my friends caution to be on the look out. This time I was +successful, I put my hand gently under his belly, and by a tickle, +secured the rascal, by thrusting the fore-finger and thumb of my right +hand in his gills. I got him on to land, my friends ran about in +exstacy, and I think I never saw a finer trout than he proved to +be--real Eden. We gave a shout of triumph, after which we cut him on the +nose to kill him. From tail to snout he measured one foot four inches; +but he was beautifully plump and thick-made. We now began to wonder what +caused the blood on my hand, when on examination, we found a large night +hook in his side, which no doubt I had touched, and had thus given him +pain, and made him restless. I will not prolong the story, but tell you +he weighed about two pounds and a half, and was acknowledged to be the +plumpest trout ever caught in that county by the hand.[5] Shortly +afterwards I caught the partner to it in the same place, but it was not +so fine a trout, and I had not so much effort in catching it. The +largest trout ever caught in this county weighed four pounds and a half, +but that was taken with the net. I have no other recommendation for this +paper but its originality. I have enjoyed the sport, and can only half +convey a description of it upon paper. + +W.H.H. + + [4] This net is made differently from the other, there being no + frame to it and having two handles. + + [5] The reader must consider the difficulty of holding a large + fish with the hand. + + * * * * * + + +THE ROSE. + +(_For the Mirror._) + + + Mark, Laura, dearest, yonder rose + Its inner folds are sad and pale, love; + While blushing, outward leaves disclose + A lively crimson to the gale, love. + + Yet as the secret canker-worm + Preys deeply on its drooping heart, love, + Soon from the flow'ret's with'ring form + Will all that vivid glow depart, love. + + Then turn to me those beaming eyes-- + A blooming cheek although you see, love, + Since hope is fled, then pleasure dies, + And read the rose's fate in me, love. + + * * * * * + + +OLD WINE. + +(_For the Mirror._) + + +The passion for old wines has sometimes been carried to a very +ridiculous excess, for the "_thick crust_," the "_bee's wing_," and the +several other criterions of the epicure, are but so many proofs of the +decomposition and departure of some of the best qualities of the wine. +Had the man that first filled the celebrated Heidleburg tun been placed +as sentinel, to see that no other wine was put into it, he would have +found it much better at twenty-five or thirty years old, than at one +hundred, had he lived so long, and been permitted now and then to taste +it. + +At Bremen there is a wine-cellar, called the Store, where five hogsheads +of Rhenish wine have been preserved since 1625. These five hogsheads +cost 1,200 francs. Had this sum been put out to compound interest, each +hogshead would now be worth above a thousand millions of money, a bottle +of this precious wine would cost 21,799,480 francs, or about +908,311_l._, and a single wine-glass 2,723,808 francs, or about +113,492_l._. + +J.L.S. + + * * * * * + + +THE HEROINE. + +A SKETCH FROM SUNDRY NOVELS. + +(_For the Mirror._) + + +She must be, _à plaisir_, tall and slender in person, or of humbler +stature, but never inclining to stoutness, since the _en bon point_ +savours (at least in romance) of vulgarity. Her complexion may be light +or dark, according to fancy; but her interesting pallidness may +occasionally be relieved by a hectic flush, yet more interesting. She +must possess small _alabaster_ hands, _coral_ or _ruby_ lips, enchasing +a double row of _pearls_; a neck rivalling _ivory_ or driven _snow_, +(yes, even if our heroine be a brunette, for incongruity is the very +essence of romance); _velvet_ cheeks, _golden_ or _jet_ black hair, +_diamond_ eyes, marvellous delicate feet, shrouded at all times in +_bas-de-soie_, and defended by the most enchanting slippers imaginable; +her figure must be a model for the statuary, and at all seasons, and in +every situation, arrayed in muslins or silks, which, wondrous to relate, +resist the injuries of time, weather, and wear in a manner perfectly +astounding. What heroine had ever an hiatus in her stocking, or a +fracture in her gown of finest woof? Ye gods! what an insult to suppose +her _repairing such_! The lady's mental accomplishments and +qualifications are as follow:--She sings divinely, plays on the harp +(and piano too in modern days) _à merveille_; occasionally condescends +to fascinate on the guitar, and the lute also, should that instrument, +now rather antiquated, fall in her way. She takes portraits, and +sketches from nature; she understands _all_ languages, or rather that +desideratum, an _universal tongue_, since in the most foreign lands she +is never at a loss to render herself understood, nor to comprehend that +which is addressed to her; she is of a melancholy cast of mind, and +carries sal-volatile in her reticule, and fountains of tears in her +eyes, for use on the most _public_ occasions; she likes gloomy +apartments, looking upon the sea, mountains, or black forests, and +leading into endless corridors; she has an Æolian lyre ever at her +casement, writes verses and weeps by moonlight, for--effect, or-- +_nothing_; and is enamoured with a being, who, in the common course +of nature, could not exist; he possessing, amongst other fine qualities, +that of omnipresence in an impious degree. Should the heroine reside in +a town, and especially London, she must have dwelt previously in some +isolated mansion, seldom visited by beings superior in intellect to the +foxes they hunt; an idiot mother, vulgar aunt, a father, an uncle, or a +guardian in his dotage, must have superintended her education; and when, +at the age of sixteen, some fortunate chance throws her into society, +her accomplishments and manners are found more fitting for it and +finished, than those of persons who have from their cradles associated +with families of the highest distinction, and possessed all the +advantages of a polished and liberal education. The heroine has, in all +situations, an abundant store of money, jewels, and clothes, supplied no +one knows when, how, or by whom; and these, with her musical +instruments, drawing materials, &c. accompany her into every reverse of +situation, in a manner perfectly incomprehensible, but highly amusing +and edifying. A miniature portrait of some mysterious relative or +friend, seldom or ever seen, nay, indeed, a sacred memento of the dead, +is highly scenic and effective in a romance. The heroine ought, by all +means, to possess such; it _may_ do good, and it _can_ do no harm. +Finally, the lady must frequently faint, be twice or thrice on the brink +of the grave, undergo exquisite varieties of suffering, run all hazards, +but retain her beauty and reputation unblemished to the _last_, i.e. to +her _marriage_; after which, this wondrous and superlative creature, and +her partner in perfection, are never heard of more. _Why_? + +M.L.B. + + * * * * * + + +ANCIENT ROMAN FESTIVALS. + +SEPTEMBER. + + +The _Septmontium_ was a festival of the seven mountains of Rome, which +was celebrated in this month, near the seven mountains, within the walls +of the city; they sacrificed seven times in seven different places; and +on that day the emperors were very liberal to the people. + +The _Meditrinalia_ were feasts instituted in honour of the goddess +_Meditrina_, and celebrated on the 13th of September. They were so +called from _medendo_, because the Romans then began to drink new wine, +which they mixed with old, and _that_ served them instead of physic. + +P.T.W. + + * * * * * + + + +NOTES OF A READER. + + +THE ANNUALS FOR 1829. + + +These elegant little works are already in a forward state. MR. ALARIC +WATTS announces the plates of the SOUVENIR, "of a more important size +than heretofore," and twelve in number, already completed. Among them +are _Cleopatra embarking on the Cydnus_, drawn by Danby, and engraved by +Goodall; _Love taught by the Graces_, drawn by Hilton, and engraved by +J.C. Edwards; a beautiful scene from _Lalla Rookh_, drawn by Stephanoff, +and engraved by Bacon; _She never told her Love_, drawn by Westall, and +engraved by Rolls. Whilst Mr. Watts has been catering for the "children +of a larger growth," Mrs. W. has been preparing a "New Year's Gift; or +_Juvenile_ Souvenir", to be accompanied with exquisite illustrations of +Nursery literature; as the Children in the Wood, Red Riding Hood, &c. +with two historical subjects after Northcote. + +Mr. Ackermann, to whom we are indebted for the _naturalization_ of +"Annuals", announces that one of his plates in the forthcoming "FORGET +ME NOT"--(4 inches by 3 in dimension) has cost one hundred guineas! The +subject is "the Ruined City," by Martin, engraved by Le Keux. Fine +engraving is thus almost as dear as building-ground at Brighton. + +The KEEPSAKE will appear much earlier than last year. Sir Walter Scott +has written three or four articles, and two or three "noble lords" are +among the contributors. Nothing can exceed the beauty of the specimens +of the illustrations. + +The FRIENDSHIP'S OFFERING passes into the editorial hands of Mr. T. +Pringle, of whose poetical talents we have lately had some exquisite +specimens. + +The ANNIVERSARY.--Allan Cunningham has joined Mr. Sharp (of whose taste +in "getting up" books, our readers must be aware) in a splendid volume +to be called "The Anniversary." Among the engravings are _Psyche_, after +Sir Thomas Lawrence; _Young Cottagers_, after Gainsborough; the _Author +of Waverley in his Study_, after W. Allen; a _Monkey_, &c. by Landseer. +This is a new adventure, and we wish its projectors many +_anniversaries_. + +The CHRISTMAS BOX is to contain "A Story," from the pen of Miss +Edgworth. Mrs. Hofland, Miss Mitford, and Mrs. Hemans, likewise, +contribute their pleasing aid. + +The PLEDGE OF FRIENDSHIP is to be altered to _The Gem_, to be edited by +Mr. T. Hood, whose wit and fancy will sparkle among the contributions; +and who hopes that it may prove one of those "hardy annuals," which are +to become perennials; the writers are to be of "_authorized_ +popularity"--"the _plates_ not of the common _dessert_ kind, but a +welcome _service_"--the engravers "as true as steel" to their +originals--and the whole equally "mental" and "ornamental:" so the wight +has begun already. + +The WINTER'S WREATH promises to bloom more vigorously than ever, and +earlier too--in September. Among the contributors are the names of +Hemans, Opie, Mitford, Montgomery, Wiffen, Delta, &c. + +The AMULET is to be edited, as last year, by Mr. Hall. + +The BIJOU is printing with _two-fold_ energy. + +We read the other day that Schiller's "History of the German War," was +originally published in _Damen Almanach_--a Lady's Almanack! This is +real _azure_. "Annuals" do not, however, progress on the continent; for +a new one, lately published contained but a single original +contribution. In America they have bloomed with some success, though not +with the elegance and polish of our own country. Here their effect on +the Fine Arts has been very important, and they have done much for light +reading, every name of literary eminence, except those of Moore, +Campbell, and Rogers, having been enlisted in their ranks. We do not, +however, remember Leigh Hunt, although his pleasantries would relieve +the plaintiveness of some of the poetical contributions. A few +_Shandean_ articles would be very agreeable--something like the +Housekeepers in the last "Friendships' Offering." + +Nothing is said of the "Literary Pocket Book;" but our old friend, +"Time's Telescope," will be mounted as usual. + +We also take this opportunity to state that the "ARCANA OF SCIENCE AND +ART, FOR 1829," will appear towards the close of the present year; and, +we are enabled to promise its patrons a still greater modicum of novelty +and interest than was even comprised in its very successful forerunner. + + * * * * * + + +MARTYRDOM. + + +There is no truth more abundantly exemplified in the history of mankind, +than that the blood of martyrs, spilt in whatever cause, political or +religious, is the best imaginable seed for the growth of favour towards +their persons, and, as far as conversion depends on feeling, of +conversion to their opinions. "_Quoites mori emur toties +nasciemur_."--_Edin. Rev._ + + * * * * * + + +ENGLISH LIBERTY. + + +Our liberty is neither Greek nor Roman; but essentially English. It has +a character of its own,--a character which has taken a tinge from the +sentiments of the chivalrous ages, and which accords with the +peculiarities of our manners, and of our insular situation. It has a +language, too, of its own, and a language too singularly idiomatic, full +of meaning to ourselves, scarcely intelligible to strangers.--_Ibid._ + + * * * * * + + +SENSUALITY. + + +How different is the night of Nature from that of man, and the repose of +her scenes from the misrule of his sensual haunts; what a contrast +between the refreshing return of her morning, and the feverish agonies +of his day-dreams.--_Cameleon Sketches._ + + * * * * * + + +THE FLIMSY AGE. + + +Poets sing of the "golden age," the "silver age," and the "iron age," +but were they to celebrate this, I think they should call it the flimsy +age, for every thing seems made to suit a temporary purpose, without any +regard to the sound and substantial. From printed calico to printed +books, from Kean's acting to Nash's architecture, all is made to catch +the eye, to gratify the appetite for novelty, without regard to real and +substantial excellence.--_Blackwood_. + + * * * * * + + +VILLAGE CHURCHES. + + +We find very few monasteries founded after the twelfth century; the +great majority, which rose through the kingdom "like exhalations," were +founded between the eleventh and twelfth centuries; and in all county +histories and authentic records, we scarce find a parish church, with +the name of its resident rector recorded, before the twelfth century. +The first notice of any village church occurs in the Saxon Chronicle, +after the death of the conqueror, A.D. 1087. They are called, there, +"upland churches." "Then the king did as his father bade him ere he was +dead; he then distributed treasures for his father's soul to each +monastery that was in England; to some ten marks of gold, to some six; +to each _upland_ church sixty pence."--Ingram's Saxon Chronicle. +Gibson's note on the passage is, "unicuique ecclesiae rurali." These +rare rural churches, after the want of them was felt, and after the +lords of manors built, endowed, and presented to them, spread so +rapidly, that in 1200 in almost every remote parish there was an "upland +church," if not a resident minister, as at this day. + +The convents, however, still remained in their pristine magnificence, +though declining in purity of morals and in public estimation. In place +of new foundations of this august description, the-- + + "Village parson's modest mansion rose," + +gracefully shewing its unostentatious front, and, at length, humbly +adorning almost all the scattered villages of the land.--_Bowles's +History of Bremhill._ + + * * * * * + +It was pleasantly observed by a sentimental jockey, who lost by a +considerable length the first race he ever rode, "I'll never ride +another race as long as I live. The riders are the most selfish, narrow +minded creatures on the face of the earth. They kept riding and +galloping as fast as they could, and never had once the kindness or +civility to stop for me."--_Penelope_. + + * * * * * + + +IRELAND. + + +It has lately been proved by indisputable evidence, that the present +condition of the peasantry of Ireland is much superior, to that of the +population of the same island some centuries ago, when the number of +people did not exceed one million. Spenser describes them as inhabiting +"sties rather than houses, which is the chiefest cause of the farmer's +so beastly manner of living and savage condition, lying and living +together with his beast, in one house, in one room, in one bed, that is +clean straw, or rather a foul dunghill." + +In 1712, Dobbs, a man particularly conversant with the general condition +of Ireland, estimated that its population had increased 200,000. He +states that "the common people are very poorly clothed, go barelegged +half the year, and very rarely taste of that flesh meat with which we so +much abound, but are pinched in every article of life." + +In 1762, Sir William Petty computed that the inhabitants of Ireland +amounted to about one million three hundred thousand. Their habitations, +he says, "are lamentable wretched cabins, such as themselves could make +in three or four days, not worth five shillings the building, and filthy +and disgusting to a degree, which renders it necessary for us to refrain +from quoting his description. Out of the 200,000 houses of Ireland," +says he, "160,000 are wretched cabins, without chimney, window, or door +shut, even worse than those of the savages of America." Their food at +the same period, consisted "of cakes, whereof a penny serves for each a +week; potatoes from August till May; mussels, cockles, and oysters, near +the sea; eggs and butter made very rancid by keeping in bogs; as for +flesh they seldom eat it; they can content themselves with potatoes." + + * * * * * + + +SELF KNOWLEDGE. + + +We often hear people call _themselves_ fools. Now a man ought to know +whether he is a fool or not, and he would not say it if he did not +believe it; and there is also a degree of wisdom in the discovery that +one has been a fool, for thereby it is intimated that the season of +folly is over. Whosoever therefore actually says that he was a fool +formerly, virtually says that he is not a fool now.--_Penelope_. + + * * * * * + + +THE MAIDEN'S CHOICE. + + + Genteel in personage, + Conduct and equipage, + Noble by heritage, + Generous and free; + Brave, not romantic, + Learn'd, not pedantic, + Frolic, not frantic, + This must he be. + + Honour maintaining, + Meanness disdaining. + Still entertaining, + Engaging and new: + Neat, but not finical, + Sage, but not cynical, + Never tyrannical, + But ever true. + +_Old MS_. + + * * * * * + + +CUNNING. + + +In England, no class possesses so much of that peculiar ability which is +required for constructing ingenious schemes, and for obviating remote +difficulties, as the thieves and the thief-takers. Women have more of +this dexterity than men. Lawyers have more of it than statesmen; +statesmen have more of it than philosophers. + + * * * * * + + +STORY-TELLING. + + +A friend of mine has one, and only one, good story, respecting a gun, +which he contrives to introduce upon all occasions, by the following +simple, but ingenious device. Whether the company in which he is placed +be numerous or select, addicted to strong potations, or to long and +surprising narratives; whatever may happen to be the complexion of their +character or conversation, let but a convenient pause ensue, and my +friend immediately hears, or pretends to hear, the report of a gun. +Every body listens, and recalls his late impressions, upon which "the +story of a gun" is naturally, and as if by a casual association, +introduced thus--"By the by, speaking of guns, that puts me in mind of a +story about a gun;" and so the gun is fixed in regular style, and the +company condemned to smell powder for twenty minutes to come! To the +telling of this gun story, it is not, you see, at all necessary that +there should be an actual explosion and report; it is sufficient that +there _might_ have been something of the kind. + + * * * * * + + +PLEASURES OF TRAVELLING. + + +Dover quite full--horrible place! Shocking, the inns! Amphibious +wretches, the population. Ashore (from steam-packet) at four in the +morning. Fires out at The Ship. No beds! Think of it! Had to wait till a +party got up--going off at six. Six came--changed their minds (lazy!) +wouldn't go! Woke the whole house with ringing the bells, however--took +care they shouldn't sleep. Filthy breakfast! Bad butter--vile chops-- +eggs! I never got an egg properly boiled in my life! Royal Society ought +to give a premium. Set off, starved and shuddering--roads heavy--four +horses. Ruined with the expense. Man wanted to take half. Fat--looked +greasy. Thought ruin best. Got up to Pagliano's a petrifaction! Worthy +creature, the cook! Tossed me up such a "_Saumon, Tartare_"--"_Vol au +vent_"--"Maccaroni"--all light. Coffee--_liqueur_--no wine for fear of +fever--went to bed quite thawed in body and mind; and walked round +Leicester-square next morning like "a giant refreshed!"--_Blackwood_. + + * * * * * + +A woman's true dowry is virtue, modesty, and desires restrained; not +that which is usually so called. + + * * * * * + + +DOMESDAY. + + +Mr. Bowles in his _History of Bremhill_, makes a few observations +suggested by the account in _Domesday Book_, on the wages, and some of +the prices of agricultural produce on the farms where the _villani_ and +_servi_, literally _slaves_ and _villans_, laboured. When we find two +oxen sold for seventeen shillings and four-pence, we must bear in mind +that one Norman shilling was as much in value as three of ours; when we +find that thirty hens were sold for three farthings each, we must bear +in mind the same proportion. The price of a sheep was one shilling, that +is three of ours. Wheat was six shillings a-quarter; that would be, +according to our scale, two shillings and three-pence a-bushel. Now, at +the time of this calculation, everything must have borne a greater +price, reckoning by money, than at the time of Domesday; for the prices +of articles now set down (from an authentic document of the accounts of +the Duke of Cornwall, first published from the original by Sir R.C. +Hoare, in his _History of Mere_,) bear date somewhat more than two +hundred years afterwards, in the reign of Edward the First, 1299. But at +that time, what were the wages of the labourer? The ploughman's wages +were about five shillings a-year, fifteen shillings by the present +scale; a maid for making "pottage" received a penny a week! + + * * * * * + + + +THE SKETCH BOOK. + +STRIKING INCIDENT IN THE LIFE OF A MIDSHIPMAN. + + +I have read some theories, or rather hypotheses, of apparitions, in +which the authors attempt to account for the appearance of those +unsubstantial shadows, resembling the forms of living men, by +circumstances connected with the physical laws of matter. But I am +rather inclined to hold, with another class of inquirers, that the +origin of such marvels must be looked for in the mind of the seers; +although I do not go the length of their scepticism, and deny the actual +existence of the ghostly show, as a real and visible spectacle, before +the eyes. + +These observations will derive some illustration at least, if not entire +confirmation, from the following narrative, which is deemed to be +authentic in the neighbourhood in which the scene is laid; and the +application of which the judicious reader will, no doubt, be able to +make for himself. + +About the middle of the last war, the _Polly_, tender, commanded by +lieutenant Watts, came swooping up one evening to the small town of +Auchinbreck, in Scotland, and, resolving to pounce, without warning, +upon her prey, as soon as she had anchored in the roads, sent ashore the +press-gang to pick up as many of the stout boat-builder lads as they +could catch. The towns-people, however, were not so unprepared as the +captain of the tender imagined; some of those, indeed, who were fit for +sea, ran up into the hills, but by far the greater number collected +about the corner of a building-shed as you go on to the main street, +and, when the signal of hostility was given, by the capture of a man by +the press-gang, they rushed down upon them in a body, every one with his +axe on his shoulder like a troop of Indians with their tomahawks. It had +now become so dark that the sailors had much to do to keep their footing +upon the loose stones of the beach, which was just at this time rendered +a still more troublesome passage by the scattered materials of a pier, +then beginning to be built; and, besides, their number was so small +compared to the townspeople, that, after a few strokes of the cutlas, +and as many oaths as would have got a line-of-battle ship into action +and out again, they were fain to retreat to their boat, pursued by the +boat-builders, young and old, like furies. A midshipman, sitting in the +stern, whose name was William Morrison, a fine lad of fifteen, observed +the fate of the action with feelings in which local and professional +spirit struggled for the mastery. One moment he would rub his hands with +glee, and the next unsheath his dagger in anger, as he saw the axe of a +fellow-townsman descend on the half-guarded head of a brother sailor; +but, when the combatants came within oar's length of the boat, and the +retreat began to resemble a flight, the _esprit de corps_ got the upper +hand in the Auchinbrecken midshipman's feelings, and, unsheathing his +dagger, he jumped nimbly ashore and joined in the fray. At last the +sailors got fairly into their boat without a single man being either +missing or killed, although the list of the wounded included the whole +party; and the landsmen, apparently pretty much in the same +circumstances, although unable, from their number and the darkness, to +reckon as instantaneously the amount of the loss or damage, after giving +three cheers of triumph, retired in good order. + +William Morrison, after discharging his duty so manfully, was permitted +to go on shore the same evening, to visit his friends; and, indeed, the +captain could not have known before that he belonged to the place, as he +surely would not have confided to the lad so unpopular a task as that of +kidnapping his own relations and acquaintances. He was landed at the +point of Scarlough, to prevent the necessity of going through the +streets, which might have been dangerous in the excited state of the +people's minds; and, stretching across the fields, and along the side of +the hill, he steered steadily on in the direction of his paternal home, +which was about a mile and a half from the Point, but only one mile from +the town. The moon had now risen, but was only visible in short glimpses +through the clouds that were hurrying across the sky; and the tall, +strange shadows of the willows and yews that skirted the churchyard, +appearing and disappearing as he passed, probably by recalling the +associations of his earlier years, made William shrink, and almost +tremble. His own shadow, however, was a more pleasing thing to look at. +The dress, which, grown familiar by usage, he would not have noticed +elsewhere, was here brilliantly contrasted in his recollection with the +more clownish and common garb of his boyhood--for he already reckoned +himself a man; and the dagger, projecting smartly from his belted side, +gave, in his opinion, a finish quite melodramatic to his air. He drew +out the tiny blade from its sheath, and its sparkle in the moonlight +seemed to be reflected in his eyes as he gazed on it from hilt to point; +but the expression of those eyes was changed as they discovered that its +polish in one place was dimmed by blood. This could easily be accounted +for by the affray on the beach--and at any other time and place it would +have been thought nothing of;--but at this moment, and on this spot, he +was as much startled by the sight, as if his conscience had accused him +of a deliberate murder. The impressions his mind had received while +passing the churchyard, now returned upon him with added gloom; a kind +of misgiving came over him; and a thousand boding thoughts haunted him +like spirits, and hanging, as it were, on his heart, dragged it down +farther and farther at every step. He bitterly regretted that he had not +remained in the boat, as he had at first resolved, a neutral spectator +of the strife. How did he know that his hand had not been raised against +the life of his own brother? As far as he could see or learn, indeed, no +fatal accident had occurred; but there have been instances of people +walking cheerily off the field of battle, and dying of their wounds +after all. And yet it was not likely--it was hardly possible--that John +could have been in the affray, his indentures protecting him from the +impress. These cogitations were speedily followed by others of as gloomy +a character; for the thoughts breed faster than we can perceive them, +and each multiplies after his kind. It was a year since he had heard +from his friends, and five years since he had seen them. Who could tell +what changes had taken place in that time? Who could tell whether poor +John had even lived to be killed by the pressgang? His father, his +mother, and his sisters--were they dead, were they living, were they +sick, or in health? His sister had been always a delicate girl, one of +those gentle and fragile flowers of mortality that are sure not to live +till the summer; perhaps consumption, with the deceitful beauty of his +smile, had already led his fair partner down the short dance of life. + +Tormenting himself with such speculations, he arrived at his father's +house. Here he was surprised, bewildered, almost shocked, to observe a +new and handsome farm-house in place of the old one. On looking farther +on, however, he did detect the ancient habitation of his family, in its +original site; but it seemed, from the distance where he stood, to be +falling into ruins. His whole race must either be dead or banished, and +a new tribe of successors settled in their place; or else uncle William +must be deceased, and have left his father money enough to build a new +house. He walked up to the door, where he stood trembling for some +minutes, without courage to put his hand to the latch, and at last went +round to the window, and, with a desperate effort, looked in. How his +heart bounded! His father was there, still a stout healthy man of middle +life, his hair hardly beginning to be grizzled, by the meddling finger +of the old painter Time; and his mother, as handsome as ever, and her +face relieved by the smile either of habitual happiness, or of some +momentary cause of joyful excitation, from the Madonna cast which had +distinguished it in less prosperous days; and his sister, with only +enough left of her former delicacy of complexion to chasten the +luxuriant freshness of health on the ripe cheeks of nineteen. John, +indeed, was not there; but a vacant chair stood by the table ready to +receive him, and another--a second chair, beside it, only nearer the +fire--for whom?--for himself. His heart told him that it was. Some one +must have brought the tidings of his arrival; the family circle were at +that moment waiting to receive him; he could see his old letters lying +on the table before them, and recognised the identical red splash he had +dropped, as if accidentally, on the corner of one--the dispatch he had +written after his first action--although he had taken the trouble to go +to the cock-pit to procure, for the occasion, this valorous token of +danger and glory. But John--it was so late for him to be from +home!--and, as a new idea passed across his mind, he turned his eyes +upon the old house, which was distant about a hundred yards. It was +probable, he thought, nay, more than probable, that his father, when +circumstances enabled him to build a new house for himself, had given +the old one to his eldest son; and John, doubtless, was established +there as the master of the family, and perhaps at this moment was +waiting anxiously for a message to require his presence on the joyful +occasion of his brother's arrival. He did not calculate very curiously +time or ages, for his brother was only his senior by two years; he felt +that he was himself a man long ago, and thought that John by this time +must be almost an old man. + +While these reflections were passing through his mind, he observed a +light in the window of the old house; but he could not well tell whether +it was merely the reflection of a moonbeam on the glass, or a candle in +the interior. He walked forward out of curiosity; but the scene, as he +approached the building, was so gloomy, and the air so chill, that he +wished to turn back; however, he walked on till he reached the door, and +there, sure enough, his brother was waiting on the threshold to receive +him. They shook hands in silence, for William's heart was too full to +speak, and he followed John into the house; and an ill-cared-for house +it was. He stumbled among heaps of rubbish in the dark passage; and, as +he groped along the wall, his hand brought down patches of old lime, and +was caught in spiders' webs almost as strong as if the spinner had meant +to go a-fowling. When they had got into the parlour, he saw that the +building was indeed a ruin; there was not a whole pane of glass in the +window, nor a plank of wood in the damp floor; and the fireplace, +without fire, or grate to hold it, looked like the entrance to a +burying-vault. John, however, walked quietly in, and sat down on a heap +of rubbish by the ingleside; and William, following his example, sat +down over-against him. His heart now began to quake, and he was afraid, +without knowing what he had to fear. He ran over in his mind the +transactions of the evening--his walk, his reflections, his +anxieties--embracing the whole, as if in one rapid and yet detailed +glance of the soul, and then turned his eyes upon his brother both in +fear and curiosity. What fearful secret could John have to communicate +in a place like this? Could he not have spoken as well in the open air, +where it was so much warmer, and in the blessed light of the moon? No +one was dead, or likely to die, that he cared for; his dearest and +almost only friends were at this moment talking and laughing round their +social table, and near a bright fire, expecting his arrival, and John +and he were--here! At length, repressing by a strong effort the +undefined and undefinable feelings that were crowding upon him, he broke +the silence, which was now beginning to seem strange and embarrassing. + +"And how have you been, John?" said he, in the usual form of friendly +inquiries; "and how have you got on in the world since we parted?" + +"I have been well." replied John; "and I have got on as well as mortal +man could desire." + +"Yet you cannot be happy; you must have something to say--something I am +almost afraid to hear. Out with it, in God's name! and let us go home." + +"Yes," said John, "I have something to say; but it will not take long to +hear, and then we shall both go home. I was apprenticed to the +boat-building four years ago." "I know it," replied William; "you wrote +to me about it yourself, John." + +"I was made foreman before my time was out." + +"I know that, too," said William; "Fanny gave me the whole particulars +in a letter I received at Smyrna;--surely that cannot be all." + +"I have more to tell," said John, solemnly: "my apprenticeship is out." + +"What, in four years!--you are mad, John! What do you mean?" + +"The indenture was cancelled this evening." + +"How?" cried William, with a gasp, and beginning to tremble all over, +without knowing why. + +"I was wounded on the beach," said John, rising up, and walking +backwards towards the window; while the moon, entering into a dense +cloud, had scarcely sufficient power to exhibit the outlines of his +figure. "It was by the point of a dagger," continued he, his voice +sounding distant and indistinct, "_and I died of the wound!_" + +William was alone in the apartment, and he felt the hair rising upon his +head, and cold drops of sweat trickling down his brow. His ghastly and +bewildered look was hardly noticed by his parents and sister during the +first moments of salutation; and, when it was, the excuse was illness +and fatigue. He could neither eat nor drink, (it seemed as if he had +lost altogether the faculty of swallowing,) but sat silent and +stupified, turning his head ever and anon to the door, till it struck +one o'clock. About this time a knocking was heard, and the sister, +jumping up, cried it was John come home, and ran to open the door. But +it was not John; it was the minister of the parish; and he had scarcely +time to break the blow to the parents with the shield of religion, when +the dead body of their eldest son was brought into the house.--_Orient. +Herald_. + + * * * * * + + +SPIRIT OF DISCOVERY. + + +_Zoological Gardens._ + +It is stated that upwards of one hundred and eighty pounds have been +received for the admission of the public to these gardens during one +week. + +We omitted to mention last week, that one of the lamas was presented by +Robert Barclay, Esq. of Bury Hill; a leopard by Lord Auckland; several +animals from the Arctic regions by the Hudson's Bay Company, &c. The +pair of emus were bred at Windsor, by Lord Mountcharles. The emu is +hunted in New South Wales for its oil; it frequently weighs 100 lbs., +and its taste, when cooked, more resembles beef than fowl.--See _Notes_, +p. 378, vol. xi. MIRROR. + +_Venerable Orange Tree._ + +There is an orange tree, still living and vigorous, in the orangery at +Versailles, which is well ascertained to be above 400 years old. It is +designated the Bourbon, having belonged to the celebrated constable of +that name in the beginning of the 16th century, and been confiscated to +the crown in 1522, at which time it was 100 years old. A crown is placed +on the box in which it is planted, with this inscription, "Sown in +1421." + +Thirty-four orange-trees have lately been received at Windsor, as a +present from the king of France to George IV. + +_Potato Mortar._ + +M. Cadet-de-Vaux found mortar of lime and sand, and also that made from +clay, greatly improved in durability by mixing boiled potatoes with it. + +_An Experimental Farm,_ + +As a school of practical husbandry for a part of central France, has +been formed by the celebrated Abbé de Pradt. It is situated about a +league from Avranches, on the great road from that city to Bort, in the +department of Corrèze.--_Foreign Q. Rev._ + +_A Tunnel under the Vistula, at Warsaw,_ + +Has been projected. This mode of communication will be of the utmost +utility, especially at the times of the breaking up of the frost, when +all intercourse is interrupted. The architect is a foreigner, and has +engaged to complete the work in the space of three years.--_Paris +Paper._ + +_Small White Slugs,_ + +In gardens, are more injurious than the larger variety, because their +diminutive size escapes the gardener's eye. A good way to keep them +under is to make small holes, about an inch deep, and about the diameter +of the little finger, round the plants which they infest. Into these +holes the slugs will retreat during the day, and they may be killed +there by dropping in a little salt, quicklime in powder, or by strong +lime and water.--_Gardener's Mag._ + +_Turkish Method of Preserving Filberts._ + +When perfectly ripe, remove the husks, and dry the nuts, by rubbing with +a coarse cloth; sprinkle the bottom of a stone jar with a very little +salt; then place a layer of filberts, adding a small quantity of salt +between each layer. The jar must be perfectly dry and clean. Secure the +top from air, and keep them in a dry place; and, at the end of six +months, they will peel.--_Ibid._ + +_Extinction of Fires._ + +When a chimney or flue is on fire, throw into the fire-place one handful +after another of flower of sulphur. This, by its combustion, effects the +decomposition of the atmospheric air, which is, in consequence, +paralysed, or, in effect, annihilated. + +_Oysters._ + +After the month of May, it is felony to carry away the caltch (the spawn +adhering to stones, old oyster-shells, &c.) and punishable to take any +oysters, except those of the size of a half-crown piece, or such as, +when the two shells are shut, will admit of a shilling rattling between +them. + +The liquor of the oyster contains incredible multitudes of small embryo +oysters, covered with little shells, perfectly transparent, swimming +nimbly about. One hundred and twenty of these in a row would extend one +inch. Besides these young oysters, the liquor contains a great variety +of animalcules, five hundred times less in size, which emit a phosphoric +light. The list of inhabitants, however, does not conclude here, for +besides these last mentioned, there are three distinct species of worms +(called the oyster-worm,) half an inch long, found in oysters, which +shine in the dark like glow-worms. The sea-star, cockles, and muscles, +are the great enemies of the oyster. The first gets within the shell +when they gape, and sucks them out. + +While the tide is flowing, oysters lie with the hollow side downwards, +but when it ebbs they turn on the other side.[6] + + [6] See Bishop Spratt on Oysters. + +_Swarming of Bees._ + +An interesting communication was read, at a recent sitting of the Royal +Society, from T.A. Knight, Esq. describing the precaution taken by a +swarm of bees, in reconnoitering the situation where they intend to +establish their new colony, or swarm from the parent hive. The bees do +not go out in a considerable body, but they succeed each other in going +and returning, until the whole of the swarm have apparently made good +the survey, after which the whole body take their departure in a mass. +If by any chance a large portion of a swarm take their departure without +the queen bee, they never proceed to take up the ulterior quarters +without her majesty's presence. The result of Mr. Knight's observations +tends to prove, that all the operations of a swarm of bees are dictated +by previous concert, and the most systematic arrangement. + + * * * * * + + + +SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS + + +LADDER OF LOVE. + + + Men and women,--more or less,-- + Have minds o' the self-same metal, mould, and form!-- + Doth not the infant love to sport and laugh, + And tie a kettle to a puppy's tail?-- + Doth not the dimpled girl her 'kerchief don + (Mocking her elder) mantilla wise--then speed + To mass and noontide visits; where are bandied + Smooth gossip-words of sugared compliment? + But when at budding womanhood arrived, + She casts aside all childish games, nor thinks + Of aught save some gay paranymph--who, caught + In love's stout meshes, flutters round the door, + And fondly beckons her away from home,-- + The whilst, her lady mother fain would cage + The foolish bird within its narrow cell!-- + And then, the grandame idly wastes her breath, + In venting saws 'bout maiden modesty-- + And strict decorum,--from some musty volume: + But the clipp'd wings will quickly sprout again; + And whilst the doating father thinks his child + A paragon of worth and bashfulness,-- + _Her_ thoughts are hovering round the precious form + Of her sweet furnace-breathing Don Diego!-- + And he, all proof 'gainst dews and nightly blasts, + In breathless expectation waits to see + His panting Rosa at the postern door;-- + While she sighs forth "My gentle cavalier!"-- + And then they straightway fall to kissing hands, + And antic-gestures--such as lovers use,-- + Expressive of their wish quickly to tie + The gordian knot of marriage;--Pretty creatures!-- + But why not earlier to have thought of this?-- + When he, the innocent youth, was wont to play + At coscogilla; and the prattling girl, + Amid her nursery companions, toiled + In sempstress labours for her wooden dolls.-- + Ah! wherefore, did I ask?--Because forsooth, + Their ways are changed with their increasing years!-- + For when for gallantry the time be come-- + And when the stagnant blood begins to boil + Within the veins, my master--then the lads + Cast longing looks on damosels--for nature + Defies restraint--and kin-birds flock together!-- + And think not, Master, _Chance_ disposes thus; + Or were it so, then chance directs us all-- + Whene'er we have attain'd the important age! + I, ------, am a living instance!-- + Was I not once a lively laughing boy? + And, in my stripling age, did I not love + The pastimes suited to those madcap days?-- + Oh! would to heaven those times were present still! + But wherefore fret myself with hopes so vain?-- + The silly thought doth find no shelter here,-- + That any beauty, with dark roguish eyes, + With sparkling blood, and rising warmth of youth, + Would e'er affect this wrinkled face of mine:-- + The very thought doth smack of foolishness!-- + And, though the truth may be a bitter pill, + Yet,-- + It is most fitting that we know ourselves. + + _Spanish Comedy--Foreign Review._ + + * * * * * + + +A HINT TO RETIRING CITIZENS. + + + Ye Cits who at White Conduit House, + Hampstead or Holloway carouse, + Let no vain wish disturb ye; + For rural pleasures unexplored, + Take those your Sabbath strolls afford, + And prize your _Rus in urbe_. + + For many who from active trades + Have plung'd into sequester'd shades, + Will dismally assure ye, + That it's a harder task to bear + Th' ennui produced by country air, + And sigh for _Urbs in rure_. + + The cub in prison born and fed, + The bird that in a cage was bred, + The hutch-engender'd rabbit, + Are like the long-imprison'd Cit, + For sudden liberty unfit, + Degenerate by habit. + + Sir William Curtis, were he mew'd + In some romantic solitude, + A bower of rose and myrtle, + Would find the loving turtle dove + No succedaneum for his love + Of London Tavern turtle. + + Sir Astley Cooper, cloy'd with wealth, + Sick of luxurious ease and health, + And rural meditation, + Sighs for his useful London life, + The restless night--the saw and knife + Of daily amputation. + + Habit is second nature--when + It supersedes the first, wise men + Receive it as a warning, + That total change comes then too late, + And they must e'en assimilate + Life's evening to its morning. + + Thrice happy he whose mind has sprung + From Mammon's yoke while yet unwrung + Or spoilt for nobler duty:-- + Who still can gaze on Nature's face + With all a lover's zeal, and trace + In every change a beauty. + + No tedium vitae round him lowers, + The charms of contrast wing his hours, + And every scene embellish:-- + From prison, City, care set free, + He tastes his present liberty + With keener zest and relish. + + _New Monthly Mag_. + + * * * * * + + + +THE GATHERER. + + + A snapper up of unconsidered trifles. + + SHAKSPEARE. + + * * * * * + + +ACCOMMODATION FOR THREE HALFPENCE. + + +A gentleman on a wet evening entered the bar of an inn, and while +standing before the fire, called to a servant girl who had come to +receive his orders, "Margaret, bring me a glass of ale, a clean pipe, a +spitoon, a pair of snuffers, and the newspaper. And Margaret, take away +my great coat, carry it into the kitchen, and hang it before the fire to +dry, and dry my umbrella, and tell me what o'clock it is; and if Mr. +Huggins should come in, request him to come this way, for I think 'tis +near seven, and he promised to meet me at that hour. And Margaret, get +me change for a sovereign, and see that all the change is good, take for +the glass of ale out of it, and put the coppers in a piece of paper. And +Margaret, tell Jemima to bring some more coals, take away the ashes, and +wipe the table. And Margaret, pull down the blinds, shut the door, and +put-to the window-shutters."--N.B. The gentleman had his own tobacco. + + * * * * * + + +TWO EVILS, (EXTEMPORE.) + + + Can man sustain a greater curse + Than to possess an empty purse? + Yes, with abundance to be blest, + And not enjoy the pow'r to taste. + +G.K. + + * * * * * + + +EPIGRAM, FROM THE GERMAN. + + + If one has served thee, tell the deed to many? + Hast thou served many?--tell it not to any. + +J.L.S. + + * * * * * + + +A GENTLEMAN. + + +To tell the reader exactly what class of persons was meant to be +designated by the word _gentleman_, is a difficult task. The last time +we heard it, was on visiting a stable to look at a horse, when, +inquiring for the coachman, his stable-keeper replied, "He has just +stepped to the public-house along with another gentleman." + +The following is the negro's definition of a _gentleman_:--"_Massa make +de black man workee--make de horse workee--make de ox workee--make every +ting workee, only de hog: he, de hog, no workee; he eat, he drink, he +walk about, he go to sleep when he please, he liff like a GENTLEMAN_." + + * * * * * + + +"VERY BAD." + + +Why are washer-women, busily engaged, like Adam and Eve in Paradise? +Because they are _so-apy_ (so happy). + +Why is a widower, going to be married, like Eau de Cologne? Because he +is _re-wiving_. + +Why is a vine like a soldier? Because it is listed and trained, has +_ten-drills_, and shoots. + +Why is a sailor, when at sea, not a sailor? Because he's _a-board_. + +Why is a city gentleman, taken poorly in Grosvenor-square, like a +recluse? Because he is _sick-westward_ (sequestered.) + +Why is it better for a man to have two losses than one? Because the +first is a loss, and the second is _a-gain_. + +"If Britannia rules the waves," said a qualmish writing-master, going to +Margate last week in a storm, "I wish she'd rule 'em _straighter_."-- +_Lit. Gaz._ + + * * * * * + +_Printed and Published by J. LIMBIRD, 143, Strand, (near Somerset +House,) London; sold by ERNEST FLEISCHER, 626, New Market, Leipsic; and +by all Newsmen and Booksellers._ + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 11320 *** diff --git a/11320-h/11320-h.htm b/11320-h/11320-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e50a1ad --- /dev/null +++ b/11320-h/11320-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,1580 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"> +<html> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" /> +<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction, Vol. 12, Issue 331, September 13, 1828, by Various</title> +<style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[*/ + + <!-- + body {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + p {text-align: justify;} + blockquote {text-align: justify;} + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 {text-align: center;} + pre {font-size: 0.7em;} + + hr {text-align: center; width: 50%;} + html>body hr {margin-right: 25%; margin-left: 25%; width: 50%;} + hr.full {width: 100%;} + html>body hr.full {margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 0%; width: 100%;} + hr.short {text-align: center; width: 20%;} + html>body hr.short {margin-right: 40%; margin-left: 40%; width: 20%;} + + .note, .footnote + {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} + + span.pagenum + {position: absolute; left: 1%; right: 91%; font-size: 8pt;} + + .poem + {margin-left:10%; margin-right:10%; margin-bottom: 1em; text-align: left;} + .poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} + .poem p {margin: 0; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem p.i2 {margin-left: 1em;} + .poem p.i4 {margin-left: 2em;} + .poem p.i6 {margin-left: 3em;} + .poem p.i8 {margin-left: 4em;} + .poem p.i10 {margin-left: 5em;} + + .figure + {padding: 1em; margin: 0; text-align: center; font-size: 0.8em; margin: auto;} + .figure img + {border: none;} + .figure p + + .side { float:right; + font-size: 75%; + width: 25%; + padding-left:10px; + border-left: dashed thin; + margin-left: 10px; + text-align: left; + text-indent: 0; + font-weight: bold; + font-style: italic;} + --> +/*]]>*/ +</style> +</head> +<body> +<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 11320 ***</div> +<h1>The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and +Instruction, Vol. 12, Issue 331, September 13, 1828, by Various</h1> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<hr class="full" /> +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page161" name="page161"></a>[pg +161]</span> +<h1>THE MIRROR<br /> +OF<br /> +LITERATURE, AMUSEMENT, AND INSTRUCTION.</h1> +<hr class="full" /> +<table width="100%" summary="issue identity"> +<tbody> +<tr> +<td align="left"><b>Vol. 12, No. 331.]</b></td> +<td align="center"><b>SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 1828.</b></td> +<td align="right"><b>[PRICE 2d.</b></td> +</tr> +</tbody> +</table> +<hr class="full" /> +<h2>CHARLECOTE HALL, NEAR STRATFORD-UPON-AVON</h2> +<div class="figure" style="width:100%;"><a href= +"images/331-1.png"><img width="100%" src="images/331-1.png" alt= +"Charlecote Hall" /></a></div> +<p>"One of the most delightful things in the world is going a +journey." Now if there be one of our million of friends who, like +the fop in the play, thinks all beyond Hyde Park a desert, let him +forthwith proceed on a pilgrimage to <i>Stratford-upon-Avon</i>, +the birthplace of SHAKSPEARE; and though he be the veriest Londoner +that ever sung of the "sweet shady side of Pall Mall," we venture +to predict his reform. If such be not the result, then we envy him +not a jot of his terrestrial enjoyment. Let him but think of the +countless hours of delight, the "full houses," the lighted dome and +deeping circles, of the past season; when</p> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>Dread o'er the scene the ghost of Hamlet stalks;</p> +<p>Othello rages, &c.</p> +</div> +</div> +<p>and then will he not enjoy a visit to the place where—</p> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>——Sweetest Shakspeare, Fancy's child,</p> +<p>Warbled his native wood-notes wild.</p> +</div> +</div> +<p>Sterne, the prince of sentimental tourists, says, "Let me have a +companion of my way, were it but to remark how the shadows lengthen +as the sun declines;" but, for our part, we should prefer a visit +to Stratford, <i>alone</i>, unless it were with some garrulous old +guide to entertain us with his or her reminiscences.</p> +<p>This brings us to <i>Charlecote Hall</i>, one of the +Shakspearean relics. It consists of a venerable mansion, situated +on the banks of the Avon, about four miles from Stratford, and +built in the first year of the reign of Elizabeth, by Sir Thomas +Lucy;</p> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"A parliamente member, and justice of peace.</p> +<p>At home a poor scare-crow, at London an asse,"</p> +</div> +</div> +<p>and so well known as the prosecutor of Shakspeare. <a id= +"footnotetag1" name="footnotetag1"></a><a href= +"#footnote1"><sup>1</sup></a></p> +<p>The principal front, here represented, assumes, in its ground +plan, the form of the letter E—said to have been intended as +a compliment to the queen, who, as appears from the Black Book of +Warwick, visited this place in 1572.</p> +<p>The above is copied from one of a Series of Views illustrative +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page162" name="page162"></a>[pg +162]</span> of the Life of Shakspeare, drawn and etched by Mr. W. +Rider, of Leamington. These engravings are five in number, but the +artist explains that he has selected such subjects only, "as from +tradition, or more certain record, might fairly be presumed to bear +direct relation to the life of the poet. But while he regrets that +the number of authenticated subjects are so few, he feels that from +innovation or decay, they are almost hourly becoming fewer; and is, +therefore, prompted to secure the few remnants left, while they are +yet within his reach."</p> +<p>There is no doubt that the grounds around Charlecote Hall, were +the early haunts of SHAKSPEARE; and that in the house itself sat +the magisterial authority, before which he was doomed to meet the +charges, to which his youthful indiscretions had rendered him +liable; and, as it remains, to the present time, for the most part, +unaltered, and <i>presents to the spectator of the present day the +same image that was often, and under such peculiar circumstances, +impressed on the eye of our</i> SHAKSPEARE, it cannot but be +regarded with the most intense interest by all his admirers.</p> +<p>In conclusion, we would recommend the illustrators of Shakspeare +to possess themselves of a set of Mr. Rider's "Views;" whilst the +visiter of Stratford-upon-Avon would do well to lay a copy in his +portmanteau—for they are in truth so many faithful memorials +of the great poet of nature.</p> +<hr class="full" /> +<h2>ON NATIONAL VARIETIES.</h2> +<h4>(<i>For the Mirror</i>.)</h4> +<p>There are few more familiar subjects than that of the varieties +of national character, and the resemblances and differences that +exist between ourselves and the inhabitants of other countries. Few +conversations occur upon circumstances which may have happened +abroad, in which some one has not an anecdote to relate to +illustrate the known peculiarities of the nation in question; and +the greater part of the travels and tours which now issue in such +formidable numbers from the press, are naturally filled with +stories and incidents, either to show the correctness of our ideas +of the manners and opinions of our neighbours, or (perhaps more +frequently) to prove that the public were in error in that respect, +up to the time when the traveller in question had discovered the +truth, or a clue to it. The daily accounts of the outrages +perpetrated in Ireland, and the alarms that are sounded ever and +anon, touching the state of that unhappy country, are continually +exciting surprise, that the natives of the sister island should be +so unaccountably deficient in that sense of order and sobriety +which prevails in Great Britain. We associate with a Scotchman the +ideas of shrewdness and prudence; with a Frenchman, gaiety and +frivolity; with a Spaniard, gravity and pride; with an Italian, +strong passions of love and revenge: with a German, plodding +industry and habits of deep thinking; and with the northern +nations, an honest sincerity and persevering courage. We sometimes +judge with tolerable correctness; at others are wholly mistaken, +and not unfrequently run into such extremes, that having +established a principle, that a particular people are knavish, or +cowardly, or stupid, we are unwilling to admit any exceptions, but +include the whole race in our sweeping censure. We are prejudiced +at first sight against a Portuguese or Italian, and are careful of +our communications with him, even though we meet him on the high +road, or by mere accident in a public place. There can, however, be +no mistake in the common notion, that each nation has a peculiar +collection of qualities and habits, distinguishing it in a greater +or less degree from its neighbours, and the rest of the world; and +it is, therefore, at all events, an interesting, if not an useful +topic, to reflect a little how these differences arise. Not that we +intend here to give even any particular description of the various +races of mankind, or to enter into any inquiry upon the degrees of +their mental and bodily capacities; such would be foreign to our +purpose, and would exceed our limits. We shall merely hazard a few +observations upon the several causes to which the diversities in +men have been referred, not pretending to any decided opinion on so +nice a point, as whether these causes are wholly of a physical or +of a moral kind, or whether they are compounded of both. The +question is, perhaps, one of the most difficult in the whole range +of philosophical experience; we say experience, because it is +obvious that all theory on the subject must be the result of +observation and analysis; and that no general principles can be +laid down in the first instance, as the ground work of any +hypothesis we might be inclined to frame.</p> +<p>The scientific men to whom we are chiefly indebted for the facts +accumulated on this subject, are Dr. Blumenbach, of Göttingen, +Dr. Pritchard, of Edinburgh, and the eminent surgeon, Mr. Lawrence. +It has been a favourite matter of speculation with Lord Monboddo, +as well as with Voltaire, Rousseau, and the philosophers of the +French school, who have <span class="pagenum"><a id="page163" name= +"page163"></a>[pg 163]</span> endeavoured to show that men and +other animals are endowed with reason or instinct of the same kind, +but of different degrees. According to these fanciful writers, the +monkey is but another species of the human race, and has been +termed by them <i>Homo Sylvestris</i>. They made the most diligent +researches into all accounts concerning men in a savage state, and +were delighted beyond measure with the discovery alleged to have +been made in the island of Sumatra, of men with tails regularly +protruding from their hinder parts, who, according to Buffon, +walked and talked in the woods like other gentlemen:—</p> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>And backwards and forwards they switched their long tails,</p> +<p>Like a gentleman switching his cane.</p> +</div> +</div> +<p>The appearance of Peter the Wild Boy, who was found in the woods +of Hamela, in Hanover, living on the bark of trees, leaves, +berries, &c. threw Voltaire into transports of joy. He declared +the event to be the most wonderful and important that ages had +recorded in the annals of science, as it demonstrated the fact of +man living after the fashion of beasts, without the least spark of +civilization, and without speech; thereby forming a species of a +nature having more in common with monkeys than with men, and +presenting the regular degree, or intermediate class, between the +<i>homo civilis</i> and the <i>homo sylvestris</i>. The +circumstance, however, which afterwards transpired, of Peter's +having been found with the remains of a shirt-collar about his +neck, threw considerable discredit on the whole story; and the +young savage, on being brought to England by order of Queen +Caroline, lived in Hertfordshire for many years, perfectly harmless +and tractable, and behaving pretty much the same as other idiots. +The idea, therefore, of a race of men, in a healthy, natural +condition, having ever existed without the possession of reason, is +now deemed wholly fallacious. It is even maintained by Schlegel, +and other authorities of great weight, that the civilized state is +the primitive one, and that savage life is a degeneracy from it, +rather than civilized society being a graft upon barbarity. By +Schlegel's theory, the East, especially India, was the earliest +seat of arts and sciences; from the Sanscrit, or Indian language, +now extinct, are the Hebrew, the Chaldaic, the Greek, and many +others of the most ancient tongues, derived; and from the wisdom +and learning of the East "was the whole earth overspread." +Undoubtedly it is difficult to imagine by what gradation language +could have proceeded, from the howl of savages, and the cries of +nature, till it reached the eloquent music, the heart-stirring +oratory of the Greek; and besides this, and other considerations, +Schlegel is supported by the opinions of Adelung, the learned +author of "Mithridates, oder Allgemeine Sprachenkunde," upon the +probable habitation of the first family of the human race. Adelung +says, that civilization began in Asia, as is, indeed, universally +admitted to have been the case; and that when the waters of the +flood subsided, the highest ground, we may naturally conclude, must +have been the earliest inhabited. We may also reasonably presume +that a beneficent Providence would place the first family in a +situation where their wants could be easily satisfied; in a garden, +as it were, stocked with all herbs and fruits, fit and agreeable to +their use and taste. Now such a country is actually to be found in +Central Asia, between the degrees of 30 and 50 North lat. and 90 +and 110 long. E. of Ferro; a spot as high as the Plains of Quito, +or 9,500 feet above the level of the sea. It contains the sources +of most of the great rivers of Asia; the Seleuga, the Ob, the Lena, +the Irtisch, and the Jenisey flow from hence to the North; the +Jaik, the Jihon, and the Jemba to the West; the Amur and the Hoang +Ho to the East; and the Indus, Ganges, and Burrampooter to the +South. The valleys within this space, which our readers, by +referring to a map, will find to be correctly delineated, abound +with nutritive fruits and vegetables, and with all animals capable +of being tamed. There is evidently, therefore, some plausibility in +the notion that mankind sprung originally from the East, and that +from that quarter civilization is derived; but what portion of +knowledge was allotted to the primitive people, or how far their +descendants have surpassed or fallen short of these olden times, +must, we fear, be for ever beyond the reach of our +investigation.</p> +<p>If we call to mind a summary of the general divisions of human +beings throughout the world, we shall find little room to doubt of +the identity of their genus, and shall, without much trouble of +reflection, class them as different species of that +genus:—</p> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>———Facies non omnibus una,</p> +<p>Nec diversa, tamen.</p> +</div> +</div> +<p>Such seems to be the result of Mr. Lawrence's judgment; and +though we are aware that the descent of mankind from one common +stock has been much questioned and controverted, particularly in +Germany, we prefer resting upon the received opinion at present, to +running the risk of shocking established notions, <span class= +"pagenum"><a id="page164" name="page164"></a>[pg 164]</span> by +entering into the merits of the contrary theory.</p> +<p>Men are classed by Dr. Blumenbach under five great divisions, +viz. the Caucasian, Mongolian, Ethiopian, American, and Malay. The +Caucasian family may be asserted, though by its own members, to +have been always pre-eminent above the rest in moral feelings and +intellectual powers, and is remarkable for the large size of their +heads. It need not be more minutely described, than by saying it +includes all the ancient and modern Europeans, (except the +Laplanders and Fins;) the former and present inhabitants of Western +Asia as far as the Ob, the Caspian Sea, and the Ganges, viz. the +Assyrians, Medes, Chaldeans, Sarmatians, Scythians, Parthians, +Philistines, Phoenicians, Jews, and Syrians; the Tartars on the +Caucasus, Georgians, Circassians, Mingrelians, Armenians, Turks, +Persians, Arabs, Hindoos of high caste, Northern Africans, +Egyptians, Abyssinians, and Guanches. They are supposed to have +originally had brown hair and dark eyes.</p> +<p>The Mongolian family is of an olive colour and black eyes, flat +nose and face, small stature, black hair, no beard, and thick lips. +It comprises the people of Central and Northern Asia, Thibet, Ava, +Pegu, Cambodia, Laos, and Siam; the Chinese, Japanese, Fins, and +Esquimaux.</p> +<p>The Ethiopian family is black, with black and woolly hair, +compressed skull, low forehead, flat nose, and thick lips. It +includes all Africans not comprehended in the Caucasian family.</p> +<p>The American family has a dark skin, a red tint, straight hair, +a small beard, low forehead, and broad face. It includes all the +American tribes, except the Esquimaux.</p> +<p>The Malay family is brown, varying from a light tint to black. +Their hair is black and curled, head narrow, bones of the face +prominent, nose broad, and mouth large. They inhabit Malacca, +Sumatra, Java, and the adjacent islands; Molucca, the Ladrones, New +Holland, Van Dieman's Land, New Guinea, New Zealand, and the South +Sea Islands. They speak generally the Malay language.</p> +<p>The difference of character and disposition of these five +families is familiar to every one; they are as well known as is the +superiority of the Caucasian to the other races, and as the outward +distinctions of their bodies and complexions. The reasons of this +difference have been variously assigned, some ascribing it to +natural, others altogether to moral causes. By natural causes we +understand either that the constitutions of the races are such, +that their capabilities of informing their minds, and raising their +intellectual powers, are essentially not the same; or that the +climate has an influence over both their bodies and minds. By moral +causes, we mean artificial or accidental ones arising out of the +state of society; such as the nature of the government, the plenty +or poverty in which people live, a period of war or peace, the +power of public opinion, and such circumstances.</p> +<p>The effect of climate cannot of itself be sufficient to change +the manners and habits of a people. The instances of migratory +nations seem to show this; the Jews are as cunning and fond of +money in Asia or Africa as they are in Poland or England; that +extraordinary race, the Gipsies, (which are now ascertained to be a +Hindoo tribe, driven from their country in the fifteenth century,) +are not less thievish in Transylvania than in Scotland. The +Armenians of Constantinople, and other parts of the Levant, are +represented to be of the same mild and persevering temper, of the +same honesty and skilfulness in their dealings, and the same +kindness and civility of manners, as before they were driven from +their country by Sha-Abbas the Great. The changes, however, in the +habits and character of this people seem to mark the influence of +their several domestic situations. They were originally the most +warlike of the Asiatic tribes; after their subjection by the +Persians, they engaged themselves entirely in the patient +cultivation of the soil; and since the period of the depopulation +of Armenia, and their migrations into Persia, Russia, Turkey, and +other countries, they have been celebrated for their industry in +commercial concerns. They are bankers, money-brokers, merchants, +surgeons, bakers, builders, chintz-printers, and of all trades that +can be imagined, and are represented as the most useful subjects in +the Ottoman empire, retaining at the same time an almost +patriarchal simplicity in their domestic manners. The English in +the East and West Indies, in New South Wales, and in Canada, seldom +lose a relish for the habits and enjoyments they have been bred up +in, whether they migrate to the extremes of heat or of cold. John +Bull is an Englishman in heart, and will remain so under whatever +sun his lot of life may be cast; for,</p> +<blockquote>Coelum, non animum, mutant, qui trans mare +currunt.</blockquote> +<p>We rarely find the Spaniards or Italians, or the natives of the +South of Europe, lose their ideality of character and their warm +passions when settled permanently in England; the only alteration +in them seems to be such as the forms of society <span class= +"pagenum"><a id="page165" name="page165"></a>[pg 165]</span> and +intercourse with others has led them to. Still the man is the same, +though he may have adopted a new regime in the fashion of his +clothes, or the dishes of his dinner.</p> +<p>(<i>To be continued</i>.)</p> +<hr /> +<h3>FAIR ROSAMOND.</h3> +<h4>(<i>To the Editor of the Mirror</i>.)</h4> +<p>In a late Number of the MIRROR, in which you have given a view +of the Labyrinth at Woodstock, and several particulars respecting +Fair Rosamond, many doubts are stated relative to her death, viz. +<i>how</i> and what time. I therefore send you the following +account from <i>Collins's Peerage of England:</i>—</p> +<p>"Rosamond de Clifford was the eldest of the two daughters of +Walter de Clifford, by Margaret his wife, daughter and heir of +Ralph de Toeny, Lord of Clifford Castle, in Herefordshire, (and had +with her the said castle and lands about it as an inheritance.) +This Rosamond was the unfortunate concubine of Henry II., for whom +the king built that famous Labyrinth<a id="footnotetag2" name= +"footnotetag2"></a><a href="#footnote2"><sup>2</sup></a> at +Woodstock, where she lived so retired, as not easily to be found by +his jealous queen. The king gave her a cabinet of such elegant +workmanship,<a id="footnotetag3" name="footnotetag3"></a><a href= +"#footnote3"><sup>3</sup></a> as showed the fighting of champions, +moving of cattle, flying of birds, and swimming of fish, which were +so artfully represented, as if they had been alive. <i>She died +23rd Henry II. anno 1176</i>, by poison (as was suspected) given +her by Queen Eleanor, and was buried in the Chapter-house of the +Nunnery of Godstow."</p> +<h4>G.F.</h4> +<hr /> +<h3>GODSTOW NUNNERY.</h3> +<p>On the banks of the Isis, about two miles from Oxford, are the +remains of Godstow Nunnery. It was founded towards the end of the +reign of Henry I. by Editha, a lady of Winchester, and when +dissolved in the reign of Henry VIII. it was valued at £274. +per annum. A considerable portion of its buildings remained until +the end of the reign of Charles I. about which time they were +accidentally destroyed by fire. The present remains consist chiefly +of ranges of walls on the north, south, and east sides of an +extended area. Near the western extremity of the high north wall +are the remains of two buttresses. There is a small building which +abuts on the east, and ranges along the southern side, which was +probably the Chapter House of the Nuns. The walls are entire, the +roof is of wood, and some of the rafter work is in fair +preservation. It is in this building that the remains of Rosamond +are supposed to have been deposited, when they were removed from +the choir of the church, by the order of Hugh, Bishop of Lincoln, +in 1191. On the north wall is painted a pretended copy of her +epitaph in Latin. Many stone coffins have at various times been +found on this spot.</p> +<h4>HALBERT H.</h4> +<hr /> +<h3>SCRAPS FROM TURKISH HISTORY.</h3> +<h4>(<i>For the Mirror</i>.)</h4> +<p><i>First Landing of the Turks in Europe.</i>—Orchanes, +second king of the Turks, having settled his monarchy in Lesser +Asia, was determined to get footing in Europe. Solyman, his eldest +son, being willing to undertake the enterprise, was accordingly +despatched with an army of veterans, who crossed the Hellespont, +and arrived on the European side. They soon afterwards seized many +considerable castles and cities belonging to the Greeks, who +offered little or no resistance to the invaders of their empire. +These occurrences transpired about the year 1358.</p> +<p><i>A Woman's Revenge.</i>—Mahomet the Great, on being +proclaimed Sultan, caused his two innocent brothers to be put to +death; the mother of the youngest immediately afterwards went to +the new king, and reproached him severely for his cruelty. In order +to appease her, he said, "that it consisted with the policy of his +state to do as he had done, but that whatever she asked of him +should be granted her." The lady, therefore, determining to be +revenged, demanded one of the sultan's chief bassas to be delivered +to her. Mahomet, to keep his word, gave orders that it should be +done without delay; and the enraged lady, seeing the bassa bound +before her, first stabbed him, and then plucked out his liver, +which she cast to the dogs.</p> +<p><i>Turkish Superstition.</i>—Scanderbeg, prince of Epyrus, +after many glorious victories, died on the 17th of January, 1466, +in the 53rd year of his age, and 24th of his reign. He was buried +with great solemnity in the cathedral at Lyssa. The Turks, nine +years afterwards, took the city, and dug up his bones for the +purpose of setting them in rings and bracelets, thinking, by this +means, that they should partake of his invincible fortune.</p> +<p><i>Amurath's Dream.</i>—About the year 1594, Amurath III. +dreamed that he saw a man of prodigious stature, with one foot +raised upon the Tower of Constantinople, while the other reached +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page166" name="page166"></a>[pg +166]</span> over the Bosphorus, and rested on the Asiatic shore. In +one hand, the figure sustained the sun, while the other held the +moon. He struck his foot against the Tower of Constantinople, the +fall of which overthrew the great temple, and the imperial palace. +Amurath, being greatly discomfited by this dream, consulted his +wizard, who informed him, "that it was a warning sent by their +prophet Mahomet, who threatened the overthrow of their religion and +empire, unless Amurath engaged his whole force against the +Christians." This interpretation had so much influence with the +emperor, that he vowed not to lay down his arms until he had +utterly exterminated the Christians.</p> +<h4>G.W.N.</h4> +<hr /> +<h3>TROUT FISHING.</h3> +<h4>(<i>To the Editor of the Mirror</i>.)</h4> +<p>Sir,—I shall now sum up this <i>ticklish</i> subject, by +acquainting you with three more methods of catching trout in +Westmoreland.</p> +<p><i>Flood-netting</i>.—A flood net is a small net with a +semi-circular frame at the mouth of it, from which projects a long +handle. This is used only when there are floods; the fisher draws +it up the rivulets, and every now and then pulls it up to look for +his success. Sometimes he nets a great many at a time, and +especially if he wait the arrival of the flood, because a large +shoal mostly comes down with the first torrents.</p> +<p><i>Pod-netting</i>.—This derives its name from the +habitation of the trouts (the banks of the "becks") which are +called "hods" or "holds" and more frequently "pods," and this net +therefore goes by these three names. I have before described to you +the situation generally of these "<i>holds</i>" to be either in the +ledge of some rock or stone in the water, or under some bank +reaching over the stream. This net is used in fine weather, and +when the water is "<i>clear as crystal</i>;" the fisherman takes +hold of the handles of the net,<a id="footnotetag4" name= +"footnotetag4"></a><a href="#footnote4"><sup>4</sup></a> and wades +through the stream as gently as possible, placing the net just at +the side of a trout's "hold," taking care to keep it as close to +the bottom as possible, to afford the trout no room for escape. +Then another with a long pole drives the trouts from the mouth of +the "<i>hold</i>," when they immediately dart into the net, and +nothing remains but to draw the net quickly up. This is a famous +method of fishing. I have been with parties when we have completely +cleared the beck. We went to "Carmony" in the spring of 1825, and +caught an immense quantity by fishing with the hand and pod. This +brings to my recollection an amusing circumstance, which I intend +troubling you with, though you may think it unworthy of notice. It +was reported in that year that there was a large quantity of trouts +in the beck; and I went at the recommendation of those who had seen +a particularly large one (when passing by) "basking" in the +streams. I was referred to a <i>certain</i> "<i>lum</i>," and +thither I went one afternoon with two friends, to try if we could +have an opportunity of seeing him. We had scarcely reached the spot +when we perceived him lying at the mouth of his "<i>hold</i>," a +fine grassy bank at the side of which grew a small bush; and I +employed my friends to watch the trout should he escape me. I +crossed the brook (my friends remaining on the opposite side), +pulled off my coat and waistcoat, and tucked up my shirt ready for +action. He was still lying very quietly, and as I knew I had no +chance with him then, I touched him gently with a twig and he moved +into his habitation. I then leaned over the bank, thrust in my arm, +touched his back, I felt his size, and was all caution. So first I +began to secure him by building a piece of wall before the bank to +prevent his going out; but I had no sooner laid the first stone +than out he bounced, and darted down the river about twenty yards, +(we running after him all the while) then up again, and so on for +about a quarter of an hour, till at length he became tired and +waddled into his dwelling. I now thought all secure, and once more +put in my hand, when he jumped at least three or four yards out of +the water. I must confess, I was a little confused with my friends' +dictation, who feared I should lose him. Again housed, I made a +kind of fort at one end of the hold, and this done, I again thrust +in my arm, when he was as soon out again, and on getting up I found +my hand covered with blood. Still he came back to his favourite +place, and I tried again, after giving my friends caution to be on +the look out. This time I was successful, I put my hand gently +under his belly, and by a tickle, secured the rascal, by thrusting +the fore-finger and thumb of my right hand in his gills. I got him +on to land, my friends ran about in exstacy, and I think I never +saw a finer trout than he proved to be—real Eden. We gave a +shout of triumph, after which we cut him on the nose to kill him. +From tail to snout he measured one foot four inches; but he was +beautifully plump and thick-made. We now began to wonder what +caused the <span class="pagenum"><a id="page167" name= +"page167"></a>[pg 167]</span> blood on my hand, when on +examination, we found a large night hook in his side, which no +doubt I had touched, and had thus given him pain, and made him +restless. I will not prolong the story, but tell you he weighed +about two pounds and a half, and was acknowledged to be the +plumpest trout ever caught in that county by the hand.<a id= +"footnotetag5" name="footnotetag5"></a><a href= +"#footnote5"><sup>5</sup></a> Shortly afterwards I caught the +partner to it in the same place, but it was not so fine a trout, +and I had not so much effort in catching it. The largest trout ever +caught in this county weighed four pounds and a half, but that was +taken with the net. I have no other recommendation for this paper +but its originality. I have enjoyed the sport, and can only half +convey a description of it upon paper.</p> +<h4>W.H.H.</h4> +<hr /> +<h3>THE ROSE.</h3> +<h4><i>(For the Mirror.)</i></h4> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="i2">Mark, Laura, dearest, yonder rose</p> +<p class="i4">Its inner folds are sad and pale, love;</p> +<p class="i2">While blushing, outward leaves disclose</p> +<p class="i4">A lively crimson to the gale, love.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="i2">Yet as the secret canker-worm</p> +<p class="i4">Preys deeply on its drooping heart, love,</p> +<p class="i2">Soon from the flow'ret's with'ring form</p> +<p class="i4">Will all that vivid glow depart, love.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="i2">Then turn to me those beaming eyes—</p> +<p class="i4">A blooming cheek although you see, love,</p> +<p class="i2">Since hope is fled, then pleasure dies,</p> +<p class="i4">And read the rose's fate in me, love.</p> +</div> +</div> +<hr /> +<h3>OLD WINE.</h3> +<h4><i>(For the Mirror.)</i></h4> +<p>The passion for old wines has sometimes been carried to a very +ridiculous excess, for the "<i>thick crust</i>," the "<i>bee's +wing</i>," and the several other criterions of the epicure, are but +so many proofs of the decomposition and departure of some of the +best qualities of the wine. Had the man that first filled the +celebrated Heidleburg tun been placed as sentinel, to see that no +other wine was put into it, he would have found it much better at +twenty-five or thirty years old, than at one hundred, had he lived +so long, and been permitted now and then to taste it.</p> +<p>At Bremen there is a wine-cellar, called the Store, where five +hogsheads of Rhenish wine have been preserved since 1625. These +five hogsheads cost 1,200 francs. Had this sum been put out to +compound interest, each hogshead would now be worth above a +thousand millions of money, a bottle of this precious wine would +cost 21,799,480 francs, or about 908,311<i>l.</i>, and a single +wine-glass 2,723,808 francs, or about 113,492<i>l.</i>.</p> +<h4>J.L.S.</h4> +<hr /> +<h3>THE HEROINE.</h3> +<h4>A SKETCH FROM SUNDRY NOVELS.</h4> +<h4><i>(For the Mirror.)</i></h4> +<p>She must be, <i>à plaisir</i>, tall and slender in +person, or of humbler stature, but never inclining to stoutness, +since the <i>en bon point</i> savours (at least in romance) of +vulgarity. Her complexion may be light or dark, according to fancy; +but her interesting pallidness may occasionally be relieved by a +hectic flush, yet more interesting. She must possess small +<i>alabaster</i> hands, <i>coral</i> or <i>ruby</i> lips, enchasing +a double row of <i>pearls</i>; a neck rivalling <i>ivory</i> or +driven <i>snow</i>, (yes, even if our heroine be a brunette, for +incongruity is the very essence of romance); <i>velvet</i> cheeks, +<i>golden</i> or <i>jet</i> black hair, <i>diamond</i> eyes, +marvellous delicate feet, shrouded at all times in +<i>bas-de-soie</i>, and defended by the most enchanting slippers +imaginable; her figure must be a model for the statuary, and at all +seasons, and in every situation, arrayed in muslins or silks, +which, wondrous to relate, resist the injuries of time, weather, +and wear in a manner perfectly astounding. What heroine had ever an +hiatus in her stocking, or a fracture in her gown of finest woof? +Ye gods! what an insult to suppose her <i>repairing such</i>! The +lady's mental accomplishments and qualifications are as +follow:—She sings divinely, plays on the harp (and piano too +in modern days) <i>à merveille</i>; occasionally condescends +to fascinate on the guitar, and the lute also, should that +instrument, now rather antiquated, fall in her way. She takes +portraits, and sketches from nature; she understands <i>all</i> +languages, or rather that desideratum, an <i>universal tongue</i>, +since in the most foreign lands she is never at a loss to render +herself understood, nor to comprehend that which is addressed to +her; she is of a melancholy cast of mind, and carries sal-volatile +in her reticule, and fountains of tears in her eyes, for use on the +most <i>public</i> occasions; she likes gloomy apartments, looking +upon the sea, mountains, or black forests, and leading into endless +corridors; she has an Æolian lyre ever at her casement, +writes verses and weeps by moonlight, for—effect, or— +<i>nothing</i>; and is enamoured with a being, who, in the common +course of nature, could not exist; he possessing, amongst other +fine qualities, that of omnipresence in an impious degree. Should +the heroine reside in a town, and especially London, she must have +dwelt previously in some <span class="pagenum"><a id="page168" +name="page168"></a>[pg 168]</span> isolated mansion, seldom visited +by beings superior in intellect to the foxes they hunt; an idiot +mother, vulgar aunt, a father, an uncle, or a guardian in his +dotage, must have superintended her education; and when, at the age +of sixteen, some fortunate chance throws her into society, her +accomplishments and manners are found more fitting for it and +finished, than those of persons who have from their cradles +associated with families of the highest distinction, and possessed +all the advantages of a polished and liberal education. The heroine +has, in all situations, an abundant store of money, jewels, and +clothes, supplied no one knows when, how, or by whom; and these, +with her musical instruments, drawing materials, &c. accompany +her into every reverse of situation, in a manner perfectly +incomprehensible, but highly amusing and edifying. A miniature +portrait of some mysterious relative or friend, seldom or ever +seen, nay, indeed, a sacred memento of the dead, is highly scenic +and effective in a romance. The heroine ought, by all means, to +possess such; it <i>may</i> do good, and it <i>can</i> do no harm. +Finally, the lady must frequently faint, be twice or thrice on the +brink of the grave, undergo exquisite varieties of suffering, run +all hazards, but retain her beauty and reputation unblemished to +the <i>last</i>, i.e. to her <i>marriage</i>; after which, this +wondrous and superlative creature, and her partner in perfection, +are never heard of more. <i>Why</i>?</p> +<h4>M.L.B.</h4> +<hr /> +<h3>ANCIENT ROMAN FESTIVALS.</h3> +<h4>SEPTEMBER.</h4> +<p>The <i>Septmontium</i> was a festival of the seven mountains of +Rome, which was celebrated in this month, near the seven mountains, +within the walls of the city; they sacrificed seven times in seven +different places; and on that day the emperors were very liberal to +the people.</p> +<p>The <i>Meditrinalia</i> were feasts instituted in honour of the +goddess <i>Meditrina</i>, and celebrated on the 13th of September. +They were so called from <i>medendo</i>, because the Romans then +began to drink new wine, which they mixed with old, and <i>that</i> +served them instead of physic.</p> +<h4>P.T.W.</h4> +<hr class="full" /> +<h2>NOTES OF A READER.</h2> +<h3>THE ANNUALS FOR 1829.</h3> +<p>These elegant little works are already in a forward state. MR. +ALARIC WATTS announces the plates of the SOUVENIR, "of a more +important size than heretofore," and twelve in number, already +completed. Among them are <i>Cleopatra embarking on the Cydnus</i>, +drawn by Danby, and engraved by Goodall; <i>Love taught by the +Graces</i>, drawn by Hilton, and engraved by J.C. Edwards; a +beautiful scene from <i>Lalla Rookh</i>, drawn by Stephanoff, and +engraved by Bacon; <i>She never told her Love</i>, drawn by +Westall, and engraved by Rolls. Whilst Mr. Watts has been catering +for the "children of a larger growth," Mrs. W. has been preparing a +"New Year's Gift; or <i>Juvenile</i> Souvenir", to be accompanied +with exquisite illustrations of Nursery literature; as the Children +in the Wood, Red Riding Hood, &c. with two historical subjects +after Northcote.</p> +<p>Mr. Ackermann, to whom we are indebted for the +<i>naturalization</i> of "Annuals", announces that one of his +plates in the forthcoming "FORGET ME NOT"—(4 inches by 3 in +dimension) has cost one hundred guineas! The subject is "the Ruined +City," by Martin, engraved by Le Keux. Fine engraving is thus +almost as dear as building-ground at Brighton.</p> +<p>The KEEPSAKE will appear much earlier than last year. Sir Walter +Scott has written three or four articles, and two or three "noble +lords" are among the contributors. Nothing can exceed the beauty of +the specimens of the illustrations.</p> +<p>The FRIENDSHIP'S OFFERING passes into the editorial hands of Mr. +T. Pringle, of whose poetical talents we have lately had some +exquisite specimens.</p> +<p>The ANNIVERSARY.—Allan Cunningham has joined Mr. Sharp (of +whose taste in "getting up" books, our readers must be aware) in a +splendid volume to be called "The Anniversary." Among the +engravings are <i>Psyche</i>, after Sir Thomas Lawrence; <i>Young +Cottagers</i>, after Gainsborough; the <i>Author of Waverley in his +Study</i>, after W. Allen; a <i>Monkey</i>, &c. by Landseer. +This is a new adventure, and we wish its projectors many +<i>anniversaries</i>.</p> +<p>The CHRISTMAS BOX is to contain "A Story," from the pen of Miss +Edgworth. Mrs. Hofland, Miss Mitford, and Mrs. Hemans, likewise, +contribute their pleasing aid.</p> +<p>The PLEDGE OF FRIENDSHIP is to be altered to <i>The Gem</i>, to +be edited by Mr. T. Hood, whose wit and fancy will sparkle among +the contributions; and who hopes that it may prove one of those +"hardy annuals," which are to become perennials; the writers are to +be of <span class="pagenum"><a id="page169" name="page169"></a>[pg +169]</span> "<i>authorized</i> popularity"—"the <i>plates</i> +not of the common <i>dessert</i> kind, but a welcome +<i>service</i>"—the engravers "as true as steel" to their +originals—and the whole equally "mental" and "ornamental:" so +the wight has begun already.</p> +<p>The WINTER'S WREATH promises to bloom more vigorously than ever, +and earlier too—in September. Among the contributors are the +names of Hemans, Opie, Mitford, Montgomery, Wiffen, Delta, +&c.</p> +<p>The AMULET is to be edited, as last year, by Mr. Hall.</p> +<p>The BIJOU is printing with <i>two-fold</i> energy.</p> +<p>We read the other day that Schiller's "History of the German +War," was originally published in <i>Damen Almanach</i>—a +Lady's Almanack! This is real <i>azure</i>. "Annuals" do not, +however, progress on the continent; for a new one, lately published +contained but a single original contribution. In America they have +bloomed with some success, though not with the elegance and polish +of our own country. Here their effect on the Fine Arts has been +very important, and they have done much for light reading, every +name of literary eminence, except those of Moore, Campbell, and +Rogers, having been enlisted in their ranks. We do not, however, +remember Leigh Hunt, although his pleasantries would relieve the +plaintiveness of some of the poetical contributions. A few +<i>Shandean</i> articles would be very agreeable—something +like the Housekeepers in the last "Friendships' Offering."</p> +<p>Nothing is said of the "Literary Pocket Book;" but our old +friend, "Time's Telescope," will be mounted as usual.</p> +<p>We also take this opportunity to state that the "ARCANA OF +SCIENCE AND ART, FOR 1829," will appear towards the close of the +present year; and, we are enabled to promise its patrons a still +greater modicum of novelty and interest than was even comprised in +its very successful forerunner.</p> +<hr /> +<h3>MARTYRDOM.</h3> +<p>There is no truth more abundantly exemplified in the history of +mankind, than that the blood of martyrs, spilt in whatever cause, +political or religious, is the best imaginable seed for the growth +of favour towards their persons, and, as far as conversion depends +on feeling, of conversion to their opinions. "<i>Quoites mori emur +toties nasciemur</i>." —<i>Edin. Rev.</i></p> +<hr /> +<h3>ENGLISH LIBERTY.</h3> +<p>Our liberty is neither Greek nor Roman; but essentially English. +It has a character of its own,—a character which has taken a +tinge from the sentiments of the chivalrous ages, and which accords +with the peculiarities of our manners, and of our insular +situation. It has a language, too, of its own, and a language too +singularly idiomatic, full of meaning to ourselves, scarcely +intelligible to strangers. —<i>Ibid.</i></p> +<hr /> +<h3>SENSUALITY.</h3> +<p>How different is the night of Nature from that of man, and the +repose of her scenes from the misrule of his sensual haunts; what a +contrast between the refreshing return of her morning, and the +feverish agonies of his day-dreams. —<i>Cameleon +Sketches.</i></p> +<hr /> +<h3>THE FLIMSY AGE.</h3> +<p>Poets sing of the "golden age," the "silver age," and the "iron +age," but were they to celebrate this, I think they should call it +the flimsy age, for every thing seems made to suit a temporary +purpose, without any regard to the sound and substantial. From +printed calico to printed books, from Kean's acting to Nash's +architecture, all is made to catch the eye, to gratify the appetite +for novelty, without regard to real and substantial excellence. +—<i>Blackwood</i>.</p> +<hr /> +<h3>VILLAGE CHURCHES.</h3> +<p>We find very few monasteries founded after the twelfth century; +the great majority, which rose through the kingdom "like +exhalations," were founded between the eleventh and twelfth +centuries; and in all county histories and authentic records, we +scarce find a parish church, with the name of its resident rector +recorded, before the twelfth century. The first notice of any +village church occurs in the Saxon Chronicle, after the death of +the conqueror, A.D. 1087. They are called, there, "upland +churches." "Then the king did as his father bade him ere he was +dead; he then distributed treasures for his father's soul to each +monastery that was in England; to some ten marks of gold, to some +six; to each <i>upland</i> church sixty pence."—Ingram's +Saxon Chronicle. Gibson's note on the passage is, "unicuique +ecclesiae rurali." These rare rural churches, after the want of +them was felt, and after the lords of manors built, endowed, and +presented to them, spread so rapidly, that in 1200 in almost every +remote parish there was an "upland church," if not a resident +minister, as at this day.</p> +<p>The convents, however, still remained in their pristine +magnificence, though declining in purity of morals and in public +estimation. In place of new <span class="pagenum"><a id="page170" +name="page170"></a>[pg 170]</span> foundations of this august +description, the—</p> +<blockquote>"Village parson's modest mansion rose,"</blockquote> +<p>gracefully shewing its unostentatious front, and, at length, +humbly adorning almost all the scattered villages of the +land.—<i>Bowles's History of Bremhill.</i></p> +<hr /> +<p>It was pleasantly observed by a sentimental jockey, who lost by +a considerable length the first race he ever rode, "I'll never ride +another race as long as I live. The riders are the most selfish, +narrow minded creatures on the face of the earth. They kept riding +and galloping as fast as they could, and never had once the +kindness or civility to stop for me."—<i>Penelope</i>.</p> +<hr /> +<h3>IRELAND.</h3> +<p>It has lately been proved by indisputable evidence, that the +present condition of the peasantry of Ireland is much superior, to +that of the population of the same island some centuries ago, when +the number of people did not exceed one million. Spenser describes +them as inhabiting "sties rather than houses, which is the chiefest +cause of the farmer's so beastly manner of living and savage +condition, lying and living together with his beast, in one house, +in one room, in one bed, that is clean straw, or rather a foul +dunghill."</p> +<p>In 1712, Dobbs, a man particularly conversant with the general +condition of Ireland, estimated that its population had increased +200,000. He states that "the common people are very poorly clothed, +go barelegged half the year, and very rarely taste of that flesh +meat with which we so much abound, but are pinched in every article +of life."</p> +<p>In 1762, Sir William Petty computed that the inhabitants of +Ireland amounted to about one million three hundred thousand. Their +habitations, he says, "are lamentable wretched cabins, such as +themselves could make in three or four days, not worth five +shillings the building, and filthy and disgusting to a degree, +which renders it necessary for us to refrain from quoting his +description. Out of the 200,000 houses of Ireland," says he, +"160,000 are wretched cabins, without chimney, window, or door +shut, even worse than those of the savages of America." Their food +at the same period, consisted "of cakes, whereof a penny serves for +each a week; potatoes from August till May; mussels, cockles, and +oysters, near the sea; eggs and butter made very rancid by keeping +in bogs; as for flesh they seldom eat it; they can content +themselves with potatoes."</p> +<hr /> +<h3>SELF KNOWLEDGE.</h3> +<p>We often hear people call <i>themselves</i> fools. Now a man +ought to know whether he is a fool or not, and he would not say it +if he did not believe it; and there is also a degree of wisdom in +the discovery that one has been a fool, for thereby it is intimated +that the season of folly is over. Whosoever therefore actually says +that he was a fool formerly, virtually says that he is not a fool +now.—<i>Penelope</i>.</p> +<hr /> +<h3>THE MAIDEN'S CHOICE.</h3> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="i2">Genteel in personage,</p> +<p class="i2">Conduct and equipage,</p> +<p class="i2">Noble by heritage,</p> +<p class="i4">Generous and free;</p> +<p class="i2">Brave, not romantic,</p> +<p class="i2">Learn'd, not pedantic,</p> +<p class="i2">Frolic, not frantic,</p> +<p class="i4">This must he be.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="i2">Honour maintaining,</p> +<p class="i2">Meanness disdaining.</p> +<p class="i2">Still entertaining,</p> +<p class="i4">Engaging and new:</p> +<p class="i2">Neat, but not finical,</p> +<p class="i2">Sage, but not cynical,</p> +<p class="i2">Never tyrannical,</p> +<p class="i4">But ever true.</p> +</div> +</div> +<h4><i>Old MS</i>.</h4> +<hr /> +<h3>CUNNING.</h3> +<p>In England, no class possesses so much of that peculiar ability +which is required for constructing ingenious schemes, and for +obviating remote difficulties, as the thieves and the thief-takers. +Women have more of this dexterity than men. Lawyers have more of it +than statesmen; statesmen have more of it than philosophers.</p> +<hr /> +<h3>STORY-TELLING.</h3> +<p>A friend of mine has one, and only one, good story, respecting a +gun, which he contrives to introduce upon all occasions, by the +following simple, but ingenious device. Whether the company in +which he is placed be numerous or select, addicted to strong +potations, or to long and surprising narratives; whatever may +happen to be the complexion of their character or conversation, let +but a convenient pause ensue, and my friend immediately hears, or +pretends to hear, the report of a gun. Every body listens, and +recalls his late impressions, upon which "the story of a gun" is +naturally, and as if by a casual association, introduced +thus—"By the by, speaking of guns, that puts me in mind of a +story about a gun;" and so the gun is fixed in regular style, and +the company condemned to smell powder for twenty minutes to come! +To the telling of this gun story, it is not, you see, at all +necessary that there should be an actual explosion and report; it +is sufficient that there <i>might</i> have been something of the +kind.</p> +<hr /> +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page171" name="page171"></a>[pg +171]</span> +<h3>PLEASURES OF TRAVELLING.</h3> +<p>Dover quite full—horrible place! Shocking, the inns! +Amphibious wretches, the population. Ashore (from steam-packet) at +four in the morning. Fires out at The Ship. No beds! Think of it! +Had to wait till a party got up—going off at six. Six +came—changed their minds (lazy!) wouldn't go! Woke the whole +house with ringing the bells, however—took care they +shouldn't sleep. Filthy breakfast! Bad butter—vile +chops—eggs! I never got an egg properly boiled in my life! +Royal Society ought to give a premium. Set off, starved and +shuddering—roads heavy—four horses. Ruined with the +expense. Man wanted to take half. Fat—looked greasy. Thought +ruin best. Got up to Pagliano's a petrifaction! Worthy creature, +the cook! Tossed me up such a "<i>Saumon, +Tartare</i>"—"<i>Vol au vent</i>"—"Maccaroni"—all +light. Coffee—<i>liqueur</i>—no wine for fear of +fever—went to bed quite thawed in body and mind; and walked +round Leicester-square next morning like "a giant +refreshed!"—<i>Blackwood</i>.</p> +<hr /> +<p>A woman's true dowry is virtue, modesty, and desires restrained; +not that which is usually so called.</p> +<hr /> +<h3>DOMESDAY.</h3> +<p>Mr. Bowles in his <i>History of Bremhill</i>, makes a few +observations suggested by the account in <i>Domesday Book</i>, on +the wages, and some of the prices of agricultural produce on the +farms where the <i>villani</i> and <i>servi</i>, literally +<i>slaves</i> and <i>villans</i>, laboured. When we find two oxen +sold for seventeen shillings and four-pence, we must bear in mind +that one Norman shilling was as much in value as three of ours; +when we find that thirty hens were sold for three farthings each, +we must bear in mind the same proportion. The price of a sheep was +one shilling, that is three of ours. Wheat was six shillings +a-quarter; that would be, according to our scale, two shillings and +three-pence a-bushel. Now, at the time of this calculation, +everything must have borne a greater price, reckoning by money, +than at the time of Domesday; for the prices of articles now set +down (from an authentic document of the accounts of the Duke of +Cornwall, first published from the original by Sir R.C. Hoare, in +his <i>History of Mere</i>,) bear date somewhat more than two +hundred years afterwards, in the reign of Edward the First, 1299. +But at that time, what were the wages of the labourer? The +ploughman's wages were about five shillings a-year, fifteen +shillings by the present scale; a maid for making "pottage" +received a penny a week!</p> +<hr class="full" /> +<h2>THE SKETCH BOOK.</h2> +<h3>STRIKING INCIDENT IN THE LIFE OF A MIDSHIPMAN.</h3> +<p>I have read some theories, or rather hypotheses, of apparitions, +in which the authors attempt to account for the appearance of those +unsubstantial shadows, resembling the forms of living men, by +circumstances connected with the physical laws of matter. But I am +rather inclined to hold, with another class of inquirers, that the +origin of such marvels must be looked for in the mind of the seers; +although I do not go the length of their scepticism, and deny the +actual existence of the ghostly show, as a real and visible +spectacle, before the eyes.</p> +<p>These observations will derive some illustration at least, if +not entire confirmation, from the following narrative, which is +deemed to be authentic in the neighbourhood in which the scene is +laid; and the application of which the judicious reader will, no +doubt, be able to make for himself.</p> +<p>About the middle of the last war, the <i>Polly</i>, tender, +commanded by lieutenant Watts, came swooping up one evening to the +small town of Auchinbreck, in Scotland, and, resolving to pounce, +without warning, upon her prey, as soon as she had anchored in the +roads, sent ashore the press-gang to pick up as many of the stout +boat-builder lads as they could catch. The towns-people, however, +were not so unprepared as the captain of the tender imagined; some +of those, indeed, who were fit for sea, ran up into the hills, but +by far the greater number collected about the corner of a +building-shed as you go on to the main street, and, when the signal +of hostility was given, by the capture of a man by the press-gang, +they rushed down upon them in a body, every one with his axe on his +shoulder like a troop of Indians with their tomahawks. It had now +become so dark that the sailors had much to do to keep their +footing upon the loose stones of the beach, which was just at this +time rendered a still more troublesome passage by the scattered +materials of a pier, then beginning to be built; and, besides, +their number was so small compared to the townspeople, that, after +a few strokes of the cutlas, and as many oaths as would have got a +line-of-battle ship into action and out again, they were fain to +retreat to their boat, pursued by the boat-builders, <span class= +"pagenum"><a id="page172" name="page172"></a>[pg 172]</span> young +and old, like furies. A midshipman, sitting in the stern, whose +name was William Morrison, a fine lad of fifteen, observed the fate +of the action with feelings in which local and professional spirit +struggled for the mastery. One moment he would rub his hands with +glee, and the next unsheath his dagger in anger, as he saw the axe +of a fellow-townsman descend on the half-guarded head of a brother +sailor; but, when the combatants came within oar's length of the +boat, and the retreat began to resemble a flight, the <i>esprit de +corps</i> got the upper hand in the Auchinbrecken midshipman's +feelings, and, unsheathing his dagger, he jumped nimbly ashore and +joined in the fray. At last the sailors got fairly into their boat +without a single man being either missing or killed, although the +list of the wounded included the whole party; and the landsmen, +apparently pretty much in the same circumstances, although unable, +from their number and the darkness, to reckon as instantaneously +the amount of the loss or damage, after giving three cheers of +triumph, retired in good order.</p> +<p>William Morrison, after discharging his duty so manfully, was +permitted to go on shore the same evening, to visit his friends; +and, indeed, the captain could not have known before that he +belonged to the place, as he surely would not have confided to the +lad so unpopular a task as that of kidnapping his own relations and +acquaintances. He was landed at the point of Scarlough, to prevent +the necessity of going through the streets, which might have been +dangerous in the excited state of the people's minds; and, +stretching across the fields, and along the side of the hill, he +steered steadily on in the direction of his paternal home, which +was about a mile and a half from the Point, but only one mile from +the town. The moon had now risen, but was only visible in short +glimpses through the clouds that were hurrying across the sky; and +the tall, strange shadows of the willows and yews that skirted the +churchyard, appearing and disappearing as he passed, probably by +recalling the associations of his earlier years, made William +shrink, and almost tremble. His own shadow, however, was a more +pleasing thing to look at. The dress, which, grown familiar by +usage, he would not have noticed elsewhere, was here brilliantly +contrasted in his recollection with the more clownish and common +garb of his boyhood—for he already reckoned himself a man; +and the dagger, projecting smartly from his belted side, gave, in +his opinion, a finish quite melodramatic to his air. He drew out +the tiny blade from its sheath, and its sparkle in the moonlight +seemed to be reflected in his eyes as he gazed on it from hilt to +point; but the expression of those eyes was changed as they +discovered that its polish in one place was dimmed by blood. This +could easily be accounted for by the affray on the beach—and +at any other time and place it would have been thought nothing +of;—but at this moment, and on this spot, he was as much +startled by the sight, as if his conscience had accused him of a +deliberate murder. The impressions his mind had received while +passing the churchyard, now returned upon him with added gloom; a +kind of misgiving came over him; and a thousand boding thoughts +haunted him like spirits, and hanging, as it were, on his heart, +dragged it down farther and farther at every step. He bitterly +regretted that he had not remained in the boat, as he had at first +resolved, a neutral spectator of the strife. How did he know that +his hand had not been raised against the life of his own brother? +As far as he could see or learn, indeed, no fatal accident had +occurred; but there have been instances of people walking cheerily +off the field of battle, and dying of their wounds after all. And +yet it was not likely—it was hardly possible—that John +could have been in the affray, his indentures protecting him from +the impress. These cogitations were speedily followed by others of +as gloomy a character; for the thoughts breed faster than we can +perceive them, and each multiplies after his kind. It was a year +since he had heard from his friends, and five years since he had +seen them. Who could tell what changes had taken place in that +time? Who could tell whether poor John had even lived to be killed +by the pressgang? His father, his mother, and his +sisters—were they dead, were they living, were they sick, or +in health? His sister had been always a delicate girl, one of those +gentle and fragile flowers of mortality that are sure not to live +till the summer; perhaps consumption, with the deceitful beauty of +his smile, had already led his fair partner down the short dance of +life.</p> +<p>Tormenting himself with such speculations, he arrived at his +father's house. Here he was surprised, bewildered, almost shocked, +to observe a new and handsome farm-house in place of the old one. +On looking farther on, however, he did detect the ancient +habitation of his family, in its original site; but it seemed, from +the distance where he stood, to be falling into ruins. His whole +race must either be dead or banished, and a new tribe of successors +settled in their place; <span class="pagenum"><a id="page173" name= +"page173"></a>[pg 173]</span> or else uncle William must be +deceased, and have left his father money enough to build a new +house. He walked up to the door, where he stood trembling for some +minutes, without courage to put his hand to the latch, and at last +went round to the window, and, with a desperate effort, looked in. +How his heart bounded! His father was there, still a stout healthy +man of middle life, his hair hardly beginning to be grizzled, by +the meddling finger of the old painter Time; and his mother, as +handsome as ever, and her face relieved by the smile either of +habitual happiness, or of some momentary cause of joyful +excitation, from the Madonna cast which had distinguished it in +less prosperous days; and his sister, with only enough left of her +former delicacy of complexion to chasten the luxuriant freshness of +health on the ripe cheeks of nineteen. John, indeed, was not there; +but a vacant chair stood by the table ready to receive him, and +another—a second chair, beside it, only nearer the +fire—for whom?—for himself. His heart told him that it +was. Some one must have brought the tidings of his arrival; the +family circle were at that moment waiting to receive him; he could +see his old letters lying on the table before them, and recognised +the identical red splash he had dropped, as if accidentally, on the +corner of one—the dispatch he had written after his first +action—although he had taken the trouble to go to the +cock-pit to procure, for the occasion, this valorous token of +danger and glory. But John—it was so late for him to be from +home!—and, as a new idea passed across his mind, he turned +his eyes upon the old house, which was distant about a hundred +yards. It was probable, he thought, nay, more than probable, that +his father, when circumstances enabled him to build a new house for +himself, had given the old one to his eldest son; and John, +doubtless, was established there as the master of the family, and +perhaps at this moment was waiting anxiously for a message to +require his presence on the joyful occasion of his brother's +arrival. He did not calculate very curiously time or ages, for his +brother was only his senior by two years; he felt that he was +himself a man long ago, and thought that John by this time must be +almost an old man.</p> +<p>While these reflections were passing through his mind, he +observed a light in the window of the old house; but he could not +well tell whether it was merely the reflection of a moonbeam on the +glass, or a candle in the interior. He walked forward out of +curiosity; but the scene, as he approached the building, was so +gloomy, and the air so chill, that he wished to turn back; however, +he walked on till he reached the door, and there, sure enough, his +brother was waiting on the threshold to receive him. They shook +hands in silence, for William's heart was too full to speak, and he +followed John into the house; and an ill-cared-for house it was. He +stumbled among heaps of rubbish in the dark passage; and, as he +groped along the wall, his hand brought down patches of old lime, +and was caught in spiders' webs almost as strong as if the spinner +had meant to go a-fowling. When they had got into the parlour, he +saw that the building was indeed a ruin; there was not a whole pane +of glass in the window, nor a plank of wood in the damp floor; and +the fireplace, without fire, or grate to hold it, looked like the +entrance to a burying-vault. John, however, walked quietly in, and +sat down on a heap of rubbish by the ingleside; and William, +following his example, sat down over-against him. His heart now +began to quake, and he was afraid, without knowing what he had to +fear. He ran over in his mind the transactions of the +evening—his walk, his reflections, his +anxieties—embracing the whole, as if in one rapid and yet +detailed glance of the soul, and then turned his eyes upon his +brother both in fear and curiosity. What fearful secret could John +have to communicate in a place like this? Could he not have spoken +as well in the open air, where it was so much warmer, and in the +blessed light of the moon? No one was dead, or likely to die, that +he cared for; his dearest and almost only friends were at this +moment talking and laughing round their social table, and near a +bright fire, expecting his arrival, and John and he +were—here! At length, repressing by a strong effort the +undefined and undefinable feelings that were crowding upon him, he +broke the silence, which was now beginning to seem strange and +embarrassing.</p> +<p>"And how have you been, John?" said he, in the usual form of +friendly inquiries; "and how have you got on in the world since we +parted?"</p> +<p>"I have been well." replied John; "and I have got on as well as +mortal man could desire."</p> +<p>"Yet you cannot be happy; you must have something to +say—something I am almost afraid to hear. Out with it, in +God's name! and let us go home."</p> +<p>"Yes," said John, "I have something to say; but it will not take +long to hear, and then we shall both go home. I was apprenticed to +the boat-building four years ago."</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page174" name="page174"></a>[pg +174]</span> +<p>"I know it," replied William; "you wrote to me about it +yourself, John."</p> +<p>"I was made foreman before my time was out."</p> +<p>"I know that, too," said William; "Fanny gave me the whole +particulars in a letter I received at Smyrna;—surely that +cannot be all."</p> +<p>"I have more to tell," said John, solemnly: "my apprenticeship +is out."</p> +<p>"What, in four years!—you are mad, John! What do you +mean?"</p> +<p>"The indenture was cancelled this evening."</p> +<p>"How?" cried William, with a gasp, and beginning to tremble all +over, without knowing why.</p> +<p>"I was wounded on the beach," said John, rising up, and walking +backwards towards the window; while the moon, entering into a dense +cloud, had scarcely sufficient power to exhibit the outlines of his +figure. "It was by the point of a dagger," continued he, his voice +sounding distant and indistinct, "<i>and I died of the +wound!</i>"</p> +<p>William was alone in the apartment, and he felt the hair rising +upon his head, and cold drops of sweat trickling down his brow. His +ghastly and bewildered look was hardly noticed by his parents and +sister during the first moments of salutation; and, when it was, +the excuse was illness and fatigue. He could neither eat nor drink, +(it seemed as if he had lost altogether the faculty of swallowing,) +but sat silent and stupified, turning his head ever and anon to the +door, till it struck one o'clock. About this time a knocking was +heard, and the sister, jumping up, cried it was John come home, and +ran to open the door. But it was not John; it was the minister of +the parish; and he had scarcely time to break the blow to the +parents with the shield of religion, when the dead body of their +eldest son was brought into the house.—<i>Orient. +Herald</i>.</p> +<hr class="full" /> +<h2>SPIRIT OF DISCOVERY.</h2> +<p><i>Zoological Gardens.</i></p> +<p>It is stated that upwards of one hundred and eighty pounds have +been received for the admission of the public to these gardens +during one week.</p> +<p>We omitted to mention last week, that one of the lamas was +presented by Robert Barclay, Esq. of Bury Hill; a leopard by Lord +Auckland; several animals from the Arctic regions by the Hudson's +Bay Company, &c. The pair of emus were bred at Windsor, by Lord +Mountcharles. The emu is hunted in New South Wales for its oil; it +frequently weighs 100 lbs., and its taste, when cooked, more +resembles beef than fowl.—See <i>Notes</i>, p. 378, vol. xi. +MIRROR.</p> +<p><i>Venerable Orange Tree.</i></p> +<p>There is an orange tree, still living and vigorous, in the +orangery at Versailles, which is well ascertained to be above 400 +years old. It is designated the Bourbon, having belonged to the +celebrated constable of that name in the beginning of the 16th +century, and been confiscated to the crown in 1522, at which time +it was 100 years old. A crown is placed on the box in which it is +planted, with this inscription, "Sown in 1421."</p> +<p>Thirty-four orange-trees have lately been received at Windsor, +as a present from the king of France to George IV.</p> +<p><i>Potato Mortar.</i></p> +<p>M. Cadet-de-Vaux found mortar of lime and sand, and also that +made from clay, greatly improved in durability by mixing boiled +potatoes with it.</p> +<p><i>An Experimental Farm,</i></p> +<p>As a school of practical husbandry for a part of central France, +has been formed by the celebrated Abbé de Pradt. It is +situated about a league from Avranches, on the great road from that +city to Bort, in the department of Corrèze.—<i>Foreign +Q. Rev.</i></p> +<p><i>A Tunnel under the Vistula, at Warsaw,</i></p> +<p>Has been projected. This mode of communication will be of the +utmost utility, especially at the times of the breaking up of the +frost, when all intercourse is interrupted. The architect is a +foreigner, and has engaged to complete the work in the space of +three years.—<i>Paris Paper.</i></p> +<p><i>Small White Slugs,</i></p> +<p>In gardens, are more injurious than the larger variety, because +their diminutive size escapes the gardener's eye. A good way to +keep them under is to make small holes, about an inch deep, and +about the diameter of the little finger, round the plants which +they infest. Into these holes the slugs will retreat during the +day, and they may be killed there by dropping in a little salt, +quicklime in powder, or by strong lime and +water.—<i>Gardener's Mag.</i></p> +<p><i>Turkish Method of Preserving Filberts.</i></p> +<p>When perfectly ripe, remove the husks, and dry the nuts, by +rubbing with a coarse cloth; sprinkle the bottom of a stone jar +with a very little salt; then place a layer of filberts, adding a +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page175" name="page175"></a>[pg +175]</span> small quantity of salt between each layer. The jar must +be perfectly dry and clean. Secure the top from air, and keep them +in a dry place; and, at the end of six months, they will +peel.—<i>Ibid.</i></p> +<p><i>Extinction of Fires.</i></p> +<p>When a chimney or flue is on fire, throw into the fire-place one +handful after another of flower of sulphur. This, by its +combustion, effects the decomposition of the atmospheric air, which +is, in consequence, paralysed, or, in effect, annihilated.</p> +<p><i>Oysters.</i></p> +<p>After the month of May, it is felony to carry away the caltch +(the spawn adhering to stones, old oyster-shells, &c.) and +punishable to take any oysters, except those of the size of a +half-crown piece, or such as, when the two shells are shut, will +admit of a shilling rattling between them.</p> +<p>The liquor of the oyster contains incredible multitudes of small +embryo oysters, covered with little shells, perfectly transparent, +swimming nimbly about. One hundred and twenty of these in a row +would extend one inch. Besides these young oysters, the liquor +contains a great variety of animalcules, five hundred times less in +size, which emit a phosphoric light. The list of inhabitants, +however, does not conclude here, for besides these last mentioned, +there are three distinct species of worms (called the oyster-worm,) +half an inch long, found in oysters, which shine in the dark like +glow-worms. The sea-star, cockles, and muscles, are the great +enemies of the oyster. The first gets within the shell when they +gape, and sucks them out.</p> +<p>While the tide is flowing, oysters lie with the hollow side +downwards, but when it ebbs they turn on the other side. <a id= +"footnotetag6" name="footnotetag6"></a><a href= +"#footnote6"><sup>6</sup></a></p> +<p><i>Swarming of Bees.</i></p> +<p>An interesting communication was read, at a recent sitting of +the Royal Society, from T.A. Knight, Esq. describing the precaution +taken by a swarm of bees, in reconnoitering the situation where +they intend to establish their new colony, or swarm from the parent +hive. The bees do not go out in a considerable body, but they +succeed each other in going and returning, until the whole of the +swarm have apparently made good the survey, after which the whole +body take their departure in a mass. If by any chance a large +portion of a swarm take their departure without the queen bee, they +never proceed to take up the ulterior quarters without her +majesty's presence. The result of Mr. Knight's observations tends +to prove, that all the operations of a swarm of bees are dictated +by previous concert, and the most systematic arrangement.</p> +<hr class="full" /> +<h2>SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS</h2> +<h3>LADDER OF LOVE.</h3> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>Men and women,—more or less,—</p> +<p>Have minds o' the self-same metal, mould, and form!—</p> +<p>Doth not the infant love to sport and laugh,</p> +<p>And tie a kettle to a puppy's tail?—</p> +<p>Doth not the dimpled girl her 'kerchief don</p> +<p>(Mocking her elder) mantilla wise—then speed</p> +<p>To mass and noontide visits; where are bandied</p> +<p>Smooth gossip-words of sugared compliment?</p> +<p>But when at budding womanhood arrived,</p> +<p>She casts aside all childish games, nor thinks</p> +<p>Of aught save some gay paranymph—who, caught</p> +<p>In love's stout meshes, flutters round the door,</p> +<p>And fondly beckons her away from home,—</p> +<p>The whilst, her lady mother fain would cage</p> +<p>The foolish bird within its narrow cell!—</p> +<p>And then, the grandame idly wastes her breath,</p> +<p>In venting saws 'bout maiden modesty—</p> +<p>And strict decorum,—from some musty volume:</p> +<p>But the clipp'd wings will quickly sprout again;</p> +<p>And whilst the doating father thinks his child</p> +<p>A paragon of worth and bashfulness,—</p> +<p><i>Her</i> thoughts are hovering round the precious form</p> +<p>Of her sweet furnace-breathing Don Diego!—</p> +<p>And he, all proof 'gainst dews and nightly blasts,</p> +<p>In breathless expectation waits to see</p> +<p>His panting Rosa at the postern door;—</p> +<p>While she sighs forth "My gentle cavalier!"—</p> +<p>And then they straightway fall to kissing hands,</p> +<p>And antic-gestures—such as lovers use,—</p> +<p>Expressive of their wish quickly to tie</p> +<p>The gordian knot of marriage;—Pretty creatures!—</p> +<p>But why not earlier to have thought of this?—</p> +<p>When he, the innocent youth, was wont to play</p> +<p>At coscogilla; and the prattling girl,</p> +<p>Amid her nursery companions, toiled</p> +<p>In sempstress labours for her wooden dolls.—</p> +<p>Ah! wherefore, did I ask?—Because forsooth,</p> +<p>Their ways are changed with their increasing years!—</p> +<p>For when for gallantry the time be come—</p> +<p>And when the stagnant blood begins to boil</p> +<p>Within the veins, my master—then the lads</p> +<p>Cast longing looks on damosels—for nature</p> +<p>Defies restraint—and kin-birds flock together!—</p> +<p>And think not, Master, <i>Chance</i> disposes thus;</p> +<p>Or were it so, then chance directs us all—</p> +<p>Whene'er we have attain'd the important age!</p> +<p>I, ———, am a living instance!—</p> +<p>Was I not once a lively laughing boy?</p> +<p>And, in my stripling age, did I not love</p> +<p>The pastimes suited to those madcap days?—</p> +<p>Oh! would to heaven those times were present still!</p> +<p>But wherefore fret myself with hopes so vain?—</p> +<p>The silly thought doth find no shelter here,—</p> +<p>That any beauty, with dark roguish eyes,</p> +<p>With sparkling blood, and rising warmth of youth,</p> +<p>Would e'er affect this wrinkled face of mine:—</p> +<p>The very thought doth smack of foolishness!—</p> +<p>And, though the truth may be a bitter pill,</p> +<p>Yet,—</p> +<p>It is most fitting that we know ourselves.</p> +</div> +</div> +<p><i>Spanish Comedy—Foreign Review.</i></p> +<hr /> +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page176" name="page176"></a>[pg +176]</span> +<h3>A HINT TO RETIRING CITIZENS.</h3> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="i2">Ye Cits who at White Conduit House,</p> +<p class="i2">Hampstead or Holloway carouse,</p> +<p class="i4">Let no vain wish disturb ye;</p> +<p class="i2">For rural pleasures unexplored,</p> +<p class="i2">Take those your Sabbath strolls afford,</p> +<p class="i4">And prize your <i>Rus in urbe</i>.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="i2">For many who from active trades</p> +<p class="i2">Have plung'd into sequester'd shades,</p> +<p class="i4">Will dismally assure ye,</p> +<p class="i2">That it's a harder task to bear</p> +<p class="i2">Th' ennui produced by country air,</p> +<p class="i4">And sigh for <i>Urbs in rure</i>.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="i2">The cub in prison born and fed,</p> +<p class="i2">The bird that in a cage was bred,</p> +<p class="i4">The hutch-engender'd rabbit,</p> +<p class="i2">Are like the long-imprison'd Cit,</p> +<p class="i2">For sudden liberty unfit,</p> +<p class="i4">Degenerate by habit.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="i2">Sir William Curtis, were he mew'd</p> +<p class="i2">In some romantic solitude,</p> +<p class="i4">A bower of rose and myrtle,</p> +<p class="i2">Would find the loving turtle dove</p> +<p class="i2">No succedaneum for his love</p> +<p class="i4">Of London Tavern turtle.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="i2">Sir Astley Cooper, cloy'd with wealth,</p> +<p class="i2">Sick of luxurious ease and health,</p> +<p class="i4">And rural meditation,</p> +<p class="i2">Sighs for his useful London life,</p> +<p class="i2">The restless night—the saw and knife</p> +<p class="i4">Of daily amputation.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="i2">Habit is second nature—when</p> +<p class="i2">It supersedes the first, wise men</p> +<p class="i4">Receive it as a warning,</p> +<p class="i2">That total change comes then too late,</p> +<p class="i2">And they must e'en assimilate</p> +<p class="i4">Life's evening to its morning.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="i2">Thrice happy he whose mind has sprung</p> +<p class="i2">From Mammon's yoke while yet unwrung</p> +<p class="i4">Or spoilt for nobler duty:—</p> +<p class="i2">Who still can gaze on Nature's face</p> +<p class="i2">With all a lover's zeal, and trace</p> +<p class="i4">In every change a beauty.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="i2">No tedium vitae round him lowers,</p> +<p class="i2">The charms of contrast wing his hours,</p> +<p class="i4">And every scene embellish:—</p> +<p class="i2">From prison, City, care set free,</p> +<p class="i2">He tastes his present liberty</p> +<p class="i4">With keener zest and relish.</p> +</div> +</div> +<p><i>New Monthly Mag</i>.</p> +<hr class="full" /> +<h2>THE GATHERER.</h2> +<blockquote>"A snapper up of unconsidered trifles."</blockquote> +<p>SHAKSPEARE.</p> +<hr /> +<h3>ACCOMMODATION FOR THREE HALFPENCE.</h3> +<p>A gentleman on a wet evening entered the bar of an inn, and +while standing before the fire, called to a servant girl who had +come to receive his orders, "Margaret, bring me a glass of ale, a +clean pipe, a spitoon, a pair of snuffers, and the newspaper. And +Margaret, take away my great coat, carry it into the kitchen, and +hang it before the fire to dry, and dry my umbrella, and tell me +what o'clock it is; and if Mr. Huggins should come in, request him +to come this way, for I think 'tis near seven, and he promised to +meet me at that hour. And Margaret, get me change for a sovereign, +and see that all the change is good, take for the glass of ale out +of it, and put the coppers in a piece of paper. And Margaret, tell +Jemima to bring some more coals, take away the ashes, and wipe the +table. And Margaret, pull down the blinds, shut the door, and +put-to the window-shutters."—N.B. The gentleman had his own +tobacco.</p> +<hr /> +<h3>TWO EVILS, (EXTEMPORE.)</h3> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>Can man sustain a greater curse</p> +<p>Than to possess an empty purse?</p> +<p>Yes, with abundance to be blest,</p> +<p>And not enjoy the pow'r to taste.</p> +</div> +</div> +<h4>G.K.</h4> +<hr /> +<h3>EPIGRAM, FROM THE GERMAN.</h3> +<blockquote>If one has served thee, tell the deed to many? Hast +thou served many?—tell it not to any.</blockquote> +<h4>J.L.S.</h4> +<hr /> +<h3>A GENTLEMAN.</h3> +<p>To tell the reader exactly what class of persons was meant to be +designated by the word <i>gentleman</i>, is a difficult task. The +last time we heard it, was on visiting a stable to look at a horse, +when, inquiring for the coachman, his stable-keeper replied, "He +has just stepped to the public-house along with another +gentleman."</p> +<p>The following is the negro's definition of a +<i>gentleman</i>:—"<i>Massa make de black man +workee—make de horse workee—make de ox +workee—make every ting workee, only de hog: he, de hog, no +workee; he eat, he drink, he walk about, he go to sleep when he +please, he liff like a GENTLEMAN</i>."</p> +<hr /> +<h3>"VERY BAD."</h3> +<p>Why are washer-women, busily engaged, like Adam and Eve in +Paradise? Because they are <i>so-apy</i> (so happy).</p> +<p>Why is a widower, going to be married, like Eau de Cologne? +Because he is <i>re-wiving</i>.</p> +<p>Why is a vine like a soldier? Because it is listed and trained, +has <i>ten-drills</i>, and shoots.</p> +<p>Why is a sailor, when at sea, not a sailor? Because he's +<i>a-board</i>.</p> +<p>Why is a city gentleman, taken poorly in Grosvenor-square, like +a recluse? Because he is <i>sick-westward</i> (sequestered.)</p> +<p>Why is it better for a man to have two losses than one? Because +the first is a loss, and the second is <i>a-gain</i>.</p> +<p>"If Britannia rules the waves," said a qualmish writing-master, +going to Margate last week in a storm, "I wish she'd rule 'em +<i>straighter</i>."— <i>Lit. Gaz.</i></p> +<hr class="full" /> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote1" name= +"footnote1"></a> <b>Footnote 1</b>: <a href= +"#footnotetag1">(return)</a> +<p>At Stratford, the family maintain that Shakspeare stole Sir +Thomas Lucy's buck, to celebrate his wedding-day, and for that +purpose only. But, in that age, when half the country was covered +with forests, deer-stealing was a venial offence, and equivalent to +snaring a hare in our days.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote2" name= +"footnote2"></a> <b>Footnote 2</b>: <a href= +"#footnotetag2">(return)</a> +<p>Chron. Joreval, 1151.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote3" name= +"footnote3"></a> <b>Footnote 3</b>: <a href= +"#footnotetag3">(return)</a> +<p>Ibid.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote4" name= +"footnote4"></a> <b>Footnote 4</b>: <a href= +"#footnotetag4">(return)</a> +<p>This net is made differently from the other, there being no +frame to it and having two handles.]</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote5" name= +"footnote5"></a> <b>Footnote 5</b>: <a href= +"#footnotetag5">(return)</a> +<p>The reader must consider the difficulty of holding a large fish +with the hand.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote6" name= +"footnote6"></a> <b>Footnote 6</b>: <a href= +"#footnotetag6">(return)</a> +<p>See Bishop Spratt on Oysters.</p> +</blockquote> +<hr class="full" /> +<p><i>Printed and Published by J. LIMBIRD, 143, Strand, (near +Somerset House,) London; sold by ERNEST FLEISCHER, 626, New Market, +Leipsic; and by all Newsmen and Booksellers.</i></p> +<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 11320 ***</div> +</body> +</html> diff --git a/11320-h/images/331-1.png b/11320-h/images/331-1.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..b9a1198 --- /dev/null +++ b/11320-h/images/331-1.png diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b1fad01 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #11320 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/11320) diff --git a/old/11320-8.txt b/old/11320-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d775fab --- /dev/null +++ b/old/11320-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2037 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and +Instruction, Vol. 12, Issue 331, September 13, 1828, by Various + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction, Vol. 12, +Issue 331, September 13, 1828 + +Author: Various + +Release Date: February 26, 2004 [eBook #11320] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: iso-8859-1 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MIRROR OF LITERATURE, +AMUSEMENT, AND INSTRUCTION, VOL. 12, ISSUE 331, SEPTEMBER 13, 1828*** + + +E-text prepared by Jonathan Ingram, Margaret, David King, and the Project +Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustration. + See 11320-h.htm or 11320-h.zip: + (http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/1/1/3/2/11320/11320-h/11320-h.htm) + or + (http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/1/1/3/2/11320/11320-h.zip) + + + + +THE MIRROR OF LITERATURE, AMUSEMENT, AND INSTRUCTION. + +VOL. 12, No. 331.] SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 1828. [PRICE 2d. + + + + * * * * * + + + +Charlecote Hall, near Stratford-upon-Avon. + + +[Illustration] + +"One of the most delightful things in the world is going a journey." Now +if there be one of our million of friends who, like the fop in the play, +thinks all beyond Hyde Park a desert, let him forthwith proceed on a +pilgrimage to _Stratford-upon-Avon_, the birthplace of SHAKSPEARE; and +though he be the veriest Londoner that ever sung of the "sweet shady +side of Pall Mall," we venture to predict his reform. If such be not the +result, then we envy him not a jot of his terrestrial enjoyment. Let him +but think of the countless hours of delight, the "full houses," the +lighted dome and deeping circles, of the past season; when + + Dread o'er the scene the ghost of Hamlet stalks; + Othello rages, &c. + +and then will he not enjoy a visit to the place where-- + + ----Sweetest Shakspeare, Fancy's child, + Warbled his native wood-notes wild. + +Sterne, the prince of sentimental tourists, says, "Let me have a +companion of my way, were it but to remark how the shadows lengthen as +the sun declines;" but, for our part, we should prefer a visit to +Stratford, _alone_, unless it were with some garrulous old guide to +entertain us with his or her reminiscences. + +This brings us to _Charlecote Hall_, one of the Shakspearean relics. It +consists of a venerable mansion, situated on the banks of the Avon, +about four miles from Stratford, and built in the first year of the +reign of Elizabeth, by Sir Thomas Lucy; + + "A parliamente member, and justice of peace. + At home a poor scare-crow, at London an asse," + +and so well known as the prosecutor of Shakspeare.[1] + +The principal front, here represented, assumes, in its ground plan, the +form of the letter E--said to have been intended as a compliment to the +queen, who, as appears from the Black Book of Warwick, visited this +place in 1572. + + [1] At Stratford, the family maintain that Shakspeare stole Sir + Thomas Lucy's buck, to celebrate his wedding-day, and for that + purpose only. But, in that age, when half the country was + covered with forests, deer-stealing was a venial offence, and + equivalent to snaring a hare in our days. + +The above is copied from one of a Series of Views illustrative of the +Life of Shakspeare, drawn and etched by Mr. W. Rider, of Leamington. +These engravings are five in number, but the artist explains that he has +selected such subjects only, "as from tradition, or more certain record, +might fairly be presumed to bear direct relation to the life of the +poet. But while he regrets that the number of authenticated subjects are +so few, he feels that from innovation or decay, they are almost hourly +becoming fewer; and is, therefore, prompted to secure the few remnants +left, while they are yet within his reach." + +There is no doubt that the grounds around Charlecote Hall, were the +early haunts of SHAKSPEARE; and that in the house itself sat the +magisterial authority, before which he was doomed to meet the charges, +to which his youthful indiscretions had rendered him liable; and, as it +remains, to the present time, for the most part, unaltered, and +_presents to the spectator of the present day the same image that was +often, and under such peculiar circumstances, impressed on the eye of +our_ SHAKSPEARE, it cannot but be regarded with the most intense +interest by all his admirers. + +In conclusion, we would recommend the illustrators of Shakspeare to +possess themselves of a set of Mr. Rider's "Views;" whilst the visiter +of Stratford-upon-Avon would do well to lay a copy in his +portmanteau--for they are in truth so many faithful memorials of the +great poet of nature. + + * * * * * + + + +ON NATIONAL VARIETIES. + +(_For the Mirror_.) + + +There are few more familiar subjects than that of the varieties of +national character, and the resemblances and differences that exist +between ourselves and the inhabitants of other countries. Few +conversations occur upon circumstances which may have happened abroad, +in which some one has not an anecdote to relate to illustrate the known +peculiarities of the nation in question; and the greater part of the +travels and tours which now issue in such formidable numbers from the +press, are naturally filled with stories and incidents, either to show +the correctness of our ideas of the manners and opinions of our +neighbours, or (perhaps more frequently) to prove that the public were +in error in that respect, up to the time when the traveller in question +had discovered the truth, or a clue to it. The daily accounts of the +outrages perpetrated in Ireland, and the alarms that are sounded ever +and anon, touching the state of that unhappy country, are continually +exciting surprise, that the natives of the sister island should be so +unaccountably deficient in that sense of order and sobriety which +prevails in Great Britain. We associate with a Scotchman the ideas of +shrewdness and prudence; with a Frenchman, gaiety and frivolity; with a +Spaniard, gravity and pride; with an Italian, strong passions of love +and revenge: with a German, plodding industry and habits of deep +thinking; and with the northern nations, an honest sincerity and +persevering courage. We sometimes judge with tolerable correctness; at +others are wholly mistaken, and not unfrequently run into such extremes, +that having established a principle, that a particular people are +knavish, or cowardly, or stupid, we are unwilling to admit any +exceptions, but include the whole race in our sweeping censure. We are +prejudiced at first sight against a Portuguese or Italian, and are +careful of our communications with him, even though we meet him on the +high road, or by mere accident in a public place. There can, however, be +no mistake in the common notion, that each nation has a peculiar +collection of qualities and habits, distinguishing it in a greater or +less degree from its neighbours, and the rest of the world; and it is, +therefore, at all events, an interesting, if not an useful topic, to +reflect a little how these differences arise. Not that we intend here to +give even any particular description of the various races of mankind, or +to enter into any inquiry upon the degrees of their mental and bodily +capacities; such would be foreign to our purpose, and would exceed our +limits. We shall merely hazard a few observations upon the several +causes to which the diversities in men have been referred, not +pretending to any decided opinion on so nice a point, as whether these +causes are wholly of a physical or of a moral kind, or whether they are +compounded of both. The question is, perhaps, one of the most difficult +in the whole range of philosophical experience; we say experience, +because it is obvious that all theory on the subject must be the result +of observation and analysis; and that no general principles can be laid +down in the first instance, as the ground work of any hypothesis we +might be inclined to frame. + +The scientific men to whom we are chiefly indebted for the facts +accumulated on this subject, are Dr. Blumenbach, of Göttingen, Dr. +Pritchard, of Edinburgh, and the eminent surgeon, Mr. Lawrence. It has +been a favourite matter of speculation with Lord Monboddo, as well as +with Voltaire, Rousseau, and the philosophers of the French school, who +have endeavoured to show that men and other animals are endowed with +reason or instinct of the same kind, but of different degrees. According +to these fanciful writers, the monkey is but another species of the +human race, and has been termed by them _Homo Sylvestris_. They made the +most diligent researches into all accounts concerning men in a savage +state, and were delighted beyond measure with the discovery alleged to +have been made in the island of Sumatra, of men with tails regularly +protruding from their hinder parts, who, according to Buffon, walked and +talked in the woods like other gentlemen:-- + + And backwards and forwards they switched their long tails, + Like a gentleman switching his cane. + +The appearance of Peter the Wild Boy, who was found in the woods of +Hamela, in Hanover, living on the bark of trees, leaves, berries, &c. +threw Voltaire into transports of joy. He declared the event to be the +most wonderful and important that ages had recorded in the annals of +science, as it demonstrated the fact of man living after the fashion of +beasts, without the least spark of civilization, and without speech; +thereby forming a species of a nature having more in common with monkeys +than with men, and presenting the regular degree, or intermediate class, +between the _homo civilis_ and the _homo sylvestris_. The circumstance, +however, which afterwards transpired, of Peter's having been found with +the remains of a shirt-collar about his neck, threw considerable +discredit on the whole story; and the young savage, on being brought to +England by order of Queen Caroline, lived in Hertfordshire for many +years, perfectly harmless and tractable, and behaving pretty much the +same as other idiots. The idea, therefore, of a race of men, in a +healthy, natural condition, having ever existed without the possession +of reason, is now deemed wholly fallacious. It is even maintained by +Schlegel, and other authorities of great weight, that the civilized +state is the primitive one, and that savage life is a degeneracy from +it, rather than civilized society being a graft upon barbarity. By +Schlegel's theory, the East, especially India, was the earliest seat of +arts and sciences; from the Sanscrit, or Indian language, now extinct, +are the Hebrew, the Chaldaic, the Greek, and many others of the most +ancient tongues, derived; and from the wisdom and learning of the East +"was the whole earth overspread." Undoubtedly it is difficult to imagine +by what gradation language could have proceeded, from the howl of +savages, and the cries of nature, till it reached the eloquent music, +the heart-stirring oratory of the Greek; and besides this, and other +considerations, Schlegel is supported by the opinions of Adelung, the +learned author of "Mithridates, oder Allgemeine Sprachenkunde," upon the +probable habitation of the first family of the human race. Adelung says, +that civilization began in Asia, as is, indeed, universally admitted to +have been the case; and that when the waters of the flood subsided, the +highest ground, we may naturally conclude, must have been the earliest +inhabited. We may also reasonably presume that a beneficent Providence +would place the first family in a situation where their wants could be +easily satisfied; in a garden, as it were, stocked with all herbs and +fruits, fit and agreeable to their use and taste. Now such a country is +actually to be found in Central Asia, between the degrees of 30 and 50 +North lat. and 90 and 110 long. E. of Ferro; a spot as high as the +Plains of Quito, or 9,500 feet above the level of the sea. It contains +the sources of most of the great rivers of Asia; the Seleuga, the Ob, +the Lena, the Irtisch, and the Jenisey flow from hence to the North; the +Jaik, the Jihon, and the Jemba to the West; the Amur and the Hoang Ho to +the East; and the Indus, Ganges, and Burrampooter to the South. The +valleys within this space, which our readers, by referring to a map, +will find to be correctly delineated, abound with nutritive fruits and +vegetables, and with all animals capable of being tamed. There is +evidently, therefore, some plausibility in the notion that mankind +sprung originally from the East, and that from that quarter civilization +is derived; but what portion of knowledge was allotted to the primitive +people, or how far their descendants have surpassed or fallen short of +these olden times, must, we fear, be for ever beyond the reach of our +investigation. + +If we call to mind a summary of the general divisions of human beings +throughout the world, we shall find little room to doubt of the identity +of their genus, and shall, without much trouble of reflection, class +them as different species of that genus:-- + + ------Facies non omnibus una, + Nec diversa, tamen. + +Such seems to be the result of Mr. Lawrence's judgment; and though we +are aware that the descent of mankind from one common stock has been +much questioned and controverted, particularly in Germany, we prefer +resting upon the received opinion at present, to running the risk of +shocking established notions, by entering into the merits of the +contrary theory. + +Men are classed by Dr. Blumenbach under five great divisions, viz. the +Caucasian, Mongolian, Ethiopian, American, and Malay. The Caucasian +family may be asserted, though by its own members, to have been always +pre-eminent above the rest in moral feelings and intellectual powers, +and is remarkable for the large size of their heads. It need not be more +minutely described, than by saying it includes all the ancient and +modern Europeans, (except the Laplanders and Fins;) the former and +present inhabitants of Western Asia as far as the Ob, the Caspian Sea, +and the Ganges, viz. the Assyrians, Medes, Chaldeans, Sarmatians, +Scythians, Parthians, Philistines, Phoenicians, Jews, and Syrians; the +Tartars on the Caucasus, Georgians, Circassians, Mingrelians, Armenians, +Turks, Persians, Arabs, Hindoos of high caste, Northern Africans, +Egyptians, Abyssinians, and Guanches. They are supposed to have +originally had brown hair and dark eyes. + +The Mongolian family is of an olive colour and black eyes, flat nose and +face, small stature, black hair, no beard, and thick lips. It comprises +the people of Central and Northern Asia, Thibet, Ava, Pegu, Cambodia, +Laos, and Siam; the Chinese, Japanese, Fins, and Esquimaux. + +The Ethiopian family is black, with black and woolly hair, compressed +skull, low forehead, flat nose, and thick lips. It includes all Africans +not comprehended in the Caucasian family. + +The American family has a dark skin, a red tint, straight hair, a small +beard, low forehead, and broad face. It includes all the American +tribes, except the Esquimaux. + +The Malay family is brown, varying from a light tint to black. Their +hair is black and curled, head narrow, bones of the face prominent, nose +broad, and mouth large. They inhabit Malacca, Sumatra, Java, and the +adjacent islands; Molucca, the Ladrones, New Holland, Van Dieman's Land, +New Guinea, New Zealand, and the South Sea Islands. They speak generally +the Malay language. + +The difference of character and disposition of these five families is +familiar to every one; they are as well known as is the superiority of +the Caucasian to the other races, and as the outward distinctions of +their bodies and complexions. The reasons of this difference have been +variously assigned, some ascribing it to natural, others altogether to +moral causes. By natural causes we understand either that the +constitutions of the races are such, that their capabilities of +informing their minds, and raising their intellectual powers, are +essentially not the same; or that the climate has an influence over both +their bodies and minds. By moral causes, we mean artificial or +accidental ones arising out of the state of society; such as the nature +of the government, the plenty or poverty in which people live, a period +of war or peace, the power of public opinion, and such circumstances. + +The effect of climate cannot of itself be sufficient to change the +manners and habits of a people. The instances of migratory nations seem +to show this; the Jews are as cunning and fond of money in Asia or +Africa as they are in Poland or England; that extraordinary race, the +Gipsies, (which are now ascertained to be a Hindoo tribe, driven from +their country in the fifteenth century,) are not less thievish in +Transylvania than in Scotland. The Armenians of Constantinople, and +other parts of the Levant, are represented to be of the same mild and +persevering temper, of the same honesty and skilfulness in their +dealings, and the same kindness and civility of manners, as before they +were driven from their country by Sha-Abbas the Great. The changes, +however, in the habits and character of this people seem to mark the +influence of their several domestic situations. They were originally the +most warlike of the Asiatic tribes; after their subjection by the +Persians, they engaged themselves entirely in the patient cultivation of +the soil; and since the period of the depopulation of Armenia, and their +migrations into Persia, Russia, Turkey, and other countries, they have +been celebrated for their industry in commercial concerns. They are +bankers, money-brokers, merchants, surgeons, bakers, builders, +chintz-printers, and of all trades that can be imagined, and are +represented as the most useful subjects in the Ottoman empire, retaining +at the same time an almost patriarchal simplicity in their domestic +manners. The English in the East and West Indies, in New South Wales, +and in Canada, seldom lose a relish for the habits and enjoyments they +have been bred up in, whether they migrate to the extremes of heat or of +cold. John Bull is an Englishman in heart, and will remain so under +whatever sun his lot of life may be cast; for, + + Coelum, non animum, mutant, qui trans mare currunt. + +We rarely find the Spaniards or Italians, or the natives of the South of +Europe, lose their ideality of character and their warm passions when +settled permanently in England; the only alteration in them seems to be +such as the forms of society and intercourse with others has led them +to. Still the man is the same, though he may have adopted a new regime +in the fashion of his clothes, or the dishes of his dinner. + +(_To be continued_.) + + * * * * * + + +FAIR ROSAMOND. + +(_To the Editor of the Mirror_.) + + +In a late Number of the MIRROR, in which you have given a view of the +Labyrinth at Woodstock, and several particulars respecting Fair +Rosamond, many doubts are stated relative to her death, viz. _how_ and +what time. I therefore send you the following account from _Collins's +Peerage of England:_-- + +"Rosamond de Clifford was the eldest of the two daughters of Walter de +Clifford, by Margaret his wife, daughter and heir of Ralph de Toeny, +Lord of Clifford Castle, in Herefordshire, (and had with her the said +castle and lands about it as an inheritance.) This Rosamond was the +unfortunate concubine of Henry II., for whom the king built that famous +Labyrinth[2] at Woodstock, where she lived so retired, as not easily to +be found by his jealous queen. The king gave her a cabinet of such +elegant workmanship,[3] as showed the fighting of champions, moving of +cattle, flying of birds, and swimming of fish, which were so artfully +represented, as if they had been alive. _She died 23rd Henry II. anno +1176_, by poison (as was suspected) given her by Queen Eleanor, and was +buried in the Chapter-house of the Nunnery of Godstow." + +G.F. + + [2] Chron. Joreval, 1151. + [3] Ibid. + + * * * * * + + +GODSTOW NUNNERY. + + +On the banks of the Isis, about two miles from Oxford, are the remains +of Godstow Nunnery. It was founded towards the end of the reign of Henry +I. by Editha, a lady of Winchester, and when dissolved in the reign of +Henry VIII. it was valued at £274. per annum. A considerable portion of +its buildings remained until the end of the reign of Charles I. about +which time they were accidentally destroyed by fire. The present remains +consist chiefly of ranges of walls on the north, south, and east sides +of an extended area. Near the western extremity of the high north wall +are the remains of two buttresses. There is a small building which abuts +on the east, and ranges along the southern side, which was probably the +Chapter House of the Nuns. The walls are entire, the roof is of wood, +and some of the rafter work is in fair preservation. It is in this +building that the remains of Rosamond are supposed to have been +deposited, when they were removed from the choir of the church, by the +order of Hugh, Bishop of Lincoln, in 1191. On the north wall is painted +a pretended copy of her epitaph in Latin. Many stone coffins have at +various times been found on this spot. + +HALBERT H. + + * * * * * + + +SCRAPS FROM TURKISH HISTORY. + +(_For the Mirror_.) + + +_First Landing of the Turks in Europe._--Orchanes, second king of the +Turks, having settled his monarchy in Lesser Asia, was determined to get +footing in Europe. Solyman, his eldest son, being willing to undertake +the enterprise, was accordingly despatched with an army of veterans, who +crossed the Hellespont, and arrived on the European side. They soon +afterwards seized many considerable castles and cities belonging to the +Greeks, who offered little or no resistance to the invaders of their +empire. These occurrences transpired about the year 1358. + +_A Woman's Revenge._--Mahomet the Great, on being proclaimed Sultan, +caused his two innocent brothers to be put to death; the mother of the +youngest immediately afterwards went to the new king, and reproached him +severely for his cruelty. In order to appease her, he said, "that it +consisted with the policy of his state to do as he had done, but that +whatever she asked of him should be granted her." The lady, therefore, +determining to be revenged, demanded one of the sultan's chief bassas to +be delivered to her. Mahomet, to keep his word, gave orders that it +should be done without delay; and the enraged lady, seeing the bassa +bound before her, first stabbed him, and then plucked out his liver, +which she cast to the dogs. + +_Turkish Superstition._--Scanderbeg, prince of Epyrus, after many +glorious victories, died on the 17th of January, 1466, in the 53rd year +of his age, and 24th of his reign. He was buried with great solemnity in +the cathedral at Lyssa. The Turks, nine years afterwards, took the city, +and dug up his bones for the purpose of setting them in rings and +bracelets, thinking, by this means, that they should partake of his +invincible fortune. + +_Amurath's Dream._--About the year 1594, Amurath III. dreamed that he +saw a man of prodigious stature, with one foot raised upon the Tower of +Constantinople, while the other reached over the Bosphorus, and rested +on the Asiatic shore. In one hand, the figure sustained the sun, while +the other held the moon. He struck his foot against the Tower of +Constantinople, the fall of which overthrew the great temple, and the +imperial palace. Amurath, being greatly discomfited by this dream, +consulted his wizard, who informed him, "that it was a warning sent by +their prophet Mahomet, who threatened the overthrow of their religion +and empire, unless Amurath engaged his whole force against the +Christians." This interpretation had so much influence with the emperor, +that he vowed not to lay down his arms until he had utterly exterminated +the Christians. + +G.W.N. + + * * * * * + + +TROUT FISHING. + +(_To the Editor of the Mirror_.) + + +Sir,--I shall now sum up this _ticklish_ subject, by acquainting you +with three more methods of catching trout in Westmoreland. + +_Flood-netting_.--A flood net is a small net with a semi-circular frame +at the mouth of it, from which projects a long handle. This is used only +when there are floods; the fisher draws it up the rivulets, and every +now and then pulls it up to look for his success. Sometimes he nets a +great many at a time, and especially if he wait the arrival of the +flood, because a large shoal mostly comes down with the first torrents. + +_Pod-netting_.--This derives its name from the habitation of the trouts +(the banks of the "becks") which are called "hods" or "holds" and more +frequently "pods," and this net therefore goes by these three names. I +have before described to you the situation generally of these "_holds_" +to be either in the ledge of some rock or stone in the water, or under +some bank reaching over the stream. This net is used in fine weather, +and when the water is "_clear as crystal_;" the fisherman takes hold of +the handles of the net,[4] and wades through the stream as gently as +possible, placing the net just at the side of a trout's "hold," taking +care to keep it as close to the bottom as possible, to afford the trout +no room for escape. Then another with a long pole drives the trouts from +the mouth of the "_hold_," when they immediately dart into the net, and +nothing remains but to draw the net quickly up. This is a famous method +of fishing. I have been with parties when we have completely cleared the +beck. We went to "Carmony" in the spring of 1825, and caught an immense +quantity by fishing with the hand and pod. This brings to my +recollection an amusing circumstance, which I intend troubling you with, +though you may think it unworthy of notice. It was reported in that year +that there was a large quantity of trouts in the beck; and I went at the +recommendation of those who had seen a particularly large one (when +passing by) "basking" in the streams. I was referred to a _certain_ +"_lum_," and thither I went one afternoon with two friends, to try if we +could have an opportunity of seeing him. We had scarcely reached the +spot when we perceived him lying at the mouth of his "_hold_," a fine +grassy bank at the side of which grew a small bush; and I employed my +friends to watch the trout should he escape me. I crossed the brook (my +friends remaining on the opposite side), pulled off my coat and +waistcoat, and tucked up my shirt ready for action. He was still lying +very quietly, and as I knew I had no chance with him then, I touched him +gently with a twig and he moved into his habitation. I then leaned over +the bank, thrust in my arm, touched his back, I felt his size, and was +all caution. So first I began to secure him by building a piece of wall +before the bank to prevent his going out; but I had no sooner laid the +first stone than out he bounced, and darted down the river about twenty +yards, (we running after him all the while) then up again, and so on for +about a quarter of an hour, till at length he became tired and waddled +into his dwelling. I now thought all secure, and once more put in my +hand, when he jumped at least three or four yards out of the water. I +must confess, I was a little confused with my friends' dictation, who +feared I should lose him. Again housed, I made a kind of fort at one end +of the hold, and this done, I again thrust in my arm, when he was as +soon out again, and on getting up I found my hand covered with blood. +Still he came back to his favourite place, and I tried again, after +giving my friends caution to be on the look out. This time I was +successful, I put my hand gently under his belly, and by a tickle, +secured the rascal, by thrusting the fore-finger and thumb of my right +hand in his gills. I got him on to land, my friends ran about in +exstacy, and I think I never saw a finer trout than he proved to +be--real Eden. We gave a shout of triumph, after which we cut him on the +nose to kill him. From tail to snout he measured one foot four inches; +but he was beautifully plump and thick-made. We now began to wonder what +caused the blood on my hand, when on examination, we found a large night +hook in his side, which no doubt I had touched, and had thus given him +pain, and made him restless. I will not prolong the story, but tell you +he weighed about two pounds and a half, and was acknowledged to be the +plumpest trout ever caught in that county by the hand.[5] Shortly +afterwards I caught the partner to it in the same place, but it was not +so fine a trout, and I had not so much effort in catching it. The +largest trout ever caught in this county weighed four pounds and a half, +but that was taken with the net. I have no other recommendation for this +paper but its originality. I have enjoyed the sport, and can only half +convey a description of it upon paper. + +W.H.H. + + [4] This net is made differently from the other, there being no + frame to it and having two handles. + + [5] The reader must consider the difficulty of holding a large + fish with the hand. + + * * * * * + + +THE ROSE. + +(_For the Mirror._) + + + Mark, Laura, dearest, yonder rose + Its inner folds are sad and pale, love; + While blushing, outward leaves disclose + A lively crimson to the gale, love. + + Yet as the secret canker-worm + Preys deeply on its drooping heart, love, + Soon from the flow'ret's with'ring form + Will all that vivid glow depart, love. + + Then turn to me those beaming eyes-- + A blooming cheek although you see, love, + Since hope is fled, then pleasure dies, + And read the rose's fate in me, love. + + * * * * * + + +OLD WINE. + +(_For the Mirror._) + + +The passion for old wines has sometimes been carried to a very +ridiculous excess, for the "_thick crust_," the "_bee's wing_," and the +several other criterions of the epicure, are but so many proofs of the +decomposition and departure of some of the best qualities of the wine. +Had the man that first filled the celebrated Heidleburg tun been placed +as sentinel, to see that no other wine was put into it, he would have +found it much better at twenty-five or thirty years old, than at one +hundred, had he lived so long, and been permitted now and then to taste +it. + +At Bremen there is a wine-cellar, called the Store, where five hogsheads +of Rhenish wine have been preserved since 1625. These five hogsheads +cost 1,200 francs. Had this sum been put out to compound interest, each +hogshead would now be worth above a thousand millions of money, a bottle +of this precious wine would cost 21,799,480 francs, or about +908,311_l._, and a single wine-glass 2,723,808 francs, or about +113,492_l._. + +J.L.S. + + * * * * * + + +THE HEROINE. + +A SKETCH FROM SUNDRY NOVELS. + +(_For the Mirror._) + + +She must be, _à plaisir_, tall and slender in person, or of humbler +stature, but never inclining to stoutness, since the _en bon point_ +savours (at least in romance) of vulgarity. Her complexion may be light +or dark, according to fancy; but her interesting pallidness may +occasionally be relieved by a hectic flush, yet more interesting. She +must possess small _alabaster_ hands, _coral_ or _ruby_ lips, enchasing +a double row of _pearls_; a neck rivalling _ivory_ or driven _snow_, +(yes, even if our heroine be a brunette, for incongruity is the very +essence of romance); _velvet_ cheeks, _golden_ or _jet_ black hair, +_diamond_ eyes, marvellous delicate feet, shrouded at all times in +_bas-de-soie_, and defended by the most enchanting slippers imaginable; +her figure must be a model for the statuary, and at all seasons, and in +every situation, arrayed in muslins or silks, which, wondrous to relate, +resist the injuries of time, weather, and wear in a manner perfectly +astounding. What heroine had ever an hiatus in her stocking, or a +fracture in her gown of finest woof? Ye gods! what an insult to suppose +her _repairing such_! The lady's mental accomplishments and +qualifications are as follow:--She sings divinely, plays on the harp +(and piano too in modern days) _à merveille_; occasionally condescends +to fascinate on the guitar, and the lute also, should that instrument, +now rather antiquated, fall in her way. She takes portraits, and +sketches from nature; she understands _all_ languages, or rather that +desideratum, an _universal tongue_, since in the most foreign lands she +is never at a loss to render herself understood, nor to comprehend that +which is addressed to her; she is of a melancholy cast of mind, and +carries sal-volatile in her reticule, and fountains of tears in her +eyes, for use on the most _public_ occasions; she likes gloomy +apartments, looking upon the sea, mountains, or black forests, and +leading into endless corridors; she has an Æolian lyre ever at her +casement, writes verses and weeps by moonlight, for--effect, or-- +_nothing_; and is enamoured with a being, who, in the common course +of nature, could not exist; he possessing, amongst other fine qualities, +that of omnipresence in an impious degree. Should the heroine reside in +a town, and especially London, she must have dwelt previously in some +isolated mansion, seldom visited by beings superior in intellect to the +foxes they hunt; an idiot mother, vulgar aunt, a father, an uncle, or a +guardian in his dotage, must have superintended her education; and when, +at the age of sixteen, some fortunate chance throws her into society, +her accomplishments and manners are found more fitting for it and +finished, than those of persons who have from their cradles associated +with families of the highest distinction, and possessed all the +advantages of a polished and liberal education. The heroine has, in all +situations, an abundant store of money, jewels, and clothes, supplied no +one knows when, how, or by whom; and these, with her musical +instruments, drawing materials, &c. accompany her into every reverse of +situation, in a manner perfectly incomprehensible, but highly amusing +and edifying. A miniature portrait of some mysterious relative or +friend, seldom or ever seen, nay, indeed, a sacred memento of the dead, +is highly scenic and effective in a romance. The heroine ought, by all +means, to possess such; it _may_ do good, and it _can_ do no harm. +Finally, the lady must frequently faint, be twice or thrice on the brink +of the grave, undergo exquisite varieties of suffering, run all hazards, +but retain her beauty and reputation unblemished to the _last_, i.e. to +her _marriage_; after which, this wondrous and superlative creature, and +her partner in perfection, are never heard of more. _Why_? + +M.L.B. + + * * * * * + + +ANCIENT ROMAN FESTIVALS. + +SEPTEMBER. + + +The _Septmontium_ was a festival of the seven mountains of Rome, which +was celebrated in this month, near the seven mountains, within the walls +of the city; they sacrificed seven times in seven different places; and +on that day the emperors were very liberal to the people. + +The _Meditrinalia_ were feasts instituted in honour of the goddess +_Meditrina_, and celebrated on the 13th of September. They were so +called from _medendo_, because the Romans then began to drink new wine, +which they mixed with old, and _that_ served them instead of physic. + +P.T.W. + + * * * * * + + + +NOTES OF A READER. + + +THE ANNUALS FOR 1829. + + +These elegant little works are already in a forward state. MR. ALARIC +WATTS announces the plates of the SOUVENIR, "of a more important size +than heretofore," and twelve in number, already completed. Among them +are _Cleopatra embarking on the Cydnus_, drawn by Danby, and engraved by +Goodall; _Love taught by the Graces_, drawn by Hilton, and engraved by +J.C. Edwards; a beautiful scene from _Lalla Rookh_, drawn by Stephanoff, +and engraved by Bacon; _She never told her Love_, drawn by Westall, and +engraved by Rolls. Whilst Mr. Watts has been catering for the "children +of a larger growth," Mrs. W. has been preparing a "New Year's Gift; or +_Juvenile_ Souvenir", to be accompanied with exquisite illustrations of +Nursery literature; as the Children in the Wood, Red Riding Hood, &c. +with two historical subjects after Northcote. + +Mr. Ackermann, to whom we are indebted for the _naturalization_ of +"Annuals", announces that one of his plates in the forthcoming "FORGET +ME NOT"--(4 inches by 3 in dimension) has cost one hundred guineas! The +subject is "the Ruined City," by Martin, engraved by Le Keux. Fine +engraving is thus almost as dear as building-ground at Brighton. + +The KEEPSAKE will appear much earlier than last year. Sir Walter Scott +has written three or four articles, and two or three "noble lords" are +among the contributors. Nothing can exceed the beauty of the specimens +of the illustrations. + +The FRIENDSHIP'S OFFERING passes into the editorial hands of Mr. T. +Pringle, of whose poetical talents we have lately had some exquisite +specimens. + +The ANNIVERSARY.--Allan Cunningham has joined Mr. Sharp (of whose taste +in "getting up" books, our readers must be aware) in a splendid volume +to be called "The Anniversary." Among the engravings are _Psyche_, after +Sir Thomas Lawrence; _Young Cottagers_, after Gainsborough; the _Author +of Waverley in his Study_, after W. Allen; a _Monkey_, &c. by Landseer. +This is a new adventure, and we wish its projectors many +_anniversaries_. + +The CHRISTMAS BOX is to contain "A Story," from the pen of Miss +Edgworth. Mrs. Hofland, Miss Mitford, and Mrs. Hemans, likewise, +contribute their pleasing aid. + +The PLEDGE OF FRIENDSHIP is to be altered to _The Gem_, to be edited by +Mr. T. Hood, whose wit and fancy will sparkle among the contributions; +and who hopes that it may prove one of those "hardy annuals," which are +to become perennials; the writers are to be of "_authorized_ +popularity"--"the _plates_ not of the common _dessert_ kind, but a +welcome _service_"--the engravers "as true as steel" to their +originals--and the whole equally "mental" and "ornamental:" so the wight +has begun already. + +The WINTER'S WREATH promises to bloom more vigorously than ever, and +earlier too--in September. Among the contributors are the names of +Hemans, Opie, Mitford, Montgomery, Wiffen, Delta, &c. + +The AMULET is to be edited, as last year, by Mr. Hall. + +The BIJOU is printing with _two-fold_ energy. + +We read the other day that Schiller's "History of the German War," was +originally published in _Damen Almanach_--a Lady's Almanack! This is +real _azure_. "Annuals" do not, however, progress on the continent; for +a new one, lately published contained but a single original +contribution. In America they have bloomed with some success, though not +with the elegance and polish of our own country. Here their effect on +the Fine Arts has been very important, and they have done much for light +reading, every name of literary eminence, except those of Moore, +Campbell, and Rogers, having been enlisted in their ranks. We do not, +however, remember Leigh Hunt, although his pleasantries would relieve +the plaintiveness of some of the poetical contributions. A few +_Shandean_ articles would be very agreeable--something like the +Housekeepers in the last "Friendships' Offering." + +Nothing is said of the "Literary Pocket Book;" but our old friend, +"Time's Telescope," will be mounted as usual. + +We also take this opportunity to state that the "ARCANA OF SCIENCE AND +ART, FOR 1829," will appear towards the close of the present year; and, +we are enabled to promise its patrons a still greater modicum of novelty +and interest than was even comprised in its very successful forerunner. + + * * * * * + + +MARTYRDOM. + + +There is no truth more abundantly exemplified in the history of mankind, +than that the blood of martyrs, spilt in whatever cause, political or +religious, is the best imaginable seed for the growth of favour towards +their persons, and, as far as conversion depends on feeling, of +conversion to their opinions. "_Quoites mori emur toties +nasciemur_."--_Edin. Rev._ + + * * * * * + + +ENGLISH LIBERTY. + + +Our liberty is neither Greek nor Roman; but essentially English. It has +a character of its own,--a character which has taken a tinge from the +sentiments of the chivalrous ages, and which accords with the +peculiarities of our manners, and of our insular situation. It has a +language, too, of its own, and a language too singularly idiomatic, full +of meaning to ourselves, scarcely intelligible to strangers.--_Ibid._ + + * * * * * + + +SENSUALITY. + + +How different is the night of Nature from that of man, and the repose of +her scenes from the misrule of his sensual haunts; what a contrast +between the refreshing return of her morning, and the feverish agonies +of his day-dreams.--_Cameleon Sketches._ + + * * * * * + + +THE FLIMSY AGE. + + +Poets sing of the "golden age," the "silver age," and the "iron age," +but were they to celebrate this, I think they should call it the flimsy +age, for every thing seems made to suit a temporary purpose, without any +regard to the sound and substantial. From printed calico to printed +books, from Kean's acting to Nash's architecture, all is made to catch +the eye, to gratify the appetite for novelty, without regard to real and +substantial excellence.--_Blackwood_. + + * * * * * + + +VILLAGE CHURCHES. + + +We find very few monasteries founded after the twelfth century; the +great majority, which rose through the kingdom "like exhalations," were +founded between the eleventh and twelfth centuries; and in all county +histories and authentic records, we scarce find a parish church, with +the name of its resident rector recorded, before the twelfth century. +The first notice of any village church occurs in the Saxon Chronicle, +after the death of the conqueror, A.D. 1087. They are called, there, +"upland churches." "Then the king did as his father bade him ere he was +dead; he then distributed treasures for his father's soul to each +monastery that was in England; to some ten marks of gold, to some six; +to each _upland_ church sixty pence."--Ingram's Saxon Chronicle. +Gibson's note on the passage is, "unicuique ecclesiae rurali." These +rare rural churches, after the want of them was felt, and after the +lords of manors built, endowed, and presented to them, spread so +rapidly, that in 1200 in almost every remote parish there was an "upland +church," if not a resident minister, as at this day. + +The convents, however, still remained in their pristine magnificence, +though declining in purity of morals and in public estimation. In place +of new foundations of this august description, the-- + + "Village parson's modest mansion rose," + +gracefully shewing its unostentatious front, and, at length, humbly +adorning almost all the scattered villages of the land.--_Bowles's +History of Bremhill._ + + * * * * * + +It was pleasantly observed by a sentimental jockey, who lost by a +considerable length the first race he ever rode, "I'll never ride +another race as long as I live. The riders are the most selfish, narrow +minded creatures on the face of the earth. They kept riding and +galloping as fast as they could, and never had once the kindness or +civility to stop for me."--_Penelope_. + + * * * * * + + +IRELAND. + + +It has lately been proved by indisputable evidence, that the present +condition of the peasantry of Ireland is much superior, to that of the +population of the same island some centuries ago, when the number of +people did not exceed one million. Spenser describes them as inhabiting +"sties rather than houses, which is the chiefest cause of the farmer's +so beastly manner of living and savage condition, lying and living +together with his beast, in one house, in one room, in one bed, that is +clean straw, or rather a foul dunghill." + +In 1712, Dobbs, a man particularly conversant with the general condition +of Ireland, estimated that its population had increased 200,000. He +states that "the common people are very poorly clothed, go barelegged +half the year, and very rarely taste of that flesh meat with which we so +much abound, but are pinched in every article of life." + +In 1762, Sir William Petty computed that the inhabitants of Ireland +amounted to about one million three hundred thousand. Their habitations, +he says, "are lamentable wretched cabins, such as themselves could make +in three or four days, not worth five shillings the building, and filthy +and disgusting to a degree, which renders it necessary for us to refrain +from quoting his description. Out of the 200,000 houses of Ireland," +says he, "160,000 are wretched cabins, without chimney, window, or door +shut, even worse than those of the savages of America." Their food at +the same period, consisted "of cakes, whereof a penny serves for each a +week; potatoes from August till May; mussels, cockles, and oysters, near +the sea; eggs and butter made very rancid by keeping in bogs; as for +flesh they seldom eat it; they can content themselves with potatoes." + + * * * * * + + +SELF KNOWLEDGE. + + +We often hear people call _themselves_ fools. Now a man ought to know +whether he is a fool or not, and he would not say it if he did not +believe it; and there is also a degree of wisdom in the discovery that +one has been a fool, for thereby it is intimated that the season of +folly is over. Whosoever therefore actually says that he was a fool +formerly, virtually says that he is not a fool now.--_Penelope_. + + * * * * * + + +THE MAIDEN'S CHOICE. + + + Genteel in personage, + Conduct and equipage, + Noble by heritage, + Generous and free; + Brave, not romantic, + Learn'd, not pedantic, + Frolic, not frantic, + This must he be. + + Honour maintaining, + Meanness disdaining. + Still entertaining, + Engaging and new: + Neat, but not finical, + Sage, but not cynical, + Never tyrannical, + But ever true. + +_Old MS_. + + * * * * * + + +CUNNING. + + +In England, no class possesses so much of that peculiar ability which is +required for constructing ingenious schemes, and for obviating remote +difficulties, as the thieves and the thief-takers. Women have more of +this dexterity than men. Lawyers have more of it than statesmen; +statesmen have more of it than philosophers. + + * * * * * + + +STORY-TELLING. + + +A friend of mine has one, and only one, good story, respecting a gun, +which he contrives to introduce upon all occasions, by the following +simple, but ingenious device. Whether the company in which he is placed +be numerous or select, addicted to strong potations, or to long and +surprising narratives; whatever may happen to be the complexion of their +character or conversation, let but a convenient pause ensue, and my +friend immediately hears, or pretends to hear, the report of a gun. +Every body listens, and recalls his late impressions, upon which "the +story of a gun" is naturally, and as if by a casual association, +introduced thus--"By the by, speaking of guns, that puts me in mind of a +story about a gun;" and so the gun is fixed in regular style, and the +company condemned to smell powder for twenty minutes to come! To the +telling of this gun story, it is not, you see, at all necessary that +there should be an actual explosion and report; it is sufficient that +there _might_ have been something of the kind. + + * * * * * + + +PLEASURES OF TRAVELLING. + + +Dover quite full--horrible place! Shocking, the inns! Amphibious +wretches, the population. Ashore (from steam-packet) at four in the +morning. Fires out at The Ship. No beds! Think of it! Had to wait till a +party got up--going off at six. Six came--changed their minds (lazy!) +wouldn't go! Woke the whole house with ringing the bells, however--took +care they shouldn't sleep. Filthy breakfast! Bad butter--vile chops-- +eggs! I never got an egg properly boiled in my life! Royal Society ought +to give a premium. Set off, starved and shuddering--roads heavy--four +horses. Ruined with the expense. Man wanted to take half. Fat--looked +greasy. Thought ruin best. Got up to Pagliano's a petrifaction! Worthy +creature, the cook! Tossed me up such a "_Saumon, Tartare_"--"_Vol au +vent_"--"Maccaroni"--all light. Coffee--_liqueur_--no wine for fear of +fever--went to bed quite thawed in body and mind; and walked round +Leicester-square next morning like "a giant refreshed!"--_Blackwood_. + + * * * * * + +A woman's true dowry is virtue, modesty, and desires restrained; not +that which is usually so called. + + * * * * * + + +DOMESDAY. + + +Mr. Bowles in his _History of Bremhill_, makes a few observations +suggested by the account in _Domesday Book_, on the wages, and some of +the prices of agricultural produce on the farms where the _villani_ and +_servi_, literally _slaves_ and _villans_, laboured. When we find two +oxen sold for seventeen shillings and four-pence, we must bear in mind +that one Norman shilling was as much in value as three of ours; when we +find that thirty hens were sold for three farthings each, we must bear +in mind the same proportion. The price of a sheep was one shilling, that +is three of ours. Wheat was six shillings a-quarter; that would be, +according to our scale, two shillings and three-pence a-bushel. Now, at +the time of this calculation, everything must have borne a greater +price, reckoning by money, than at the time of Domesday; for the prices +of articles now set down (from an authentic document of the accounts of +the Duke of Cornwall, first published from the original by Sir R.C. +Hoare, in his _History of Mere_,) bear date somewhat more than two +hundred years afterwards, in the reign of Edward the First, 1299. But at +that time, what were the wages of the labourer? The ploughman's wages +were about five shillings a-year, fifteen shillings by the present +scale; a maid for making "pottage" received a penny a week! + + * * * * * + + + +THE SKETCH BOOK. + +STRIKING INCIDENT IN THE LIFE OF A MIDSHIPMAN. + + +I have read some theories, or rather hypotheses, of apparitions, in +which the authors attempt to account for the appearance of those +unsubstantial shadows, resembling the forms of living men, by +circumstances connected with the physical laws of matter. But I am +rather inclined to hold, with another class of inquirers, that the +origin of such marvels must be looked for in the mind of the seers; +although I do not go the length of their scepticism, and deny the actual +existence of the ghostly show, as a real and visible spectacle, before +the eyes. + +These observations will derive some illustration at least, if not entire +confirmation, from the following narrative, which is deemed to be +authentic in the neighbourhood in which the scene is laid; and the +application of which the judicious reader will, no doubt, be able to +make for himself. + +About the middle of the last war, the _Polly_, tender, commanded by +lieutenant Watts, came swooping up one evening to the small town of +Auchinbreck, in Scotland, and, resolving to pounce, without warning, +upon her prey, as soon as she had anchored in the roads, sent ashore the +press-gang to pick up as many of the stout boat-builder lads as they +could catch. The towns-people, however, were not so unprepared as the +captain of the tender imagined; some of those, indeed, who were fit for +sea, ran up into the hills, but by far the greater number collected +about the corner of a building-shed as you go on to the main street, +and, when the signal of hostility was given, by the capture of a man by +the press-gang, they rushed down upon them in a body, every one with his +axe on his shoulder like a troop of Indians with their tomahawks. It had +now become so dark that the sailors had much to do to keep their footing +upon the loose stones of the beach, which was just at this time rendered +a still more troublesome passage by the scattered materials of a pier, +then beginning to be built; and, besides, their number was so small +compared to the townspeople, that, after a few strokes of the cutlas, +and as many oaths as would have got a line-of-battle ship into action +and out again, they were fain to retreat to their boat, pursued by the +boat-builders, young and old, like furies. A midshipman, sitting in the +stern, whose name was William Morrison, a fine lad of fifteen, observed +the fate of the action with feelings in which local and professional +spirit struggled for the mastery. One moment he would rub his hands with +glee, and the next unsheath his dagger in anger, as he saw the axe of a +fellow-townsman descend on the half-guarded head of a brother sailor; +but, when the combatants came within oar's length of the boat, and the +retreat began to resemble a flight, the _esprit de corps_ got the upper +hand in the Auchinbrecken midshipman's feelings, and, unsheathing his +dagger, he jumped nimbly ashore and joined in the fray. At last the +sailors got fairly into their boat without a single man being either +missing or killed, although the list of the wounded included the whole +party; and the landsmen, apparently pretty much in the same +circumstances, although unable, from their number and the darkness, to +reckon as instantaneously the amount of the loss or damage, after giving +three cheers of triumph, retired in good order. + +William Morrison, after discharging his duty so manfully, was permitted +to go on shore the same evening, to visit his friends; and, indeed, the +captain could not have known before that he belonged to the place, as he +surely would not have confided to the lad so unpopular a task as that of +kidnapping his own relations and acquaintances. He was landed at the +point of Scarlough, to prevent the necessity of going through the +streets, which might have been dangerous in the excited state of the +people's minds; and, stretching across the fields, and along the side of +the hill, he steered steadily on in the direction of his paternal home, +which was about a mile and a half from the Point, but only one mile from +the town. The moon had now risen, but was only visible in short glimpses +through the clouds that were hurrying across the sky; and the tall, +strange shadows of the willows and yews that skirted the churchyard, +appearing and disappearing as he passed, probably by recalling the +associations of his earlier years, made William shrink, and almost +tremble. His own shadow, however, was a more pleasing thing to look at. +The dress, which, grown familiar by usage, he would not have noticed +elsewhere, was here brilliantly contrasted in his recollection with the +more clownish and common garb of his boyhood--for he already reckoned +himself a man; and the dagger, projecting smartly from his belted side, +gave, in his opinion, a finish quite melodramatic to his air. He drew +out the tiny blade from its sheath, and its sparkle in the moonlight +seemed to be reflected in his eyes as he gazed on it from hilt to point; +but the expression of those eyes was changed as they discovered that its +polish in one place was dimmed by blood. This could easily be accounted +for by the affray on the beach--and at any other time and place it would +have been thought nothing of;--but at this moment, and on this spot, he +was as much startled by the sight, as if his conscience had accused him +of a deliberate murder. The impressions his mind had received while +passing the churchyard, now returned upon him with added gloom; a kind +of misgiving came over him; and a thousand boding thoughts haunted him +like spirits, and hanging, as it were, on his heart, dragged it down +farther and farther at every step. He bitterly regretted that he had not +remained in the boat, as he had at first resolved, a neutral spectator +of the strife. How did he know that his hand had not been raised against +the life of his own brother? As far as he could see or learn, indeed, no +fatal accident had occurred; but there have been instances of people +walking cheerily off the field of battle, and dying of their wounds +after all. And yet it was not likely--it was hardly possible--that John +could have been in the affray, his indentures protecting him from the +impress. These cogitations were speedily followed by others of as gloomy +a character; for the thoughts breed faster than we can perceive them, +and each multiplies after his kind. It was a year since he had heard +from his friends, and five years since he had seen them. Who could tell +what changes had taken place in that time? Who could tell whether poor +John had even lived to be killed by the pressgang? His father, his +mother, and his sisters--were they dead, were they living, were they +sick, or in health? His sister had been always a delicate girl, one of +those gentle and fragile flowers of mortality that are sure not to live +till the summer; perhaps consumption, with the deceitful beauty of his +smile, had already led his fair partner down the short dance of life. + +Tormenting himself with such speculations, he arrived at his father's +house. Here he was surprised, bewildered, almost shocked, to observe a +new and handsome farm-house in place of the old one. On looking farther +on, however, he did detect the ancient habitation of his family, in its +original site; but it seemed, from the distance where he stood, to be +falling into ruins. His whole race must either be dead or banished, and +a new tribe of successors settled in their place; or else uncle William +must be deceased, and have left his father money enough to build a new +house. He walked up to the door, where he stood trembling for some +minutes, without courage to put his hand to the latch, and at last went +round to the window, and, with a desperate effort, looked in. How his +heart bounded! His father was there, still a stout healthy man of middle +life, his hair hardly beginning to be grizzled, by the meddling finger +of the old painter Time; and his mother, as handsome as ever, and her +face relieved by the smile either of habitual happiness, or of some +momentary cause of joyful excitation, from the Madonna cast which had +distinguished it in less prosperous days; and his sister, with only +enough left of her former delicacy of complexion to chasten the +luxuriant freshness of health on the ripe cheeks of nineteen. John, +indeed, was not there; but a vacant chair stood by the table ready to +receive him, and another--a second chair, beside it, only nearer the +fire--for whom?--for himself. His heart told him that it was. Some one +must have brought the tidings of his arrival; the family circle were at +that moment waiting to receive him; he could see his old letters lying +on the table before them, and recognised the identical red splash he had +dropped, as if accidentally, on the corner of one--the dispatch he had +written after his first action--although he had taken the trouble to go +to the cock-pit to procure, for the occasion, this valorous token of +danger and glory. But John--it was so late for him to be from +home!--and, as a new idea passed across his mind, he turned his eyes +upon the old house, which was distant about a hundred yards. It was +probable, he thought, nay, more than probable, that his father, when +circumstances enabled him to build a new house for himself, had given +the old one to his eldest son; and John, doubtless, was established +there as the master of the family, and perhaps at this moment was +waiting anxiously for a message to require his presence on the joyful +occasion of his brother's arrival. He did not calculate very curiously +time or ages, for his brother was only his senior by two years; he felt +that he was himself a man long ago, and thought that John by this time +must be almost an old man. + +While these reflections were passing through his mind, he observed a +light in the window of the old house; but he could not well tell whether +it was merely the reflection of a moonbeam on the glass, or a candle in +the interior. He walked forward out of curiosity; but the scene, as he +approached the building, was so gloomy, and the air so chill, that he +wished to turn back; however, he walked on till he reached the door, and +there, sure enough, his brother was waiting on the threshold to receive +him. They shook hands in silence, for William's heart was too full to +speak, and he followed John into the house; and an ill-cared-for house +it was. He stumbled among heaps of rubbish in the dark passage; and, as +he groped along the wall, his hand brought down patches of old lime, and +was caught in spiders' webs almost as strong as if the spinner had meant +to go a-fowling. When they had got into the parlour, he saw that the +building was indeed a ruin; there was not a whole pane of glass in the +window, nor a plank of wood in the damp floor; and the fireplace, +without fire, or grate to hold it, looked like the entrance to a +burying-vault. John, however, walked quietly in, and sat down on a heap +of rubbish by the ingleside; and William, following his example, sat +down over-against him. His heart now began to quake, and he was afraid, +without knowing what he had to fear. He ran over in his mind the +transactions of the evening--his walk, his reflections, his +anxieties--embracing the whole, as if in one rapid and yet detailed +glance of the soul, and then turned his eyes upon his brother both in +fear and curiosity. What fearful secret could John have to communicate +in a place like this? Could he not have spoken as well in the open air, +where it was so much warmer, and in the blessed light of the moon? No +one was dead, or likely to die, that he cared for; his dearest and +almost only friends were at this moment talking and laughing round their +social table, and near a bright fire, expecting his arrival, and John +and he were--here! At length, repressing by a strong effort the +undefined and undefinable feelings that were crowding upon him, he broke +the silence, which was now beginning to seem strange and embarrassing. + +"And how have you been, John?" said he, in the usual form of friendly +inquiries; "and how have you got on in the world since we parted?" + +"I have been well." replied John; "and I have got on as well as mortal +man could desire." + +"Yet you cannot be happy; you must have something to say--something I am +almost afraid to hear. Out with it, in God's name! and let us go home." + +"Yes," said John, "I have something to say; but it will not take long to +hear, and then we shall both go home. I was apprenticed to the +boat-building four years ago." "I know it," replied William; "you wrote +to me about it yourself, John." + +"I was made foreman before my time was out." + +"I know that, too," said William; "Fanny gave me the whole particulars +in a letter I received at Smyrna;--surely that cannot be all." + +"I have more to tell," said John, solemnly: "my apprenticeship is out." + +"What, in four years!--you are mad, John! What do you mean?" + +"The indenture was cancelled this evening." + +"How?" cried William, with a gasp, and beginning to tremble all over, +without knowing why. + +"I was wounded on the beach," said John, rising up, and walking +backwards towards the window; while the moon, entering into a dense +cloud, had scarcely sufficient power to exhibit the outlines of his +figure. "It was by the point of a dagger," continued he, his voice +sounding distant and indistinct, "_and I died of the wound!_" + +William was alone in the apartment, and he felt the hair rising upon his +head, and cold drops of sweat trickling down his brow. His ghastly and +bewildered look was hardly noticed by his parents and sister during the +first moments of salutation; and, when it was, the excuse was illness +and fatigue. He could neither eat nor drink, (it seemed as if he had +lost altogether the faculty of swallowing,) but sat silent and +stupified, turning his head ever and anon to the door, till it struck +one o'clock. About this time a knocking was heard, and the sister, +jumping up, cried it was John come home, and ran to open the door. But +it was not John; it was the minister of the parish; and he had scarcely +time to break the blow to the parents with the shield of religion, when +the dead body of their eldest son was brought into the house.--_Orient. +Herald_. + + * * * * * + + +SPIRIT OF DISCOVERY. + + +_Zoological Gardens._ + +It is stated that upwards of one hundred and eighty pounds have been +received for the admission of the public to these gardens during one +week. + +We omitted to mention last week, that one of the lamas was presented by +Robert Barclay, Esq. of Bury Hill; a leopard by Lord Auckland; several +animals from the Arctic regions by the Hudson's Bay Company, &c. The +pair of emus were bred at Windsor, by Lord Mountcharles. The emu is +hunted in New South Wales for its oil; it frequently weighs 100 lbs., +and its taste, when cooked, more resembles beef than fowl.--See _Notes_, +p. 378, vol. xi. MIRROR. + +_Venerable Orange Tree._ + +There is an orange tree, still living and vigorous, in the orangery at +Versailles, which is well ascertained to be above 400 years old. It is +designated the Bourbon, having belonged to the celebrated constable of +that name in the beginning of the 16th century, and been confiscated to +the crown in 1522, at which time it was 100 years old. A crown is placed +on the box in which it is planted, with this inscription, "Sown in +1421." + +Thirty-four orange-trees have lately been received at Windsor, as a +present from the king of France to George IV. + +_Potato Mortar._ + +M. Cadet-de-Vaux found mortar of lime and sand, and also that made from +clay, greatly improved in durability by mixing boiled potatoes with it. + +_An Experimental Farm,_ + +As a school of practical husbandry for a part of central France, has +been formed by the celebrated Abbé de Pradt. It is situated about a +league from Avranches, on the great road from that city to Bort, in the +department of Corrèze.--_Foreign Q. Rev._ + +_A Tunnel under the Vistula, at Warsaw,_ + +Has been projected. This mode of communication will be of the utmost +utility, especially at the times of the breaking up of the frost, when +all intercourse is interrupted. The architect is a foreigner, and has +engaged to complete the work in the space of three years.--_Paris +Paper._ + +_Small White Slugs,_ + +In gardens, are more injurious than the larger variety, because their +diminutive size escapes the gardener's eye. A good way to keep them +under is to make small holes, about an inch deep, and about the diameter +of the little finger, round the plants which they infest. Into these +holes the slugs will retreat during the day, and they may be killed +there by dropping in a little salt, quicklime in powder, or by strong +lime and water.--_Gardener's Mag._ + +_Turkish Method of Preserving Filberts._ + +When perfectly ripe, remove the husks, and dry the nuts, by rubbing with +a coarse cloth; sprinkle the bottom of a stone jar with a very little +salt; then place a layer of filberts, adding a small quantity of salt +between each layer. The jar must be perfectly dry and clean. Secure the +top from air, and keep them in a dry place; and, at the end of six +months, they will peel.--_Ibid._ + +_Extinction of Fires._ + +When a chimney or flue is on fire, throw into the fire-place one handful +after another of flower of sulphur. This, by its combustion, effects the +decomposition of the atmospheric air, which is, in consequence, +paralysed, or, in effect, annihilated. + +_Oysters._ + +After the month of May, it is felony to carry away the caltch (the spawn +adhering to stones, old oyster-shells, &c.) and punishable to take any +oysters, except those of the size of a half-crown piece, or such as, +when the two shells are shut, will admit of a shilling rattling between +them. + +The liquor of the oyster contains incredible multitudes of small embryo +oysters, covered with little shells, perfectly transparent, swimming +nimbly about. One hundred and twenty of these in a row would extend one +inch. Besides these young oysters, the liquor contains a great variety +of animalcules, five hundred times less in size, which emit a phosphoric +light. The list of inhabitants, however, does not conclude here, for +besides these last mentioned, there are three distinct species of worms +(called the oyster-worm,) half an inch long, found in oysters, which +shine in the dark like glow-worms. The sea-star, cockles, and muscles, +are the great enemies of the oyster. The first gets within the shell +when they gape, and sucks them out. + +While the tide is flowing, oysters lie with the hollow side downwards, +but when it ebbs they turn on the other side.[6] + + [6] See Bishop Spratt on Oysters. + +_Swarming of Bees._ + +An interesting communication was read, at a recent sitting of the Royal +Society, from T.A. Knight, Esq. describing the precaution taken by a +swarm of bees, in reconnoitering the situation where they intend to +establish their new colony, or swarm from the parent hive. The bees do +not go out in a considerable body, but they succeed each other in going +and returning, until the whole of the swarm have apparently made good +the survey, after which the whole body take their departure in a mass. +If by any chance a large portion of a swarm take their departure without +the queen bee, they never proceed to take up the ulterior quarters +without her majesty's presence. The result of Mr. Knight's observations +tends to prove, that all the operations of a swarm of bees are dictated +by previous concert, and the most systematic arrangement. + + * * * * * + + + +SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS + + +LADDER OF LOVE. + + + Men and women,--more or less,-- + Have minds o' the self-same metal, mould, and form!-- + Doth not the infant love to sport and laugh, + And tie a kettle to a puppy's tail?-- + Doth not the dimpled girl her 'kerchief don + (Mocking her elder) mantilla wise--then speed + To mass and noontide visits; where are bandied + Smooth gossip-words of sugared compliment? + But when at budding womanhood arrived, + She casts aside all childish games, nor thinks + Of aught save some gay paranymph--who, caught + In love's stout meshes, flutters round the door, + And fondly beckons her away from home,-- + The whilst, her lady mother fain would cage + The foolish bird within its narrow cell!-- + And then, the grandame idly wastes her breath, + In venting saws 'bout maiden modesty-- + And strict decorum,--from some musty volume: + But the clipp'd wings will quickly sprout again; + And whilst the doating father thinks his child + A paragon of worth and bashfulness,-- + _Her_ thoughts are hovering round the precious form + Of her sweet furnace-breathing Don Diego!-- + And he, all proof 'gainst dews and nightly blasts, + In breathless expectation waits to see + His panting Rosa at the postern door;-- + While she sighs forth "My gentle cavalier!"-- + And then they straightway fall to kissing hands, + And antic-gestures--such as lovers use,-- + Expressive of their wish quickly to tie + The gordian knot of marriage;--Pretty creatures!-- + But why not earlier to have thought of this?-- + When he, the innocent youth, was wont to play + At coscogilla; and the prattling girl, + Amid her nursery companions, toiled + In sempstress labours for her wooden dolls.-- + Ah! wherefore, did I ask?--Because forsooth, + Their ways are changed with their increasing years!-- + For when for gallantry the time be come-- + And when the stagnant blood begins to boil + Within the veins, my master--then the lads + Cast longing looks on damosels--for nature + Defies restraint--and kin-birds flock together!-- + And think not, Master, _Chance_ disposes thus; + Or were it so, then chance directs us all-- + Whene'er we have attain'd the important age! + I, ------, am a living instance!-- + Was I not once a lively laughing boy? + And, in my stripling age, did I not love + The pastimes suited to those madcap days?-- + Oh! would to heaven those times were present still! + But wherefore fret myself with hopes so vain?-- + The silly thought doth find no shelter here,-- + That any beauty, with dark roguish eyes, + With sparkling blood, and rising warmth of youth, + Would e'er affect this wrinkled face of mine:-- + The very thought doth smack of foolishness!-- + And, though the truth may be a bitter pill, + Yet,-- + It is most fitting that we know ourselves. + + _Spanish Comedy--Foreign Review._ + + * * * * * + + +A HINT TO RETIRING CITIZENS. + + + Ye Cits who at White Conduit House, + Hampstead or Holloway carouse, + Let no vain wish disturb ye; + For rural pleasures unexplored, + Take those your Sabbath strolls afford, + And prize your _Rus in urbe_. + + For many who from active trades + Have plung'd into sequester'd shades, + Will dismally assure ye, + That it's a harder task to bear + Th' ennui produced by country air, + And sigh for _Urbs in rure_. + + The cub in prison born and fed, + The bird that in a cage was bred, + The hutch-engender'd rabbit, + Are like the long-imprison'd Cit, + For sudden liberty unfit, + Degenerate by habit. + + Sir William Curtis, were he mew'd + In some romantic solitude, + A bower of rose and myrtle, + Would find the loving turtle dove + No succedaneum for his love + Of London Tavern turtle. + + Sir Astley Cooper, cloy'd with wealth, + Sick of luxurious ease and health, + And rural meditation, + Sighs for his useful London life, + The restless night--the saw and knife + Of daily amputation. + + Habit is second nature--when + It supersedes the first, wise men + Receive it as a warning, + That total change comes then too late, + And they must e'en assimilate + Life's evening to its morning. + + Thrice happy he whose mind has sprung + From Mammon's yoke while yet unwrung + Or spoilt for nobler duty:-- + Who still can gaze on Nature's face + With all a lover's zeal, and trace + In every change a beauty. + + No tedium vitae round him lowers, + The charms of contrast wing his hours, + And every scene embellish:-- + From prison, City, care set free, + He tastes his present liberty + With keener zest and relish. + + _New Monthly Mag_. + + * * * * * + + + +THE GATHERER. + + + A snapper up of unconsidered trifles. + + SHAKSPEARE. + + * * * * * + + +ACCOMMODATION FOR THREE HALFPENCE. + + +A gentleman on a wet evening entered the bar of an inn, and while +standing before the fire, called to a servant girl who had come to +receive his orders, "Margaret, bring me a glass of ale, a clean pipe, a +spitoon, a pair of snuffers, and the newspaper. And Margaret, take away +my great coat, carry it into the kitchen, and hang it before the fire to +dry, and dry my umbrella, and tell me what o'clock it is; and if Mr. +Huggins should come in, request him to come this way, for I think 'tis +near seven, and he promised to meet me at that hour. And Margaret, get +me change for a sovereign, and see that all the change is good, take for +the glass of ale out of it, and put the coppers in a piece of paper. And +Margaret, tell Jemima to bring some more coals, take away the ashes, and +wipe the table. And Margaret, pull down the blinds, shut the door, and +put-to the window-shutters."--N.B. The gentleman had his own tobacco. + + * * * * * + + +TWO EVILS, (EXTEMPORE.) + + + Can man sustain a greater curse + Than to possess an empty purse? + Yes, with abundance to be blest, + And not enjoy the pow'r to taste. + +G.K. + + * * * * * + + +EPIGRAM, FROM THE GERMAN. + + + If one has served thee, tell the deed to many? + Hast thou served many?--tell it not to any. + +J.L.S. + + * * * * * + + +A GENTLEMAN. + + +To tell the reader exactly what class of persons was meant to be +designated by the word _gentleman_, is a difficult task. The last time +we heard it, was on visiting a stable to look at a horse, when, +inquiring for the coachman, his stable-keeper replied, "He has just +stepped to the public-house along with another gentleman." + +The following is the negro's definition of a _gentleman_:--"_Massa make +de black man workee--make de horse workee--make de ox workee--make every +ting workee, only de hog: he, de hog, no workee; he eat, he drink, he +walk about, he go to sleep when he please, he liff like a GENTLEMAN_." + + * * * * * + + +"VERY BAD." + + +Why are washer-women, busily engaged, like Adam and Eve in Paradise? +Because they are _so-apy_ (so happy). + +Why is a widower, going to be married, like Eau de Cologne? Because he +is _re-wiving_. + +Why is a vine like a soldier? Because it is listed and trained, has +_ten-drills_, and shoots. + +Why is a sailor, when at sea, not a sailor? Because he's _a-board_. + +Why is a city gentleman, taken poorly in Grosvenor-square, like a +recluse? Because he is _sick-westward_ (sequestered.) + +Why is it better for a man to have two losses than one? Because the +first is a loss, and the second is _a-gain_. + +"If Britannia rules the waves," said a qualmish writing-master, going to +Margate last week in a storm, "I wish she'd rule 'em _straighter_."-- +_Lit. Gaz._ + + * * * * * + +_Printed and Published by J. LIMBIRD, 143, Strand, (near Somerset +House,) London; sold by ERNEST FLEISCHER, 626, New Market, Leipsic; and +by all Newsmen and Booksellers._ + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MIRROR OF LITERATURE, AMUSEMENT, +AND INSTRUCTION, VOL. 12, ISSUE 331, SEPTEMBER 13, 1828*** + + +******* This file should be named 11320-8.txt or 11320-8.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/1/1/3/2/11320 + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at <a href = "https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre> +<p>Title: The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction, Vol. 12, Issue 331, September 13, 1828</p> +<p>Author: Various</p> +<p>Release Date: February 26, 2004 [eBook #11320]</p> +<p>Language: English</p> +<p>Character set encoding: iso-8859-1</p> +<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MIRROR OF LITERATURE, AMUSEMENT, AND INSTRUCTION, VOL. 12, ISSUE 331, SEPTEMBER 13, 1828***</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<center><h3>E-text prepared by Jonathan Ingram, Margaret, David King,<br /> + and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team</h3></center> +<br /> +<br /> +<hr class="full" /> +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page161" name="page161"></a>[pg +161]</span> +<h1>THE MIRROR<br /> +OF<br /> +LITERATURE, AMUSEMENT, AND INSTRUCTION.</h1> +<hr class="full" /> +<table width="100%" summary="issue identity"> +<tbody> +<tr> +<td align="left"><b>Vol. 12, No. 331.]</b></td> +<td align="center"><b>SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 1828.</b></td> +<td align="right"><b>[PRICE 2d.</b></td> +</tr> +</tbody> +</table> +<hr class="full" /> +<h2>CHARLECOTE HALL, NEAR STRATFORD-UPON-AVON</h2> +<div class="figure" style="width:100%;"><a href= +"images/331-1.png"><img width="100%" src="images/331-1.png" alt= +"Charlecote Hall" /></a></div> +<p>"One of the most delightful things in the world is going a +journey." Now if there be one of our million of friends who, like +the fop in the play, thinks all beyond Hyde Park a desert, let him +forthwith proceed on a pilgrimage to <i>Stratford-upon-Avon</i>, +the birthplace of SHAKSPEARE; and though he be the veriest Londoner +that ever sung of the "sweet shady side of Pall Mall," we venture +to predict his reform. If such be not the result, then we envy him +not a jot of his terrestrial enjoyment. Let him but think of the +countless hours of delight, the "full houses," the lighted dome and +deeping circles, of the past season; when</p> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>Dread o'er the scene the ghost of Hamlet stalks;</p> +<p>Othello rages, &c.</p> +</div> +</div> +<p>and then will he not enjoy a visit to the place where—</p> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>——Sweetest Shakspeare, Fancy's child,</p> +<p>Warbled his native wood-notes wild.</p> +</div> +</div> +<p>Sterne, the prince of sentimental tourists, says, "Let me have a +companion of my way, were it but to remark how the shadows lengthen +as the sun declines;" but, for our part, we should prefer a visit +to Stratford, <i>alone</i>, unless it were with some garrulous old +guide to entertain us with his or her reminiscences.</p> +<p>This brings us to <i>Charlecote Hall</i>, one of the +Shakspearean relics. It consists of a venerable mansion, situated +on the banks of the Avon, about four miles from Stratford, and +built in the first year of the reign of Elizabeth, by Sir Thomas +Lucy;</p> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"A parliamente member, and justice of peace.</p> +<p>At home a poor scare-crow, at London an asse,"</p> +</div> +</div> +<p>and so well known as the prosecutor of Shakspeare. <a id= +"footnotetag1" name="footnotetag1"></a><a href= +"#footnote1"><sup>1</sup></a></p> +<p>The principal front, here represented, assumes, in its ground +plan, the form of the letter E—said to have been intended as +a compliment to the queen, who, as appears from the Black Book of +Warwick, visited this place in 1572.</p> +<p>The above is copied from one of a Series of Views illustrative +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page162" name="page162"></a>[pg +162]</span> of the Life of Shakspeare, drawn and etched by Mr. W. +Rider, of Leamington. These engravings are five in number, but the +artist explains that he has selected such subjects only, "as from +tradition, or more certain record, might fairly be presumed to bear +direct relation to the life of the poet. But while he regrets that +the number of authenticated subjects are so few, he feels that from +innovation or decay, they are almost hourly becoming fewer; and is, +therefore, prompted to secure the few remnants left, while they are +yet within his reach."</p> +<p>There is no doubt that the grounds around Charlecote Hall, were +the early haunts of SHAKSPEARE; and that in the house itself sat +the magisterial authority, before which he was doomed to meet the +charges, to which his youthful indiscretions had rendered him +liable; and, as it remains, to the present time, for the most part, +unaltered, and <i>presents to the spectator of the present day the +same image that was often, and under such peculiar circumstances, +impressed on the eye of our</i> SHAKSPEARE, it cannot but be +regarded with the most intense interest by all his admirers.</p> +<p>In conclusion, we would recommend the illustrators of Shakspeare +to possess themselves of a set of Mr. Rider's "Views;" whilst the +visiter of Stratford-upon-Avon would do well to lay a copy in his +portmanteau—for they are in truth so many faithful memorials +of the great poet of nature.</p> +<hr class="full" /> +<h2>ON NATIONAL VARIETIES.</h2> +<h4>(<i>For the Mirror</i>.)</h4> +<p>There are few more familiar subjects than that of the varieties +of national character, and the resemblances and differences that +exist between ourselves and the inhabitants of other countries. Few +conversations occur upon circumstances which may have happened +abroad, in which some one has not an anecdote to relate to +illustrate the known peculiarities of the nation in question; and +the greater part of the travels and tours which now issue in such +formidable numbers from the press, are naturally filled with +stories and incidents, either to show the correctness of our ideas +of the manners and opinions of our neighbours, or (perhaps more +frequently) to prove that the public were in error in that respect, +up to the time when the traveller in question had discovered the +truth, or a clue to it. The daily accounts of the outrages +perpetrated in Ireland, and the alarms that are sounded ever and +anon, touching the state of that unhappy country, are continually +exciting surprise, that the natives of the sister island should be +so unaccountably deficient in that sense of order and sobriety +which prevails in Great Britain. We associate with a Scotchman the +ideas of shrewdness and prudence; with a Frenchman, gaiety and +frivolity; with a Spaniard, gravity and pride; with an Italian, +strong passions of love and revenge: with a German, plodding +industry and habits of deep thinking; and with the northern +nations, an honest sincerity and persevering courage. We sometimes +judge with tolerable correctness; at others are wholly mistaken, +and not unfrequently run into such extremes, that having +established a principle, that a particular people are knavish, or +cowardly, or stupid, we are unwilling to admit any exceptions, but +include the whole race in our sweeping censure. We are prejudiced +at first sight against a Portuguese or Italian, and are careful of +our communications with him, even though we meet him on the high +road, or by mere accident in a public place. There can, however, be +no mistake in the common notion, that each nation has a peculiar +collection of qualities and habits, distinguishing it in a greater +or less degree from its neighbours, and the rest of the world; and +it is, therefore, at all events, an interesting, if not an useful +topic, to reflect a little how these differences arise. Not that we +intend here to give even any particular description of the various +races of mankind, or to enter into any inquiry upon the degrees of +their mental and bodily capacities; such would be foreign to our +purpose, and would exceed our limits. We shall merely hazard a few +observations upon the several causes to which the diversities in +men have been referred, not pretending to any decided opinion on so +nice a point, as whether these causes are wholly of a physical or +of a moral kind, or whether they are compounded of both. The +question is, perhaps, one of the most difficult in the whole range +of philosophical experience; we say experience, because it is +obvious that all theory on the subject must be the result of +observation and analysis; and that no general principles can be +laid down in the first instance, as the ground work of any +hypothesis we might be inclined to frame.</p> +<p>The scientific men to whom we are chiefly indebted for the facts +accumulated on this subject, are Dr. Blumenbach, of Göttingen, +Dr. Pritchard, of Edinburgh, and the eminent surgeon, Mr. Lawrence. +It has been a favourite matter of speculation with Lord Monboddo, +as well as with Voltaire, Rousseau, and the philosophers of the +French school, who have <span class="pagenum"><a id="page163" name= +"page163"></a>[pg 163]</span> endeavoured to show that men and +other animals are endowed with reason or instinct of the same kind, +but of different degrees. According to these fanciful writers, the +monkey is but another species of the human race, and has been +termed by them <i>Homo Sylvestris</i>. They made the most diligent +researches into all accounts concerning men in a savage state, and +were delighted beyond measure with the discovery alleged to have +been made in the island of Sumatra, of men with tails regularly +protruding from their hinder parts, who, according to Buffon, +walked and talked in the woods like other gentlemen:—</p> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>And backwards and forwards they switched their long tails,</p> +<p>Like a gentleman switching his cane.</p> +</div> +</div> +<p>The appearance of Peter the Wild Boy, who was found in the woods +of Hamela, in Hanover, living on the bark of trees, leaves, +berries, &c. threw Voltaire into transports of joy. He declared +the event to be the most wonderful and important that ages had +recorded in the annals of science, as it demonstrated the fact of +man living after the fashion of beasts, without the least spark of +civilization, and without speech; thereby forming a species of a +nature having more in common with monkeys than with men, and +presenting the regular degree, or intermediate class, between the +<i>homo civilis</i> and the <i>homo sylvestris</i>. The +circumstance, however, which afterwards transpired, of Peter's +having been found with the remains of a shirt-collar about his +neck, threw considerable discredit on the whole story; and the +young savage, on being brought to England by order of Queen +Caroline, lived in Hertfordshire for many years, perfectly harmless +and tractable, and behaving pretty much the same as other idiots. +The idea, therefore, of a race of men, in a healthy, natural +condition, having ever existed without the possession of reason, is +now deemed wholly fallacious. It is even maintained by Schlegel, +and other authorities of great weight, that the civilized state is +the primitive one, and that savage life is a degeneracy from it, +rather than civilized society being a graft upon barbarity. By +Schlegel's theory, the East, especially India, was the earliest +seat of arts and sciences; from the Sanscrit, or Indian language, +now extinct, are the Hebrew, the Chaldaic, the Greek, and many +others of the most ancient tongues, derived; and from the wisdom +and learning of the East "was the whole earth overspread." +Undoubtedly it is difficult to imagine by what gradation language +could have proceeded, from the howl of savages, and the cries of +nature, till it reached the eloquent music, the heart-stirring +oratory of the Greek; and besides this, and other considerations, +Schlegel is supported by the opinions of Adelung, the learned +author of "Mithridates, oder Allgemeine Sprachenkunde," upon the +probable habitation of the first family of the human race. Adelung +says, that civilization began in Asia, as is, indeed, universally +admitted to have been the case; and that when the waters of the +flood subsided, the highest ground, we may naturally conclude, must +have been the earliest inhabited. We may also reasonably presume +that a beneficent Providence would place the first family in a +situation where their wants could be easily satisfied; in a garden, +as it were, stocked with all herbs and fruits, fit and agreeable to +their use and taste. Now such a country is actually to be found in +Central Asia, between the degrees of 30 and 50 North lat. and 90 +and 110 long. E. of Ferro; a spot as high as the Plains of Quito, +or 9,500 feet above the level of the sea. It contains the sources +of most of the great rivers of Asia; the Seleuga, the Ob, the Lena, +the Irtisch, and the Jenisey flow from hence to the North; the +Jaik, the Jihon, and the Jemba to the West; the Amur and the Hoang +Ho to the East; and the Indus, Ganges, and Burrampooter to the +South. The valleys within this space, which our readers, by +referring to a map, will find to be correctly delineated, abound +with nutritive fruits and vegetables, and with all animals capable +of being tamed. There is evidently, therefore, some plausibility in +the notion that mankind sprung originally from the East, and that +from that quarter civilization is derived; but what portion of +knowledge was allotted to the primitive people, or how far their +descendants have surpassed or fallen short of these olden times, +must, we fear, be for ever beyond the reach of our +investigation.</p> +<p>If we call to mind a summary of the general divisions of human +beings throughout the world, we shall find little room to doubt of +the identity of their genus, and shall, without much trouble of +reflection, class them as different species of that +genus:—</p> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>———Facies non omnibus una,</p> +<p>Nec diversa, tamen.</p> +</div> +</div> +<p>Such seems to be the result of Mr. Lawrence's judgment; and +though we are aware that the descent of mankind from one common +stock has been much questioned and controverted, particularly in +Germany, we prefer resting upon the received opinion at present, to +running the risk of shocking established notions, <span class= +"pagenum"><a id="page164" name="page164"></a>[pg 164]</span> by +entering into the merits of the contrary theory.</p> +<p>Men are classed by Dr. Blumenbach under five great divisions, +viz. the Caucasian, Mongolian, Ethiopian, American, and Malay. The +Caucasian family may be asserted, though by its own members, to +have been always pre-eminent above the rest in moral feelings and +intellectual powers, and is remarkable for the large size of their +heads. It need not be more minutely described, than by saying it +includes all the ancient and modern Europeans, (except the +Laplanders and Fins;) the former and present inhabitants of Western +Asia as far as the Ob, the Caspian Sea, and the Ganges, viz. the +Assyrians, Medes, Chaldeans, Sarmatians, Scythians, Parthians, +Philistines, Phoenicians, Jews, and Syrians; the Tartars on the +Caucasus, Georgians, Circassians, Mingrelians, Armenians, Turks, +Persians, Arabs, Hindoos of high caste, Northern Africans, +Egyptians, Abyssinians, and Guanches. They are supposed to have +originally had brown hair and dark eyes.</p> +<p>The Mongolian family is of an olive colour and black eyes, flat +nose and face, small stature, black hair, no beard, and thick lips. +It comprises the people of Central and Northern Asia, Thibet, Ava, +Pegu, Cambodia, Laos, and Siam; the Chinese, Japanese, Fins, and +Esquimaux.</p> +<p>The Ethiopian family is black, with black and woolly hair, +compressed skull, low forehead, flat nose, and thick lips. It +includes all Africans not comprehended in the Caucasian family.</p> +<p>The American family has a dark skin, a red tint, straight hair, +a small beard, low forehead, and broad face. It includes all the +American tribes, except the Esquimaux.</p> +<p>The Malay family is brown, varying from a light tint to black. +Their hair is black and curled, head narrow, bones of the face +prominent, nose broad, and mouth large. They inhabit Malacca, +Sumatra, Java, and the adjacent islands; Molucca, the Ladrones, New +Holland, Van Dieman's Land, New Guinea, New Zealand, and the South +Sea Islands. They speak generally the Malay language.</p> +<p>The difference of character and disposition of these five +families is familiar to every one; they are as well known as is the +superiority of the Caucasian to the other races, and as the outward +distinctions of their bodies and complexions. The reasons of this +difference have been variously assigned, some ascribing it to +natural, others altogether to moral causes. By natural causes we +understand either that the constitutions of the races are such, +that their capabilities of informing their minds, and raising their +intellectual powers, are essentially not the same; or that the +climate has an influence over both their bodies and minds. By moral +causes, we mean artificial or accidental ones arising out of the +state of society; such as the nature of the government, the plenty +or poverty in which people live, a period of war or peace, the +power of public opinion, and such circumstances.</p> +<p>The effect of climate cannot of itself be sufficient to change +the manners and habits of a people. The instances of migratory +nations seem to show this; the Jews are as cunning and fond of +money in Asia or Africa as they are in Poland or England; that +extraordinary race, the Gipsies, (which are now ascertained to be a +Hindoo tribe, driven from their country in the fifteenth century,) +are not less thievish in Transylvania than in Scotland. The +Armenians of Constantinople, and other parts of the Levant, are +represented to be of the same mild and persevering temper, of the +same honesty and skilfulness in their dealings, and the same +kindness and civility of manners, as before they were driven from +their country by Sha-Abbas the Great. The changes, however, in the +habits and character of this people seem to mark the influence of +their several domestic situations. They were originally the most +warlike of the Asiatic tribes; after their subjection by the +Persians, they engaged themselves entirely in the patient +cultivation of the soil; and since the period of the depopulation +of Armenia, and their migrations into Persia, Russia, Turkey, and +other countries, they have been celebrated for their industry in +commercial concerns. They are bankers, money-brokers, merchants, +surgeons, bakers, builders, chintz-printers, and of all trades that +can be imagined, and are represented as the most useful subjects in +the Ottoman empire, retaining at the same time an almost +patriarchal simplicity in their domestic manners. The English in +the East and West Indies, in New South Wales, and in Canada, seldom +lose a relish for the habits and enjoyments they have been bred up +in, whether they migrate to the extremes of heat or of cold. John +Bull is an Englishman in heart, and will remain so under whatever +sun his lot of life may be cast; for,</p> +<blockquote>Coelum, non animum, mutant, qui trans mare +currunt.</blockquote> +<p>We rarely find the Spaniards or Italians, or the natives of the +South of Europe, lose their ideality of character and their warm +passions when settled permanently in England; the only alteration +in them seems to be such as the forms of society <span class= +"pagenum"><a id="page165" name="page165"></a>[pg 165]</span> and +intercourse with others has led them to. Still the man is the same, +though he may have adopted a new regime in the fashion of his +clothes, or the dishes of his dinner.</p> +<p>(<i>To be continued</i>.)</p> +<hr /> +<h3>FAIR ROSAMOND.</h3> +<h4>(<i>To the Editor of the Mirror</i>.)</h4> +<p>In a late Number of the MIRROR, in which you have given a view +of the Labyrinth at Woodstock, and several particulars respecting +Fair Rosamond, many doubts are stated relative to her death, viz. +<i>how</i> and what time. I therefore send you the following +account from <i>Collins's Peerage of England:</i>—</p> +<p>"Rosamond de Clifford was the eldest of the two daughters of +Walter de Clifford, by Margaret his wife, daughter and heir of +Ralph de Toeny, Lord of Clifford Castle, in Herefordshire, (and had +with her the said castle and lands about it as an inheritance.) +This Rosamond was the unfortunate concubine of Henry II., for whom +the king built that famous Labyrinth<a id="footnotetag2" name= +"footnotetag2"></a><a href="#footnote2"><sup>2</sup></a> at +Woodstock, where she lived so retired, as not easily to be found by +his jealous queen. The king gave her a cabinet of such elegant +workmanship,<a id="footnotetag3" name="footnotetag3"></a><a href= +"#footnote3"><sup>3</sup></a> as showed the fighting of champions, +moving of cattle, flying of birds, and swimming of fish, which were +so artfully represented, as if they had been alive. <i>She died +23rd Henry II. anno 1176</i>, by poison (as was suspected) given +her by Queen Eleanor, and was buried in the Chapter-house of the +Nunnery of Godstow."</p> +<h4>G.F.</h4> +<hr /> +<h3>GODSTOW NUNNERY.</h3> +<p>On the banks of the Isis, about two miles from Oxford, are the +remains of Godstow Nunnery. It was founded towards the end of the +reign of Henry I. by Editha, a lady of Winchester, and when +dissolved in the reign of Henry VIII. it was valued at £274. +per annum. A considerable portion of its buildings remained until +the end of the reign of Charles I. about which time they were +accidentally destroyed by fire. The present remains consist chiefly +of ranges of walls on the north, south, and east sides of an +extended area. Near the western extremity of the high north wall +are the remains of two buttresses. There is a small building which +abuts on the east, and ranges along the southern side, which was +probably the Chapter House of the Nuns. The walls are entire, the +roof is of wood, and some of the rafter work is in fair +preservation. It is in this building that the remains of Rosamond +are supposed to have been deposited, when they were removed from +the choir of the church, by the order of Hugh, Bishop of Lincoln, +in 1191. On the north wall is painted a pretended copy of her +epitaph in Latin. Many stone coffins have at various times been +found on this spot.</p> +<h4>HALBERT H.</h4> +<hr /> +<h3>SCRAPS FROM TURKISH HISTORY.</h3> +<h4>(<i>For the Mirror</i>.)</h4> +<p><i>First Landing of the Turks in Europe.</i>—Orchanes, +second king of the Turks, having settled his monarchy in Lesser +Asia, was determined to get footing in Europe. Solyman, his eldest +son, being willing to undertake the enterprise, was accordingly +despatched with an army of veterans, who crossed the Hellespont, +and arrived on the European side. They soon afterwards seized many +considerable castles and cities belonging to the Greeks, who +offered little or no resistance to the invaders of their empire. +These occurrences transpired about the year 1358.</p> +<p><i>A Woman's Revenge.</i>—Mahomet the Great, on being +proclaimed Sultan, caused his two innocent brothers to be put to +death; the mother of the youngest immediately afterwards went to +the new king, and reproached him severely for his cruelty. In order +to appease her, he said, "that it consisted with the policy of his +state to do as he had done, but that whatever she asked of him +should be granted her." The lady, therefore, determining to be +revenged, demanded one of the sultan's chief bassas to be delivered +to her. Mahomet, to keep his word, gave orders that it should be +done without delay; and the enraged lady, seeing the bassa bound +before her, first stabbed him, and then plucked out his liver, +which she cast to the dogs.</p> +<p><i>Turkish Superstition.</i>—Scanderbeg, prince of Epyrus, +after many glorious victories, died on the 17th of January, 1466, +in the 53rd year of his age, and 24th of his reign. He was buried +with great solemnity in the cathedral at Lyssa. The Turks, nine +years afterwards, took the city, and dug up his bones for the +purpose of setting them in rings and bracelets, thinking, by this +means, that they should partake of his invincible fortune.</p> +<p><i>Amurath's Dream.</i>—About the year 1594, Amurath III. +dreamed that he saw a man of prodigious stature, with one foot +raised upon the Tower of Constantinople, while the other reached +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page166" name="page166"></a>[pg +166]</span> over the Bosphorus, and rested on the Asiatic shore. In +one hand, the figure sustained the sun, while the other held the +moon. He struck his foot against the Tower of Constantinople, the +fall of which overthrew the great temple, and the imperial palace. +Amurath, being greatly discomfited by this dream, consulted his +wizard, who informed him, "that it was a warning sent by their +prophet Mahomet, who threatened the overthrow of their religion and +empire, unless Amurath engaged his whole force against the +Christians." This interpretation had so much influence with the +emperor, that he vowed not to lay down his arms until he had +utterly exterminated the Christians.</p> +<h4>G.W.N.</h4> +<hr /> +<h3>TROUT FISHING.</h3> +<h4>(<i>To the Editor of the Mirror</i>.)</h4> +<p>Sir,—I shall now sum up this <i>ticklish</i> subject, by +acquainting you with three more methods of catching trout in +Westmoreland.</p> +<p><i>Flood-netting</i>.—A flood net is a small net with a +semi-circular frame at the mouth of it, from which projects a long +handle. This is used only when there are floods; the fisher draws +it up the rivulets, and every now and then pulls it up to look for +his success. Sometimes he nets a great many at a time, and +especially if he wait the arrival of the flood, because a large +shoal mostly comes down with the first torrents.</p> +<p><i>Pod-netting</i>.—This derives its name from the +habitation of the trouts (the banks of the "becks") which are +called "hods" or "holds" and more frequently "pods," and this net +therefore goes by these three names. I have before described to you +the situation generally of these "<i>holds</i>" to be either in the +ledge of some rock or stone in the water, or under some bank +reaching over the stream. This net is used in fine weather, and +when the water is "<i>clear as crystal</i>;" the fisherman takes +hold of the handles of the net,<a id="footnotetag4" name= +"footnotetag4"></a><a href="#footnote4"><sup>4</sup></a> and wades +through the stream as gently as possible, placing the net just at +the side of a trout's "hold," taking care to keep it as close to +the bottom as possible, to afford the trout no room for escape. +Then another with a long pole drives the trouts from the mouth of +the "<i>hold</i>," when they immediately dart into the net, and +nothing remains but to draw the net quickly up. This is a famous +method of fishing. I have been with parties when we have completely +cleared the beck. We went to "Carmony" in the spring of 1825, and +caught an immense quantity by fishing with the hand and pod. This +brings to my recollection an amusing circumstance, which I intend +troubling you with, though you may think it unworthy of notice. It +was reported in that year that there was a large quantity of trouts +in the beck; and I went at the recommendation of those who had seen +a particularly large one (when passing by) "basking" in the +streams. I was referred to a <i>certain</i> "<i>lum</i>," and +thither I went one afternoon with two friends, to try if we could +have an opportunity of seeing him. We had scarcely reached the spot +when we perceived him lying at the mouth of his "<i>hold</i>," a +fine grassy bank at the side of which grew a small bush; and I +employed my friends to watch the trout should he escape me. I +crossed the brook (my friends remaining on the opposite side), +pulled off my coat and waistcoat, and tucked up my shirt ready for +action. He was still lying very quietly, and as I knew I had no +chance with him then, I touched him gently with a twig and he moved +into his habitation. I then leaned over the bank, thrust in my arm, +touched his back, I felt his size, and was all caution. So first I +began to secure him by building a piece of wall before the bank to +prevent his going out; but I had no sooner laid the first stone +than out he bounced, and darted down the river about twenty yards, +(we running after him all the while) then up again, and so on for +about a quarter of an hour, till at length he became tired and +waddled into his dwelling. I now thought all secure, and once more +put in my hand, when he jumped at least three or four yards out of +the water. I must confess, I was a little confused with my friends' +dictation, who feared I should lose him. Again housed, I made a +kind of fort at one end of the hold, and this done, I again thrust +in my arm, when he was as soon out again, and on getting up I found +my hand covered with blood. Still he came back to his favourite +place, and I tried again, after giving my friends caution to be on +the look out. This time I was successful, I put my hand gently +under his belly, and by a tickle, secured the rascal, by thrusting +the fore-finger and thumb of my right hand in his gills. I got him +on to land, my friends ran about in exstacy, and I think I never +saw a finer trout than he proved to be—real Eden. We gave a +shout of triumph, after which we cut him on the nose to kill him. +From tail to snout he measured one foot four inches; but he was +beautifully plump and thick-made. We now began to wonder what +caused the <span class="pagenum"><a id="page167" name= +"page167"></a>[pg 167]</span> blood on my hand, when on +examination, we found a large night hook in his side, which no +doubt I had touched, and had thus given him pain, and made him +restless. I will not prolong the story, but tell you he weighed +about two pounds and a half, and was acknowledged to be the +plumpest trout ever caught in that county by the hand.<a id= +"footnotetag5" name="footnotetag5"></a><a href= +"#footnote5"><sup>5</sup></a> Shortly afterwards I caught the +partner to it in the same place, but it was not so fine a trout, +and I had not so much effort in catching it. The largest trout ever +caught in this county weighed four pounds and a half, but that was +taken with the net. I have no other recommendation for this paper +but its originality. I have enjoyed the sport, and can only half +convey a description of it upon paper.</p> +<h4>W.H.H.</h4> +<hr /> +<h3>THE ROSE.</h3> +<h4><i>(For the Mirror.)</i></h4> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="i2">Mark, Laura, dearest, yonder rose</p> +<p class="i4">Its inner folds are sad and pale, love;</p> +<p class="i2">While blushing, outward leaves disclose</p> +<p class="i4">A lively crimson to the gale, love.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="i2">Yet as the secret canker-worm</p> +<p class="i4">Preys deeply on its drooping heart, love,</p> +<p class="i2">Soon from the flow'ret's with'ring form</p> +<p class="i4">Will all that vivid glow depart, love.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="i2">Then turn to me those beaming eyes—</p> +<p class="i4">A blooming cheek although you see, love,</p> +<p class="i2">Since hope is fled, then pleasure dies,</p> +<p class="i4">And read the rose's fate in me, love.</p> +</div> +</div> +<hr /> +<h3>OLD WINE.</h3> +<h4><i>(For the Mirror.)</i></h4> +<p>The passion for old wines has sometimes been carried to a very +ridiculous excess, for the "<i>thick crust</i>," the "<i>bee's +wing</i>," and the several other criterions of the epicure, are but +so many proofs of the decomposition and departure of some of the +best qualities of the wine. Had the man that first filled the +celebrated Heidleburg tun been placed as sentinel, to see that no +other wine was put into it, he would have found it much better at +twenty-five or thirty years old, than at one hundred, had he lived +so long, and been permitted now and then to taste it.</p> +<p>At Bremen there is a wine-cellar, called the Store, where five +hogsheads of Rhenish wine have been preserved since 1625. These +five hogsheads cost 1,200 francs. Had this sum been put out to +compound interest, each hogshead would now be worth above a +thousand millions of money, a bottle of this precious wine would +cost 21,799,480 francs, or about 908,311<i>l.</i>, and a single +wine-glass 2,723,808 francs, or about 113,492<i>l.</i>.</p> +<h4>J.L.S.</h4> +<hr /> +<h3>THE HEROINE.</h3> +<h4>A SKETCH FROM SUNDRY NOVELS.</h4> +<h4><i>(For the Mirror.)</i></h4> +<p>She must be, <i>à plaisir</i>, tall and slender in +person, or of humbler stature, but never inclining to stoutness, +since the <i>en bon point</i> savours (at least in romance) of +vulgarity. Her complexion may be light or dark, according to fancy; +but her interesting pallidness may occasionally be relieved by a +hectic flush, yet more interesting. She must possess small +<i>alabaster</i> hands, <i>coral</i> or <i>ruby</i> lips, enchasing +a double row of <i>pearls</i>; a neck rivalling <i>ivory</i> or +driven <i>snow</i>, (yes, even if our heroine be a brunette, for +incongruity is the very essence of romance); <i>velvet</i> cheeks, +<i>golden</i> or <i>jet</i> black hair, <i>diamond</i> eyes, +marvellous delicate feet, shrouded at all times in +<i>bas-de-soie</i>, and defended by the most enchanting slippers +imaginable; her figure must be a model for the statuary, and at all +seasons, and in every situation, arrayed in muslins or silks, +which, wondrous to relate, resist the injuries of time, weather, +and wear in a manner perfectly astounding. What heroine had ever an +hiatus in her stocking, or a fracture in her gown of finest woof? +Ye gods! what an insult to suppose her <i>repairing such</i>! The +lady's mental accomplishments and qualifications are as +follow:—She sings divinely, plays on the harp (and piano too +in modern days) <i>à merveille</i>; occasionally condescends +to fascinate on the guitar, and the lute also, should that +instrument, now rather antiquated, fall in her way. She takes +portraits, and sketches from nature; she understands <i>all</i> +languages, or rather that desideratum, an <i>universal tongue</i>, +since in the most foreign lands she is never at a loss to render +herself understood, nor to comprehend that which is addressed to +her; she is of a melancholy cast of mind, and carries sal-volatile +in her reticule, and fountains of tears in her eyes, for use on the +most <i>public</i> occasions; she likes gloomy apartments, looking +upon the sea, mountains, or black forests, and leading into endless +corridors; she has an Æolian lyre ever at her casement, +writes verses and weeps by moonlight, for—effect, or— +<i>nothing</i>; and is enamoured with a being, who, in the common +course of nature, could not exist; he possessing, amongst other +fine qualities, that of omnipresence in an impious degree. Should +the heroine reside in a town, and especially London, she must have +dwelt previously in some <span class="pagenum"><a id="page168" +name="page168"></a>[pg 168]</span> isolated mansion, seldom visited +by beings superior in intellect to the foxes they hunt; an idiot +mother, vulgar aunt, a father, an uncle, or a guardian in his +dotage, must have superintended her education; and when, at the age +of sixteen, some fortunate chance throws her into society, her +accomplishments and manners are found more fitting for it and +finished, than those of persons who have from their cradles +associated with families of the highest distinction, and possessed +all the advantages of a polished and liberal education. The heroine +has, in all situations, an abundant store of money, jewels, and +clothes, supplied no one knows when, how, or by whom; and these, +with her musical instruments, drawing materials, &c. accompany +her into every reverse of situation, in a manner perfectly +incomprehensible, but highly amusing and edifying. A miniature +portrait of some mysterious relative or friend, seldom or ever +seen, nay, indeed, a sacred memento of the dead, is highly scenic +and effective in a romance. The heroine ought, by all means, to +possess such; it <i>may</i> do good, and it <i>can</i> do no harm. +Finally, the lady must frequently faint, be twice or thrice on the +brink of the grave, undergo exquisite varieties of suffering, run +all hazards, but retain her beauty and reputation unblemished to +the <i>last</i>, i.e. to her <i>marriage</i>; after which, this +wondrous and superlative creature, and her partner in perfection, +are never heard of more. <i>Why</i>?</p> +<h4>M.L.B.</h4> +<hr /> +<h3>ANCIENT ROMAN FESTIVALS.</h3> +<h4>SEPTEMBER.</h4> +<p>The <i>Septmontium</i> was a festival of the seven mountains of +Rome, which was celebrated in this month, near the seven mountains, +within the walls of the city; they sacrificed seven times in seven +different places; and on that day the emperors were very liberal to +the people.</p> +<p>The <i>Meditrinalia</i> were feasts instituted in honour of the +goddess <i>Meditrina</i>, and celebrated on the 13th of September. +They were so called from <i>medendo</i>, because the Romans then +began to drink new wine, which they mixed with old, and <i>that</i> +served them instead of physic.</p> +<h4>P.T.W.</h4> +<hr class="full" /> +<h2>NOTES OF A READER.</h2> +<h3>THE ANNUALS FOR 1829.</h3> +<p>These elegant little works are already in a forward state. MR. +ALARIC WATTS announces the plates of the SOUVENIR, "of a more +important size than heretofore," and twelve in number, already +completed. Among them are <i>Cleopatra embarking on the Cydnus</i>, +drawn by Danby, and engraved by Goodall; <i>Love taught by the +Graces</i>, drawn by Hilton, and engraved by J.C. Edwards; a +beautiful scene from <i>Lalla Rookh</i>, drawn by Stephanoff, and +engraved by Bacon; <i>She never told her Love</i>, drawn by +Westall, and engraved by Rolls. Whilst Mr. Watts has been catering +for the "children of a larger growth," Mrs. W. has been preparing a +"New Year's Gift; or <i>Juvenile</i> Souvenir", to be accompanied +with exquisite illustrations of Nursery literature; as the Children +in the Wood, Red Riding Hood, &c. with two historical subjects +after Northcote.</p> +<p>Mr. Ackermann, to whom we are indebted for the +<i>naturalization</i> of "Annuals", announces that one of his +plates in the forthcoming "FORGET ME NOT"—(4 inches by 3 in +dimension) has cost one hundred guineas! The subject is "the Ruined +City," by Martin, engraved by Le Keux. Fine engraving is thus +almost as dear as building-ground at Brighton.</p> +<p>The KEEPSAKE will appear much earlier than last year. Sir Walter +Scott has written three or four articles, and two or three "noble +lords" are among the contributors. Nothing can exceed the beauty of +the specimens of the illustrations.</p> +<p>The FRIENDSHIP'S OFFERING passes into the editorial hands of Mr. +T. Pringle, of whose poetical talents we have lately had some +exquisite specimens.</p> +<p>The ANNIVERSARY.—Allan Cunningham has joined Mr. Sharp (of +whose taste in "getting up" books, our readers must be aware) in a +splendid volume to be called "The Anniversary." Among the +engravings are <i>Psyche</i>, after Sir Thomas Lawrence; <i>Young +Cottagers</i>, after Gainsborough; the <i>Author of Waverley in his +Study</i>, after W. Allen; a <i>Monkey</i>, &c. by Landseer. +This is a new adventure, and we wish its projectors many +<i>anniversaries</i>.</p> +<p>The CHRISTMAS BOX is to contain "A Story," from the pen of Miss +Edgworth. Mrs. Hofland, Miss Mitford, and Mrs. Hemans, likewise, +contribute their pleasing aid.</p> +<p>The PLEDGE OF FRIENDSHIP is to be altered to <i>The Gem</i>, to +be edited by Mr. T. Hood, whose wit and fancy will sparkle among +the contributions; and who hopes that it may prove one of those +"hardy annuals," which are to become perennials; the writers are to +be of <span class="pagenum"><a id="page169" name="page169"></a>[pg +169]</span> "<i>authorized</i> popularity"—"the <i>plates</i> +not of the common <i>dessert</i> kind, but a welcome +<i>service</i>"—the engravers "as true as steel" to their +originals—and the whole equally "mental" and "ornamental:" so +the wight has begun already.</p> +<p>The WINTER'S WREATH promises to bloom more vigorously than ever, +and earlier too—in September. Among the contributors are the +names of Hemans, Opie, Mitford, Montgomery, Wiffen, Delta, +&c.</p> +<p>The AMULET is to be edited, as last year, by Mr. Hall.</p> +<p>The BIJOU is printing with <i>two-fold</i> energy.</p> +<p>We read the other day that Schiller's "History of the German +War," was originally published in <i>Damen Almanach</i>—a +Lady's Almanack! This is real <i>azure</i>. "Annuals" do not, +however, progress on the continent; for a new one, lately published +contained but a single original contribution. In America they have +bloomed with some success, though not with the elegance and polish +of our own country. Here their effect on the Fine Arts has been +very important, and they have done much for light reading, every +name of literary eminence, except those of Moore, Campbell, and +Rogers, having been enlisted in their ranks. We do not, however, +remember Leigh Hunt, although his pleasantries would relieve the +plaintiveness of some of the poetical contributions. A few +<i>Shandean</i> articles would be very agreeable—something +like the Housekeepers in the last "Friendships' Offering."</p> +<p>Nothing is said of the "Literary Pocket Book;" but our old +friend, "Time's Telescope," will be mounted as usual.</p> +<p>We also take this opportunity to state that the "ARCANA OF +SCIENCE AND ART, FOR 1829," will appear towards the close of the +present year; and, we are enabled to promise its patrons a still +greater modicum of novelty and interest than was even comprised in +its very successful forerunner.</p> +<hr /> +<h3>MARTYRDOM.</h3> +<p>There is no truth more abundantly exemplified in the history of +mankind, than that the blood of martyrs, spilt in whatever cause, +political or religious, is the best imaginable seed for the growth +of favour towards their persons, and, as far as conversion depends +on feeling, of conversion to their opinions. "<i>Quoites mori emur +toties nasciemur</i>." —<i>Edin. Rev.</i></p> +<hr /> +<h3>ENGLISH LIBERTY.</h3> +<p>Our liberty is neither Greek nor Roman; but essentially English. +It has a character of its own,—a character which has taken a +tinge from the sentiments of the chivalrous ages, and which accords +with the peculiarities of our manners, and of our insular +situation. It has a language, too, of its own, and a language too +singularly idiomatic, full of meaning to ourselves, scarcely +intelligible to strangers. —<i>Ibid.</i></p> +<hr /> +<h3>SENSUALITY.</h3> +<p>How different is the night of Nature from that of man, and the +repose of her scenes from the misrule of his sensual haunts; what a +contrast between the refreshing return of her morning, and the +feverish agonies of his day-dreams. —<i>Cameleon +Sketches.</i></p> +<hr /> +<h3>THE FLIMSY AGE.</h3> +<p>Poets sing of the "golden age," the "silver age," and the "iron +age," but were they to celebrate this, I think they should call it +the flimsy age, for every thing seems made to suit a temporary +purpose, without any regard to the sound and substantial. From +printed calico to printed books, from Kean's acting to Nash's +architecture, all is made to catch the eye, to gratify the appetite +for novelty, without regard to real and substantial excellence. +—<i>Blackwood</i>.</p> +<hr /> +<h3>VILLAGE CHURCHES.</h3> +<p>We find very few monasteries founded after the twelfth century; +the great majority, which rose through the kingdom "like +exhalations," were founded between the eleventh and twelfth +centuries; and in all county histories and authentic records, we +scarce find a parish church, with the name of its resident rector +recorded, before the twelfth century. The first notice of any +village church occurs in the Saxon Chronicle, after the death of +the conqueror, A.D. 1087. They are called, there, "upland +churches." "Then the king did as his father bade him ere he was +dead; he then distributed treasures for his father's soul to each +monastery that was in England; to some ten marks of gold, to some +six; to each <i>upland</i> church sixty pence."—Ingram's +Saxon Chronicle. Gibson's note on the passage is, "unicuique +ecclesiae rurali." These rare rural churches, after the want of +them was felt, and after the lords of manors built, endowed, and +presented to them, spread so rapidly, that in 1200 in almost every +remote parish there was an "upland church," if not a resident +minister, as at this day.</p> +<p>The convents, however, still remained in their pristine +magnificence, though declining in purity of morals and in public +estimation. In place of new <span class="pagenum"><a id="page170" +name="page170"></a>[pg 170]</span> foundations of this august +description, the—</p> +<blockquote>"Village parson's modest mansion rose,"</blockquote> +<p>gracefully shewing its unostentatious front, and, at length, +humbly adorning almost all the scattered villages of the +land.—<i>Bowles's History of Bremhill.</i></p> +<hr /> +<p>It was pleasantly observed by a sentimental jockey, who lost by +a considerable length the first race he ever rode, "I'll never ride +another race as long as I live. The riders are the most selfish, +narrow minded creatures on the face of the earth. They kept riding +and galloping as fast as they could, and never had once the +kindness or civility to stop for me."—<i>Penelope</i>.</p> +<hr /> +<h3>IRELAND.</h3> +<p>It has lately been proved by indisputable evidence, that the +present condition of the peasantry of Ireland is much superior, to +that of the population of the same island some centuries ago, when +the number of people did not exceed one million. Spenser describes +them as inhabiting "sties rather than houses, which is the chiefest +cause of the farmer's so beastly manner of living and savage +condition, lying and living together with his beast, in one house, +in one room, in one bed, that is clean straw, or rather a foul +dunghill."</p> +<p>In 1712, Dobbs, a man particularly conversant with the general +condition of Ireland, estimated that its population had increased +200,000. He states that "the common people are very poorly clothed, +go barelegged half the year, and very rarely taste of that flesh +meat with which we so much abound, but are pinched in every article +of life."</p> +<p>In 1762, Sir William Petty computed that the inhabitants of +Ireland amounted to about one million three hundred thousand. Their +habitations, he says, "are lamentable wretched cabins, such as +themselves could make in three or four days, not worth five +shillings the building, and filthy and disgusting to a degree, +which renders it necessary for us to refrain from quoting his +description. Out of the 200,000 houses of Ireland," says he, +"160,000 are wretched cabins, without chimney, window, or door +shut, even worse than those of the savages of America." Their food +at the same period, consisted "of cakes, whereof a penny serves for +each a week; potatoes from August till May; mussels, cockles, and +oysters, near the sea; eggs and butter made very rancid by keeping +in bogs; as for flesh they seldom eat it; they can content +themselves with potatoes."</p> +<hr /> +<h3>SELF KNOWLEDGE.</h3> +<p>We often hear people call <i>themselves</i> fools. Now a man +ought to know whether he is a fool or not, and he would not say it +if he did not believe it; and there is also a degree of wisdom in +the discovery that one has been a fool, for thereby it is intimated +that the season of folly is over. Whosoever therefore actually says +that he was a fool formerly, virtually says that he is not a fool +now.—<i>Penelope</i>.</p> +<hr /> +<h3>THE MAIDEN'S CHOICE.</h3> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="i2">Genteel in personage,</p> +<p class="i2">Conduct and equipage,</p> +<p class="i2">Noble by heritage,</p> +<p class="i4">Generous and free;</p> +<p class="i2">Brave, not romantic,</p> +<p class="i2">Learn'd, not pedantic,</p> +<p class="i2">Frolic, not frantic,</p> +<p class="i4">This must he be.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="i2">Honour maintaining,</p> +<p class="i2">Meanness disdaining.</p> +<p class="i2">Still entertaining,</p> +<p class="i4">Engaging and new:</p> +<p class="i2">Neat, but not finical,</p> +<p class="i2">Sage, but not cynical,</p> +<p class="i2">Never tyrannical,</p> +<p class="i4">But ever true.</p> +</div> +</div> +<h4><i>Old MS</i>.</h4> +<hr /> +<h3>CUNNING.</h3> +<p>In England, no class possesses so much of that peculiar ability +which is required for constructing ingenious schemes, and for +obviating remote difficulties, as the thieves and the thief-takers. +Women have more of this dexterity than men. Lawyers have more of it +than statesmen; statesmen have more of it than philosophers.</p> +<hr /> +<h3>STORY-TELLING.</h3> +<p>A friend of mine has one, and only one, good story, respecting a +gun, which he contrives to introduce upon all occasions, by the +following simple, but ingenious device. Whether the company in +which he is placed be numerous or select, addicted to strong +potations, or to long and surprising narratives; whatever may +happen to be the complexion of their character or conversation, let +but a convenient pause ensue, and my friend immediately hears, or +pretends to hear, the report of a gun. Every body listens, and +recalls his late impressions, upon which "the story of a gun" is +naturally, and as if by a casual association, introduced +thus—"By the by, speaking of guns, that puts me in mind of a +story about a gun;" and so the gun is fixed in regular style, and +the company condemned to smell powder for twenty minutes to come! +To the telling of this gun story, it is not, you see, at all +necessary that there should be an actual explosion and report; it +is sufficient that there <i>might</i> have been something of the +kind.</p> +<hr /> +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page171" name="page171"></a>[pg +171]</span> +<h3>PLEASURES OF TRAVELLING.</h3> +<p>Dover quite full—horrible place! Shocking, the inns! +Amphibious wretches, the population. Ashore (from steam-packet) at +four in the morning. Fires out at The Ship. No beds! Think of it! +Had to wait till a party got up—going off at six. Six +came—changed their minds (lazy!) wouldn't go! Woke the whole +house with ringing the bells, however—took care they +shouldn't sleep. Filthy breakfast! Bad butter—vile +chops—eggs! I never got an egg properly boiled in my life! +Royal Society ought to give a premium. Set off, starved and +shuddering—roads heavy—four horses. Ruined with the +expense. Man wanted to take half. Fat—looked greasy. Thought +ruin best. Got up to Pagliano's a petrifaction! Worthy creature, +the cook! Tossed me up such a "<i>Saumon, +Tartare</i>"—"<i>Vol au vent</i>"—"Maccaroni"—all +light. Coffee—<i>liqueur</i>—no wine for fear of +fever—went to bed quite thawed in body and mind; and walked +round Leicester-square next morning like "a giant +refreshed!"—<i>Blackwood</i>.</p> +<hr /> +<p>A woman's true dowry is virtue, modesty, and desires restrained; +not that which is usually so called.</p> +<hr /> +<h3>DOMESDAY.</h3> +<p>Mr. Bowles in his <i>History of Bremhill</i>, makes a few +observations suggested by the account in <i>Domesday Book</i>, on +the wages, and some of the prices of agricultural produce on the +farms where the <i>villani</i> and <i>servi</i>, literally +<i>slaves</i> and <i>villans</i>, laboured. When we find two oxen +sold for seventeen shillings and four-pence, we must bear in mind +that one Norman shilling was as much in value as three of ours; +when we find that thirty hens were sold for three farthings each, +we must bear in mind the same proportion. The price of a sheep was +one shilling, that is three of ours. Wheat was six shillings +a-quarter; that would be, according to our scale, two shillings and +three-pence a-bushel. Now, at the time of this calculation, +everything must have borne a greater price, reckoning by money, +than at the time of Domesday; for the prices of articles now set +down (from an authentic document of the accounts of the Duke of +Cornwall, first published from the original by Sir R.C. Hoare, in +his <i>History of Mere</i>,) bear date somewhat more than two +hundred years afterwards, in the reign of Edward the First, 1299. +But at that time, what were the wages of the labourer? The +ploughman's wages were about five shillings a-year, fifteen +shillings by the present scale; a maid for making "pottage" +received a penny a week!</p> +<hr class="full" /> +<h2>THE SKETCH BOOK.</h2> +<h3>STRIKING INCIDENT IN THE LIFE OF A MIDSHIPMAN.</h3> +<p>I have read some theories, or rather hypotheses, of apparitions, +in which the authors attempt to account for the appearance of those +unsubstantial shadows, resembling the forms of living men, by +circumstances connected with the physical laws of matter. But I am +rather inclined to hold, with another class of inquirers, that the +origin of such marvels must be looked for in the mind of the seers; +although I do not go the length of their scepticism, and deny the +actual existence of the ghostly show, as a real and visible +spectacle, before the eyes.</p> +<p>These observations will derive some illustration at least, if +not entire confirmation, from the following narrative, which is +deemed to be authentic in the neighbourhood in which the scene is +laid; and the application of which the judicious reader will, no +doubt, be able to make for himself.</p> +<p>About the middle of the last war, the <i>Polly</i>, tender, +commanded by lieutenant Watts, came swooping up one evening to the +small town of Auchinbreck, in Scotland, and, resolving to pounce, +without warning, upon her prey, as soon as she had anchored in the +roads, sent ashore the press-gang to pick up as many of the stout +boat-builder lads as they could catch. The towns-people, however, +were not so unprepared as the captain of the tender imagined; some +of those, indeed, who were fit for sea, ran up into the hills, but +by far the greater number collected about the corner of a +building-shed as you go on to the main street, and, when the signal +of hostility was given, by the capture of a man by the press-gang, +they rushed down upon them in a body, every one with his axe on his +shoulder like a troop of Indians with their tomahawks. It had now +become so dark that the sailors had much to do to keep their +footing upon the loose stones of the beach, which was just at this +time rendered a still more troublesome passage by the scattered +materials of a pier, then beginning to be built; and, besides, +their number was so small compared to the townspeople, that, after +a few strokes of the cutlas, and as many oaths as would have got a +line-of-battle ship into action and out again, they were fain to +retreat to their boat, pursued by the boat-builders, <span class= +"pagenum"><a id="page172" name="page172"></a>[pg 172]</span> young +and old, like furies. A midshipman, sitting in the stern, whose +name was William Morrison, a fine lad of fifteen, observed the fate +of the action with feelings in which local and professional spirit +struggled for the mastery. One moment he would rub his hands with +glee, and the next unsheath his dagger in anger, as he saw the axe +of a fellow-townsman descend on the half-guarded head of a brother +sailor; but, when the combatants came within oar's length of the +boat, and the retreat began to resemble a flight, the <i>esprit de +corps</i> got the upper hand in the Auchinbrecken midshipman's +feelings, and, unsheathing his dagger, he jumped nimbly ashore and +joined in the fray. At last the sailors got fairly into their boat +without a single man being either missing or killed, although the +list of the wounded included the whole party; and the landsmen, +apparently pretty much in the same circumstances, although unable, +from their number and the darkness, to reckon as instantaneously +the amount of the loss or damage, after giving three cheers of +triumph, retired in good order.</p> +<p>William Morrison, after discharging his duty so manfully, was +permitted to go on shore the same evening, to visit his friends; +and, indeed, the captain could not have known before that he +belonged to the place, as he surely would not have confided to the +lad so unpopular a task as that of kidnapping his own relations and +acquaintances. He was landed at the point of Scarlough, to prevent +the necessity of going through the streets, which might have been +dangerous in the excited state of the people's minds; and, +stretching across the fields, and along the side of the hill, he +steered steadily on in the direction of his paternal home, which +was about a mile and a half from the Point, but only one mile from +the town. The moon had now risen, but was only visible in short +glimpses through the clouds that were hurrying across the sky; and +the tall, strange shadows of the willows and yews that skirted the +churchyard, appearing and disappearing as he passed, probably by +recalling the associations of his earlier years, made William +shrink, and almost tremble. His own shadow, however, was a more +pleasing thing to look at. The dress, which, grown familiar by +usage, he would not have noticed elsewhere, was here brilliantly +contrasted in his recollection with the more clownish and common +garb of his boyhood—for he already reckoned himself a man; +and the dagger, projecting smartly from his belted side, gave, in +his opinion, a finish quite melodramatic to his air. He drew out +the tiny blade from its sheath, and its sparkle in the moonlight +seemed to be reflected in his eyes as he gazed on it from hilt to +point; but the expression of those eyes was changed as they +discovered that its polish in one place was dimmed by blood. This +could easily be accounted for by the affray on the beach—and +at any other time and place it would have been thought nothing +of;—but at this moment, and on this spot, he was as much +startled by the sight, as if his conscience had accused him of a +deliberate murder. The impressions his mind had received while +passing the churchyard, now returned upon him with added gloom; a +kind of misgiving came over him; and a thousand boding thoughts +haunted him like spirits, and hanging, as it were, on his heart, +dragged it down farther and farther at every step. He bitterly +regretted that he had not remained in the boat, as he had at first +resolved, a neutral spectator of the strife. How did he know that +his hand had not been raised against the life of his own brother? +As far as he could see or learn, indeed, no fatal accident had +occurred; but there have been instances of people walking cheerily +off the field of battle, and dying of their wounds after all. And +yet it was not likely—it was hardly possible—that John +could have been in the affray, his indentures protecting him from +the impress. These cogitations were speedily followed by others of +as gloomy a character; for the thoughts breed faster than we can +perceive them, and each multiplies after his kind. It was a year +since he had heard from his friends, and five years since he had +seen them. Who could tell what changes had taken place in that +time? Who could tell whether poor John had even lived to be killed +by the pressgang? His father, his mother, and his +sisters—were they dead, were they living, were they sick, or +in health? His sister had been always a delicate girl, one of those +gentle and fragile flowers of mortality that are sure not to live +till the summer; perhaps consumption, with the deceitful beauty of +his smile, had already led his fair partner down the short dance of +life.</p> +<p>Tormenting himself with such speculations, he arrived at his +father's house. Here he was surprised, bewildered, almost shocked, +to observe a new and handsome farm-house in place of the old one. +On looking farther on, however, he did detect the ancient +habitation of his family, in its original site; but it seemed, from +the distance where he stood, to be falling into ruins. His whole +race must either be dead or banished, and a new tribe of successors +settled in their place; <span class="pagenum"><a id="page173" name= +"page173"></a>[pg 173]</span> or else uncle William must be +deceased, and have left his father money enough to build a new +house. He walked up to the door, where he stood trembling for some +minutes, without courage to put his hand to the latch, and at last +went round to the window, and, with a desperate effort, looked in. +How his heart bounded! His father was there, still a stout healthy +man of middle life, his hair hardly beginning to be grizzled, by +the meddling finger of the old painter Time; and his mother, as +handsome as ever, and her face relieved by the smile either of +habitual happiness, or of some momentary cause of joyful +excitation, from the Madonna cast which had distinguished it in +less prosperous days; and his sister, with only enough left of her +former delicacy of complexion to chasten the luxuriant freshness of +health on the ripe cheeks of nineteen. John, indeed, was not there; +but a vacant chair stood by the table ready to receive him, and +another—a second chair, beside it, only nearer the +fire—for whom?—for himself. His heart told him that it +was. Some one must have brought the tidings of his arrival; the +family circle were at that moment waiting to receive him; he could +see his old letters lying on the table before them, and recognised +the identical red splash he had dropped, as if accidentally, on the +corner of one—the dispatch he had written after his first +action—although he had taken the trouble to go to the +cock-pit to procure, for the occasion, this valorous token of +danger and glory. But John—it was so late for him to be from +home!—and, as a new idea passed across his mind, he turned +his eyes upon the old house, which was distant about a hundred +yards. It was probable, he thought, nay, more than probable, that +his father, when circumstances enabled him to build a new house for +himself, had given the old one to his eldest son; and John, +doubtless, was established there as the master of the family, and +perhaps at this moment was waiting anxiously for a message to +require his presence on the joyful occasion of his brother's +arrival. He did not calculate very curiously time or ages, for his +brother was only his senior by two years; he felt that he was +himself a man long ago, and thought that John by this time must be +almost an old man.</p> +<p>While these reflections were passing through his mind, he +observed a light in the window of the old house; but he could not +well tell whether it was merely the reflection of a moonbeam on the +glass, or a candle in the interior. He walked forward out of +curiosity; but the scene, as he approached the building, was so +gloomy, and the air so chill, that he wished to turn back; however, +he walked on till he reached the door, and there, sure enough, his +brother was waiting on the threshold to receive him. They shook +hands in silence, for William's heart was too full to speak, and he +followed John into the house; and an ill-cared-for house it was. He +stumbled among heaps of rubbish in the dark passage; and, as he +groped along the wall, his hand brought down patches of old lime, +and was caught in spiders' webs almost as strong as if the spinner +had meant to go a-fowling. When they had got into the parlour, he +saw that the building was indeed a ruin; there was not a whole pane +of glass in the window, nor a plank of wood in the damp floor; and +the fireplace, without fire, or grate to hold it, looked like the +entrance to a burying-vault. John, however, walked quietly in, and +sat down on a heap of rubbish by the ingleside; and William, +following his example, sat down over-against him. His heart now +began to quake, and he was afraid, without knowing what he had to +fear. He ran over in his mind the transactions of the +evening—his walk, his reflections, his +anxieties—embracing the whole, as if in one rapid and yet +detailed glance of the soul, and then turned his eyes upon his +brother both in fear and curiosity. What fearful secret could John +have to communicate in a place like this? Could he not have spoken +as well in the open air, where it was so much warmer, and in the +blessed light of the moon? No one was dead, or likely to die, that +he cared for; his dearest and almost only friends were at this +moment talking and laughing round their social table, and near a +bright fire, expecting his arrival, and John and he +were—here! At length, repressing by a strong effort the +undefined and undefinable feelings that were crowding upon him, he +broke the silence, which was now beginning to seem strange and +embarrassing.</p> +<p>"And how have you been, John?" said he, in the usual form of +friendly inquiries; "and how have you got on in the world since we +parted?"</p> +<p>"I have been well." replied John; "and I have got on as well as +mortal man could desire."</p> +<p>"Yet you cannot be happy; you must have something to +say—something I am almost afraid to hear. Out with it, in +God's name! and let us go home."</p> +<p>"Yes," said John, "I have something to say; but it will not take +long to hear, and then we shall both go home. I was apprenticed to +the boat-building four years ago."</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page174" name="page174"></a>[pg +174]</span> +<p>"I know it," replied William; "you wrote to me about it +yourself, John."</p> +<p>"I was made foreman before my time was out."</p> +<p>"I know that, too," said William; "Fanny gave me the whole +particulars in a letter I received at Smyrna;—surely that +cannot be all."</p> +<p>"I have more to tell," said John, solemnly: "my apprenticeship +is out."</p> +<p>"What, in four years!—you are mad, John! What do you +mean?"</p> +<p>"The indenture was cancelled this evening."</p> +<p>"How?" cried William, with a gasp, and beginning to tremble all +over, without knowing why.</p> +<p>"I was wounded on the beach," said John, rising up, and walking +backwards towards the window; while the moon, entering into a dense +cloud, had scarcely sufficient power to exhibit the outlines of his +figure. "It was by the point of a dagger," continued he, his voice +sounding distant and indistinct, "<i>and I died of the +wound!</i>"</p> +<p>William was alone in the apartment, and he felt the hair rising +upon his head, and cold drops of sweat trickling down his brow. His +ghastly and bewildered look was hardly noticed by his parents and +sister during the first moments of salutation; and, when it was, +the excuse was illness and fatigue. He could neither eat nor drink, +(it seemed as if he had lost altogether the faculty of swallowing,) +but sat silent and stupified, turning his head ever and anon to the +door, till it struck one o'clock. About this time a knocking was +heard, and the sister, jumping up, cried it was John come home, and +ran to open the door. But it was not John; it was the minister of +the parish; and he had scarcely time to break the blow to the +parents with the shield of religion, when the dead body of their +eldest son was brought into the house.—<i>Orient. +Herald</i>.</p> +<hr class="full" /> +<h2>SPIRIT OF DISCOVERY.</h2> +<p><i>Zoological Gardens.</i></p> +<p>It is stated that upwards of one hundred and eighty pounds have +been received for the admission of the public to these gardens +during one week.</p> +<p>We omitted to mention last week, that one of the lamas was +presented by Robert Barclay, Esq. of Bury Hill; a leopard by Lord +Auckland; several animals from the Arctic regions by the Hudson's +Bay Company, &c. The pair of emus were bred at Windsor, by Lord +Mountcharles. The emu is hunted in New South Wales for its oil; it +frequently weighs 100 lbs., and its taste, when cooked, more +resembles beef than fowl.—See <i>Notes</i>, p. 378, vol. xi. +MIRROR.</p> +<p><i>Venerable Orange Tree.</i></p> +<p>There is an orange tree, still living and vigorous, in the +orangery at Versailles, which is well ascertained to be above 400 +years old. It is designated the Bourbon, having belonged to the +celebrated constable of that name in the beginning of the 16th +century, and been confiscated to the crown in 1522, at which time +it was 100 years old. A crown is placed on the box in which it is +planted, with this inscription, "Sown in 1421."</p> +<p>Thirty-four orange-trees have lately been received at Windsor, +as a present from the king of France to George IV.</p> +<p><i>Potato Mortar.</i></p> +<p>M. Cadet-de-Vaux found mortar of lime and sand, and also that +made from clay, greatly improved in durability by mixing boiled +potatoes with it.</p> +<p><i>An Experimental Farm,</i></p> +<p>As a school of practical husbandry for a part of central France, +has been formed by the celebrated Abbé de Pradt. It is +situated about a league from Avranches, on the great road from that +city to Bort, in the department of Corrèze.—<i>Foreign +Q. Rev.</i></p> +<p><i>A Tunnel under the Vistula, at Warsaw,</i></p> +<p>Has been projected. This mode of communication will be of the +utmost utility, especially at the times of the breaking up of the +frost, when all intercourse is interrupted. The architect is a +foreigner, and has engaged to complete the work in the space of +three years.—<i>Paris Paper.</i></p> +<p><i>Small White Slugs,</i></p> +<p>In gardens, are more injurious than the larger variety, because +their diminutive size escapes the gardener's eye. A good way to +keep them under is to make small holes, about an inch deep, and +about the diameter of the little finger, round the plants which +they infest. Into these holes the slugs will retreat during the +day, and they may be killed there by dropping in a little salt, +quicklime in powder, or by strong lime and +water.—<i>Gardener's Mag.</i></p> +<p><i>Turkish Method of Preserving Filberts.</i></p> +<p>When perfectly ripe, remove the husks, and dry the nuts, by +rubbing with a coarse cloth; sprinkle the bottom of a stone jar +with a very little salt; then place a layer of filberts, adding a +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page175" name="page175"></a>[pg +175]</span> small quantity of salt between each layer. The jar must +be perfectly dry and clean. Secure the top from air, and keep them +in a dry place; and, at the end of six months, they will +peel.—<i>Ibid.</i></p> +<p><i>Extinction of Fires.</i></p> +<p>When a chimney or flue is on fire, throw into the fire-place one +handful after another of flower of sulphur. This, by its +combustion, effects the decomposition of the atmospheric air, which +is, in consequence, paralysed, or, in effect, annihilated.</p> +<p><i>Oysters.</i></p> +<p>After the month of May, it is felony to carry away the caltch +(the spawn adhering to stones, old oyster-shells, &c.) and +punishable to take any oysters, except those of the size of a +half-crown piece, or such as, when the two shells are shut, will +admit of a shilling rattling between them.</p> +<p>The liquor of the oyster contains incredible multitudes of small +embryo oysters, covered with little shells, perfectly transparent, +swimming nimbly about. One hundred and twenty of these in a row +would extend one inch. Besides these young oysters, the liquor +contains a great variety of animalcules, five hundred times less in +size, which emit a phosphoric light. The list of inhabitants, +however, does not conclude here, for besides these last mentioned, +there are three distinct species of worms (called the oyster-worm,) +half an inch long, found in oysters, which shine in the dark like +glow-worms. The sea-star, cockles, and muscles, are the great +enemies of the oyster. The first gets within the shell when they +gape, and sucks them out.</p> +<p>While the tide is flowing, oysters lie with the hollow side +downwards, but when it ebbs they turn on the other side. <a id= +"footnotetag6" name="footnotetag6"></a><a href= +"#footnote6"><sup>6</sup></a></p> +<p><i>Swarming of Bees.</i></p> +<p>An interesting communication was read, at a recent sitting of +the Royal Society, from T.A. Knight, Esq. describing the precaution +taken by a swarm of bees, in reconnoitering the situation where +they intend to establish their new colony, or swarm from the parent +hive. The bees do not go out in a considerable body, but they +succeed each other in going and returning, until the whole of the +swarm have apparently made good the survey, after which the whole +body take their departure in a mass. If by any chance a large +portion of a swarm take their departure without the queen bee, they +never proceed to take up the ulterior quarters without her +majesty's presence. The result of Mr. Knight's observations tends +to prove, that all the operations of a swarm of bees are dictated +by previous concert, and the most systematic arrangement.</p> +<hr class="full" /> +<h2>SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS</h2> +<h3>LADDER OF LOVE.</h3> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>Men and women,—more or less,—</p> +<p>Have minds o' the self-same metal, mould, and form!—</p> +<p>Doth not the infant love to sport and laugh,</p> +<p>And tie a kettle to a puppy's tail?—</p> +<p>Doth not the dimpled girl her 'kerchief don</p> +<p>(Mocking her elder) mantilla wise—then speed</p> +<p>To mass and noontide visits; where are bandied</p> +<p>Smooth gossip-words of sugared compliment?</p> +<p>But when at budding womanhood arrived,</p> +<p>She casts aside all childish games, nor thinks</p> +<p>Of aught save some gay paranymph—who, caught</p> +<p>In love's stout meshes, flutters round the door,</p> +<p>And fondly beckons her away from home,—</p> +<p>The whilst, her lady mother fain would cage</p> +<p>The foolish bird within its narrow cell!—</p> +<p>And then, the grandame idly wastes her breath,</p> +<p>In venting saws 'bout maiden modesty—</p> +<p>And strict decorum,—from some musty volume:</p> +<p>But the clipp'd wings will quickly sprout again;</p> +<p>And whilst the doating father thinks his child</p> +<p>A paragon of worth and bashfulness,—</p> +<p><i>Her</i> thoughts are hovering round the precious form</p> +<p>Of her sweet furnace-breathing Don Diego!—</p> +<p>And he, all proof 'gainst dews and nightly blasts,</p> +<p>In breathless expectation waits to see</p> +<p>His panting Rosa at the postern door;—</p> +<p>While she sighs forth "My gentle cavalier!"—</p> +<p>And then they straightway fall to kissing hands,</p> +<p>And antic-gestures—such as lovers use,—</p> +<p>Expressive of their wish quickly to tie</p> +<p>The gordian knot of marriage;—Pretty creatures!—</p> +<p>But why not earlier to have thought of this?—</p> +<p>When he, the innocent youth, was wont to play</p> +<p>At coscogilla; and the prattling girl,</p> +<p>Amid her nursery companions, toiled</p> +<p>In sempstress labours for her wooden dolls.—</p> +<p>Ah! wherefore, did I ask?—Because forsooth,</p> +<p>Their ways are changed with their increasing years!—</p> +<p>For when for gallantry the time be come—</p> +<p>And when the stagnant blood begins to boil</p> +<p>Within the veins, my master—then the lads</p> +<p>Cast longing looks on damosels—for nature</p> +<p>Defies restraint—and kin-birds flock together!—</p> +<p>And think not, Master, <i>Chance</i> disposes thus;</p> +<p>Or were it so, then chance directs us all—</p> +<p>Whene'er we have attain'd the important age!</p> +<p>I, ———, am a living instance!—</p> +<p>Was I not once a lively laughing boy?</p> +<p>And, in my stripling age, did I not love</p> +<p>The pastimes suited to those madcap days?—</p> +<p>Oh! would to heaven those times were present still!</p> +<p>But wherefore fret myself with hopes so vain?—</p> +<p>The silly thought doth find no shelter here,—</p> +<p>That any beauty, with dark roguish eyes,</p> +<p>With sparkling blood, and rising warmth of youth,</p> +<p>Would e'er affect this wrinkled face of mine:—</p> +<p>The very thought doth smack of foolishness!—</p> +<p>And, though the truth may be a bitter pill,</p> +<p>Yet,—</p> +<p>It is most fitting that we know ourselves.</p> +</div> +</div> +<p><i>Spanish Comedy—Foreign Review.</i></p> +<hr /> +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page176" name="page176"></a>[pg +176]</span> +<h3>A HINT TO RETIRING CITIZENS.</h3> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="i2">Ye Cits who at White Conduit House,</p> +<p class="i2">Hampstead or Holloway carouse,</p> +<p class="i4">Let no vain wish disturb ye;</p> +<p class="i2">For rural pleasures unexplored,</p> +<p class="i2">Take those your Sabbath strolls afford,</p> +<p class="i4">And prize your <i>Rus in urbe</i>.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="i2">For many who from active trades</p> +<p class="i2">Have plung'd into sequester'd shades,</p> +<p class="i4">Will dismally assure ye,</p> +<p class="i2">That it's a harder task to bear</p> +<p class="i2">Th' ennui produced by country air,</p> +<p class="i4">And sigh for <i>Urbs in rure</i>.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="i2">The cub in prison born and fed,</p> +<p class="i2">The bird that in a cage was bred,</p> +<p class="i4">The hutch-engender'd rabbit,</p> +<p class="i2">Are like the long-imprison'd Cit,</p> +<p class="i2">For sudden liberty unfit,</p> +<p class="i4">Degenerate by habit.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="i2">Sir William Curtis, were he mew'd</p> +<p class="i2">In some romantic solitude,</p> +<p class="i4">A bower of rose and myrtle,</p> +<p class="i2">Would find the loving turtle dove</p> +<p class="i2">No succedaneum for his love</p> +<p class="i4">Of London Tavern turtle.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="i2">Sir Astley Cooper, cloy'd with wealth,</p> +<p class="i2">Sick of luxurious ease and health,</p> +<p class="i4">And rural meditation,</p> +<p class="i2">Sighs for his useful London life,</p> +<p class="i2">The restless night—the saw and knife</p> +<p class="i4">Of daily amputation.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="i2">Habit is second nature—when</p> +<p class="i2">It supersedes the first, wise men</p> +<p class="i4">Receive it as a warning,</p> +<p class="i2">That total change comes then too late,</p> +<p class="i2">And they must e'en assimilate</p> +<p class="i4">Life's evening to its morning.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="i2">Thrice happy he whose mind has sprung</p> +<p class="i2">From Mammon's yoke while yet unwrung</p> +<p class="i4">Or spoilt for nobler duty:—</p> +<p class="i2">Who still can gaze on Nature's face</p> +<p class="i2">With all a lover's zeal, and trace</p> +<p class="i4">In every change a beauty.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="i2">No tedium vitae round him lowers,</p> +<p class="i2">The charms of contrast wing his hours,</p> +<p class="i4">And every scene embellish:—</p> +<p class="i2">From prison, City, care set free,</p> +<p class="i2">He tastes his present liberty</p> +<p class="i4">With keener zest and relish.</p> +</div> +</div> +<p><i>New Monthly Mag</i>.</p> +<hr class="full" /> +<h2>THE GATHERER.</h2> +<blockquote>"A snapper up of unconsidered trifles."</blockquote> +<p>SHAKSPEARE.</p> +<hr /> +<h3>ACCOMMODATION FOR THREE HALFPENCE.</h3> +<p>A gentleman on a wet evening entered the bar of an inn, and +while standing before the fire, called to a servant girl who had +come to receive his orders, "Margaret, bring me a glass of ale, a +clean pipe, a spitoon, a pair of snuffers, and the newspaper. And +Margaret, take away my great coat, carry it into the kitchen, and +hang it before the fire to dry, and dry my umbrella, and tell me +what o'clock it is; and if Mr. Huggins should come in, request him +to come this way, for I think 'tis near seven, and he promised to +meet me at that hour. And Margaret, get me change for a sovereign, +and see that all the change is good, take for the glass of ale out +of it, and put the coppers in a piece of paper. And Margaret, tell +Jemima to bring some more coals, take away the ashes, and wipe the +table. And Margaret, pull down the blinds, shut the door, and +put-to the window-shutters."—N.B. The gentleman had his own +tobacco.</p> +<hr /> +<h3>TWO EVILS, (EXTEMPORE.)</h3> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>Can man sustain a greater curse</p> +<p>Than to possess an empty purse?</p> +<p>Yes, with abundance to be blest,</p> +<p>And not enjoy the pow'r to taste.</p> +</div> +</div> +<h4>G.K.</h4> +<hr /> +<h3>EPIGRAM, FROM THE GERMAN.</h3> +<blockquote>If one has served thee, tell the deed to many? Hast +thou served many?—tell it not to any.</blockquote> +<h4>J.L.S.</h4> +<hr /> +<h3>A GENTLEMAN.</h3> +<p>To tell the reader exactly what class of persons was meant to be +designated by the word <i>gentleman</i>, is a difficult task. The +last time we heard it, was on visiting a stable to look at a horse, +when, inquiring for the coachman, his stable-keeper replied, "He +has just stepped to the public-house along with another +gentleman."</p> +<p>The following is the negro's definition of a +<i>gentleman</i>:—"<i>Massa make de black man +workee—make de horse workee—make de ox +workee—make every ting workee, only de hog: he, de hog, no +workee; he eat, he drink, he walk about, he go to sleep when he +please, he liff like a GENTLEMAN</i>."</p> +<hr /> +<h3>"VERY BAD."</h3> +<p>Why are washer-women, busily engaged, like Adam and Eve in +Paradise? Because they are <i>so-apy</i> (so happy).</p> +<p>Why is a widower, going to be married, like Eau de Cologne? +Because he is <i>re-wiving</i>.</p> +<p>Why is a vine like a soldier? Because it is listed and trained, +has <i>ten-drills</i>, and shoots.</p> +<p>Why is a sailor, when at sea, not a sailor? Because he's +<i>a-board</i>.</p> +<p>Why is a city gentleman, taken poorly in Grosvenor-square, like +a recluse? Because he is <i>sick-westward</i> (sequestered.)</p> +<p>Why is it better for a man to have two losses than one? Because +the first is a loss, and the second is <i>a-gain</i>.</p> +<p>"If Britannia rules the waves," said a qualmish writing-master, +going to Margate last week in a storm, "I wish she'd rule 'em +<i>straighter</i>."— <i>Lit. Gaz.</i></p> +<hr class="full" /> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote1" name= +"footnote1"></a> <b>Footnote 1</b>: <a href= +"#footnotetag1">(return)</a> +<p>At Stratford, the family maintain that Shakspeare stole Sir +Thomas Lucy's buck, to celebrate his wedding-day, and for that +purpose only. But, in that age, when half the country was covered +with forests, deer-stealing was a venial offence, and equivalent to +snaring a hare in our days.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote2" name= +"footnote2"></a> <b>Footnote 2</b>: <a href= +"#footnotetag2">(return)</a> +<p>Chron. Joreval, 1151.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote3" name= +"footnote3"></a> <b>Footnote 3</b>: <a href= +"#footnotetag3">(return)</a> +<p>Ibid.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote4" name= +"footnote4"></a> <b>Footnote 4</b>: <a href= +"#footnotetag4">(return)</a> +<p>This net is made differently from the other, there being no +frame to it and having two handles.]</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote5" name= +"footnote5"></a> <b>Footnote 5</b>: <a href= +"#footnotetag5">(return)</a> +<p>The reader must consider the difficulty of holding a large fish +with the hand.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote6" name= +"footnote6"></a> <b>Footnote 6</b>: <a href= +"#footnotetag6">(return)</a> +<p>See Bishop Spratt on Oysters.</p> +</blockquote> +<hr class="full" /> +<p><i>Printed and Published by J. LIMBIRD, 143, Strand, (near +Somerset House,) London; sold by ERNEST FLEISCHER, 626, New Market, +Leipsic; and by all Newsmen and Booksellers.</i></p> +<hr class="full" /> +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MIRROR OF LITERATURE, AMUSEMENT, AND INSTRUCTION, VOL. 12, ISSUE 331, SEPTEMBER 13, 1828***</p> +<p>******* This file should be named 11320-h.txt or 11320-h.zip *******</p> +<p>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:<br /> +<a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/1/1/3/2/11320">https://www.gutenberg.org/1/1/3/2/11320</a></p> +<p>Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed.</p> + +<p>Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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For +example an eBook of filename 10234 would be found at: + +https://www.gutenberg.org/1/0/2/3/10234 + +or filename 24689 would be found at: +https://www.gutenberg.org/2/4/6/8/24689 + +An alternative method of locating eBooks: +<a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/GUTINDEX.ALL">https://www.gutenberg.org/GUTINDEX.ALL</a> + +*** END: FULL LICENSE *** +</pre> +</body> +</html> diff --git a/old/11320-h/images/331-1.png b/old/11320-h/images/331-1.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..b9a1198 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/11320-h/images/331-1.png diff --git a/old/11320.txt b/old/11320.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2b36664 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/11320.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2037 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and +Instruction, Vol. 12, Issue 331, September 13, 1828, by Various + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction, Vol. 12, +Issue 331, September 13, 1828 + +Author: Various + +Release Date: February 26, 2004 [eBook #11320] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: US-ASCII + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MIRROR OF LITERATURE, +AMUSEMENT, AND INSTRUCTION, VOL. 12, ISSUE 331, SEPTEMBER 13, 1828*** + + +E-text prepared by Jonathan Ingram, Margaret, David King, and the Project +Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustration. + See 11320-h.htm or 11320-h.zip: + (http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/1/1/3/2/11320/11320-h/11320-h.htm) + or + (http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/1/1/3/2/11320/11320-h.zip) + + + + +THE MIRROR OF LITERATURE, AMUSEMENT, AND INSTRUCTION. + +VOL. 12, No. 331.] SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 1828. [PRICE 2d. + + + + * * * * * + + + +Charlecote Hall, near Stratford-upon-Avon. + + +[Illustration] + +"One of the most delightful things in the world is going a journey." Now +if there be one of our million of friends who, like the fop in the play, +thinks all beyond Hyde Park a desert, let him forthwith proceed on a +pilgrimage to _Stratford-upon-Avon_, the birthplace of SHAKSPEARE; and +though he be the veriest Londoner that ever sung of the "sweet shady +side of Pall Mall," we venture to predict his reform. If such be not the +result, then we envy him not a jot of his terrestrial enjoyment. Let him +but think of the countless hours of delight, the "full houses," the +lighted dome and deeping circles, of the past season; when + + Dread o'er the scene the ghost of Hamlet stalks; + Othello rages, &c. + +and then will he not enjoy a visit to the place where-- + + ----Sweetest Shakspeare, Fancy's child, + Warbled his native wood-notes wild. + +Sterne, the prince of sentimental tourists, says, "Let me have a +companion of my way, were it but to remark how the shadows lengthen as +the sun declines;" but, for our part, we should prefer a visit to +Stratford, _alone_, unless it were with some garrulous old guide to +entertain us with his or her reminiscences. + +This brings us to _Charlecote Hall_, one of the Shakspearean relics. It +consists of a venerable mansion, situated on the banks of the Avon, +about four miles from Stratford, and built in the first year of the +reign of Elizabeth, by Sir Thomas Lucy; + + "A parliamente member, and justice of peace. + At home a poor scare-crow, at London an asse," + +and so well known as the prosecutor of Shakspeare.[1] + +The principal front, here represented, assumes, in its ground plan, the +form of the letter E--said to have been intended as a compliment to the +queen, who, as appears from the Black Book of Warwick, visited this +place in 1572. + + [1] At Stratford, the family maintain that Shakspeare stole Sir + Thomas Lucy's buck, to celebrate his wedding-day, and for that + purpose only. But, in that age, when half the country was + covered with forests, deer-stealing was a venial offence, and + equivalent to snaring a hare in our days. + +The above is copied from one of a Series of Views illustrative of the +Life of Shakspeare, drawn and etched by Mr. W. Rider, of Leamington. +These engravings are five in number, but the artist explains that he has +selected such subjects only, "as from tradition, or more certain record, +might fairly be presumed to bear direct relation to the life of the +poet. But while he regrets that the number of authenticated subjects are +so few, he feels that from innovation or decay, they are almost hourly +becoming fewer; and is, therefore, prompted to secure the few remnants +left, while they are yet within his reach." + +There is no doubt that the grounds around Charlecote Hall, were the +early haunts of SHAKSPEARE; and that in the house itself sat the +magisterial authority, before which he was doomed to meet the charges, +to which his youthful indiscretions had rendered him liable; and, as it +remains, to the present time, for the most part, unaltered, and +_presents to the spectator of the present day the same image that was +often, and under such peculiar circumstances, impressed on the eye of +our_ SHAKSPEARE, it cannot but be regarded with the most intense +interest by all his admirers. + +In conclusion, we would recommend the illustrators of Shakspeare to +possess themselves of a set of Mr. Rider's "Views;" whilst the visiter +of Stratford-upon-Avon would do well to lay a copy in his +portmanteau--for they are in truth so many faithful memorials of the +great poet of nature. + + * * * * * + + + +ON NATIONAL VARIETIES. + +(_For the Mirror_.) + + +There are few more familiar subjects than that of the varieties of +national character, and the resemblances and differences that exist +between ourselves and the inhabitants of other countries. Few +conversations occur upon circumstances which may have happened abroad, +in which some one has not an anecdote to relate to illustrate the known +peculiarities of the nation in question; and the greater part of the +travels and tours which now issue in such formidable numbers from the +press, are naturally filled with stories and incidents, either to show +the correctness of our ideas of the manners and opinions of our +neighbours, or (perhaps more frequently) to prove that the public were +in error in that respect, up to the time when the traveller in question +had discovered the truth, or a clue to it. The daily accounts of the +outrages perpetrated in Ireland, and the alarms that are sounded ever +and anon, touching the state of that unhappy country, are continually +exciting surprise, that the natives of the sister island should be so +unaccountably deficient in that sense of order and sobriety which +prevails in Great Britain. We associate with a Scotchman the ideas of +shrewdness and prudence; with a Frenchman, gaiety and frivolity; with a +Spaniard, gravity and pride; with an Italian, strong passions of love +and revenge: with a German, plodding industry and habits of deep +thinking; and with the northern nations, an honest sincerity and +persevering courage. We sometimes judge with tolerable correctness; at +others are wholly mistaken, and not unfrequently run into such extremes, +that having established a principle, that a particular people are +knavish, or cowardly, or stupid, we are unwilling to admit any +exceptions, but include the whole race in our sweeping censure. We are +prejudiced at first sight against a Portuguese or Italian, and are +careful of our communications with him, even though we meet him on the +high road, or by mere accident in a public place. There can, however, be +no mistake in the common notion, that each nation has a peculiar +collection of qualities and habits, distinguishing it in a greater or +less degree from its neighbours, and the rest of the world; and it is, +therefore, at all events, an interesting, if not an useful topic, to +reflect a little how these differences arise. Not that we intend here to +give even any particular description of the various races of mankind, or +to enter into any inquiry upon the degrees of their mental and bodily +capacities; such would be foreign to our purpose, and would exceed our +limits. We shall merely hazard a few observations upon the several +causes to which the diversities in men have been referred, not +pretending to any decided opinion on so nice a point, as whether these +causes are wholly of a physical or of a moral kind, or whether they are +compounded of both. The question is, perhaps, one of the most difficult +in the whole range of philosophical experience; we say experience, +because it is obvious that all theory on the subject must be the result +of observation and analysis; and that no general principles can be laid +down in the first instance, as the ground work of any hypothesis we +might be inclined to frame. + +The scientific men to whom we are chiefly indebted for the facts +accumulated on this subject, are Dr. Blumenbach, of Goettingen, Dr. +Pritchard, of Edinburgh, and the eminent surgeon, Mr. Lawrence. It has +been a favourite matter of speculation with Lord Monboddo, as well as +with Voltaire, Rousseau, and the philosophers of the French school, who +have endeavoured to show that men and other animals are endowed with +reason or instinct of the same kind, but of different degrees. According +to these fanciful writers, the monkey is but another species of the +human race, and has been termed by them _Homo Sylvestris_. They made the +most diligent researches into all accounts concerning men in a savage +state, and were delighted beyond measure with the discovery alleged to +have been made in the island of Sumatra, of men with tails regularly +protruding from their hinder parts, who, according to Buffon, walked and +talked in the woods like other gentlemen:-- + + And backwards and forwards they switched their long tails, + Like a gentleman switching his cane. + +The appearance of Peter the Wild Boy, who was found in the woods of +Hamela, in Hanover, living on the bark of trees, leaves, berries, &c. +threw Voltaire into transports of joy. He declared the event to be the +most wonderful and important that ages had recorded in the annals of +science, as it demonstrated the fact of man living after the fashion of +beasts, without the least spark of civilization, and without speech; +thereby forming a species of a nature having more in common with monkeys +than with men, and presenting the regular degree, or intermediate class, +between the _homo civilis_ and the _homo sylvestris_. The circumstance, +however, which afterwards transpired, of Peter's having been found with +the remains of a shirt-collar about his neck, threw considerable +discredit on the whole story; and the young savage, on being brought to +England by order of Queen Caroline, lived in Hertfordshire for many +years, perfectly harmless and tractable, and behaving pretty much the +same as other idiots. The idea, therefore, of a race of men, in a +healthy, natural condition, having ever existed without the possession +of reason, is now deemed wholly fallacious. It is even maintained by +Schlegel, and other authorities of great weight, that the civilized +state is the primitive one, and that savage life is a degeneracy from +it, rather than civilized society being a graft upon barbarity. By +Schlegel's theory, the East, especially India, was the earliest seat of +arts and sciences; from the Sanscrit, or Indian language, now extinct, +are the Hebrew, the Chaldaic, the Greek, and many others of the most +ancient tongues, derived; and from the wisdom and learning of the East +"was the whole earth overspread." Undoubtedly it is difficult to imagine +by what gradation language could have proceeded, from the howl of +savages, and the cries of nature, till it reached the eloquent music, +the heart-stirring oratory of the Greek; and besides this, and other +considerations, Schlegel is supported by the opinions of Adelung, the +learned author of "Mithridates, oder Allgemeine Sprachenkunde," upon the +probable habitation of the first family of the human race. Adelung says, +that civilization began in Asia, as is, indeed, universally admitted to +have been the case; and that when the waters of the flood subsided, the +highest ground, we may naturally conclude, must have been the earliest +inhabited. We may also reasonably presume that a beneficent Providence +would place the first family in a situation where their wants could be +easily satisfied; in a garden, as it were, stocked with all herbs and +fruits, fit and agreeable to their use and taste. Now such a country is +actually to be found in Central Asia, between the degrees of 30 and 50 +North lat. and 90 and 110 long. E. of Ferro; a spot as high as the +Plains of Quito, or 9,500 feet above the level of the sea. It contains +the sources of most of the great rivers of Asia; the Seleuga, the Ob, +the Lena, the Irtisch, and the Jenisey flow from hence to the North; the +Jaik, the Jihon, and the Jemba to the West; the Amur and the Hoang Ho to +the East; and the Indus, Ganges, and Burrampooter to the South. The +valleys within this space, which our readers, by referring to a map, +will find to be correctly delineated, abound with nutritive fruits and +vegetables, and with all animals capable of being tamed. There is +evidently, therefore, some plausibility in the notion that mankind +sprung originally from the East, and that from that quarter civilization +is derived; but what portion of knowledge was allotted to the primitive +people, or how far their descendants have surpassed or fallen short of +these olden times, must, we fear, be for ever beyond the reach of our +investigation. + +If we call to mind a summary of the general divisions of human beings +throughout the world, we shall find little room to doubt of the identity +of their genus, and shall, without much trouble of reflection, class +them as different species of that genus:-- + + ------Facies non omnibus una, + Nec diversa, tamen. + +Such seems to be the result of Mr. Lawrence's judgment; and though we +are aware that the descent of mankind from one common stock has been +much questioned and controverted, particularly in Germany, we prefer +resting upon the received opinion at present, to running the risk of +shocking established notions, by entering into the merits of the +contrary theory. + +Men are classed by Dr. Blumenbach under five great divisions, viz. the +Caucasian, Mongolian, Ethiopian, American, and Malay. The Caucasian +family may be asserted, though by its own members, to have been always +pre-eminent above the rest in moral feelings and intellectual powers, +and is remarkable for the large size of their heads. It need not be more +minutely described, than by saying it includes all the ancient and +modern Europeans, (except the Laplanders and Fins;) the former and +present inhabitants of Western Asia as far as the Ob, the Caspian Sea, +and the Ganges, viz. the Assyrians, Medes, Chaldeans, Sarmatians, +Scythians, Parthians, Philistines, Phoenicians, Jews, and Syrians; the +Tartars on the Caucasus, Georgians, Circassians, Mingrelians, Armenians, +Turks, Persians, Arabs, Hindoos of high caste, Northern Africans, +Egyptians, Abyssinians, and Guanches. They are supposed to have +originally had brown hair and dark eyes. + +The Mongolian family is of an olive colour and black eyes, flat nose and +face, small stature, black hair, no beard, and thick lips. It comprises +the people of Central and Northern Asia, Thibet, Ava, Pegu, Cambodia, +Laos, and Siam; the Chinese, Japanese, Fins, and Esquimaux. + +The Ethiopian family is black, with black and woolly hair, compressed +skull, low forehead, flat nose, and thick lips. It includes all Africans +not comprehended in the Caucasian family. + +The American family has a dark skin, a red tint, straight hair, a small +beard, low forehead, and broad face. It includes all the American +tribes, except the Esquimaux. + +The Malay family is brown, varying from a light tint to black. Their +hair is black and curled, head narrow, bones of the face prominent, nose +broad, and mouth large. They inhabit Malacca, Sumatra, Java, and the +adjacent islands; Molucca, the Ladrones, New Holland, Van Dieman's Land, +New Guinea, New Zealand, and the South Sea Islands. They speak generally +the Malay language. + +The difference of character and disposition of these five families is +familiar to every one; they are as well known as is the superiority of +the Caucasian to the other races, and as the outward distinctions of +their bodies and complexions. The reasons of this difference have been +variously assigned, some ascribing it to natural, others altogether to +moral causes. By natural causes we understand either that the +constitutions of the races are such, that their capabilities of +informing their minds, and raising their intellectual powers, are +essentially not the same; or that the climate has an influence over both +their bodies and minds. By moral causes, we mean artificial or +accidental ones arising out of the state of society; such as the nature +of the government, the plenty or poverty in which people live, a period +of war or peace, the power of public opinion, and such circumstances. + +The effect of climate cannot of itself be sufficient to change the +manners and habits of a people. The instances of migratory nations seem +to show this; the Jews are as cunning and fond of money in Asia or +Africa as they are in Poland or England; that extraordinary race, the +Gipsies, (which are now ascertained to be a Hindoo tribe, driven from +their country in the fifteenth century,) are not less thievish in +Transylvania than in Scotland. The Armenians of Constantinople, and +other parts of the Levant, are represented to be of the same mild and +persevering temper, of the same honesty and skilfulness in their +dealings, and the same kindness and civility of manners, as before they +were driven from their country by Sha-Abbas the Great. The changes, +however, in the habits and character of this people seem to mark the +influence of their several domestic situations. They were originally the +most warlike of the Asiatic tribes; after their subjection by the +Persians, they engaged themselves entirely in the patient cultivation of +the soil; and since the period of the depopulation of Armenia, and their +migrations into Persia, Russia, Turkey, and other countries, they have +been celebrated for their industry in commercial concerns. They are +bankers, money-brokers, merchants, surgeons, bakers, builders, +chintz-printers, and of all trades that can be imagined, and are +represented as the most useful subjects in the Ottoman empire, retaining +at the same time an almost patriarchal simplicity in their domestic +manners. The English in the East and West Indies, in New South Wales, +and in Canada, seldom lose a relish for the habits and enjoyments they +have been bred up in, whether they migrate to the extremes of heat or of +cold. John Bull is an Englishman in heart, and will remain so under +whatever sun his lot of life may be cast; for, + + Coelum, non animum, mutant, qui trans mare currunt. + +We rarely find the Spaniards or Italians, or the natives of the South of +Europe, lose their ideality of character and their warm passions when +settled permanently in England; the only alteration in them seems to be +such as the forms of society and intercourse with others has led them +to. Still the man is the same, though he may have adopted a new regime +in the fashion of his clothes, or the dishes of his dinner. + +(_To be continued_.) + + * * * * * + + +FAIR ROSAMOND. + +(_To the Editor of the Mirror_.) + + +In a late Number of the MIRROR, in which you have given a view of the +Labyrinth at Woodstock, and several particulars respecting Fair +Rosamond, many doubts are stated relative to her death, viz. _how_ and +what time. I therefore send you the following account from _Collins's +Peerage of England:_-- + +"Rosamond de Clifford was the eldest of the two daughters of Walter de +Clifford, by Margaret his wife, daughter and heir of Ralph de Toeny, +Lord of Clifford Castle, in Herefordshire, (and had with her the said +castle and lands about it as an inheritance.) This Rosamond was the +unfortunate concubine of Henry II., for whom the king built that famous +Labyrinth[2] at Woodstock, where she lived so retired, as not easily to +be found by his jealous queen. The king gave her a cabinet of such +elegant workmanship,[3] as showed the fighting of champions, moving of +cattle, flying of birds, and swimming of fish, which were so artfully +represented, as if they had been alive. _She died 23rd Henry II. anno +1176_, by poison (as was suspected) given her by Queen Eleanor, and was +buried in the Chapter-house of the Nunnery of Godstow." + +G.F. + + [2] Chron. Joreval, 1151. + [3] Ibid. + + * * * * * + + +GODSTOW NUNNERY. + + +On the banks of the Isis, about two miles from Oxford, are the remains +of Godstow Nunnery. It was founded towards the end of the reign of Henry +I. by Editha, a lady of Winchester, and when dissolved in the reign of +Henry VIII. it was valued at L274. per annum. A considerable portion of +its buildings remained until the end of the reign of Charles I. about +which time they were accidentally destroyed by fire. The present remains +consist chiefly of ranges of walls on the north, south, and east sides +of an extended area. Near the western extremity of the high north wall +are the remains of two buttresses. There is a small building which abuts +on the east, and ranges along the southern side, which was probably the +Chapter House of the Nuns. The walls are entire, the roof is of wood, +and some of the rafter work is in fair preservation. It is in this +building that the remains of Rosamond are supposed to have been +deposited, when they were removed from the choir of the church, by the +order of Hugh, Bishop of Lincoln, in 1191. On the north wall is painted +a pretended copy of her epitaph in Latin. Many stone coffins have at +various times been found on this spot. + +HALBERT H. + + * * * * * + + +SCRAPS FROM TURKISH HISTORY. + +(_For the Mirror_.) + + +_First Landing of the Turks in Europe._--Orchanes, second king of the +Turks, having settled his monarchy in Lesser Asia, was determined to get +footing in Europe. Solyman, his eldest son, being willing to undertake +the enterprise, was accordingly despatched with an army of veterans, who +crossed the Hellespont, and arrived on the European side. They soon +afterwards seized many considerable castles and cities belonging to the +Greeks, who offered little or no resistance to the invaders of their +empire. These occurrences transpired about the year 1358. + +_A Woman's Revenge._--Mahomet the Great, on being proclaimed Sultan, +caused his two innocent brothers to be put to death; the mother of the +youngest immediately afterwards went to the new king, and reproached him +severely for his cruelty. In order to appease her, he said, "that it +consisted with the policy of his state to do as he had done, but that +whatever she asked of him should be granted her." The lady, therefore, +determining to be revenged, demanded one of the sultan's chief bassas to +be delivered to her. Mahomet, to keep his word, gave orders that it +should be done without delay; and the enraged lady, seeing the bassa +bound before her, first stabbed him, and then plucked out his liver, +which she cast to the dogs. + +_Turkish Superstition._--Scanderbeg, prince of Epyrus, after many +glorious victories, died on the 17th of January, 1466, in the 53rd year +of his age, and 24th of his reign. He was buried with great solemnity in +the cathedral at Lyssa. The Turks, nine years afterwards, took the city, +and dug up his bones for the purpose of setting them in rings and +bracelets, thinking, by this means, that they should partake of his +invincible fortune. + +_Amurath's Dream._--About the year 1594, Amurath III. dreamed that he +saw a man of prodigious stature, with one foot raised upon the Tower of +Constantinople, while the other reached over the Bosphorus, and rested +on the Asiatic shore. In one hand, the figure sustained the sun, while +the other held the moon. He struck his foot against the Tower of +Constantinople, the fall of which overthrew the great temple, and the +imperial palace. Amurath, being greatly discomfited by this dream, +consulted his wizard, who informed him, "that it was a warning sent by +their prophet Mahomet, who threatened the overthrow of their religion +and empire, unless Amurath engaged his whole force against the +Christians." This interpretation had so much influence with the emperor, +that he vowed not to lay down his arms until he had utterly exterminated +the Christians. + +G.W.N. + + * * * * * + + +TROUT FISHING. + +(_To the Editor of the Mirror_.) + + +Sir,--I shall now sum up this _ticklish_ subject, by acquainting you +with three more methods of catching trout in Westmoreland. + +_Flood-netting_.--A flood net is a small net with a semi-circular frame +at the mouth of it, from which projects a long handle. This is used only +when there are floods; the fisher draws it up the rivulets, and every +now and then pulls it up to look for his success. Sometimes he nets a +great many at a time, and especially if he wait the arrival of the +flood, because a large shoal mostly comes down with the first torrents. + +_Pod-netting_.--This derives its name from the habitation of the trouts +(the banks of the "becks") which are called "hods" or "holds" and more +frequently "pods," and this net therefore goes by these three names. I +have before described to you the situation generally of these "_holds_" +to be either in the ledge of some rock or stone in the water, or under +some bank reaching over the stream. This net is used in fine weather, +and when the water is "_clear as crystal_;" the fisherman takes hold of +the handles of the net,[4] and wades through the stream as gently as +possible, placing the net just at the side of a trout's "hold," taking +care to keep it as close to the bottom as possible, to afford the trout +no room for escape. Then another with a long pole drives the trouts from +the mouth of the "_hold_," when they immediately dart into the net, and +nothing remains but to draw the net quickly up. This is a famous method +of fishing. I have been with parties when we have completely cleared the +beck. We went to "Carmony" in the spring of 1825, and caught an immense +quantity by fishing with the hand and pod. This brings to my +recollection an amusing circumstance, which I intend troubling you with, +though you may think it unworthy of notice. It was reported in that year +that there was a large quantity of trouts in the beck; and I went at the +recommendation of those who had seen a particularly large one (when +passing by) "basking" in the streams. I was referred to a _certain_ +"_lum_," and thither I went one afternoon with two friends, to try if we +could have an opportunity of seeing him. We had scarcely reached the +spot when we perceived him lying at the mouth of his "_hold_," a fine +grassy bank at the side of which grew a small bush; and I employed my +friends to watch the trout should he escape me. I crossed the brook (my +friends remaining on the opposite side), pulled off my coat and +waistcoat, and tucked up my shirt ready for action. He was still lying +very quietly, and as I knew I had no chance with him then, I touched him +gently with a twig and he moved into his habitation. I then leaned over +the bank, thrust in my arm, touched his back, I felt his size, and was +all caution. So first I began to secure him by building a piece of wall +before the bank to prevent his going out; but I had no sooner laid the +first stone than out he bounced, and darted down the river about twenty +yards, (we running after him all the while) then up again, and so on for +about a quarter of an hour, till at length he became tired and waddled +into his dwelling. I now thought all secure, and once more put in my +hand, when he jumped at least three or four yards out of the water. I +must confess, I was a little confused with my friends' dictation, who +feared I should lose him. Again housed, I made a kind of fort at one end +of the hold, and this done, I again thrust in my arm, when he was as +soon out again, and on getting up I found my hand covered with blood. +Still he came back to his favourite place, and I tried again, after +giving my friends caution to be on the look out. This time I was +successful, I put my hand gently under his belly, and by a tickle, +secured the rascal, by thrusting the fore-finger and thumb of my right +hand in his gills. I got him on to land, my friends ran about in +exstacy, and I think I never saw a finer trout than he proved to +be--real Eden. We gave a shout of triumph, after which we cut him on the +nose to kill him. From tail to snout he measured one foot four inches; +but he was beautifully plump and thick-made. We now began to wonder what +caused the blood on my hand, when on examination, we found a large night +hook in his side, which no doubt I had touched, and had thus given him +pain, and made him restless. I will not prolong the story, but tell you +he weighed about two pounds and a half, and was acknowledged to be the +plumpest trout ever caught in that county by the hand.[5] Shortly +afterwards I caught the partner to it in the same place, but it was not +so fine a trout, and I had not so much effort in catching it. The +largest trout ever caught in this county weighed four pounds and a half, +but that was taken with the net. I have no other recommendation for this +paper but its originality. I have enjoyed the sport, and can only half +convey a description of it upon paper. + +W.H.H. + + [4] This net is made differently from the other, there being no + frame to it and having two handles. + + [5] The reader must consider the difficulty of holding a large + fish with the hand. + + * * * * * + + +THE ROSE. + +(_For the Mirror._) + + + Mark, Laura, dearest, yonder rose + Its inner folds are sad and pale, love; + While blushing, outward leaves disclose + A lively crimson to the gale, love. + + Yet as the secret canker-worm + Preys deeply on its drooping heart, love, + Soon from the flow'ret's with'ring form + Will all that vivid glow depart, love. + + Then turn to me those beaming eyes-- + A blooming cheek although you see, love, + Since hope is fled, then pleasure dies, + And read the rose's fate in me, love. + + * * * * * + + +OLD WINE. + +(_For the Mirror._) + + +The passion for old wines has sometimes been carried to a very +ridiculous excess, for the "_thick crust_," the "_bee's wing_," and the +several other criterions of the epicure, are but so many proofs of the +decomposition and departure of some of the best qualities of the wine. +Had the man that first filled the celebrated Heidleburg tun been placed +as sentinel, to see that no other wine was put into it, he would have +found it much better at twenty-five or thirty years old, than at one +hundred, had he lived so long, and been permitted now and then to taste +it. + +At Bremen there is a wine-cellar, called the Store, where five hogsheads +of Rhenish wine have been preserved since 1625. These five hogsheads +cost 1,200 francs. Had this sum been put out to compound interest, each +hogshead would now be worth above a thousand millions of money, a bottle +of this precious wine would cost 21,799,480 francs, or about +908,311_l._, and a single wine-glass 2,723,808 francs, or about +113,492_l._. + +J.L.S. + + * * * * * + + +THE HEROINE. + +A SKETCH FROM SUNDRY NOVELS. + +(_For the Mirror._) + + +She must be, _a plaisir_, tall and slender in person, or of humbler +stature, but never inclining to stoutness, since the _en bon point_ +savours (at least in romance) of vulgarity. Her complexion may be light +or dark, according to fancy; but her interesting pallidness may +occasionally be relieved by a hectic flush, yet more interesting. She +must possess small _alabaster_ hands, _coral_ or _ruby_ lips, enchasing +a double row of _pearls_; a neck rivalling _ivory_ or driven _snow_, +(yes, even if our heroine be a brunette, for incongruity is the very +essence of romance); _velvet_ cheeks, _golden_ or _jet_ black hair, +_diamond_ eyes, marvellous delicate feet, shrouded at all times in +_bas-de-soie_, and defended by the most enchanting slippers imaginable; +her figure must be a model for the statuary, and at all seasons, and in +every situation, arrayed in muslins or silks, which, wondrous to relate, +resist the injuries of time, weather, and wear in a manner perfectly +astounding. What heroine had ever an hiatus in her stocking, or a +fracture in her gown of finest woof? Ye gods! what an insult to suppose +her _repairing such_! The lady's mental accomplishments and +qualifications are as follow:--She sings divinely, plays on the harp +(and piano too in modern days) _a merveille_; occasionally condescends +to fascinate on the guitar, and the lute also, should that instrument, +now rather antiquated, fall in her way. She takes portraits, and +sketches from nature; she understands _all_ languages, or rather that +desideratum, an _universal tongue_, since in the most foreign lands she +is never at a loss to render herself understood, nor to comprehend that +which is addressed to her; she is of a melancholy cast of mind, and +carries sal-volatile in her reticule, and fountains of tears in her +eyes, for use on the most _public_ occasions; she likes gloomy +apartments, looking upon the sea, mountains, or black forests, and +leading into endless corridors; she has an AEolian lyre ever at her +casement, writes verses and weeps by moonlight, for--effect, or-- +_nothing_; and is enamoured with a being, who, in the common course +of nature, could not exist; he possessing, amongst other fine qualities, +that of omnipresence in an impious degree. Should the heroine reside in +a town, and especially London, she must have dwelt previously in some +isolated mansion, seldom visited by beings superior in intellect to the +foxes they hunt; an idiot mother, vulgar aunt, a father, an uncle, or a +guardian in his dotage, must have superintended her education; and when, +at the age of sixteen, some fortunate chance throws her into society, +her accomplishments and manners are found more fitting for it and +finished, than those of persons who have from their cradles associated +with families of the highest distinction, and possessed all the +advantages of a polished and liberal education. The heroine has, in all +situations, an abundant store of money, jewels, and clothes, supplied no +one knows when, how, or by whom; and these, with her musical +instruments, drawing materials, &c. accompany her into every reverse of +situation, in a manner perfectly incomprehensible, but highly amusing +and edifying. A miniature portrait of some mysterious relative or +friend, seldom or ever seen, nay, indeed, a sacred memento of the dead, +is highly scenic and effective in a romance. The heroine ought, by all +means, to possess such; it _may_ do good, and it _can_ do no harm. +Finally, the lady must frequently faint, be twice or thrice on the brink +of the grave, undergo exquisite varieties of suffering, run all hazards, +but retain her beauty and reputation unblemished to the _last_, i.e. to +her _marriage_; after which, this wondrous and superlative creature, and +her partner in perfection, are never heard of more. _Why_? + +M.L.B. + + * * * * * + + +ANCIENT ROMAN FESTIVALS. + +SEPTEMBER. + + +The _Septmontium_ was a festival of the seven mountains of Rome, which +was celebrated in this month, near the seven mountains, within the walls +of the city; they sacrificed seven times in seven different places; and +on that day the emperors were very liberal to the people. + +The _Meditrinalia_ were feasts instituted in honour of the goddess +_Meditrina_, and celebrated on the 13th of September. They were so +called from _medendo_, because the Romans then began to drink new wine, +which they mixed with old, and _that_ served them instead of physic. + +P.T.W. + + * * * * * + + + +NOTES OF A READER. + + +THE ANNUALS FOR 1829. + + +These elegant little works are already in a forward state. MR. ALARIC +WATTS announces the plates of the SOUVENIR, "of a more important size +than heretofore," and twelve in number, already completed. Among them +are _Cleopatra embarking on the Cydnus_, drawn by Danby, and engraved by +Goodall; _Love taught by the Graces_, drawn by Hilton, and engraved by +J.C. Edwards; a beautiful scene from _Lalla Rookh_, drawn by Stephanoff, +and engraved by Bacon; _She never told her Love_, drawn by Westall, and +engraved by Rolls. Whilst Mr. Watts has been catering for the "children +of a larger growth," Mrs. W. has been preparing a "New Year's Gift; or +_Juvenile_ Souvenir", to be accompanied with exquisite illustrations of +Nursery literature; as the Children in the Wood, Red Riding Hood, &c. +with two historical subjects after Northcote. + +Mr. Ackermann, to whom we are indebted for the _naturalization_ of +"Annuals", announces that one of his plates in the forthcoming "FORGET +ME NOT"--(4 inches by 3 in dimension) has cost one hundred guineas! The +subject is "the Ruined City," by Martin, engraved by Le Keux. Fine +engraving is thus almost as dear as building-ground at Brighton. + +The KEEPSAKE will appear much earlier than last year. Sir Walter Scott +has written three or four articles, and two or three "noble lords" are +among the contributors. Nothing can exceed the beauty of the specimens +of the illustrations. + +The FRIENDSHIP'S OFFERING passes into the editorial hands of Mr. T. +Pringle, of whose poetical talents we have lately had some exquisite +specimens. + +The ANNIVERSARY.--Allan Cunningham has joined Mr. Sharp (of whose taste +in "getting up" books, our readers must be aware) in a splendid volume +to be called "The Anniversary." Among the engravings are _Psyche_, after +Sir Thomas Lawrence; _Young Cottagers_, after Gainsborough; the _Author +of Waverley in his Study_, after W. Allen; a _Monkey_, &c. by Landseer. +This is a new adventure, and we wish its projectors many +_anniversaries_. + +The CHRISTMAS BOX is to contain "A Story," from the pen of Miss +Edgworth. Mrs. Hofland, Miss Mitford, and Mrs. Hemans, likewise, +contribute their pleasing aid. + +The PLEDGE OF FRIENDSHIP is to be altered to _The Gem_, to be edited by +Mr. T. Hood, whose wit and fancy will sparkle among the contributions; +and who hopes that it may prove one of those "hardy annuals," which are +to become perennials; the writers are to be of "_authorized_ +popularity"--"the _plates_ not of the common _dessert_ kind, but a +welcome _service_"--the engravers "as true as steel" to their +originals--and the whole equally "mental" and "ornamental:" so the wight +has begun already. + +The WINTER'S WREATH promises to bloom more vigorously than ever, and +earlier too--in September. Among the contributors are the names of +Hemans, Opie, Mitford, Montgomery, Wiffen, Delta, &c. + +The AMULET is to be edited, as last year, by Mr. Hall. + +The BIJOU is printing with _two-fold_ energy. + +We read the other day that Schiller's "History of the German War," was +originally published in _Damen Almanach_--a Lady's Almanack! This is +real _azure_. "Annuals" do not, however, progress on the continent; for +a new one, lately published contained but a single original +contribution. In America they have bloomed with some success, though not +with the elegance and polish of our own country. Here their effect on +the Fine Arts has been very important, and they have done much for light +reading, every name of literary eminence, except those of Moore, +Campbell, and Rogers, having been enlisted in their ranks. We do not, +however, remember Leigh Hunt, although his pleasantries would relieve +the plaintiveness of some of the poetical contributions. A few +_Shandean_ articles would be very agreeable--something like the +Housekeepers in the last "Friendships' Offering." + +Nothing is said of the "Literary Pocket Book;" but our old friend, +"Time's Telescope," will be mounted as usual. + +We also take this opportunity to state that the "ARCANA OF SCIENCE AND +ART, FOR 1829," will appear towards the close of the present year; and, +we are enabled to promise its patrons a still greater modicum of novelty +and interest than was even comprised in its very successful forerunner. + + * * * * * + + +MARTYRDOM. + + +There is no truth more abundantly exemplified in the history of mankind, +than that the blood of martyrs, spilt in whatever cause, political or +religious, is the best imaginable seed for the growth of favour towards +their persons, and, as far as conversion depends on feeling, of +conversion to their opinions. "_Quoites mori emur toties +nasciemur_."--_Edin. Rev._ + + * * * * * + + +ENGLISH LIBERTY. + + +Our liberty is neither Greek nor Roman; but essentially English. It has +a character of its own,--a character which has taken a tinge from the +sentiments of the chivalrous ages, and which accords with the +peculiarities of our manners, and of our insular situation. It has a +language, too, of its own, and a language too singularly idiomatic, full +of meaning to ourselves, scarcely intelligible to strangers.--_Ibid._ + + * * * * * + + +SENSUALITY. + + +How different is the night of Nature from that of man, and the repose of +her scenes from the misrule of his sensual haunts; what a contrast +between the refreshing return of her morning, and the feverish agonies +of his day-dreams.--_Cameleon Sketches._ + + * * * * * + + +THE FLIMSY AGE. + + +Poets sing of the "golden age," the "silver age," and the "iron age," +but were they to celebrate this, I think they should call it the flimsy +age, for every thing seems made to suit a temporary purpose, without any +regard to the sound and substantial. From printed calico to printed +books, from Kean's acting to Nash's architecture, all is made to catch +the eye, to gratify the appetite for novelty, without regard to real and +substantial excellence.--_Blackwood_. + + * * * * * + + +VILLAGE CHURCHES. + + +We find very few monasteries founded after the twelfth century; the +great majority, which rose through the kingdom "like exhalations," were +founded between the eleventh and twelfth centuries; and in all county +histories and authentic records, we scarce find a parish church, with +the name of its resident rector recorded, before the twelfth century. +The first notice of any village church occurs in the Saxon Chronicle, +after the death of the conqueror, A.D. 1087. They are called, there, +"upland churches." "Then the king did as his father bade him ere he was +dead; he then distributed treasures for his father's soul to each +monastery that was in England; to some ten marks of gold, to some six; +to each _upland_ church sixty pence."--Ingram's Saxon Chronicle. +Gibson's note on the passage is, "unicuique ecclesiae rurali." These +rare rural churches, after the want of them was felt, and after the +lords of manors built, endowed, and presented to them, spread so +rapidly, that in 1200 in almost every remote parish there was an "upland +church," if not a resident minister, as at this day. + +The convents, however, still remained in their pristine magnificence, +though declining in purity of morals and in public estimation. In place +of new foundations of this august description, the-- + + "Village parson's modest mansion rose," + +gracefully shewing its unostentatious front, and, at length, humbly +adorning almost all the scattered villages of the land.--_Bowles's +History of Bremhill._ + + * * * * * + +It was pleasantly observed by a sentimental jockey, who lost by a +considerable length the first race he ever rode, "I'll never ride +another race as long as I live. The riders are the most selfish, narrow +minded creatures on the face of the earth. They kept riding and +galloping as fast as they could, and never had once the kindness or +civility to stop for me."--_Penelope_. + + * * * * * + + +IRELAND. + + +It has lately been proved by indisputable evidence, that the present +condition of the peasantry of Ireland is much superior, to that of the +population of the same island some centuries ago, when the number of +people did not exceed one million. Spenser describes them as inhabiting +"sties rather than houses, which is the chiefest cause of the farmer's +so beastly manner of living and savage condition, lying and living +together with his beast, in one house, in one room, in one bed, that is +clean straw, or rather a foul dunghill." + +In 1712, Dobbs, a man particularly conversant with the general condition +of Ireland, estimated that its population had increased 200,000. He +states that "the common people are very poorly clothed, go barelegged +half the year, and very rarely taste of that flesh meat with which we so +much abound, but are pinched in every article of life." + +In 1762, Sir William Petty computed that the inhabitants of Ireland +amounted to about one million three hundred thousand. Their habitations, +he says, "are lamentable wretched cabins, such as themselves could make +in three or four days, not worth five shillings the building, and filthy +and disgusting to a degree, which renders it necessary for us to refrain +from quoting his description. Out of the 200,000 houses of Ireland," +says he, "160,000 are wretched cabins, without chimney, window, or door +shut, even worse than those of the savages of America." Their food at +the same period, consisted "of cakes, whereof a penny serves for each a +week; potatoes from August till May; mussels, cockles, and oysters, near +the sea; eggs and butter made very rancid by keeping in bogs; as for +flesh they seldom eat it; they can content themselves with potatoes." + + * * * * * + + +SELF KNOWLEDGE. + + +We often hear people call _themselves_ fools. Now a man ought to know +whether he is a fool or not, and he would not say it if he did not +believe it; and there is also a degree of wisdom in the discovery that +one has been a fool, for thereby it is intimated that the season of +folly is over. Whosoever therefore actually says that he was a fool +formerly, virtually says that he is not a fool now.--_Penelope_. + + * * * * * + + +THE MAIDEN'S CHOICE. + + + Genteel in personage, + Conduct and equipage, + Noble by heritage, + Generous and free; + Brave, not romantic, + Learn'd, not pedantic, + Frolic, not frantic, + This must he be. + + Honour maintaining, + Meanness disdaining. + Still entertaining, + Engaging and new: + Neat, but not finical, + Sage, but not cynical, + Never tyrannical, + But ever true. + +_Old MS_. + + * * * * * + + +CUNNING. + + +In England, no class possesses so much of that peculiar ability which is +required for constructing ingenious schemes, and for obviating remote +difficulties, as the thieves and the thief-takers. Women have more of +this dexterity than men. Lawyers have more of it than statesmen; +statesmen have more of it than philosophers. + + * * * * * + + +STORY-TELLING. + + +A friend of mine has one, and only one, good story, respecting a gun, +which he contrives to introduce upon all occasions, by the following +simple, but ingenious device. Whether the company in which he is placed +be numerous or select, addicted to strong potations, or to long and +surprising narratives; whatever may happen to be the complexion of their +character or conversation, let but a convenient pause ensue, and my +friend immediately hears, or pretends to hear, the report of a gun. +Every body listens, and recalls his late impressions, upon which "the +story of a gun" is naturally, and as if by a casual association, +introduced thus--"By the by, speaking of guns, that puts me in mind of a +story about a gun;" and so the gun is fixed in regular style, and the +company condemned to smell powder for twenty minutes to come! To the +telling of this gun story, it is not, you see, at all necessary that +there should be an actual explosion and report; it is sufficient that +there _might_ have been something of the kind. + + * * * * * + + +PLEASURES OF TRAVELLING. + + +Dover quite full--horrible place! Shocking, the inns! Amphibious +wretches, the population. Ashore (from steam-packet) at four in the +morning. Fires out at The Ship. No beds! Think of it! Had to wait till a +party got up--going off at six. Six came--changed their minds (lazy!) +wouldn't go! Woke the whole house with ringing the bells, however--took +care they shouldn't sleep. Filthy breakfast! Bad butter--vile chops-- +eggs! I never got an egg properly boiled in my life! Royal Society ought +to give a premium. Set off, starved and shuddering--roads heavy--four +horses. Ruined with the expense. Man wanted to take half. Fat--looked +greasy. Thought ruin best. Got up to Pagliano's a petrifaction! Worthy +creature, the cook! Tossed me up such a "_Saumon, Tartare_"--"_Vol au +vent_"--"Maccaroni"--all light. Coffee--_liqueur_--no wine for fear of +fever--went to bed quite thawed in body and mind; and walked round +Leicester-square next morning like "a giant refreshed!"--_Blackwood_. + + * * * * * + +A woman's true dowry is virtue, modesty, and desires restrained; not +that which is usually so called. + + * * * * * + + +DOMESDAY. + + +Mr. Bowles in his _History of Bremhill_, makes a few observations +suggested by the account in _Domesday Book_, on the wages, and some of +the prices of agricultural produce on the farms where the _villani_ and +_servi_, literally _slaves_ and _villans_, laboured. When we find two +oxen sold for seventeen shillings and four-pence, we must bear in mind +that one Norman shilling was as much in value as three of ours; when we +find that thirty hens were sold for three farthings each, we must bear +in mind the same proportion. The price of a sheep was one shilling, that +is three of ours. Wheat was six shillings a-quarter; that would be, +according to our scale, two shillings and three-pence a-bushel. Now, at +the time of this calculation, everything must have borne a greater +price, reckoning by money, than at the time of Domesday; for the prices +of articles now set down (from an authentic document of the accounts of +the Duke of Cornwall, first published from the original by Sir R.C. +Hoare, in his _History of Mere_,) bear date somewhat more than two +hundred years afterwards, in the reign of Edward the First, 1299. But at +that time, what were the wages of the labourer? The ploughman's wages +were about five shillings a-year, fifteen shillings by the present +scale; a maid for making "pottage" received a penny a week! + + * * * * * + + + +THE SKETCH BOOK. + +STRIKING INCIDENT IN THE LIFE OF A MIDSHIPMAN. + + +I have read some theories, or rather hypotheses, of apparitions, in +which the authors attempt to account for the appearance of those +unsubstantial shadows, resembling the forms of living men, by +circumstances connected with the physical laws of matter. But I am +rather inclined to hold, with another class of inquirers, that the +origin of such marvels must be looked for in the mind of the seers; +although I do not go the length of their scepticism, and deny the actual +existence of the ghostly show, as a real and visible spectacle, before +the eyes. + +These observations will derive some illustration at least, if not entire +confirmation, from the following narrative, which is deemed to be +authentic in the neighbourhood in which the scene is laid; and the +application of which the judicious reader will, no doubt, be able to +make for himself. + +About the middle of the last war, the _Polly_, tender, commanded by +lieutenant Watts, came swooping up one evening to the small town of +Auchinbreck, in Scotland, and, resolving to pounce, without warning, +upon her prey, as soon as she had anchored in the roads, sent ashore the +press-gang to pick up as many of the stout boat-builder lads as they +could catch. The towns-people, however, were not so unprepared as the +captain of the tender imagined; some of those, indeed, who were fit for +sea, ran up into the hills, but by far the greater number collected +about the corner of a building-shed as you go on to the main street, +and, when the signal of hostility was given, by the capture of a man by +the press-gang, they rushed down upon them in a body, every one with his +axe on his shoulder like a troop of Indians with their tomahawks. It had +now become so dark that the sailors had much to do to keep their footing +upon the loose stones of the beach, which was just at this time rendered +a still more troublesome passage by the scattered materials of a pier, +then beginning to be built; and, besides, their number was so small +compared to the townspeople, that, after a few strokes of the cutlas, +and as many oaths as would have got a line-of-battle ship into action +and out again, they were fain to retreat to their boat, pursued by the +boat-builders, young and old, like furies. A midshipman, sitting in the +stern, whose name was William Morrison, a fine lad of fifteen, observed +the fate of the action with feelings in which local and professional +spirit struggled for the mastery. One moment he would rub his hands with +glee, and the next unsheath his dagger in anger, as he saw the axe of a +fellow-townsman descend on the half-guarded head of a brother sailor; +but, when the combatants came within oar's length of the boat, and the +retreat began to resemble a flight, the _esprit de corps_ got the upper +hand in the Auchinbrecken midshipman's feelings, and, unsheathing his +dagger, he jumped nimbly ashore and joined in the fray. At last the +sailors got fairly into their boat without a single man being either +missing or killed, although the list of the wounded included the whole +party; and the landsmen, apparently pretty much in the same +circumstances, although unable, from their number and the darkness, to +reckon as instantaneously the amount of the loss or damage, after giving +three cheers of triumph, retired in good order. + +William Morrison, after discharging his duty so manfully, was permitted +to go on shore the same evening, to visit his friends; and, indeed, the +captain could not have known before that he belonged to the place, as he +surely would not have confided to the lad so unpopular a task as that of +kidnapping his own relations and acquaintances. He was landed at the +point of Scarlough, to prevent the necessity of going through the +streets, which might have been dangerous in the excited state of the +people's minds; and, stretching across the fields, and along the side of +the hill, he steered steadily on in the direction of his paternal home, +which was about a mile and a half from the Point, but only one mile from +the town. The moon had now risen, but was only visible in short glimpses +through the clouds that were hurrying across the sky; and the tall, +strange shadows of the willows and yews that skirted the churchyard, +appearing and disappearing as he passed, probably by recalling the +associations of his earlier years, made William shrink, and almost +tremble. His own shadow, however, was a more pleasing thing to look at. +The dress, which, grown familiar by usage, he would not have noticed +elsewhere, was here brilliantly contrasted in his recollection with the +more clownish and common garb of his boyhood--for he already reckoned +himself a man; and the dagger, projecting smartly from his belted side, +gave, in his opinion, a finish quite melodramatic to his air. He drew +out the tiny blade from its sheath, and its sparkle in the moonlight +seemed to be reflected in his eyes as he gazed on it from hilt to point; +but the expression of those eyes was changed as they discovered that its +polish in one place was dimmed by blood. This could easily be accounted +for by the affray on the beach--and at any other time and place it would +have been thought nothing of;--but at this moment, and on this spot, he +was as much startled by the sight, as if his conscience had accused him +of a deliberate murder. The impressions his mind had received while +passing the churchyard, now returned upon him with added gloom; a kind +of misgiving came over him; and a thousand boding thoughts haunted him +like spirits, and hanging, as it were, on his heart, dragged it down +farther and farther at every step. He bitterly regretted that he had not +remained in the boat, as he had at first resolved, a neutral spectator +of the strife. How did he know that his hand had not been raised against +the life of his own brother? As far as he could see or learn, indeed, no +fatal accident had occurred; but there have been instances of people +walking cheerily off the field of battle, and dying of their wounds +after all. And yet it was not likely--it was hardly possible--that John +could have been in the affray, his indentures protecting him from the +impress. These cogitations were speedily followed by others of as gloomy +a character; for the thoughts breed faster than we can perceive them, +and each multiplies after his kind. It was a year since he had heard +from his friends, and five years since he had seen them. Who could tell +what changes had taken place in that time? Who could tell whether poor +John had even lived to be killed by the pressgang? His father, his +mother, and his sisters--were they dead, were they living, were they +sick, or in health? His sister had been always a delicate girl, one of +those gentle and fragile flowers of mortality that are sure not to live +till the summer; perhaps consumption, with the deceitful beauty of his +smile, had already led his fair partner down the short dance of life. + +Tormenting himself with such speculations, he arrived at his father's +house. Here he was surprised, bewildered, almost shocked, to observe a +new and handsome farm-house in place of the old one. On looking farther +on, however, he did detect the ancient habitation of his family, in its +original site; but it seemed, from the distance where he stood, to be +falling into ruins. His whole race must either be dead or banished, and +a new tribe of successors settled in their place; or else uncle William +must be deceased, and have left his father money enough to build a new +house. He walked up to the door, where he stood trembling for some +minutes, without courage to put his hand to the latch, and at last went +round to the window, and, with a desperate effort, looked in. How his +heart bounded! His father was there, still a stout healthy man of middle +life, his hair hardly beginning to be grizzled, by the meddling finger +of the old painter Time; and his mother, as handsome as ever, and her +face relieved by the smile either of habitual happiness, or of some +momentary cause of joyful excitation, from the Madonna cast which had +distinguished it in less prosperous days; and his sister, with only +enough left of her former delicacy of complexion to chasten the +luxuriant freshness of health on the ripe cheeks of nineteen. John, +indeed, was not there; but a vacant chair stood by the table ready to +receive him, and another--a second chair, beside it, only nearer the +fire--for whom?--for himself. His heart told him that it was. Some one +must have brought the tidings of his arrival; the family circle were at +that moment waiting to receive him; he could see his old letters lying +on the table before them, and recognised the identical red splash he had +dropped, as if accidentally, on the corner of one--the dispatch he had +written after his first action--although he had taken the trouble to go +to the cock-pit to procure, for the occasion, this valorous token of +danger and glory. But John--it was so late for him to be from +home!--and, as a new idea passed across his mind, he turned his eyes +upon the old house, which was distant about a hundred yards. It was +probable, he thought, nay, more than probable, that his father, when +circumstances enabled him to build a new house for himself, had given +the old one to his eldest son; and John, doubtless, was established +there as the master of the family, and perhaps at this moment was +waiting anxiously for a message to require his presence on the joyful +occasion of his brother's arrival. He did not calculate very curiously +time or ages, for his brother was only his senior by two years; he felt +that he was himself a man long ago, and thought that John by this time +must be almost an old man. + +While these reflections were passing through his mind, he observed a +light in the window of the old house; but he could not well tell whether +it was merely the reflection of a moonbeam on the glass, or a candle in +the interior. He walked forward out of curiosity; but the scene, as he +approached the building, was so gloomy, and the air so chill, that he +wished to turn back; however, he walked on till he reached the door, and +there, sure enough, his brother was waiting on the threshold to receive +him. They shook hands in silence, for William's heart was too full to +speak, and he followed John into the house; and an ill-cared-for house +it was. He stumbled among heaps of rubbish in the dark passage; and, as +he groped along the wall, his hand brought down patches of old lime, and +was caught in spiders' webs almost as strong as if the spinner had meant +to go a-fowling. When they had got into the parlour, he saw that the +building was indeed a ruin; there was not a whole pane of glass in the +window, nor a plank of wood in the damp floor; and the fireplace, +without fire, or grate to hold it, looked like the entrance to a +burying-vault. John, however, walked quietly in, and sat down on a heap +of rubbish by the ingleside; and William, following his example, sat +down over-against him. His heart now began to quake, and he was afraid, +without knowing what he had to fear. He ran over in his mind the +transactions of the evening--his walk, his reflections, his +anxieties--embracing the whole, as if in one rapid and yet detailed +glance of the soul, and then turned his eyes upon his brother both in +fear and curiosity. What fearful secret could John have to communicate +in a place like this? Could he not have spoken as well in the open air, +where it was so much warmer, and in the blessed light of the moon? No +one was dead, or likely to die, that he cared for; his dearest and +almost only friends were at this moment talking and laughing round their +social table, and near a bright fire, expecting his arrival, and John +and he were--here! At length, repressing by a strong effort the +undefined and undefinable feelings that were crowding upon him, he broke +the silence, which was now beginning to seem strange and embarrassing. + +"And how have you been, John?" said he, in the usual form of friendly +inquiries; "and how have you got on in the world since we parted?" + +"I have been well." replied John; "and I have got on as well as mortal +man could desire." + +"Yet you cannot be happy; you must have something to say--something I am +almost afraid to hear. Out with it, in God's name! and let us go home." + +"Yes," said John, "I have something to say; but it will not take long to +hear, and then we shall both go home. I was apprenticed to the +boat-building four years ago." "I know it," replied William; "you wrote +to me about it yourself, John." + +"I was made foreman before my time was out." + +"I know that, too," said William; "Fanny gave me the whole particulars +in a letter I received at Smyrna;--surely that cannot be all." + +"I have more to tell," said John, solemnly: "my apprenticeship is out." + +"What, in four years!--you are mad, John! What do you mean?" + +"The indenture was cancelled this evening." + +"How?" cried William, with a gasp, and beginning to tremble all over, +without knowing why. + +"I was wounded on the beach," said John, rising up, and walking +backwards towards the window; while the moon, entering into a dense +cloud, had scarcely sufficient power to exhibit the outlines of his +figure. "It was by the point of a dagger," continued he, his voice +sounding distant and indistinct, "_and I died of the wound!_" + +William was alone in the apartment, and he felt the hair rising upon his +head, and cold drops of sweat trickling down his brow. His ghastly and +bewildered look was hardly noticed by his parents and sister during the +first moments of salutation; and, when it was, the excuse was illness +and fatigue. He could neither eat nor drink, (it seemed as if he had +lost altogether the faculty of swallowing,) but sat silent and +stupified, turning his head ever and anon to the door, till it struck +one o'clock. About this time a knocking was heard, and the sister, +jumping up, cried it was John come home, and ran to open the door. But +it was not John; it was the minister of the parish; and he had scarcely +time to break the blow to the parents with the shield of religion, when +the dead body of their eldest son was brought into the house.--_Orient. +Herald_. + + * * * * * + + +SPIRIT OF DISCOVERY. + + +_Zoological Gardens._ + +It is stated that upwards of one hundred and eighty pounds have been +received for the admission of the public to these gardens during one +week. + +We omitted to mention last week, that one of the lamas was presented by +Robert Barclay, Esq. of Bury Hill; a leopard by Lord Auckland; several +animals from the Arctic regions by the Hudson's Bay Company, &c. The +pair of emus were bred at Windsor, by Lord Mountcharles. The emu is +hunted in New South Wales for its oil; it frequently weighs 100 lbs., +and its taste, when cooked, more resembles beef than fowl.--See _Notes_, +p. 378, vol. xi. MIRROR. + +_Venerable Orange Tree._ + +There is an orange tree, still living and vigorous, in the orangery at +Versailles, which is well ascertained to be above 400 years old. It is +designated the Bourbon, having belonged to the celebrated constable of +that name in the beginning of the 16th century, and been confiscated to +the crown in 1522, at which time it was 100 years old. A crown is placed +on the box in which it is planted, with this inscription, "Sown in +1421." + +Thirty-four orange-trees have lately been received at Windsor, as a +present from the king of France to George IV. + +_Potato Mortar._ + +M. Cadet-de-Vaux found mortar of lime and sand, and also that made from +clay, greatly improved in durability by mixing boiled potatoes with it. + +_An Experimental Farm,_ + +As a school of practical husbandry for a part of central France, has +been formed by the celebrated Abbe de Pradt. It is situated about a +league from Avranches, on the great road from that city to Bort, in the +department of Correze.--_Foreign Q. Rev._ + +_A Tunnel under the Vistula, at Warsaw,_ + +Has been projected. This mode of communication will be of the utmost +utility, especially at the times of the breaking up of the frost, when +all intercourse is interrupted. The architect is a foreigner, and has +engaged to complete the work in the space of three years.--_Paris +Paper._ + +_Small White Slugs,_ + +In gardens, are more injurious than the larger variety, because their +diminutive size escapes the gardener's eye. A good way to keep them +under is to make small holes, about an inch deep, and about the diameter +of the little finger, round the plants which they infest. Into these +holes the slugs will retreat during the day, and they may be killed +there by dropping in a little salt, quicklime in powder, or by strong +lime and water.--_Gardener's Mag._ + +_Turkish Method of Preserving Filberts._ + +When perfectly ripe, remove the husks, and dry the nuts, by rubbing with +a coarse cloth; sprinkle the bottom of a stone jar with a very little +salt; then place a layer of filberts, adding a small quantity of salt +between each layer. The jar must be perfectly dry and clean. Secure the +top from air, and keep them in a dry place; and, at the end of six +months, they will peel.--_Ibid._ + +_Extinction of Fires._ + +When a chimney or flue is on fire, throw into the fire-place one handful +after another of flower of sulphur. This, by its combustion, effects the +decomposition of the atmospheric air, which is, in consequence, +paralysed, or, in effect, annihilated. + +_Oysters._ + +After the month of May, it is felony to carry away the caltch (the spawn +adhering to stones, old oyster-shells, &c.) and punishable to take any +oysters, except those of the size of a half-crown piece, or such as, +when the two shells are shut, will admit of a shilling rattling between +them. + +The liquor of the oyster contains incredible multitudes of small embryo +oysters, covered with little shells, perfectly transparent, swimming +nimbly about. One hundred and twenty of these in a row would extend one +inch. Besides these young oysters, the liquor contains a great variety +of animalcules, five hundred times less in size, which emit a phosphoric +light. The list of inhabitants, however, does not conclude here, for +besides these last mentioned, there are three distinct species of worms +(called the oyster-worm,) half an inch long, found in oysters, which +shine in the dark like glow-worms. The sea-star, cockles, and muscles, +are the great enemies of the oyster. The first gets within the shell +when they gape, and sucks them out. + +While the tide is flowing, oysters lie with the hollow side downwards, +but when it ebbs they turn on the other side.[6] + + [6] See Bishop Spratt on Oysters. + +_Swarming of Bees._ + +An interesting communication was read, at a recent sitting of the Royal +Society, from T.A. Knight, Esq. describing the precaution taken by a +swarm of bees, in reconnoitering the situation where they intend to +establish their new colony, or swarm from the parent hive. The bees do +not go out in a considerable body, but they succeed each other in going +and returning, until the whole of the swarm have apparently made good +the survey, after which the whole body take their departure in a mass. +If by any chance a large portion of a swarm take their departure without +the queen bee, they never proceed to take up the ulterior quarters +without her majesty's presence. The result of Mr. Knight's observations +tends to prove, that all the operations of a swarm of bees are dictated +by previous concert, and the most systematic arrangement. + + * * * * * + + + +SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS + + +LADDER OF LOVE. + + + Men and women,--more or less,-- + Have minds o' the self-same metal, mould, and form!-- + Doth not the infant love to sport and laugh, + And tie a kettle to a puppy's tail?-- + Doth not the dimpled girl her 'kerchief don + (Mocking her elder) mantilla wise--then speed + To mass and noontide visits; where are bandied + Smooth gossip-words of sugared compliment? + But when at budding womanhood arrived, + She casts aside all childish games, nor thinks + Of aught save some gay paranymph--who, caught + In love's stout meshes, flutters round the door, + And fondly beckons her away from home,-- + The whilst, her lady mother fain would cage + The foolish bird within its narrow cell!-- + And then, the grandame idly wastes her breath, + In venting saws 'bout maiden modesty-- + And strict decorum,--from some musty volume: + But the clipp'd wings will quickly sprout again; + And whilst the doating father thinks his child + A paragon of worth and bashfulness,-- + _Her_ thoughts are hovering round the precious form + Of her sweet furnace-breathing Don Diego!-- + And he, all proof 'gainst dews and nightly blasts, + In breathless expectation waits to see + His panting Rosa at the postern door;-- + While she sighs forth "My gentle cavalier!"-- + And then they straightway fall to kissing hands, + And antic-gestures--such as lovers use,-- + Expressive of their wish quickly to tie + The gordian knot of marriage;--Pretty creatures!-- + But why not earlier to have thought of this?-- + When he, the innocent youth, was wont to play + At coscogilla; and the prattling girl, + Amid her nursery companions, toiled + In sempstress labours for her wooden dolls.-- + Ah! wherefore, did I ask?--Because forsooth, + Their ways are changed with their increasing years!-- + For when for gallantry the time be come-- + And when the stagnant blood begins to boil + Within the veins, my master--then the lads + Cast longing looks on damosels--for nature + Defies restraint--and kin-birds flock together!-- + And think not, Master, _Chance_ disposes thus; + Or were it so, then chance directs us all-- + Whene'er we have attain'd the important age! + I, ------, am a living instance!-- + Was I not once a lively laughing boy? + And, in my stripling age, did I not love + The pastimes suited to those madcap days?-- + Oh! would to heaven those times were present still! + But wherefore fret myself with hopes so vain?-- + The silly thought doth find no shelter here,-- + That any beauty, with dark roguish eyes, + With sparkling blood, and rising warmth of youth, + Would e'er affect this wrinkled face of mine:-- + The very thought doth smack of foolishness!-- + And, though the truth may be a bitter pill, + Yet,-- + It is most fitting that we know ourselves. + + _Spanish Comedy--Foreign Review._ + + * * * * * + + +A HINT TO RETIRING CITIZENS. + + + Ye Cits who at White Conduit House, + Hampstead or Holloway carouse, + Let no vain wish disturb ye; + For rural pleasures unexplored, + Take those your Sabbath strolls afford, + And prize your _Rus in urbe_. + + For many who from active trades + Have plung'd into sequester'd shades, + Will dismally assure ye, + That it's a harder task to bear + Th' ennui produced by country air, + And sigh for _Urbs in rure_. + + The cub in prison born and fed, + The bird that in a cage was bred, + The hutch-engender'd rabbit, + Are like the long-imprison'd Cit, + For sudden liberty unfit, + Degenerate by habit. + + Sir William Curtis, were he mew'd + In some romantic solitude, + A bower of rose and myrtle, + Would find the loving turtle dove + No succedaneum for his love + Of London Tavern turtle. + + Sir Astley Cooper, cloy'd with wealth, + Sick of luxurious ease and health, + And rural meditation, + Sighs for his useful London life, + The restless night--the saw and knife + Of daily amputation. + + Habit is second nature--when + It supersedes the first, wise men + Receive it as a warning, + That total change comes then too late, + And they must e'en assimilate + Life's evening to its morning. + + Thrice happy he whose mind has sprung + From Mammon's yoke while yet unwrung + Or spoilt for nobler duty:-- + Who still can gaze on Nature's face + With all a lover's zeal, and trace + In every change a beauty. + + No tedium vitae round him lowers, + The charms of contrast wing his hours, + And every scene embellish:-- + From prison, City, care set free, + He tastes his present liberty + With keener zest and relish. + + _New Monthly Mag_. + + * * * * * + + + +THE GATHERER. + + + A snapper up of unconsidered trifles. + + SHAKSPEARE. + + * * * * * + + +ACCOMMODATION FOR THREE HALFPENCE. + + +A gentleman on a wet evening entered the bar of an inn, and while +standing before the fire, called to a servant girl who had come to +receive his orders, "Margaret, bring me a glass of ale, a clean pipe, a +spitoon, a pair of snuffers, and the newspaper. And Margaret, take away +my great coat, carry it into the kitchen, and hang it before the fire to +dry, and dry my umbrella, and tell me what o'clock it is; and if Mr. +Huggins should come in, request him to come this way, for I think 'tis +near seven, and he promised to meet me at that hour. And Margaret, get +me change for a sovereign, and see that all the change is good, take for +the glass of ale out of it, and put the coppers in a piece of paper. And +Margaret, tell Jemima to bring some more coals, take away the ashes, and +wipe the table. And Margaret, pull down the blinds, shut the door, and +put-to the window-shutters."--N.B. The gentleman had his own tobacco. + + * * * * * + + +TWO EVILS, (EXTEMPORE.) + + + Can man sustain a greater curse + Than to possess an empty purse? + Yes, with abundance to be blest, + And not enjoy the pow'r to taste. + +G.K. + + * * * * * + + +EPIGRAM, FROM THE GERMAN. + + + If one has served thee, tell the deed to many? + Hast thou served many?--tell it not to any. + +J.L.S. + + * * * * * + + +A GENTLEMAN. + + +To tell the reader exactly what class of persons was meant to be +designated by the word _gentleman_, is a difficult task. The last time +we heard it, was on visiting a stable to look at a horse, when, +inquiring for the coachman, his stable-keeper replied, "He has just +stepped to the public-house along with another gentleman." + +The following is the negro's definition of a _gentleman_:--"_Massa make +de black man workee--make de horse workee--make de ox workee--make every +ting workee, only de hog: he, de hog, no workee; he eat, he drink, he +walk about, he go to sleep when he please, he liff like a GENTLEMAN_." + + * * * * * + + +"VERY BAD." + + +Why are washer-women, busily engaged, like Adam and Eve in Paradise? +Because they are _so-apy_ (so happy). + +Why is a widower, going to be married, like Eau de Cologne? Because he +is _re-wiving_. + +Why is a vine like a soldier? Because it is listed and trained, has +_ten-drills_, and shoots. + +Why is a sailor, when at sea, not a sailor? Because he's _a-board_. + +Why is a city gentleman, taken poorly in Grosvenor-square, like a +recluse? Because he is _sick-westward_ (sequestered.) + +Why is it better for a man to have two losses than one? Because the +first is a loss, and the second is _a-gain_. + +"If Britannia rules the waves," said a qualmish writing-master, going to +Margate last week in a storm, "I wish she'd rule 'em _straighter_."-- +_Lit. Gaz._ + + * * * * * + +_Printed and Published by J. LIMBIRD, 143, Strand, (near Somerset +House,) London; sold by ERNEST FLEISCHER, 626, New Market, Leipsic; and +by all Newsmen and Booksellers._ + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MIRROR OF LITERATURE, AMUSEMENT, +AND INSTRUCTION, VOL. 12, ISSUE 331, SEPTEMBER 13, 1828*** + + +******* This file should be named 11320.txt or 11320.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/1/1/3/2/11320 + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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