diff options
Diffstat (limited to '11336-0.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | 11336-0.txt | 1649 |
1 files changed, 1649 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/11336-0.txt b/11336-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4186d53 --- /dev/null +++ b/11336-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1649 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 11336 *** + +THE MIRROR OF LITERATURE, AMUSEMENT AND INSTRUCTION + +Vol. XII. No. 337.] SATURDAY, OCTOBER 25, 1828. [PRICE 2d. + + + + +Cheese Wring. + +(_To the Editor of the Mirror_.) + + +[Illustration] + +In presenting your readers with a representation of the Wring Cheese, I +offer a few prefatory remarks connected with the early importance of the +county in which it stands, venerable in its age, amid the storms of +elements, and the changes of religions. Its pristine glory has sunk on +the horizon of Time; but its legend, like a soft twilight of its former +day, still hallows it in the memories of the surrounding peasantry. + +Cornwall is allowed by antiquaries to be the Capiterides; and the Abbé +de Fontenu, in the _Memoires de Literature_, tom. vii. p. 126, proves, +according to Vallancey, that the Phoenicians traded here for tin before +the Trojan war. Homer frequently mentions this metal; and even in +Scripture we have allusions to this land under the name of Tarshish +(Ezekiel, c. xxvii., v. 12-25), being the place whence the Tyrians +procured various metals, and among the rest, the English metal tin. It +appears that the primitive Greeks had a clearer knowledge of these +shores than those in after years; and although Homer, in his shield of +Achilles, describes the earth surrounded by water, yet Herodotus, +notwithstanding his learning and research, candidly states his ignorance +in the following words:--"Neither am I better acquainted with the +islands called Capiterides, from whence _we are said_ to have our tin." +The knowledge of these shores existed in periods so remote, that it +faded. We dwindled away into a visionary land--we lived almost in fable. +The Phoenician left us, and the link of our history was severed. Hyde de +Religione Vet. Persarum, c. iv. p. 121, supposes Solomon to have traded +with the Peruvians; and the analogies between the Pyramids in Mexico and +Egypt confirm the opinion, and sanction the belief that the ancients had +a more extended knowledge of, and a greater traffic over, the earth than +history records. In the most early ages, worship was paid to stone +idols; and the Pagan introduction of statues into temples was of a +recenter date. The ancient Etruscans, as well as the ancient Egyptians, +revered the obeliscal stone, (the reason why to the obeliscal stone is +given by Payne Knight, in his extraordinary work;) nor was it, according +to Plutarch, till 170 years after the founding of the city that the +Romans had statues in their temples, their deities being considered +invisible. Many stone pillars exist in this country, especially in +Cornwall; and it is a fair inference that the Phoenician imported his +religious rites in return for his metallic exports--since we find +mention made of stone pillars in Genesis, xxviii. v. 20; Deuteronomy, +xxvii. v. 4.; Joshua, xxiv.; 2 Samuel, xx. v. 8.; Judges, ix. v. 6., &c. +&c. Many are the conjectures as to what purport these stones were used: +sometimes they were sepulchral, as Jacob's pillar over Rachel, Gen. +xxxv. 20. Ilus, son of Dardanus, king of Troy, was buried in the plain +before that city beneath a column, Iliad, xi. 317. Sometimes they were +erected as trophies, as the one set up by Samuel between Mizpeh and +Shen, in commemoration of the defeat of the Philistines; one was also +erected at Murray, in Scotland, as a monument of the fight between +Malcolm, son of Keneth, and Sueno the Dane. We also find them as +witnesses to covenants, like that of Jacob and Laban, which, though +originally an emblem of a civil pact, became afterwards the place of +worship of the whole twelve tribes of Israel. All these relics, to say +nothing of the cromlechs in Malabar, bear a silent and solemn testimony +of some by-gone people, whose religious and civil customs had extended +wide over the earth. Their monuments remain, but their history has +perished, and the dust of their bodies has been scattered in the wind. +The Druids availed themselves of those places most likely to give an +effect to their vaticinations; and not only obtained, but supported by +terror the influence they held over the superstitious feelings of our +earliest forefathers. Where nature presented a _bizarre_ mass of rocks, +the Druid worked, and peopled it with his gods, the most remarkable of +which is the subject of our engraving, called the Wring Cheese, or +Cheese Wring, in the parish of St. Clare, near Liskeard, in Cornwall. +This singular mass of rocks is 32 feet high. The large stone at the top +was a logan, or rocking-stone. Geologists are inclined to consider it as +a natural production, which is probably the case in part, the Druids +taking advantage of favourable circumstances to convert these crags to +objects of superstitious reverence. On its summit are two rock basins; +and it is a well-known fact, that baptism was a Pagan rite of the +highest antiquity, (vide the Etruscan vases by Gorius.) Here, probably, +the rude ancestor of our glorious land was initiated amidst the mystic +ceremonies of the white-robed Druid and his blood-stained sacrifices. A +similar mass exists at Brimham, York; and in the "History of Waterford," +p. 70, mention is made of St. Declan's stone, which, not liking its +situation, miraculously _swam_ from Rome, conveying on it St. Declan's +bell and vestment. + +J. SILVESTER. + + * * * * * + + +CURIOUS ANCIENT LEGEND. + +(_For the Mirror_.) + + +In ancienne tyme, and in a goodly towne, neare to Canterbury, sojourned +a ladie faire. She one nighte, in the absence of her lorde, leaned her +lovely arme upon a gentleman's, and walked in the fyldes. When +journeying far, she became afraide, and begged to returne. The +gentleman, with kyndest sayings and greate courtesey, retraced their +steps; when in this saide momente, this straynge occurrence came to +pass--ye raine descended, though the moone and millions of starres were +shyneing bryght. In journeying home, another straynge occurrence came to +pass; her coral lippes the gentleman's did meete in sweetest kyss. Thys +was not straynge at all; but that the moone, that still shone bryghte, +did in the momente hide herself behynde a cloude: this was straynge, +most passing straynge indeede. The ladie faire, who prayed to the +blessed Virgin, did to her confesseur this confession mayk, and her +confesseur with charitye impromptu wrote:-- + + "Whence came the rayne, when first with guileless heart + Further to walk she's lothe, and yet more lothe to part? + It was not rayne, but angels' pearly teares, + In pity dropt to soothe Eliza's feares. + Whence came the cloude that veil'd the orb of nighte, + When first her lippes she yielded to delyght? + It was not cloude, but whylst the world was hush, + Mercy put forthe her hande to hide Eliza's blush." + +W.G.C. + + * * * * * + + + +PICTON'S MONUMENT, CARMARTHEN. + +(_For the Mirror_.) + + +This interesting national tribute stands at the west end of the town of +Carmarthen, rising ground, and is erected in memory of the gallant Sir +Thomas Picton, who terminated his career in the ever-to-be-remembered +battle of Waterloo. The structure stands about 30 feet high, and is, +particularly the shaft and architrave, similar to Trajan's pillar in +Rome; and being built of a very durable material, (black marble,) will +no doubt stand as many ages as that noble, though now mouldering relic. +The pillar stands on a square pedestal, with a small door on the east +side, which fronts the town, where the monument is ascended by a flight +of steps. Over the door, in large characters, is the hero's name, +PICTON; and above this, in basso relievo, is represented part of the +field of battle, with the hero falling from his horse, from the mortal +wound which he received. Over this, in large letters, is inscribed +WATERLOO. On the west end is represented the siege of Badajos, Picton +scaling the walls with a few men, and attacked by the besieged. Above +this is the word BADAJOS. On the south side of the pedestal is the +following inscription:-- + + Sir THOMAS PICTON, + + Knight Grand Cross of the Military Order of the + Bath, + Of the Portuguese Order of the Tower and Sword, + and of other foreign Orders; + Lieutenant-General in the British Army, and + Member of Parliament for the Borough of + Pembroke, + Born at Poyston, in Pembrokeshire, in August, + 1758; + Died at Waterloo on the 18th of June, 1815, + Gloriously fighting for his country and the + liberties of Europe. + Having honourably fulfilled, on behalf of the + public, various duties in various climates: + And having achieved the highest military renown + in the Spanish Peninsula, + He thrice received the unanimous thanks of + Parliament, + And a Monument erected by the British nation + in St. Paul's Cathedral + Commemorates his death and services, + His grateful countrymen, to perpetuate past and + incite to future exertions, + Have raised this column, under the auspices of + his Majesty, King George the Fourth, + To the memory of a hero and a Welshman. + The plan and design of this Monument was given + by our countryman, John Nash, Esq. F.R.S. + Architect to the King. + The ornaments were executed by + E.H. Bailey, Esq. R.A. + And the whole was erected by Mr. Daniel + Mainwaring, of the town of Carmarthen, + In the year 1826 and 1827. + +On the north side is the translation of the above in Welsh; and on the +top of the pedestal, on each side of the square, are trophies. The top +of the column is also square, and on each side are imitative cannons. +The statue of the hero surmounts the whole. He is wrapped in a cloak, +and is supported by a baluster, round which are emblems of spears. + +W.H. + + * * * * * + + + +THE SKETCH BOOK + + +AN HOUR TOO MANY. + + +Hail, land of the kangaroo!--paradise of the bushranger!--purgatory of +England!--happy scene, where the sheep-stealer is metamorphosed into the +shepherd; the highwayman is the guardian of the road; the dandy is +delicate no more, and earns his daily bread; and the Court of Chancery +is unknown--hail to thee, soil of larceny and love! of pickpockets and +principle! of every fraud under heaven, and primeval virtue! daughter of +jails, and mother of empires!--hail to thee, New South Wales! In all my +years--and I am now no boy--and in all my travels--and I am now at the +antipodes--I have never heard any maxim so often as, that time is short; +yet no maxim that ever dropt from human lips is further from the truth. +I appeal to the experience of mankind--to the three hundred heirs of the +British peerage, whom their gouty fathers keep out of their honours and +estates--to the six hundred and sixty-eight candidates for seats in +parliament, which they must wait for till the present sitters die; or +turn rebellious to their noble patrons, or their borough patrons, or +their Jew patrons; or plunge into joint-stock ruin, and expatriate +themselves, for the astonishment of all other countries, and the benefit +of their own;--to the six thousand five hundred heroes of the half-pay, +longing for tardy war;--to the hundred thousand promissory excisemen +lying on the soul of the chancellor of the ex-chequer, and pining for +the mortality of every gauger from the Lizard to the Orkneys;--and, to +club the whole discomfort into one, to the entire race of the fine and +superfine, who breathe the vital air, from five thousand a year to +twenty times the rental, the unhappy population of the realms of +indolence included in Bond Street, St. James's, and the squares. + +For my own part, in all my experience of European deficiencies, I have +never found any deficiency of time. Money went like the wind; champagne +grew scanty; the trust of tailors ran down to the dregs; the smiles of +my fair flirts grew rare as diamonds--every thing became as dry, dull, +and stagnant as the Serpentine in summer; but time never failed me. I +had a perpetual abundance of a commodity which the philosophers told me +was beyond price. I had not merely enough for myself, but enough to give +to others; until I discovered the fact, that it was as little a +favourite with others as myself, and that, whatever the plausible might +say, there was nothing on earth for which they would not be more obliged +to me than a donation of my superfluous time. But now let me give a +sketch of my story. A single fact is worth a hundred reflections. The +first consciousness that I remember, was that of having a superabundance +of time; and my first ingenuity was demanded for getting rid of the +encumbrance. I had always an hour that perplexed my skill to know what +to do with this treasure. A schoolboy turn for long excursions in any +direction but that of my pedagogue, indicative of a future general +officer; a naturalist-taste for bird-nesting, which, in maturer years, +would have made me one of the wonders of the Linnaean Society; a passion +for investigating the inside of every thing, from a Catherine-wheel to a +China-closet, which would yet have entitled me to the honours of an +F.R.S.; and an original vigour in the plunder of orchards, which +undoubtedly might have laid the foundation of a first lord of the +treasury; were nature's helps to get rid of this oppressive bounty. But +though I fought the enemy with perpetual vigour and perpetual variety, +he was not to be put to flight by a stripling; and I went to the +university as far from being a conqueror as ever. At Oxford I found the +superabundance of this great gift acknowledged with an openness worthy +of English candour, and combated with the dexterity of an experience +five hundred years old. Port-drinking, flirtation, lounging, the +invention of new ties to cravats, and new tricks on proctors; billiards, +boxing, and barmaids; seventeen ways of mulling sherry, and as many +dozen ways of raising "the supplies," were adopted with an adroitness +that must have baffled all but the invincible. Yet Time was master at +last; and he always indulged me with a liberality that would have driven +a less resolute spirit to the bottom of the Isis. + +At length I gave way; left the university with my blessing and my debts; +and rushed up to London, as the grand _place d'armes_, the central spot +from which the enemy was excluded by the united strength, wit, and +wisdom of a million and a half of men. I might as well have staid +bird-nesting in Berkshire. I found the happiest contrivances against the +universal invader fail. Pigeon-matches; public dinners; coffee-houses; +bluestocking _reunions_; private morning quadrille practice, with public +evening exhibitions of their fruits; dilettanti breakfasts, with a +bronze Hercules standing among the bread and butter, or a reposing cast +of Venus, fresh from Pompeii, as black and nude as a negress disporting +on the banks of the Senegal, but dear and delicate to the eyes of taste; +Sunday mornings at Tattersal's, jockeying till the churches let out +their population, and the time for visits was come; and Sunday evening +routs at _the_ duchess's, with a cotillon by the _vraies danseuses_ of +the opera, followed by a concert, a round game, and a _select_ supper +for the initiated;--the whole failed. I had always an hour too +much--sixty mortal minutes, and every one of them an hour in itself, +that I could never squeeze down. + + "Ye gods, annihilate both space and time, + And make two lovers happy," + +may have been called a not over-modest request; but I can vouch for at +least one half of it being the daily prayer of some thousands of the +best-dressed people that the sun ever summoned to a day of twenty-four +hours long. On feeling the symptoms of this horary visitation, I +regularly rushed into the streets, on the principle that some +alleviation of misery is always to be found in fellow-suffering. This +maxim I invariably found false, like every other piece of the boasted +wisdom of mankind. I found the suffering infinitely increased by the +association with my fellow-fashionables. A man might as well have fled +from his chamber to enjoy comfort in the wards of an hospital. In one of +my marches up and down the _pavé_ of St. James's Street, that treadmill +of gentlemen convicted in the penalty of having nothing to do, I lounged +into the little hotel of the Guards, that stands beside the great hotel +of the gamblers, like a babe under its mamma's wing--the likeness +admirable, though the scale diminutive. That "hour too many," cost me +three games of billiards, my bachelor's house, and one thousand pounds. +This price of sixty minutes startled me a little; and, for a week, I +meditated with some seriousness on the superior gaiety of a life spent +in paving the streets, driving a wagon, or answering the knocker of a +door. But the "hour" again overflowed me. I was walking it off in Regent +Street, when an old fellow-victim met me, and prescribed a trot to +Newmarket. The prescription was taken, and the hour was certainly got +rid of. But the remedy was costly; for my betting-book left me minus ten +thousand pounds. I returned to town like a patient from a +watering-place; relieved of every thing but the disease that took me +there. My last shilling remained among the noble blacklegs; but nothing +could rob me of a fragment of my superfluous time, and I brought even a +tenfold allowance of it back. But every disease has a crisis; and when a +lounge through the streets became at once useless and inconvenient--when +the novelty of being cut by all my noble friends, and of being seduously +followed by that generation who, unlike the fickle world, reserve their +tipstaff attentions for the day of adversity, had lost its zest, and I +was thinking whether time was to be better fought off by a plunge to the +bottom of the Thames, or by the muzzle of one of Manton's hair- +triggers--I was saved by a plunge into the King's Bench. There life was +new, friendship was undisguised, my coat was not an object of scorn, my +exploits were fashion, my duns were inadmissible, and my very captors +were turned into my humble servants. There, too, my nature, always +social, had its full indulgence; for there I found, rather to my +surprise, nine-tenths of my most accomplished acquaintance. But the +enemy still made his way; and I had learned to yawn, in spite of +billiards and ball-playing, when _the_ Act let me loose into the great +world again. Good-luck, too, had prepared a surprise for my _debut_. I +had scarcely exhibited myself in the streets, when I discovered that +every man of my _set_ was grown utterly blind whenever I happened to +walk on the same side of the way, and that I might as well have been +buried a century. I was absurd enough to be indignant; for nothing can +be more childish than any delicacy when a man cannot bet on the rubber. +But one morning a knock came to my attic-door which startled me by its +professional vigour. An attorney entered. I had now nothing to fear, for +the man whom no one will trust cannot well be in debt; and for once I +faced an attorney without a palpitation. His intelligence was +flattering. An old uncle of mine, who had worn out all that was human +about him in amassing fifty thousand pounds, and finally died of +starving himself, had expired with the pen in his hand, in the very act +of leaving his thousands to pay the national debt. But fate, propitious +to me, had dried up his ink-bottle; the expense of replenishing it would +have broken his heart of itself; and the attorney's announcement to me +was, that the will, after blinding the solicitor to the treasury and +three of his clerks, was pronounced to be altogether illegible. + +The fact that I was the nearest of kin got into the newspapers; and in +my first drive down St. James's, I had the pleasure of discovering that +I had cured a vast number of my friends of their calamitous defect of +vision. But if the "post equitem sedet atra cura" was the maxim in the +days of Augustus, the man who drives the slower cabriolet in the days of +George the Fourth, cannot expect to escape. The "hour too many" overtook +me in the first week. On one memorable evening I saw it coming, just as +I turned the corner of Piccadilly; fair flight was hopeless, and I took +refuge in that snug asylum on the right hand of St. James's Street, +which has since expanded into a palace. I stoutly battled the foe, for I +"took no note of time" during the next day and night; and when at last I +walked forth into the air, I found that I had relieved myself of the +burden of three-fourths of my reversion. A weak mind on such an occasion +would have cursed the cards, and talked of taking care of the fragment +of his property; but mine was of the higher order, and I determined on +revenge. I had my revenge, and saw my winners ruined. They had their +consolation, and at the close of a six months' campaign saw me walk into +the streets a beggar. I grew desperate, and was voted dangerous. I +realized the charge by fastening on a noble lord who had been one of the +most adroit in pigeoning me. His life was "too valuable to his country," +or himself, to allow him to meet a fellow whose life was of no use to +any living thing; and through patriotism and the fear of being shot, he +kept out of my way. I raged, threatened to post his lordship, and was in +the very act of writing out the form of the placard declaring the noble +heir of the noble house of ---- a cheat and a scoundrel, when by the +twopenny-post I received a notice from the Horse Guards that I was on +that day to appear in the Gazette as an ensign in his majesty's ---- +regiment, then serving in the Peninsula, with orders to join without +delay. This was enough from his lordship, and was certainly better for +me than running the chance of damages in the King's Bench, for provoking +his majesty's subjects to a breach of the peace. + +I was gazetted, tried on my uniform before the mirror, entirely approved +of my appearance, and wrote my last letter to my last flirt. The +Portsmouth mail was to start at eight. I had an hour to spare, and +sallied into the street. I met an honest-faced old acquaintance as much +at a loss as myself to slay the hour. We were driven by a shower into +shelter. The rattle of dice was heard within a green-baize-covered door. +We could not stay for ever shivering on the outside. Fortune favoured +me; in half an hour I was master of a thousand pounds; it would have +been obvious folly and ingratitude to check the torrent of success for +the paltry prospects of an ensigncy. I played on, and won on. The clock +struck eight. I will own that I trembled as the first sound caught my +ear. But whether nervous or not, from that instant the torrent was +checked. The loss and gain became alternate. Wine was brought in; I +played in furious scorn of consequences. I saw the board covered with +gold. I swept it into my stake; I soon saw my stake reduced to nothing. +My eyes were dazzled, my hand shook, my brain was on fire, I sang, +danced, roared with exultation or despair. How the night closed, I know +not; but I found myself at last in a narrow room, surrounded with +squalidness, its only light from a high-barred window, and its only +furniture the wooden tressel on which I lay, fierce, weary, and +feverish, as if I lay on the rack. From this couch of the desperate, I +was carried into the presence of a magistrate, to hear that in the +_mélée_ of the night before, I had in my rage charged my honest-faced +acquaintance with palpable cheating; and having made good my charge by +shewing the loaded dice in his hand, had knocked him down with a +violence that made his recovery more than doubtful. He had seen my name +in the Gazette, and had watched me for the express purpose of final +plunder. The wretch died. I was brought to trial, found guilty of +manslaughter, and sentenced to seven years' expatriation. Fortunate +sentence! On my arrival in New South Wales, as I was found a perfect +gentleman, and fit for nothing, there was no resource but to make me try +the labour of my hands. Fortunate labour! From six at morning till six +at night, I had the spade or the plough in my hands. I dragged carts, I +delved rocks, I hewed trees; I had not a moment to spare. The appetite +that once grew languid over venison, now felt the exquisite delight of +junk beef. The thirst that scorned champagne was now enraptured with +spring water. The sleep that had left me many a night tossing +within-side the curtains of a hundred-and-fifty-guinea Parisian bed, now +came on the roughest piece of turf, and made the planks of my cabin +softer than down. I can now run as fast as one of my Newmarket stud, +pull down a buffalo, and catch a kangaroo by the tail in fair field. +Health, vigour, appetite, and activity, are my superabundance now. I +have every thing but time. My banishment expires to-morrow; but I shall +never recross the sea. This is my country. Since I set my foot upon its +shore I have never had a moment to yawn. In this land of real and +substantial life, the spectre that haunted my joyless days dares not be +seen--the "hour too many" is no more. + +_The Forget-Me-Not_. + + * * * * * + + + +MANNERS & CUSTOMS OF ALL NATIONS. + +(_For the Mirror_.) + + +SELLING MEAT AMONG THE ANCIENT ROMANS, &c. + + +It was the custom for the buyer to shut his eyes, and the seller to hold +up some of his fingers; if the buyer guessed aright, how many it was the +other held up, he was to fix the price; if he mistook, the seller was to +fix it. These classic _blind-bargains_ would not suit the +Londonbutchers. This custom was abolished by Apronius, the prefect of +Rome; who in lieu thereof, introduced the method of selling by weight. +Among the ancient Romans there were three kinds of established butchers, +viz. two colleges or companies, composed each of a certain number of +citizens, whose office was to furnish the city with the necessary +cattle, and to take care of preparing and vending their flesh. One of +these communities was at first confined to the providing of hogs, whence +they were called _suarii_; and the other two were charged with cattle, +especially oxen, whence they were called _pecuarii_, or _boarii_. Under +each of these was a subordinate class, whose office was to kill, +prepare, &c. called _lanii_, and sometimes _carnifices_. + +Two English poets (Swift and Gay) have been rather severe towards the +London butchers, the former says,-- + + "Hence he learnt the _Butcher's_ guile, + How to cut your throat, and smile; + Like a _butcher_ doom'd for life, + In his mouth to wear his knife." + +The latter,-- + + ----"resign the way, + To shun the surly _butcher's_ greasy tray: + _Butchers_, whose hands are died with blood's foul stain, + And always foremost in the hangman's train." + +The butchers' company was not incorporated until the 3rd year of King +James I. when they were made a _Corporation_, by the name of master, +wardens and commonalty of the art and mystery of butchers; yet the +fraternity is ancient. + +Stowe says, "In the 3rd of Richard II. motion was made that no butcher +should kill any flesh within London, but at Knightsbridge, or such like +distant place from the walls of the citie." + +P.T.W. + + * * * * * + + +STUMBLING AT THE THRESHOLD. + + +The phrase, "to stumble at the threshold," originated in the +circumstance, that the old thresholds, or steps under the door, were +like the hearths, raised a little, so that a person might stumble over +them, unless proper care were taken. A very whimsical reason for this +practice is given in a curious little tract by Sir Balthazar Gerbier, +entitled, "Council and Advice to all Builders," 1663, in these +words:--"A good surveyor shuns also the ordering of doores with +stumbling thresholds, though our forefathers affected them, perchance to +perpetuate the antient custome of bridegroomes, when formerly at their +return from church they did use to lift up their bride, and to knock her +head against that of the doore, for a remembrance that she was not to +pass the threshold of her house without leave." + +W.G.C. + + * * * * * + + +CHINESE PHYSICIANS. + + +The charitable dispensation of medicines by the Chinese, is well +deserving notice. They have a stone which is ten cubits high, erected in +the public squares of their cities; whereon is engraved the name of all +sorts of medicines, with the price of each, and when the poor stand in +need of relief from physic, they go to the treasury to receive the price +each medicine is rated at. + +The physicians of China have only to feel the arm of their patient in +three places, and to observe the rate of the pulse, to form an opinion +on the cause, nature, danger, and duration of the malady. Without the +patient speaking at all, they can tell infallibly what part is attacked +with disease, whether the brain, the heart, the liver, the lungs, the +intestines, the stomach, the flesh, the bones, and so on. As they are +both physicians and apothecaries, and prepare their own medicines, they +are paid only when they effect a cure. If the same rule were introduced +with us, I fear we should have fewer physicians. + + * * * * * + + + +THE TOPOGRAPHER + + +BOX HILL. + +(_For the Mirror_.) + + +This celebrated eminence is situated in the north range of chalk hills, +beginning near Farnham, in Surrey, and extending from thence to +Folkstone, in Kent. Camden calls it _White Hill_, from its chalky soil; +but Box Hill is its true and ancient name. The box-tree is, in all +probability, the natural produce of the soil; but a generally received +story is, that the box was planted there by Thomas, Earl of Arundel, +between two and three centuries ago. There is, however, authentic +evidence of its being here long before his time, for Henry de Buxeto +(i.e. Henry of Box Hill) and Adam de Buxeto were witnesses to deeds in +the reign of King John. + +John Evelyn, who wrote about the middle of the seventeenth century, +says, "Box-trees rise naturally at Kent in Bexley; and in Surrey, giving +name to Box Hill. He that in winter should behold some of our highest +hills in Surrey, clad with whole woods of them, might easily fancy +himself transported into some new or enchanted country." + +In Aubrey's posthumous work on Surrey, published in 1718, the northern +part of the hill is described as thickly covered with yew-trees, and the +southern part with "thick boscages of box-trees," which "yielded a +convenient privacy for lovers, who frequently meet here, so that it is +an English Daphne." He also tells us that the gentry often resorted here +from Ebbesham (_Epsom_), then in high fashion. Philip Luckombe, in his +"England's Gazetteer," says, on Box Hill "there is a large warren, but +no houses; only arbours cut out in the box-wood on the top of the hill, +where are sold refreshments of all sorts, for the ladies and gentlemen +who come hither to divert themselves in its labyrinths; for which reason +a certain author has thought fit to call it the Palace of Venus, and the +Temple of Nature; there being an enchanting prospect from it of a fine +country, which is scarce to be equalled for affording so surprising and +magnificent an idea both of earth and sky." + +But these delightful retreats, like Arcadia of old, have long since +vanished. The _yews_ were cut down in the year 1780; and their +successors fall very short of the luxuriant descriptions of old +topographers. The _box_ has also at various times produced the +proprietors of the estate great profit. In 1608, the receipt for +box-trees cut down upon the sheepwalk on the hill was 50_l_.; in an +account taken in 1712, it is supposed that as much had been cut down, +within a few years before, as amounted to 3,000_l_.; and in 1759, a Mr. +Miller lamented that "the trees on Box Hill had been pretty much +destroyed; though many remained of considerable bigness." + +An immense quantity of box is annually consumed in this country, in the +revived art of engraving on wood. The English is esteemed inferior to +that which comes from the Levant; and the American box is said to be +preferable to ours. But the ships from the Levant brought such +quantities of it in ballast, that the wood on Box Hill could not find a +purchaser, and not having been cut for sixty-five years, was growing +cankered. The war diminished the influx from the Mediterranean; several +purchasers offered; and in 1795 it was put up to auction at 12,000_l_. +The depredations made on Box Hill, in consequence of this sale, did not +injure its picturesque beauty, as twelve years were allowed for cutting, +which gave each portion a reasonable time to renew. In 1802, forty tons +were cut, but the market being overstocked, it fell in value more than +fifty per cent.; and the foreign wood is now universally preferred for +engravings. The trees on Box Hill are, however, again flourishing, +although their value is rather problematical. + +For the information of the home tourist, perhaps, I ought to mention +that Box Hill stands about 22 miles on the left of the road from London +to Worthing, Brighton, and Bognor, and about 2 miles N.E. of the town of +Dorking. The road from Leatherhead hence is a constant succession of +hill and dale, richly clothed with wood, interspersed with elegant +villas in all tastes--from the pillared and plastered mansion, to the +borrowed charm of the _cottage orne_. The whole of this district is +called the Vale of _Norbury_, from the romantic domain of that name, +which extends over a great portion of the hills on the right of the +road. Shortly before you reach Box Hill, stands _Mickleham_, a little +village with an ivy-mantled church, rich in Saxon architecture and other +antiquities. You then descend into a valley, passing some delightful +meadow scenery, and the showy mansion of Sir Lucas Pepys, which rises +from a flourishing plantation on the left. In the valley stands Juniper +Hall, late the seat of Mr. Thomas Broadwood, the piano-forte +manufacturer. In the park are some of the finest cedars in England. On +again ascending, you catch a fine view of Box Hill, and the +amphitheatrical range of opposite hills, with one of the most +magnificent _parterres_ in nature. This is called, by old writers, the +_Garden of Surrey_. + +You pass some flint-built cottages, and quitting the road here, the +ascent to Box Hill is gradual and untiring, across a field of little +slopes, studded with a few yew-trees, relics of by-gone days. The ascent +further down the road almost amounts to a feat, assisted by the +foot-worn paces in the chalky steep. Here this portion of the hill +resembles an immense wall of _viretum_, down whose side has been poured +liquid mortar. The path winds along the verge of the hill, whilst on the +left is a valley or little ravine, whose sides are clothed with thick +dwarfish box, intermingled with the wild and trackless luxuriance of +forest scenery. Hence the road stretches away to Ashurst, the neat +residence of Mr. Strahan, the King's printer. + +Returning to the verge of the hill, you soon reach the _apex_, or +highest point, being 445 feet from the level of the Mole.[1] Here you +enjoy what the French call a _coup d'oeil_, or I would rather say, _a +bird's-eye view_, of unparalleled beauty. Taking the town of Dorking for +a resting point, the long belt is about twelve miles in extent. The +outline or boundary commences from the eminence on which I am supposed +to be standing--with Brockham Hill, whose steep was planted by the late +duke of Norfolk, and whence the chain extends away towards the great +Brighton road. Next in the curve are Betchworth Castle and Park, with +majestic avenues of limes and elms, and fine old chestnut-trees. +Adjoining, is the Deepdene, the classical seat of the author of +"Anastasius," a place, says Salmon, "well calculated for the religious +rites of the Celts," and consecrated by the philosophical pursuits of +the Hon. Charles Howard, who built an oratory and laboratory, and died +here in 1714. Next are several fir-crowned ridges, which shelter Bury +Hill, the mansion of Mr. Barclay, the opulent brewer; whence you ascend +the opposite line of hills, till you reach Denbies, nearly facing the +most prominent point of Box Hill. This elegant seat is the abode of Mr. +Denison, one of the county members, and brother of the Marchioness of +Conyngham. The second range or ledge, beneath Denbies, is the celebrated +Dorking lime-works. The transition to the Norbury Hills, already +mentioned, is now very short, which completes the outline of the view. +It should, however, be remarked that the scenery within this range can +be distinctly enjoyed without the aid of art; whilst beyond it the +prospect extends, and fades away in the South Downs on one hand, and +beyond the metropolis on the other. + +The little _parterre_ to be described, includes the sheltered town of +Dorking, environed with rich lawny slopes, variegated with villas in the +last taste; and little heights, from whose clustering foliage peeps the +cottage roof of humble life. But the Paradise immediately at the foot of +Box Hill is the gem of the whole scene, and is one of the most perfect +pictures of rural beauty which pen or pencil can attempt. It appears +like an assemblage of every rural charm in a few acres, in whose +disposal nature has done much, and art but little. Park, lawn, woody +walk, slope, wilderness and dell are among its varieties; and its quiet +is only broken by the sluggish stream of the Mole. Adjoining is a little +inn, more like one of the picturesque _auberges_ of the continent than +an English house of cheer. The grounds are ornamented with rustic +alcoves, boscages, and a bowery walk, all in good taste. Here hundreds +of tourists pass a portion of "the season," as in a "loop-hole of +retreat." In the front of the inn, however, the stream of life glides +fast; and a little past it, the road crosses the Mole by Burford Bridge, +and winds with geometrical accuracy through the whole of this hasty +sketch. + +PHILO. + + [1] Here is a stump of wood which denotes the grave of Major + Labelliere, a deranged officer of the Marines, who, by his own + request was buried on this spot, with his head downwards; it + being a constant assertion with him, "that the world was turned + topsy-turvy, and, therefore, at the end he should be right." + + From this point may be seen _Leith Hill_, with an old prospect + tower, within which are interred the remains of another + eccentric gentleman who died in the neighbourhood. In the road + from Dorking thence is _Wotton_, the family seat of the Evelyns. + + * * * * * + + + +NOTES OF A READER + + +THE UNIVERSAL PRAYER AND OTHER POEMS. + + +We usually leave criticism to the _grey-beards_, or such as have passed +the _viginti annorum lucubrationes_ of reviewing. It kindles so many +little heart-burnings and jealousies, that we rejoice it is not part of +our duty. To be sure, we sometimes take up a book in real earnest, read +it through, and have _our say_ upon its merits; but this is only a +gratuitous and occasional freak, just to keep up our oracular +consequence. In the present case, we do not feel disposed to exercise +this privilege, further than in a very few words--merely to say that Mr. +Robert Montgomery has published a volume of Poems under the above +title--that the poems are of unequal merit, and that like Virgil, his +excellence lies in describing scenes of darkness. + +The "Universal Prayer" is a devotional outpouring of a truly poetical +soul, with as much new imagery as the subject would admit; and if +_scriptural_ poems be estimated in the ratio of _scriptural_ sermons, +the merit of the former is of the first order.[2] + +From the other poems we have detached the following beautiful +specimens:-- + +CONSUMPTION. + + With step as noiseless as the summer air, + Who comes in beautiful decay?--her eyes + Dissolving with a feverish glow of light, + Her nostrils delicately closed, and on + Her cheek a rosy tint, as if the tip + Of Beauty's finger faintly press'd it there,-- + Alas! Consumption is her name. + Thou loved and loving one! + From the dark languish of thy liquid eye, + So exquisitely rounded, darts a ray + Of truth, prophetic of thine early doom; + And on thy placid cheek there is a print + Of death,--the beauty of consumption there. + Few note that fatal bloom; for bless'd by all, + Thou movest through thy noiseless sphere, the life, + Of one,--the darling of a thousand hearts. + Yet in the chamber, o'er some graceful task + When delicately bending, oft unseen, + Thy mother marks then with that musing glance + That looks through cunning time, and sees thee stretch'd + A shade of being, shrouded for the tomb. + The Day is come, led gently on by Death; + With pillow'd head all gracefully reclined, + And grape-like curls in languid clusters wreath'd, + Within a cottage room she sits to die; + Where from the window, in a western view, + Majestic ocean rolls.--A summer eve + Shines o'er the earth, and all the glowing air + Stirs faintly, like a pulse; against the shore + The waves unrol them with luxurious joy, + While o'er the midway deep she looks, where like + A sea god glares the everlasting Sun + O'er troops of billows marching in his beam!-- + From earth to heaven, from heaven to earth, her eyes + Are lifted, bright with wonder and with awe, + Till through each vein reanimation rolls! + 'Tis past; and now her filmy glance is fix'd + Upon the heavens, as though her spirit gazed + On that immortal world, to which 'tis bound: + The sun hath sunk.--her soul hath fled without + A pang, and left her lovely in her death, + And beautiful as an embodied dream. + +MORTALITY. + + All that we love and feel on Nature's face, + Bear dim relations to our common doom. + The clouds that blush, and die a beamy death, + Or weep themselves away in rain,--the streams + That flow along in dying music,--leaves + That fade, and drop into the frosty arms + Of Winter, there to mingle with dead flowers,-- + Are all prophetic of our own decay. + +BEAUTY + + How oft, as unregarded on a throng + Of lovely creatures, in whose liquid eyes + The heart-warm feelings bathe, I've look'd + With all a Poet's passion, and have wish'd + That years might never pluck their graceful smiles-- + How often Death, as with a viewless wand, + Has touch'd the scene, and witch'd it to a tomb! + Where Beauty dwindled to a ghastly wreck, + And spirits of the Future seem'd to cry,-- + Thus will it be when Time has wreak'd revenge. + +MELANCHOLY. + + When mantled with the melancholy glow + Of eve, she wander'd oft: and when the wind, + Like a stray infant down autumnal dales + Roam'd wailingly, she loved to mourn and muse: + To commune with the lonely orphan flowers, + And through sweet Nature's ruin trace her own. + +VISION OF HEAVEN. + + An empyrean infinitely vast + And irridescent, roof'd with rainbows, whose + Transparent gleams like water-shadows shone, + Before me lay: Beneath this dazzling vault-- + I felt, but cannot paint the splendour there! + Glory, beyond the wonder of the heart + To dream, around interminably blazed. + A spread of fields more beautiful than skies + Flush'd with the flowery radiance of the west; + Valleys in greenest glory, deck'd with trees + That trembled music to the ambrosial airs + That chanted round them,--vein'd with glossy streams, + That gush'd, like feelings from a raptured soul: + Such was the scenery;--with garden walks, + Delight of angels and the blest, where flowers + Perennial bloom, and leaping fountains breathe, + Like melted gems, a gleaming mist around! + Here fruits for ever ripe, on radiant boughs, + Droop temptingly; here all that eye and heart + Enrapts, in pure perfection is enjoy'd; + And here o'er flowing paths with agate paved, + Immortal Shapes meander and commune. + While with permissive gaze I glanced the scene, + A whelming tide of rich-toned music roll'd, + Waking delicious echoes, as it wound + From Melody's divinest fount! All heaven + Glow'd bright, as, like a viewless river, swell'd + The deepening music!--Silence came again! + And where I gazed, a shrine of cloudy fire + Flamed redly awful; round it Thunder walk'd, + And from it Lightning look'd out most sublime! + Here throned in unimaginable bliss + And glory, sits The One Eternal Power, + Creator, Lord, and Life of All: Again, + Stillness ethereal reign'd, and forth appear'd + Elysian creatures robed in fleecy light, + Together flocking from celestial haunts, + And mansions of purpureal mould; the Host + Of heaven assembled to adore with harp + And hymn, the First and Last, the Living God; + They knelt,--a universal choir, and glow'd + More beauteous while they breathed the chant divine, + And Hallelujah! Hallelujah! peal'd, + And thrill'd the concave with harmonious joy. + +VISION OF HELL. + + Apart, upon a throne of living fire + The Fiend was seated; in his eye there shone + The look that dared Omnipotence; the light + Of sateless vengeance, and sublime despair.-- + He sat amid a burning world, and saw + Tormented myriads, whose blaspheming shrieks + Were mingled with the howl of hidden floods, + And Acherontine groans; of all the host, + The only dauntless he. As o'er the wild + He glanced, the pride of agony endured + Awoke, and writhed through all his giant frame, + That redden'd, and dilated, like a sun! + Till moved by some remember'd bliss, or joy + Of paradisal hours, or to supply + The cravings of infernal wrath,--he bade + The roar of Hell be hush'd,--and silence was! + He called the cursed,--and they flash'd from cave + And wild--from dungeon and from den they came, + And stood an unimaginable mass + Of spirits, agonized with burning pangs: + In silence stood they, while the Demon gazed + On all, and communed with departed Time, + From whence his vengeance such a harvest reap'd. + +BEAUTIFUL INFLUENCES. + + Who hath not felt the magic of a voice,-- + Its spirit haunt him in romantic hours? + Who hath not heard from Melody's own lips + Sounds that become a music to his mind?-- + Music is heaven! and in the festive dome, + When throbs the lyre, as if instinct with life, + And some sweet mouth is full of song,--how soon + A rapture flows from eye to eye, from heart + To heart--while floating from the past, the forms + We love are recreated, and the smile + That lights the cheek is mirror'd on the heart! + So beautiful the influence of sound, + There is a sweetness in the homely chime + Of village bells: I love to hear them roll + Upon the breeze; like voices from the dead, + They seem to hail us from a viewless world. + + [2] We know a reverend vicar who once took the trouble to count + all the quotations from Scripture, which occurred in a charity + sermon he had just printed: and his great satisfaction at the + conclusion was, that his was indeed "a scriptural sermon." + + * * * * * + + +PERSECUTION OF THE JEWS. + + +We know it to be a fact, that a Jew, an artist of reputation, who had +conceived a great confidence in a Christian engaged in the promotion of +the conversion of the Israelites, revealed to him, that both he and his +brother had been Christians from their childhood from having been bred +up amongst Christians, but were too indignant at the treatment which +they and their brethren met with at Christian hands, to profess +Christianity; and he earnestly pleaded, as essential to their being +induced to receive the gospel, that those who participate in the attempt +should approach them with a language of decided affection for +Israel.--_Q. Rev._ + + * * * * * + + +ABSENTEES + + +Soon become detached from all habitual employments and duties; the +salutary feeling of home is lost; early friendships are dissevered, and +life becomes a vague and restless state, freed, it may seem, from many +ties, but yet more destitute of the better and purer pleasures of +existence. + + * * * * * + + +ITINERANT OPERAS. + + +The first performance of the _opera seria_ at Rome, in 1606, consisted +of scenes in recitative and airs, exhibited in a _cart_ during the +carnival. + + * * * * * + + +THE GAMUT. + + +Guido D'Arezzo, a monk of the 13th century, in the solitude of his +convent, made the grand discovery of counterpoint, or the science of +harmony, as distinguished from melody; he also invented the present +system of notation, and gave those names to the sounds of the diatonic +scale still in use:--_ut, re, mi, fa, sol, la, si_; these being the +first syllables of the first six lines of a hymn to St. John the +Baptist, written in monkish Latin; and they seem to have been adopted +without any special reason, from the caprice of the musician.--_Foreign +Rev._ + + * * * * * + +It is said that the first church was erected at Glastonbury; and this +tradition may seem to deserve credit, because it was not contradicted in +those ages when other churches would have found it profitable to advance +a similar pretension. The building is described as a rude structure of +wicker-work, like the dwellings of the people in those days, and +differing from them only in its dimensions, which were threescore feet +in length, and twenty-six in breadth. An abbey was afterwards erected +there, one of the finest of those edifices, and one of the most +remarkable for the many interesting circumstances connected with it. The +destruction of this beautiful and venerable fabric is one of the crimes +by which our reformation was sullied.--_Southey_. + + * * * * * + + +GHOST STORY, BY M.G. LEWIS. + + +A gentleman journeying towards the house of a friend, who lived on the +skirts of an extensive forest, in the east of Germany, lost his way. He +wandered for some time among the trees, when he saw a light at a +distance. On approaching it he was surprised to observe that it +proceeded from the interior of a ruined monastery. Before he knocked at +the gate he thought it proper to look through the window. He saw a +number of cats assembled round a small grave, four of whom were at that +moment letting down a coffin with a crown upon it. The gentleman +startled at this unusual sight, and, imagining that he had arrived at +the retreats of fiends or witches, mounted his horse and rode away with +the utmost precipitation. He arrived at his friend's house at a late +hour, who sat up waiting for him. On his arrival his friend questioned +him as to the cause of the traces of agitation visible in his face. He +began to recount his adventures after much hesitation, knowing that it +was scarcely possible that his friend should give faith to his relation. +No sooner had he mentioned the coffin with the crown upon it, than his +friend's cat, who seemed to have been lying asleep before the fire, +leaped up, crying out, "Then I am king of the cats;" and then scrambled +up the chimney, and was never seen more. + + * * * * * + + +RIDICULOUS MISTAKE. + + +A quantity of Worcestershire china being sent to the _Nawaab_ at +Lucknow, in India, from England, he was as impatient to open it as a +child would be with a new plaything; and immediately gave orders for +invitations to be sent to the whole settlement for a breakfast, _à la +fourchette_, next morning. Tables were accordingly spread for upwards of +a hundred persons, including his ministers and officers of state. +Nothing could be more splendid than the general appearance of this +entertainment; but the dismay may be more easily imagined than +described, on discovering that the servants had mistaken certain +utensils for milk-bowls, and had actually placed about twenty of them, +filled with that beverage, along the centre of the table. The +consequence was, the English part of the company declined taking any; +upon which the _Nawaab_ innocently remarked, "I thought that the English +were fond of milk." Some of them had much difficulty to keep their +countenances. + + * * * * * + + + +SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS + + +ENGLISH COUNTRY LIFE. + + +The country seats of England form, indeed, one of the most remarkable +features, not only in English landscape, but yet more in what may be +termed the genius and economy of English manners. Their great number +throughout the country, the varied grandeur and beauty of their parks +and gardens, the extent, magnificence, and various architecture of the +houses, the luxurious comfort and completeness of their internal +arrangements, and their relation generally to the character of the +peasantry surrounding them, justify fully the expression we have used. +No where has this mode of life attained so high a degree of perfection +and refinement. We will allude to two circumstances, amongst many +others, in illustration. The first of these is, the very great number of +valuable libraries belonging to our family seats. It has been sometimes +remarked as singular, that England should possess so few great public +libraries, while a poorer country, like Germany, can boast of its +numerous and vast collections at Vienna, Prague, Munich, Stutgard, +Goettingen, Wolfenbuttel, &c. The fact is partly explained by the many +political divisions and capitals, and by the number of universities in +Germany. But a further explanation may be found in the innumerable +private libraries dispersed throughout England--many of them equal to +public ones in extent and value, and most of them well furnished in +classics, and in English and French literature. + +The other peculiarity we would name about our English country-houses is, +that they do not insulate their residents from the society and business +of active life; which insulation is probably a cause, why so many +proprietors in other countries pass their whole time in the metropolis +or larger towns. The facility and speed of communication in England link +together all places, however remote, and all interests, political and +social, of the community. The country gentleman, sitting at his +breakfast table a hundred miles from London, receives the newspapers +printed there the night before; his books come to him still damp from +the press; and the debates in parliament travel to every country-house +in England within fifty or sixty hours of the time when they have taken +place. The like facility exists as to provincial interests of every +kind. The nobleman or country gentleman is a public functionary within +his district, and no man residing on his estates is, or need feel +himself, unimportant to the community. _Quarterly Rev._ + + * * * * * + + +FLOWERS. + + +When summer's delightful season arrives, rarely in this country too warm +to be enjoyed throughout the day in the open air, there is nothing more +grateful than a profusion of choice flowers around and within our +dwellings. The humblest apartments ornamented with these beautiful +productions of nature have, in my view, a more delightful effect than +the proudest saloons with gilded ceilings and hangings of Genoa velvet. +The richness of the latter, indeed, would be heightened, and their +elegance increased, by the judicious introduction of flowers and foliage +into them. The odour of flowers, the cool appearance of the dark green +leaves of some species, and the beautiful tints and varied forms of +others, are singularly grateful to the sight, and refreshing at the same +time. Vases of Etruscan mould, containing plants of the commonest kind, +offer those lines of beauty which the eye delights in following; and +variform leaves hanging festooned over them, and shading them if they be +of a light colour, with a soft grateful hue, add much to their pleasing +effect. These decorations are simple and cheap. + +Lord Bacon, whose magnificence of mind exempts him from every objection +as a model for the rest of mankind, (in all but the unfortunate error to +which, perhaps, his sordid pursuit in life led him, to the degradation +of his nobler intellect), was enthusiastically attached to flowers, and +kept a succession of them about him in his study and at his table. Now +the union of books and flowers is more particularly agreeable. Nothing, +in my view, is half so delightful as a library set off with these +beautiful productions of the earth during summer, or indeed, any other +season of the year. A library or study, opening on green turf, and +having the view of a distant rugged country, with a peep at the ocean +between hills, a small fertile space forming the nearest ground, and an +easy chair and books, is just as much of local enjoyment as a thinking +man can desire--I reck not if under a thatched or slated roof, to me it +is the same thing. A favourite author on my table, in the midst of my +bouquets, and I speedily forget how the rest of the world wags. I fancy +I am enjoying nature and art together, a consummation of luxury that +never palls upon the appetite--a dessert of uncloying sweets. + +Madame Roland seems to have felt very strongly the union of mental +pleasure with that afforded to the senses by flowers. She somewhere +says, "La vûe d'une fleur carresse mon imagination et flatte mes sens à +un point inexprimable; elle réveille avec volupté le sentiment de mon +existence. Sous le tranquil abri du toit paternel, j'étois heureuse des +enfance avec des fleurs et des livres; dans l'étroite enciente d'une +prison, au milieu des fers imposés par la tyrannie la plus revoltante, +j'oublie l'injustice des hommes, leurs sottises, et mes maux, avec des +livres et des fleurs." These pleasures, however, are too simple to be +universally felt. + +There is something delightful in the use which the eastern poets, +particularly the Persian, make of flowers in their poetry. Their +allusions are not casual, and in the way of metaphor and simile only; +they seem really to hold them in high admiration. I am not aware that +the flowers of Persia, except the rose, are more beautiful or more +various than those of other countries. Perhaps England, including her +gardens, green-houses, and fields, having introduced a vast variety from +every climate, may exhibit a list unrivalled, as a whole, in odour and +beauty. Yet flowers are not with us held in such high estimation as +among the Orientals, if we are to judge from their poets. + +Bowers of roses and flowers are perpetually alluded to in the writings +of eastern poets. The Turks, and indeed the Orientals in general, have +few images of voluptuousness without the richest flowers contributing +towards them. The noblest palaces, where gilding, damask, and fine +carpeting abound, would be essentially wanting in luxury without +flowers. It cannot be from their odour alone that they are thus +identified with pleasure; it is from their union of exquisite hues, +fragrance, and beautiful forms, that they raise a sentiment of +voluptuousness, in the mind; for whatever unites these qualities can +scarcely do otherwise. + +Whoever virtuously despises the opinion that simple and cheap pleasures, +not only good, but in the very best taste, are of no value because they +want a meretricious rarity, will fill their apartments with a succession +of our better garden flowers. It has been said that flowers placed in +bedrooms are not wholesome. This cannot be meant of such as are in a +state of vegetation. Plucked and put into water, they quickly decay, and +doubtless, give out a putrescent air; when alive and growing, there need +not be any danger apprehended from them, provided fresh air is +frequently introduced. For spacious rooms, the better kinds, during warm +weather, are those which have a large leaf and bossy flower. Large +leaves have a very agreeable effect on the senses; their rich green is +grateful to the sight; of this kind, the Hydrangaea is remarkably well +adapted for apartments, but it requires plenty of water. Those who have +a greenhouse connected with their dwellings, have the convenience, by +management, of changing their plants as the flowers decay; those who +have not, and yet have space to afford them light and occasionally air, +may rear most of those kinds under their own roof, which may be applied +for ornament in summer. Vases of plaster, modelled from the antique, may +be stained any colour most agreeable to the fancy, and fitted with tin +cases to contain the earthen pots of flowers, to prevent the damp from +acting on them, will look exceedingly well. + +The infinite variety of roses, including the Guelder Rose; the +Rhododendron, and other plants of similar growth, are fitted for the +saloon, but they please best in the library. They should be intermingled +with the bookcases, and stands filled with them should be placed +wherever practicable. They are a wonderful relief to the student. There +is always about them a something that infuses a sensation of placid joy, +cheering and refreshing. Perhaps they were first introduced at +festivals, in consequence of their possessing this quality. A flower +garden is the scene of pleasurable feelings of innocence and elegance. +The introduction of flowers into our rooms infuses the same sensations, +but intermingles them more with our domestic comforts; so that we feel, +as it were, in closer contact with them. The succession might be kept up +for the greater part of the year; and even in winter, evergreens will +supply their places, and, in some respects, contrast well with the +season. Many fail in preserving the beauty of plants in their +apartments, because they do not give them sufficient light. Some species +do well with much less light than others. Light is as necessary to them +as air. They should not be too often shifted from one place to another. +Those who will take the trouble, may quicken the growth of some plants, +so as to have spring flowers in winter. Thus Autumn and Spring might be +connected; and flowers blooming in the Winter of our gloomy climate +possess double attraction. + +In the flower garden alcove, books are doubly grateful. As in the +library ornamented with flowers they seem to be more enjoyed, so their +union there is irresistibly attracting. To enjoy reading under such +circumstances most, works of imagination are preferable to abstract +subjects. Poetry and romance--"De Vere" and "Pelham"--lighter history-- +the lively letters of the French school, like those of Sevigné and +others--or natural history--these are best adapted to peruse amidst +sweets and flowers: in short, any species of writing that does not keep +the mind too intently fixed to allow the senses to wander occasionally +over the scene around, and catch the beauty of the rich vegetation. To +me the enjoyment derived from the union of books and flowers is of the +very highest value among pleasurable sensations. + +For my own part, I manage very well without the advantage of a +greenhouse. The evergreens serve me in winter. Then the Lilacs come in, +followed by the Guelder Rose and Woodbine, the latter trained in a pot +upon circular trellis-work. After this there can be no difficulty in +choosing, as the open air offers every variety. I arrange all my library +and parlour-plants in a room in my dwelling-house facing the south, +having a full portion of light, and a fireplace. I promote the growth of +my flowers for the early part of the year by steam-warmth, and having +large tubs and boxes of earth, I am at no loss, in my humble +conservatory, for flowers of many kinds when our climate offers none. +The trouble attending them is all my own, and is one of those +employments which never appear laborious. Those who have better +conveniences may proceed on a larger scale; but I contrive to keep up a +due succession, which to a floral epicure is every thing. To be a day in +the year without seeing a flower is a novelty to me, and I am persuaded +much more might be done with my humble means than I have effected, had I +sufficient leisure to attend to the retarding or forcing them. I cover +every space in my sitting-room with these beautiful fairy things of +creation, and take so much delight in the sight of them, that I cannot +help recommending those of limited incomes, like myself, to follow my +example and be their own nurserymen. The rich might easily obtain them +without; but what they procure by gold, the individual of small means +must obtain by industry. I know there are persons to whom the flowers of +Paradise would be objects of indifference; but who can imitate, or envy +such? They are grovellers, whose coarseness of taste is only fitted for +the grossest food of life. The pleasures "des Fleurs et des Livres" are, +as Henry IV. observed of his child, "the property of all the world." + +_New Monthly Magazine._ + + * * * * * + + +PRINCIPLES OF BLACKWOOD'S MAGAZINE. + + +_Shepherd_. (_Standing up_.) It's on principles like these--boldly and +unblushingly avoo'd here--in Mr. Awmrose's paper-parlour, at the +conclusion o' the sixth brodd, on the evening o' Monday the 22nd o' +September, Anno Domini aughteen hunder and twunty-aught, within twa +hours o' midnicht--that you, sir, have been yeditin' a Maggasin that has +gone out to the uttermost corners o' the yerth, wherever civilization or +uncivilization is known, deludin' and distracktin' men and women folk, +till it's impossible for them to ken their right hand frae their left-- +or whether they're standin' on their heels or their heads--or what byeuk +ought to be perused, and what byeuk puttin intil the bottom o' pye- +dishes, and trunks--or what awthor hissed, or what awthor hurraa'd--or +what's flummery and what's philosophy--or what's rant and what's +religion--or what's monopoly and what's free tredd--or wha's poets or +wha's but Pats--or whether it's best to be drunk, or whether it's best +to be sober a' hours o' the day and nicht--or if there should be rich +church establishments as in England, or poor kirk ones as in Scotland-- +or whether the Bishop o' Canterbury, wi' twenty thousan' a-year, is mair +like a primitive Christian than the Minister o' Kirkintulloch wi' twa +hunder and fifty--or if folk should aye be readin' sermons or fishin' +for sawmon--or if it's best to marry or best to burn--or if the national +debt hangs like a millstone round the neck o' the kintra or like a chain +o' blae-berries--or if the Millennium be really close at haun'--or the +present Solar System be calculated to last to a' eternity--or whether +the people should be edicated up to the highest pitch o' perfection, or +preferably to be all like trotters through the Bog o' Allen--or whether +the government should subsedeeze foreign powers, or spend a' its sillar +on oursells--or whether the Blacks and the Catholics should be +emancipawted or no afore the demolition o' Priests and Obis--or whether +(God forgie us baith for the hypothesis) man has a mortal or an immortal +sowl--be a Phoenix--or an Eister!--_From the Noctes_. + + * * * * * + + +CURSES OF ABSENTEEISM. + + +What is the condition of the country-seat of the absentee proprietor? +The mansion-house deserted and closed; the approaches to it ragged and +grass grown; the chimneys, "those windpipes of good hospitality," as an +old English poet calls them, giving no token of the cheerful fire +within; the gardens running to waste, or, perchance, made a source of +menial profit; the old family servants dismissed, and some rude bailiff, +or country attorney, ruling paramount in the place. The surrounding +cottagers, who have derived their support from the vicinage, deprived of +this, pass into destitution and wretchedness; either abandoning their +homes, throwing themselves upon parish relief, or seeking provision by +means yet more desperate. The farming tenantry, though less immediately +dependent, yet all partake, more or less, in the evil. The charities and +hospitalities which belong to such a mansion lie dormant; the clergyman +is no longer supported and aided in his important duties; the family pew +in the church is closed; and the village churchyard ceases to be a place +of pleasant meeting, where the peasant's heart is gladdened by the +kindly notice of his landlord. + +It is the struggle against retrenchment, the "paupertatis pudor et +fuga," which has caused hundreds of English families, of property and +consideration, to desert their family places, and to pass year after +year in residence abroad. At the close of each London season, the +question too often occurs as to the best mode of evading return to the +country; and the sun of summer, instead of calling back the landlord to +his tenants, and to the harvests of his own lands, sends him forth to +the meagre adventures of continental roads and inns.--_Quarterly Rev._ + + * * * * * + + +SOLILOQUY. + +THE KING OF DARKNESS. + +_On the Fallen Angels._ + + + They're gone to ply their ineffectual labour,-- + To sow in guilt what they must reap in woe,-- + Heaping upon themselves more deep damnation. + Thus would I have it.--Little once I thought, + When leagued with me in crime and punishment + They fell,--condemned to an eternity + Of exile from all joy and holiness-- + And the first stains of sinfulness and sorrow + Fell blight-like o'er their cherub lineaments-- + Myself the cause--Albeit too proud for tears, + Yet touch'd with their sad doom, I little thought + I e'er should hate them thus.--Yet thus I hate them, + With all that bitter agony of soul + Which is the punishment of fiends. Alas! + It was my high ambition, to hold sway, + Sole, paramount, unquestion'd, o'er a third + Of Heaven's resplendent legions:--Power and glory + Dwelt on them, like an elemental essence + That could not be destroyed.--I could not deem + That aught could so extinguish the pure fire + Of their sun-like beauty--yet 'tis changed!-- + I gain'd them to my wish, and they are grown + Too hateful to be look'd on.--Thus I've seen + The frail fair dupe of amorous perfidy, + The victim of a smile,--by man beguiled-- + Won to debasement, and then left in loathing:-- + Alas! I cannot leave my fatal conquest!-- + Man! would I were the humblest mortal wretch, + That crawls beneath yon shadowing temple's tower, + Under the sky of Canaan; so I might + Lay down this weight of sceptred misery, + And fly for ever from myself and these! + But Pride reproves the wish; and--it is useless; + The unatonable deeds of ages rise + Like clouds between me and the throne of Grace. + I may not hope,--or fear,--still unsubdued, + As when I ruled the anarchy of Heaven, + I stand in Fate's despite,--firm and impassive + To all that Chance, and Time, and Ruin bring. + --In that disastrous day, when this vast world + Shall, like a tempest-shaken edifice, + Rock into giant fractures--as the sound + Of the Archangel's trump, upon the deep, + Bids fall the bonds of nature, to let forth + Destruction's formless fiend from world to world, + Trampling the stars to darkness,--Even then, + Like that proud Roman exile, musing o'er + The dust of fallen Carthage, I shall stand, + Myself a solemn wreck, calm and unmoved + Among the ruins of the works of God. + And my last look shall be a look of triumph + O'er the fallen pillars of the deep and sky; + The wreck of nature by my deeds prepared-- + Deeds--which o'erpay the power of Destiny. + +_Blackwood's Magazine._ + + * * * * * + + + +THE GATHERER. + + "A snapper-up of unconsidered trifles." + + SHAKSPEARE. + + +ON A PICTURE OF HERO AND LEANDER. + +_By T. Hood_. + + + Why, Lover, why + Such a water-rover? + Would she love thee more + For coming _half seas over_? + + Why, Lady, why + So in love with dipping? + Must a lad of _Greece_ + Come all over _dripping_? + + Why, Cupid, why + Make the passage brighter? + Were not any boat + Better than a _lighter_? + + Why, Maiden, why + So intrusive standing? + Must thou be on the stair, + When he's on the _landing_? + +_The Gem._ + + * * * * * + +On a tombstone in the churchyard of Christchurch, Hants, is the +following curious inscription, which I copied on the spot. Perhaps some +of your numerous readers can explain the same:-- + + WE WERE NOT SLAYNE BVT RAYSD + RAYSD NOT TO LIFE + BVT TO BE BVRIED TWICE + BY MEN OF STRIFE + + WHAT REST COVLD'TH LIVING HAVE + WHEN DEAD HAD NONE + AGREE AMONGST YOV + HERE WE TEN ARE ONE + HEN: ROGERS DIED APRILL 17, 1641. + I R. + + * * * * * + + +EPICURISM. + + +Thomas a Becket gave five pounds, equivalent to seventy-five pounds of +the present money, for a dish of eels. + +HALBERT H. + + * * * * * + +A famous scholar of the last century, when a boy, was exceedingly fond +of the Greek language, and after he had been a short time at school, had +acquired so much of the sound of the language, that when at home at +dinner one day his father said, "Shall you not be glad, Harry, when you +can tell me the names of every dish on the table in Greek?" "Yes," said +he; "but I think I know what it must be." "Do you?" said the father; +"what do you know about Greek?"--"Nothing," said the boy; "but I think I +can guess from the sound of it what it would be." "Well, say then," said +the father. He quickly replied, "Shouldromoton, alphagous, pasti- +venizon." It appears the dinner consisted of a shoulder of mutton, half +a goose, and venison pasty. + + * * * * * + + +SNUFF AND TOBACCO. + + +In the year 1797, was circulated the following proposals for publishing +by subscription, a History of Snuff and Tobacco, in Two Volumes:-- + +Vol. 1.--To contain a description of the nose--size of noses--a +digression on Roman noses--whether long noses are symptomatic--origin of +tobacco--tobacco first manufactured into snuff--inquiry who took the +first pinch--essay on sneezing--whether the ancients sneezed, and at +what--origin of pocket handkerchiefs--discrimination between snuffing +and taking snuff; the former only applied to candles--parliamentary +snuff-takers--troubles in the time of Charles I. as connected with +smoking. + +Vol. 2.--Snuff-takers in the parliamentary army--wit at a pinch--oval +snuff-boxes first used by the roundheads--manufacture of tobacco +pipes--dissertation on pipe-clay--state of snuff during the +commonwealth--the union--Scotch snuff first introduced--found very +pungent and penetrating--accession of George II.--snuff-boxes then made +of gold and silver--George III.--Scotch snuff first introduced at +court--the queen, German snuffs in fashion--female snuff-takers--clean +tuckers, & c. &c--Index and List of Subscribers. + +C.F.E. + + * * * * * + + +THE "ILL WIND," &c. + + + In debt, deserted, and forlorn, + A melancholy elf + Resolved, upon a Monday morn, + To go and hang himself. + He reach'd the tree, when lo! he views + A pot of gold conceal'd; + He snatch'd it up, threw down the noose, + And scamper'd from the field. + The owner came--found out the theft, + And, having scratch'd his head, + Took up the rope the other left, + And hung himself, instead. + + * * * * * + + +OLD COOKERY. + + +Gastronomers will feel a natural desire to know what was considered the +"best universal sauce in the world," in the boon days of Charles II., at +least what was accounted such, by the Duke of York, who was instructed +to prepare it by the Spanish ambassador. It consisted of parsley, and a +dry toast pounded in a mortar, with vinegar, salt, and pepper. The +modern English would no more relish his royal highness's taste in +condiments than in religion. A fashionable or cabinet dinner of the same +period consisted of "a dish of marrow-bones, a leg of mutton, a dish of +fowl, three pullets, and a dozen larks, all in a dish; a great tart, a +neat's tongue, a dish of anchovies, a dish of prawns, and cheese." At +the same period, a supper-dish, when the king supped with his mistress, +Lady Castlemaine, was "a chine of beef roasted." + + * * * * * + + +OLD EPITAPH. + + + As I was, so are ye, + As I am, you shall be. + That I had, that I gave, + That I gave, that I have. + Thus I end all my cost, + That I left, that I lost. + + * * * * * + + +IMPROMPTU TO ----, ON HER MARRIAGE WITH MR. WILLIAM P----. + + + When ladies they wed, + It ever is said + That their _freedom_ away they have thrown; + But you've not done so, + For we very well know + You will have a _Will_ of your own. + +C.K.W. + + * * * * * + + +PAINTERS. + + +Lavater affirms, that no one whose person is not well formed can become +a good physiognomist. Those painters were the best whose persons were +the handsomest. Reubens, Vandyke, and Raphael possessed three gradations +of beauty, and possessed three gradations of painting. + + * * * * * + + +ELYSIAN SOUP. + + +The French have a soup which they call "_Potage a la Camerani_" of which +it is said "a single spoonful will lap the palate in Elysium; and while +one drop remains on the tongue, each other sense is eclipsed by the +voluptuous thrilling of the lingual nerves!" + + * * * * * + + +A JAPANESE BEAUTY. + + +Her face was oval, her features regular, and her little mouth, when +open, disclosed a set of shining, black lacquered teeth; her hair was +black, and rolled up in the form of a turban, without any ornament, +except a few tortoiseshell combs; she had sparkling, dark eyes, was +about the middle size, and elegantly formed; her dress consisted of six +wadded silk garments, similar to our night-gowns, each fastened round +the lower part of the waist by a separate band, and drawn close together +from the girdle downwards; they were all of different colours, and the +uppermost was black. + +U. + + * * * * * + + +GOOD LIVING. + + +I hate a fellow who was never young; he is like a dull Italian year, +where the trees are always in leaf, and when the only way of knowing the +difference of the seasons is by referring to an almanack. The +inconstancy of the spring may surely be excused for the steady warmth of +summer and the rich plenty of autumn; then comes the hoar of winter old +gentleman, and closes the scene not ungracefully.--_Old Play._ + + * * * * * + +Purchasers of the MIRROR, who may wish to complete their sets are +informed, that every volume is complete in itself, and may be purchased +separately. The whole of the numbers are now in print, and can be +procured by giving an order to any Bookseller or Newsvender. + +Complete sets Vol I. to XI. in boards, price £2. 19_s_. 6_d_. half +bound, £3. 17_s_. + + * * * * * + +_LIMBIRD'S EDITIONS_ + +CHEAP and POPULAR WORKS published at the MIRROR OFFICE in the Strand, +near Somerset House. + +The ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS, Embellished with nearly 150 +Engravings. Price 6s. 6d. boards. + +The TALES of the GENII. Price 2s. + +The MICROCOSM. By the Right Hon. G. CANNING. &c. Price 2s. + +PLUTARCH'S LIVES, with Fifty Portraits, 2 vols. price 13s. boards. + +COWPER'S POEMS, with 12 Engravings, price 3s. 6d. boards. + +COOK'S VOYAGES, 2 vols. price 8s. boards. + +The CABINET of CURIOSITIES: or, WONDERS of the WORLD DISPLAYED Price 5s. +boards. + +BEAUTIES of SCOTT, 2 vols. price 7s. boards. + +GOLDSMITH'S ESSAYS. Price 8d. + +DR. FRANKLIN'S ESSAYS. Price 1s. 2d. + +BACON'S ESSAYS Price 8d. + +SALMAGUNDI. Price 1s. 8d. + +The ARCANA of SCIENCE for 1828. Price 4s. 6d. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, +and Instruction, by Various + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 11336 *** |