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diff --git a/11341-h/11341-h.htm b/11341-h/11341-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1babf99 --- /dev/null +++ b/11341-h/11341-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,1619 @@ +<!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. 10, Issue 282, November 10, 1827, 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;} + a:link {color:blue; + text-decoration:none} + link {color:blue; + text-decoration:none} + a:visited {color:blue; + text-decoration:none} + a:hover {color:red} + --> +/*]]>*/ +</style> +</head> +<body> +<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 11341 ***</div> +<h1>The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and +Instruction, Vol. 10, Issue 282, November 10, 1827, by Various</h1> +<br /> +<br /> +<center><b>E-text prepared by Jonathan Ingram, Sandra Bannatyne, David King,<br /> + and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team</b></center> +<br /> +<br /> +<hr class="full" /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page313" id="page313"></a>[pg +313]</span> +<h1>THE MIRROR<br /> +OF<br /> +LITERATURE, AMUSEMENT, AND INSTRUCTION.</h1> +<hr class="full" /> +<table width="100%" summary="Volume, Number, and Date"> +<tr> +<td align="left"><b>Vol. X. No. 282.]</b></td> +<td align="center"><b>SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 1827.</b></td> +<td align="right"><b>[PRICE 2d.</b></td> +</tr> +</table> +<hr class="full" /> +<h2>Architectural Illustrations.</h2> +<h3>No. III.</h3> +<hr /> +<h3>HANOVER TERRACE, REGENT'S PARK.</h3> +<div class="figure" style="width:100%;"><a href= +"images/282-1.png"><img width="100%" src="images/282-1.png" alt= +"Hanover Terrace, Regent's Park" /></a></div> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page314" id="page314"></a>[pg +314]</span> +<p>"The architectural spirit which has arisen in London since the +late peace, and ramified from thence to every city and town of the +empire, will present an era in our domestic history." Such is the +opinion of an intelligent writer in a recent number of Brande's +"Quarterly Journal;" and he goes on to describe the new erections +in the Regent's Park as the "dawning of a new and better taste, and +in comparison with that which preceded it, a just subject of +national exultation;" in illustration of which fact we have +selected the subjoined view of <i>Hanover Terrace</i>, being the +last group on the left of the York-gate entrance, and that next +beyond Sussex-place, distinguishable by its cupola tops.</p> +<p>Hanover Terrace, unlike Cornwall and other terraces of the +Regent's Park, is somewhat raised from the level of the road, and +fronted by a shrubbery, through which is a carriage-drive. The +general effect of the terrace is pleasing; and the pediments, +supported on an arched rustic basement by fluted Doric columns, are +full of richness and chaste design; the centre representing an +emblematical group of the arts and sciences, the two ends being +occupied with antique devices; and the three surmounted with +figures of the Muses. The frieze is also light and simply elegant. +The architect is Mr. Nash, to whose classic taste the Regent's Park +is likewise indebted for other interesting architectural +groups.</p> +<p>Altogether, Hanover Terrace may be considered as one of the most +splendid works of the neighbourhood, and it is alike characteristic +of British opulence, and of the progressive improvement of national +taste. On the general merits of these erections we shall avail +ourselves of the author already quoted, inasmuch as his remarks are +uniformly distinguished by moderation and good taste.</p> +<p>"Regent's Park, and its circumjacent buildings, promise, in few +years, to afford something like an equipoise to the boasted +<i>Palace-group</i> of Paris. If the plan already acted upon is +steadily pursued, it will present a union of rural and +architectural beauty on a scale of greater magnificence than can be +found in any other place. The variety is here in the detached +groups, and not as formerly in the individual dwellings, by which +all unity and grandeur of effect was, of course, annihilated. These +groups, undoubtedly, will not always bear the eye of a severe +critic, but altogether they exhibit, perhaps, as much beauty as can +easily be introduced into a collection of dwelling-houses of +moderate size. Great care has been, taken to give something of a +classical air to every composition; and with this object, the +deformity of <i>door-cases</i> has been in most cases excluded, and +the entrances made from behind. The Doric and Ionic orders have +been chiefly employed; but the Corinthian, and even the Tuscan, are +occasionally introduced. One of these groups is finished with +domes; but this is an attempt at magnificence which, on so small a +scale, is not deserving of imitation."</p> +<hr /> +<h3>THE ISLE OF SHEPPEY.</h3> +<h4>(<i>To the Editor of the Mirror.</i>)</h4> +<p>SIR,—Under the <i>Arcana of Science</i>, in your last +Number, I observed an account of the inroads made by the sea on the +Isle of Sheppey, together with the exhumation there of numerous +animal and vegetable remains. As an additional fact I inform you, +that, at about three hundred feet below the surface of the +sand-bank, (of which the island is composed,) there is a vast +prostrate antediluvian forest, masses of which are being +continually developed by the influence of marine agency, and +exhibit highly singular appearances. When the workmen were employed +some years back in sinking a well to supply the garrison with +water, the aid of gunpowder was required to blast the fossil +timber, it having attained, by elementary action and the repose of +ages, the hard compactness of rock or granite stone. Aquatic +productions also appear to observation in their natural shape and +proportion, with the advantage of high preservation, to facilitate +the study of the inquiring philosopher. I have seen entire +lobsters, eels, crabs, &c. all transformed into perfect +lapidifications. Many of these interesting bodies have been +selected, and at the present time tend to enrich the elaborate +collections of the Museum of London and the Institute of France. +During the winter of 1825, in examining a piece of petrified wood, +which I had picked up on the shore, we discovered a very minute +aperture, barely the size of a pin-hole, and on breaking the +substance by means of a large hammer, to our surprise and regret we +crushed a small reptile that was concealed inside, and which, in +consequence, we were unfortunately prevented from restoring to its +original shape. The body was of a circular shape and iron coloured; +but from the blood which slightly moistened the face of the +instrument, we were satisfied it must have been animated. I showed +the fragments of both to a gentleman in the island, who, like +myself, lamented the accident, as it had, in all likelihood, +deprived science of forming some valuable <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page315" id="page315"></a>[pg 315]</span> +(perhaps) deductions on this incarcerated, or (if I may be allowed +the expression) compound phenomenon. I have merely related the +above incident in order to show the possibility of there being +other creatures accessible to discovery under similar +circumstances, and in their nature, perhaps homogeneous. I left the +island next day, and therefore had no further opportunities of +confirming such an opinion; but the place itself abounds with +substances which would authorize such conjectures.</p> +<p>D. A. P.<a id="footnotetag1" name="footnotetag1"></a><a href= +"#footnote1"><sup>1</sup></a></p> +<hr /> +<h3>ANTICIPATED FRENCH MILLENNIUM, OR THE PARISIAN "TRIVIA."</h3> +<h4>(<i>For the Mirror.</i>)</h4> +<blockquote> +<p>"Travellers of that rare tribe, Who've <i>seen</i> the countries +they describe."</p> +<p>HANNAH MORE.</p> +</blockquote> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>When daudling diligences drag</p> +<p class="i2">Their lumbering length along<a id="footnotetag2" +name="footnotetag2"></a><a href="#footnote2"><sup>2</sup></a> no +more—</p> +<p>That odd anomaly!—or wag</p> +<p class="i2">Gon call'd, or coach—a misnomer<a id= +"footnotetag3" name="footnotetag3"></a><a href= +"#footnote3"><sup>3</sup></a>—</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>That Cerberus three-bodied! and</p> +<p class="i2">That Cerberus of music!</p> +<p>Such rattle with their nine-in-hand!</p> +<p class="i2">O, Cerbere, an tu sic?</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>When this, (and of Long Acre wits</p> +<p class="i2">To rival this would floor some!)</p> +<p>When this at last the Frenchman quits.</p> +<p class="i2">Then! then is the <i>age d'or</i> come!</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>When coxcomb waiters know their trade,</p> +<p class="i2">Nor mix their sauces<a id="footnotetag4" name= +"footnotetag4"></a><a href="#footnote4"><sup>4</sup></a> with +cookey's;</p> +<p>When John's no longer chamber maid,</p> +<p class="i2">And printed well a book is.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>When sorrel, garlic, dirty knife,</p> +<p class="i2"><i>Et cetera</i>, spoil no dinners—</p> +<p>(The punishment is after life,</p> +<p class="i2">Are cooks to punish sinners?)</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>When bucks are safe, nor streets display</p> +<p class="i2">A sea Mediterranean;<a id="footnotetag5" name= +"footnotetag5"></a><a href="#footnote5"><sup>5</sup></a></p> +<p>When Cloacina wends her way</p> +<p class="i2">In streamlet sub-terranean.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>When houses, inside well as out,</p> +<p class="i2">Are clean,<a id="footnotetag6" name= +"footnotetag6"></a><a href="#footnote6"><sup>6</sup></a> and +servants civil;<a id="footnotetag7" name= +"footnotetag7"></a><a href="#footnote7"><sup>7</sup></a></p> +<p>When dice (if e'er 'twill be I doubt)</p> +<p class="i2">Send fewer—to the devil.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>When riot ends, and comfort reigns,</p> +<p class="i2">Right English comfort<a id="footnotetag8" name= +"footnotetag8"></a><a href= +"#footnote8"><sup>8</sup></a>—players</p> +<p>Are fetter'd with no rhythmic<a id="footnotetag9" name= +"footnotetag9"></a><a href="#footnote9"><sup>9</sup></a> +chains—</p> +<p class="i2">French priests repeat French prayers.<a id= +"footnotetag10" name="footnotetag10"></a><a href= +"#footnote10"><sup>10</sup></a></p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>When Palais Royal vice subsides,<a id="footnotetag11" name= +"footnotetag11"></a><a href="#footnote11"><sup>11</sup></a></p> +<p class="i2">(Who plays there's a complete ass—)</p> +<p>When footpaths grow on highway sides<a id="footnotetag12" name= +"footnotetag12"></a><a href= +"#footnote12"><sup>12</sup></a>—</p> +<p class="i2">Then! then's the Aurea-Ætas!</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>There, France, I leave thee.—Jean Taureau!<a id= +"footnotetag13" name="footnotetag13"></a><a href= +"#footnote13"><sup>13</sup></a></p> +<p class="i2">What think'st thou of thy neighbours?</p> +<p>Or (what I own I'd rather know)</p> +<p class="i2">What—think'st thou of MY LABOURS?</p> +</div> +</div> +<p>A TRAVELLER OF 1827, (W. P.)</p> +<p><i>Carshalton</i>.</p> +<hr /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page316" id="page316"></a>[pg +316]</span> +<h3>CARRYING THE TAR BARRELS AT BROUGH, WESTMORELAND.</h3> +<h4>(<i>To the Editor of the Mirror.</i>)</h4> +<p>SIR,—In the haste in which I wrote my last account of the +carrying of "tar barrels" in Westmoreland,<a id="footnotetag14" +name="footnotetag14"></a><a href="#footnote14"><sup>14</sup></a> +(owing to the pressure of time,) I omitted some most interesting +information, and I think I cannot do better than supply the +deficiency this year.</p> +<p>As I said before, the day is prepared for, about a month +previously—the townsmen employ themselves in hagging furze +for the "bon-fire," which is situated in an adjoining field. +Another party go round to the different houses, grotesquely +attired, supplicating contributions for the "tar barrels," and at +each house, after receiving a donation, chant a few doggerel verses +and huzza! It is, however, well that people should contribute +towards defraying the expense, for if they do not get enough money +they commit sad depredations, and if any one is seen carrying a +barrel they wrest it from him.</p> +<p>For my part, I liked the "watch night" the best, and if it were +possible to keep sober, one might enjoy the fun—sad havoc +indeed was then made among the poultry—when ducks and fowls +were crackling before the fire all night; in fact, a few previous +days were regular shooting days, and the little birds were killed +by scores. But ere morning broke in upon them, many of the merry +group were lying in a beastly state under the chairs and tables, or +others had gone to bed; but this is what <i>they</i> called +spending a <i>merry night</i>. The day arrives, and a whole troop +of temporary soldiers assemble in the town at 10 P.M. with their +borrowed instruments and dresses, and <i>a real Guy</i>,—not +a <i>paper one</i>,—but a <i>living one</i>—a regular +painted old fellow, I assure you, with a pair of boots like the +Ogre's seven leagued, seated on an ass, with the mob continually +bawling out, "there's a <i>par</i> o'ye!"</p> +<p>Thus they parade the town—one of the head leaders knocks +at the door—repeats the customary verses, while the other +holds a silken purse for the cash, which they divide amongst them +after the expenses are paid—and a pretty full purse they get +too. In the evening so anxious are they to fire the stack, that +lanterns may be seen glimmering in all parts of the field like so +many will-o'-the-wisps; then follow the tar barrels, and after this +boisterous amusement the scene closes, save the noise throughout +the night, and for some nights after of the drunken people, who +very often repent their folly by losing their situations.</p> +<p>Now, respecting the origin of this custom, I merely, by way of +hint, submit, that in the time of Christian martyrdom, as tar +barrels were used for the "burning at the stake" to increase the +ravages of the flame:—the custom is derived,—out of +rejoicings for the abolition of the horrid practice, and this they +show by carrying them on their heads (as represented at page 296, +vol. 8.), but you may treat this suggestion as you please, and +perhaps have the kindness to substitute your own, or inquire into +it.</p> +<p>W. H. H.</p> +<hr /> +<h3>CUSTOM OF BAKING SOUR CAKES.</h3> +<h4>(<i>For the Mirror.</i>)</h4> +<p>Rutherglen, in the county of Lanarkshire, has long been famous +for the singular custom of baking what are called sour cakes. About +eight or ten days before St. Luke's fair (for they are baked at no +other time in the year), a certain quantity of oatmeal is made into +dough with warm water, and laid up in a vessel to ferment. Being +brought to a proper degree of fermentation and consistency, it is +rolled up into balls proportionable to the intended largeness of +the cakes. With the dough is commonly mixed a small quantity of +sugar, and a little aniseed or cinnamon. The baking is executed by +women only; and they seldom begin their work till after sunset, and +a night or two before the fair. A large space of the house, chosen +for the purpose, is marked out by a line drawn upon it. The area +within is considered as consecrated ground, and is not, by any of +the bystanders, to be touched with impunity. The transgression +incurs a small fine, which is always laid out in drink for the use +of the company. This hallowed spot, is occupied by six or eight +women, all of whom, except the toaster, seat themselves on the +ground, in a circular form, having their feet turned towards the +fire. Each of them is provided with a bakeboard about two feet +square, which they hold on their knees. The woman who toasts the +cakes, which is done on an iron plate suspended over the fire, is +called the queen, or bride, and the rest are called her maidens. +These are distinguished from one another by names given them for +the occasion. She who sits next the fire, towards the east, is +called the todler; her companion on the left hand is called +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page317" id="page317"></a>[pg +317]</span> the trodler;<a id="footnotetag15" name= +"footnotetag15"></a><a href="#footnote15"><sup>15</sup></a> and the +rest have arbitrary names given them by the bride, as Mrs. Baker, +best and worst maids, &c. The operation is begun by the todler, +who takes a ball of the dough, forms it into a cake, and then casts +it on the bakeboard of the trodler, who beats it out a little +thinner. This being done, she, in her turn, throws it on the board +of her neighbour; and thus it goes round, from east to west, in the +direction of the course of the sun, until it comes to the toaster, +by which time it is as thin and smooth as a sheet of paper. The +first cake that is cast on the girdle is usually named as a gift to +some man who is known to have suffered from the infidelity of his +wife, from a superstitious notion, that thereby the rest will be +preserved from mischance. Sometimes the cake is so thin, as to be +carried by the current of the air up into the chimney. As the +baking is wholly performed by the hand, a great deal of noise is +the consequence. The beats, however, are not irregular, nor +destitute of an agreeable harmony, especially when they are +accompanied with vocal music, which is frequently the case. Great +dexterity is necessary, not only to beat out the cakes with no +other instrument than the hand, so that no part of them shall be +thicker than another, but especially to cast them from one board to +another without ruffling or breaking them. The toasting requires +considerable skill; for which reason the most experienced person in +the company is chosen for that part of the work. One cake is sent +round in quick succession to another, so that none of the company +is suffered to be idle. The whole is a scene of activity, mirth, +and diversion. As there is no account, even by tradition itself, +concerning the origin of this custom, it must be very ancient. The +bread thus baked was, doubtless, never intended for common use. It +is not easy to conceive how mankind, especially in a rude age, +would strictly observe so many ceremonies, and be at so great pains +in making a cake, which, when folded together, makes but a scanty +mouthful.<a id="footnotetag16" name="footnotetag16"></a><a href= +"#footnote16"><sup>16</sup></a> Besides, it is always given away in +presents to strangers who frequent the fair. The custom seems to +have been originally derived from paganism, and to contain not a +few of the sacred rites peculiar to that impure religion; as the +leavened dough, and the mixing it with sugar and spices, the +consecrated ground, &c.; but the particular deity, for whose +honour these cakes were at first made, is not, perhaps, easy to +determine. Probably it was no other than the one known in Scripture +(Jer. 7 ch. 18 v.) by the name of the Queen of Heaven, and to whom +cakes were likewise kneaded by women.</p> +<p>J. S. W.</p> +<hr /> +<h3>SONG.</h3> +<h4>FROM METASTATIO.</h4> +<h4>(<i>For the Mirror.</i>)</h4> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>How in the depth of winter rude</p> +<p class="i2">A lovely flower is prized,</p> +<p>Which in the month of April view'd,</p> +<p class="i2">Perhaps has been despised.</p> +<p>How fair amid the shades of night</p> +<p class="i2">Appears the stars' pale ray;</p> +<p>Behold the sun's more dazzling light,</p> +<p class="i2">It quickly fades away.</p> +</div> +</div> +<p>E. L. I.</p> +<hr /> +<h3>THE ORIGIN OF PETER'S PENCE.</h3> +<h4>(<i>For the Mirror.</i>)</h4> +<p>The custom of paying "Peter's pence" is of Saxon origin; and +they continued to be paid by the inhabitants of England, till the +abolition of the Papal power. The event by which their payment was +enacted is as follows:—Ethelbert, king of the east angles, +having reigned single some time, thought fit to take a wife; for +this purpose he came to the court of Offa, king of Mercia, to +desire his daughter in marriage. Queenrid, consort of Offa, a +cruel, ambitious, and blood-thirsty woman, who envied the retinue +and splendour of the unsuspicious king, resolved in some manner to +have him murdered, before he left their court, hoping by that to +gain his immense riches; for this purpose she, with her malicious +and fascinating arts, overcame the king—her husband, which +she most cunningly effected, and, under deep disguises, laid open +to him her portentous design; a villain was therefore hired, named +Gimberd, who was to murder the innocent prince. The manner in which +the heinous crime was effected was as cowardly as it was fatal: +under the chair of state in which Ethelbert sat, a deep pit was +dug; at the bottom of it was placed the murderer; the unfortunate +king was then let through a trap-door into the pit; his fear +overcame him so much, that he did not attempt resistance. Three +months after this, Queenrid died, when circumstances convinced Offa +of the innocence of Ethelbert; he therefore, to appease his guilt, +built St. Alban's monastery, gave one-tenth part of his goods to +the poor, and went in penance to Rome—where <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page318" id="page318"></a>[pg 318]</span> he +gave to the Pope a penny for every house in his dominions, which +were afterwards called <i>Rome shot</i>, or <i>Peter's pence</i>, +and given by the inhabitants of England, &c. till 1533, when +Henry VIII. shook off the authority of the Pope in this +country.</p> +<p>T.C.</p> +<hr class="full" /> +<h2>ARCANA OF SCIENCE.</h2> +<hr /> +<h3><i>Black and White Swans.</i></h3> +<p>A few weeks since a <i>black swan</i> was killed by his white +companions, in the neighbourhood of London. Of this extraordinary +circumstance, an eye-witness gives the following +account:—</p> +<p>I was walking, between four and five o'clock on Saturday +afternoon, in the Regent's Park, when my attention was attracted by +an unusual noise on the water, which I soon ascertained to arise +from a furious attack made by two white swans on the solitary black +one. The <i>allied</i> couple pursued with the greatest ferocity +the unfortunate <i>rara avis</i>, and one of them succeeded in +getting the neck of his enemy between his bill, and shaking it +violently. The poor black with difficulty extricated himself from +this murderous grasp, hurried on shore, tottered a few paces from +the water's edge, and fell. His death appeared to be attended with +great agony, stretching his neck in the air, fluttering his wings, +and attempting to rise from the ground. At length, after about five +minutes of suffering, he made a last effort to rise, and fell with +outstretched neck and wings. One of the keepers came up at the +moment, and found the poor bird dead. It is remarkable, that his +foes never left the water in pursuit, but continued sailing up and +down to the spot wherein their victim fell, with every feather on +end, and apparently proud of their conquest.</p> +<h3><i>Fascination of Snakes.</i></h3> +<p>I have often heard stories about the power that snakes have to +charm birds and animals, which, to say the least, I always treated +with the coldness of scepticism, nor could I believe them until +convinced by ocular demonstration. A case occurred in +Williamsburgh, Massachussets, one mile south of the house of public +worship, by the way-side, in July last. As I was walking in the +road at noon-day, my attention was drawn to the fence by the +fluttering and hopping of a robin red-breast, and a cat-bird, +which, upon my approach, flew up, and perched on a sapling two or +three rods distant; at this instant a large black snake reared his +head from the ground near the fence. I immediately stepped back a +little, and sat down upon an eminence; the snake in a few moments +slunk again to the earth, with a calm, placid appearance; and the +birds soon after returned, and lighted upon the ground near the +snake, first stretching their wings upon the ground, and spreading +their tails, they commenced fluttering round the snake, drawing +nearer at almost every step, until they stepped near or across the +snake, which would often move a little, or throw himself into a +different posture, apparently to seize his prey; which movements, I +noticed, seemed to frighten the birds, and they would veer off a +few feet, but return again as soon as the snake was motionless. All +that was wanting for the snake to secure the victims seemed to be, +that the birds should pass near his head, which they would probably +have soon done, but at this moment a wagon drove up and stopped. +This frightened the snake, and it crawled across the fence into the +grass: notwithstanding, the birds flew over the fence into the +grass also, and appeared to be bewitched, to flutter around their +charmer, and it was not until an attempt was made to kill the snake +that the birds would avail themselves of their wings, and fly into +a forest one hundred rods distant. The movements of the birds while +around the snake seemed to be voluntary, and without the least +constraint; nor did they utter any distressing cries, or appear +enraged, as I have often seen them when squirrels, hawks, and +mischievous boys attempted to rob their nests, or catch their young +ones; but they seemed to be drawn by some allurement or enticement, +and not by any constraining or provoking power; indeed, I +thoroughly searched all the fences and trees in the vicinity, to +find some nest or young birds, but could find none. What this +fascinating power is, whether it be the look or effluvium, or the +singing by the vibration of the tail of the snake, or anything +else, I will not attempt to determine—possibly this power may +be owing to different causes in different kinds of snakes. But so +far as the black snake is concerned, <i>it seems to be nothing more +than an enticement or allurement with which the snake is endowed to +procure his fowl</i>.—<i>Professor Silliman's +Journal</i>.</p> +<h3><i>Boring Marine Animals.</i></h3> +<p>The most destructive of these is the <i>Teredo Navalis</i>, a +fine specimen of which was exhibited at a recent meeting of the +Portsmouth Philosophical Society. This animal has been said to +extend the whole length of the boring tube; but this assertion is +erroneous, since the tubes are formed <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page319" id="page319"></a>[pg 319]</span> by a +secretion from the body of the animal, and are often many feet in +length, and circuitous in their course. This was shown to be the +fact, by a large piece of wood pierced in all directions. The +manner in which it affects its passage, and the interior of the +tubes, were also described. The assertion that the <i>Teredo</i> +does not attack teak timber was disproved; and its destructive +ravages on the bottom of ships exemplified, by a relation of the +providential escape of his majesty's ship Sceptre, which having +lost some copper from off her bows, the timbers were pierced +through to such an extent as to render her incapable of pursuing +her voyage without repair.</p> +<h3><i>Anthracite, or Stone Coal.</i></h3> +<p>Professor Silliman's last journal contains a very important +article, illustrative of the practical application of this mineral; +and the vast quantities of it that may be found in Great Britain +renders the information highly valuable to our manufacturing +interests. In no part of the world is anthracite, so valuable in +the arts and for economical purposes, found so abundantly as in +Pennsylvania. For the manufacture of iron this fuel is peculiarly +advantageous, as it embraces little sulphur or other injurious +ingredients; produces an intense steady heat; and, for most +operations, it is equal, if not superior to coke. Bar iron, +anchors, chains, steamboat machinery, and wrought-iron of every +description, has more tenacity and malleability, with less waste of +metal, when fabricated by anthracite, than by the aid of bituminous +coal or charcoal, with a diminution of fifty per cent. in the +expense of labour and fuel. For breweries, distilleries, and the +raising of steam, anthracite coal is decidedly preferable to other +fuel, the heat being more steady and manageable, and the boilers +less corroded by sulphureous acid, while no bad effects are +produced by smoke and bitumen. The anthracite of Pennsylvania is +located between the Blue Bridge and Susquehannah; and has not +hitherto been found in other parts of the state, except in the +valley of Wyoming.</p> +<h3><i>Holly Hedges.</i></h3> +<p>At Tynningham, the residence of the Earl of Harrington, are +holly hedges extending 2,952 yards, in some cases 13 feet broad and +25 feet high. The age of these hedges is something more than a +century. At the same place are individual trees of a size quite +unknown in these southern districts. One tree measures 5 feet 3 in. +in circumference at 3 feet from the ground; the stem is clear of +branches to the height of 14 feet, and the total height of the tree +is 54 feet. At Colinton House, the seat of Sir David Forbes; +Hopetown House, and Gordon Castle are also several large groups of +hollies, apparently planted by the hand of Nature.—<i>Trans. +Horticultural Society</i>.</p> +<h3><i>Egg Plants.</i></h3> +<p>In this country, the egg plant, brinjal, or aubergine, is +chiefly cultivated as a curiosity; but in warmer climates, where +its growth is attended with less trouble, it is a favourite article +of the kitchen garden. In the form of fritters, or farces, or in +soups, it is frequently brought to table in all the southern parts +of Europe, and forms a pleasant variety of +esculent.—<i>Ibid.</i></p> +<h3><i>Vinegar made from Black Ants.</i></h3> +<p>It is singular enough, that a discovery of modern chemistry +should long have been practically employed in some parts of Norway, +for the purpose of making vinegar from a large species of black +ant. The method employed in Norlanden is simply this: they first +collect a sufficient quantity of these little animals, by plunging +a bottle partly filled with water up to the neck in one of the +large ant-hills; into which they naturally creep, and are drowned. +The contents are then boiled together, and the acid thus produced +is made use of by the inhabitants as <i>vinegar</i>, being strong +and good.</p> +<h3><i>Soil for Fruit Trees.</i></h3> +<p>Low grounds that form the banks of rivers are, of all others, +the best adapted for the growth of fruit trees; the alluvial soil +of which they are composed, being an intermixture of the richest +and most soluble parts of the neighbouring lands, with a portion of +animal and vegetable matter, affording an inexhaustible store of +nourishment—<i>Trans. Horticultural Society</i>.</p> +<h3><i>Watch Alarum.</i></h3> +<p>A patent has recently been procured for a most useful appendage +to a watch, for giving alarm at any hour during the night. Instead +of encumbering a watch designed to be worn in the pocket with the +striking apparatus, (by which it would be increased to double the +ordinary thickness), this ingenious invention has the alarum or +striking part detached, and forming a bed on which the watch is to +be laid; a communication being made by a lever, projecting through +the watch case, to connect the works. This appendage is described +to be applicable to any watch of the usual construction, and is by +no means expensive.</p> +<hr class="full" /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page320" id="page320"></a>[pg +320]</span> +<h2>THE MONTHS.</h2> +<div class="figure" style="width:50%;"><a href= +"images/282-2.png"><img width="100%" src="images/282-2.png" alt= +"" /></a></div> +<h3>NOVEMBER.</h3> +<p>November is associated with gloom, inasmuch as its days and +nights are, for the most part, sullen and sad. But the transition +to this gloom is slow, gradual, and almost imperceptible. The +mornings of the month are generally foggy, and are thus described +by a modern poet:—</p> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"Not pleasureless the morn, when dismal fog</p> +<p>Rolls o'er the dewy plain, or thin mist drives;</p> +<p>When the lone timber's saturated branch</p> +<p>Drips freely."</p> +</div> +</div> +<p>In the progress of day,</p> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"Shorn of his glory through the dim profound,</p> +<p>With melancholy aspect looks the orb</p> +<p>Of stifled day, and while he strives to pierce</p> +<p>And dissipate the slow reluctant gloom,</p> +<p>Seems but a rayless globe, an autumn moon,</p> +<p>That gilds opaque the purple zone of eve,</p> +<p>And yet distributes of her thrifty beam.</p> +<p>Lo! now he conquers; now, subdued awhile,</p> +<p>Awhile subduing, the departed mist</p> +<p>Yields in a brighter beam, or darker clouds</p> +<p>His crimson disk obscure."</p> +</div> +</div> +<p>The country has now exchanged its refreshing varieties of greens +for the hues of saffron, russet, and dark brown. "The trees," says +an amusing observer of nature, "generally lose their leaves in the +following succession:—walnut, mulberry, horse-chestnut, +sycamore, lime, ash, then, after an interval, elm:</p> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"——'To him who walks</p> +<p>Now in the sheltered mead, loud roars above,</p> +<p>Among the naked branches of the elm,</p> +<p>Still freshening as the hurried cloud departs,</p> +<p>The strong Atlantic gale.'</p> +</div> +</div> +<p>"Then beech and oak, then apple and peach trees, sometimes not +till the end of November; and lastly, pollard-oaks and young +beeches, which retain their withered leaves till pushed off by the +new ones in spring."</p> +<p>The rural economy of the month is thus described by the same +writer:—"The farmer endeavours to finish his ploughing this +month, and then lays up his instruments for the spring. Cattle are +kept in the yard or stable, sheep turned into the turnip-field, or +in bad weather fed with hay, bees moved under shelter, and pigeons +fed in the dove-house."</p> +<p>The gardens, for the most part, begin to show the wear of +desolation, and but little of their floral pride remains without +doors. Meanwhile, a mimic garden is displayed within, and the +hyacinth, narcissus, &c. are assembled there to gladden us with +anticipations of the coming spring.</p> +<p>Though sombre and drear, a November day is a <i>carnival</i> for +the reflective observer; the very falling of the leaves, +intercepted in their descent by a little whirl or hurricane, is to +him a feast of meditation, and "the soul, dissolving, as it were, +into a spirit of melancholy enthusiasm, acknowledges that silent +pathos, which governs without subduing the heart."—"This +season, so sacred to the enthusiast, has been, in all ages, +selected by the poet and the moralist, as a theme for poetic +description and moral reflection;" and we may add that amidst such +scenes, Newton drew the most glorious problem of his philosophy, +and Bishop Horne his simple but pathetic lines on the "Fall of the +Leaf,"—lessons of nature which will still find their way to +the hearts of mankind, when the more subtle workings of speculative +philosophy shall be forgotten with their promoters.</p> +<hr class="full" /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page321" id="page321"></a>[pg +321]</span> +<h2>SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.</h2> +<h3>THE ROBBER SPATOLINO.</h3> +<p>The history of Spatolino exhibits rather the character of a man +bred where men are in a state of nature, than of one born in the +midst of an old European state. This extraordinary character, +furiously irritated against the French, who had invaded Italy, +desperately bent himself upon revenge, and directed his attacks +unceasingly upon their battalions. He might perhaps have become a +great general, had he entered the military profession: had he +received a competent education, he might have been a virtuous and +eminent citizen. His first crime was an act of vengeance, and all +his following delinquencies flowed from the same source. An +enthusiastic feeling placed the blade in his hand against the +invaders of the Roman States, and a superior sagacity aided his +terrible energies. He died stigmatised with the titles of brigand +and assassin; but the French, on whom he had exercised the most +striking acts of revenge, were his judges, his accusers, and +executioners. In all his acts the man of courage could be +distinguished, finding resources, in whatever dangers, in his own +genius. He never was a traitor himself, although often betrayed by +his most intimate friends. His vindictive exploits were prompt and +terrible. The French greatly dreaded him. His life presents traits +truly romantic; sometimes they may appear exaggerated; but his +history is from an authentic source, and from his voluntary +confession.</p> +<p>The reader may wish to know something of the person of +Spatolino. He was of low stature, long visage, fair skin, but his +face of an olive pale hue; his eyes of a light blue, and full of +animation; his aspect fierce; hair light; long whiskers; lips pale; +broad back; swift of foot; and particularly animated in his action. +He wore a jerkin lined with red, a dark yellow waistcoat, blue +breeches, a breast-pouch with fifty cartridges, four pistols, and a +small hanger by his side. In his breeches-pocket he kept a small +stiletto. He also bore a long gun. On his head he wore continually +a net, and upon that his hat. His wife followed him in all his +excursions, and he greatly esteemed and loved her. He remained some +time in the mountains near Rome, and with his associates laid in a +store of whatever was necessary for their new avocation. He then +resolved upon proceeding to Sonnino, the common rendezvous of the +greater part of the banditti in the papal states. In Sonnino he +found some followers, who, going deeply into his notions, did not +scruple to join him. They swore to entertain an eternal friendship +for each other, implacable hatred against the French, and laid it +down as a duty to rob and kill them. Spatolino, before commencing +his career as brigand, repaired to the curate of Sonnino, and +requested absolution for all the crimes he had or might commit; the +curate, surprised at this request, observed to him, that absolution +was only given after sins were committed. Spatolino very soon +quieted the scruples of the curate, by making him a present of a +very handsome watch; upon which he immediately raised his hands and +gave him the desired absolution. Sonnino may be compared with +Pontus, where Ovid was in exile, and which is thus described by +that celebrated author:—"The men I meet with are not even +worthy of the name; they are more fierce than wolves; have no laws, +as with them armed force constitutes justice, and injury rights. +They live by rapine, but seek it not without peril, and sword in +hand. Every other way of purveying for their necessities they view +as base and ignominious. It is enough for them to be seen to be +hated and dreaded. The sound of their voice is ferocious; their +physiognomy horrible, and their complexion cadaverous." Just such +are the inhabitants of Sonnino and its vicinity at present, and +among such Spatolino came to complete his band, which, when formed +in Rome, consisted of seven only.</p> +<p>Before proceeding on his expedition, and to attach his wife more +closely to his person by proving his strong affection, he left his +band and proceeded to Civita Vecchia, and seeking a sailor who had +seduced her, he expressed a wish to speak with him a little +distance from the town. The sailor, conceiving it might be +something to his advantage, followed immediately. Spatolino +conducted him a little beyond the gate of Civita Vecchia, and +giving him two thrusts of his stiletto in his heart, cut off his +ears and nose, to carry them as a present to his wife, and then +departed immediately for Sonnino. On his arrival, he proceeded to +seek Mary and his band. After the usual salutations, he took out of +his pocket the small bundle containing the nose and ears of the +sailor, and, presenting them to his wife, said, "From this you may +judge my affection. I was desirous of avenging your wrongs, and +have done so by killing your seducer. Here are the pledges of it, +which you should keep, in order to remind you of the betrayer, and +as a guard <span class="pagenum"><a name="page322" id= +"page322"></a>[pg 322]</span> against future temptation. You cannot +mistrust me, when I promise ever to afford you proofs of true +attachment, and I hope you will be faithful to me!" After this they +embraced affectionately, and swore to each other eternal fidelity. +Nor is it possible for any man to have kept his word more +scrupulously towards his wife. The following day Spatolino departed +at the head of his band, which was composed of eighteen persons, +himself and wife included, and proceeded to the vicinity of +Portatta, near the main road leading from Rome to Naples, which at +that time was much frequented by the French of every rank and +condition, who proceeded under orders between these two places. +Towards night, Spatolino placed himself and comrades in ambush on +the high road, intending to take advantage of a military body of +which he had information. Ere long a sound of horses was heard; +they were immediately on the alert, and succeeded in arresting a +French escort of seven soldiers on foot, and the same number on +horseback, conducting the baggage-wagon of a French colonel of the +line. It contained all his effects, and money to a large amount. +Upon the first fire of Spatolino's band, five of the soldiers were +killed, and three desperately wounded; he then threw himself +amongst the others, who were placed on the defence, and who had +expended their fire without hurting a single individual of the +band. Spatolino, with his pistols, killed two, and a few moments +saw him and his band masters of the field. Spatolino ordered his +men to strip the dead, and placing every thing in the wagon, after +digging a pit for the bodies, they retired to a cave in a wood near +the road, where the booty was equally divided. He took himself two +of the best horses, and armed and equipped his band in a superior +manner. He also presented to his wife a part of the spoil, she +having been armed in the action, performing the duty of a sentinel +on the highway in advance about half a mile off, to give notice, in +case of an overwhelming force appearing. Spatolino, having made a +fair division of the spoil to raise the courage of his companions, +sent all his own money to his parents, informing them at the same +time, that for the future they should be released from misery, as +he would ever bear in mind the beings who gave him +birth.—<i>New Monthly Magazine</i>.</p> +<hr /> +<h3>AN UNINSURABLE RISK.</h3> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>A bookseller opened a shop on the coast,</p> +<p class="i2">(I'd rather not mention the spot,)</p> +<p>Where gentlemen lounged o'er the Herald and Post,</p> +<p class="i2">And ladies read Byron and Scott.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>Much personal memoir, too, shone on the shelves,</p> +<p class="i2">Which boasted a whimsical olio;</p> +<p>Decorum sang small, in octavoes and twelves,</p> +<p class="i2">And scandal in quarto and folio.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>The bookseller, prudently aiming to set</p> +<p class="i2">Th' ignipotent god at defiance,</p> +<p>To open a policy vainly essay'd</p> +<p class="i2">At the Albion, the Hope, and Alliance.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"My friend, your abortive attempt prithee stop,"</p> +<p class="i2">Quoth Jekyll, intent on a joke,</p> +<p>"How can you expect to insure, while your shop</p> +<p class="i2">Is rolling out volumes of smoke?"</p> +</div> +</div> +<p><i>Ibid.</i></p> +<hr /> +<h3>LONDON NEWSPAPERS.</h3> +<p>On few subjects are the public under more misapprehension than +on the absolute and relative circulation of several portions of the +London daily press. The greater part of the people would startle +were they told that The Times circulates probably under 7,000 a day +on an average; the paper is seen, as one may say, in every +pot-house in London, and all over the country; and yet this is all +its number.</p> +<p>The property of a paper is a matter of which most people have a +very vague and imperfect knowledge. I believe I am very near the +truth when I state the gross proceeds of The Times at +45,000<i>l.</i>, a year. The present proprietor of The Morning +Chronicle gave for it, I believe, 40,000<i>l.</i> The absolute +property of The Courier, according to the current rate of its +shares, is between 90,000<i>l.</i> and 100,000<i>l.</i> Estimating +the value of The Globe on the same scale, the absolute property of +it is probably somewhere about 35,000<i>l.</i> The profits of a +paper arise almost entirely out of its advertisements, and hence +the difference in value between the two last, notwithstanding their +circulation is so nearly equal. A newspaper gets its advertisements +by degrees, and, as it is supposed by the public, its numbers +increase; but it retains them long after the cause by which they +were acquired has vanished. It is thus that The Courier, which got +its advertisements when it basked in all the sunshine of +ministerial patronage, retains these when its numbers are reduced +by one-half, and the countenance of government is no longer held +out to it.</p> +<p>These, however, it must be admitted, are the prizes in the +lottery of newspaper speculation: and in this, as in every other +lottery, there are more blanks than prizes. Mr. Murray, after +having expended upwards of 10,000<i>l.</i> on his Representative, +sold it to the proprietors of The New Times for about 600<i>l.</i>: +and The British Press, after having ruined I know not how many +capitalists, was sold to the <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"page323" id="page323"></a>[pg 323]</span> same concern for, I +believe, a considerably smaller sum.—<i>London +Magazine</i>.</p> +<hr /> +<h3>MADEMOISELLE CUVIER.</h3> +<p>Mademoiselle Cuvier, daughter of the celebrated naturalist, died +a short time since at Paris. There has seldom been any instance +where the strongest benevolence was so closely united to the charms +of intellect. She possessed a rare mixture of elevation of mind and +firmness of character—of strength and +equanimity—sweetness and simplicity. It was truly gratifying +to witness her worship, or rather superstition, for truth, and to +watch the avidity with which she used to seize and illustrate +whatever she thought likely to remove ignorance, or promote the +cause of virtue and freedom. The circumstances which attended the +death of this amiable creature, have, if possible, greatly +augmented the grief of her family and friends. The day of her +nuptials was fixed, and she was to be united to a man of her own +choice, and everything was prepared for the ceremony. Being +suddenly afflicted by rapid symptoms of consumption, all hopes of +her recovery soon vanished. Notwithstanding, the ball dresses, +veils, and shawls, continued to be sent home to the unhappy +parents, who dared not refuse them, lest they should themselves be +accused of giving way to despair. This mixture of preparations for +rejoicing, and the certainty of death, formed a picture the most +melancholy and pathetic. When the fatal moment arrived, her family +and many friends surrounded the dying couch in mournful silence. +The funeral was attended by all that is distinguished for rank and +fortune at Paris; a clergyman of the Protestant church read the +service for the dead, and a funeral sermon. A number of young +females whom she had formed for succouring the poor, were ranged +round the bier, dressed in white, and followed to the Cemetery of +Père la Chaise, where M. Salvandy, one of her friends, +undertook to deliver the final eulogy, which it is usual in France +to pronounce on departed worth.—<i>Monthly +Magazine</i>.—<i>Letter from Paris</i>.</p> +<hr /> +<h3>HOW TO LOSE TIME.</h3> +<p>Few men need complain of the want of time, if they are not +conscious of a want of power, or of desire to ennoble and enjoy it. +Perhaps you are a man of genius yourself, gentle reader, and though +not absolutely, like Sir Walter, a witch, warlock, or wizard, still +a poet—a maker—a creator. Think, then, how many hours +on hours you have lost, lying asleep so profoundly,</p> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"That the cock's shrill clarion, or the echoing horn,</p> +<p>No more could rouse you from your lazy bed."</p> +</div> +</div> +<p>How many more have you, not absolutely lost, but to a certain +extent abused, at breakfast—sip, sipping away at unnecessary +cups of sirupy tea, or gob, gobbling away at jam-buttered rolls, +for which nature never called—or "to party giving up what was +meant for mankind"—forgetting the loss of Time in the Times, +and, after a long, blank, brown, and blue study, leaving behind you +a most miserable chronicle indeed! Then think—O +think—on all your aimless forenoon saunterings—round +and round about the premises—up and down the +avenue—then into the garden on tiptoe—in and out among +the neat squares of onion-beds—now humming a tune by the +brink of abysses of mould, like trenches dug for the slain in the +field of battle, where the tender celery is laid—now down to +the river-side to try a little angling, though you well know there +is nothing to be had but Pars—now into a field of turnips, +without your double-barreled Joe Manton, (at Mr. Wilkinson's to be +repaired,) to see Ponto point a place where once a partridge had +pruned himself—now home again, at the waving of John's red +sleeve, to receive a coach-full of country cousins, come in the +capacity of forenoon callers—endless talkers all—sharp +and blunt noses alike—and grinning voraciously in hopes of a +lunch—now away to dress for dinner, which will not be for two +long, long hours to come—now dozing, or daized on the +drawing-room sofa, wondering if the bell is ever to be +rung—now grimly gazing on a bit of bloody beef which your +impatience has forced the blaspheming cook to draw from the spit +ere the outer folds of fat were well melted at the fire—now, +after a disappointed dinner, discovering that the old port is +corked, and the filberts all pluffing with bitter snuff, except +such as enclose a worm—now an unwholesome sleep of +interrupted snores, your bobbing head ever and anon smiting your +breast-bone—now burnt-beans palmed off on the family for +Turkish coffee—now a game at cards, with a dead partner, and +the ace of spades missing—now no supper—you have no +appetite for supper—and now into bed tumbles the son of +Genius, complaining to the moon of the shortness of human life, and +the fleetness of time!</p> +<p><i>Blackwood's Magazine</i>.</p> +<hr /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page324" id="page324"></a>[pg +324]</span> +<h3>SLEEPING AFTER DINNER.</h3> +<p>Mr. Fox at St. Ann's Hill was, for the last years of his life, +in the habit (never interfered with by his friends) of dosing for a +few minutes after dinner; and it was on this occasion, +unconsciously yielding to the influence of custom, I perceived that +Mr. Garrow, who was the chief talker (Parr was in his smoking +orgasm,) began to feel embarrassed at Mr. Fox's non-attention; and +I, therefore, made signs to Mr. Fox, by wiping my fingers to my +eyes, and looking expressively at Garrow. Mr. Fox, the most +<i>truly</i> polite man in the world, immediately endeavoured to +rouse himself—but in vain; Nature would have her way. Garrow +soon saw the struggle, and adroitly feigned sleep himself. Mr. Fox +was regenerated in ten minutes—apologized—and made the +evening delightful—<i>Senatorial +Reminiscenses</i>.—<i>The Inspector</i>.</p> +<hr class="full" /> +<h2>THE SELECTOR; AND LITERARY NOTICES OF <i>NEW WORKS</i>.</h2> +<h3>CHRONICLES OF THE CANONGATE.</h3> +<p><i>The Two Drovers.</i></p> +<p>(<i>Concluded from page 289.</i>)</p> +<blockquote> +<p>[Our readers must have missed, and probably with some regret, +the conclusion of the above story, as promised for insertion in our +last Number; and unaccustomed as we are to an intentional +discrepancy of this sort, (for such was the above,) we shall +consider ourselves justified in briefly stating some of the +circumstances which led to the irregularity. We are not disposed to +enter into the tilts of rival journalists, some of whom, in taking +time by the forelock, may have perhaps been rather more +enterprising than the subject warranted.<a id="footnotetag17" name= +"footnotetag17"></a><a href="#footnote17"><sup>17</sup></a> +Nevertheless, in the attempt to please the public, as in other +races, the youngest are often the fleetest. In the present case, +the appetite of the public had been <i>whetted</i> with "reiterated +advertisement:" and one of our contemporaries, with more +playfulness than truth, had compared his priority to that of +<i>Fine-ear</i> in the fairy tale. But his talisman failed, and a +young rival outstripped him; and from this quarter we were induced +to copy the first portion of the tale of <i>The Two Drovers</i>, +upon the editor's assurance of his own honesty in obtaining the +precedence, and which assurance We are still unwilling to question: +although, were we to do so, ours would not he a solitary specimen +of such ingratitude.<a id="footnotetag18" name= +"footnotetag18"></a><a href="#footnote18"><sup>18</sup></a> On the +day of our publishing the first portion, we received a notice to +desist from its continuance,—full of the causticity of our +friends on the other side of the Tweed, and with whom, for the +credit of the south, we hope the measure originated. We next +resolved to suspend the conclusion; since the <i>brutum fulmen</i> +became louder and louder still, in an advertisement actively +inserted in the London newspapers. To make short of what is and +ought to be but a trifling affair, we have <i>abridged</i> the +whole story, and accordingly now present the conclusion to our +readers, though certainly not in the promised state; how far we +have exculpated ourselves, is for our patrons to determine.—A +few words at parting, on the policy of the above conduct. We need +not enlarge upon the advantages which publishers (and, to some +extent, authors) derive from portions of their works appearing in +periodical journals. The benefit is not reciprocal, but largely on +their side, if they consider how many columns of advertisement duty +they thereby avoid. It is well known that the <i>first edition</i> +of any work by such a master-spirit as Sir Walter Scott is consumed +in a few days by the circulating libraries and reading societies of +the kingdom; but how many thousands would neither have seen nor +heard of his most successful works, had not the <i>gusto</i> been +previously created by the caducei of these literary Mercuries. +Again, sift any one of them, with higher pretensions to originality +than our economical sheet will admit of, and you shall find it, in +<i>quantity</i>, at least, to resemble Gratiano's three grains. But +we are not inclined to quarrel with the scheme, for with Johnson we +say, "Quotation, sir (Walter), is a good thing," in the hope of +hearing our readers reply, "This fellow pecks up wit as pigeons +peas."—ED.]</p> +</blockquote> +<p>Some words passed after the departure, of Robin Oig, between the +bailiff, and Harry Wakefield, who was now not indisposed to defend +Robin Oig's reputation. But Dame Heskett prevented this second +quarrel by her peremptory interference. The conversation turned on +the expected markets, and the prices from different parts of +Scotland and England, and Harry Wakefield found a chap for a part +of his drove, and at a considerable profit; an event more than +sufficient to blot out all remembrances of the past scuffle. But +there remained one from whose mind that recollection could not have +been wiped by possession of every head of cattle betwixt Esk and +Eden.</p> +<p>This was Robin Oig M'Combich.—"That I should have had no +weapon," he said, "and for the first time in my +life!—Blighted be the tongue that bids the Highlander part +with the dirk—the dirk—ha! the English blood!—My +muhme's word—when did her word fall to the ground?"</p> +<p>Robin now turned the light foot of his country towards the +wilds, through which, by Mr. Ireby's report, Morrison was +advancing. His mind was wholly engrossed by the sense of injury the +treasured ideas of self-importance and self-opinion—of ideal +birth and quality, had become more precious to him, (like the hoard +to the miser,) because he could only enjoy them in secret. But +insulted, abused, and beaten, he was no longer worthy, in his own +opinion, of the name he bore, or the lineage which he belonged +to—nothing was left to him—but revenge.</p> +<p>When Robin Oig left the door of the ale-house, seven or eight +English miles <span class="pagenum"><a name="page325" id= +"page325"></a>[pg 325]</span> at least lay betwixt him and +Morrison, whose advance was limited by the sluggish pace of his +cattle. And now the distant lowing of Morrison's cattle is heard; +and now he meets them—passes them, and stops their +conductor.</p> +<p>"May good betide us," said the South-lander—"Is this you, +Robin M'Combich, or your wraith?"</p> +<p>"It is Robin Oig M'Combich," answered the Highlander, "and it is +not.—But never mind that, give me pack my dirk, Hugh +Morrison, or there will be words petween us."</p> +<p>"There it is for you then, since less wunna serve."</p> +<p>"Cot speed you, Hughie, and send you good marcats. Ye winna meet +with Robin Oig again either at tryste or fair."</p> +<p>So saying, he shook hastily the hand of his acquaintance, and +set out in the direction from which he had advanced.</p> +<p>Long ere the morning dawned, the catastrophe of our tale had +taken place. It was two hours after the affray when Robin Oig +returned to Heskett's inn. There was Harry Wakefield, who amidst a +grinning group of smockfrocks, hob-nailed shoes, and jolly English +physiognomies, was trolling forth an old ditty, when he was +interrupted by a high and stern voice, saying "Harry +Waakfelt—if you be a man, stand up!"</p> +<p>"Harry Waakfelt," repeated the same ominous summons, "stand up, +if you be a man!"</p> +<p>"I will stand up with all my heart, Robin, my boy, but it shall +be to shake hands with you, and drink down all unkindness.</p> +<p>"'Tis not thy fault, man, that, not having the luck to be an +Englishman, thou canst not fight more than a school-girl."</p> +<p>"I <i>can</i> fight," answered Robin Oig, sternly, but calmly, +"and you shall know it. You, Harry Waakfelt, showed me to-day how +the Saxon churls fight—I show you now how the Highland +Dunniewassal fights."</p> +<p>He then plunged the dagger, which he suddenly displayed, into +the broad breast of the English yeoman, with such fatal certainty +and force, that the hilt made a hollow sound against the breast +bone, and the double-edged point split the very heart of his +victim. Harry Wakefield fell, and expired with a single groan.</p> +<p>Robin next offered the bloody poniard to the bailiff's +throat.</p> +<p>"It were very just to lay you beside him," he said, "but the +blood of a base pick-thank shall never mix on my father's dirk, +with that of a brave man."</p> +<p>As he spoke, he threw the fatal weapon into the blazing +turf-fire.</p> +<p>"There," he said, "take me who likes—and let fire cleanse +blood if it can."</p> +<p>The pause still continuing, Robin Oig asked for a peace-officer, +and a constable having stepped out, he surrendered himself.</p> +<p>"A bloody night's work you have made of it," said the +constable.</p> +<p>"Your own fault," said the Highlander. "Had you kept his hands +off me twa hours since, he would have been now as well and merry as +he was twa minutes since."</p> +<p>"It must be sorely answered," said the peace-officer.</p> +<p>"Never you mind that—death pays all debts; it will pay +that too."</p> +<p>The constable, with assistance, procured horses to guard the +prisoner to Carlisle, to abide his doom at the next assizes. While +the escort was preparing, the prisoner, before he was carried from +the fatal apartment, desired to look at the dead body, which had +been deposited upon the large table, (at the head of which Harry +Wakefield had just presided) until the surgeons should examine the +wound. The face of the corpse was decently covered with a napkin. +Robin Oig removed the cloth, and gazed on the lifeless visage. +While those present expected that the wound, which had so lately +flooded the apartment with gore, would send forth fresh streams at +the touch of the homicide, Robin Oig replaced the covering, with +the brief exclamation, "He was a pretty man!"</p> +<p>My story is nearly ended. The unfortunate Highlander stood his +trial at Carlisle. I was myself present. The facts of the case were +proved in the manner I have related them; and whatever might be at +first the prejudice of the audience against a crime so un-English +as that of assassination from revenge, yet when the national +prejudices of the prisoner had been explained, which made him +consider himself as stained with indelible dishonour, the +generosity of the English audience was inclined to regard his crime +as the aberration of a false idea of honour, rather than as flowing +from a heart naturally savage, or habitually vicious. I shall never +forget the charge of the venerable judge to the jury.</p> +<p>"We have had," he said, "in the previous part of our duty, +(alluding to some former trials,) to discuss crimes which infer +disgust and abhorrence, while they call down the well-merited +vengeance of the law. It is now our still more melancholy duty to +apply its salutary, though severe enactments to a case of a very +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page326" id="page326"></a>[pg +326]</span> singular character, in which the crime (for a crime it +is, and a deep one) arose less out of the malevolence of the heart, +than the error of the understanding—less from any idea of +committing wrong, than from an unhappily perverted notion of that +which is right. Here we have two men, highly esteemed, it has been +stated, in their rank of life, and attached, it seems, to each +other as friends, one of whose lives has been already sacrificed to +a punctilio, and the other is about to prove the vengeance of the +offended laws; and yet both may claim our commiseration at least, +as men acting in ignorance of each other's national prejudices, and +unhappily misguided rather than voluntarily erring from the path of +right conduct.</p> +<p>In the original cause of the misunderstanding, we must in +justice give the right to the prisoner at the bar. He had acquired +possession of the enclosure, by a legal contract with the +proprietor, and yet, when accosted with galling reproaches he +offered to yield up half his acquisition, and his amicable proposal +was rejected with scorn. Then follows the scene at Mr. Heskett the +publican's, and you will observe how the stranger was treated by +the deceased, and I am sorry to observe, by those around, who seem +to have urged him in a manner which was aggravating in the highest +degree.</p> +<p>"Gentlemen of the jury, it was with some impatience that I heard +my learned brother, who opened the case for the crown, give an +unfavourable turn to the prisoner's conduct on this occasion. He +said the prisoner was afraid to encounter his antagonist in fair +fight, or to submit to the laws of the ring; and that therefore, +like a cowardly Italian, he had recourse to his fatal stiletto, to +murder the man whom he dared not meet in manly encounter. I +observed the prisoner shrink from this part of the accusation with +the abhorrence natural to a brave man; and as I would wish to make +my words impressive, when I point his real crime, I must secure his +opinion of my impartiality, by rebutting every thing that seems to +me a false accusation. There can be no doubt that the prisoner is a +man of resolution—too much resolution; I wish to heaven that +he had less, or rather that he had had a better education to +regulate it.</p> +<hr /> +<p>"But, gentlemen of the jury, the pinch of the case lies in the +interval of two hours betwixt the injury and the fatal retaliation. +In the heat of affray and <i>chaude melée</i>, law, +compassionating the infirmities of humanity, makes allowance for +the passions which rule such a stormy moment—But the time +necessary to walk twelve miles, however speedily performed, was an +interval sufficient for the prisoner to have recollected himself; +and the violence and deliberate determination with which he carried +his purpose into effect, could neither be induced by anger, nor +fear. It was the purpose and the act of pre-determined revenge, for +which law neither can, will, nor ought to have sympathy.</p> +<hr /> +<p>The law says to the subjects, with a voice only inferior to that +of the Deity, 'Vengeance is mine.' The instant that there is time +for passion to cool, and reason to interpose, an injured party must +become aware, that the law assumes the exclusive cognizance of the +right and wrong betwixt the parties, and opposes her inviolable +buckler to every attempt of the private party to right himself. I +repeat, that this unhappy man ought personally to be the object +rather of our pity than our abhorrence, for he failed in his +ignorance, and from mistaken notions of honour. But his crime is +not the less that of murder, gentlemen, and, in your high and +important office, it is your duty so to find. Englishmen have their +angry passions as well as Scots; and should this man's action +remain unpunished, you may unsheath, under various pretences, a +thousand daggers betwixt the Land's-end and the Orkneys."</p> +<p>The venerable judge thus ended what, to judge by his emotion and +tears, was really a painful task. The jury, accordingly brought in +a verdict of guilty; and Robin Oig M'Combich, <i>alias</i> +M'Gregor, was sentenced to death, and executed accordingly. He met +his fate with firmness, and acknowledged the justice of his +sentence. But he repelled indignantly the observations of those who +accused him of attacking an unarmed man. "I give a life for the +life I took," he said, "and what can I do more?"</p> +<hr /> +<h3>A PERSIAN FABLE.</h3> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>A little particle of rain,</p> +<p class="i2">That from a passing cloud descended,</p> +<p>Was heard thus idly to complain:—</p> +<p class="i2">"My brief existence now is ended.</p> +<p>Outcast alike of earth and sky,</p> +<p>Useless to live, unknown to die."</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>It chanced to fall into the sea,</p> +<p class="i2">And there an open shell received it;</p> +<p>And, after years, how rich was he,</p> +<p class="i2">Who from its prison-house relieved it:</p> +<p>The drop of rain has formed a gem,</p> +<p>To deck a monarch's diadem.</p> +</div> +</div> +<p><i>Amulet</i>.</p> +<hr class="full" /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page327" id="page327"></a>[pg +327]</span> +<h2>THE GATHERER.</h2> +<blockquote> +<p>"I am but a <i>Gatherer</i> and disposer of other men's +stuff."—<i>Wotton</i>.</p> +</blockquote> +<hr /> +<h3>NEW READING.</h3> +<p>A witty wight, on seeing the following line in our last,</p> +<blockquote> +<p><i>Necessitas non habet</i> leg<i>em</i>,</p> +</blockquote> +supplied this new reading, +<blockquote> +<p>Necessity without a <i>leg</i> to stand upon.</p> +</blockquote> +<hr /> +<h3>O. P. RIOTS.</h3> +<p>"What is doing to-night?" asked Kemble, of one of the +ballet-masters; "Oh pis (O P) toujours, Monsieur," was the +reply.</p> +<hr /> +<h3>A CURIOUS FACT.</h3> +<p>An absent man, whose heart can seldom resist the importunities +of beggars, was, a few mornings since, followed by a hungry +half-starved dog, when he inadvertently took from his pocket a +penny, which he was just about to give to the four-footed wanderer, +when he perceived his mistake. It should be mentioned that the +above individual had, on nearly the precise spot, on the previous +night, assisted one of his fellow creatures in the same manner as +that in which he was about to relieve the quadruped. The EDITOR of +the MIRROR will be happy to substantiate this fact to such as may +be disposed to doubt its authenticity:—"if it be madness, +there's method in it."</p> +<hr /> +<h3>SIGNS OF THE TIMES.</h3> +<p>Seventeen hundred individuals a year, for the last seven years, +have been committed for poaching.—<i>Report Prison Discip. +Society</i>.</p> +<p>Crime is a curse only to the period in which it is successful; +but virtue, whether fortunate or otherwise, blesses not only its +own age, but remotest posterity, and is as beneficial by its +example, as by its immediate effects.</p> +<p>At the late Doncaster races, there were 30,000 persons well +clothed, and apparently well fed and happy. 2000<i>l.</i> were +taken at the grand stand for admission.</p> +<p>Mr. Kean is to receive, during the present season, <i>fifty +pounds</i> for each night's performance—the yearly income of +a curate!</p> +<p>Singing <i>Non Nobis Domine</i> after dinner is a very foolish +custom. People in England pay 10,000<i>l.</i> a year for <i>non +nobis</i>. Rather sing Dr. Kitchener's Universal Prayer and the +English grace. The common people of every country understand only +their native tongue; therefore if you do not understand them, you +will not understand each other. All Italian music is detestable, +and nothing like our genuine native song. Weber's "unconcatenated +chords" ought not to be listened to, while we have such composers +as Braham and Tom Cooke. The <i>national songs of Great Britain</i> +have not sold so well as the <i>Cook's Oracle</i>. "People like +what goes into the mouth better than what comes out of +it."—<i>Dr. Kitchener</i>.</p> +<p>A museum, deanery, and a cattle-market are building at York. +Various other improvements and repairs are also in progress in that +city!</p> +<p>According to the Report of the Commissioners of Public +Charities, the <i>annual</i> sum of 972,396<i>l.</i> has been +bequeathed by pious donors to <i>England only</i>! This is surely +the promised land of benevolence; but in Salop only, there are +arrears now due to the poor for upwards of 42 years!</p> +<p>M. La Combe, in his <i>Picture of London</i>, advises those who +do not wish to be robbed to carry a brace of blunderbusses, and to +put the muzzle of one out of each window, so as to be seen by the +robbers.</p> +<p>The silly habit of praising every thing at a man's table came in +for a share of the late Dr. Kitchener's severity. He said, +"Criticism, sir, is not a pastime; it is a verdict on oath: the man +who does it is (morally) sworn to perform his duty. There is but +one character on earth, sir," he would add, "that I detest; and +that is the man who praises, indiscriminately, every dish that is +set before him. Once I find a fellow do that at my table, and, if +he were my brother, I never ask him to dinner again."</p> +<p>A <i>daily</i> literary journal has lately been started in +Paris, and has, in less than three weeks, above 2,000 +subscribers.</p> +<p><i>Reviewing</i>, as a profession by which a certain class of +men seek to instruct the public, and to support themselves +creditably in the middle order, and to keep their children from +falling, after the decease of enlightened parents, on the parish, +is at the lowest possible ebb in this country; and many is the once +well-fed critic now an hungered—<i>Blackwood</i>.</p> +<p><i>Oranges</i>.—It is not perhaps generally known or +suspected, that the rabbis of the London synagogues are in the +habit of affording both employment and maintenance to the poor of +their own persuasion, by supplying them with oranges at an almost +nominal price.—<i>Ibid.</i></p> +<p><i>Noble Authors</i>.—The poor spinsters of the Minerva +press can scarcely support life by their labours, so completely are +they driven out of the market by the Lady <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page328" id="page328"></a>[pg 328]</span> +Charlottes and the Lady Bettys; and a rhyming peer is as common as +a Birmingham button. It would take ten Horace Walpoles at least to +do justice to the living authors of the red book.</p> +<p><i>Buying Books</i>.—Money is universally allowed to be +the thing which all men love best; and if a man buys a book, we may +safely infer he thinks well of it. What nobody buys, then, we may +justly conclude is not worth reading.</p> +<hr /> +<p><i>On the Duchess of Devonshire's canvassing for Mr. Fox at the +Westminster Election.</i></p> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>Array'd in matchless beauty, Devon's fair</p> +<p class="i2">In Fox's favour takes a zealous part;</p> +<p>But, oh! where'er the pilferer comes beware,</p> +<p class="i2">She supplicates a vote, and steals a heart.</p> +</div> +</div> +<hr /> +<p><i>Lines sent by a Surgeon, with a box of ointment, to a Lady +who had an inflamed eye.</i></p> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>The doctor's kindest wishes e'er attend</p> +<p>His beauteous patient, may he hope his friend;</p> +<p>And prays that no corrosive disappointment</p> +<p>May mar the lenient virtues of his ointment;</p> +<p>Of which, a bit not larger than a shot,</p> +<p>Or that more murd'rous thing, "a beauty spot,"</p> +<p>Warmed on the finger by the taper's ray,</p> +<p>Smear o'er the eye affected twice a day.</p> +<p>Proffer not gold—I swear by my degree,</p> +<p>From beauty's lily hand to take no fee;</p> +<p>No glittering trash be mine, I scorn such pelf,</p> +<p>The eye, when cured, will pay the debt itself.</p> +</div> +</div> +<hr /> +<p>George III. is said to have observed to a person who approached +him in a moment of personal restraint, indispensable in his +situation, "Here you see me <i>checkmated</i>."</p> +<hr /> +<h3>OLD GRIMALDI.</h3> +<p>The first Grimaldi celebrated on the stage, appeared at Paris +about the year 1735, when his athletic force and extraordinary +agility procured him the sobriquet of "Jambe de Fer," or iron-leg. +In 1742, when Mahomet Effendi, ambassador of the Porte, visited +Paris, he was received with the highest honour and utmost +distinction; and the court having ordered a performance for the +Turk's entertainment, Grimaldi was commanded to exert himself to +effect that object. In obedience to his directions, in making a +surprising leap, his foot actually struck a lustre, placed high +from the stage, and one of the glass drops was thrown in the face +of the ambassador. It was then customary to demand some reward from +the personage for whom the entertainment was prepared, and, at the +conclusion of the piece, Grimaldi waited upon the Mussulman for the +usual present. If the Turk had concealed the expression of his +anger at the accident, it was not however extinct, for on the +appearance of the buffoon, he directed him to be seized by his +attendants, and transported in his theatrical costume, to his +residence, where, after undergoing a severe bastinado, the hapless +actor was thrust into the street, with only his pedal honour for +his recompense.</p> +<hr /> +<h3>NEGROES' HEIR LOOM.</h3> +<p>Some years ago, the boiler-men negroes on Huckenfield estate +were overheard by the book-keeper discoursing on this subject, (the +superiority of the whites,) and various opinions were given, till +the question was thus set at rest by an old African:—"When +God Almighty make de world, him make two men, a nigger and a +buckra; and him give dem two box, and him tell dem for make dem +choice. Nigger, (nigger greedy from time,) when him find one box +heavy, him take it, and buckra take t'other; when dem open de box, +buckra see pen, ink, and paper; nigger box full up with hoe and +bill, and hoe and bill for nigger till this +day."—<i>Barclay's Slavery in the West Indies</i>.</p> +<hr /> +<h3>GRATITUDE.</h3> +<p>When Suffer, who had been fifty years a servant in the English +factory at Abesheber, or Bushire, a Persian sea-port, was on his +death-bed, the English doctor ordered him a glass of wine. He at +first refused, saying, "I cannot take it; it is forbidden in the +Koran." But after a few moments, he begged the doctor to give it +him, saying, as he raised himself in his bed, "Give me the wine; +for it is written in the same volume, that all you unbelievers will +be excluded from Paradise; and the experience of fifty years +teaches me to prefer your society in the other world, to any place +unto which I can be advanced with my own countrymen." He died a few +hours after this sally.—<i>Sketches of Persia</i>.</p> +<hr class="full" /> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote1" name= +"footnote1"></a><b>Footnote 1:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag1">(return)</a> +<p>We thank our correspondent for the above communication on one of +the most interesting phenomena of British geology; for, as we +hinted in our last, the pleasantest hours of our sojourn at +Margate, about three years since, were passed in the watchmaker's +museum, nearly opposite the Marine Library, which collection +contains many Sheppey fossils, especially a <i>prawn</i>, said to +be the only one in England. We remember the proprietor to have been +a self-educated man: he had been to the museum at Paris twice or +thrice, and spoke in high terms of the courteous reception he met +with from M Cuvier; and we are happy to corroborate his +representations. With respect to the <i>reptile</i>, or, as we +should say, <i>insect</i>, alluded to in the preceding letter, we +suppose it to have been a vermicular insect, similar to those +inhabiting the <i>cells</i> of <i>corallines</i>, of whose tiny +labours, in the formation of coral islands, we quoted a spirited +poetical description in No. 279 of the MIRROR. Corallines much +resemble fossil or petrified wood; and we recollect to have +received from the landlady of an inn at Portsmouth a small branch +of <i>fossil wood</i>, which she asserted to be <i>coral</i>, and +<i>that</i> upon the authority of scores of her visiters; but the +fibres, &c. of the wood were too evident to admit of a +dispute.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote2" name= +"footnote2"></a><b>Footnote 2:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag2">(return)</a> +<p>"Which, like a wounded snake, drags its slow length +along"—POPE.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote3" name= +"footnote3"></a><b>Footnote 3:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag3">(return)</a> +<p>It is, indeed, difficult to avoid one, call it what you will, +and quite as difficult to find a more absurd name than that +adopted, unless, indeed, (why the machine goes but five miles an +hour,) it is called a diligence from not being diligent, as the +speaker of our House of Commons may be so designated from not +speaking. It consists of three bodies, carries eighteen inside, and +is not unfrequently drawn by nine horses. A cavalry charge, +therefore, could scarcely make more noise. Hence, and from the +other circumstance, its association in the second stanza with the +triune sonorous Cerberus. A diligence indeed!</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote4" name= +"footnote4"></a><b>Footnote 4:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag4">(return)</a> +<p>The intrusive garrulity of French waiters at dinner is +notorious.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote5" name= +"footnote5"></a><b>Footnote 5:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag5">(return)</a> +<p>This "sea Mediterranean" is a most filthy, fetid, uncovered +gutter, running down the middle of the most, even of the best +streets, and with which every merciless Jehu most liberally +bespatters the unhappy pedestrian. Truly <i>la belle nation</i> has +little idea of decency, or there would be subterranean sewers like +ours.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote6" name= +"footnote6"></a><b>Footnote 6:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag6">(return)</a> +<p>French houses are cleaner even than ours externally, being all +neatly whitewashed! <i>mais le dedans! le dedans!</i></p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote7" name= +"footnote7"></a><b>Footnote 7:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag7">(return)</a> +<p>The servants are as notorious for their incivility as for their +intrusive loquacity.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote8" name= +"footnote8"></a><b>Footnote 8:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag8">(return)</a> +<p>As Scott well observes in the introduction to Waverley, "the +word comfortable is peculiar to the English language." The thing is +certainly peculiar to us, if the word is not.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote9" name= +"footnote9"></a><b>Footnote 9:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag9">(return)</a> +<p>All the tragedies are in rhyme, and that of the very worst +description for elocutionary effect. It is the anapestic, like, as +Hannah More remarks, "A cobbler there was, and he lived in a +stall!"</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote10" name= +"footnote10"></a><b>Footnote 10:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag10">(return)</a> +<p>It is scarcely necessary to remark, that the absurdity (exploded +in England at the Reformation) of a Latin liturgy still obtains in +France.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote11" name= +"footnote11"></a><b>Footnote 11:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag11">(return)</a> +<p>The Palais Royal! that pandemonium of profligacy! whose gaming +tables have eternally ruined so many of our countrymen! So many, +that he who, unwarned by their sad experience, plays at them, +is—is he not?—"complete ass."</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote12" name= +"footnote12"></a><b>Footnote 12:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag12">(return)</a> +<p>There are none, even in the leading streets; our ambassador's, +for instance.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote13" name= +"footnote13"></a><b>Footnote 13:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag13">(return)</a> +<p>As the <i>Etoile</i> lately translated John Bull. "When John's +no longer chamber-maid." Of the <i>propria quæ maribus</i> of +French domestic economy, this is not the least amusing feature. At +my hotel (in Rue St. Honoré) there was a he bed-maker; and I +do believe the anomalous animal is not uncommon.</p> +<blockquote> +<p>"When printed well a book is."</p> +</blockquote> +<p>Both paper and types are very inferior to ours. But that I +respect the editor's modesty, I would say it were not easy to find +a periodical in Paris, at once so handsomely and economically got +up as—this MIRROR.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote14" name= +"footnote14"></a><b>Footnote 14:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag14">(return)</a> +<p>See MIRROR, vol. 8, page 296.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote15" name= +"footnote15"></a><b>Footnote 15:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag15">(return)</a> +<p>These names are descriptive of the manner in which the women, so +called, perform their part of the work, To todle, is to walk or +move slowly, like a child; to trodle, is to walk or move more +quickly.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote16" name= +"footnote16"></a><b>Footnote 16:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag16">(return)</a> +<p>From our Correspondent's description of these cakes, we suppose +them to resemble the wafers sold by the confectioners, except in +the elegant designs on their surface.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote17" name= +"footnote17"></a><b>Footnote 17:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag17">(return)</a> +<p><i>We</i> remember the proverb, "Honour among thieves."</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote18" name= +"footnote18"></a><b>Footnote 18:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag18">(return)</a> +<p>But we cannot so far forget our country as to be indifferent to +them.—See a passage in the <i>Two Drovers</i>.</p> +</blockquote> +<hr class="full" /> +<p><i>Printed and Published by J. LIMBIRD, 143, Strand, (near +Somerset-House,) and sold by all Newsmen and Booksellers.</i></p> +<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 11341 ***</div> +</body> +</html> diff --git a/11341-h/images/282-1.png b/11341-h/images/282-1.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..18ad1ab --- /dev/null +++ b/11341-h/images/282-1.png diff --git a/11341-h/images/282-2.png b/11341-h/images/282-2.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..1756d00 --- /dev/null +++ b/11341-h/images/282-2.png |
