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diff --git a/11362-0.txt b/11362-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..01685c1 --- /dev/null +++ b/11362-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1554 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 11362 *** + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustration. + See 11362-h.htm or 11362-h.zip: + (http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/1/1/3/6/11362/11362-h/11362-h.htm) + or + (http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/1/1/3/6/11362/11362-h.zip) + + + + + +THE MIRROR OF LITERATURE, AMUSEMENT, AND INSTRUCTION. + +VOL. 12, No. 322.] SATURDAY, JULY 12, 1828. [PRICE 2d. + + + + * * * * * + + + + +CLARENCE TERRACE, REGENT'S PARK. + + +[Illustration: CLARENCE TERRACE, REGENT'S PARK.] + + +CLARENCE TERRACE, + +REGENT'S PARK. + + + O mortal man, who livest here, + Do not complain of this thy hard estate. + +_Thomson's Castle of Indolence._ + + +The annexed continuation of our illustrated ramble in the Regent's Park +is named _Clarence Terrace_, in compliment to the illustrious Lord High +Admiral of England. It consists of a centre and two wings, of the +Corinthian order, connected by colonnades of the Ilyssus Ionic order, +and altogether presents a picturesque display of Grecian architecture. +The three stories are a rusticated entrance, or basement; and a +Corinthian drawing-room and chamber story; surmounted with an elegant +entablature and balustrade. In the details, the spectator cannot fail to +admire the boldness and richness of the columns supporting the pediment +in the centre, and the classic beauty of the pilasters which decorate +the wings. + +_Clarence Terrace_ is from the designs of Mr. Decimus Burton, to whose +ingenious pencil we are indebted for some of the splendid architectural +combinations in this district. The present terrace is, we believe, the +smallest in the park, but yields to none in picturesque effect and +harmonious design; and the variety of its composition renders it one of +the most attractive illustrations of our series. It is likewise worthy +of remark, that this portion of the Regent's Park, from its natural +beauties, is entitled to the first-rate embellishment of art, inasmuch +as the basement of Clarence Terrace commands a "living picture" of +extraordinary luxuriance; and from the drawing-room windows the lake may +be seen studded with little islands, and environed with lawny slopes and +unusual park-like vegetation: + + + With Nature the creating pencil vies + With Nature joyous at the mimic strife. + + +We have already indulged our fancy in anticipations of the future +splendour of the Regent's Park. As yet, art triumphs, and here the +lordlings of wealth may enjoy _otium cum dignitate_: but in a few years +Nature may enable this domain to vie with Daphne of old, and become to +London what Daphne was to Antioch, whose voluptuousness and luxury are +perpetuated in history. But the beginnings of such triumphs furnish more +pleasing reflections than their decline. + +Clarence Terrace is on the western side of the park, and adjoins Sussex +Place, whose cupola tops were the signals for critical censure and +ridicule among the first structures in this quarter. The artists have, +however, profited by the lesson, and the architecture of the Regent's +Park bids fair to rank among the proudest successes of art. + + * * * * * + + +ORIGIN OF PARISHES. + +(_For the Mirror._) + + +How ancient the division of parishes is, may at present be difficult +to ascertain. Mr. Camden says, England was divided into parishes by +Archbishop Honorius, about the year 630. Sir Henry Hobart lays it down, +that parishes were first erected by the council of Lateran, which was +held A.D. 1179. Each widely differs from the other, and both of them +perhaps from the truth, which will probably be found in the medium, +between the two extremes. We find the distinction of parishes, nay, even +of mother churches, so early as in the laws of King Edgar, about the +year 970. The civil division of England into counties, of counties into +hundreds, of hundreds into tithings, or towns, as it now stands, seems +to owe its original to King Alfred; who, to prevent the rapines and +disorders which formerly prevailed in the realm, instituted tithings; +so called, from the Saxon, because ten freeholders with their families +composed one. These all dwelt together, and were sureties, or +free-pledges to the king for the good behaviour of each other; and if +any offence were committed in their district, they were bound to have +the offender forthcoming. And therefore, anciently, no man was suffered +to abide in England above forty days, unless he were enrolled in some +tithing or decennary. As ten families of freeholders made up a tithing, +so ten tithings composed a superior division, called a hundred. In some +of the more northern counties these hundreds are called wapentakes. The +sub-division of hundreds into tithings seems to be most peculiarly the +invention of Alfred; the institution of hundreds themselves he rather +introduced than invented, for they seem to have obtained in Denmark; and +we find that in France a regulation of this sort was made above 200 +years before; set on foot by Clotharicus and Childebert, with a view of +obliging each district to answer for the robberies committed in its own +division. In some counties there is an intermediate division between the +shire and the hundred, as lathes in Kent, and rapes in Sussex, each of +them containing about three or four hundreds a-piece. Where a county is +divided into three of these intermediate jurisdictions, they are called +trithings, which still subsist in the large county of York, where, by an +easy corruption, they are denominated ridings; the north, the east, and +the west. + +J.M. C----D. + + * * * * * + + +STANZAS, + +(BEING AN INTRODUCTION TO AN INTENDED VERSIFICATION OF ONE OF THE TALES +OF BOCCACCIO.) + +(_For the Mirror._) + + + The young, fair Spring, is tripping o'er the Earth, + With feet that ne'er can know the lag of age; + The Earth, her lover, conscious of her worth, + Flings down all his rich treasures to engage + That blushing wanderer: but she journeys forth + Heedless of all his offerings. The hot rage + Of love shall scorch his heart in tortures fell, + Till Winter comes with many an icicle. + + That loved-one yet is here; and flowers, and songs, + And streams--to gush above her own free feet + Of stainless ivory,--and countless throngs + Of birds are living, her pure soul to greet. + And the lone spirit, thoughtfully that longs + For a dim view of Eden, from a seat + O'erhanging some green valley, now espies + Nought that might dread compare with Paradise! + + There is a glory gone forth from on high!-- + It quickens the heart's beat, whereon it flings + Its fervour;--the flushed cheek and glowing eye + Confess its influence;--and the many strings, + Voiceless too long in the young heart, reply + To the mute promptings of a thousand things + Which Spring has conjured up;--all, all is hers-- + That Glory without name--she ministers. + + Now--all the thoughts she wakens in the heart + Are glorious Music!--divine Poesy!-- + Now--all the dreams on Fancy's eyes that start, + She will disown not, wayward though they be. + Sweet Dreams!--down Lethe's billow they depart-- + Words are too weak to clothe them worthily. + Rich incense, burnt upon some altar stone + Censerless,--in a temple--desert--lone! + + What shall we do in these delightful days, + When the full, bounding heart, will not be still;-- + When the glad eye, absorbed in far-sent gaze, + Forgets Earth's plenitude of grief and ill;-- + Shall we dream on, in a bewitching maze + Of sweet affections and bold hopes, until + Earth is not Earth--but Heaven? or shall we die + Hourly, to some "dissolving minstrelsy?" + + Sometimes, when day is dying--when twilight + Brings its dim Vigil,--hour of quietness,-- + 'Tis sweet to listen, till the cheated sight + Pictures strange shadowings of awfulness,-- + Some wild, old tale of goblin's ghastly spite, + Or antique strain of passionate distress;-- + And one, which has been wept o'er many a time + I seek, to mar, perchance, with feeble rhyme + +_May, 1828._ + +THOMAS M----s. + + * * * * * + + +EXECUTION AND LAST MOMENTS OF LORD WILLIAM RUSSEL. + +(_For the Mirror._) + + +This distinguished patriot and martyr to the cause of liberty was the +third son of William, the first Duke of Bedford, by a daughter of the +Earl of Somerset. He refused the generous offer of Lord Cavendish to +favour his escape, by changing clothes with him in prison; and he also +declined the Duke of Monmouth's proposal to surrender himself, should +Lord William Russel think it might contribute to his safety. "It will be +no advantage to me," he said, "to have my friends die with me." Conjugal +affection was the feeling that clung to his heart; and when he had taken +his last farewell of his wife, he said, "The bitterness of death is now +over." He suffered the sentences of his judges with resignation and +composure. Some of his expressions (says his biographer) imply much +good-humour in this last extremity. The day before his execution, he was +seized with a bleeding at the nose. "I shall not now let blood to divert +this distemper," said he to Burnet, who was present; "that will be done +to-morrow." A little before the sheriffs conducted him to the scaffold, +he wound up his watch. "Now I have done," said he, "with time, and +henceforth must think solely of eternity." The sad tragedy of the death +of the virtuous Lord Russel, (says Pennant,) who lost his head in the +middle of Lincoln's-Inn-Fields, took place on July 21st, 1683. Party +writers assert that he was brought here in preference to any other spot, +in order to mortify the citizens with the sight. In fact, it was the +nearest open space to Newgate, the place of his lordship's confinement. +Without the least change of countenance, he laid his head on the block, +and at two strokes it was severed from his body. He was, at the time of +his death, only forty-two years of age. To his character for probity, +sincerity, and private worth, even the enemies to his public principles +bear testimony. At Woburn Abbey is preserved, in gold letters, the +speech of Lord Russel to the sheriffs, together with the paper delivered +by his lordship to them at the place of execution. + +P.T.W. + + * * * * * + + +INDEPENDENCE OF PORTUGAL. + +(_For the Mirror._) + + +Portugal was first created into a monarchy on the 27th of July, 1139; +on which day, Dom Alphonso I., son of Henry, Count of Burgundy, the +son of Robert, king of France, was proclaimed at Lisbon, after having +vanquished and slain five Moorish kings in the battle of Campo +d'Ourique, where he was unanimously chosen as sovereign of Portugal by +his army. This dignity was confirmed to him by the first assembly of the +states-general at Lamego. In commemoration of this event, the Portuguese +arms bear five standards and five escudets.[1] After the unfortunate +expedition of Dom Sebastian I. to Africa, where he was slain in the +battle of Alcazar, the crown devolved upon his great uncle, the Cardinal +Dom Henry, a man of 67 years of age, and who reigned but 17 months. +At his death there were several claimants for the succession, and the +kingdom in consequence became the theatre of civil war. Philip II. of +Spain, the most powerful of these, sent an army, under the Duke of Alba, +into Portugal, and completed the conquest of the country with little +opposition. This event took place in the year 1580, and the kingdom of +Portugal remained under the dominion of Spain until the 1st of December, +1649, the day on which the Duke of Braganza was proclaimed king with the +title of Dom Joao IV. Since that time Portugal has maintained its +independence. For a more detailed account, see L'Abbé Nertot's +"Revolutions of Portugal." + + + [Footnote 1: See Succession Chronologica de los Reyes de Portugal.] + + +C.V., A CONSTANT READER. + + * * * * * + + +RECENT EARTHQUAKE IN COLOMBIA. + +(_Communicated by a Correspondent to Brande's Journal._) + + +On the 16th of November, 1827, at a quarter past six o'clock in the +evening, the inhabitants of Bogota, in Colombia, were thrown into the +greatest consternation and alarm by the severest shock of an earthquake +which has ever been known to visit that city. + +At the moment of its occurrence, a subterraneous noise was very +distinctly heard, resembling the noise of a carriage passing briskly +over the pavement, and a white, thin, transparent cloud was seen to hang +over the city; this cloud has been noticed in Italy, as generally, if +not always, present, near the volcanic commotions of that country, +previously, and at the time of these commotions. This cloud is entirely +unlike any other which I have ever noticed, and resembles a thin gauze +veil. I noticed it not only upon this occasion, but also in the +earthquake of June 17th, 1826, in this city.[2] + +[Footnote 2: If I may be allowed to offer a conjecture on the cause +of this singular white veil, or cloud, I can only attribute it to the +vapour of water which escapes from the earth from the heated mass below, +and which is condensed on rising into the cold air, and thus rendered +visible. Bogota, according to my measurement, which corresponds very +nearly with that of Baron Humboldt, is 9,600 feet above the level of the +sea, and is distant at least one hundred miles from any known volcano.] + +The earthquake took a direction from S.E. to N.W., in which it could +plainly be traced by the havoc which it made. Its effects on the city +were partial in the above direction, but every part was convulsed. + +The confusion and affliction which such a calamity occasions, +particularly in a catholic country, can neither be imagined, nor +described. I was sitting reading in a small house of one story above the +ground-floor, when the trembling commenced; the table on which my book +lay, first shook, and almost at the same instant the chair on which +I sat; I immediately got on my legs, but found much difficulty in +sustaining myself without holding by some fixture; the house all this +time rocking to and fro as in a hurricane, but not a breath of air +stirred. After passing ten or more seconds in this way, I collected my +reason sufficiently to run down the steps into the street; all this time +the earth was in motion. When I arrived at the portal of the door, I +found it impossible to stand without holding very tight by the doorway, +and many persons fell on their faces. During these moments, part of the +house adjoining mine fell with a terrible crash, and the street was +filled with a cloud of dust, out of which emerged a man distorted with +horror, but who had almost miraculously escaped immolation, without any +other hurt than what his fright had occasioned. After continuing a +_minute or more_, the trembling ceased, and nothing could now be heard +but the cries of the people; with that exception all was still and +silent, and the stars appeared with all their brilliancy, as if smiling +at this scene of human distress. Some persons asserted, that there were +two distinct shocks, but I must confess I felt the earth in motion +during the whole period of a minute or more; and being situated over the +direction which the earthquake took, was therefore, better able to judge +of this than others who were more distant, and particularly as I +retained my presence of mind. Fortunately for me my house was well +built, for had it fallen I should inevitably have been buried in the +ruins. To describe the scene which ensued is difficult; the streets were +filled with despair; some entirely and others half naked were seen on +their knees imploring divine protection; no one knew what to do or where +to fly, for all were in the same consternation and distress. After this +had a little subsided, the city became soon deserted, and a fresh scene +presented itself; all those who had horses were seen scampering through +the streets towards the plain, to elude the terror of another shock; +others on foot with their beds on their backs; and the sick, wrapped +up in blankets, were conveyed in arm-chairs, with two sticks passed +underneath them to form sedan-chairs, and some were conveyed in +hammocks. This afflicting sight, accompanied by the cries of the +distressed and the melancholy chant of their progress, was painful in +the extreme; and hard, indeed, must be that heart who could view it +with indifference; yet such was the apathy occasioned by terror, that +scarcely any one offered assistance to his neighbour, and frequently +neglected his own safety. When all was quiet I went out to examine the +city. The first thing which attracted my notice was the turret of the +stately cathedral partly demolished, and the building split and cracked +in various places; the precious stones, consisting of diamonds, +emeralds, and topazes, which adorned the interior, were scattered in all +directions, and many of them broken, particularly a very large emerald +weighing some ounces. This edifice had but just been repaired from the +effects of the earthquake in the preceding year, and was, by this last, +reduced to a tattered ruin. In all the streets which ran in the +direction of N.W. and S.E., many houses were "levelled with the dust," +and others "rent in twain;" and some of the unfortunate inhabitants +buried beneath their ruins. In all, fourteen persons have lost their +lives; and the damage done to the city is estimated to be at least six +millions of dollars, although it did not contain a larger population +than 30,000 souls. Deserted streets, heaps of ruins, and tottering +houses, threatening to crush the beholder, give but a faint idea of this +desolate picture. General Soublette and General Bolivar were both +present at the last fatal earthquake in Caraccas, and they both assert +that this, of which I have now given a description, was at least as +powerful, although the suffering in the town of Caraccas was much +greater; and they attribute the happy escape of thousands of lives to +the difference in the construction of houses in the two places. General +Bolivar, as well as myself and others, were affected with sickness at +the stomach after the shock. During the night of the earthquake in +Bogota, on the 16th of November, 1827, tremulous motions of the earth +were continually felt, and the following day, and every other since; and +even whilst I am now writing, slight undulating motions are perceptible. + +Every person is still in the greatest alarm, dreading a second severe +shock, which happened last year at the distance of four days from the +first grand shock; should this happen now, scarcely one stone will +remain upon another in Bogota. + + * * * * * + + +THE DRAUGHTSMAN;[3] OR, HINTS ON LANDSCAPE PAINTING. + + +[Footnote 3: Vide MIRROR, vol. iv. pp 2, 22, 61, 102.] + + +OBSERVATIONS ON, AND RULES FOR, SKETCHING. + + +The following hints, tending to further the tyro's progress in the +delightful art of drawing, will not I trust prove unacceptable to such +of your readers as are interested in the subject. For my own use I +epitomized various directions relative to sketching, when I met with +them in Gilpin's "Three Essays on Picturesque Beauty," and I shall feel +particularly happy should my attempt at condensing much artistical +matter from that interesting volume prove useful to the _amateur_: the +_professor_ undergoes a regular, severe, but _essential_ course of study +in that beautiful art, which is to purchase for him fame and emolument; +but he who takes up his pencil merely for pastime, will do well to +regulate its movements by a few _rules_, not cumbrous to the memory, and +of easy application.--It is my intention briefly to state the object of +Gilpin's first and second essays; from the third I have deduced those +_rules for sketching_ which appeared most obviously to result from the +tenour of his observations:-- + +Essay 1st discusses the difference between _actual_ and _picturesque_ +beauty; _smoothness_ is usually allowed to enter into our ideas of the +former, but _roughness_, or _ruggedness_ is decidedly _essential_ to the +latter: for example--The smooth shaven lawn, the neatly turned walk, the +classic marble portico, &c. &c. are _beautiful_; but the ruined castle, +the chasmed mountain, the tempestuous ocean, &c. are _picturesque_, +i.e. with appropriate accompaniments; for, after remarking that the +sublime and beautiful are, with many persons, the divisions of the +_picturesque_, our acute observer of nature adds, "sublimity alone +cannot make an object picturesque," it must in form, colour, or +accompaniment, have some degree of _beauty_ to render the epithet just. +"Nothing can be more _sublime_ than the ocean, but wholly unaccompanied +it has little of the picturesque." It should also be remembered that +objects of rough and careless contour, as the worn cart-horse, and the +tattered beggar (neither of them laying claim to an iota of _sublimity_) +please better in a painting, than the sleekest racer, and the most +finished belle of the _Magazin des Modes_.[4] + +[Footnote 4: It is singular, but almost true to an axiom, that objects +capable of exciting disgust in their _reality_, confer delight in their +pictorial _representation_; the interior of some wretched hovel, a sty +and its inmates, and a boorish revel, will exemplify this. Our pleasure +in that case arises _perhaps_ not from the objects represented, but from +the _truth of the representation_. I know not that this paradox has ever +been solved, and therefore with diffidence offer, that we are rather +pleased with the _artist_ than his _subject_.] + +Essay 2nd treats of travelling, as far as it regards the _picturesque_, +which is to be sought in natural, and sometimes artificial, objects; +these will constantly present themselves to the observer under all the +varieties of light and shadow, and the different combinations of colour, +form, and accompaniment, sometimes producing whole landscapes, but +more frequently only beautiful parts of scenery. The _curious_ and +_fantastic_ forms of nature are not subjects for the pencil,--and the +draughtsman will endeavour to depict _animate_ as well as inanimate +objects. The utility and amusement of travelling, are also considered +in this essay, and hints thrown out for the improvement of barren and +disagreeable country, by the observation of lights and shadows, tints +of the season, distances, &c., with a recommendation to supply, if +possible, every hiatus of nature, by the _imagination_ of all that is +needed to render her perfectly picturesque. (An ingenious idea; but, +alas! mountains will not always rise in a marsh, forests wave over a +sterile heath, nor lakes and rivers adorn a wheat-field. This essay, +however, is worthy the perusal of travellers even, who never touched +a pencil.) + +Essay 3rd treats of sketching from nature from whence are deduced the +following + +_Rules._ + +1. Every landscape should have a _leading subject_; a rule too much +neglected even by superior artists. + +2. Get the object, or subject you design to copy, into the _best_ point +of view. + +3. Landscape consists of three general parts:--fore-ground, middle or +second-ground, and distance; in sketching foreground, it is a good rule +to have some part of it higher than the rest of the picture. (_Vide_ +Rule the 7th.) + +4. Mark the principal parts, (or points) of your landscape on paper, +that you may more readily ascertain the relative distances and +situations of the others. + +5. Pay attention to the _character_ of your subject; mingle not +_trivial_ with _grand_ details. + +6. One landscape must not be crowded with circumstances sufficient for +two or more. + +7. It is sufficient to give the principal feature of what you essay to +represent; as a castle, abbey, bridge, &c.; but its accompaniments may +(and to _make a picture_, should) be often different. The _fore-ground_ +of a drawing _must_ be the artist's own; and it should be ample, since +an extended distance, and a narrow fore-ground is always awkward and bad +in a picture--N.B. Taste and observation will direct the student to +select for his fore-ground, clusters of trees, pieces of rock, or the +fragments of ruined fabrics, &c., according to the nature of his +subject. + +8. On the accurate observation of _distances_ the beauty of landscape +depends; be careful therefore to get them correct at your outset, and +to keep them so, by shading lightly with pen or brush your black-lead +sketch, (should the parts be complicated,) whilst the view is before +you, or fresh in your memory. + +9. The hand should be accustomed to the touch of various kinds of trees, +though in a mere _sketch_, little variety is required; the distinction, +however, between full foliaged, and straggling, branchy trees must be +preserved, for both are necessary even in a sketch, and the artist +should therefore be prepared to represent them. + +10. The artist must attend to the composition, and the disposition of +his subject. By the _composition_ may be understood the objects with +which he composes his view; by the _disposition_, their picturesque and +tasteful arrangement. + +11. Figures, must be such as are appropriate to the scene; thus, history +in miniature is bad, because a landscape is in itself a subject +sufficient for the employment both of pencil and eye; therefore +historical figures in a view, are lost and out of place. + +12. Birds may be introduced with good effect, if thrown into proper +distance; to represent them _near_ is absurd: ruins and sea views are +the best subjects in which they can appear. + +13. _Effect_ is to be produced best, by strong contrasts of _light_ and +_shade_ both in earth and sky; but the student's taste must determine +where these shall fall, and though the contrasts should be strong, yet +_gradation_, in both, must be observed. + +14. A predominancy of _shade_ has the best effect; and light, though it +should not be scattered, must not be drawn, as it were, into one focus. + +15. The light, in a picture, is best disposed when the fore-ground is +in shadow, and it falls in the middle; but this rule is subject to many +variations. Light should rarely be spread on the distance.[5] + +[Footnote 5: Extraordinary and beautiful effects, however, are, by +superior painters, frequently produced by violating this latter rule. +The writer would particularly notice the results of light thrown into +the distance, in stormy sea-views.] + +16. It is useful to know, that the shadows of morning are darker than +those of evening; also, that when objects are in _shadow_, their light +(as it is then a reflected light,) falls on the opposite side to that on +which it would come if they were enlightened. + +17. The _harmony_ of the whole should be studied; if the piece strikes +you as defective in this respect, place it at evening in some situation +where it will not be reached by a strong light, when the misplaced +lights and shadows will strike you more forcibly than in the glare of +day. + +18. To stain your paper with a slight reddish or yellowish tint, adds to +the harmony of a sketch, yet it is a mere matter of taste; but, when it +is desired, it had better be done after the drawing is completed, +otherwise the colour risks looking patched from the rubber.[6] + +[Footnote 6: Coffee has been recommended for this purpose, but delicate +and pleasing washes or glazings may be produced from burnt sienna, +yellow ochre, burnt umbre, and lake, in various combinations, and laid +on extremely attenuated by water.] + +19. In _colouring_, the _sky_ gives the _ruling tint_ to the landscape; +it is absurd to unite a noonday sky, with a landscape of sunset glow. + +20. From the three virgin colours, red, blue, and yellow, all the tints +of nature are composed.[7] There is not in nature a perfect white, +except snow, and the petals of some flowers. + + +[Footnote 7: The artist, however, cannot produce _his_ tints from those +simple colours _entirely_, but the advice once given to the writer, by a +painter, was:--"Never fancy that _many_ colours will effect your object; +a _few_ well chosen will better succeed, and be more easily managed; +half-a-dozen would, for _me_, answer every purpose." The student is +warned against _gaudy colouring_, which, if allowable in _caricatures_ +seen _elsewhere_, reminds one of pedlar's pictures.] + + +21. Sketch nothing but what you can _adorn_, (for the purpose of showing +to friends, &c.) but do not adorn your first, or _rough_ sketch; _make +another_, and refer to your _original_ draught, as you would do to the +view itself, for it contains your _general ideas_--your first and +freshest, which may be lost by endeavouring to refine and improve upon +them in the original sketch.[8] + + +[Footnote 8: The old masters are well known to have made carefully _many_ +sketches of the subjects they designed for pictures, ere they dreamt of +painting compositions that were to last for ever.] + + +22. In adorning your sketch, figures, both animate and inanimate, may +be introduced, but _sparingly_; touch them slightly, for an attempt at +_finish_ offends. + +I shall take the liberty of adding--endeavour to get a free and flowing +outline; be not too minute either in detail or finishing; use pen or +brush for your _rough_ sketch in preference to pencil; you will gain +confidence, and _correctness_ will be your aim in your _adorned_ copy. +Finally, study nature, art, and good writers. + +M.L.B. + + * * * * * + + + + +FINE ARTS. + +(_To the Editor of the Mirror._) + + +Sir,--I have made repeated visits this season to the exhibition of the +works of the old masters at the _British Institution_, for the express +purpose of presenting you with _a few remarks_ on some of the most +excellent paintings. As I have strictly adhered to the notes which I +made at the institution, the accuracy of the subjoined may be depended +upon:-- + + +BRITISH INSTITUTION. + + +The present exhibition consists of the works of the Italian, Spanish, +Flemish, and Dutch masters. There are one hundred and ninety pictures, +which have chiefly been contributed to the institution by his Majesty +and the nobility. + +No. 5, _Innocent the Tenth_, by Velasquez, is an uncommon fine portrait; +it is very boldly executed, combining at the same time a sufficient +degree of finish and great beauty of colour. His holiness is represented +in quite a plain habit. The beauties of Guido's pencil will be traced in +No. 6, _Hippomenes and Atalanta_. Claude, in his _Embarkation of St. +Paul; Sea Port, Evening, &c._, charms us with his exquisite effects, +which are so truly natural, that, while we view his representations, we +may almost fancy ourselves transported to the magnificent scenery of +Italy. In No. 42, _Titian's Daughter_, are seen the genuine tints +adopted by the Venetian school of painting. No. 56, _St. Appolonia_, +by Sebastian del Piombo, is a most admirable specimen of the master. +No. 74, _Landscape and Cattle_, by Paul Potter, contains all that beauty +of touch and delicacy of colour which render this famous artist so +difficult to imitate. There are several very capital pictures by the +younger Teniers; No. 77, _his own portrait_, and No. 95, _portrait of +the painter and his son_, are truly excellent; as is No. 94, _Figures +playing at Bowls_. A remarkable and very forcible effect is found in No. +93, _The outside of a House with Figures_--painted by De Hooge. Nos. +121 and 123, _Flowers and Fruit_, by the celebrated Van Huysum, are +extremely elaborate in their execution. No. 161, _The Battle between +Constantine and Maxentius_, is a sketch by Rubens, possessing wonderful +fire and spirit, as well as great mellowness of colour. + +Besides the above pictures, there are many beautiful productions by Jan +Steen, Cuyp, Poussin, Salvator Rosa, Guercino, Domenichino, Murillo, +Albano, Vandyke, Ruysdael, Houdekoeter, Wouvermans, &c. + +G.W.N. + + * * * * * + + +ANCIENT ROMAN FESTIVALS. + + * * * * * + +JULY. + + +The _Caprotinia_, or feasts of Juno Caprotina, were celebrated on +the 9th of July, in favour of the female slaves. During this solemnity +they ran about, beating themselves with their fists and with rods. +None but women assisted in the sacrifices offered at this feast. Kennet +says, the origin of this feast, or the famous _Nonae Caprotinae_, or +_Poplifugium_, is doubly related by Plutarch, according to the two +common opinions. First, because Romulus disappeared on that day, when +an assembly being held in the _Palus Capreae_, or _Goats'-Marsh_, on +a sudden happened a most wonderful tempest, accompanied with terrible +thunder, and other unusual disorders in the air. The common people fled +all away to secure themselves; but, after the tempest was over, could +never find their king. Or, else, from _Caprificus_, a wild fig-tree, +because, in the Gallic war, a Roman virgin, who was prisoner in the +enemy's camp, got up into a wild fig-tree, and holding out a lighted +torch toward the city, gave the Romans a signal to fall on; which they +did with such good success, as to obtain a considerable victory. + +The _Lucaria_ was an ancient feast, solemnized in the woods, where +the Romans, defeated and pursued by the Gauls, retired and concealed +themselves; it was held, on the 19th of July, in a wood, between the +Tyber and the road called Via Salaria. + +The feast of _Neptunalia_ was held on the 23rd of July, in honour of +Neptune. + +The _Furinalia_ were feasts instituted in honour of _Furina_, the +goddess of robbers among the Romans; they took place on the 25th of +July. This goddess had a temple at Rome, and was served by a particular +priest, who was one of the fifteen Flamens.[9] Near the temple there was +a sacred wood, in which Caius Gracchus was killed. Cicero takes her to +be the same as one of the Furies. + +[Footnote 9: Flamen, among the ancient Romans, was a priest or minister +of sacrifice.] + +P.T.W. + + * * * * * + + + + +NOTES OF A READER. + + * * * * * + + +CAPTAIN POPANILLA'S VOYAGE. + + +Who has not read _Vivian Grey_, in five broad-margined volumes, with +space enough between each line to allow the indulgence of a nap, when +the poppy of the author predominated? Affectation, foppery, and conceit, +have protracted the memoirs of this renowned personage to such an +extent; but in spite of all that unfashionable critics have said, Vivian +Grey has just produced a volume under the title of the Voyage of +_Captain Popanilla_, with as much of the aforesaid qualities as the most +listless drawing-room or boudoir reader could require. Nevertheless, +"the voyage" has many touches of wit, humour, and caustic satire, and +it has the soul and characteristic of wit--_brevity_; for we read the +volume in little more than an hour; and, although Vivian may regard our +analysis of his voyage like showing the sun with a lantern, we are +disposed to venture upon the task for the gratification of our readers. + +To say that Popanilla resembles Swift's "Tale of a Tub," or Sir Thomas +More's "Utopia," would be an advantageous comparison for our modern +_voyager_, but it would not sufficiently illustrate the character of +his work, since the latter books are so much less read than talked of. +Swift wrote "for the universal improvement of mankind," but Popanilla +publishes for the benefit of the people of England, whom he represents +as living in a too artificial state. He tells his story as the native +of an Indian isle, whose men combine "the vivacity of a faun with the +strength of a Hercules, and the beauty of an Adonis," and whose women +"magically sprung from the brilliant foam of that ocean, which is +gradually subsiding before them." This favoured spot he calls the _Isle +of Fantaisie_, about the shores of which appears a remarkable fish, or +rather a ship, to the no small terror of the islanders. The ship is +wrecked, and Popanilla "having in his fright, during the storm, lost a +lock of hair which, in a moment of glorious favour, he had ravished from +his fair mistress' brow," is next introduced in search of this precious +_bijou_. "The favourite of all the women, the envy of all the men, &c. +&c, and--you know the rest,--Popanilla passed an extremely pleasant +life. No one was a better judge of wine--no one had a better taste for +fruit--no one danced with more elegant vivacity--and no one whispered +compliments in a more meaning tone. What a pity that such an amiable +fellow should have got into such a scrape!" + +Instead of the dear lock, Popanilla finds a chest saved from the wreck, +and filled with "Useful Knowledge Tracts," books on "the Hamiltonian +system," &c. which our adventurer, like Faustus and his bible, turns to +bad account; he falls asleep, is swallowed by a whale, and spouted forth +again. "The dreamer awoke amidst real chattering, and scuffling, and +clamour. A troop of green monkeys had been aroused by his unusual +occupation, and had taken the opportunity of his slumber to become +acquainted with some of the first principles of science. What progress +they had made it is difficult to ascertain. It is said, however, that +some monkeys have been since seen skipping about the island, with their +tails cut off; and that they have even succeeded in passing themselves +for human beings among those people who do not read novels, and are +consequently unacquainted with mankind. As for Popanilla, he took up a +treatise on hydrostatics, and read it straight through on the spot. For +the rest of the day he was hydrostatically mad; nor could the commonest +incident connected with the action or conveyance of water take place, +without his speculating on its cause and consequence." So much for the +first steps of "intellect;" now for the "march." Popanilla soon becomes +a man of science: his wit flies off in tangents, and he tries to prove +his sovereign a lantern, and himself a sun,[10] by undertaking to +re-shape all the institutions of Fantaisie. Then follow a string of +dogmas about utility, &c.; and man being a _developing animal_, till he +decides that "there is no such thing as Nature; Nature is Art, or Art is +Nature; that which is most useful is most natural, because utility is +the test of Nature; therefore, a steam-engine is in fact a much more +natural production than a mountain." Here, observing a smile upon his +majesty's countenance, Popanilla tells the king that he is only a chief +magistrate, and he has no more right to laugh at him than a constable. +This is "too bad" for the royal mind; Popanilla is cut; rather +crest-fallen, he sneaks home, and consoles himself for having nobody +to speak to, by reading some very amusing "Conversations on Political +Economy." But he sinks to rise again. He obtains many pupils, who had +no sooner mastered the first principles of science, than they began to +throw off their retired habits and uncommunicative manners. "Being not +utterly ignorant of some of the rudiments of knowledge, and consequently +having completed their education, it was now their duty, as members of +society, to instruct and not to study; and on all occasions they seized +opportunities of assisting the spread of knowledge. The voices of boys +lecturing upon every lecturable topic, resounded in every part of the +island. Their tones were so shrill, their manners so presuming, their +knowledge so crude, and their general demeanour so completely unamiable, +that it was impossible to hear them without the greatest, delight, +advantage, and admiration." The king at last becomes impregnated with +the liberal spirit of the age; Popanilla is "sent for" to court; he is +overpowered with promotion, told that "with the aid of a treatise or +two," he will make "a consummate naval commander," although he has +"never been at sea in the whole course of his life," and at length +thrust into a canoe, with some fresh water, bread, fruit, dried fish, +and a basket of alligator pears. "Unhappy Popanilla! and all from that +unlucky lock of hair!" His fright is ludicrously sketched. "Poor fellow! +how could he know better? He certainly had enjoyed a seat at the +Admiralty Board of Fantaisie, but then he was a lay-lord." Among his +discoveries, on the second day, at 25 m. past 3 p.m., though at a +considerable distance, he saw a mountain and an island: he called the +first Alligator Mountain, in gratitude to the pears; and christened the +second after his mistress; but the happy discoverer further found the +mountain to be a mist, and the island a sea-weed. At length, on the +third day, after being in a valley formed by two waves, each 3,000 feet +high, and in as tremendous a tempest as ever raged in Chelsea or +Battersea-reach, "great, square and solid, black clouds drew off like +curtains, and revealed to him a magnificent city rising out of the sea. +Tower and dome, arch, and column, and spire, and obelisk, and lofty +terraces, and many-windowed palaces, rose in all directions from a mass +of building, which appeared each instant to grow more huge, till at +length it seemed to occupy the whole horizon." On his landing he is +pestered with questions from the natives; but, thanks to the Hamiltonian +system, "Popanilla, under these circumstances, was more loquacious than +could have been Capt. Parry." He announces himself as the "most injured +of human beings;" the women weep, the men shake hands with him, and all +the boys huzza: he then narrates his ill-fortunes at Fantaisie, not +forgetting the never-enough-to-be-lamented lock of hair. Other danger +awaits him, for "to be strangled was not much better than to be starved; +and certainly with half a dozen highly respectable females clinging +round his neck, he was not reminded, for the first time in his life, +what a domestic bowstring is an affectionate woman." He is next joined +by an "influential personage," who informs him that he is in _Hubbabub_ +(London)--the largest city, not only that exists, but that ever did +exist, and the capital of the Island of _Vraibleusia_, the most famous +island, not only that is known, but that ever was known. "He provides +himself with a purse, and exchanges his money with a banker, who offers +him during his stay in Vraibleusia, the use of a couple of equipages, a +villa, an opera box; insists upon sending to his hotel some pineapples +and very rare wine; and gives him a perpetual ticket to his +picture-gallery." Popanilla leaves his gold and takes the banker's pink +shells, for "no genteel person has ever anything else in his pocket." +Then follow some quips on the shell question (currency), and Mr. +Secretary Perriwinkle, the most eminent conchologist, and the "debt" of +the richest nation in the world; although, "a golden pyramid, with a +base as big as the whole earth and an apex touching the heavens, would +not supply sufficient metal to satisfy the creditors." "The annual +interest upon our debt exceeds the whole wealth of the rest of the +world; therefore we must be the richest nation in the world." + + +[Footnote 10: "What boots it thee to call thyself a sun."] + + +Our traveller being now settled at a splendid hotel in Hubbabub, +Skindeep, his "gentleman in black," drives him about the city in an +elegant equipage. The western migrations of fashion are humorously +sketched, and the architecture of our metropolis comes in for a share +of the author's banter. "In general, the massy Egyptian appropriately +graced the attic stories; while the finer and more elaborate +architecture of Corinth was placed on a level with the eye, so that its +beauties might be more easily discovered. Spacious colonnades were +flanked by porticoes, surmounted by domes; nor was the number of columns +at all limited, for you occasionally met with porticoes of two tiers, +the lower one of which consisted of three, the higher one of thirty +columns. Pedestals of the purest Ionic Gothic, were ingeniously mixed +with Palladian pediments; and the surging spire exquisitely harmonized +with the horizontal architecture of the ancients. But, perhaps, after +all, the most charming effect was produced by the pyramids, surmounted +by weathercocks." + +A lively sketch of "the aboriginal inhabitant" introduces some smart +satire on the agriculturists, and proves that, "between force, and fear, +and flattery, the Vraibleusians paid for their corn nearly its weight in +gold; but what did it signify to a nation with so many pink shells." +Popanilla is next introduced to an eminent bookseller, who craves +the honour of publishing a narrative of his voyage: he informs the +"mercantile Mecaenas" that he does not know how to write; who replies +that "he never had for a moment supposed that so sublime a savage could +possess such a vulgar accomplishment, and that it was by no means +difficult for a man to publish his travels without writing a line." This +is a stale affair; but Popanilla's drinking a dozen of the bookseller's +wine smacks more of novelty. His voyage is published, and contains a +detailed account of every thing which took place during the whole of the +three days, forming a quarto volume! Then we have a shower of squibs on +_converzazioni_--as dukes imbibing a new theory of gas, a prime-minister +studying pinmaking, a bishop the escapements of watches, a field-marshal +intent on essence of hellebore. "But what most delighted Popanilla was +hearing a lecture from the most eminent lawyer and statesman in +Vraibleusia, on his first and favourite study of hydrostatics. His +associations quite overcame him; all Fantaisie rushed upon his memory, +and he was obliged to retire to a less frequented part of the room, +to relieve his too excited feelings." The hostess too declares it +"impossible for mankind ever to be happy and great, until, like +herself and her friends," her company are "all soul!" + +Popanilla is now constituted ambassador from Fantaisie, and goes through +all the courtly scenes of diplomacy, for which we have not room; but +their gist will be readily understood among the stars of St. James's, +especially the authors allusions to Navarino and the late ministry, +which are in good set terms. The "Aboriginal," too, tells Popanilla +"some long stories about a person who was chief manager, about five +hundred years ago, to whom he said he was indebted for all his political +principles." + +During Popanilla's sight-seeing career, he, of course, visits our +theatres, and a tolerably broad caricature he gives of them. "To sit in +a huge room hotter than a glass-house, in a posture emulating the most +sanctified Faquir, with a throbbing head-ache, a breaking back, and +twisted legs, with a heavy tube held over one eye, and the other +covered with the unemployed hand, is, in Vraibleusia, called a public +amusement." In one morning's lionizing, too, he acquires "a general +knowledge of the chief arts and sciences, eats three hundred sandwiches, +and tastes as many bottles of sherry." + +The frauds and fooleries of the joint stock company mania are, perhaps, +among the least successful portion of the volume. The "literature" is +somewhat better, as the establishment of a "Society for the Diffusion of +Fashionable Knowledge"--its first treatise, Nonchalance--dissertations +"on leaving cards," "cutting friends," "on bores," &c.--and a new novel +called "Burlington"--the last a scratch at Popanilla's publisher. The +"Clubs" are next recommended for those fond of solitude, and their satin +luxuries humorously quizzed; but "the Colonial System," which follows, +has more causticity. Popanilla, like all other great foreigners who +visit England, falls ill; his disorder is "unquestionably nervous;" he +is to count five between each word he utters, never ask questions, and +avoid society, and only dine out once a day. This regimen brings on a +slow fever; but his disorder is neither "liver," nor "nervous," but +"mind." He next falls in with an Essay on Fruit, from which he learns +that thousands of the Vraibleusians are dying with dyspepsia from eating +pine-apples, which are denounced as "stupid, sour, and vulgar." + +Popanilla is ordered by his physician to Blunderland, where the women +are "angelic," and the men "the most light-hearted, merry, obliging, +entertaining fellows;" and where "instead of knives and forks being +laid for the guests at dinner, the plates are flanked by daggers and +pistols." A "row" springs up; "all the guests lay lifeless about the +room;" "Popanilla rang the bell, and the waiters swept away the dead +bodies, and brought him a roasted _potato_ for supper." He next enjoys +the pleasures of the chase, and in revenge for a sharp fire, "burns +two villages, slays 2 or 300 head of women, and bags children without +number;" and in the evening Popanilla's powers of digestion are +improved. He now returns to Vraibleusia, where all are _panic_-struck, +and his friend, the banker, unlike his "perpetual ticket," has stopped +payment, and all our traveller's resources. Popanilla consoles him with +the joke that "things were not quite so bad as they appeared," till they +get worse, by two gentlemen in blue, with red waistcoats, arresting the +ambassador for high treason. This completes his "amusements." He fears +"confined cells, overwhelming fetters, black bread, and green water, in +the principal gaol in Hubbabub;" but becomes ensconced in Leigh Hunt's +"elegantly furnished apartment, with French sash-windows and a piano. +Its lofty walls were entirely hung with a fanciful paper, representing a +Tuscan vineyard; the ceiling was covered with sky and clouds; roses were +in abundance; and the windows, though well secured, excited no jarring +associations in the mind of the individual they illumined, protected as +they were by polished bars of cut-steel." + +"Next to being a plenipotentiary, Popanilla preferred being a prisoner. +His daily meals consisted of every delicacy in season; a marble bath was +ever at his service; a billiard-room and dumb-bells always ready; and +his old friends, the most eminent physician, and the most celebrated +practitioner in Hubbabub, called upon him daily to feel his pulse and +look at his tongue. These attentions authorized a hope that he might yet +again be an ambassador; that his native land might still be discovered, +and its resources still be developed; but when his gaoler told him that +the rest of the prisoners were treated in a manner equally indulgent, +because the Vraibleusians are the most humane people in the world, +Popanilla's spirits became somewhat depressed." + +"He was greatly consoled, however, by a daily visit from a body of the +most beautiful, the most accomplished, and the most virtuous females +in Hubbabub, who tasted his food to see that his cook did his duty, +recommended him a plentiful use of pine-apple well peppered, and made +him a present of a very handsome shirt, with worked frills and ruffles, +to be hanged in. This enchanting committee generally confined their +attentions to murderers, and other victims of the passions, who +were deserted in their hour of need by the rest of the society they +had outraged; but Popanilla being a foreigner, a prince, and a +plenipotentiary, and not ill-looking, naturally attracted a great deal +of notice from those who desire the amelioration of their species." + +"Popanilla was so pleased with his mode of life, and had acquired such a +taste for poetry, pine-apples, and pepper, since he had ceased to be an +active member of society, that he applied to have his trial postponed, +on the ground of the prejudice which had been excited against him by +the public press. As his trial was at present inconvenient to the +government, the postponement was allowed on these grounds." + +In the meantime, up jumps a public instructor, Flummery Flam, who +ascribes all the debt and distress to "a slight over-trading," chatters +about demand, supply, rent, wages, profit, and, as a temporary relief, +suggests "emigration." "Flummery-Flammism triumphs, and every person, +from the managers down to the chalk-chewing mechanics, attend lectures +on that enlightening science." + +At length Popanilla's trial comes on; the indictment is read; he is +accused of stealing 219 camelopards; perceives that he has all the time +been mistaken for another person: he is, however, detained, on the judge +of Fort Jobation informing him, that in order to be tried in his court +for a modern offence of high treason, he must first be introduced by +fiction of law as a stealer of camelopards, and then being _in praesenti +regio_, in a manner, the business proceeds by a special power for an +absolute offence. This flummery is too much; but every body with whom +Popanilla had conversed while in Vraibleusia is subpoenaed against him: +the judge is about to sum up, when a trumpet sounds, and a government +messenger presents a scroll, and informs him, that a remarkably clever +young man, recently appointed one of the managers, had last night +consolidated all the edicts into a single act. The judge then +compliments the young consolidator, compared to whom, he said, Justinian +was a country attorney. Popanilla is found "not guilty, and kicked out +of court, amidst the hootings of the mob, without a stain upon his +reputation." He then falls senseless on the steps of the Asiatic +club-house, is recovered by the smell of mulligatawney soup, and +moralizes till he perceives "it is possible for a nation to exist in too +artificial a state." He then sees the opposite house lit up, and the +words "Emigration Committee" written on a transparent blind. He enters, +finds the last Emigration squadron is about to sail in a few minutes; is +presented with a spade, blanket, and hard biscuit, and quits the port of +Hubbabub: what became of him will "probably be discovered, if ever we +obtain 'Popanilla's' second voyage"--and thus shuts to the scene. + +Here, gentle reader, you have the Captain's fun and _badinage_ on all +the wonderful wonders of Hubbabub--_videlicet_ this wonderful town. They +may serve to while away some of the _ennui_ of this season of roast, +bake, and broil, or be read aloud during the halt of the "march of +intellect" men. There are the principal incidents of his voyage; if you +wish to see them expanded, consult the book itself--that is if you are +gratified with our abstract--if the reverse, let well alone, lest you +find it, like ceremony, "a penny-worth of spirit in a glass of water." +But recollect, Popanilla's adventures have already been published in +quarto. + + * * * * * + + + + +SPIRIT OF DISCOVERY. + + * * * * * + + +_Machine for Sharpening Knives at once,_ + +Consists of a number of steel cylinders grooved transversely, and placed +on two revolving axes parallel to each other, and so that the bosses and +recesses of the one fit into those of the other cylinder. Along these +the knife is drawn, and so is immediately sharpened.--_London Jour. of +Arts._ + + +_Influence of Electricity on the developement of Seeds._ + +M. Astier has discovered that seeds which are electrified, run through +the first stages of vegetation more rapidly than others, and that China +roses submitted to this experiment, produce flowers sooner, and in +greater abundance.--_From the French._ + + +_Botany._ + +The number of different species of plants which have been described is +about 50,000; but botanists are generally agreed that probably as many +still remain undescribed; and, that the number of vegetable species on +the surface of the earth ought not to be estimated under 100,000. We may +be struck at the amount of this number; but our astonishment abates when +we find that our own island, which is but a mere misty speck, compared +with those broad zones of sunshine, "where the flowers ever brighten," +contains about 1,500 native flowering plants. Of those which have been +described, about 8,000, or nearly one-sixth, belong to the first of +the two classes, and of these nearly 2,000 are grasses. In cold and +temperate climates the species of this most interesting and important +family are comparatively diminutive in size. In our climate, for +instance, the grasses are somewhat remarkable among vegetables for their +humble stature, and their inconspicuous appearance; while in the warmer +regions of the earth, the bamboos and canes, which are species of the +same family, emulate trees in height and beauty. But what our species +want in individual magnitude, is far more than compensated by the +comparative vastness of the number of individuals. In tropical climates, +one plant may be seen here, and another there, which, in their size, +astonish an European, when he is told that they belong to the family of +the grasses; but there he would search in vain for those swards of +grass, and green meadows, with which almost the whole aspect of his own +climate is verdant. He might find one plant stately enough to shade him +from the torrid sun, and to harbour among its boughs many a tropical +bird with its bright metallic plumage; but he could not find a lea +covered with lowing herds, or with bleating flocks, on the soft sward of +which he could lie down, and listen to the lark that sings to him from +heaven, sending down its clear notes on the first sunbeams of spring. +It is in temperate climates--in those regions where man has made the +greatest advances in civilization--where the comforts and conveniences +of this life are most numerous around him--and the realities of that +which is to come are most brightly seen above him--that this family +of plants exists in greatest economic value. It is one of the most +important in every climate; for it is from one species of grass or other +that the present numbers of men, as well as the domestic animals that +serve him, derive their sustenance. The maize or Indian corn of the +west; the rice of the east; the wheat and other grains of the north; +equally belong to this tribe of plants.--_Quar. Jour. of Agriculture_ + + +_Blight in Fruit Trees._ + +Whenever you see the branch of a tree blighted, or eaten by insects, +procure a shoemaker's awl, and pierce the lower extremity of the branch +into the wood; then pour in two or three drops of crude mercury, (which +is the quicksilver in common use) and stop up the hole with a small +stick. In about forty-eight hours, the insects, not only upon that +branch, but upon all the rest of the tree, will be destroyed, and the +blights _will immediately_ cease. + +G.W.N. + + +_On the Live Stock of Britain, France, &c._ + +Dupin, in a work lately published, with a view to promote the numbers +and breeds of the live stock of France, states, that, in Britain, the +animal power is eleven times as great as the manual power; while in +France it is only four times as great; hence, French labourers receive +from animals only a third part of the aid yielded by them in Britain. He +also states, that Great Britain consumes three times as much meat, milk, +and cheese, as France. The following is the number of horses for every +1,000 inhabitants in the countries mentioned. Hanover, 193; Sweden, 145; +Canton de Vaud, (in Switzerland,) 140; Great Britain, 100; Prussia, (six +provinces) 95; France, 79. Numbers, however, give a very imperfect idea +of the relative amount of horse power, the breeds being so various in +the different countries. + + +_Supposed Nervous System in Plants._ + +M. Dutrochet, in a volume on the moving powers which act in organized +bodies, affirms, that there are seen on the walls of the cellular and +fibrous tissue of vegetables, small semi-transparent globular bodies +and linear bodies, which become opaque from the action of acids, and +are rendered transparent by that of alkalies. He considers these small +bodies as the elements of a diffused nervous system, to the action +of which he ascribes the movements of plants, arising from what is +denominated by him the _nervomotility_.--_From the French._ + + * * * * * + + + + +THE NOVELIST. + + * * * * * + + +THE MARRIAGE LESSON. + + +[We are indebted to the last Number (4) of the _Foreign Quarterly +Review_ for the following lively nouvelette, from the _Conde Lucanor_ of +the Infante Don Juan Manuel, written in the beginning of the fourteenth +century. It has much of the _naïvete_ and light humour peculiar to the +Spanish novelists, and, to quote the ingenious reviewer, "besides its +own merit, possesses that of some striking resemblances to Shakspeare's +_Taming of the Shrew_."] + +In a certain town there lived a noble Moor, who had one son, the best +young man ever known perhaps in the world. He was not, however, wealthy +enough to enable him to accomplish half the many laudable objects which +his heart prompted him to undertake; and for this reason he was in great +perplexity, having the will and not the power. Now in that same town +dwelt another Moor, far more honoured and rich than the youth's father, +and he too had an only daughter, who offered a strange contrast to this +excellent young man, her manners being as violent and bad as his were +good and pleasing, insomuch that no man liked to think of an union with +such an infuriate shrew. + +Now that good youth one day came to his father, and said, "Father, +I am well assured that you are not rich enough to support me according +to what I conceive becoming and honourable. It will, therefore, be +incumbent upon me to lead a mean and indolent life, or to quit the +country; so that if it seem good unto you, I should prefer for the best +to form some marriage alliance, by which I may be enabled to open myself +a way to higher things." And the father replied, that it would please +him well if his son should be enabled to marry according to his wishes. +He then said to his father, that if he thought he should be able to +manage it, he should be happy to have the only daughter of that good man +given him in marriage. Hearing this, the father was much surprised, and +answered, that as he understood the matter, there was not a single man +whom he knew, how poor soever he might be, who would consent to marry +such a vixen. And his son replied, that he asked it as a particular +favour that he would bring about this marriage, and so far insisted, +that however strange he thought the request, his father gave his +consent. In consequence, he went directly to seek the good man, with +whom he was on the most friendly terms, and having acquainted him with +all that had passed, begged that he would be pleased to bestow his +daughter's hand upon his son, who had courage enough to marry her. Now +when the good man heard this proposal from the lips of his best friend, +he said to him:--"Good God, my friend, if I were to do any such thing, I +should serve you a very bad turn; for you possess an excellent son, and +it would be a great piece of treachery on my part, if I were to consent +to make him so unfortunate, and become accessory to his death. Nay I may +say worse than death, for better would it be for him to be dead than to +be married to my daughter! And you must not think that I say thus much +to oppose your wishes; for as to that matter, I should be well pleased +to give her to your son, or to any body's son, who would be foolish +enough to rid my house of her." To this his friend replied, that he +felt very sensibly the kind motives which led him to speak thus; and +intreated that, as his son seemed so bent upon the match, he would be +pleased to give the lady in marriage. He agreed, and accordingly the +ceremony took place. The bride was brought to her husband's house, and +it being a custom with the Moors to give the betrothed a supper and to +set out the feast for them, and then to take leave and return to visit +them on the ensuing day, the ceremony was performed accordingly. +However, the fathers and mothers, and all the relations of the bride +and bridegroom went away with many misgivings, fearing that when they +returned the ensuing day they should either find the young man dead, +or in some very bad plight indeed. + +So it came to pass, that as soon as the young people were left alone, +they seated themselves at the table, and before the dreaded bride had +time to open her lips, the bridegroom, looking behind him, saw stationed +there his favourite mastiff dog, and he said to him somewhat sharply, +"Mr. Mastiff, bring us some water for our hands;" and the dog stood +still, and did not do it. His master then repeated the order more +fiercely, but the dog stood still as before. His master then leaped up +in a great passion from the table, and seizing his sword, ran towards +the mastiff, who, seeing him coming, ran away, leaping over the chairs +and tables and the fire, trying every place to make his escape, with the +bridegroom hard in pursuit of him. At length reaching the dog, he smote +off his head with his sword, then hewed off his legs, and all his body, +until the whole place was covered with blood. He then resumed his place +at table, all covered as he was with gore; and soon casting his eyes +around, he beheld a lap-dog, and commanded him to bring him water for +his hands, and because he was not obeyed, he said, "How, false traitor! +see you not the fate of the mastiff, because he would not do as I +commanded him? I vow, that if you offer to contend one moment with me, +I will treat thee to the same fare as I did the mastiff;" and when he +found it was not done, he arose, seized him by the legs, and dashing him +against the wall, actually beat his brains out, showing even more rage +than against the poor mastiff. Then in a great passion he returned to +the table, and cast his eyes about on all sides, while his bride, +fearful that he had taken leave of his senses, ventured not to utter +a word. At length he fixed his eyes upon his horse that was standing +before the door, though he had only that one; and he commanded him to +bring him water, which the horse did not do. "How now, Mr. Horse," cried +the husband, "do you imagine, because I have only you, that I shall +suffer you to live, and not do as I command you! No! I will inflict as +hard a death upon you as upon the others; yea, there is no living thing +I have in the world which I will spare, if I be not obeyed." But the +horse stood where he was, and his master approaching with the greatest +rage, smote off his head, and cut him to pieces with his sword. And when +his wife saw that he had actually killed his horse, having no other, and +heard him declare he would do the same to any creature that ventured to +disobey him, she found that he had by no means done it by way of jest, +and took such an alarm, that she hardly knew if she were dead or alive. +For all covered with gore as he was, he again seated himself at table, +swearing that though he had a thousand horses or wives, or servants, +if they refused to do his behest, he would kill them all; and he again +began to look around him, holding his sword in his hand. And after he +had looked well round him, and found no living thing near him, he turned +his eyes fiercely towards his wife, and said in a great passion, "Get +up, and bring me some water to wash my hands!" and his wife, expecting +nothing less than to be cut to pieces, rose in a great hurry, and giving +him water for his hands, said to him, "Ah, how I ought to return thanks +to God, who inspired you with the thought of doing as you have done! for +otherwise, owing to the wrong treatment of my foolish friends, I should +have behaved the same to you as to them." Afterwards he commanded her to +help him to something to eat, and that in such a tone, that she felt as +if her head were on the point of dropping off upon the floor; so that in +this way was the understanding between them settled during that night, +and she never spoke, but only did every thing which he required her to +do. After they had reposed some time, her husband said, "The passion I +have been put into this night hinders me from sleeping; get up, and see +that nobody comes to disturb me, and prepare for me something well +cooked to eat." + +When it came full day, and the fathers, mothers, and other relatives +arrived at the door, they all listened, and hearing no one speak, at +first concluded that the unfortunate man was either dead, or mortally +wounded by his ferocious bride. In this they were the more confirmed +when they saw the bride standing at the door, and the bridegroom not +there. But when the lady saw them advancing, she walked gently on tiptoe +towards them, and whispered, "False friends, as you are, how dared you +to come up to the door in that way, or to say a word! Be silent! as you +value your lives, and mine also." And when they were all made acquainted +with what she said, they greatly wondered; but when they learnt all that +had passed during the night, their wonder was changed into admiration +of the young man, for having so well known how to manage what concerned +him, and to maintain order in his house. And from that day forth, +so excellently was his wife governed, and well-conditioned in every +respect, that they led a very pleasant life together. Such, indeed, was +the good example set by the son-in-law, that a few days afterwards the +father-in-law, desirous of the same happy change in his household, also +killed a horse; but his wife only said to him, "By my faith, Don Fulano, +you have thought of this plan somewhat too late in the day; we are now +too well acquainted with each other." + + * * * * * + + + + +SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS. + + * * * * * + + +SUMMER MORNING LANDSCAPE.--DELTA. + + + The eyelids of the morning are awake; + The dews are disappearing from the grass; + The sun is o'er the mountains; and the trees, + Moveless, are stretching through the blue of heaven, + Exuberantly green. All noiseless + The shadows of the twilight fleet away, + And draw their misty legion to the west, + Seen for awhile, 'mid the salubrious air, + Suspended in the silent atmosphere, + As in Medina's mosque Mahomet's tomb,-- + Up from the coppice, on exulting wing, + Mounts, mounts the skylark through the clouds of dawn,-- + The clouds, whose snow-white canopy is spread + Athwart, yet hiding not, at intervals, + The azure beauty of the summer sky; + And, at far distance heard, a bodiless note + Pours down, as if from cherub stray'd from Heaven! + + Maternal Nature! all thy sights and sounds + Now breathe repose, and peace, and harmony. + The lake's unruffled bosom, cold and clear, + Expands beneath me, like a silver veil + Thrown o'er the level of subjacent fields, + Revealing, on its conscious countenance, + The shadows of the clouds that float above:-- + Upon its central stone the heron sits + Stirless,--as in the wave its counterpart,-- + Looking, with quiet eye, towards the shore + Of dark-green copse-wood, dark, save, here and there, + Where spangled with the broom's bright aureate flowers.-- + The blue-winged sea-gull, sailing placidly + Above his landward haunts, dips down alert + His plumage in the waters, and, anon, + With quicken'd wing, in silence re-ascends.-- + Whence comest thou, lone pilgrim of the wild? + Whence wanderest thou, lone Arab of the air? + Where makest thou thy dwelling-place? Afar, + O'er inland pastures, from the herbless rock, + Amid the weltering ocean, thou dost hold, + At early sunrise, thy unguided way,-- + The visitants of Nature's varied realms,-- + The habitant of Ocean, Earth, and Air,-- + Sailing with sportive breast, mid wind and wave, + And, when the sober evening draws around + Her curtains, clasp'd together by her Star, + Returning to the sea-rock's breezy peak. + + And now the wood engirds me, the tall stems + Of birch and beech tree hemming me around, + Like pillars of some natural temple vast; + And, here and there, some giant pines ascend, + Briareus-like, amid the stirless air, + High stretching; like a good man's virtuous thoughts + Forsaking earth for heaven. The cushat stands + Amid the topmost boughs, with azure vest, + And neck aslant, listening the amorous coo + Of her, his mate, who, with maternal wing + Wide-spread, sits brooding on opponent tree. + Why, from the rank grass underneath my feet, + Aside on ruffled pinion dost thou start, + Sweet minstrel of the morn? Behold her nest, + Thatch'd o'er with cunning skill, and there, her young + With sparkling eye, and thin-fledged russet wing; + Younglings of air! probationers of song! + From lurking dangers may ye rest secure, + Secure from prowling weazel, or the tread + Of steed incautious, wandering 'mid the flowers? + Secure beneath the fostering care of her + Who warm'd you into life, and gave you birth; + Till, plumed and strong unto the buoyant air, + Ye spread your equal wings, and to the morn, + Lifting your freckled bosoms, dew-besprent, + Salute with spirit-stirring song, the man + Wayfaring lonely. Hark! the striderous neigh! + There, o'er his dogrose fence, the chestnut foal, + Shaking his silver forelock, proudly stands,-- + To snuff the balmy fragrance of the morn:-- + Up comes his ebon compeer, and, anon, + Around the field in mimic chase they fly, + Startling the echoes of the woodland gloom. + Farewell, ye placid scenes! amid the land + Ye smile, an inland solitude: the voice + Of peace-destroying man is seldom heard + Amid your landscapes. Beautiful ye raise + Your green embowering groves, and smoothly spread + Your waters, glistening in a silver sheet. + The morning is a season of delight-- + The morning is the self-possession'd hour-- + 'Tis then that feelings, sunk, but unsubdued, + Feelings of purer thoughts, and happier days, + Awake, and, like the sceptred images + Of Banquo's mirror, in succession pass! + + And, first of all, and fairest, thou dost pass + In Memory's eye, beloved! though now afar + From those sweet vales, where we have often roam'd + Together. Do thy blue eyes now survey + The brightness of the morn in other scenes? + Other, but haply beautiful as these, + Which now I gaze on; but which, wanting thee, + Want half their charms, for, to thy poet's thought, + More deeply glow'd the heaven, when thy fine eye, + Surveying its grand arch, all kindling glow'd; + The white cloud to thy white brow was a foil; + And, by the soft tints of thy cheek outvied, + The dew-bent wild-rose droop'd despairingly. + +_Blackwood's Mag._ + + * * * * * + + + + +THE GATHERER. + + "A snapper-up of unconsidered trifles." +SHAKSPEARE. + + * * * * * + + +CHANGING COIN. + + +Judge Gould married his daughter to Lord Cavan. A gentleman asking what +fortune, was answered, "it was all in _Gould_, and his lordship changed +it the first day." + + * * * * * + + +VOLTAIRE. + + +Voltaire said of a traveller, who made too long a stay with him at +Ferney, "Don Quixote took inns for castles, but Mr. ---- takes castles +for inns." + + * * * * * + + +ABROAD AND AT HOME. + + +The English abroad can never get to look as if they were at home. The +Irish and Scotch, after being some time in a place, get the air of the +natives; but an Englishman, in any foreign court, looks about him as if +he was going to steal a tankard. + + * * * * * + + +PARODY OF THE FIRST SONG IN THE BEGGAR'S OPERA. + + + Through all the odd noses in vogue, + Each nose is turn'd up at its brother; + Broad and blunt they call platter and pug, + And thus they take snuff at each other. + + The short calls the long nose a snout, + The long calls the short nose a snub; + And the bottle nose being so stout, + Thinks every sharp one a scrub. + +T.H. + + * * * * * + + +GARRICK AND STERNE. + + +Sterne, who used his wife very ill, was one day talking to Garrick in a +fine sentimental manner, in praise of conjugal love and fidelity. "The +husband," said Sterne, "who behaves unkindly to his wife, deserves to +have his house burnt over his head." "If you think so," said Garrick, +"I hope _your_ house is insured." + + * * * * * + + +UNPALATABLE IMPROVEMENT. + + +Wilkes attended a city dinner, not long after his promotion to city +honours. Among the guests was a noisy, vulgar deputy, a great glutton, +who, on his entering the dinner-room, always with great deliberation +took off his wig, suspended it on a pin, and with due solemnity put on +a white cotton night-cap. Wilkes, who was a high bred man, and never +accustomed to similar exhibitions, could not take his eyes from so +strange and novel a picture. At length the deputy walked up to Wilkes, +and asked him whether he did not think that his night-cap became him? +"Oh! yes, Sir," replied Wilkes, "but it would look much better if it +was pulled quite over your face." + + * * * * * + + +CHARMS OF A DUEL. + + + It has a strange quick jar upon the ear, + That cocking of a pistol, when you know + A moment more will bring the sight to bear + Upon your person, twelve yards off, or so, + A gentlemanly distance, not too near, + If you have got a former friend for foe; + But after being fired at once or twice, + The ear becomes more Irish, and less nice. + +BYRON. + + * * * * * + + +WESTMINSTER HALL. + + +A peasant newly arrived in London, asked what building was that, +pointing to where the law courts are held. "It is a mill," said an +attorney, to quiz the bumpkin. "I thought as much," replied the +countryman, "for I see a good many asses at the door with sacks." + + * * * * * + + +OUT OF DEBT. + + + You say you nothing owe, and so I say, + He only owes who something has--to pay. + + * * * * * + + +NEWSPAPER LIBELS. + + +Writers in some journals, like rope-dancers, to engage the public +attention, must venture their necks every step that they take. The +pleasure people feel, arises from the risk that they run. + + * * * * * + +_Printed and Published by J. LIMBIRD, 143, Strand, (near Somerset +House), London: and published by ERNEST FLEISCHER, 626, New Market, +Liepsic; and sold by all Newsmen and Booksellers_. + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 11362 *** |