diff options
Diffstat (limited to '11378-0.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | 11378-0.txt | 1567 |
1 files changed, 1567 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/11378-0.txt b/11378-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9cb1444 --- /dev/null +++ b/11378-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1567 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 11378 *** + +THE MIRROR OF LITERATURE, AMUSEMENT, AND INSTRUCTION. + +VOL. X, No. 289.] SATURDAY, DECEMBER 22, 1827. [Price 2d. + + + + + +Bushy Park. + +[Illustration:] +Among the suburban beauties of the metropolis, and as an attraction for +home-tourists, Bushy is entitled to special notice, independent of its +celebrity as the retreat of royalty--it being the residence of _His +Royal Highness the Duke of Clarence_, an accurate portrait of whom will +be presented, to our readers with the usual _Supplementary Number_ at +the close of the present volume of the MIRROR. + +_Bushy Park_ is an appendage to the palace and honour of Hampton Court; +and though far from assimilating to that splendid pile, it is better +fitted for rural enjoyment, whilst its contiguity to the metropolis +almost gives it the character of _rus in urbe_.[1] The residence is a +handsome structure, and its arrangement is altogether well calculated +for the indulgence of royal hospitality--a characteristic of its present +distinguished occupant, as well as of that glorious profession, to the +summit of which his royal highness has recently been exalted. The park, +too, is well stocked with deer, and its rangership is confided to the +duke. The pleasure grounds are tastefully disposed, and their beauty +improved by the judicious introduction of temples and other artificial +embellishments, among which, a naval temple, containing a piece of the +mast of the Victory, before which Nelson fell, and a bust of the noble +admiral, has been consecrated to his memory by the royal duke, with +devotional affection, and the best feelings of a warm heart. + +[1] The Duke is a good economist of time; for what with excellent cattle +and the glory of Macadamized roads, his R.H. comes to town in the +morning, transacts his official business at the Admiralty, and +frequently returns to Bushy to dinner. + +The park is a thoroughfare, and the circumstances by which this public +claim was established are worthy of record, as a specimen of the justice +with which the rights of the community are upheld in this country. The +_village Hampden_, in the present case, was one Timothy Bennet, of whom +there is a fine print, which the neighbours, who are fond of a walk in +Bushy Park, must regard with veneration. It has under it this +inscription:--"Timothy Bennet; of Hampton Wick, in Middlesex, shoemaker, +aged 75, 1752. This true Briton, (unwilling to leave the world worse +than he found it,) by a vigorous application of the laws of his country +in the cause of liberty, obtained a free passage through Bushy Park, +which had many years been withheld from the public." Regeneration (or +the renewal of souls) is, however, a shoemaker's _forte_. + +The above engraving of Bushy is copied from an elegant coloured view, +drawn by Ziegler, and published by Griffiths, of Wellington-street, +Strand. + + * * * * * + +THE FUGITIVE. + +A SCOTCH TALE. + +_(For the Mirror.)_ + +It was now abute the gloaming when my ain same Janet (heav'n sain her +saul) was sitting sae bieldy in a bit neuk ayant the ingle, while the +winsome weans gathering around their minnie were listing till some auld +spae wife's tale o' ghaists and worriecows; when on a sudden some ane +tirled at the door pin. + +"Here's your daddie, bairns," said the gudewife ganging till the door; +but i' place o' their daddie, a tall chiel wrappit i' a big cloak, +rushed like a fire flaught into the bield, and drappit doun on the +sunkie ewest the ingle droghling and coghling. + +"What's your wull, friend?" said Janet, glowering on him a' i' a gliff, +"the gudeman's awa." + +"Save me, save me," shrieghed the stranger, "the sleuth hounds are at my +heels." + +"But wha may ye be, maister," cried the dame, "I durstna dee your +bidding while Jamie's frae the hause." + +"Oh, dinna speir, dinna speir mistress," exclaimed the chiel a' in a +curfuffle, "ainly for the loe of heav'n, hide me frae the red coats +whilk are comin' belive--O God, they are here," he cried, as I entered +the shealing, and uttering a piercing skirl, he sprung till the wa', and +thrawing aff his cloak, drew his broad claymore, whilk glittered +fearsome by the low o' the ingle. + +"Hauld, hauld, 'tis the gudeman his nainsell," shreighed Janet, when the +stranger drapping the point o' the sword, clingit till my hand, and +while the scauding tear draps tricklit adoun his face prigged me to fend +him. + +"Tak' your certie o' that my braw callant," said I, "ne'er sail it be +tauld o' Jamie Mc-Dougall, that he steeked his door again the puir and +hauseless, an the bluidy sleuth hounds be on ye they'se find it ill +aneugh I trow to get an inkling o' ye frae me, I'se sune shaw 'em the +cauld shouther." + +Sae saying, I gared him climb a rape by whilk he gat abune the riggin o' +the bield, then steeking to the door thro' whilk he gaed, I jimp had +trailed doun the rape, when in rinned twa red coat chiels, who couping +ilka ane i' their gait begun to touzle out the ben, and the de'il gaed +o'er Jock Wabster. + +"Eh, sirs! eh, sirs!" cried I, "whatna gaits' that to steer a bodie, wad +ye harry a puir chiel o' a' his warldly gear, shame till ye, shame till +ye, shank yoursell's awa." + +"Fusht, fusht, fallow," cried ane o' the churls, "nane o' your bourds +wi' us, or ye may like to be the waur aff; where is the faus loon? we +saw him gae doun the loaning afore the shealing, and here he maun needs +be." + +"Aweel, sirs," I exclaimed, "ye see there isna ony creatur here, our +nainsell's out-taken; seek again an ye winna creed a bodie; may be the +bogle is jumpit into the pot on the rundle-tree ower the ingle, or +creepit into the meal ark or aiblins it scoupit thro' the hole as ye cam +in at the door. Ye may threep and threep and wampish your arms abute, as +muckle as ye wuss, ye silly gowks, I canna tell ye mair an I wad." + +"May be the Highland tyke is right, cummer, (said one o' the red coats) +and the fallow is jumpit thro' the bole, but harkye maister gudeman, an +ye hae ony mair o' your barns-breaking wi us, ye'se get a sark fu' o' +sair banes, that's a'." + +"Hear till him, hear till him, Janet," said I, as the twa southron +chiels gaed thro' the hole, trailing their bagganets alang wi' 'em; +"winna the puir tykes hae an unco saft couch o' it, think ye, luckie, O +'tis a gude sight for sair e'en to see 'em foundering and powtering i' +the latch o' the bit bog aneath." + +"Nane o' your clashes e'enow, gudemon," said she, "but let the callant +abune gang his gate while he may." + +"Ye're aye cute, dame," I cried, thrawing the bit gy abune, and in a +gliffing, doun jumpit the chiel, and a braw chiel he was sure enough, +siccan my auld e'en sall ne'er see again, wi' his brent brow and buirdly +bowk wrappit in a tartan plaid, wi' a Highland kilt. + +"May the gude God o' heaven sain you," he said "and ferd you for aye, +for the braw deed ye hae dreed the day; tak' this wee ring, gudemon, and +tak' ye this ane, gudewife, and when ye look on this and on that, I rede +ye render up are prayer to him abune for the weal o' Charles Edward, +your unfortunate prince." + +Sae speaking, he sped rath frae the bield, and was sune lost i' the +glunch shadows o' the mirk night. + +Mony and mony a day has since rollit ower me, and I am now but a dour +carle, whose auld pow the roll o' time hath blanched; my bonnie Janet is +gone to her last hame, lang syne, my bairns hae a' fa'en kemping for +their king and country, and I ainly am left like a withered auld trunk, +waiting heaven's gude time when I sall be laid i' the mouls wi' my +forbears. + +Abune--above. + +Aiblins--perhaps. + +Bagganet--bayonet. + +Barns-breaking--idle frolic. + +Belive--immediately. + +Ben--inner apartment of a house that contains but two. + +Bield--hut. + +Bieldy--snug. + +Bole--cottage window. + +Bourds--jeers. + +Brent-brow--smooth open forehead. + +Buirdly-bowk--athletic frame. + +Clashes--idle gossip. + +Couping--overturning. + +Cummer--comrade. + +Curfuffle--agitation. + +De'il gaed o'er Jock Wabster--everything went topsy-turvy. + +Dour carle--rugged old man. + +Dreed the day--done this day. + +Droghling and coghling--puffing and blowing. + +Ewest--nearest. + +Fire flaught--flash of lightning. + +Forbears--forefathers. + +Fusht--tush. + +Gared--made. + +Gliff--fright. + +Gliffing--very short time. + +Gloaming--twilight. + +Glowering--gazing. + +Gy--rope. + +Glunch--gloomy. + +Harry--plunder. + +Ingle--fire. + +Ill--difficult. + +Ilka--every. + +Kemping--striving. + +Laid i' the mouls--laid in the grave. + +Low--flame. + +Loaning--lane. + +Luckie--dame. + +Latch--mire. + +Mirk--dark. + +Out-taken--excepting. + +Pow--head. + +Powtering--groping. + +Prigged--earnestly entreated. + +Rath--quick. + +Rede--pray. + +Riggin--roof. + +Sain--bless. + +Sark fu' o' sair banes--sound beating. + +Scoupit--scampered. + +Shank yoursell's awa--take yourselves off. + +Shealing--rude cottage. + +Show 'em the cauld shouther--appear cold and reserved. + +Skirl--shrill cry. + +Sleuth-hounds--blood-hounds. + +Speir--ask. + +Steiked--shut. + +Steer--injure. + +Sunkie--low stool. + +Threep--threaten. + +Tirled at the door pin--knocked at the door. + +Touzle out--ransack. + +Tyke--dog. + +Wampish--toss about. + +Worriecows--hobgoblins. + +Wuss--wish. + +A G. + + * * * * * + + +THE INDIAN MAIDEN'S SONG, + +BY WILLIAM SHOBERL. + +The youth I love is far away. + O'er forest, river, brake, and glen; +And distant, too, perchance the day, + When I shall see him once again. + +Nine moons have wasted[1] since we met, + How sweetly, then, the moments flew! +Methinks the fairy vision yet + Portrays the joy that ZEMLA knew. + +In list'ning to the tale of strife, + When Shone AZALCO'S prowess bright, +The strange adventures of his life, + That gave me such unmix'd delight. + +That dream of happiness is past! + For ever fled those magic charms! +The cruel moment came at last, + That tore AZALCO from my arms! + +What bitter pangs my bosom rent, + When he my sight no longer bless'd! +To some lone spot my steps I bent, + My secret sorrows there confess'd. + +My sighs, alas! were breath'd unheard, + Could aught on earth dispel my grief? +Nor smiling sun, nor minstrel bird, + Can give this aching heart relief. + +Since he I love is far away, + O'er forest, river, brake, and glen, +And distant, too, perchance the day, + When I shall see him once again. + + +[1] "Till now some nine moons wasted."--SHAKSPEARE. + + + + * * * * * + + +MERRY CHRISTMAS! + +_(For the Mirror.)_ + +"Do you look for ale and cakes here, you rude rascals?" + +SHAKSPEARE'S _Henry the Eighth._ + + +Since, my dear readers, even in this season of busy festivity I can +spare a few moments to write for your gratification, I venture to hope +you will spare a few to read for mine. + +And so here we are, once again on tiptoe for a merry Christmas and a +happy new year. My good friends, especially my fair friends, permit me +to wish you both. Yes, Christmas is here--Christmas, when winter and +jollity, foul weather and fun, cold winds and hot pudding, good frosts +and good fires, are at their meridian! Christmas! With what dear +associations is it fraught! I remember the time when I thought that word +cabalistical; when, in the gay moments of youth, it seemed to me a +mysterious term for every thing that is delightful; and such is the +force of early associations, that even now I cannot divest myself of +them. Christmas has long ceased to be to me what it once was; yet do I +even now hail its return with pleasure, with enthusiasm. But, alas! how +differently is it viewed, not only by the same individual at different +periods of life, but by different individuals of the same age; by the +rich and poor, the wretched and the happy, the pampered and the +penniless! + +To proceed to the object of this paper, which is simply to throw +together a few casual hints, connected with the period. I would beg my +reader's attention, in the first place, to an odd superstition, +countenanced by Shakspeare, and which, if he happens to lie awake some +night, (say with the tooth-ache--what better?--for that purpose I mean,) +he will have an opportunity of verifying. The passage which contains it +is in _Hamlet_ and exhibits at once his usual wildness of imagination, +and a highly praiseworthy religious veneration for the season. Where the +ghost vanishes upon the crowing of the cock, he takes occasion to +mention its crowing all hours of the night about Christmas time. The +last four lines comprise several other superstitions connected with the +period:-- + +It faded on the crowing of the cock. +Some say, that ever 'gainst that season comes, +Wherein our Saviour's birth is celebrated, +The bird of dawning singeth all night long. +And then, they say, no spirit dares stir abroad: +The nights are wholesome; then no planets strike; +No fairy takes; no witch hath power to charm; +So hallow'd and so gracious is the time. + + +It is to be lamented that the hearty diet, properly belonging to the +season, should have become almost peculiar to it; the _Tatler_ +recommends it throughout the year. "I shall begin," says Steele, "with a +very earnest and serious exhortation to all my well-disposed readers, +that they would return to the food of their forefathers, and reconcile +themselves to beef and mutton. This was the diet which bred that hardy +race of mortals who won the fields of Cressy and Agincourt. I need not +go so high up as the history of Guy, earl of Warwick, who is well known +to have eaten up a dun cow of his own killing. The renowned king Arthur +is generally looked upon as the first who ever sat down to a whole +roasted ox, which was certainly the best way to preserve the gravy; and +it is farther added, that he and his knights sat about it at his round +table, and usually consumed it to the very bones before they would enter +upon any debate of moment. The Black Prince was a professed lover of the +brisket; not to mention the history of the sirloin, or the institution +of the order of Beefeaters, which are all so many evident and undeniable +proofs of the great respect which our warlike predecessors have paid to +this excellent food. The tables of the ancient entry of this nation were +covered thrice a day with hot roast-beef; and I am credibly informed by +an antiquary, who has searched the registers in which the bills of fare +of the court are recorded, that instead of tea and bread and butter +which have prevailed of late years, the maids of honour in queen +Elizabeth's time were allowed three rumps of beef for their breakfast!" + +Now this is manly, and so is the diet it advises; I recommend both to my +readers. Let each determine to make one convert, himself that one. On +Christmas day, let each dine off, or at least have on his table, the +good old English fare, roast beef and plum-pudding! and does such beef +as our island produces need recommendation? What more nutritive and +delicious? and, for a genuine healthy Englishman, what more proper than +this good old national English dish? Let him whose stomach will not bear +it, look about and insure his life--I would not give much for it. It +ought, above all other places, to be duly honoured in our officers' +mess-rooms. As Prior says, + + +"If I take Dan Congreve right, +Pudding and beef make Britons fight." + + +So, then, if beef be indeed so excellent, +we shall not much wonder that Shakspeare +should say, + + +--"A pound of man's flesh +Is not so estimable or profitable. +As flesh of mutton, beeves, or goats!" + + +The French have christened us (and I think it no disreputable +_sobriquet_) Jack Roastbeef, from a notion we cannot live without +roast-beef, any more than without plum-pudding, porter, and punch; +however, the notion is palpably erroneous. We are proving more and more +every day--to our shame be it spoken!--that we can live without it. At +least do not let it be said we can pass a Christmas without it, merely +to make way for turkeys, fricassees, and ragouts! "Oh, reform it +altogether!" + + * * * * * + +England was always famous among foreigners for the celebration of +Christmas, at which time our ancestors introduced many sports and +pastimes unknown in other countries, or now even among ourselves. "At +the feast of Christmas," says Stowe, "in the king's court, wherever he +chanced to reside, there was appointed a lord of misrule, or master of +merry disports; the same merry fellow made his appearance at the house +of every nobleman and gentleman of distinction; and, among the rest, the +lord mayor of London and the sheriffs had their lords of misrule, ever +contending, without quarrel or offence, who should make the rarest +pastime to delight the beholders." Alas! where are all these, or any +similar, "merry disports" in our degenerate days? We have no "lords of +misrule" now; or, if we have, they are of a much less innocent and +pacific character. Mr. Cambridge, also, (No 104, of the _World_) draws a +glowing picture of an ancient Christmas. "Our ancestors," says he, +"considered Christmas in the double light of a holy commemoration and a +cheerful festival; and accordingly distinguished it by devotion, by +vacation from business, by merriment and hospitality. They seemed +eagerly bent to make themselves and every body about them happy. With +what punctual zeal did they wish one another a merry Christmas! and what +an omission would it have been thought, to have concluded a letter +without the compliments of the season! The great hall resounded with the +tumultuous joys of servants and tenants, and the gambols they played +served as an amusement to the lord of the mansion and his family, who, +by encouraging every art that conduced to mirth and entertainment, +endeavoured to soften the rigour of the season, and to mitigate the +influence of winter. How greatly ought we to regret the neglect of +mince-pies, which, besides the idea of merry-making inseparable from +them, were always considered as the test of schismatics! How zealously +were they swallowed by the orthodox, to the utter confusion of all +fanatical recusants! If any country gentleman should be so unfortunate +in this age as to lie under a suspicion of heresy, where will he find so +easy a method of acquitting himself as by the ordeal of plum-porridge?" +This alludes to the Puritans, who refused to observe Christmas, or any +other festival of the church, either by devotion or merriment. And I +regret to say there are certain modern "fanatical recusants," certain +modern Puritans, as schismatical in this particular as their gloomy +precursors. Mr. Cambridge then proceeds "to account for a revolution +which has rendered this season (so eminently distinguished in former +times) now so little different from the rest of the year," which he +thinks "no difficult task." The reasons he assigns are, the decline of +devotion, and the increase of luxury, the latter of which has extended +rejoicings and feastings, formerly peculiar to Christmas, through the +whole year; these have consequently lost their raciness, the appetite +for amusement has become palled by satiety, and the relish for it, +reserved formerly for this particular season, is now no longer peculiar +to it, having been already dissipated and exhausted. Another cause he +assigns is, "the too general desertion of the country, the great scene +of hospitality." Now this was written just fifty-three years ago, and as +all the causes assigned for the declension of this grand national +festivity up to that period are incontrovertible, and have been +operating even more powerfully ever since, they will sufficiently +account for the still greater declension observable in our days. And the +declension appears to me to consist in this,--there is more gastronomy +and expanse, but less heartiness and hospitality; and these latter are +the only legitimate characteristics of Englishmen. Be they then +restored, this very Christmas, to the English character; the opportunity +is fast approaching--be it employed. + +I know nothing better to conclude with than a good old Christmas carol +from _Poor Robin's Almanack_ for 1695, preserved in Brand's _Popular +Antiquities_, to which work I refer those of my readers who may require +further information on the subject of Christmas customs and +festivities:-- + + Now, thrice welcome, Christmas! + Which brings us good cheer; + Mince-pies and plum-pudding-- + Strong ale and strong beer; + With pig, goose, and capon, + The best that may be: + So well doth the weather + And our stomachs agree. + + Observe how the chimneys + Do smoke all about; + The cooks are providing + For dinner no doubt. + But those on whose tables + No victuals appear, + O may they keep Lent + All the rest of the year! + + With holly and ivy, + So green and so gay, + We deck up our houses + As fresh as the day; + With bays and rosemary, + And laurel complete,-- + And every one now + Is a king in conceit, + + But as for curmudgeons + Who will not be free, + I wish they may die + On a two-legged tree! + + WILLIAM PALIN. + + * * * * * + +To the proof that we are not _unseasonable, here are in this +sheet--_Merry Christmas! the Turks_, (of a darker hue;) _Exhibitions; a +Consolatory "Population" Scrap; Hints for Singing_ after a good master; +_a Bunch of Facts on Turnips; a column on Liston_--that living limner of +laughter; and other _seasonables_. + + + * * * * * + +MANNERS & CUSTOMS OF ALL NATIONS. + +No. XVII. + + * * * * * + +THE TURKS. + +_(For the Mirror.)_ + +The Turks have a manly and prepossessing demeanour; being generally of a +good stature, and remarkably well formed in their limbs. The men shave +their heads, but wear long beards, and are extremely proud of their +mustaches, which are usually turned downwards, and which give the other +features of the face a cast of peculiar pensiveness. They wear turbans, +sometimes white, of an enormous size on their heads, and never remove +them but when they go to repose. Their breeches, or drawers, are united +with their stockings, and they have slippers, which they never put off +but when they enter a mosque, or the house of a great man. Large shirts +are worn, and over them is a vest tied with a sash; the outer garment +being a sort of loose gown. Every man, in whatever station he is, +carries a dagger in his sash. The women's attire much resembles that of +the other sex, only they have a cap on their heads, something like a +bishop's mitre, instead of a turban. Their hair is beautiful and long, +mostly black, but their faces, which are remarkably handsome, are so +covered when they walk out, that nothing is to be seen but their eyes. +The ladies of the sultan's _haram_ are lovely virgins, either captives +taken during war, or presents from the governors of provinces. They are +never allowed to stir abroad except when the grand signior removes; and +then they are put into close chariots, signals being made at certain +distances that no man may approach the road through which the ladies +pass, on pain of death. There are a great number of female _slaves_ in +the sultan's haram, whose task it is to wait on the ladies, who have, +besides, a black eunuch for their superintendant. + +There are three colleges in Turkey where the children of distinguished +men are educated and fitted for state employments. The children are +first approved by the grand signior before they are allowed to enter +these seminaries; and none dare come into his majesty's presence who are +not handsome and well-made. Silence is first taught them, and a becoming +behaviour to their superiors; then they are instructed in the Mahometan +faith, the Turkish and Persian languages, and afterwards in the Arabic. +At the age of twenty-one they are taught all manner of manly exercises, +and above all, the use of arms. As they advance to proficiency in these, +and other useful arts, and as government places become vacant, they are +preferred; but it is to be observed, that they generally attain the age +of forty before they are thought capable of being entrusted with +important slate affairs. + +Those who hold any office under the grand signior are called his slaves; +the term slave, in Turkey, signifying the most honourable title a +subject can bear. The grand signior is commonly supposed among his own +people, to be something more than human; for he is not bound by any laws +except that of professing and maintaining the Mahometan religion. A +stranger desiring to be admitted into his majesty's presence, is first +examined by proper persons, and his arms taken from him; he is then +ushered before the royal personage between two strong supporters, but is +not even then permitted to approach near enough to kiss the sultan's +foot.[1] This custom, which is observed by every sultan, originated in +the following manner:--Amurath I. having obtained a great victory over +the Christians, was on the field of battle with his officers viewing the +dead, when a wounded Christian soldier, rising from among the slain, +came staggering towards him. The king, supposing the man intended to beg +for his life, ordered the guards to make way for him; but drawing near, +he drew a dagger from under, his coat, and plunged it into the heart of +the great king, who instantly died. + +[1] The ceremony of kissing the foot, as well as the hand, of a +sovereign, is yet observed in the east. + +In Turkey, no man marries a deformed wife for the sake of a fortune, as +with us; beauty and good sense, to their credit be it spoken, are the +only inducements to matrimony among the Turks. But they are an indolent +people, and are much averse to improving their country by commerce, +planting, or building; appearing to take delight in letting their +property run to ruin. Alexandria, Tyre, and Sidon, which once commanded +the navigation and trade of the whole world, are at present in the +Turks' possession, but are only very inconsiderable places. Indeed, +observes a judicious author, it is well for us that the Turks are such +an indolent people, for their situation and vast extent of empire, would +enable them to monopolize the trade of the world if they attended to it. +They appear to possess very little genius or inclination for the +improvement of _arts and sciences_ although they live in countries which +were once in the possession of the classic Greeks; but seem to prefer a +slothful mode of life to an active one, continually sauntering away their +time, either among women, or in taking coffee and smoking. Being men of +great taciturnity, they very seldom disturb a stranger with questions; and +a person may live in their country a dozen years, without having twenty +words addressed to him, except on important business. They seldom +travel, and have very little wish to be informed of the state of their +own, or any other country; when a minister of state is turned out of his +place, or strangled, (which is a frequent custom,) they coldly observe +that there will be a new one, without inquiring into the reason of the +disgrace of the former. The doctrine of predestination prevails, and +they therefore think it wicked to endeavour to avoid their fate; +frequently entering houses where they know the plague is raging. + +All religions are tolerated in Turkey, though none are encouraged but +the Mahometan faith. The Christians have churches, which the Turks not +unfrequently convert into mosques for their own use; nor will they +suffer any new churches, or temples, to be built, without extorting an +exorbitant fine from the poor Christians. The high-priest of the +Mahometan religion is called the _mufti_; he is invested with great +power, and his seal is necessary to the passing of all acts of state. +But any individual, who pleases to take the habit, may be a priest, and +may leave the office when he is weary of it; for there is nothing like +ordination among them. + +G. W. N. + + +PULQUE. + +Pulque, which is the favourite drink of the Mexicans, is extracted from +the Manguey, or Great American Aloe; at the time of throwing its flower +stem, it is hollowed in the centre and the juice which should have +supplied the flowers, is taken from it daily, for about two months; +which juice when fermented is immediately fit for drinking. A very +strong brandy is obtained by distillation. So great is the consumption +that the duty collected at the city gates, amounts annually to 600,000 +dollars--_From a Correspondent_. + + +HATCHING CHICKENS. + +The following singular, though effectual mode of hatching chickens, +prevails in the interior of Sumatra; and is vouched for by Major Clayton +of the Bencoolen council:-- + +The hens, whether from being frightened off their nests by the rats, +which are very numerous and destructive, or from some other cause +hitherto prevalent in Sumatra, do not hatch their chickens in the +ordinary way, as is seen in almost all other climates. The natives have +for this purpose, in each village, several square rooms, the walls of +which are made of a kind of brick, dried in the sun. In the middle of +these rooms they make a large fire, round which they place their eggs at +regular distances. In this manner they let them lie for fourteen days, +now and then turning them, that the warmth may be equal in all parts; +and on the fifteenth day, the chicken makes its appearance, and proves +in every respect as strong as those hatched according to the course of +nature.--_From a Correspondent._ + +AFRICAN COOKERY. + +The legs and feet of the rhinoceros are cooked in the following curious +method by the wild tribes of Southern Africa:--The ants nests are +composed of hard clay, shaped like a baker's oven, and are from two to +four feet in height. Some of these are excavated by the people, and +their innumerable population destroyed. The space thus obtained is +filled with lighted fuel, till the bottom and sides become red hot +within. The embers of the wood are then removed, the leg or foot of the +rhinoceros introduced, and the door closed up with heated clay and +embers. Fire is also made on the outside over the nests, and the flesh +is allowed to remain in it several hours. Food cooked in this way is +highly relished by all the tribes. + +EASTERN DIVORCES. + +If a man pronounce three divorces against a free woman, or two against a +slave, he can lawfully wed neither of them again, unless they have been +espoused by another, and this second husband dies, or shall divorce +them. When it happens that a husband wishes to recover his wife, whom he +had divorced in a passion, a convenient husband is sought; but the law +forbids a mockery being made of such marriages. They may be short in +duration, but the parties must live, during the period they are united, +as man and wife. + +ARAB CHARACTER. + +The Arabs have always been commended by the ancients for the fidelity of +their attachments, and they are still scrupulously exact to their words, +and respectful to their kindred; they have been universally celebrated +for their quickness of apprehension and penetration, and the vivacity of +their wit. Their language is certainly one of the most ancient in the +world; but it has many dialects. The Arabs, however, have their vices +and defects. They are naturally addicted to war; and so vindictive as +scarcely ever to forget an injury. Select Biography. + +No. LIX. + +GENERAL FOY. + +The military career of this hero was one of singular activity. Foy was +born in 1775, and educated in the military school of La Fere, and made +sub-lieutenant of artillery in 1792. He was present at the battles of +Valmy and Jemappe, and in 1793 obtained a company--promotion was rapid +in those days. In all the subsequent campaigns he was actively employed +under Dumourier, Pichegru, Moreau, Massena, &c. In 1803, he was colonel +of the 5th regiment of horse artillery, and refused, from political +principles, the appointment of aide-de-camp on Napoleon's assumption of +the imperial throne; but was still employed, and shared in the victories +of the short but brilliant campaign of Germany in 1804. In 1806 he +commanded the artillery of the army stationed in Friuli, for the purpose +of occupying the Venetian territory incorporated by the treaty of +Presburg with the kingdom of Italy. In 1807 he was sent to +Constantinople to introduce European tactics in the Turkish service--but +this object was defeated by the death of Selim, and the opposition of +the Janissaries. On Foy's return, the expedition against Portugal was +preparing, and he received a command in the artillery under Junot, +during the occupation of Portugal, and filled the post of inspector of +forts and fortresses. He was severely wounded at the battle of Vimiera. +On the capitulation he returned to France, and with the same army +proceeded to Spain; and, subsequently, under the command of Soult, again +went into Portugal. When commanded to summon the Bishop of Oporto to +open its gates, he was seized and stript by the populace, and thrown +into prison, and escaped with difficulty. The same year he was made +general of brigade. In 1810, he made a skilful retreat at the head of +600 men, in the face of 6,000 Spaniards, across the Sierra de Caceres; +and at the head of his brigade was wounded in the battle of Busaco. +Early in 1811 he was selected by Massena to convey to the emperor the +critical state of the French army before the lines of Torres Vedras. +This commission, though one of great peril--the country being in a +complete state of insurrection--he successfully accomplished, and +brought back the emperor's instructions, for which service he was made +general of division. In July 1812, Foy was in the battle of Salamanca, +and was one of those who, when Lord Wellington raised the siege of +Burgos and retreated to the Douro, hung upon his rear, and took some +prisoners and artillery. + +On the news of the disasters in Russia, and Lord Wellington's consequent +resumption of offensive movements, Foy was sent with his division beyond +Vittoria to keep the different parties in check; and after the battle of +Vittoria, at which he was not present, he collected at Bergana 20,000 +troops, of different divisions, and had some success in skirmishes with +the Spanish corps forming the left wing of the allied army. He arrived +at Tolosa about the same time with Lord Lynedoch, and after a sanguinary +contest in that town, retreated upon Irun--from which he was quickly +dislodged, and finally recrossed the Bidassao. In the affair of the +passage of the Nive, on the 9th of December, 1813, and the battle of St. +Pierre d'Irrube on the 13th, Foy distinguished himself, and in the hard +fought battle of Orthez, on the 27th of February, 1814, he was left +apparently dead on the field. Before this period be had been made count +of the empire, and commander of the legion of honour. In March 1815, he +was appointed inspector general of the fourteenth military division; but +on the return of Napoleon, during the 100 days, he embraced the cause of +the emperor, and commanded a division of infantry in the battles of +Ligny and Waterloo, at the last of which he received his fifteenth +wound. This terminated his military career. In 1819, he was elected a +member of the Chamber of Deputies, the duties of which he discharged +till his death in November 1825; and from his first entrance into the +chamber, was distinguished for his eloquence, and quickly became the +acknowledged leader of the opposition--_From Foy's History of the +Peninsular War._ + + + + * * * * * + +ARCANA OF SCIENCE _Museum of Natural History._ + +There is now exhibiting in one of the Saloons of "The Egyptian Hall," in +Piccadilly, an interesting collection of zoological rarities, stated to +have been assembled by M. Villet, at the Cape of Good Hope. Some of the +specimens, especially the birds, are really beautiful; none but the +smallest being cooped up in glazed cases; but many are effectively +placed on branches of trees, whilst the quadrupeds are arranged with +still better taste. Among the latter is a fine Hippopotamus, the +Behemoth of Scripture. We are happy to hear this exhibition has already +been numerously visited, since it augurs well of public taste and +intellectual curiosity. + +_Conchology._ + +Akin to the preceding exhibition in its claim to popular attention, may +be noticed a pleasing collection of shells, now open to the public, a +short distance from Somerset House. To the mere tyro in zoology, shells +are attractive as the elegant sports of nature, in the beauty, +splendour, and intricacy of their colours and structure; while their +scientific arrangement is one of the most delightful pursuits of refined +minds. + +_Grafting._ + +The quince, used as a stock, has the property of stunting the growth of +pears, of forcing them to produce bearing branches, instead of sterile +ones, and of accelerating the maturity of the fruit. + +_Sirocco Wind._ + +The depressing effects of the corroding wind of a hot Sirocco can only +be conceived by those who have suffered from them; the unwonted dulness +with which it overcasts even the most active mind; the deep-drawn sighs +it will elicit; and if there be one melancholy feeling which presses on +the heart more heavily than another, it is the ample developement which +it enjoys during the prevalence of this enervating breeze. It seldom, +however, blows with force; it is rather an exhalation than a wind. It +scarcely moves the leaves around the traveller, but it sinks heavily and +damply in his heart. A stranger is at first unaware of the cause of the +mental misery he endures; his temper sours as his spirits sink; every +person, and every circumstance, annoys him; it affects even his dreams; +sleep itself is not a refuge from querulous peevishness, and every +motion is an irritating exertion. + +_Polar Expedition._ + +The government of the United States has appointed an expedition, under +Capt. Reynolds, to explore the northern coasts. A Captain Cunningham is +mentioned to have traversed the country from St. Louis in the Missouri, +to St. Diego, St. Pedro, in California. + +_Lithography._ + +From an article which has appeared in a late number of the "Biblioteca +Italiana," it appears that Sermefelder was not the original discoverer +of the art of Lithography, but Simon Schmidt, a professor at the Cadet +Hospital at Munich. + +_Small Pox._ + +Within the last twelve months, only 503 deaths have occurred from small +pox within the Bills of Mortality; whereas, in the preceding year 1299 +persons are recorded as having fallen victims to that loathsome +disease.--_Vaccine Institut. Report._ + +_China_. + +A valuable museum of the products of Chinese skill and industry has +recently been exhibited at Rome, in which the progress made by a people +of whom so little is known, and civilization and the arts, is +demonstrated. The manufacture of bronzes, porcelain, gold work, and +casts in copper, has arrived in China at an approach to perfection which +the most advanced European nations would find it difficult to surpass. +Some of the Chinese vases may really be compared to those of the finest +time of Greece. The sculptures and the paintings, even with reference to +anatomical precision, are as highly finished as ours.--_Literary +Gazette_. + +_Recovery from Suspended Animation_. + +A case is reported in a recent number of the _Bulletin Universel_, by a +French physician, M. Bourgeois, showing the importance of never +abandoning all hope of success in restoring animation. A person who had +been twenty minutes under water, was treated in the usual way for the +space of half an hour without success: when a ligature being applied to +the arm, above a vein that had been previously opened, ten ounces of +blood were withdrawn, after which the circulation and respiration +gradually returned, though accompanied by the most dreadful convulsions. +A second, and a third bleeding was had recourse to, which brought about +a favourable sleep, and ultimate recovery on the ensuing day. + +_Iron_. + +It is a singular fact, that the value of the iron annually produced in +England greatly exceeds the value of the silver annually produced in +Peru. + +_Hair_. + +At a recent meeting of the Academy of Sciences, at Paris, M. F. Cuvier, +in a memoir on the generation of feathers, spines, and hair, introduced +the following curious conclusion:--"I consider the organic system which +produces hair as analogous to that of the senses, and even as forming +part of them; for the hair is in a great number of animals a very +sensitive organ of touch. It is not only in mustaches that we have a +proof of it, but on the whole surface of the body. The slightest touch +of a hair is sufficient in cats, for example, to make them contort their +skin and shudder, as they do when they find something light attached to +the hair, and that they wish to shake off." + +_Population of England_. + +The United Kingdom of Britain and Ireland contains 74 millions of acres, +of which at least 64 millions of acres may be considered capable of +cultivation. Half an acre, with ordinary cultivation, is sufficient to +supply an individual with corn, and one acre is sufficient to maintain a +horse; consequently, the united kingdom contains land enough for the +sustenance of 120 millions of people, and four millions of +horses.--_Edmunds on Political Economy_. + +_Singing_. + +The following passage from a letter by the late _Carl M. Von Weber_ +appears to be worthy of the attention of dramatic and other singers:-- + +"Every singer imparts, though unconsciously, the colouring of his own +individual character to the dramatic character which he sustains. Thus, +two singers, the one possessed of a slight and flexible voice, the other +of an organ of great volume and power, will give the same composition in +a manner widely different. The one will, doubtless, be more animated +than the other; and yet both may do justice to the composer, inasmuch as +both mark the gradations of passion in his composition, faithfully and +expressively, according to the nature and degree of power possessed by +each. But it is the duty of the music director to prevent the singer +from deceiving himself, by following too exclusively what at first +appears to him most suitable. This caution is particularly necessary +with respect to certain passages, but the effect of the whole piece +should not suffer for the sake of some favourite roulade, which the +singer must needs introduce." + +_Culture of Turnips._ + +Until the beginning of the eighteenth century, this valuable root was +cultivated among us only in gardens or other small spots, for culinary +purposes; but Lord Townshend, attending King George the First on one of +his excursions to Germany, in the quality of secretary of State, +observed the turnip cultivated in open and extensive fields, as fodder +for cattle, and spreading fertility over lands naturally barren; and on +his return to England he brought over with him some of the seed, and +strongly recommended the practice which he had witnessed to the adoption +of his own tenants, who occupied a soil similar to that of Hanover. The +experiment succeeded; the cultivation of field turnips gradually spread +over the whole county of Norfolk; and in the course of time it has made +its way into every other district of England. The reputation of the +county as an agricultural district dates from the vast improvements of +heaths, wastes, sheepwalks, and warrens, by enclosure and manuring--the +fruit of the zealous exertions of Lord Townshend and a few neighbouring +land-owners--which were, ere long, happily imitated by others. Since +these improvements were effected, rents have risen in that county from +one or two shillings to fifteen or twenty shillings per acre; a country +of sheep-walks and rabbit-warrens has been rendered highly productive; +and by dint of management, what was thus gained has been preserved and +improved even to the present moment. Some of the finest corn-crops in +the world are now grown upon lands which, before the introduction of the +turnip husbandry, produced a very scanty supply of grass for a few lean +and half-starved rabbits. Mr. Colquhoun, in his "Statistical +Researches," estimated the value of the turnip crop annually grown in +this country at fourteen millions; but when we further recollect that it +enables the agriculturist to reclaim and cultivate land which, without +its aid, would remain in a hopeless state of natural barrenness; that it +leaves the land so clean and in such fine condition, as almost to insure +a good crop of barley and a kind plant of clover, and that this clover +is found a most excellent preparative for wheat, it will appear that the +subsequent advantages derived from a crop of turnips must infinitely +exceed its estimated value as fodder for cattle. If we were, therefore, +asked to point out the individual who, in modern times, has proved the +greatest benefactor to the community, we should not hesitate to fix upon +the ingenious nobleman, whom the wits and courtiers of his own day were +pleased to laugh at as "Turnip Townshend." In something less than one +hundred years, the agricultural practice which he introduced from +Hanover has spread itself throughout this country, and now yields an +annual return which, probably, exceeds the interest of our national +debt.--_Sir Walter Scott--in the Quarterly Review._ + +_Coals in the East._ + +The Dutch newspapers state, that extensive coal mines have been +discovered in Sumatra and Bantam. + +_Naphtha_ + +Has been found to burn much better than other oils in mines where bad +air prevails, and is less injurious to the health of the workmen. Oil of +colza and tallow are extinguished, where naphtha, petroleum, and oil of +bone, continue burning. + +_Fossils._ + +Plates of above 600 fossil bones, (remains of a former world) recently +discovered in the neighbourhood of Issoire, in France, are preparing for +publication. They belong to more than 50 species of animals, now +extinct; among which are elephants, horses, tapirs, rhinoceri, eleven or +twelve kinds of stags, large cats, oxen, bears, dogs, otters, &c. + + * * * * * + +SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS. + + * * * * * + +POTIER, THE FRENCH "LISTON." + +Potier, generally speaking--and it is the same with our own Liston--has +never Actually observed any thing of what he presents to us. It is the +spontaneous effusion of his own feelings--the immediate creation of his +own mind--frequently arising at the moment at which we see it, and +therefore never to be seen a second time--but always generated by the +actor himself, and never mixed up with any thing else of an extraneous +nature. This is one cause of the extraordinary variety of this actor, +and consequently of his extraordinary popularity in his own country. We +never tire of going to see him, because he is never the same on any two +nights--or rather he never performs the same character twice in the same +manner. It is also the secret of his unrivalled originality. There are +but very few characters in which he can repeat himself, even if he +would. And those are such as depend for their comicality upon collateral +circumstances connected with them, rather than upon any thing essential +to themselves. + +There are some persons whose every look, feature, expression, and tone +of voice conduce to comic effects; and many an actor has owed his +success more to these than to any mental qualities or dispositions +corresponding with them; or has even been successful in spite of these +latter being in no degree adapted to the profession which circumstances +have induced him to adopt. In proof of this fact, comic actors are quite +as often dull and solemn people, as droll ones, in private life. The +most remarkable instance of a face being a fortune, in this respect, is +our own Liston. If he had not possessed a comic countenance, nothing +could have prevented him from being a tragic actor, or have made him a +comic one; for it is well understood that all his inclinations led him +in that direction. The truth is, that Liston's style of acting is too +chaste and natural to have been so universally popular as it is, but for +the irresistible drollery of his features--which are the finest farce +that ever was written. Now in this respect, as in all others, Potier +differs from his contemporaries. + +His voice, his face, and his person altogether, are in themselves +antidotes to mirth, and might almost be supposed to set it at defiance. +He might play the _Apothecary_, in _Romeo and Juliet_, or the _Anatomie +Vivante_, without painting for them--as Stephen Kemble used to play +their antithesis, _Falstaff_, without stuffing. And yet, instead of this +seeming contradiction counteracting the essentially comic turn of his +mind, the latter is so completely paramount, that it changes every thing +within its reach to its own complexion.--_New Monthly Magazine._ + + * * * * * + +FRAGMENT OF THE NARRATIVE OF A STUDENT AT LAW. + +This is a portion of what the writer calls "a series of the most +singular and mysterious events," commenced January 29,1791. It is +perhaps a romance of _real life_, although there is something in it +beyond probability--but nothing impossible. Our _student_ is at first +almost _cut_ by an acquaintance for neglecting to notice him in the +park, when in fact he was not in the park: the hall butler of the Temple +proves by the parchment that he dined there four days of term, when he +was sick, and some distance from town: next he is _cut_ by a second +acquaintance for not recognising him at a masquerade: then a similar +affair occurs with a beautiful girl in ----- square; at the Theatre; and +on the Serpentine. He is next recognised by an old friend at a +gaming-table, who mentions the sale of an estate there for his last +stake, which property our student really had sold, though under +different circumstances; and then rejected by his _chère amie_ for a +slight which he never offered. The last event or link of this mysterious +chain is familiarly narrated as follows:-- + +In returning one morning from Westminster, as I was passing through one +of those small courts between Essex-street and Norfolk-street, (for of +late I had sought the most retired ways,) I observed that two persons, +of rather mean appearance, seemed to be dogging my footsteps. Uneasy at +this circumstance, I hastened directly on to my chambers. I had, +however, scarcely seated myself, when my servant informed me that two +men wished to speak to me. On being admitted, they told me that they +were officers of the police, and that they had a warrant to arrest me on +a charge of felony. Surprise at the moment prevented my speaking; but as +soon as I recovered myself I offered to accompany them to the +magistrate. He was sitting, and the witnesses being in attendance, my +examination took place immediately. A young man, of gentleman-like +address, swore, that on the preceding evening he had been induced by one +of his friends to visit one of the gambling-houses in the +Haymarket--that he there saw me both playing and betting very +rashly--that I appeared to be losing--that at length I quitted the room, +and that soon afterwards his friend and himself followed. Now came the +accusation. He swore, that just as he was leaving the door he felt some +person drawing his purse from his pocket--that he immediately pursued +the man, and at the corner of Jermyn-street seized _me._ That at first I +submitted, and he dragged me to one of the lamps, and there most +distinctly saw my countenance, when at that moment, by some piece of +adroitness, which he could not explain, I slipped from his grasp, and +instantly disappeared. His friend corroborated the story. The +magistrate, after cautioning me, and expressing his regret at seeing a +person of my appearance before him, asked me whether I wished to say any +thing in my defence, I answered that I was the victim of some secret and +devilish conspiracy, and that I would prove that I was at my chambers on +the night in question. "I hope you may be able to do so," said the +magistrate; "but in the mean time it is, my duty to commit you;" and I +was conducted to gaol in a hackney-coach. I immediately summoned one or +two of my friends, and after laying open to them the circumstances in +which I had been placed, we concerted the best means of defence. My +laundress could swear that I was in chambers the whole of the evening +when the robbery was committed; and though this was the only direct +evidence in my favour, yet I assembled at least a dozen persons, men of +repute and station, as witnesses to my character. The trial excited +prodigious interest, but what was that interest to the agony with which +I regarded the issue! Should I be convicted, my mysterious enemies would +enjoy, in triumph, my disgrace and degradation, and might probably +proceed by the same diabolical contrivances to attempt even my life. The +day came, and I was arraigned among a herd of common felons; but the +consciousness of my innocence, and the hope of establishing it, +supported my heart. No sooner had I heard the witnesses for the +prosecution, than that hope died within me. A number of persons deposed, +that on the night in question they had seen me in the gambling-house; +but they were men of indifferent character, and not personally +acquainted with me. At last, with astonishment and horror I saw my +venerable friend, Mr. B----, put into the box, and heard him swear in +positive terms that he was present in the room, and saw me at play. My +defence availed nothing. The wretched old woman, whom I produced, as the +court and jury believed, to establish my defence by perjury, was +immediately discredited, and the jury returned a verdict of guilty. I +was sentenced to six months' imprisonment. My feelings I will not +attempt to describe. + +During my confinement I made the most energetic attempts to reconcile +myself to my fatal destiny. I formed a plan for my future life, complete +in every particular. My character being destroyed, and most of my +friends alienated, I determined to convert my property into money, and +to seek a refuge in the United States. At length the term of my +imprisonment approached its close, and on the 30th of September, 1791, I +was liberated--my flesh creeps as I name the day. + +I waited in the prison till it was dusk. Finding that I had the key of +my chambers upon my person, I resolved, in the first instance, to visit +once again the scene of my former tranquil studies. Before I reached the +Temple the gates had been closed, and the gatekeeper, as I entered, eyed +me with an unpleasant curiosity. I reached my chambers. There was still +light sufficient to enable me to select some papers which I particularly +wished to secure. I entered the chambers and walked in to my +sitting-room, but suddenly stopped on seeing a figure reclining on the +sofa. My library-table was before him, covered with law books. At first +I imagined that my laundress had permitted some stranger to occupy my +rooms during my incarceration. As I entered the chamber the figure rose, +and with feelings of indescribable horror I perceived the semblance of +myself-- + +--"And my flesh's hair upstood, +'Twas mine own similitude." + +--I cannot relate what followed, for my senses deserted me. On +recovering, my mysterious visiter had departed without leaving the +slightest clue by which I might fathom the impenetrable secret of my +persecutions. I have sometimes imagined that they arose from one of +those wonderful natural resemblances which in some instances appear to +be well authenticated; but, natural or supernatural, they changed the +current of my life. Unable to endure the disgrace of being pointed at as +a convicted felon, I converted my property into money, and, under +another name, I now live respected in a foreign land.--_Ibid._ + + * * * * * + +THE SELECTOR; AND LITERARY NOTICES OF NEW WORKS. + + * * * * * + +"FASHIONABLE TALES." + +Lord Normanby has written one of the best, if not _the best_, of this +class of works, the tendency of which is in most instances of +questionable character. But they give a tone to the reading taste of the +day, as the recent circumstance of two of them forming the first subject +of three _literary_ reviews will sufficiently attest. The work to which +we specially allude, is _Matilda, a Tale of the Day_, the noble author +of which has just produced another of the same stamp, entitled _Yes and +No_, to whose sketches and portraits we shall shortly introduce our +readers. It will be seen that his lordship is no mean artist, nor does +he belong to the novel-making tribe, whose hole-and-corner curiosity has +made us as familiar with the _Corso_ as we are with our own Bond-street. +But the following snatch from _Yes and No_ proves that these smatterers +of fashion--these clippers of reputation--are encouraged by some portion +of that class whose vanities they affect to expose:-- + +SCENE--_A "Hall" in the Country._ + +"It is always as well here to know who one's next neighbour is," +continued Fitzalbert, "for this is not one of those snug parties where +one can do or say what one pleases without observation." "How do you +mean?" asked Germain. "Why, Lady Boreton encourages these literary +poachers on the manors, or rather _manners_ of high life; she gives a +sort of right of free chase to all cockney sportsmen to wing one's +follies in a double-barrelled duodecimo, or hunt one's eccentricities +through a hot-pressed octavo. Not that they are, generally speaking, +very formidable shots--they often bring down a different bird from the +one they aimed at, and sometimes shut their eyes and blaze away at the +whole covey; which last is, after all, the best way. Their coming here +to pick out individuals is needless trouble. Do you know the modern +recipe for a finished picture of fashionable life? Let a gentleman_ly_ +man, with a gentleman_ly_ style, take of foolscap paper a few quires; +stuff them well with high-sounding titles--dukes and duchesses, lords +and ladies, _ad libitum_. Then open the peerage at random, pick a +supposititious author out of one page of it, and fix the imaginary +characters upon some of the rest; mix it all up with quantum suff. of +puff, and the book is in a second edition before ninety-nine readers out +of a hundred have found out the one is as little likely to have written, +as the others to have done what is attributed to them." + +Again--here is a picture of the guests: "Captains that have been to the +North Pole; chemists who can extract ice from caloric; transatlantic +travellers and sedentary bookworms; some authors, who own to anonymous +publications they have never written; and others who are suspected of +those they deny; besides the usual quantum of young ladies and +gentlemen, who rest their claims to distinction upon the traditionary +deeds of their great grandfathers." + + * * * * * + +SOCIETY OF UNITED IRISHMEN. + +At the head of the table, which occupied the centre of the apartment, +and in an arm-chair raised by a few steps from the floor, sat the +president of the society of United Irishmen. He alone was covered, and +though plainly dressed, there was an air of high breeding and +distinction about him; while in his bland smile were exhibited, the open +physiognomy of pleasantness, and love-winning mildness, which still mark +the descendants of the great Anglo-Norman Lords of the Pale, the Lords +of Ormond, Orrery, and Arran, the Mount Garrets, and Kilkennys,--in +former times, the great oligarchs of Ireland, and in times more recent, +the grace and ornament of the British court. + +The president was the Honourable Simon Butler: beside him, on a lower +seat, sat the secretary. His uncovered head, and unshaded temples +received the full light of the suspended lamp. It was one of those +finely chiselled heads, which arrest the imagination, and seem to bear +incontrovertible evidence of the certainty of physiognomical science. A +dress particularly studied, was singularly contrasted with the athletic +figure and antique bearing of this interesting looking person. For +though unpowdered locks, and the partial uncovering of a muscular neck, +by the loose tie of the silk handkerchief had something of the +simplicity of republicanism, yet the fine diamond chat sparkled at the +shirt breast, and the glittering of two watch-chains (the foppery of the +day), exhibited an aristocracy of toilet, which did not exactly assort +with the Back-lane graces. The secretary of the United Irishmen, was +Archibald Hamilton Rowan. + +On the opposite side sat a small, well-formed, and animated person, who +was talking with singular vivacity of look and gesture, to one of +extremely placid and even formal appearance. The first was the gay, +gallant, and patriotic founder of the society, Theobald Wolfe Tone, the +other was the celebrated and clever Doctor Drennan, a skilful physician, +and an elegant writer, who might have passed in appearance, for the +demure minister of some remote village-congregation of the Scotch kirk. + +A tail, elegant, and sentimental looking person sat near to them, in an +attitude of interested attention, listening to the speaker, to whom, it +seemed, he was about to reply. It was Thomas Addas Emmet, the son of the +state physician of Ireland--then a young lawyer of great promise, and +now the Attorney-General of New York. The handsome and animated Dr. +Mackenna, one of the most popular writers of the day, and Oliver Bond, +the representative of the most reputable class of merchants, had grouped +forward their intelligent heads; while one who brought no personal +beauty to the cause (that letter of recommendation to all causes), James +Napper Tandy, stood waiting with a packet of letters, which he had +received in his former quality of secretary to the meeting. + +While other leaders of the Union distinguished for their birth, talents, +or principles (and it is remarkable that they were all protestants), +filled up the seats near the head of the table; more mixed groups less +distinguished by the _beau sang_, which then came forth, in the fine +forms of the genuine Irish gentry of both sects, were congregated in the +obscurity of the bottom of the room--_Lady Morgan's O'Briens and +O'Flahertys._ + + * * * * * + +STORY OF RICHARD PLANTAGENET, SON OF RICHARD III. + +It was on this awful night (the night preceding the battle of Bosworth +Field), according to a letter which I have read from Dr. Thomas Brett to +Dr. William Warren, president of Trinity-hall, that the king took his +last farewell in his tent of Richard Plantagenet, his natural son, who +himself thus describes that interview:--"I was boarded with a Latin +schoolmaster, without knowing who my parents were, till I was fifteen or +sixteen years old; only a gentleman, who acquainted me he was no +relative of mine, came once a quarter and paid for my board, and took +care to see that I wanted for nothing. One day this gentleman took me +and carried me to a great fine house, where I passed through several +stately rooms, in one of which he left me, bidding me stay there. Then a +man richly dressed, with a star and garter, came to me, asked me some +questions, talked kindly to me, and gave me some money. Then the +fore-mentioned gentleman returned, and conducted me back to my school. + +"Some time after, the same gentleman came to me again with a horse and +proper accoutrements, and told me I must take a journey with him into +the country. We went into Leicestershire, and came to Bosworth Field, +and I was carried to king Richard's tent. The king embraced me, and told +me I was his son. 'But, child,' said he, 'to-morrow I must fight for my +crown. And assure yourself if I lose that, I will lose my life too; but +I hope to preserve both. Do you stand on yonder hill, where you may see +the battle out of danger, and when I have gained the victory, come to +me; I will then own you to be mine, and take care of you. But if I +should be so unfortunate as to lose the battle, then shift as well as +you can, and take care to let no one know that I am your father; for no +mercy will be shown to any one so nearly related to me.' The king then +presented me with a purse of gold, and giving me a farewell embrace, +dismissed me from his tent. I followed the king's directions; and when I +saw the battle lost and the king killed, I hastened back to London, sold +my horse and fine clothes, and the better to conceal myself from all +suspicion of being son to a king, and that I might have the means to +live by my honest labour, I put myself apprentice to a bricklayer. But +having a competent skill in the Latin tongue, I was unwilling to lose +it; and having an inclination also to reading, and no delight in the +conversation of those I am obliged to work with, I generally spend all +the time I have to spare in reading by myself." + +The letter says, "When Sir Thomas Moyle built Eastwell House, near +London, about the year, 1544, he observed his chief bricklayer, whenever +he left off work, retired with a book. Sir Thomas had curiosity to know +what book the man read, but was some time before he could discover it; +he still putting the book up if any one came toward him. However, at +last Sir Thomas surprised him, and snatched the book from him, and +looking into it found it to be Latin. He then examined him, and finding +he pretty well understood that language, he inquired how he came by his +learning. Hereupon the man told him, as he had beer, a good master to +him, he would venture to trust him with a secret he had never before +revealed to any one. He then related the above story. Sir Thomas said, +'You are now old, and almost past your labour; I will give you the +running of my kitchen as long as you live.' He answered, 'Sir, you have +a numerous family; I have been used to live retired, give me leave to +build a house of one room for myself in such a field, and there, with +your good leave, I will live and die.' Sir Thomas granted his request, +he built his house, and there continued to his death. Richard +Plantagenet was buried the 22nd day of December, anno ut supra ex +registro de Eastwell sub 1550. This is all the register mentions of him, +so that we cannot say whether he was buried in the church or +church-yard; nor is there now any other memorial of him except the +tradition in the family, and some little marks where his house stood. +This story my late Lord Heneage, earl of Winchelsea, told me in the year +1720." Thus lived and died, in low and poor obscurity, the only +remaining son of Richard III! + +_Tale of a Modern Genius._ + + * * * * * + +FINE ARTS. + + * * * * * + +ART OF MOSAIC. + +At Rome are many minor fine arts practised, which are wholly unknown in +England. The most remarkable of them is the _Mosaic Manufactory_, +carried on at the cost of government: and its fruits are theirs. The +workmen are constantly occupied in copying paintings for altarpieces, +though the works of the first masters are fast mouldering away on the +walls of forgotten churches. They will soon be lost forever; it is yet +possible to render them imperishable by means of Mosaic copies; and why +is it not done? The French, at Milan, set an example of this, by +copying, in mosaic, the _Last Supper_ of Leonardo da Vinci; but it was +their plan to do much for Milan, and nothing for Rome; and the +invaluable frescos of Michael Angelo, Raphael, Domenichino, and Guido, +were left to perish. + +It takes about seven or eight years to finish a mosaic copy of a +painting of the ordinary historical size, two men being constantly +employed. It generally costs from eight to ten thousand crowns, but the +time and expense are of course regulated by the intricacy of the subject +and quantity of work. Raphael's _Transfiguration_, cost about 12,000 +crowns, and the labour of nine years, ten men constantly working at it. +The late works, are, however, of very inferior execution. + +The slab upon which the mosaic is made, is generally of Travertine, (or +Tiburtine) stones, connected together by iron cramps. Upon the surface +of this a mastic or cementing paste, is gradually spread, as the +progress of the work makes it wanted, which forms the adhesive ground, +or bed, on which the mosaic is laid. This mastic is composed of fine +lime from burnt marble, and finely powdered Travertine stone, mixed to +the consistence of a paste, with strong linseed oil. Into this paste are +stuck the _smalts_, of which the mosaic picture is formed. They are a +mixed species of opaque vitrified glass, partaking of the mixed nature +of stone and glass, and composed of a variety of minerals and materials, +coloured for the most part, with different metallic oxydes. Of these no +less than 1,700 different shades are in use; they are manufactured in +Rome in the form of long, slender rods like wires, of different degrees +of thickness, and are cut into pieces of the requisite sizes, from the +smallest pin point to an inch. When the picture is completely finished, +and the cement thoroughly dried, it is highly polished. + +Mosaic, though an ancient art, is not merely a revived, but an improved +one; for the Romans only used coloured marbles, or natural stones in its +composition, which admitted of comparatively little variety; but the +invention of smalts has given it a far wider range, and made the +imitation of painting far closer. The mosaic work at Florence is totally +different to this, being merely inlaying in _pietre dure_, or natural +precious stones, of every variety, which forms beautiful, and very +costly imitations of shells, flowers, figures, &c. but bears no +similitude to painting. + +Besides this government establishment at Rome, there are hundreds of +artists, or artisans, who carry on the manufactory of mosaics on a small +scale. Snuff-boxes, rings, necklaces, brooches, earrings, &c. are made +in immense quantity; and since the English flocked in such numbers to +Rome, all the streets leading to the Piazza di Spagna are lined with the +shops of these _Musaicisti_, &c. + +Oriental shells are made at Rome into beautiful cameos, by the white +outer surface being cut away upon the deeper coloured internal part, +forming figures in minute bassi relievi. The subjects are chiefly taken +from ancient gems, and sometimes from sculpture and painting. The shells +used for this purpose are chiefly brought from the Levant; and these +shell cameos make remarkably beautiful ornaments. Hundreds of artists +also find support at Rome, in making casts, sulphurs, &c. from ancient +gems and medals, and in selling or fabricating antiques. Marble and +stone-cutting are also beautifully executed both at Rome and +Florence--_Abridged, (but interspersed) from "Rome in the 19th +Century."_ + + + * * * * * + +THE GATHERER. + +"I am but a Gatherer and disposer of other men's stuff."--Wotton. + + * * * * * + +TO **** + +Moria pur quando vuol non è bisogna mutar ni faccia ni voci per esser un +Angelo.--The words addressed by Lord Herbert of Cherbury, to the +beautiful Nun at Murano. (See his Life.) + +_Translation_. + +Die when you will, you need not wear At heaven's Court, a form more +fair, Than beauty here on earth has giv'n, Keep but the lovely looks we +see--The voice we hear--and you will be An angel _ready made_ for +heaven. + + * * * * * + +A CARD + +_Left at the_ Queen's house _during the_ King's _illness in March_, +1801. + +"Captain Blake of the Grenadiers, (George 1st.), was in the regiment of +Colonel Murray at the battle of Preston Pans, in the year 1745. He was +left among the dead in the field of action, with no less than eleven +wounds, one so capital as to carry away three inches of his skull. Has +been preserved fifty-six years to relate the event, and enabled by +gracious protection, to make his personal inquiry after his majesty." + + * * * * * + +MARGARET NICHOLSON. + +The following is the original, epistle of this famous lunatic to the +matron of Bedlam; No other proof is necessary of her insanity:-- + +Madam,--I've recollected perhaps 'tis necessary to acquaint you upon +what account I continue here yet, _maim_, after making you privy to my +great concerns, _madam_ I only wait for alteration of the globe which +belongs to this house, _maim_ and if the time is almost expired I wish +to know it _maim_. Tho' I am not unhealthy, yet I am very weak, know +_maim_ therefore I hope it won't be long _maim_. + +I am, madam, your most obedient, + +Wednesday. M. NICHOLSON. + + * * * * * + +LADY ARCHER, Formerly Miss West, lived to a good age--a proof that +cosmetics are not so fatal as has been supposed. Nature had given her a +fine aquiline nose, like, the princesses of the house of Austria, and +she did not fail to give herself a complexion. She resembled a fine old +wainscotted painting with the face and features shining through a thick +incrustation of copal varnish. + +Her ladyship was for many years the wonder of the fashionable world, +envied by all the ladies that frequented the court. She had a splendid +house in Portland-place, with _et caetera_ equal in brilliancy and +beauty to, or rather surpassing those of any of her contemporaries. +Magnificent appendages were a sort of scenery. She gloried in milk-white +horses to her carriage--the coachman and footman in grand shewy +liveries--the carriage lined with a silk calculated to exhibit the +complexion, &c. &c. + +I recollect, however, to have seen the late Mrs. Robinson go far beyond +all this in the rich exuberance of her genius; a yellow lining to her +landau, with a black footman, to contrast with her beautiful countenance +and fascinating figure, and thus render both more lovely. Lady Archer's +house at Barnes Elms Terrace, had an elegance of ornaments and drapery +to strike the senses, and yet powerfully addressed to the imagination. +She could give an insinuating interest to the scenes about her; which +other eyes were viewing. Her kitchen garden and pleasure ground of five +acres--the Thames running in front as if appertaining to the +grounds--the apartments most tastefully decorated in the Chinese +style--a fine conservatory opening, into the principal apartment with +grapes, slow peaches, &c. at the end a magnificent sofa, with a superb +curtain all displayed with a peculiar grace and to the greatest +advantage. Much praise was due to her arrangement of green and hot-house +plants, the appellations of which she was well acquainted with, as also +everything relating to their history.--_from the Papers of the late +Alexander Stephens, Esq._ + + * * * * * + +TO SUBSCRIBERS. + +Several of our early Numbers (which were unavoidably for sometime out of +print), having been recently reprinted, we suggest to our Subscribers +the present opportunity of Completing their Sets. Although public +patronage has long kept us in countenance, it does not enable us to keep +all our Numbers constantly in print. + +_The Editor of_ "THE MIRROR" _has in the press_, ARCANA OF SCIENCE AND +ART, FOR 1828: + +Being the popular Discoveries and Improvements of the past Year, in +Antiquities Architecture, Astronomy, Botany, Chemistry, Fine Arts, +Geography, Geology, Mechanical Science, Medicine, Meteorology, +Mineralogy, Natural Philosophy, Rural Economy, Statistics, Useful Arts, +Zoology. &c. + +Abridged from the Transactions of Public Societies, and other Scientific +Journals, English and Foreign, in a closely-printed volume. +_Printed and Published by J. LIMBIRD, 143, Strand, (near Somerset +House,) and sold by all Newsmen and Booksellers._ + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Mirror Of Literature, Amusement, +And Instruction, by Various + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 11378 *** |