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diff --git a/11390-0.txt b/11390-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..178dc15 --- /dev/null +++ b/11390-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1586 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 11390 *** + +THE MIRROR OF LITERATURE, AMUSEMENT, AND INTRUCTION. + +VOL. 13, No. 353.] SATURDAY, JANUARY 24, 1829. [PRICE 2d. + + + + +VILLAS IN THE REGENT'S PARK + + +[Illustration: HANOVER LODGE.] + +[Illustration: GROVE HOUSE.] + +The villas of this district are among the most pleasing of all the +architectural creations that serve to increase its picturesque beauty. +Their structure is light and elegant, and very different from the brick +and mortar monstrosities that line the southern outlets of London. + +The engravings on the annexed page represent two of a group seen to +advantage from Macclesfield Bridge, pictured in our 351st Number. The +first is + +HANOVER LODGE, + +the residence of Colonel Sir Robert Arbuthnot, K.C.B. The architectural +simplicity and beauty of this mansion can scarcely fail to excite the +admiration of the beholder. The entrance is by a handsome portico; and +the internal accommodations combine all the luxuries of a well- +proportioned dining-room, and a splendid suite of drawing-rooms, +extending above sixty feet in length, by eighteen feet in breadth. The +upper story comprises nine chambers, bathing-room, dressing-rooms, &c.; +and the domestic offices are in the first style of completeness. + +The grounds are unusually picturesque, for they have none of the +geometrical formalities of the exploded school of landscape-gardening, +or of Nature trimmed and tortured into artificial embellishment. We have +often wondered where the old gardeners acquired their mathematical +education; they must have gone about with the square and compasses in +their pockets--for knowledge was then clasped up in ponderous folios. + +The second engraving is + +GROVE HOUSE, + +the elegant residence of George Bellas Greenough, Esq., built from the +designs of Mr. Decimus Burton. This is a happy specimen of the villa +style of architecture. The garden front, represented in the print, is +divided into three portions. The centre is a tetrastyle portico of the +Ionic order, raised on a terrace. Between the columns are three handsome +windows. The two wings have recesses, "the soffites of which are +supported by three-quarter columns of the Doric order. Between these +columns are niches, each of which contains a statue. The absence of +other windows and doors from the front," (observes Mr. Elmes,) "gives a +remarkable and pleasing _casino_ or pleasure-house character to the +house." + +The portico is purely Grecian, and the proportion of the pediment very +beautiful. The entrance front also consists of a centre and two wings; +but the former has no pediment. The door is beneath a spacious +semicircular portico of the true Doric order, which alternates with the +Ionic in the other parts of the building with an effect truly +harmonious. + +Of the internal arrangements of Grove House we will vouch; but our +artist has endeavoured to convey some idea of the natural beauties with +which this little temple of art is environed; and the engraver has added +to the distinctness of the floral embellishments in the foreground. +Altogether, the effect breathes the freshness and quiet of a rural +retreat, although the wealth and fashion of a metropolis herd in the +same parish, and their gay equipages are probably whirling along the +adjacent road. + +The exterior of the "COLOSSEUM" (of the interior of which building our +last Number contained a description) was intended for the embellishment +of the present Number. Our engraver promised--but, as Tillotson quotes +in one of his sermons, "promises and pie-crusts," &c. The engraving is, +however, intended for our next MIRROR, with some additional particulars +of the interior, &c. + + * * * * * + + +SEVERE FROST. + +_(For the Mirror.)_ + + +On the 25th of December, 1749, a most severe frost commenced; it +continued without intermission for several weeks, during which time the +people, especially the working classes, experienced dreadful hardships. +Many travellers were frozen to death in coaches, and even foot +passengers, in the streets of London, shared the same fate. Numerous +ships, barges, and boats, were sunk by the furious driving of the ice in +the Thames. Great were the distresses of the poor, and even those who +possessed all the comforts of life, confined themselves within doors, +for fear of being frozen if they ventured abroad. + +The watermen of the river received great assistance from merchants, and +other gentlemen of the Royal Exchange; but the fishermen, gardeners, +bricklayers, and others, were reduced to a miserable extremity. These +poor men, presenting a sad aspect, assembled to the number of several +hundreds, and marched through the principal streets of the metropolis, +begging for bread and clothing. The fishermen carried a boat in +mourning, and the unfortunate mechanics exhibited their implements and +utensils. The citizens of London contributed largely to their relief, as +did most of the inhabitants of the main streets through which the +melancholy procession passed. + +G.W.N. + + * * * * * + + +OTWAY, THE POET. + +_(To the Editor of the Mirror.)_ + + +Any anecdote relating to, or illustrative of, the works of this great +man is a public benefaction; and I, in common with all your readers, (no +doubt,) feel obliged to your correspondent for his history of Charles +Brandon, Duke of Suffolk; at least, so much of it as, it would seem, was +connected with the tragedy of the Orphan. Charles Brandon was, as +history informs us, a gay, young, rattling fellow, a constant exhibitant +at all tilts and tournaments at Whitehall and elsewhere; courageous, +"wittie and of goodlie persone," in fact, a regular dandy of bygone +days, a fine gallant, and of course a great favourite of his royal +master; but, notwithstanding all this, it is not clear to me that +Charles Brandon and his brother were the romantic originals of Polydore +and Castalio. I rather think, if Otway did form his characters on any +real occurrence of the sort, the distressing event must be laid to the +noble family now proprietors of Woburn. + +Perhaps the _old nobleman_ misunderstood the duchess-dowager when she +explained the picture to him; or perhaps her grace did not choose to be +_quite_ so communicate as she could have been, and, therefore, fixed the +sad event upon the gay Charley Brandon, in whose constellation of gay +doings it would, indeed, be a romantic diamond of the first water. + +Every body who knows the gallery at Woburn, must remember the remarkable +picture alluded to. There is in the same apartment a very fine +whole-length of Charles Brandon; but in no way can I see is it connected +with the work which has furnished this tragic anecdote. At some distance +from Brandon's portrait appears the first Francis, _Earl of Bedford_, +with a long white beard, and furred robe, and George, pendant,--an +illustrious personage of this house, who discharged several great +offices in the reigns of Mary and Elizabeth. Such was his hospitality, +that Elizabeth used good-humouredly to say, "Go to, Frank, go to; it is +you make all the beggars." He died, aged 58, on the 28th of July, 1585, +the day after his third son, _Francis_, was slain, happily unapprized of +the misfortune. + +Now comes the interesting picture in connexion with Otway and his play. +This youth, _Francis_ and his elder brother, the Lord Edward Russell, +are represented in _small_ full-lengths, in two paintings; and so alike, +as scarcely to be distinguished one from the other; both dressed in +white, close jackets, and black and gold cloaks, and black bonnets. The +date by Lord Edward is aet. 22, 1573. He is represented grasping in one +hand some snakes with this motto, _Fides homini, serpentibus fraus_; and +in the back ground he is placed standing in a labyrinth, above which is +inscribed, _Fata viam invenient_. This young nobleman died before his +father. His brother _Francis_ has his accompaniments not less singular. +A lady, seemingly in distress, is represented sitting in the back +ground, surrounded with snakes, a dragon, crocodile, and cock. At a +distance are the sea and a ship under full sail. He, by the attendants, +was, perhaps, the Polydore of the history. Edward seems by his motto, +_Fides homini, serpentibus fraus_, to have been the Castalio, conscious +of his own integrity, and indignant at his brother's perfidy. The ship +probably alludes to the desertion of the lady. If it conveyed Francis to +Scotland, it was to his punishment, for he fell on July 27, 1585, in a +border affray, the day before his father's death. + +There, make what you like of this. This is how matters stand at the +Abbey; but I cannot see how this remarkable picture connects itself with +Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk. I pause for elucidation. + +BEPPO. + + * * * * * + + + +ON THE CONSTANCY OF WOMAN. + +_(For the Mirror.)_ + + +True love has no reserves--LANSDOWNE. + +There is not an accomplishment in the mind of a female more enchanting, +nor one which adds more dignity and grace to her person, than constancy. +Whatever share of beauty she may be possessed of, whether she may have +the tinge of Hebe on her cheeks, vying in colour with the damask rose, +and breath as fragrant--and the graceful and elegant gait of an +Ariel--still, unless she is endowed with this characteristic of a +virtuous and ingenuous mind, all her personal charms will fade away, +through neglect, like decaying fruit in autumn. The whole list of female +virtues are in their kind essential to the felicity of man; but there is +such beauty and grandeur of sentiment displayed in the exercise of +constancy, that it has been justly esteemed by the dramatic poets as the +chief excellence of their heroines. It nerves the arm of the warrior +when absent from the dear object of his devoted attachment, when he +reflects, that his confidence in her regard was never misplaced; but +yet, amidst the dangers of his profession, he sighs for his abode of +domestic happiness, where the breath of calumny never entered, and where +the wily and lustful seducer, if he dared to put his foot, shrunk back +aghast with shame and confusion, like Satan when he first beheld the +primitive innocence and concord between Adam and Eve in the Garden of +Eden. It adds a zest to the toils of the peasant, and his heart expands +with joy and gratitude when he returns in the evening to his ivy-mantled +cottage, and finds his wife assiduously engaged in the household duties +of his family. And it soothes the mind of the lunatic during the lucid +intervals of the aberration of his intellects, and tends more than +anything else to restore him to reason. In fact, there is no calamity +that is incident to man, but that female constancy will assuage. Whether +in sickness or health, in prosperity or poverty, in mirth or sadness, +(vicissitudes which form the common lot of mankind in their pilgrimage +through this life;) the loveliness of this inestimable blessing will +shine forth, like the sun on a misty morning, and preserve the even +temperature of the mind. To the youthful lover it is the polar star that +guides him from the shoals and quicksands of vice, among which his +wayward fancy and inexperience are too apt to lead him. But in the +matrimonial state, the pleasures arising from the exercise of this +virtue are manifold, as it sheds a galaxy of splendour around the social +hemisphere; for it is such a divine perfection, that Solomon has wisely +observed, that + + "A virtuous woman is a crown to her husband." + +A husband so blessed in marriage, might exclaim with the lover in one of +Terence's comedies, "I protest solemnly that I will never forsake her; +no, not if I was sure to contract the enmity of mankind by this +resolution. Her I made the object of my wishes, and have obtained her; +our dispositions suit; and I will shake hands with them that would sow +dissension betwixt us; for death, and only death, shall take her from +me." + +The eulogies of the poets in regard to this amiable trait in the female +character, are sublime and beautiful; but none, I think, have surpassed +in vivid fancy and depth of feeling, that of Lord Byron, in his elegant +poem of the _Corsair_. The following passage describing the grief of +Medora on the departure of Conrad, the pirate, is sketched with the +pencil of a poet who was transcendently gifted with a knowledge of the +inmost recesses of the human heart:-- + + "And is he gone,"--on sudden solitude + How oft that fearful question will intrude? + "'Twas but an instant past--and here he stood! + And now"--without the portal's porch she rush'd, + And then at length her tears in freedom gush'd; + Big, bright, and fast, unknown to her they fell. + But still her lips refus'd to send--"Farewell!" + "He's gone!"--against her heart that hand is driven, + Convuls'd and quick--then gently rais'd to heav'n; + She look'd and saw the heaving of the main: + The white sail set--she dared not look again; + But turn'd with sickening soul within the gate-- + "It is no dream--and I am desolate!" + + CANTO I. + +The description of Conrad's return from his piratical cruise, the agony +of his mind when he finds that his lovely Medora had fallen a sacrifice +to her affectionate regard for him, and his sudden departure in a boat, +through despair, is equally grand and powerful, and exhibits a fine +specimen of the influence of female constancy even on the mind of a man +like Conrad, who, from the nature of his pursuits, was inured to the +infliction of wrongs on his fellow-creatures. + +The anecdote of the behaviour of Arria towards her husband, Pætus, +related by Pliny, is one of the greatest instances of constancy and +magnanimity of mind to be met with in history. Pætus was imprisoned, and +condemned to die, for joining in a conspiracy against the Emperor, +Claudius. Arria, having provided herself with a dagger, one day observed +a more than usual gloom on the countenance of Pætus, when judging that +death by the executioner might be more terrible to him than the field of +glory, and perhaps, too, sensible that it was for her sake he wished to +live, she drew the dagger from her side, and stabbed herself before his +eyes. Then instantly plucking the weapon from her breast, she presented +it to her husband, saying, "My Pætus, it is not painful!" Read this, ye +votaries of voluptuousness. Reflect upon the fine moral lesson of +conjugal virtue that is conveyed in this domestic tragedy, ye brutal +contemners of female chastity, and of every virtue that emits a ray of +glory around the social circle of matrimonial happiness! Take into your +serious consideration this direful but noble proof of constancy, ye +giddy and thoughtless worshippers at the shrine of beauty, and know, +that a virtuous disposition is the brightest ornament of the female sex. + +There is another instance of constancy of mind, under oppression, in +Otway's tragedy of _Venice Preserved_, in a dialogue between Jaffier and +Belvidera, where the former questions her with great tenderness of +feeling in regard to her future line of conduct in the gloomy prospect +of his adverse fortune. She replies to him with great animation and +pathos: + + "Oh, I will love thee, ev'n in madness love thee, + Tho' my distracted senses should forsake me! + Tho' the bare earth be all our resting place, + Its roots our food, some cliff our habitation, + I'll make this arm a pillow for thy head, + And as thou sighing ly'st, and swell'd with sorrow, + Creep to thy bosom, pour the balm of love + Into thy soul, and kiss thee to thy rest." + +This is a true and beautiful picture of constancy of mind, under those +rude blasts of adversity, which too frequently nip the growth of +affection. The only alternative against a decay of passion on such +occasions, is a sufficient portion of virtue, strong and well-grounded +love, and constancy of mind as firm as the rock. In short, without +constancy, there can be neither love, friendship, nor virtue, in the +world. + +J.P. + + * * * * * + + +CAVE AT BLACKHEATH. + +_(To the Editor of the Mirror.)_ + + +Allow me to hand you an account of a very curious cavern at Blackheath, +fortuitously discovered in the year 1780, and which will form, I have no +doubt, a pleasing addition to the valued communication of your +correspondent _Halbert H_., in the 348th Number of the MIRROR, and prove +interesting to the greater portion of your numerous readers. It is +situated on the hill, (on the left hand side from London,) and is a very +spacious vaulted cavern, hewn through a solid chalk-stone rock, one +hundred feet below the surface. The Saxons, on their entrance into Kent, +upwards of 1,300 years ago, excavated several of these retreats; and +during the discord, horrid murders, and sanguinary conflicts with the +native Britons, for nearly five hundred years, used these underground +recesses, not only as safe receptacles for their persons, but also +secure depositaries for their wealth and plunder. After these times, +history informs us the caves were frequently resorted to, and occupied +by the disloyal and unprincipled rebels, headed by Jack Cade, in the +reign of Henry VI., about A.D. 1400, who infested Blackheath and its +neighbourhood, (as also mentioned by your correspondent;) since then by +several banditti, called Levellers, in the rebellious times of Oliver +Cromwell. The cave consists of three rooms, which are dry, and +illuminated; in one of which, at the end of the principal entrance, is a +well of soft, pure, and clear water, which, according to the opinion of +several eminent men, is seldom to be met with. The internal structure is +similar to the cave under the ruins of Reigate Castle, built by the +Saxons; where the barons of England, in the year 1212, with their +followers, (frequently amounting to five hundred persons,) held their +private meetings, and took up arms, previous to their obtaining Magna +Charta at Runny Mead, near Egham, in Surrey. + +C.J.T. + + * * * * * + + +STANGING. + +_(For the Mirror.)_ + + +This odd custom is now _vice versâ_. The stang is of Saxon origin, and +is practised in Lancashire, Cumberland, and Westmoreland, for the +purpose of exposing a kind of gyneocracy, or, the wife wearing the +galligaskins. When it is known (which it generally is) that a wife falls +out with her spouse, and beats him right well, the people of the town or +village procure a ladder, and instantly repair to his house, where one +of the party is powdered with flour--face blacked--cocked hat placed +upon his cranium--white sheet thrown over his shoulders--is seated +astride the ladder, with his back where his face should be--they hoist +him upon men's shoulders--and in his hands he carries a long brush, +tongs, and poker. A sort of mock proclamation is then made in doggerel +verse at the door of all the alehouses in the parish, or wapentake, as +follows:-- + + "It is neither for your sake nor my sake + That I ride stang; + But it is for Nancy Thomson, + Who did her husband hang. + But if I hear tell that she doth rebel, + Or him to complain, with fife and drum + Then we will come, + And ride the stang again. + With a ran tan tang, + And a ran tan tan tang," &c. + +The conclusion of this local custom is generally ended at the market +cross, (if any,) or in the middle of the hamlet; after which, one of the +posse goes round with a hat, begging the contributions of those present; +they then regale themselves at some of the village ale-shops, out of the +proceeds of the day's merriment.--Brand and Strutt mention this custom; +as does Brigg, in his "Westmoreland as it was." + +J.W. + +_Preston, Lancashire._ + + * * * * * + + + +THE SKETCH-BOOK. + + +[The following characteristic sketch having been presented to me by a +friend as, to the best of his knowledge, an unpublished _morceau_ by the +celebrated Ettrick Shepherd, I have by his permission the pleasure of +adding it, to the many interesting _cabinet pictures_, already preserved +in this department of the MIRROR.--M.L.B.] + + +ROVER. + + +Rover is now about six years old. He was born half a year before our +eldest girl; and is accordingly looked upon as a kind of elder brother +by the children. He is a small, beautiful liver-coloured spaniel, but +not one of your goggle-eyed Blenheim breed. He is none of your lap dogs. +No, Rover has a soul above that. You may make him your friend, but he +scorns to be a pet. No one can see him without admiring him, and no one +can know him without loving him. He is as regularly inquired after as +any other member of the family; for who that has ever known Rover can +forget him? He has an instinctive perception of his master's friends, to +whom he metes out his caresses in the proportion of their attachment to +the chief object of his affections. When I return from an absence, or +when he meets an old friend of mine, or of his own (which is the same +thing to him) his ecstacy is unbounded; he tears and curvets about the +room as if mad; and if out of doors, he makes the welkin ring with his +clear and joyous note. When he sees a young person in company he +immediately selects him for a play fellow. He fetches a stick, coaxes +him out of the house, drops it at his feet; then retiring backwards, +barking, plainly indicates his desire to have it thrown for him. He is +never tired of his work. Indeed, I fear poor fellow, that his teeth, +which already show signs of premature decay, have suffered from the +diversion. But though Rover has a soul for fun, yet he is a game dog +too. There is not a better cocker in England. In fact he delights in +sport of every kind, and if he cannot have it with me, he will have it +on his own account. He frequently decoys the greyhounds out and finds +hares for them. Indeed he has done me some injury in this way, for if he +can find a pointer loose, he will, if possible, seduce him from his +duty, and take him off upon some lawless excursion; and it is not till +after an hour's whistling and hallooing that I see the truants sneaking +round to the back door, panting and smoking, with their tails knitted up +between their legs, and their long dripping tongues depending from their +watery mouths--_he_ the most bare-faced caitiff of the whole. In +general, however, he will have nothing to say to the canine species, for +notwithstanding the classification of Buffon, he considers he has a +prescriptive right to associate with man. He is, in fact, rather cross +with other dogs; but with children he is quite at home, doubtless +reckoning himself about on a level with them in the scale of rational +beings. Every boy in the village knows his name, and I often catch him +in the street with a posse of little, dirty urchins playing around him. +But he is not quite satisfied with this kind of company; for, if taking +a walk with any of the family, he will only just acknowledge his +plebeian play-fellow with a simple shake of the tail, equivalent to the +distant nod which a patrician school-boy bestows on the town-boy +school-fellow whom he chances to meet when in company with his +aristocratical relations. The only approach to bad feeling that I ever +discovered in Rover is a slight disposition to jealousy; but this in him +is more a virtue than a vice; for it springs entirely from affection, +and has nothing mean or malicious in it, one instance will suffice to +show how he expresses this feeling. One day a little stray dog attached +himself to me and followed me home; I took him into the house and had +him fed, intending to keep him until I could discover the owner. For +this act of kindness the dog expressed thanks in the usual way. Rover, +although used to play the truant, from the moment the little stranger +entered the premises, never quitted us till he saw him fairly off. His +manner towards us became more ingratiating than usual, and he seemed +desirous, by his assiduities and attentions, to show us, that we stood +in need of no other favourite or companion. But at the same time he +showed no animosity whatever towards his supposed rival. Here was reason +and refinement too. Besides the friends whom he meets in my house, Rover +also forms attachments of his own, in which he shows a great +discrimination. It is not every one who offers him a bone that he will +trust as a friend. He has one or two intimate acquaintances in the +village whom he regularly visits, and where in case of any remissness on +the part of the cook, he is sure to find a plate of meat. Rover is a +most feeling, sweet dispositioned dog--one instance of his affection and +kindheartedness I cannot omit. He had formed an attachment to a +labourer, who worked about my garden, and would frequently follow him to +his home, where he was caressed by the wife and children. It happened +that the poor wife was taken ill and died. The husband was seriously +afflicted, and showed a feeling above the common. At this time I +observed that Rover had quite lost his spirits, and appeared to pine. +Seeing him in this state one day, when in company with the widowed +labourer, and thinking in some measure to divert the poor fellow's +thoughts from his own sorrows, I remarked to him the state that Rover +was in, and asked him if he could guess the cause. "He is fretting after +poor Peggy," was his reply, giving vent at the same time to a flood of +tears. + +JAMES HOGG. + + * * * * * + + + +NOTES OF A READER. + + +OLD DANCING. + + +An "Old Subscriber," who loves a friend and a jest's prosperity, has +sent us a few leaves of "The Dancing Master," printed in 1728, which +form a curious contrast with Mr. Lindsay's elegant treatise, printed at +Mr. Clowes's _musical_ office. What will some of the quadrillers say to +the following exquisite morsel of dancing, entitled, "The Old Maid in +Tears?"--"Longways for as many as will".--(then the notes, and the +following instructions:)--"Note: Each strain is to be play'd twice +ov'er.--The first wo. holds her handkerchief on her face, and goes on +the outside, below the 3d wo. and comes up the middle to her place; +first man follows her (at the same time pointing and smiling at her) up +to his place. First man do the same, only he beckons his wo. to him. +First woman makes a motion of drying first one eye, then the other, and +claps her hands one after another on her sides, (the first man looks +surprizingly at her at the same time,) and turn her partner. First cu. +move with two slow steps down the middle and back again. The first cu. +sett and cast off." + +As we love to keep up the dance, if we are not leading the reader a +dance, we give _A Dance in Hoops_, as described in a fashionable novel, +just published:-- + +When the whole party was put in motion, but little trace of a regular +dance remained; all was a perfect maze, and the _cutting_ in and out (as +the fraternity of the whip would phrase it) of these cumbrous machines +presented to the mind only the figure of a most formidable affray. + +The nearest assimilation to this strange exhibition of the dance in full +career, at all familiar to our minds, is the prancing of the +basket-horses in Mr. Peake's humorous farce of _Quadrupeds_. + +An entertaining variety of appearance arose also from the conformity of +the steps to the diversified measure of the tune. The jig measure, which +corresponds to the _canter_ in a horse's paces, produced a strong +bounding up and down of the hoop--and the gavotte measure, which +corresponds to the short trot, produced a tremulous and agitated motion. +The numerous ornaments, also, with which the hoops were bespread and +decorated--the festoons--the tassels--the rich embroidery--all of a most +_catching_ and _taking_ nature, every now and then affectionately +hitched together in unpremeditated and close embrace. To the parties in +action, it is not difficult to suppose these combinations might prove +something short of perfectly agreeable, more especially, as on such +occasions as these, some of the fair daughters of our courtly belles +were undergoing the awful ordeal of a first ball-room appearance, on +whom these contingencies would inflict ten-fold embarrassment.--_The +Ball, or a Glance at Almack's in 1829._ + + * * * * * + + +FRENCH PAINTINGS. + + +General le Jeune has added a new picture to his collection of battle +paintings, exhibiting at the Egyptian Hall, Piccadilly. It represents +one of the general's perilous adventures in the Peninsular War, and is a +vigorous addition to these admirable productions of the French school. +The whole series will be found noticed at page 212 of our vol. xi. + + * * * * * + + +FLOWERS ON THE ALPS. + + +The flowers of the mountains--they must not be forgotten. It is worth a +botanist's while to traverse all these high passes; nay, it is worth the +while of a painter, or any one who delights to look upon graceful +flowers, or lovely hues, to pay a visit to these little wild nymphs of +Flora, at their homes in the mountains of St. Bernard. We are speaking +now, generally, of what may be seen throughout the whole of the route, +from Moutier, by the Little St. Bernard, to Aosta,--and thence again to +Martigny. There is no flower so small, so beautiful, so splendid in +colour, but its equal may be met with in these sequestered places. The +tenaciousness of flowers is not known; their hardihood is not +sufficiently admired. Wherever there is a handful of earth, there also +is a patch of wild-flowers. If there be a crevice in the rock, +sufficient to thrust in the edge of a knife, there will the winds carry +a few grains of dust, and there straight up springs a flower. In the +lower parts of the Alps, they cover the earth with beauty. Thousands, +and tens of thousands, blue, and yellow, and pink, and violet, and +white, of every shadow and every form, are to be seen, vying with each +other, and eclipsing every thing besides. Midway they meet you again, +sometimes fragrant, and always lovely; and in the topmost places, where +the larch, and the pine, and the rhododendron (the last living shrub) +are no longer to be seen, where you are just about to tread upon the +limit of perpetual snow, there still peep up and blossom the "Forget me +not," the Alpine ranunculus, and the white and blue gentian, the last of +which displays, even in this frore air, a blue of such intense and +splendid colour, as can scarcely be surpassed by the heavens themselves. +It is impossible not to be affected at thus meeting with these little +unsheltered things, at the edge of eternal barrenness. They are the last +gifts of beneficent, abundant Nature. Thus far she has struggled and +striven, vanquishing rocks and opposing elements, and sowing here a +forest of larches, and there a wood of pines, a clump of rhododendrons, +a patch of withered herbage, and, lastly, a bright blue flower. Like +some mild conqueror, who carries gifts and civilization into a savage +country, but is compelled to stop somewhere at last, she seems +determined that her parting present shall also be the most beautiful. +This is the limit of her sway. Here, where she has cast down these +lovely landmarks, her empire ceases. Beyond, rule the ice and the +storm!--_New Monthly Magazine._ + + * * * * * + + +THE COMPANION TO THE ALMANAC. + + +This is the age of utility, and the little volume published under the +above title is altogether characteristic of the age. Its contents are +calculated to feed and foster the spirit of inquiry which is abroad. +People are beginning to find they are not so wise as they had hitherto +conceived themselves to be, or rather, that their knowledge on every-day +subjects is very scanty. We are therefore pleased to see in the present +"Companion" a popular paper on Comets; a series of attractive +Observations of a Naturalist; papers on the Management of Children, +Clothing, Economy in the Use of Bread and Flour, and a concise account +of Public Improvements during the year. All these are matters of +interest to every house and family in the empire. There is, besides, an +abundance of Parliamentary papers, judiciously abridged, from which the +reader may obtain more information than by passing six months in "both +your Houses," or reading a session of debates. The Table of Discoveries +is likewise a valuable feature; and the Chronological Table of European +Monarchs is almost a counterpart of a "Regal Tablet" sent to us, some +weeks since, for the MIRROR, and promised for insertion. There is, +however, one feature missing, which we noticed in the "Companion" of +last year, and we cannot but think that, to make room for its +introduction, some of the parliamentary matter in the present volume +might have been spared. The editor will be aware of our +disinterestedness in making this suggestion, and we hope will give us +credit accordingly. + + * * * * * + + +FLUTE PLAYING. + + +"Will you play upon this pipe?" + +"My Lord, I cannot." So say we; but some novel instruction on the +subject may not be unacceptable to our piping friends. We recommend to +them "The Elements of Flute-playing, according to the most approved +principles of Fingering," by Thomas Lindsay, as containing more +practical and preceptive information than is usually to be met with in +such works. The advantage in the present treatise arises out of one of +the many recent improvements in the art of printing, viz., the adoption +of movable types for printing music, instead of by engraved pewter +plates; which method enables the instructor to amplify his precepts, or +didactic portion of his work, and thus simplify them to the pupil. +According, in Mr. Lindsay's treatise, we have upwards of forty pages of +elementary instructions, definitions, and concise treatises, copiously +interspersed with musical illustrations; whereas the engraved treatises +are generally meagre in their instructions, from the difficulty of +punching text illustrations. The article on _accentuation_ is, we are +told, the first successful attempt in any elementary work on the Flute, +to define this important subject. It is written in a lucid and popular +style, and is so attractive, that did our room allow, we might be +induced to insert part of it. Appended to the treatise are thirty pages +of Duettinos and Exercises, and altogether the work, (of which the +present is Part I.,) is well worth the attention of such as study +Flute-playing, which, as Mr. L. observes, is "one of those elegant and +delightful recreations, which constitutes, at once, the grace and the +solace of domestic life." + + * * * * * + + The sweetest flowers their odours shed + In silence and alone; + And Wisdom's hidden fount is fed + By minds to fame unknown. + + _Bernard Barton._ + + * * * * * + + +CHANGES OF INSECTS. + + +Insects are strikingly distinguished from other animals, by a succession +of changes in their organization and forms, and by their incapacity of +propagating before their last metamorphosis, which, in most of them, +takes place shortly before their death. Each of these transformations is +designated by so many terms, that it may not be useless to observe to +the reader, who has not previously paid attention to the subject, that +_larva, caterpillar, grub, maggot_, or _worm_, is the first state of +the insect on issuing from the egg; that _pupa, aurelia, chrysalis_, or +_nympha_ are the names by which the second metamorphosis is designated, +and that the last stage, when the insect assumes the appearance of a +butterfly, is called the _perfect state_.--_North American Review._ + + * * * * * + + +"LITTLE SONGS FOR LITTLE SINGERS." + + +The little folks will soon have a microcosm--a world of their own. The +other day we noticed the "Boy's _Own_ Book," and the girls are promised +a match volume: children, too, have their own _camerae obscurae_; there +are the Cosmoramas at the Bazaar, as great in their way as Mr. Hornor's +Panorama at the Colosseum; besides half a dozen Juvenile Annuals, in +which all the literary children of larger growth write. At our theatres, +operas are sung by children, and the pantomimes are full of juvenile +fun. In short, every thing can be had adapted to all ages; till we begin +to think it is once a world and twice a little world. But we have +omitted the pretty little productions named at the head of this article. +They consist of seven little songs for little people, set to music on +small-sized paper, so that the little singer may hold the song after the +orchestra fashion, without hiding her smiles. 1. The Little Fish, +harmonized from _Nursery Rhymes_; 2. The Little Robin; 3. The Little +Spider and his Wife, from _Original Poems_; 4. The Little Star, from +_Nursery Rhymes_; 5. A Summer Evening, from the _Infant Minstrel_; 6. +Come Away, Come Away, to the air of the Swiss Boy, by Mr. Green, the +publisher; and, 7. The Little Lady Bird:-- + + Lady Bird! Lady Bird! fly away home, + The field-mouse is gone to her nest, + The daisies have shut up their sleepy red eyes, + And the bees and the birds are at rest. + Lady Bird! Lady Bird! fly away home, + The glow-worm is lighting his lamp, + The dew's falling fast, and your fine speckled wings + Will be wet with the close-clinging damp. + Lady Bird! Lady Bird! fly away home, + The fairy bells tinkle afar; + Make haste, or they'll catch ye, and harness ye fast, + With a cobweb, to Oberon's car. + Lady Bird! Lady Bird! fly away now + To your home in the old willow-tree, + Where your children so dear have invited the ant, + And a few cosy neighbours to tea. + +There is some novelty and ingenuity in adapting the words and music of +songs for young singers. Love, war, and drinking songs are very well for +adults, but are out of time in the nursery or schoolroom; for these +predilections spring up quite early enough in the bosoms of mankind. We +should not forget the vignette lithographs to the little songs, which +are beautifully executed by Hullmandel. All beginners will do well to +see these songs, for we know many of the "larger growth" who are +_little_ singers. + + * * * * * + + + +POPULAR SUPERSTITIONS. + +WITCHCRAFT, &C. + + +MACB. How now, you secret, black, and mid-night hags? What is't you do? + +WITCHES. A deed without a name. + +MACB. + + I conjure you by that which you profess, + (Howe'er you come to know it,) answer me; + Though you untie the winds, and let them fight + Against the churches--though the yesty waves + Confound and swallow navigation up-- + Though bladed corn be lodg'd, and trees blown down-- + Though castles topple on their warder's heads-- + Though palaces and pyramids do slope + Their heads to their foundations--though the + treasure + Of nature's germins tumble all together, + Even till destruction sicken, answer me + To what I ask you. SHAKSPEARE. + +In our two preceding papers,[1] we have briefly brought before the +attention of the reader, a few of the most prominent and striking +features connected with the history of the first (as the honourable +house hath it in 1602) "of those detestable slaves of the devil, +witches, sorcerers, enchanters and conjurors." And now we proceed to +offer a few concluding illustrations of the subject. + + [1] See vol xi. p. 391--vol. xii. p. 70. + +In the early ages, to be possessed of a greater degree of learning and +science than the mass of mankind (at a time when even kings could not +read or write) was to be invested with a more than earthly share of +power; and the philosopher was in consequence subjected in many cases to +a suspicion at once dangerous and dishonourable: to use the language of +Coleridge, the real teachers and discoverers of truth were exposed to +the hazard of fire and faggot; a dungeon being the best shrine that was +vouchsafed to a Roger Bacon or a Galileo! + +A few years since, a place was pointed out to the writer, on the borders +of Scotland, which had been even within the "memory of the oldest +inhabitant," used for the "trial" of witches; and a pool of water in an +adjacent stream is still to be seen, where the poor old creatures were +dragged to sink or swim; and our informant added, that a very great +number had perished on that spot. Indeed, in Scotland, a refinement of +cruelty was practised in the persecution of witches; the innocent +relations of a suspected criminal were tortured in her presence, in the +hope of extorting confession from her, in order to put an end to their +sufferings, after similar means had been used without effect on herself. +Even children of seven years of age were sometimes tortured in the +presence of their mothers for this design. In 1751, at Trigg, in +Hertfordshire, two harmless old people above seventy years of age, being +suspected of bewitching a publican, named Butterfield, a vast concourse +of people assembled for the purpose of ducking them, and the poor +wretches were seized, and "stripped naked by the mob, their thumbs tied +to their toes, and then dragged two miles and thrown into a muddy +stream;" the woman expired under the hands of her persecutors, but her +husband, though seriously injured, escaped with his life. One of the +ringleaders of this atrocious outrage, was tried and hung for the +offence. + +The delusion respecting witches was greatly increased in the first +instance by a Bull issued by Pope Innocent III. in 1484, to the +inquisitors at Almaine, "exhorting them to discover, and empowering them +to destroy, all such as were guilty of witchcraft." The fraternity of +Witchfinders arose in consequence, and they seem to have been imbued +with the genuine spirit of inquisitors, delighting in hunting out and +dragging to the torture the innocent and harmless. They had the most +unlimited authority granted them, and the whole thunders of the Vatican +were directed to the destruction of witches and wizards. The bloody +scenes which followed, exceed description. In 1435, Cumanus (an +inquisitor) burnt forty-one poor women for witches, in the country of +Burlia, in one year. One inquisitor in Piedmont burnt a hundred in a +very short time; and in 1524, a thousand were burnt in one year in the +diocese of Como, and a hundred annually for a considerable period; on +all of whom the greatest cruelties were practised. The fraternity of +witchfinders soon found their way to this country, under the fostering +protection of the government; and it was of course their interest to +keep up the delusion by every means in their power. We have already +alluded to the cruelties exercised in Great Britain during the sixteenth +and seventeenth centuries, and add an account of one of the cruel +ceremonies used to detect witches:--"Having taken the suspected witch," +says Gaule, "she is placed in the middle of a room upon a stool or +table, cross-legged, or in some other uneasy posture, to which if she +submits not, she is then bound with cords. There she is watched and kept +without meat or sleep for the space of four-and-twenty hours; for (they +say) that within that time they shall see her imp come and suck. A +little hole is likewise made in the door for the imp to come in at; and +lest it should come in some less discernible shape, they that watch are +taught to be ever and anon sweeping the room, and if they see any +spiders or flies, to kill them. And if they cannot kill them, they may +be sure they are her imps!" Towards the conclusion of the seventeenth +century, the delusion and jugglery of witchcraft was in a great measure +overthrown by the firmness of the English judges; amongst the most +prominent of whom stands Chief Justice Holt. Indeed a statute was +shortly after passed, which made it _wilful murder_, should any of the +objects of persecution lose their lives. The popular belief, however, in +witchcraft still continued, and it was not till the ninth year of George +II., that the statutes against it were repealed. We believe there is +still an Irish statute unrepealed, which inflicts capital punishment on +witches. + +All is now of the _past_. The "schoolmaster is abroad," and not only is +the belief in witches, but all the tribe of ghosts and spirits is fast +melting away. The latter have also added in no inconsiderable degree to +the sum of human suffering. The number of the good was small compared to +the evil, and though it was in their power to come in what shape or +guise they chose, "dilated or condensed, bright or obscure," yet it must +be confessed they generally chose to assume "forms forbidden," and their +visitations were much oftener accompanied with "blasts from hell" than +"airs from heaven." It has been justly remarked that "they were potent +agents in the hands of the priest and the tyrant to delude and to +enslave; for this business they were most admirably fitted, and most +faithfully did they perform it." Those inevitable evils which man is +destined to endure in this present state, are enough without the +addition of the almost unmingled bitterness of the infusion, which +superstition would pour into his cup. + +_(To be continued.)_ + + * * * * * + + + +SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS. + + + * * * * * + + +LONDON LYRICS.--THE IMAGE BOY. + + + Whoe'er has trudged, on frequent feet, + From Charing Cross to Ludgate-street, + That haunt of noise and wrangle, + Has seen, on journeying through the Strand, + A foreign image-vender stand + Near Somerset's quadrangle. + + His coal-black eye, his balanced walk, + His sable apron, white with chalk, + His listless meditation, + His curly locks, his sallow cheeks, + His board of celebrated Greeks, + Proclaim his trade and nation. + + Not on that board as erst, are seen + A tawdry troop; our gracious Queen + With tresses like a carrot, + A milk-maid with a pea-green pail, + A poodle with a golden tail, + John Wesley, and a parrot;-- + + No; far more classic is his stock; + With ducal Arthur, Milton, Locke, + He bears, unconscious roamer, + Alemena's Jove-begotten Son, + Cold Abelard's too tepid Nun, + And pass-supported Homer. + + See yonder bust adorned with curls; + 'Tis her's, the Queen who melted pearls + Marc Antony to wheedle. + Her bark, her banquets, all are fled; + And Time, who cut her vital thread, + Has only spared her Needle. + + Stern Neptune, with his triple prong, + Childe Harold, peer of peerless song, + So frolic Fortune wills it, + Stand next the Son of crazy Paul, + Who hugg'd the intrusive King of Gaul + Upon a raft at Tilsit. + + "Poor vagrant child of want and toll! + The sun that warms thy native soil + Has ripen'd not thy knowledge; + 'Tis obvious, from that vacant air, + Though Padua gave thee birth, thou ne'er + Didst graduate in her College. + + "'Tis true thou nam'st thy motley freight; + But from what source their birth they date, + Mythology or history. + Old records, or the dreams of youth, + Dark fable, or transparent truth, + Is all to thee a mystery. + + "Come tell me, Vagrant, in a breath, + Alcides' birth, his life, his death, + Recount his dozen labours: + Homer thou know'st--but of the woes + Of Troy, thou'rt ignorant as those + Dark Orange-boys, thy neighbours." + + 'Twas thus, erect, I deign'd to pour + My shower of lordly pity o'er + The poor Italian wittol, + As men are apt to do, to show + Their 'vantage-ground o'er those who know + Just less than their own little. + + When lo, methought Prometheus' flame + Waved o'er a bust of deathless fame, + And woke to life Childe Harold: + The Bard aroused me from my dream + Of pity, alias self-esteem, + And thus indignant caroll'd:-- + + "O thou, who thus in numbers pert + And petulant, presum'st to flirt + With Memory's Nine Daughters: + Whose verse the next trade-winds that blow + Down narrow Paternoster-row + Shall 'whelm in Lethe's waters: + + "Slight is the difference I see + Between yon Paduan youth and thee: + He moulds, of Pans plaster, + An urn by classic Chantrey's laws,-- + And thou a literary vase + Of would-be alabaster. + + "Were I to arbitrate betwixt + His terra cotta, plain or mix'd, + And thy earth-gender'd sonnet; + Small cause has he th' award to dread:-- + Thy Images are in the head, + And his, poor boy, are on it!" + + _New Monthly Magazine._ + + * * * * * + + +PUNCH. + + +Punch was first made by the English at Nemle, near Goa, where they have +the _Nepa die Goa_, commonly called arrack. This fascinating liquor got +the name of _punch_, from its being composed of _five_ articles--that +word, in the Hindostanee language, signifying five. The legitimate +punch-makers, however, consider it a compound of _four_ articles only; +and some learned physicians have, therefore, named it _Diapente_ (from +Diatesseron,) and have given it according to the following +prescription-- + + Rum, miscetur aqua--dulci miscetur acetum, + fiet et ex tali foedere--nobile Punch. + +and our worthy grand-fathers used to take a dose of it every night in +their lives, before going to bed, till doctor Cheyne alarmed them by the +information, that they were pouring liquid fire down their throats. +"Punch," said he, "is like opium, both in its nature and manner of +operation, and nearest arsenic in its deleterious and poisonous +qualities; and, so," added he, "I leave it to them, who, knowing this, +will yet drink on and die." + +Who, that has drunk this agreeable accompaniment to calapash, at the +City of London Tavern, ever found themselves the worse for it? They may +have felt their genius inspired, or their nobler passions animated--but +_fire_ and _inflammation_ there was none. The old song says-- + + It is the very best of physic. + +and there have been very excellent physicians, who have confirmed the +opinion by their practice. What did the learned Dr. Sherard, the grave +Mr. Petiver, and the apothecary Mr. Tydall, drink in their herborizing +tour through Kent? Why--punch! and so much were they delighted with it, +at Winchelsea, that they made a special note in their journal, in honour +of the _Mayoress_, who made it, that the punch was not only excellent, +but that "each succeeding bowl was better than the former!"--_Brande's +Journal_. + + * * * * * + + +CHOICE OF A RESIDENCE.--ADVICE TO BACHELORS. + + +There is a sort of half-way between town and the country, which some +assert combines the advantages, others the defects, of each; and this is +a country-town. Here, indeed, a little money, a little learning, and a +little fashion, will go ten times as far as they will in London. Here, a +man who takes in the Quarterly or Edinburgh, is a literary character; +the lady who has one head-dress in the year from a Bond-street milliner, +becomes the oracle of fashion, "the observed of all observers;" here +dinners are talked of as excellent, at which neither French dishes nor +French wines were given, and a little raspberry ice would confer wide +celebrity on an evening party, and excite much animadversion and +surprise. Here, notwithstanding a pretty strong line of demarcation +between the different sets of society, every one appears to know every +body; the countenances and names of each are familiar; we want no slave, +who calls out the names; but are ready with a proper supply of +condescending nods, friendly greetings, and kind inquiries, to dispense +to each passenger according to his claims. Indeed, in calculating the +length of time requisite for arriving at a certain point, the inhabitant +of a country town should make due allowance for the necessary gossip +which must take place on the road, and for the frequent interchange of +bulletins of health, which is sure to occur; and after a residence of +any length in these sociable places, a sensation of solitude and +desertion is felt in those crowded streets of our metropolis, where the +full tide of population may roll past us for hours without bringing with +it a single glance of recognition or kindness. Here round games and +Casino still find refuge and support amidst a steady band of faithful +partizans; here old maids escape ridicule from being numerous, and old +bachelors acquire importance from being scarce. It is, indeed, to this +latter description of persons that I would especially recommend a +residence in a country town; and, as Dr. Johnson said, that "wherever he +might dine, he would wish to breakfast in Scotland;" so, wherever I may +pass my youth, let my days of old bachelorship, if to such I am doomed, +be spent in a country town. There the genteel male population forsake +their birthplace at an early age; and since war no longer exists to +supply their place with the irresistible military, the importance of a +single man, however small his attractions, however advanced his age, is +considerable; while a tolerably agreeable bachelor under sixty is the +object of universal attention, the cynosure of every lady's eye. In the +cathedral city, where I visited a friend some years since, there were +forty-five single women, from sixteen to fifty, and only three +marriageable men. Let any one imagine the delight of receiving the most +flattering attentions from fifteen women at once, some of them extremely +pretty and agreeable; or, I should rather say, from forty-five, since +the three bachelors, politically avoiding all appearance of preference, +were courted equally by nearly the whole phalanx of the sisterhood. One +of the enviable men, being only just of age, was indeed too young to +excite hopes in the more elderly ladies, but another more fortunate, if +he knew his happiness, ("_sua si bona norit_"), was exposed to the +attacks, more or less open, of every unmarried woman. Alas! he was +insensible to his privileges; a steady man of fifty-five, a dignitary of +the church, devoted to study, and shy in his habits, he seemed to shrink +from the kind attentions he received, and to wish for a less favoured, a +less glorious state of existence. His desires seemed limited to reading +the Fathers, writing sermons, and doing his duty as a divine; and he +appeared of opinion that no helpmate was required to fulfil them. But +still the indefatigable phalanx of forty-five, with three or four widows +as auxiliaries, continued their attacks, and his age, as I before +observed, was fatally encouraging to the hopes of each. The youngest +looked in their glasses and remembered the power of youth and beauty; +the middle-aged calculated on the good sense and propriety of character +of their object, and were "sure he would never marry a girl;" and the +most elderly exaggerated his gravity, thought of his shovel hat, and +seemed to suppose that every woman under fifty must be too giddy for its +wearer. Meanwhile, what a life he led!--his opinions law; his wishes +gospel; the cathedral crowded when he preached; churches attended; +schools visited; waltzing calumniated; novels concealed; shoulders +covered; petticoats lengthened--all to gain his approving eye. The fact +is, his sphere of useful influence was much enlarged by his single +state; as a married man, he could only have reformed his wife; as a +bachelor, he exercised undisputed power over every spinster in his +neighbourhood. He was, indeed, unconscious of, or ungratified by the +deference and incense he received; but the generality of men are less +insensible, and half the homage he so carefully rejected would have been +sufficient to intoxicate with delight and self-complacency the greater +part of his fraternity. What object in nature is more pitiable than a +London old bachelor, of moderate fortune and moderate parts? whose +conversational powers do not secure him invitations to dinners, when +stiffness of limb and a growing formality have obliged him to retreat +from quadrilles. The rich, we know, thrive everywhere, and at all +seasons, safe from neglect, secure from ridicule. I speak of those less +strongly fortified against the effects of time; those who, scarcely +considered good speculations in their best days, are now utterly +insignificant, concealed and jostled by a crowd of younger aspirants, +overlooked by mammas, except when needed to execute some troublesome +commission; and without a chance of receiving a single word or glance +from their daughters unmarked by that provoking ease and compassionate +familiarity, which tell them, better than words, that their day of +influence has closed for ever. Let such unhappy men fly from the scenes +of former pleasure and power, of former flirtation and gaiety, to the +quieter and surer triumphs of a country town. Here crowds of young +women, as certainly devoted to celibacy as the inmates of a nunnery, +accustomed from necessity to make beaux out of the most unprecedented +materials, and concoct flirtations in the most discouraging +circumstances, will welcome him with open arms, underrate his age, +overrate his merits, doubt if his hair is gray, deny that he wears false +teeth, accept his proffered arm with an air of triumph, and even hint a +wonder that he has given up dancing. To their innocent cheeks his glance +will have the long-lost power of calling up a blush; eyes as bright as +those which beamed upon his youth will sparkle at his approach; and +tender hearts, excluded by fate from palpitations for a more suitable +object, must per force beat quicker at his address. Here let him revel +in the enjoyment of unbounded influence, preserve it by careful +management to the latest possible moment, and at length gradually slide +from the agreeable old beau into the interesting invalid, and secure for +his days of gout, infirmity, and sickness, a host of attentive nurses, +of that amiable sex which delights and excels in offices of pity and +kindness; who will read him news, recount him gossip, play backgammon or +cribbage, knit him comfortables, make him jellies, and repay by +affectionate solicitude and unselfish attentions the unmeaning, +heartless, worthless admiration which he bestowed upon them in his +better days.--_New Monthly Magazine_. + + * * * * * + + + +THE ANECDOTE GALLERY. + + + * * * * * + + +OTHELLO. + + +On the crew of the Flora being treated to see _Othello_ at the +Portsmouth Theatre, Cassio's silly speech proved an exquisite relish to +the audience, where he apostrophizes heaven, "Forgive us our sins," and +endeavours to persuade his companion that he is sober. "Do not think, +gentlemen, I am drunk? this is my Ancient: this is my right hand, and +this is my left hand: I am not drunk now." "No, not _you_," roared a +Jack, who no doubt would have been a willing witness in Cassio's +defence, had he been brought to the gangway for inebriety. "I can stand +well enough," continued the representative of Cassio. "Then, hang it! +why don't you walk the _plank_ at once, and prove yourself sober?" +vociferated a long-tailed wag, determined not to slip this opportunity +of having a shot on the sly at his first lieutenant, who had only a +night or two before put his perpendicularity to a similar test. + +At the last scene the shouts became alarming; volleys of imprecations +were hurled at his head--his limbs--his life. "What!" said one of the +rudest of the crew, "can the black brute cut her lifelines? She's a +reg'lar-built angel, and as like my Bet as two peas."--"Ay," said a +messmate, "it all comes of being jealous, and that's all as one as mad; +but you know, if he's as good as his word, he's sure to be hanged,-- +that's one comfort!" When the Moor seized her in bed by the throat, +Desdemona shrieking for permission to repeat but one short prayer, and +he rancorously exclaims, in attempting to strangle her, "It is too +late!" the house, as it is said a French audience had done ere now, +could endure no more; and the sailors rose in their places, giving the +most alarming indications of angry excitement, and of a determination to +mingle in the murderous scene below. "I'm ----, Dick, if I can stand it +any longer," said the spokesman of the gallery. "You're _no_ man, if you +can sit and look on quietly; hands off, you blood-thirsty niggar," he +vociferated, and threw himself over the side of the gallery in a +twinkling; clambering down by a pillar into the boxes, and scrambled +across the pit, over every person in his way, till he reached the noisy +boatswain's mate. Him he "challenged to the rescue," and exclaimed, +"Now's your time, Ned,--Pipe the boarders away--all hands,--! if you're +a man as _loves_ a woman. _Now_, go it," said he, and dashed furiously +over all obstacles,--fiddles, flutes, and fiddlers. Smash went the +foot-lights--Caesar had passed the Rubicon. The contagion of feeling +became general; and his trusty legions, fired with the ambition that +inspired their leader, followed, sweeping all before them, till the +whole male population of the theatre crowded the stage _en masse_, amid +shouts of encouragement, or shrieks of terror; outraging, by their +mistaken humanity, all the propriety of this touching drama; and, for +once, rescuing the gentle Desdemona from the deadly grasp of the +murderous Moor, who fled in full costume, dagger in hand, from the +house, and through the dark streets of Dock, until he reached his home +in a state of inconceivable affright. The scene of confusion which +followed, it would be fruitless to attempt to describe. All was riot and +uproar.--_Sailors and Saints._ + + * * * * * + + +DEATH OF DAUBENTON. + + +We have had countless instances of "the ruling passion strong in death;" +but perhaps we can adduce nothing more illustrative of that feeling than +the following fact, which may vie with the sublimity of Rousseau's +death, when he desired to look on the sun ere his eyes were closed in +the rayless tomb:--M. Daubenton, the scientific colleague of Buffon, and +the anatomical illustrator of his "Histoire Naturelle," on being chosen +a member of the Conservative Senate, was seized with apoplexy the first +time he assisted at the sessions of that body, and fell senseless into +the arms of his astonished colleagues. The most prompt assistance could +only restore him to feeling for a few moments, during which he showed +himself, what he had always been--a tranquil observer of nature. _He +felt with his fingers, which still retained sensation, the various parts +of his body, and pointed out to the assistants the progress of the +disease!_ He died on the 31st of December, 1799. The _Edinburgh +Philosophical Journal_ states, "it may be said of him, that he attained +happiness the most perfect, and the least mixed, that any man could hope +to attain. His life was marked by an undeviating pursuit of science; and +to him was Buffon indebted for instruction and example. Naturally of a +mild and conciliatory disposition, and gifted with cool and +dispassionate consideration, he was just such a preceptor as was +calculated to curb the imagination of Buffon, whose fiery and ardent +genius was apt to substitute theory for proof, and fancy for fact; and +often did the 'biting smile' of M. Daubenton check the ardency of +Buffon, and his well-weighed words arrest him in his headlong progress." +What more noble picture of scientific devotion can we imagine than the +feeble and aged Daubenton, shut up for whole days in his cabinet of +natural history, ardently exerting himself in the complex and weary task +of arranging the objects according to their several relations? But +Buffon, with the wayward negligence which clings to genius, did wrong to +his friend in publishing an edition of his "Histoire Naturelle" without +the dissections. Yet such a step, discountenanced by all the liberal +body of science, was forgiven by the philosophic and gentle Daubenton; +and Buffon made atonement for his aberration, by re-uniting himself to +the companion of his childhood, the participator in his studies, and the +preceptor of his genius. + +H. + + * * * * * + + +STORY ON A MARCH. + + +An officer in India, whose stock of table-linen had been completely +exhausted during the campaign,--either by wear or tear or accident,--had +a few friends to dine with him. The dinner being announced to the party, +seated in the _al fresco_ drawing-room of a camp, the table appeared +spread with eatables, but without the usual covering of a cloth. The +master, who, perhaps, gave himself but little trouble about these +matters, or who probably relied upon his servant's capacity in the art +of borrowing, or, at all events, on his ingenuity on framing an excuse, +inquired, with an angry voice, why there was no table-cloth. The answer +was, "Massa not got;" with which reply, after apologizing to his guests, +he was compelled, for the present, to put up. The next morning he called +his servant, and rated him soundly, and perhaps beat him, (for I lament +to say that this was too much the practice with European masters in +India,) for exposing his poverty to the company; desiring him, another +time, if similarly circumstanced, to say that all the table-cloths were +gone to the wash. Another day, although the table appeared clothed in +the proper manner, the spoons, which had probably found their way to the +bazar, perhaps to provide the very articles of which the feast was +composed, were absent, whether with or without leave is immaterial. +"Where are all the spoons?" cried the apparently enraged master. "Gone +washerman, sar!" was the answer. Roars of laughter succeeded, and a +teacup did duty for the soup-ladle. The probable consequence of this +unlucky exposure of the domestic economy of the host, namely, a sound +drubbing to the poor maty-boy, brings to my mind an anecdote which, +being in a story-telling vein, I cannot resist the temptation of +introducing. It was related to me, with great humour, by one of the +principals in the transaction, whose candour exceeded his fear of shame. +He had been in the habit of beating his servants, till one in particular +complained that he would have him before Sir Henry Gwillam, then chief +justice at Madras, who had done all in his power to suppress the +disgraceful practice. Having a considerable balance to settle with his +maty-boy on the score of punishment, but fearing the presence of +witnesses, the master called him one day into a bungalow at the bottom +of his garden, at some distance from the house. "Now," said he as he +shut the door and put the key into his pocket, "you'll complain to Sir +Henry Gwillam, will you? There is nobody near to bear witness to what +you may say, and, with the blessing of God, I'll give it you +well."--"Massa sure nobody near?" asked the Indian.--"Yes, yes, I've +taken good care of that."--"Then I give massa one good beating." And +forthwith the maty-boy proceeded to put his threat into execution, till +the master, being the weaker of the two, was compelled to cry mercy; +which being at length granted, and the door opened with at least as much +alacrity as it was closed, Maotoo decamped without beat of drum, never +to appear again.--_Twelve Years' Military Adventures, &c._ + + * * * * * + + + +THE GATHERER. + + A snapper up of unconsidered trifles. + SHAKSPEARE. + + * * * * * + + +MEMENTO MORI. + + +_Inscribed on a Tombstone._ + + When you look on my grave, + And behold how they wave, + The cypress, the yew, and the willow, + You think 'tis the breeze + That gives motion to these-- + 'Tis the laughter that's shaking my pillow. + + I must laugh when I see + A poor insect like thee + Dare to pity the fate thou must own; + Let a few moments slide, + We shall lie side by side, + And crumble to dust, bone for bone. + + Go, weep thine own doom, + Thou wert born for the tomb-- + Thou hast lived, like myself, but to die; + Whilst thou pity'st my lot, + Secure fool, thou'st forgot + Thou art no more immortal than I! + H.B.A. + + * * * * * + + +TEA-DRINKING. + + +While the late Mr. Gifford was at Ashburton, he contracted an +acquaintance with a family of that place, consisting of females somewhat +advanced in age. On one occasion he ventured on the perilous exploit of +drinking tea with these elderly ladies. After having swallowed his usual +allowance of tea, he found, in spite of his remonstrances to the +contrary, that his hostess would by no means suffer him to give up, but +persisted in making him drink a most incredible quantity. "At last," +said Gifford in telling the story, "being really overflooded with tea, I +put down my fourteenth cup, and exclaimed, with an air of resolution, 'I +neither can nor will drink any more.' The hostess then seeing she had +forced more down my throat than I liked, began to apologize, and added, +'but, dear Mr. Gifford, as you didn't put your spoon across your cup, I +supposed your refusals were nothing but good manners.'" + + * * * * * + + +PRECEDENCE. + + +An anecdote is told of a captain in the service, since dead, that whilst +carrying out a British ambassador to his station abroad, a quarrel arose +on the subject of precedency. High words were exchanged between them on +the quarter-deck, when, at length, the ambassador, thinking to silence +the captain, exclaimed, "Recollect, sir, _I_ am the representative of +his majesty!" "Then, sir," retorted the captain, "recollect that _here +I_ am _more_ than majesty itself. Can the king _seize a fellow up and +give him three dozen_?" Further argument was useless--the diplomatist +struck. + + * * * * * + + +MARCEL. + + +A lady who had been a pupil of this distinguished professor of dancing, +and remained subsequently his steady and zealous friend, succeeded in +obtaining for him from the government a pension for life. In her great +joy at having such a boon to put into his possession, she advanced to +him--the certificate in her hand--with a hurried and anxious step; when +M. Marcel, shocked at the style of presentation, struck the paper out of +her hand, demanding if she had forgotten his instructions? The lady +immediately picked it up, and presented it with due form and grace; on +which the accomplished Marcel, the enthusiastic professor of his art, +respectfully kissed her hand, and with a profound bow exclaimed, "Now I +know my own pupil!" + + * * * * * + + +ACROSTIC. + + + C ould angel's voice, or poet's lays, + A ttune my votive song to praise + R esistless then I'd touch the lyre, + O r chant her praise, whom all admire. + L et candour, dearest maid, excuse; + I claim no kindred to the muse, + N or can a lowly song of mine + E xpress the worth of Caroline. A.C. + + * * * * * + + +"JACK OF BOTH SIDES." + + +This proverb is derived from the Greek, and applied to Theramenes, who +was at first a mighty stickler for the thirty tyrants' authority: but +when they began to abuse it by defending such outrageous practices, no +man more violently opposed it than he; and this (says Potter) got him +the nick-name of "_Jack of both sides_," from _Cothurnus_, which was a +kind of shoe that fitted both feet. P.T.W. + + * * * * * + + +PLAY OF "CAESAR IN EGYPT." + + + When the pack'd audience from their posts retir'd, + And Julius in a general hiss expir'd, + Sage Booth to Cibber cried, "Compute your gains; + These Egypt dogs, and their old dowdy queens, + But ill requite these habits and these scenes! + To rob Corneille for such a motley piece-- + His geese were swans, but, zounds, thy swans are geese." + Rubbing his firm, invulnerable brow, + The bard replied, "The critics must allow, + 'Twas ne'er in Caesar's destiny to run." + Wils bow'd, and bless'd the gay, pacific pun. + _Mist's Journal_, 1724. + + * * * * * + + +FRIENDSHIP AND LOVE. + + + Friendship is like the cobbler's tye, + That binds two soles in unity; + But love is like the cobbler's awl, + That pierces through the _soul_ and _all_. + W.J. + + * * * * * + +Why is St. Giles's clock like a pelisse, and unlike a cloak?--Because it +shows the figure without confining the hands. + +"STRICTOR." + + * * * * * + + +CORPORATION LEARNING. + + +The mayor of a country town, conceiving that the word _clause_ was in +the plural number, would often talk of a _claw_ in an act of parliament. + + * * * * * + + +A HUNDRED POUND NOTE. + + +The following pathetic soliloquy was found written on the back of a +hundred pound note of the National Bank, which passed through our hands +lately, and we are sorry we can now add our sympathies to those of our +poet on the transitory nature of those sublunary enjoyments:-- + + "A little while ye hae been mine; + Nae langer can I keep ye; + I fear ye'll ne'er be mine again, + Nor any ither like ye." + + _Edinburgh Paper._ + + * * * * * + + +FRENCH.--- ENGLISH. + + +_At Boulogne._ + +"NOTICE to Informe the gentries: Find Dogs and some to be sold." + +_At Paris._ + +"M. Boursier, mershant, has the honour to give account at the English +and strangers, gentlemen and livings from East Indies, that he takes +charge of all species of goods or ventures, and all commissions. Like +all kinds of spices and fine eating things: keep likewise a general +staple of French and strangers wines, the all in confidence, and the +most reasonable prices." + +_At Boulogne._ + +"Bed and table linen, plate, knives, and forks, also donkies to let. +Mangling done here." + +_In the church al Calais._ + + "Tronc pour les pauvres de L'hôpital." + "Trunk for the poor hospitable." + +_At Dieppe._ + +_French despair._ + + "Quand on a tout perdu et qu'on a plus déspoir + On prend l'devant sa chemise pour sa farie un mouchoir." + +The above are all copied verbatim and literatim. J.G.R. + + * * * * * + +When a Grand Vizier is favourably deposed, that is, without banishing or +putting him to death, it is signified to him by a messenger from the +Sultan, who goes to his table, and wipes the ink out of his golden pen; +this he understands as the sign of dismissal. W.G.C. + + * * * * * + + +TIME. + + +It is the remark of a sensible authoress, (Miss Hawkins,) that every +_day_ resembles a _trunk_ which has to be filled; and when we fancy that +we have packed it to the uttermost, we shall still find that by good +management it might, and would, have held more.--Our quotation is from +memory, but correct as to simile and substance; and we consider the +remark not less striking than quaint. M.L.B. + + * * * * * + +On January 31 will be published, price 5_s_. with a Frontispiece, and +upwards of thirty other Engravings, the + +ARCANA OF SCIENCE, AND ANNUAL REGISTER OF THE USEFUL ARTS, FOR 1829. + +The MECHANICAL department contains ONE HUNDRED New Inventions and +Discoveries, with 14 _Engravings_. + +CHEMICAL, SEVENTY articles, with 2 _Engravings_. + +NATURAL HISTORY, 135 New Facts and Discoveries, with 7 _Engravings_. + +ASTRONOMICAL and METEOROLOGICAL PHENOMENA--35 articles--6 _Engravings_. + +AGRICULTURE, GARDENING, and RURAL ECONOMY, 30 _pages_. + +DOMESTIC ECONOMY. + +USEFUL ARTS. + +FINE ARTS. + +MISCELLANEOUS REGISTER, &c. + +For Critical Opinions of the Volume for last year, see Gardener's, +New Monthly, and _London Magazines_, &c. &c. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, +and Instruction, by Various + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 11390 *** |