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+ <title>The Mirror of Literature, Issue 271.</title>
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+<body>
+<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 11401 ***</div>
+
+ <hr class="full" />
+ <span class="pagenum"><a id="page145" name="page145"></a>[pg
+ 145]</span>
+
+ <h1>THE MIRROR<br />
+ OF<br />
+ LITERATURE, AMUSEMENT, AND INSTRUCTION.</h1>
+ <hr class="full" />
+
+ <table width="100%" summary="Banner">
+ <tr>
+ <td align="left"><b>VOL. X, NO. 271.]</b></td>
+
+ <td align="center"><b>SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, 1827.</b></td>
+
+ <td align="right"><b>[PRICE 2d.</b></td>
+ </tr>
+ </table>
+ <hr class="full" />
+
+ <h2>The New Prison, Norwich.</h2>
+
+ <div class="figure" style="width: 100%;">
+ <a href="images/271-1.png"><img width="100%" src=
+ "images/271-1.png" alt="The New Prison, Norwich" /></a>
+ </div>
+
+ <p>The old gaol in the city of Norwich, in the year 1823, being
+ found no longer secure, nor according to the new act of
+ parliament, admitting of sufficient room for the classification
+ of the prisoners, the magistrates came to a resolution of
+ erecting a new one outside the city, near St. Giles's gates; the
+ same was accordingly advertised in the Norwich papers, in which
+ architects were requested to send plans, elevations, and
+ sections, (in competition,) accompanied with an estimate of the
+ total expense of the new building. A great number of designs were
+ in consequence submitted, when the plan sent by Mr. Brown, of
+ Wells-street, Oxford-street, London, was adjudged to be the best:
+ his plan was therefore adopted and carried into execution, of
+ which the annexed engraving is a faithful representation, taken
+ from the tower of St. Giles's Church, in the city of Norwich. The
+ foundation stone was laid in 1824, and the building finished this
+ year, 1827. It is designed to hold 120 prisoners, besides the
+ necessary turnkeys and servants, and has cost the city
+ &pound;23,000; the boundary wall is quadrangular, but is cut off
+ at the junction of the four angles by bastions, thereby giving to
+ the wall a greater stability; the whole circumference is 1,220
+ feet, and encloses an area of one acre, two roods, and
+ thirty-four poles, being nearly one acre and three quarters of
+ ground.</p>
+
+ <p>The bastion at the entrance contains on the ground floor a
+ porter's room, press room, hot and cold baths, and a room with an
+ oven for the purpose of purifying foul linen. The upper story
+ contains over the entrance gate the drop room: on each side are
+ receiving cells, two for males and two for females, a searching
+ room for the surgeon, and the prison wardrobe; directly over the
+ drop room on the lead flat is the place where the more heinous
+ malefactors expiate their crimes. The bastion on the right hand
+ contains a building, on the ground floor and in the centre of
+ which is the wash-house and laundry, and in front the drying
+ ground; at each end of this building are the airing grounds for
+ the sick prisoners, and on the second floor are the male and
+ female infirmaries, separated by a strong partition wall. The
+ left hand bastion contains the millhouse, stable, and a room for
+ the van which takes the prisoners <span class="pagenum"><a id=
+ "page146" name="page146"></a>[pg 146]</span> to the town hall in
+ the assize time; over these three rooms are the mill chamber and
+ hay-loft. The horizontal wind vane on the roof of this building
+ is to assist the prisoners when there is not a sufficiency of
+ them sentenced to the tread-wheels; by shutting the louvre boards
+ of the arms it then produces employment for the prisoners when
+ there is no corn in the mill to grind. In the remote bastion are
+ seen the tread-wheels on which the prisoners are employed in
+ keeping up a constant retrograde motion, which works the
+ machinery in the millhouse by means of an iron shaft with
+ universal joints concealed below the surface of the ground.</p>
+
+ <p>Here are four prison wings in the building, the right hand one
+ contains in one ward common debtors, and in the other unconvicted
+ men felons, not capital. The second wing on the right contains on
+ one side unconvicted men felons, and unconvicted women felons for
+ capital offences on the other. In the first left hand wing there
+ is on the first side the master debtors, and on the other the
+ court of conscience debtors; the second wing on the left contains
+ on one side men misdemeanors, and on the other convicted men
+ felons. There are two day-rooms in each of the four wings, and
+ four condemned cells and four solitary ones in the back towers;
+ there is also fourteen airing yards between the four wings, six
+ of which are sunk three feet below the others, to enable the
+ governor from the inspection gallery of his house to overlook the
+ tread-wheels, millhouse, and infirmary; those yards are descended
+ by stone steps, in each there is a day room, and they are
+ appropriated to the following prisoners, namely, women debtors,
+ unconvicted women felons, not capital; convicted women felons,
+ women fines, men fines, and boys for misdemeanors. There is also
+ a level passage between each two of the sunk yards, one leading
+ to the infirmary, one to the millhouse, and the other to the
+ tread-wheels.</p>
+
+ <p>In the governor's house there is in the basement story a
+ kitchen, scullery, and bakehouse, store room, beer-cellar, and
+ coal cellar; on the ground floor is the governor's office, living
+ room, committee room, and matron's room; on the second floor are
+ two bedrooms and the lower part of the chapel; and on the third
+ floor are two bedrooms and the gallery of the chapel. There are
+ likewise four bridge staircases, one from each prison wing
+ leading to passages in the governor's house, which communicates
+ with the chapel; the prisoners are not here able to see each
+ others' class, as they are separated by fourteen partitions,
+ being as many as there are yards in the prison, yet the governor
+ and minister have from their seats a complete view of every
+ person and every part. Around the governor's house is an enclosed
+ area, and above an inspection gallery, from which the governor is
+ enabled to see into every part of the prison. On the towers of
+ the four prison wings there are reservoirs for containing water,
+ which is thrown up by a pump worked by the prisoners at the
+ tread-wheel, whenever water is required, and by means of lead
+ pipes, it is then conveyed to every part of the prison. The whole
+ gaol is fire-proof, the floors being of stone, and the doors and
+ windows of iron.</p>
+
+ <p>There is certainly a peculiar arrangement in the plan of this
+ gaol not to be met with in any other in the kingdom; there are
+ four yards between each of the wings excepting those two in the
+ approach to the governor's house; the middle yards which are
+ divided by a passage, have, as before stated, each of them a
+ day-room. The prisoners allotted to these yards have their
+ sleeping cells in the main wing, to which they are conducted
+ along a passage, at the end of those upper yards which join the
+ prison wing; the prisoners are therefore in their passage to and
+ from the sleeping cells, concealed from the others; should there
+ at any time be a greater number of prisoners belonging to the
+ ward on the ground floor than there are sleeping cells they are
+ then taken to the spare cells in the wards above through a door
+ at the end of the upper yard, and yet concealed from those
+ classes in the sunk yards. All our prison buildings hitherto
+ erected are hid from the sight by the high boundary wall that
+ encloses them, producing nothing interesting to the citizen or
+ the traveller but a monotonous fa&ccedil;ade. Mr. Brown has
+ obviated this in the gaol before us, by having raised towers on
+ the ends of the four wings, which, with the top of the governor's
+ house, mill, and infirmary, being seen rising above the boundary
+ wall and entrance front, produces to the eye of the spectator on
+ approaching the prison a <i>tout ensemble</i> truly imposing and
+ grand.</p>
+
+ <p>ARCHITECTUS.</p>
+ <hr class="full" />
+
+ <h2>LIVING AUTHORS.</h2>
+
+ <center>
+ No. 1.
+ </center>
+ <hr />
+
+ <h3>BERNARD BARTON.</h3>
+
+ <div class="poem">
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>"Sheltered, but not to social duties lost;</p>
+
+ <p>Secluded, but not buried; and with song</p>
+
+ <p>Cheering his days."</p>
+ </div>
+ </div>
+
+ <p>The productions of Mr. Barton are doubtless familiar to most
+ of our readers, and from them they have learnt much of
+ <span class="pagenum"><a id="page147" name="page147"></a>[pg
+ 147]</span> the amiable turn of the poet's character. Mr.
+ Barton's compositions afford indications of genuine feeling, of
+ deep affection, of benevolence, sympathy, taste, and integrity;
+ he seems to have an ear ever on the listen for the accents of
+ charity, patriotism, and religion; where human anguish causes the
+ tear to start, there he would fain be to soothe and alleviate.
+ Such is the character of the poet, and in the following sketch
+ such will be proved to be the character of the man.</p>
+
+ <p>Bernard Barton was born in the vicinity of London, on the 31st
+ of January, 1784. His father was in trade in the metropolis,
+ whither he had come from his native place, Carlisle. Bernard had
+ the misfortune to lose his mother one month after his birth: her
+ maiden name was Mary Done, and she was a native of Rockcliffe,
+ Cumberland; she died at the early age of thirty-two. The
+ following lines <i>To a Profile</i> evince the feelings with
+ which our poet still cherishes her memory, or rather the
+ recollection of what has been told him respecting her:&mdash;</p>
+
+ <div class="poem">
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>"I knew thee not! then wherefore gaze</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">Upon thy silent shadow there,</p>
+
+ <p>Which so imperfectly portrays</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">The form thy features used to wear?</p>
+
+ <p>Yet have I often looked at thee,</p>
+
+ <p>As if those lips could speak to me.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>I knew thee not! and thou couldst know,</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">At best, but little more of one</p>
+
+ <p>Whose pilgrimage on earth below</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">Commenced, just ere thy own was done;</p>
+
+ <p>For few and fleeting days were thine,</p>
+
+ <p>To hope or fear for lot of mine.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>Yet few and fleeting as they were,</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">Fancy and feeling picture this,</p>
+
+ <p>They prompted many a fervent prayer,</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">Witnessed, perchance, a parting kiss;</p>
+
+ <p>And might not kiss, and prayer, from thee,</p>
+
+ <p>At such a period, profit me?</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>Whether they did or not, I owe</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">At least this tribute to thy worth;</p>
+
+ <p>Though little all I <i>can</i> bestow,</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">Yet fond affection gives it birth;</p>
+
+ <p>And prompts me, as thy shade I view,</p>
+
+ <p>To bless thee, whom I never knew!"<a id="footnotetag1"
+ name="footnotetag1"></a><a href=
+ "#footnote1"><sup>1</sup></a></p>
+ </div>
+ </div>
+
+ <p>His father died before Mr. Barton was seven years old; but his
+ second marriage, which took place a few months before his death,
+ provided an excellent parent for his children: to her, and to his
+ two sisters,<a id="footnotetag2" name="footnotetag2"></a><a href=
+ "#footnote2"><sup>2</sup></a> both several years older than
+ himself, our author owed infinite obligations.</p>
+
+ <p>His education at one of the quaker seminaries was, of course,
+ plain and circumscribed, being pretty much confined to useful,
+ indeed necessary, branches of knowledge. But his father had been
+ a man of greater natural and more cultivated intellect than many;
+ he had read much, and on the abolition of slavery, in which he
+ was one of Clarkson's earliest associates, he had, on several
+ occasions, proved that he could write well, though, we believe,
+ he was never avowedly an author. He had left no despicable
+ collection of books, so that in his school vacations ample means
+ were afforded to his son of indulging his taste for reading. A
+ pleasing tribute to the memory of Mr. Barton's father will be
+ found in his <i>Napoleon and other Poems</i>.</p>
+
+ <p>In the year 1806, Mr. Barton took up his residence in the
+ pleasant town of Woodbridge, in Suffolk, and commenced business
+ as a merchant; but an unlooked-for domestic affliction of the
+ severest kind was about to visit him, and his wordly prospects
+ were to receive an irrecoverable shock,&mdash;the loss of his
+ amiable wife, before they had been married a twelvemonth, and
+ soon after the birth of her child! This excellent woman, to whom
+ our poet was, for so short a time, united, gave rise to some of
+ his best pieces, particularly to the poem beginning, <i>The
+ heaven was cloudless</i>,<a id="footnotetag3" name=
+ "footnotetag3"></a><a href="#footnote3"><sup>3</sup></a> and that
+ entitled <i>A Portrait,</i> in <i>Napoleon and other Poems</i>.
+ In this last piece the poet no less beautifully than truly
+ observes,&mdash;</p>
+
+ <div class="poem">
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>To sympathies, which soothe and bless</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">Our life from day to day,</p>
+
+ <p>Which throw, with silent tenderness,</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">Fresh flowers across our way,</p>
+
+ <p>The heart must ever fondly cling:</p>
+
+ <p>But can the poet's sweetest string</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">Their loveliness display?</p>
+
+ <p>No&mdash;nor could Titian's self supply</p>
+
+ <p>Their living presence, once gone by.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>The air, in which we breathe and live,</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">Eludes our touch and sight;</p>
+
+ <p>The fairest flowers their fragrance give</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">To stillness, and to night;</p>
+
+ <p>The softest sounds that music flings,</p>
+
+ <p>In passing, from her heaven-plumed wings,</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">Are trackless in their flight!</p>
+
+ <p>And thus life's sweetest bliss is known</p>
+
+ <p>To silent, grateful thought alone.</p>
+ </div>
+ </div>
+
+ <p>This mournful event, combined with discouraging prospects of a
+ mercantile nature, induced our author to retire from commercial
+ pursuits on his own behalf; and in 1810 he obtained a situation
+ as a clerk in the Woodbridge bank, which he still holds.</p>
+
+ <p>Soon after Mr. Barton had entered upon his present situation,
+ he began "to commit <span class="pagenum"><a id="page148" name=
+ "page148"></a>[pg 148]</span> the sin of rhyme," and a new
+ provincial paper being established about this time, it became the
+ vehicle of his effusions: by degrees our young poet became bold
+ enough to send a short piece now and then to a London paper, and
+ at last, in 1812, ventured on an anonymous volume, entitled
+ <i>Metrical Effusions</i>, 250 copies of which were printed by a
+ bookseller of Woodbridge, and sold within the immediate circle of
+ our author's acquaintance. In 1818, Mr. Barton printed, by
+ subscription, an elegant volume, in elephant octavo, of <i>Poems
+ by an Amateur</i>, of which 150 only were struck off, and none
+ ever sold at the shops. Encouraged by the very flattering manner
+ in which these impressions of his poems were received by his
+ friends, our author at last ventured to publish, in a small
+ volume, <i>Poems, by Bernard Barton</i>, which was very
+ favourably noticed by the literary journals, and, being
+ afterwards made still more known by an article in the
+ <i>Edinburgh Review</i>, has now reached a <i>third</i> edition.
+ He afterwards published, in a handsome octavo volume, his
+ <i>Napoleon and other Poems</i>; and subsequently a volume of
+ poems, entitled <i>A Widow's Tale</i>, which appeared in an early
+ month of the present year.</p>
+
+ <p>Such has been the literary career of Bernard Barton. If it
+ have not left behind it the brilliant track of other poetical
+ comets, it has been less erratic in its course; and if it have
+ not been irradiated by the full blaze of a noonday sun, it has
+ nevertheless been illumined by the silver lustre of the queen of
+ night; and his Parnassian vespers may be said to possess all the
+ mild and soothing beauties of the evening star. If his muse have
+ not always reached the sunward path of the soaring eagle, it is
+ no extravagant praise to say, that she has often emulated the
+ sublimity of his a&euml;rial flight. But the great charm thrown
+ around the effusions of the Suffolk bard is that "lucid veil" of
+ morality and religion which "covers but not conceals"&mdash;that
+ "silver net-work," through which his poetic "apples of gold"
+ shine with an adventitious beauty, which even the gorgeous
+ ornaments so profusely lavished by a Byron or a Moore would fail
+ to invest them.</p>
+
+ <div class="poem">
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>There is a fame which owes its spell</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">To popular applause alone;</p>
+
+ <p>Which seems on lip and tongue to dwell,</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">And finds&mdash;in others' breath&mdash;its
+ own;</p>
+
+ <p>For such the eager worldling sighs,</p>
+
+ <p>And this the fickle world supplies.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>There is a nobler fame&mdash;which draws</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">Its purer essence from the heart;</p>
+
+ <p>Which only seeks that calm applause</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">The virtuous and the wise impart:</p>
+
+ <p>Such fame beyond the grave shall live:</p>
+
+ <p>But this the world can never give.</p>
+
+ <p>&mdash;B. BARTON.</p>
+ </div>
+ </div>
+
+ <p>We have alluded to the amiable character of our poet; that his
+ modesty is equal to his merit, the following extract, from a
+ letter to a friend, will afford a pleasing evidence. Speaking of
+ his literary career, he says, "it has been marked by an
+ indulgence on the part of the public, and the dispensers of
+ literary fame, which I never anticipated. When I consider that
+ only about three years have elapsed since I avowed myself an
+ author, I am really surprised at the notice my trivial
+ productions have received, and the numerous acquaintance to which
+ they have, by correspondence, introduced me. Much of this, I dare
+ say, is owing to my quakerism; and to that, unquestionably, I was
+ indebted for the article in the <i>Edinburgh Review</i>, and the
+ more recent passing notice in the <i>Quarterly</i>. Still, as I
+ do not believe that any <i>outr&eacute;</i> or
+ <i>adventitious</i> source of attraction would have alone
+ procured me the attention I have found, I would hope it may
+ partly have arisen from their simple, unaffected appeal to those
+ quiet, domestic, secluded feelings, which endear the still
+ undercurrent of existence&mdash;in short, to my being content to
+ make the best I could of the homely and confined materials to
+ which my situation has given me access, without affecting
+ scholarship, or aiming at romantic embellishment. There is
+ nothing like simple truth and nature, after all; and he who is
+ satisfied with simply and faithfully describing what he actually
+ sees, feels, and, thinks, may always hope to appeal successfully
+ to the unsophisticated heart."<a id="footnotetag4" name=
+ "footnotetag4"></a><a href="#footnote4"><sup>4</sup></a></p>
+
+ <p>We here conclude our notice of the bard of Woodbridge; and
+ should this brief account excite the interest of our readers to
+ become better acquainted with this "living author," we refer them
+ to the whole-length portrait painted by himself, and held up to
+ view in every page of his poems.</p>
+ <hr class="full" />
+
+ <h2>RETROSPECTIVE GLEANINGS.</h2>
+ <hr />
+
+ <h3>THE GREAT FIRE OF 1666.</h3>
+
+ <p>The fire of London broke out on Sunday morning, September 2,
+ 1666, O.S., and being impelled by strong winds, raged with
+ irresistible fury nearly four days and nights; nor was it
+ entirely mastered till the fifth morning after it began. The
+ <span class="pagenum"><a id="page149" name="page149"></a>[pg
+ 149]</span> conflagration commenced at the house of one Farryner,
+ a baker, in Pudding-lane, near [New] Fish-street-hill, and within
+ ten houses of Thames-street, into which it spread within a few
+ hours; nearly the whole of the contiguous buildings being of
+ timber, lath, and plaster, and the whole neighbourhood presenting
+ little else than closely confined passages and narrow alleys. The
+ fire quickly spread, and was not to be conquered by any human
+ means, "Then, (says a contemporary writer,) then the city did
+ shake indeed, and the inhabitants did tremble, and flew away in
+ great amazement from their houses, lest the flames should devour
+ them: <i>rattle, rattle, rattle</i>, was the noise which the fire
+ struck upon the ear round about, as if there had been a thousand
+ iron chariots beating upon the stones. You might see the houses
+ <i>tumble, tumble, tumble</i>, from one end of the street to the
+ other, with a great crash, leaving the foundations open to the
+ view of the heavens."<a id="footnotetag5" name=
+ "footnotetag5"></a><a href="#footnote5"><sup>5</sup></a></p>
+
+ <p>The destructive fury of this conflagration was never, perhaps,
+ exceeded in any part of the world, by any fire originating in
+ accident. <i>Within the walls</i>, it consumed almost five-sixths
+ of the whole city; and <i>without</i> the walls it cleared a
+ space nearly as extensive as the one-sixth part left unburnt
+ within. Scarcely a single building that came within the range of
+ the flames was left standing. Public buildings, churches, and
+ dwelling-houses, were alike involved in one common fate.</p>
+
+ <p>In the summary account of this vast devastation, given in one
+ of the inscriptions on the Monument, and which was drawn up from
+ the reports of the surveyors appointed after the fire, it is
+ stated, that "The ruins of the city were 436 acres, [viz. 333
+ acres within the walls, and 63 in the liberties of the city;]
+ that, of the six-and-twenty wards, it utterly destroyed fifteen,
+ and left eight others shattered and half burnt; and that it
+ consumed 400 streets, 13,200 dwelling-houses, 89 churches
+ [besides chapels; 4 of] the city gates, Guildhall, many public
+ structures, hospitals, schools, libraries, and a vast number of
+ stately edifices." The immense property destroyed in this
+ dreadful time cannot be estimated at less than <i>ten
+ millions</i> sterling. Amid all the confusion and multiplied
+ dangers that arose from the fire, it does not appear that more
+ than <i>six</i> persons lost their lives. Calamitous as were the
+ immediate consequences of this dreadful fire, its <i>remote
+ effects</i> have proved an incalculable blessing to subsequent
+ generations. To this conflagration may be attributed the complete
+ destruction of the <i>plague</i>, which, the year before only,
+ swept off 68,590 persons!! To this tremendous fire we owe most of
+ our grand public structures&mdash;the regularity and beauty of
+ our streets&mdash;and, finally, the great salubrity and extreme
+ cleanliness of a large part of the city of London.</p>
+
+ <p>In relation to this awful calamity we add the following
+ remarks:&mdash;Heaven be praised (says Mr. Malcolm<a id=
+ "footnotetag6" name="footnotetag6"></a><a href=
+ "#footnote6"><sup>6</sup></a>) old London <i>was burnt</i>. Good
+ reader, turn to the ancient prints, in order to see what it has
+ been; observe those hovels convulsed; imagine the chambers within
+ them, and wonder why the plague, the leprosy, and the
+ sweating-sickness raged. Turn then to the prints illustrative of
+ our present dwellings, and be happy. The misery of 1665 must have
+ operated on the minds of the legislature and the citizens, when
+ they rebuilt and inhabited their houses. The former enacted many
+ salutary clauses for the preservation of health, and would have
+ done more, had not the public rejected that which was for their
+ benefit; those who preferred high habitations and narrow dark
+ streets had them. It is only to be lamented that we are compelled
+ to suffer for their folly. These errors are now frequently
+ partially removed by the exertion of the Corporation of London;
+ but a complete reformation is impossible. It is to the improved
+ dwellings composed of brick, the wainscot or papered walls, the
+ high ceilings, the boarded floors, and large windows, and
+ cleanliness, that we are indebted for the general preservation of
+ health since 1666. From that auspicious year the very existence
+ of the natives of London improved; their bodies moved in a large
+ space of pure air; and, finding every thing clean and new around
+ them, they determined to keep them so. Previously-unknown
+ luxuries and improvements in furniture were suggested; and a man
+ of moderate fortune saw his house vie with, nay, superior to, the
+ old palaces of his governors. When he paced his streets, he felt
+ the genial western breeze pass him, rich with the perfumes of the
+ country, instead of the stench described by Erasmus; and looking
+ upward, he beheld the beautiful blue of the air, variegated with
+ fleecy clouds, in place of projecting black beams and plaster,
+ obscured by vapour and smoke.</p>
+
+ <p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page150" name="page150"></a>[pg
+ 150]</span> The streets of London must have been dangerously dark
+ during the winter nights before it was burnt; lanterns with
+ candles were very sparingly scattered, nor was light much better
+ distributed even in the new streets previously to the 18th
+ century. Globular lamps were introduced by Michael Cole, who
+ obtained a patent in July, 1708.</p>
+
+ <p>We conclude the illustrations of this day with a singular
+ opinion of the author just quoted. Speaking of the burning of
+ London, he says, "This subject may be allowed to be familiar to
+ me, and I have perhaps had more than common means of judging; and
+ I now declare it to be my full and decided opinion, that London
+ <i>was burnt by government, to annihilate the plague</i>, which
+ was grafted in every crevice of the hateful old houses composing
+ it."</p>
+ <hr class="full" />
+
+ <h2>THE SKETCH BOOK</h2>
+
+ <center>
+ NO. XLV.
+ </center>
+ <hr />
+
+ <h3>BEHIND THE SCENES; OR, A BREAKFAST IN NEWGATE.</h3>
+
+ <p>(<i>Concluded from page 134</i>.)</p>
+
+ <p>No further delay was allowed. The sheriffs moved on, the
+ ordinary, the culprits, and the officers did the same; and that
+ class of attendants to which I belonged followed. I shall not
+ easily forget the circumstances of this brief, but melancholy
+ progress. The faltering step&mdash;the deep-drawn sigh&mdash;the
+ mingling exclamations of anguish and devotion which marked the
+ advance of the victims&mdash;the deep tones of the reverend
+ gentleman who now commenced reading a portion of the burial
+ service, and the tolling of the prison bell, which, as we
+ proceeded through some of the most dreary passages of the gaol,
+ burst on the ear, rendered the whole spectacle impressive beyond
+ description. Few steps sufficed to conduct us to the small room,
+ or entrance-hall, into which the debtor's door opens, and from
+ this we saw the ladder which the criminals were to ascend, and
+ the scaffold on which they were to die. I was on the alert to
+ detect any sudden emotion which this spectacle might cause, but
+ could not perceive that it had the slightest effect. The minds of
+ the sufferers had been so prepared, that a partial view of the
+ machine to which they were being conducted, seemed to give no
+ additional shock. No further pause was deemed necessary. The
+ clock was striking eight, and the ordinary and the youth first
+ brought to the press-room, immediately passed up the ladder. To
+ the two culprits that remained, the gentleman whom I have already
+ mentioned offered his services, and filled up with a prayer the
+ little interval which elapsed, before the second was conducted to
+ the platform.</p>
+
+ <p>I heard from without the murmur of awe, of expectation, and
+ pity, which ran through the crowd in front of the prison, and
+ stepping on a small erection to the left of the door, gained a
+ momentary glimpse of a portion of the immense multitude, who,
+ uncovered, and in breathless silence, gazed on the operations of
+ the executioners. I retreated just as the third halter had been
+ adjusted. The finisher of the law was in the act of descending,
+ when the under-sheriff addressed him&mdash;</p>
+
+ <p>Is everything quite ready?"</p>
+
+ <p>"Yes, sir."</p>
+
+ <p>"Then take care and draw the bolt out smartly.&mdash;Now,
+ don't bungle it."</p>
+
+ <p>"No, sir&mdash;you may depend upon it," was the answer. And
+ the obsequious anxiety of the hangman to seem polite and
+ obliging, his apparent zeal to give satisfaction, though very
+ natural seemed to me not a little curious.</p>
+
+ <p>Prayers, which had been interrupted for a moment, while the
+ last awful ceremony was in progress, were resumed. As he read
+ them, I saw the clergyman fix his eye on the executioner with a
+ peculiar expression. He drew his handkerchief from his pocket,
+ and passed it slightly over his upper lip. This was the fatal
+ signal. A lumbering noise, occasioned by the falling of part of
+ the apparatus, announced that it had been obeyed.</p>
+
+ <p>In that moment, a rush from the scaffold forced me from the
+ door. The sheriffs, the under-sheriff, the ordinary, the
+ gentleman who had assisted him in preparing the sufferers for
+ eternity, and several other persons quitted the platform as
+ expeditiously as possible, that they might not behold the final
+ agonies of the unhappy men. Sir Thomas took me by the arm as he
+ passed, and signified that he wished me to accompany him. I did
+ so. Again I marched through the passages which I had recently
+ traversed. Two minutes brought me to the door of the room to
+ which I had first been conducted. Here my friend accosted me with
+ his natural firmness of tone, which before had been considerably
+ subdued by humane emotions, and said&mdash;</p>
+
+ <p>"You must breakfast with us."</p>
+
+ <p>I started at the unsentimental idea of eating the moment after
+ quitting so awful a spectacle, as that which I have attempted to
+ describe. But I had not sufficient energy to resist the good will
+ which rather unceremoniously handed me in. Here I found the other
+ sheriff, the <span class="pagenum"><a id="page151" name=
+ "page151"></a>[pg 151]</span> ordinary, the under-sheriff, the
+ city-marshal, and one or two of the individuals I had previously
+ met, already seated.</p>
+
+ <p>"Well, it is all over," said Sir Thomas, as he took his seat
+ at the table.</p>
+
+ <p>"Yes, it is," said the ordinary, in the same tone which I had
+ heard a few moments before, and admired as appropriately solemn.
+ "It is all over, and&mdash;" putting his cup and saucer to the
+ under-sheriff, who prepared to pour out the tea&mdash;"I am very
+ glad of it."</p>
+
+ <p>"I hope you do not mean the breakfast is all over," remarked
+ the sheriff, whose wit I had previously admired, "for I have had
+ none yet."</p>
+
+ <p>The moment had not arrived at which humour like this could be
+ duly appreciated, and I did not observe that any of the company
+ gave even that sort of <i>note of face</i> for a laugh which we
+ had all used half an hour before.</p>
+
+ <p>Our conversation turned naturally on the manner in which the
+ sufferers had conducted themselves; on the wishes they had
+ expressed, and the confessions they had made.</p>
+
+ <p>But while I looked on the hospitably spread table, I could not
+ help connecting operations rather different in their character,
+ which must have been going on at the same moment. "In my mind's
+ eye," I saw the attendants carrying the fowl and eggs to the
+ breakfast table, while the sheriffs and their guests were
+ conducting the sufferers to the scaffold.</p>
+
+ <p>From what I have already said, it must be inferred that the
+ first speeches which accomplished the circuit of the table, were
+ of a very serious character. But, mingled with them, some common
+ breakfast-table requests and civilities caught my attention, as
+ singular from their association. The performance of duties the
+ most important cannot relieve man from the necessity of claiming
+ his "daily bread," and I do not know that it is any reproach to a
+ clergyman that he is not distinguished by versatility of manner.
+ The abrupt transition from the gravity of the pulpit to the
+ flippancy of the bar I should not admire; but the consistency of
+ the reverend gentleman here attracted my notice. I had been just
+ listening to him while he repeated, with devotional elongation,
+ the solemn words of the burial service; and when I heard him with
+ the same elongation of sound, address himself to me&mdash;"Shall
+ I trouble you to cut up the fowl&mdash;can I help you to some
+ tongue, sir?" I confess that I felt tempted not to laugh, but to
+ comment on the oddly-contrasted feelings which the same voice,
+ thus variously exerted, inspired.</p>
+
+ <p>Horror-struck, as I had been, at the first mention of the
+ unfeeling word "breakfast," my excuse for staying was to see if
+ others could eat. That <i>I</i> should take food was quite out of
+ the question. But the wing of a fowl having been put on my plate,
+ I thought it would be rudeness to reject it. I began to eat,
+ inwardly reflecting that my abstinence would nothing benefit
+ those whose sufferings I had still in my memory; and improving on
+ this reconciling thought, I presently detected myself holding my
+ plate for a second supply. "O sentiment!" I mentally exclaimed,
+ "what art thou when opposed to a breakfast?"</p>
+
+ <p>By the time we had disposed of our first cup of tea, we had
+ got through the pious reflections which each of us had to offer
+ on the particular occasion which had brought us together, and
+ conversation started in a livelier vein. The gentleman who had
+ assisted the ordinary, by praying with the culprits, gaily
+ remarked to him, with a benevolent chuckle on his face, that
+ <i>they</i> (meaning himself and the reverend gentleman) had
+ succeeded in refuting the Unitarian principles which
+ A&mdash;&mdash; (one of the sufferers) had for some time avowed.
+ The look which answered this speech, reminded me, I know not why,
+ of the <i>organist's</i> comment on the <i>organ blower's</i>
+ assertion that <i>they</i> had played famously well.</p>
+
+ <p>"Ay," said the minister, "I knew it would be so. I told him so
+ immediately after sentence. But, after all, what can we say for a
+ recantation dictated by the dread of early death?"</p>
+
+ <p>"Very true!" was my exclamation, as the reverend gentleman
+ looked as if he expected me to say something.</p>
+
+ <p>"At any rate," whispered a gentleman well-known in the city,
+ with whom I had formerly done a little business in the funds, "it
+ gives a man something of an <i>option</i>."</p>
+
+ <p>This technical application of a favourite stock-exchange word
+ produced a general smile round the table, and I could not help
+ contributing to lengthen it by replying&mdash;</p>
+
+ <p>"You mean, perhaps, that it gives him a <i>call</i>." But the
+ lively sheriff, of whose witticisms I have already made
+ honourable mention, cut me out of my share of applause
+ altogether, as clean as a whistle, by instantly
+ rejoining&mdash;</p>
+
+ <p>"The <i>put</i> you mean, for, in this case, the party was
+ going for the <i>fall</i>."</p>
+
+ <p>Of course there was no standing this, and we all joined in the
+ laugh.</p>
+
+ <p>We were however brought back to gravity through the alarm
+ expressed by the minister, at the idea of his having <span class=
+ "pagenum"><a id="page152" name="page152"></a>[pg 152]</span>
+ taken cold through officiating that morning without his wig. This
+ introduced, I cannot tell how, some remarks on the head, which
+ led to a disquisition on craniology. On this subject the witty
+ sheriff was very amusing. <i>I</i> said some tolerably lively
+ things; but the ordinary beat us all hollow, when it was
+ contended that the disposition and the mind might be known from
+ the exterior of the skull, by remarking that he had now an
+ additional reason to regret having come there without his
+ wig.</p>
+
+ <p>With this epigrammatic touch he took his leave, I and the rest
+ of the company laughing heartily, and having eaten as heartily as
+ we then laughed. The facetious sheriff now had it all his own
+ way, and said several things, nearly, or perhaps, quite as good
+ as those which I have already placed on record. We were thus
+ pleasantly engaged, when the aide-de-camp of the gallant officer
+ in the blue and gold,&mdash;one of the city marshal's-men,
+ entered to announce that it was past nine o'clock, and to ask if
+ any of the company chose to see the bodies taken down.</p>
+
+ <p>"The bodies!" I repeated to myself, and the application of
+ that word to those whom I had previously heard mentioned but by
+ their names, recalled my thoughts which had somehow strayed from
+ the business of the morning into unlooked-for cheerfulness, and
+ presented, in that simple expression, an epitome of all that had
+ moved my wonder, curiosity, and commiseration.</p>
+
+ <p>Again we passed through those parts of the prison which I had
+ twice before traversed. We advanced with a quicker step than when
+ following those whom we now expected to see brought to us. But
+ with all the expedition we could use, on reaching the room from
+ which the scaffold could be seen, we found the "bodies" already
+ there. Nor was this, in my opinion, the least striking scene
+ which the morning brought under my observation. The dead men were
+ extended side by side, on the stone floor. The few persons
+ present gazed on them in silence, duly impressed with the
+ melancholy spectacle. But in this part of the building a copper
+ is established, in which a portion of the provisions for its
+ inmates is prepared. There was a savoury smell of soup, which we
+ could not help inhaling while we gazed on death. The cooks too
+ were in attendance, and though they, as became them, did all in
+ their power to look decorously dismal, well as they managed their
+ faces, they could not so divest themselves of their professional
+ peculiarities, as not to awaken thoughts which involuntarily
+ turned to ludicrous or festive scenes. Their very costume was at
+ variance with the general gloom, and no sympathy could at once
+ repress the jolly rotundity of their persons.</p>
+
+ <p>I turned my eyes from them, wishing to give myself wholly up
+ to religious meditation during the moments of my stay. Just then
+ the executioner approach, ed. Sir Thomas desired him to remove
+ the cap from the face of one of the sufferers. He prepared to
+ comply&mdash;but his first act was to place his hand on the more
+ prominent features and press them together. This, on inquiry
+ being made, I learned was done that the bystanders might not be
+ shocked by witnessing any distortion of countenance. Sir Thomas
+ smiled at the anxiety of the man to make it appear that his work
+ had been well performed. The cap was then withdrawn. There was
+ nothing terrific in the aspect of the deceased. I recognized the
+ features of the young man who had been so wildly, so violently
+ agitated, when about to suffer. Now pain was at an end,
+ apprehension was no more, and he seemed in the enjoyment of sweet
+ repose. His countenance was tranquil as that of a sleeping
+ infant, and happier than the infant, his rest was not in danger
+ of being disturbed. While reflecting on the change which a single
+ hour had sufficed to produce, I could hardly help regarding as
+ idle the the sorrow, the pity, and the self-reproach for
+ momentary forgetfulness of these, which I had felt and breathed
+ within that period. I almost accused the sufferers of weakness,
+ for showing themselves depressed as they had been, while I felt
+ disposed, seeing their griefs were, to all appearance, terminated
+ for ever, to demand with the poet,</p>
+
+ <div class="poem">
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>"And what is death we so unwisely fear?"</p>
+ </div>
+ </div>
+
+ <p>and to answer as he replies to himself,</p>
+
+ <div class="poem">
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>"An end of all our busy tumults here."</p>
+ </div>
+ </div>
+
+ <p><i>Knight's Quarterly Magazine.</i></p>
+ <hr />
+
+ <h3>JEU D'ESPRIT.</h3>
+
+ <p>(<i>For the Mirror.</i>)</p>
+
+ <div class="poem">
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>A sanctified hermit was heard to complain</p>
+
+ <p>That raiment and food he no longer could gain.</p>
+
+ <p>"For," quoth he "in this village the famine's so great</p>
+
+ <p>That there's not enough left e'en a mousetrap to
+ bait."</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>A neighbour who happened to bear his sad plaint</p>
+
+ <p>Addressed in the following manner the saint:</p>
+
+ <p>"The nation will keep thee to support splendour's
+ throne,</p>
+
+ <p>And interest will pay thee, because thou'rt
+ <i>alone</i>."&mdash;(a loan.)</p>
+ </div>
+ </div>
+
+ <p>W.G.</p>
+ <hr class="full" />
+
+ <p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page153" name="page153"></a>[pg
+ 153]</span></p>
+
+ <h2>The Months.</h2>
+
+ <div class="figure" style="width: 100%;">
+ <a href="images/271-2.png"><img width="100%" src=
+ "images/271-2.png" alt="September" /></a>
+ </div>
+
+ <h3>SEPTEMBER.</h3>
+
+ <div class="poem">
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>"Now sober Autumn, with lack lustre eye,</p>
+
+ <p>Shakes with a chiding blast the yellow leaf,</p>
+
+ <p class="i4">And hears the woodman's song</p>
+
+ <p class="i4">And early sportsman's foot."</p>
+ </div>
+ </div>
+
+ <p>September is generally accounted the finest and most settled
+ month in the year. The mornings and evenings are cool, but
+ possess a delightful freshness, while the middle of the day is
+ pleasantly warm and open. Hence the well-known proverb:</p>
+
+ <div class="poem">
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>"September blows soft till the fruit's in the loft."</p>
+ </div>
+ </div>
+
+ <p>The destruction of the partridge commences with this month,
+ large coveys of which may now be seen about the stubble fields,
+ and in the corn, if any be left standing. These birds get very
+ shy towards the end of the month, in consequence of being
+ repeatedly fired at. Sportsmen, therefore, prefer the early part
+ of the season, before the birds get too wild. Partridges, while
+ the corn is standing, have a secure retreat from their numerous
+ enemies; but when the harvest is gathered in, they resort in the
+ day-time to groves and covers. At night, however, they return to
+ the stubble to avoid foxes and weasels, &amp;c., and there nestle
+ together.</p>
+
+ <p>The swallow now takes his departure for milder regions, and
+ many other of the small billed birds that feed on insects
+ disappear when the cold weather commences. The <i>throstle</i>,
+ the <i>red-wing</i>, and the <i>fieldfare</i>, which migrated in
+ March, now return; and the <i>ring-ouzel</i> arrives from the
+ Welsh and Scottish Alps to winter in more sheltered situations.
+ All these birds feed upon berries, of which there is a plentiful
+ supply, in our woods, during a great part of their stay. The
+ throstle and the red-wing are delicate eating. The Romans kept
+ thousands of them together in aviaries, and fed them with a sort
+ of paste made of bruised figs and flour, &amp;c., to improve the
+ delicacy and flavour of their flesh. These aviaries were so
+ contrived as to admit but little light; and every object which
+ might tend to remind them of their former liberty was carefully
+ kept out of sight, such as the fields, the woods, the birds, or
+ whatever might disturb the repose necessary for their
+ improvement. Under this management, these birds fattened to the
+ great profit of their proprietors, who sold them to Roman
+ epicures for three <i>denarii</i>, or about two shillings each of
+ our money.</p>
+
+ <p>Towards the end of September the leaves of trees begin to put
+ on their autumnal dress. Mr. Stillingfleet remarks, that, about
+ the 25th, the leaves of the plane tree were tawny; of the hazel,
+ <span class="pagenum"><a id="page154" name="page154"></a>[pg
+ 154]</span> yellow; of the oak, yellowish green; of the sycamore,
+ dirty brown; of the maple, pale yellow; of the ash, a fine
+ lemon-colour; of the elm, orange; of the hawthorn, tawny yellow;
+ of the cherry, red; of the horn-beam, bright yellow; of the
+ willow, still hoary. Yet, many of these tints cannot be
+ considered complete, in some seasons, till the middle or latter
+ end of October.</p>
+
+ <p>When the harvest is gathered in, the husbandman prepares for
+ seed-time; and the fields are again ploughed up for the winter
+ corn, rye, and wheat, which are sown in September and October.
+ The entrances to bee-hives are straightened, to prevent the
+ access of wasps and other pilferers.</p>
+ <hr />
+
+ <h3>ASTRONOMICAL OCCURRENCES</h3>
+
+ <center>
+ <i>FOR SEPTEMBER, 1827.</i>
+ </center>
+
+ <p>(<i>For the Mirror</i>.)</p>
+
+ <p>The sun enters the cardinal and equinoctial sign <i>Libra</i>,
+ on the 23rd at 8 h. 24 min. evening, once more bringing our day
+ and night to an equal length; when 8 deg. of <i>Gemini</i> are
+ due east, and 4 deg. of <i>Aquarius</i> due south, all the
+ planets having a direct motion, and being below the horizon,
+ Herschel excepted. The astrological aspects at this ingress are
+ as follow:&mdash;Saturn is located in the third house; Mercury,
+ Venus, and Mars in the fifth, the Sun, Moon, and Jupiter are in
+ the sixth, while Herschel occupies the ninth.</p>
+
+ <p>Mercury is in conjunction with Mars on the 4th, at 1 h.
+ morning; on the 6th with the fixed star, Regulus, or Corheoni;
+ with Venus on the 18th, at midnight; and in superior conjunction
+ with the Sun on the 24th, at 9-1/2 h. evening.</p>
+
+ <p>Venus rises at the beginning of the month about 4-1/2 h.
+ morning, and towards the end at 5-1/2 h.</p>
+
+ <p>Mars rises through the month at 31/2 h. morning.</p>
+
+ <p>Jupiter is now gradually receding from our view, and will ere
+ long be totally surrounded with the brighter beams of the Sun;
+ his eclipses are therefore not visible.</p>
+
+ <p>Saturn is apparently now fast approaching this part of our
+ hemisphere; he rises on the 1st at 12-1/2 h. and on the 31st at
+ 10-3/4 h. evening.</p>
+
+ <p>Herschel culminates on the 1st at 9h. 6m. and on the 31st at
+ 7h. 12m.</p>
+
+ <p>If the reader will refer to page 131 of the 8th vol. of the
+ MIRROR, he will find his attention invited to the relative
+ positions of the principal northern stars and constellations for
+ September last year: their present appearance is precisely
+ similar. Pasche.</p>
+ <hr class="full" />
+
+ <h2>SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS</h2>
+ <hr />
+
+ <h3>"THE WOODSMAN."</h3>
+
+ <p>A German newspaper contains a strange account&mdash;avouched
+ with as much apparent accuracy almost as those which concerned
+ the mermaids lately seen off our own coast, or the sea-serpent
+ that visits the shores of America&mdash;of a conversion lately
+ worked upon the morals of a famous robber, by a supernatural
+ visitation in the forest of Wildeshausen. The hero of the tale,
+ whose name is Conrad Braunsvelt, but who was better known by the
+ cognomen of "The Woodsman," was drinking one evening at a small
+ inn on the borders of the forest of Wildeshausen, when a
+ traveller, well mounted, and carrying a portmanteau on his horse
+ behind him, came up by the road which runs from the direction of
+ Hanover. The stranger, after inquiring if he could be
+ accommodated with a bed, led his horse away to the stable, and in
+ doing this, left his portmanteau upon a bench within the
+ house&mdash;which Conrad immediately, as a preliminary measure,
+ tried the weight of. He had just discovered that the valise was
+ unusually heavy, when the return of the traveller compelled him
+ to desist; but his curiosity, without any farther effort, was not
+ long ungratified; for the stranger soon opened it before him, as
+ it seemed, to take out some articles which were necessary for his
+ use at night; and displayed in the process several large
+ bags&mdash;larger almost than the machine would have seemed able
+ to contain&mdash;which were evidently full of gold or silver
+ money. The cupidity of Conrad was excited by this view, and he
+ would gladly have at once secured the prize even at the hazard of
+ a personal struggle with the stranger; but the people of the inn
+ (according to his account afterwards) were such as would have
+ expected a portion of the spoil. For this reason, although
+ unwillingly, and trusting himself to sleep little, lest by any
+ chance the prey should escape him, he abandoned his design of
+ robbery, for that night; and on the next morning, having learned
+ which way the stranger travelled&mdash;for the latter exhibited
+ no suspicions or apprehension of those about him, but spoke
+ freely of his intended road, though he never mentioned anything
+ of the charge he carried&mdash;having ascertained this fact, he
+ allowed the rider <span class="pagenum"><a id="page155" name=
+ "page155"></a>[pg 155]</span> to depart, and after a short time,
+ followed by a shorter track through the forest, which was
+ practicable only to persons on foot, and which would enable him,
+ had he even started later, easily to overtake the mounted
+ traveller. Now, knowing that his nearer road saved, as has been
+ noticed, full a league of ground, the "Woodsman" moved on slowly;
+ and accounted that, when he reached the point at which they were
+ to meet, he should still have some time to wait for the stranger:
+ on emerging, however, into the high road, he found him to his
+ surprise <i>already</i> approaching; and, what was still more
+ extraordinary, mounted upon a <i>black</i> horse, when that on
+ which he had left the inn, had certainly seemed to be a brown.
+ The portmanteau, however, which was all that Conrad looked to,
+ was still behind the traveller, and on he came riding as if
+ nothing at all was the matter: the "Woodsman" never hung back, or
+ staid reflecting, but levelled his rifle, and called upon him to
+ "Stand and deliver," or his next moment was his last. The
+ traveller upon this pulled up his horse with an air of great
+ coolness; and, looking upon Conrad, said something, which, as the
+ robber since says, he verily believes was&mdash;"That he hoped he
+ had not kept him <i>waiting</i>!"&mdash;or words to that purpose;
+ but he was too busy at the time to pay much attention to
+ discourse. "Do you know who it is you are going to rob though?"
+ asked the stranger, addressing the "Woodsman" directly. "Not I,"
+ replied the latter, boldly: "but, if you were der Dyvel himself,
+ descend from that horse, and deliver the bags of money that you
+ have on you, or you shall die!" Upon this, the black rider said
+ no more; but dismounted quietly, although he had pistols in his
+ holsters; and Conrad, immediately taking the portmanteau from the
+ horse's back, was so eager to be sure of the contents, that he
+ drew his knife, and cut the fastenings on the spot. In the
+ meantime, the traveller might have fallen upon him unawares, and
+ to advantage, but the "Woodsman" endeavoured to keep an eye upon
+ him, while he went on forcing the valise open as well as he
+ could. At length the straps were all cut, and the robber thrust
+ his hands in eagerly, making sure to find the bags which he had
+ seen the preceding evening, for he had distinctly felt them from
+ the outside. But, when he drew out his hands, there was in one
+ only a <i>halter</i>, and in the other a piece of brass in the
+ shape of a <i>gibbet</i>! And, at the same moment, a gripe was
+ laid upon his arm; and a deep low voice, which seemed to be close
+ beside him, pronounced the words, "<i>This shall be thy
+ fate</i>!" When he turned round in horror and consternation, the
+ horse, and the rider, and the portmanteau, all were gone; and he
+ found himself within a few paces of the inn door which he had
+ quitted in the morning, with the halter and the brass gibbet
+ still remaining in his hand. The narrative states farther, that
+ this horrible rencontre so affected Conrad Braunsvelt, that he
+ forthwith delivered himself up to the rangers of the forest, and
+ was sent to Cassel to await the pleasure of the Grand Duke. He is
+ now confined in an asylum for repentant criminals, desirous of
+ being restored to society; and his miraculous warning is noted in
+ the records of the institution.&mdash;<i>Monthly
+ Magazine</i>.</p>
+ <hr />
+
+ <h3>CAMBRIAN CONVIVIALITY.</h3>
+
+ <div class="poem">
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>"Cloth must we wear,</p>
+
+ <p>Eat beef, and drink beer,</p>
+
+ <p>Though the dead go to bier."</p>
+ </div>
+ </div>
+
+ <p><i>Old Ballad.</i></p>
+
+ <p>There is something refreshing, and not a little inspiriting,
+ in the scanty relics of those hearty customs and pastimes which
+ imparted such a manly tone to the character of our ancestors; but
+ now, like the ruined castle, or the old ivied abbey, they have
+ become objects of admiration rather than sources of delight.
+ Fifty years ago, the inhabitants of North Wales, a rude and blunt
+ race even now, were far less sophisticated by modern refinement
+ than they are at present; and it was then a common matter for the
+ <i>Penteulu</i>, or head of the family, to dine in the large
+ stone hall of the mansion&mdash;he and his own particular friends
+ at a table, raised on a <i>Dais</i>&mdash;and his numerous
+ tenants and dependants at another table running the whole length
+ of the said hall. Then came the wassailing&mdash;worthy of the
+ days of Arthur&mdash;wine for the upper table; ale, medd,
+ (<i>mead</i>,) and spirits for the other; and after all came the
+ friendly contest at some manly game&mdash;wrestling, racing,
+ pitching the bar, or the like. At a period somewhat later, these
+ boisterous pastimes began to degenerate; and the Welsh squire
+ became more polished, but not, perhaps, more happy. Still the
+ custom of inordinate potation fondly clung to him. Immediately
+ contiguous to every mansion of any magnitude was erected a
+ summerhouse, usually situated in a spot, selected for the beauty
+ of the scene which it commanded; and to this <i>sanctum</i> did
+ the gentlemen retire after dinner, to enjoy, unrestrained by the
+ presence of the ladies, a full indulgence in that boisterous
+ carousal, which their bluff hearts so dearly loved. But these
+ good and glorious customs have died the death, and gone the
+ <span class="pagenum"><a id="page156" name="page156"></a>[pg
+ 156]</span> way, of all perishable things; <i>they</i> are gone,
+ as are those jovial souls who gave them life and buoyancy; but
+ the eternal hills, which echoed to their merriment and
+ glee&mdash;they remain unaltered by time, and unshaken by the
+ storms which have passed over them.</p>
+
+ <p>Yet is there still much jovial heartiness in the festive
+ revelry of the mountaineers. One scene, in which I was a
+ participator, I will endeavour to portray&mdash;it is impressed
+ on my memory by more than one token of grateful reminiscence. It
+ was in the summer of 1825 that I left London for a few weeks, and
+ sought among my native hills a reparation of the wear and tear of
+ half-a-dozen years of hard and unceasing toil. Two days after my
+ arrival In Merionethshire was celebrated the birthday of Robert
+ Williams Vaughan, Esq., of Nannau, the only son of Sir Robert
+ Williams Vaughan, Bart., and member for the county; a gentleman
+ of whom it may be truly said, that his heart is replete with
+ every noble and benevolent attribute, and that his mind is
+ dignified by practical wisdom, sound sense, and energy to direct,
+ for the benefit of his dependents, the fine and Christian virtues
+ which he possesses. "Come up to Nannau," is his encouraging
+ address to the labourer, when the hardships of winter are
+ pressing upon the poor: "Come up to Nannau, show me that you are
+ willing to work, and I will give you your wages." It is for
+ benevolence like this, well and usefully exercised, that Sir
+ Robert Vaughan is especially remarkable, as well also for all
+ those qualities which adorn and dignify the British country
+ gentleman. Always careful of the welfare, habits, and comforts of
+ the poor around him; patronizing the industry, ingenuity, and
+ good conduct of his more humble countrymen, and ministering to
+ the wants of the sick and the poor; hospitable in the extreme;
+ kind, affable, and friendly to all, he fulfils in every respect
+ the happy duties of the wealthy British landholder; and by his
+ generous courtesy he has ensured to himself the perfect esteem of
+ every person who knows him. Living in the midst of a cheerful and
+ contented tenantry, the chieftain as it were of a devoted clan,
+ the proprietor of Nannau may be truly termed a happy man. The
+ empty blandishments of the world have no charms for him, nor have
+ its ephemeral pleasures any allurement; for, like the gallant
+ knight of Peugwern, when invited by Henry the Seventh to share
+ the honors of his court, for services rendered at Bosworth Field,
+ he would meekly but promptly reply, "Sire! I love to dwell among
+ mine own people." Such is Sir Robert Vaughan of Nannau, whose
+ memory will be long and fondly cherished by those who have
+ enjoyed his friendship, and witnessed his calm, manly, and useful
+ virtues.</p>
+
+ <p>We sat down to dinner, about forty in number, occupying two
+ tables placed parallel to each other, in the spacious dining-room
+ of the mansion. Choice fish of every kind; venison from Nannau
+ Park, celebrated for the delicious flavour of its fat bucks;
+ mountain-mutton, from the fertile pastures of Llanfachreth; the
+ noble sirloin, and, in fact, every substantial delicacy that
+ wealth could procure, pressed even to groaning the broad tables
+ of our host; while the harper in the hall twanged his instrument
+ with a force and a fury, that plainly showed his previous
+ intimacy with the good cheer of the place. But noble and
+ magnificent as our entertainment was in the eating department, it
+ was infinitely surpassed by that which was devoted to the orgies
+ of Bacchus. No sooner was the brief and scarcely audible grace
+ pronounced by the chaplain, than in marched old Pearson, the
+ gray-headed butler, bearing in each hand a goblet, in form like
+ an acorn, and fashioned of the dark polished oak of the far-famed
+ Spirits-Blasted Tree,<a id="footnotetag7" name=
+ "footnotetag7"></a><a href="#footnote7"><sup>7</sup></a> richly
+ ornamented with appropriate silver emblems. One of these was
+ placed reversed by the side of the president and <i>croupier</i>
+ of each table, and presently afterwards flanked by a huge silver
+ tankard of foaming ale, strong enough almost to blow into the air
+ a first-rate man-of-war. Filling this goblet, which held very
+ nearly a pint, the president made his speech to the health and
+ happiness of the young 'squire, and draining it dry, passed it on
+ to his left-hand neighbour. The <i>croupier</i> did the same, and
+ like the great bear of Bradwardine, did the acorn of Nannau begin
+ to make its rounds, in a manner quite as fearful to me as was the
+ terrific approach of the bear aforesaid to the heir of Waverley
+ Honor. Unfortunately for me, I sat between two determined and
+ well-seasoned topers, who took especial care that I should not
+ only fill to each toast, but drain the cup to the very bottom; so
+ that, novice as I was in this sort of hilarity, I found myself,
+ in a very short time, lying down under a laburnum tree in the
+ lawn, and composing myself very comfortably&mdash;no,
+ <span class="pagenum"><a id="page157" name="page157"></a>[pg
+ 157]</span> not <i>very</i> comfortably&mdash;to sleep. I had my
+ sleep, however; and when I awoke and re-entered the house, a
+ merry group of guests had surrounded the harper in the hall, and
+ were singing Penillion at full stretch, to the now unsteady and
+ somewhat discordant accompaniment of the minstrel; the laugh was
+ of course against me, but good-nature, rather than contempt,
+ characterised the bantering, and I bore it all in good part. The
+ party broke up about eleven, and before midnight I was at home,
+ after a magnificent walk of three miles, over the mountains, in
+ the moonlight. <i>The Inspector.</i></p>
+ <hr class="full" />
+
+ <h2>THE SELECTOR, AND LITERARY NOTICES OF <i>NEW WORKS</i>.</h2>
+ <hr />
+
+ <h3>NEW SOUTH WALES.</h3>
+
+ <p>The following observations, recorded in Mr. Cunningham's
+ <i>Two Years in New South Wales</i>, are as valuable as they are
+ interesting; for hitherto we have known but little of the natural
+ history of that country:&mdash;</p>
+
+ <p><i>Trees</i>.&mdash;Trees here appear to follow the same laws
+ as other vegetable substances, regarding the effects they produce
+ upon the soil wherein they grow. It has long been remarked in
+ America, that on the forests being cut down, young trees of a
+ different species sprout up in place of the old ones; and here
+ the same remark, in a great measure, holds good,&mdash;acacias
+ very commonly making their appearance on land that has been once
+ under cultivation, and afterwards permitted to relapse into a
+ state of nature. From this circumstance it should seem, that
+ trees, like other vegetables, extract a particular substance from
+ the ground, which substance it is necessary should be restored
+ before the same species of tree can be readily grown a second
+ time,&mdash;a restoration to be effected, perhaps, by such
+ chemical changes in the constituent particles of the soil as may
+ arise from the cultivation of other species.</p>
+
+ <p><i>Fruits</i>.&mdash;Of native fruits, we possess raspberries
+ equal in flavour and not otherwise distinguishable from the
+ English. They grow plentifully on the alluvial banks of Hunter's
+ river, and supply a yearly Christmas feast to the birds. Oar
+ native currants are strongly acidulous, like the cranberry, and
+ make an excellent preserve when mixed with the raspberry. They
+ grow on low shrubs not higher than the whortleberry bush. Our
+ cherries are destitute both of pleasant taste and flavour, and
+ have the stone adhering to their outside. Our native pears are
+ tolerably tempting to the look, but defy both mastication and
+ digestion, being the pendulous seed-pods of a tree here, and
+ their outer husks of such a hard woody consistence, as to put the
+ edge of even a well-tempered knife to proof of its qualities in
+ slicing them down. The burwan is a nut much relished by our
+ natives, who prepare it by roasting and immersion in a running
+ stream, to free it from its poisonous qualities. The jibbong is
+ another tasteless fruit, as well as the <i>five-corners</i>, much
+ relished by children. The wild potato strongly resembles the
+ species now in use in Europe, but the stem and leaf are
+ essentially different. It grows on the loose flooded alluvial
+ margins of the rivers, and at one period of the year composes the
+ chief sustenance of the natives, having the watery look and taste
+ of the yam. Of foreign fruits now climatized we possess a great
+ variety. Here are oranges, lemons, citrons, nectarines, apricots,
+ peaches, plums, cherries, figs, loquats, grenadillos, quinces,
+ pears, apples, mulberries, pomegranates, grapes, olives,
+ raspberries, strawberries, bananas, guavas, pineapples, and
+ English and Cape gooseberries and currants. Of shell-fruits we
+ have the almond, walnut, chestnut, and filbert; and of other
+ garden fruits, strawberries, melons, peppers, &amp;c.</p>
+
+ <p>Melons and pumpkins will absolutely overrun you, if you do not
+ give them most bounteous scope, and you need want neither water
+ nor musk-melons for six or eight months yearly on an average, if
+ you duly time the sowings. Nothing can exceed their rich
+ juiciness and flavour, and the rapidity of their growth is almost
+ miraculous, when a few showers of rain temper the hot days. The
+ pumpkin makes an excellent substitute for the apple in a pie,
+ when soured and sweetened to a proper temper by lemons and sugar.
+ The black children absolutely dance and scream when they see one,
+ pumpkin and sugar being their delight. To the half of a
+ shrivelled pumpkin hanging at the door of my tent on my first
+ essay in settling, one of our sooty satyrs could do nothing for
+ some minutes but fidget and skip; and with his eyes sparkling,
+ and countenance beaming with ecstacy, exclaim, "Dam my eye,
+ <i>pambucan</i>; dam my eye, <i>pambucan</i>!" such being the
+ nearest point they can attain to the right pronunciation of their
+ favourite <i>fruit</i>.</p>
+
+ <p><i>Birds</i>.&mdash;We are not moved here with the deep mellow
+ note of the blackbird, <span class="pagenum"><a id="page158"
+ name="page158"></a>[pg 158]</span> poured out from beneath some
+ low stunted bush; nor thrilled with the wild warblings of the
+ thrush, perched on the top of some tall sapling; nor charmed with
+ the blithe carol of the lark as we proceed early afield; none of
+ our birds at all rivalling these divine songsters in realising
+ the poetical idea of the "music of the grove;" while "parrots'
+ chattering" must supply the place of "nightingales' singing" in
+ the future amorous lays of our sighing Celadons. We have our lark
+ certainly, but both his appearance and note are a most wretched
+ parody upon the bird our English poets have made so many fine
+ similes about. He will mount from the ground, and rise fluttering
+ upward in the same manner, and with a few of the starting notes
+ of the English lark; but on reaching the height of thirty feet or
+ so, down he drops suddenly and mutely, diving into concealment
+ among the long grass, as if ashamed of his pitiful attempt. For
+ the pert, frisky robin, pattering and pecking against the windows
+ in the dull days of winter, we have the lively "superb warbler,"
+ with his blue shining plumage and his long tapering tail, picking
+ up the crumbs at our doors; while the pretty little redbills, of
+ the size and form of the goldfinch, constitute the sparrow of our
+ clime, flying in flocks about our houses, and building their soft
+ downy pigmy nests in the orange, peach, and lemon trees
+ surrounding them. Nor are we without our rural noters of the
+ time, to call us to our early task, and warn us of evening's
+ close. The loud and discordant noise of the <i>laughing
+ jackass</i>, (or <i>settler's clock</i>, as he is called,) as he
+ takes up his roost on the withered bough of one of our tallest
+ trees, acquaints us that the sun has just dipped behind the
+ hills, and that it is time to trudge homewards; while the
+ plaintive notes of the curlew, and the wild and dismal
+ screechings of the flying squirrel, skimming from branch to
+ branch, whisper us to retire to our bedchambers. In the morning,
+ again, the dull monotonous double note of the <i>whee-whee</i>,
+ (so named from the sound of its calls,) chiming in at as regular
+ intervals as the tick of a clock, warns us to rub our eyes and
+ con over the tasks of the impending day, as it is but half an
+ hour to dawn; till again the loud laughter of the <i>jackass</i>
+ summons us to turn out, and take a peep at the appearance of the
+ morning, which just begins to glimmer beyond the dusky outline of
+ the eastern hills.</p>
+
+ <p><i>Animals</i>.&mdash;Our wild animals are numerous, but few
+ of them carnivorous, and none of a size to endanger human life.
+ The <i>native dog</i> is generally believed to be an importation,
+ being deficient of the false uterus or pouch characterising all
+ our other quadrupeds. He closely resembles the Chinese dog in
+ form and appearance, being either of a reddish or dark colour,
+ with shaggy hair, long bushy tail, prick ears, large head, and
+ slightly tapering nose; in size he reminds one of a shepherd's
+ dog, running with considerable speed, and snapping in attack or
+ defence. He does not bark, but howls in melancholy sort, when
+ prowling in quest of prey, and has a strong and peculiar odour,
+ which makes European dogs shy at first of attacking him,
+ doubtless intimidated too by his snapping mode of fighting; for
+ it is observed of poodles, and all which snap, that few other
+ dogs are fond of engaging them. He is most destructive on
+ breaking in among a flock of sheep, as he bites a piece out of
+ every one he seizes; not holding fast and worrying dead like the
+ fox, but snapping at all he can overtake, till twenty or thirty
+ may be killed by one dog, there being something so peculiarly
+ venomous in their bite that few recover from it. Their cross with
+ the tame dog forms a very useful breed for emu-hunting, and many
+ even of the pure ones are caught young, tamed by the natives, and
+ bred up to hunt emus and kangaroos. They have as many pups as the
+ tame dog, littering either in some hollow log, deserted ant-hill,
+ hole in the ground, or thick brush. They will hunt, kill, and
+ devour a tame dog also, if a troop of them can catch him alone. A
+ settler in the interior informed me, that, while out hunting one
+ morning, he observed his dog running direct towards him at full
+ speed, with two large native dogs close at his heels; and so
+ eager were they to seize their prey, that his own dog was
+ actually sheltered between his legs, and the native dogs within
+ pistol-shot, before they perceived their danger. Hence he was
+ enabled to shoot one of them. The native cat is the only other
+ carnivorous animal we possess; but its depredations extend no
+ farther than the poultry-yard. It is small and long-bodied, with
+ a long tail, claws like a common cat, a nose like a pig, striped
+ down the sides with brown and black, and dotted over with white
+ spots. It climbs trees and preys on birds while they sleep, being
+ a night animal.</p>
+ <hr />
+
+ <h3>FARM-HOUSES ON THE SNEEUWBERG MOUNTAINS.</h3>
+
+ <p>The farm-houses in the Sneeuwberg, and in most of the colder
+ districts of the colony, are usually of the following
+ description:&mdash;The house resembles a large barn divided into
+ two or three apartments. <span class="pagenum"><a id="page159"
+ name="page159"></a>[pg 159]</span> One of these is the kitchen,
+ which also serves for the sitting and eating apartment. In the
+ others the family sleep; while, in the outer one already
+ mentioned, visiters and travellers are accommodated with a rush
+ mat, a feather bed, and a coverlet spread on the clay floor. In
+ this situation I have often enjoyed, after a fatiguing day's
+ ride, the most balmy repose; while a swarthy train of slaves and
+ Hottentots were moving round the embers of the fire, wrapped in
+ their sheepskin mantles, and dogs, cats, and fowls were trampling
+ over my body. The more wealthy and long settled families,
+ however, usually have the kitchen separate from their
+ sitting-room. In such houses curtained beds, and other articles
+ of decent furniture, are not unfrequently found; but the poorer
+ classes are content with a few thong-bottomed chairs and stools,
+ two or three wagon-chests, and a couple of deal tables. At one of
+ the latter sits the mistress of the house, with a tea-urn and a
+ chafing-dish before her, dealing out every now and then
+ <i>tea-water</i>, or coffee, and elevating her sharp shrill voice
+ occasionally to keep the dilatory slaves and Hottentots at their
+ duty. In this same apartment is also invariably to be seen the
+ carcass of a sheep killed in the morning, and hung up under the
+ eye of the mistress, to be served out frugally for the day's
+ provision as it may be required. The houses, being without any
+ ceiling, are open to the thatch; and the rafters are generally
+ hung full of the ears of Indian corn, leaves or rolls of tobacco,
+ slices of dried meat, called <i>bill tongue</i>, &amp;c. The last
+ is a sort of ham from the muscular part of the thigh of the ox,
+ or the larger species of antelopes; it is very convenient for
+ carrying on journeys, and is found in the boor's houses in every
+ part of the colony. It is cut into very thin slices, and eaten
+ with bread and butter, or with bread and the melted fat of the
+ sheep's tail, which is a common substitute for butter; either way
+ it is no contemptible dish when one is a little hungry, and many
+ a time I have heartily enjoyed it.</p>
+
+ <p>A traveller, on arriving, if it does not happen to be
+ meal-time, is always presented with a cup of tea, without sugar,
+ milk, or bread; unless occasionally, when you may be favoured
+ with a small piece of sugar-candy out of a tin snuff-box, to be
+ kept in your mouth to sweeten the bitter beverage as it passes.
+ When their tea and coffee are exhausted, a succedaneum is found
+ in roasted grain, prepared in the same way as Hunt's radical
+ coffee, which, if not very palatable, is nevertheless a
+ refreshment to a thirsty and weary traveller. They never think of
+ asking you to eat unless at meal-time; but then you are expected
+ to draw in your chair, and help yourself, without invitation, in
+ the same easy manner as one of the family. The dishes consist for
+ the most part of mutton stewed in sheep's-tail fat, or boiled to
+ rags; sometimes with very palatable soup, and a dish of boiled
+ corn, maize, or pumpkin. Cayenne-pepper, vinegar, and few
+ home-made pickles, are also usually produced to relish the simple
+ fare, which, served up twice a day, forms, with tea-water and the
+ <i>soopie</i>, or dram of Cape brandy, the amount of their
+ luxuries. In this quarter of the colony, however, I found every
+ where excellent bread; and, upon the whole, the farmers of
+ Bruintjes-Hoogte and the Sneeuwberg appeared in much more
+ independent and comfortable circumstances than those along the
+ coast.</p>
+
+ <p><i>Thompson's Southern Africa.</i></p>
+ <hr />
+
+ <h3>HOSPITAL FOR THE DUMB.</h3>
+
+ <p>The Banian hospital at Surat is a most remarkable institution;
+ it consists of a large plot of ground, enclosed with high walls,
+ divided into several courts or wards, for the accommodation of
+ animals; in sickness they are attended with the tenderest care,
+ and find a peaceful asylum for the infirmities of age. When an
+ animal breaks a limb, or is otherwise disabled from serving his
+ master, he carries him to the hospital, and, indifferent to what
+ nation or caste the owner may belong, the patient is never
+ refused admittance. If he recover, he cannot be reclaimed, but
+ must remain in the hospital for life, subject to the duty of
+ drawing water for those pensioners debilitated by age or disease
+ from procuring it for themselves. At my visit, the hospital
+ contained horses, mules, oxen, sheep, goats, monkeys, poultry,
+ pigeons, and a variety of birds, with an aged tortoise, who was
+ known to have been there for seventy-five years. The most
+ extraordinary ward was that appropriated to rats, mice, bugs, and
+ other noxious vermin. The overseers of the hospital frequently
+ hire beggars from the streets, for a stipulated sum, to pass a
+ night among the fleas, lice, and bugs, on the express condition
+ of suffering them to enjoy their feast without molestation.</p>
+
+ <p><i>Forbes's Oriental Memoirs.</i></p>
+ <hr class="full" />
+
+ <h2>Useful Domestic Hints</h2>
+ <hr />
+
+ <h3>NORFOLK PUNCH. NO. 1.</h3>
+
+ <p>In twenty quarts of French brandy put the peels of thirty
+ lemons and thirty <span class="pagenum"><a id="page160" name=
+ "page160"></a>[pg 160]</span> oranges, pared so thin that not the
+ least of the white is left; infuse twelve hours. Have ready
+ thirty quarts of cold water that has been boiled; put to it
+ fifteen pounds of double-refined sugar; and when well mixed, pour
+ it upon the brandy and peels, adding the juice of the oranges and
+ of twenty-four lemons; mix well. Then strain, through a fine
+ hair-sieve, into a very clean barrel that has held spirits, and
+ put two quarts of new milk. Stir, and then bung it close; let it
+ stand six weeks in a warm cellar; bottle the liquor for use,
+ taking great care that the bottles are perfectly clean and dry,
+ and the corks of the best quality and well put in. This liquor
+ will keep many years, and improves by age.&mdash;<i>The Vintner's
+ Guide.</i></p>
+
+ <h3>NORFOLK PUNCH. NO. 2.</h3>
+
+ <p>Pare six lemons and three Seville oranges very thin; squeeze
+ the juice into a large jar; put to it two quarts of brandy, one
+ of white wine, and one of milk, and one pound and a quarter of
+ sugar. Let it be mixed, and then covered for twenty-four hours.
+ Strain through a jelly-bag till clear, then bottle
+ it.&mdash;<i>Ibid.</i></p>
+
+ <h3>TO MANAGE AND IMPROVE RED PORT WINE WHEN POOR AND THIN.</h3>
+
+ <p>If your wines be sound, but wanting in body, colour, and
+ flavour, draw out thirty or forty gallons, and return the same
+ quantity of young and rich wines, such its are generally brought
+ to this country for that purpose; to a can of which put a quart
+ of colouring, with a bottle of wine or brandy, in which half an
+ ounce of powdered cochineal has been previously mixed. Whisk it
+ well together, and put it in your cask, stirring it well about
+ with a staff; and if not bright in about a week or ten days, you
+ may fine it for use; previous to which, put in at different times
+ a gallon of good brandy. If Port wines are short of body, put a
+ gallon or two of brandy into each pipe, as you see necessary. If
+ the wines be in your own stock, put it in by a quart or two at a
+ time, as it feeds the wine better in this way than putting it in
+ all at once; but, if your wines are in a bonded cellar, procure a
+ funnel that will go down to the bottom of the cask, that the
+ brandy may be completely incorporated with the wine. When your
+ Port is thus made fine and pleasant, bottle it off, taking care
+ to pack it in a temperate place with saw-dust or dry sand, after
+ which it will not be proper to drink for at least two months.
+ When laying your wines down in bottles you should never use new
+ deal saw-dust, as that causes it to fret too much, and often
+ communicates a strong turpentine smell through the corks to the
+ wine.&mdash;<i>Ibid.</i></p>
+
+ <h3>RED CURRANT WINE.</h3>
+
+ <p>Take seventy pounds of red currants, bruised and pressed, good
+ moist sugar forty-five pounds, water sufficient to fill up a
+ fifteen-gallon cask, ferment; this produces a very pleasant red
+ wine, rather tart, but keeps well.&mdash;<i>Ibid.</i></p>
+ <hr class="full" />
+
+ <h2>The Gatherer.</h2>
+
+ <p>"I am but a <i>Gatherer</i> and disposer of other men's
+ stuff."&mdash;<i>Wotton</i>.</p>
+ <hr />
+
+ <h3>ON CRANIOLOGY.</h3>
+
+ <div class="poem">
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>In days of yore,</p>
+
+ <p>Laid wit and lore,</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">And wisdom in the wig;</p>
+
+ <p>But now the skull</p>
+
+ <p>Contains them all,</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">The peruke is too big.</p>
+ </div>
+ </div>
+ <hr />
+
+ <p>"According to Julius Africanus," says Gibbon, "the world was
+ created on the <i>first of September</i>&mdash;an opinion almost
+ too foolish to be recorded."</p>
+ <hr />
+
+ <p>In the memoirs of the celebrated French actor, Preville, we
+ find the following letter, addressed by the manager of a
+ strolling company to his prompter:&mdash;</p>
+
+ <p>"At last, my dear boy, here we are safe in Provins. The
+ coach-office undertook to deliver the boxes of snow and hail. The
+ winds and tempest came later than we expected&mdash;we even lost
+ a zephyr. The thunder got broke on the road, and we have been
+ forced to have fresh sodder for the two lightnings. Our
+ divinities are well, with the exception of Love, who has got the
+ small-pox; the Graces have been inoculated; we were obliged to
+ leave them behind on the road, with the brick wall, which being
+ wrapt round the sun to keep it from getting soiled, was rubbed to
+ pieces by the sharp rays. Our rivers and sea are coming by water;
+ and pray, when you come yourself, do not forget to bring lots of
+ clouds with you, and a new moon. A torrent too will be wanted,
+ for our last has most unluckily got burnt. I am anxious for a
+ full account of all your purchases, to which you must add two
+ yards of weeping willows. Above all, bring me a drawbridge, a
+ fortress, and my linen, if it was not turned into tinder for the
+ last sea-fight. Ever yours."</p>
+ <hr class="full" />
+
+ <blockquote class="footnote">
+ <a id="footnote1" name="footnote1"></a> <b>Footnote 1</b>:
+ <a href="#footnotetag1">(return)</a>
+
+ <p><i>Poems</i>, by B. Barton, p.190, 3rd edit.</p>
+ </blockquote>
+
+ <blockquote class="footnote">
+ <a id="footnote2" name="footnote2"></a> <b>Footnote 2</b>:
+ <a href="#footnotetag2">(return)</a>
+
+ <p>One of these sisters is the present <i>Mrs. Hack</i>,
+ favourably known as the authoress of several useful and highly
+ interesting works for children. See some introductory verses to
+ her, prefixed to the third edition of Mr. Barton's "Poems." His
+ brother John has also distinguished himself by one or two
+ judicious pamphlets on the situation and circumstances of the
+ poor.</p>
+ </blockquote>
+
+ <blockquote class="footnote">
+ <a id="footnote3" name="footnote3"></a> <b>Footnote 3</b>:
+ <a href="#footnotetag3">(return)</a>
+
+ <p><i>Poems</i>, by B. Barton, p. 133, 3rd edit.</p>
+ </blockquote>
+
+ <blockquote class="footnote">
+ <a id="footnote4" name="footnote4"></a> <b>Footnote 4</b>:
+ <a href="#footnotetag4">(return)</a>
+
+ <p><i>Time's Telescope</i>, p. 18, vol. xi.</p>
+ </blockquote>
+
+ <blockquote class="footnote">
+ <a id="footnote5" name="footnote5"></a> <b>Footnote 5</b>:
+ <a href="#footnotetag5">(return)</a>
+
+ <p>The progress of the fire might have been stopped, but for
+ the foolish conduct of the Lord Mayor, who refused to give
+ orders for pulling down some houses, <i>without the consent of
+ the owners</i>. Buckets and engines were of no use, from the
+ confined state of the streets.</p>
+ </blockquote>
+
+ <blockquote class="footnote">
+ <a id="footnote6" name="footnote6"></a> <b>Footnote 6</b>:
+ <a href="#footnotetag6">(return)</a>
+
+ <p>"Anecdotes of the Manners and Customs of London in the
+ Eighteenth Century," vol. ii. p. 378.</p>
+ </blockquote>
+
+ <blockquote class="footnote">
+ <a id="footnote7" name="footnote7"></a> <b>Footnote 7</b>:
+ <a href="#footnotetag7">(return)</a>
+
+ <p>This was an old blasted oak, standing a few years ago in
+ Nannau Park, to the infinite horrification of the honest
+ mountaineers. Tradition had imbued it with a terrible and awful
+ influence&mdash;for, some four or five hundred years ago, the
+ gigantic skeleton of a warrior was found incased in its trunk,
+ and grasping with its bony fingers a long and ponderous sword.
+ It was blown down one stormy night, and the wood has been
+ manufactured into a variety of articles.]</p>
+ </blockquote>
+ <hr class="full" />
+
+ <p><i>Printed and Published by J. LIMBIRD, 143, Strand, (near
+ Somerset-House,) and sold by all Newsmen and Booksellers.</i></p>
+ <hr class="full" />
+
+<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 11401 ***</div>
+</body>
+</html>
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