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diff --git a/11407-0.txt b/11407-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1baf59f --- /dev/null +++ b/11407-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1465 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 11407 *** + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustrations. + See 11407-h.htm or 11407-h.zip: + (http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/1/1/4/0/11407/11407-h/11407-h.htm) + or + (http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/1/1/4/0/11407/11407-h.zip) + + + + +THE MIRROR OF LITERATURE, AMUSEMENT, AND INSTRUCTION. + +VOL. 10, No. 284.] SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 1827. [PRICE 2d. + + + + * * * * * + + + +NAVARINO AND THE ISLAND OF SPHAGIA. + + +[Illustration: NAVARINO AND THE ISLAND OF SPHAGIA.] + + +As our victories, though managed by the hand, are achieved by the head, +we feel little disposed to meddle with what Burke calls "the mystery of +murder," or "the present perfection of gunnery, cannoneering, bombarding, +and mining;" and inveterate as may be the weapon of the goose-quill, we +trust our readers will not suspect us of any other policy than that of +pleasing them, the _ne plus ultra_ of all public servants. As our title +implies, we are bound to present or reflect in our pages certain +illustrations of popular topics, _veluti_ IN SPECULUM; accordingly, we +hope the accompanying _View and Plan of the Bay of Navarino_ will be +received in good season, _quod rerum est omnium primum_. + +Thus far, the political or present interest attached to Navarino: with +the recent event which has raised, or we may say resuscitated such +interest, our readers have doubtless become familiar, and leaving the +ephemeral glory to the _Sun_ of all newspapers, and meaner "chronicles +of the times," we shall proceed to the sober duty of describing the Bay +of Navarino, as, it will be seen, a place of some interest in the annals +of ancient as well as of modern warfare. + +With our usual _literary honesty_, (we trust a characteristic of our +whole conduct,) we have to acknowledge our obligations to the "Travels" +of M. Pouqueville for the preceding view. "The port of Navarino, certainly +one of the finest in the world," says Sir William Gell, in his interesting +_Journey in the Morea_, "is formed by a deep indenture in the Morea, shut +in by a long island, anciently called Sphacteria, famous for the defeat +and capture of the Spartans, in the Peloponnesian war, and yet exhibiting +the vestige of walls, which may have served as their last refuge. This +island has been separated into three or four parts by the violence of the +waves, so that boats might pass from the open sea into the port in calm +weather, by means of the channel so formed. On one of the portions is the +tomb of a Turkish saint, or santon; and near the centre of the port is +another very small island, or rock." The modern name of the island is +_Sphagia_. + +Navarino, called by the Turks _Avarin_, and the Greeks _Neo-Castron_, is +the Pylos of the ancients, and the supposed birthplace of the venerable +Nestor--standing upon a promontory at the foot of Mount Temathia, and +overlooking the vast harbour of the same name as the town. It is surrounded +only by a wall without a ditch; the height commanding the city is a little +hexagonal, defended by five towers at the external angles, which, with +the walls, were built by the Turks in 1572, but were never repaired till +after the war with the Russians in 1770; the Turks having previously taken +it from the Venetians in 1499. At the gate of the fortress is a miserable +Greek village; and the walls of the castle itself are in a dismantled +condition. + +"The town within the wall," says Sir W. Gell, "is like all those in this +part of the world, encumbered with the fallen ruins of former habitations. +These have been generally constructed by the Turks, since the expulsion +of the Venetians; for it appears, that till the long continued habit of +possession had induced the Mahometans to live upon and cultivate their +estates in the country, and the power of the Venetian republic had been +consumed by a protracted peace, a law was enforced which compelled every +Turk to have a habitation in some one of the fortresses of the country. +But the habitatations," says our traveller, "present generally an +indiscriminate mass of ruins; they were originally erected in haste, and +being often cemented with mud instead of mortar, the rains of autumn, +penetrating between the outer and inner faces of the walls, swell the +earth, and soon effect the ruin of the whole"--it must be confessed, but +sorry structures for the _triple_ fires of an enemy. Sir William, on his +visit, found the commandant in a state of misery not exceeded by the lot +of his meanest fellow-citizens, except that his robes were somewhat in +better condition. He received him "very kindly in a dirty unfurnished +apartment," into which he "climbed by a tottering ladder from a court +strewed with ruins;" here he gave him "coffee," after which he took his +leave. What would a first lord of the Admiralty say to such a reception? +and it must have been somewhat uncourtly to our traveller. + +The soil about Navarino is of a red colour, and is remarkable for the +production of an infinite quantity of squills, which are used in +medicine. The rocks, which show themselves in every direction through a +scanty but rich soil, are limestone, and present a general appearance of +unproductiveness round the castle of Navarino; and the absence of trees +is ill compensated by the profusion of sage, brooms, cistus, and other +shrubs which start from the innumerable cavities of the limestone. + +The remains of Navarino Vecchio, or ancient Navarino, consist in a fort +or castle of mean construction, covering the summit of a hill sloping +quickly to the south, but falling in abrupt precipices to the north and +east. The town was built on the southern declivity, and was surrounded +by a wall, which, allowing for the natural irregularities of the soil, +represented a triangle, with the castle at the apex or summit--a form +observable in many of the ancient cities of Greece. + +The foundation of the walls throughout the whole circuit remains entire; +but the fortifications were never of any consequence, though they present +a picturesque group of turrets and battlements from below, and must have +been very imposing from the sea,--an effect which those of the modern city +have recently failed to produce. From the top is an extensive view over +the island of Sphacteria, the port, with the town of Navarino to the +south, and a considerable tract of the territory anciently called Messenia +on the east, with the conic hill, which, though some miles from the shore, +is used as a landmark to point out the entrance of the port. Mr. Purdy, in +his _New Sailing Directory for the Mediterranean Sea_, says, "from the +sea, a frigate might, in two or three hours, batter down the walls (of +Navarino); the artillery of the place (in 1825) consisted of forty pieces +of cannon; the greater part in the fort, eight on the battery at the +entrance of the harbour, and a few in some of the towers along the city." +It should be added that the port is said to be capable of containing 2,000 +sail; and the population of the town is about 3,000, the most of whom are +Turks. + +To the curious _dilettanti_ in dates, &c. (such as our friend _P.T.W._ +&c.) the following almost coinciding circumstances may not prove +uninteresting:--The recent engagement took place on the anniversary of +the memorable battle of Salamis, 480 B.C. when the invading army of +Xerxes was defeated by the Greeks; and on which day Euripides, the Greek +tragic poet, was born: Nestor is said to have been born at Navarino, as +we have already mentioned: and, lastly, the attack, of which the subjoined +plan is illustrative, was made on the eve of the anniversary of the +glorious battle of Trafalgar, in which victory the vice-admiral of +Navarino, then captain of the Orient, was engaged. + +[Illustration: Plan] + +REFERENCES. + +1. The English Squadron. + +2. French Squadron. + +3. Russian Squadron. + +4. The combined Turko-Egyptian Fleet. + +5. The boat sent by the "Dartmouth" to one of the Turkish Fire Ships, in +which Lieutenant G.W.H.F. Fitzroy was killed. + +6. and 7. Turkish Fire ships. + +The other figures denote the depth of water in English fathoms. + + * * * * * + + +SEASONABLE RELICS. + +PART OF AN ANCIENT SONG. + + +The following is part of an old song which I have faithfully copied; it +was, I am told, sung at Wakes in the north of England, and also previous +to Christmas: from the appearance, little doubt is left as to its being +of northern composition. + +I have seen in former volumes of the MIRROR, specimens of two ancient +ballads, and as they are a curiosity, I have sent mine as being, I think, +equally so. There is an old ballad which I have met with and purchased, +entitled "The Outlandish Knight," but it is certainly greatly altered, +though the tale is preserved. + + This ean night, this ean night, + Every night and awle, + Fire and fleet,[1] and candle lyght, + And Chryst receyve thy sawle. + + When those from hence dost passe awaye, + Every night and awle, + To whinnye moore thou com'st at last, + And Chryste receyve thy sawle. + + If ever thou gav'st either hosen or shune, + Every night and awle, + Sit thee down and put them on, + And Chryst receyve thy sawle. + + But if hosen and shune thou never gav'st nean, + Every night and awle, + The whinnes shall prick thee to the bare beane, + And Chryst receyve thy sawle. + + From whynne moore then thou may'st passe, + Every night and awle, + To brigge of dread thou com'st at last, + And Christ receyve thy sawle. + + From brigge of dread that thou may'st passe, + Every night and awle, + To purgatory fire thou com'st at last, + And Chryst receyve thy sawle. + + If e'er thou gav'st either meate or drinke, + Every night and awle, + The fire shall never make thee shrynke, + And Chryst receyve thy sawle. + + But yf meate and drinke thou never gav'st neane, + Every night and awle, + The fire shall burn thee to the bare beane, + And Chryst receyve thy sawle. + + [1] Fleet from the Saxon flere, is cremon lactu, hence we have + flett or flit, milk. + +The next I give you is an extract from the Court Rolls of the Borough of +Hales Owen, of the + + +_Custom of Bride Ale._ + +"A payne ys made that no person or persons that shall brewe any weddyn +ale to sell, shall not brewe aboue twelve stryke of mault at the most, +and that the said persons so marryed shall not keep nor haue above eyght +messe of persons at hys dinner within the burrowe, and before hys brydall +daye he shall keep no unlawfull games in hys house nor out of hys house +on payne of 20_s_." + +Besides "Bride Ale," there was the Church Ales, and Easter Ales, +Whitsuntide Ales, and a quantity of others which we have no accounts of. +I conclude this short notice with the hope of soon supplying you with a +fund of information against Christmas. + +W.H.H. + + * * * * * + + +BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR OF HELEN. + + + Princess Helen was born of an egg, + And scarcely ten years had gone by, + When Theseus beginning to beg, + Decoyed the young chicken to fly. + When Tyndarus heard the disaster, + He crackled and thunder'd like Etna, + So out gallop'd Pollux and Castor, + And caught her a furlong from Gretna. + Singing rattledum, Greek Romanorum, + And hey classicality row. + Singing birchery, floggera, borum, + And folderol whack rowdy dow. + + The newspapers puffed her each day, + Till the princes of Greece came to woo her, + Then coaxing the rest to give way, + She took Menalaus unto her, + So said they, "though we grieve to resign, + Yet if ever you're put to a shift, + Let your majesty drop us a line, + And we'll all of us lend you a lift. + With our rattledum, &c." + + Menelaus was happy to win her. + But she soon found a cure for his passion, + By hobbing or nobbing at dinner, + With Paris, a Trojan of fashion. + This chap was a slyish young dog, + The most jessamy fellow in life, + For he drank Menalaus' grog, + And d--me made off with his wife. + Singing rattledum, &c. + + The princes were sent for, who swore + They would punish this finikin boy; + So Achilles and two or three more, + Undertook the destruction of Troy. + But Achilles grew quite ungenteel, + And prevented their stirring a peg, + Till Paris let fly at his heel, + And he found himself laid by the leg. + With his rattledum, &c. + + The Grecians demolish'd the city, + And then (as the poets have told) + Dame Helen might still be called pretty, + Though very near sixty years old. + Menelaus, when madam was found, + Took her snugly away in his chaise, + So Troy being burnt to the ground, + Why the story goes off with a blaze. + And a rattledum, &c. + + * * * * * + + +HORSE-CHESTNUTS. + +(_To the Editor of the Mirror._) + + +In a recent number there was a notice of the uses of the _Esculus +Hippocastaneus_, or horse chestnuts; but a very important one was +omitted, namely, its substitution occasionally for Peruvian bark in +cases of intermittent fever. This disorder, known better by the name of +ague, had been formerly epidemic in Ireland, where the humidity of the +atmosphere is continually increased by the exhalation of the lochs and bogs +with which the country abounds. In consequence, however, of the formation +of the Grand and Royal Canals, and the drainage of the waters in their +vicinity, the tendency to this disease was greatly lessened; and about +twenty years ago the disorder was so rare in Dublin and the neighbourhood, +that the medical students often complained that they graduated without ever +having an opportunity of seeing in the hospitals a single case of this once +almost universal disorder. In consequence, however, of the extreme wetness +of one summer and autumn, agues again resumed their ascendancy, and the +hospitals and dispensaries became crowded with intermittent patients, and +all the bark of the druggists and apothecaries was put into requisition; +but to the surprise and disappointment of all the medical men, this +infallible specific was altogether inert and powerless, and after repeated +trials and disappointments, it was abandoned as useless. It was now a +matter of importance to ascertain the cause of this extraordinary +failure, whether it arose from the altered character of the complaint, +or from the deteriorated quality of the medicine; and it was found to be +the latter. In consequence of the long cessation of intermittent fever, +bark had been little used or called for, and the stock had remained so +long on hand, that it had become effete and worthless. It was necessary +then to try some substitute. Quassia-wood, the acorus calamus, and other +bitters and aromatics, were tried; but that which seemed to succeed best +was the bark and kernel of the horse-chestnut. The nut was moderately +dried in a stove, so as to be capable of being powdered, and in that state +was exhibited in substance with cayenne pepper and other aromatics. The +bark was taken in infusions and decoctions with quassia, and the effects +were sometimes very decided and satisfactory, forming a providential +substitute for the only kind of bark then to be procured in Ireland. + +W. + + * * * * * + + +SONNET. + +(_For the Mirror._) + + + Say what repays the gamester's nightly toil, + Can hell itself more hideous woes impart? + Can glitt'ring heaps of ill-begotten spoil, + Appease the cravings of his callous heart? + For this alone he severs every tie, + For this he marks unmov'd the orphan's tear, + E'en nature's charms, a smile from beauty's eye + No longer can his blasted prospects cheer. + But now prevails the dice's rattling sound, + The loud blaspheming oath, and cry of woe, + From tables set with spectre forms around, + Hurrying with frantic haste, th' expected throw! + Than this no greater foe to man remains + This is the mightiest triumph Satan gains! + +E.L. + + * * * * * + + +ORIGINAL TRANSLATIONS. + +(_For the Mirror._) + +Horace.--Ode xxx.--B. 1. + + +TO VENUS. + +_He invokes her to be present at Glycera's private sacrifice_ + + + Venus! leave thy loved isle, + And on Glycera's altar smile; + Breathing perfumes hail the day, + Haste thee, Venus! haste away. + + Bring with thee the am'rous boy; + The loose-rob'd Graces crown our joy! + Youth swell thy train, who owes to thee + Her charms, and winged Mercury! + + +ODE xxvi.--B. 3. + +TO THE SAME. + +_He renounces Love._ + + + Not without renown was I, + In the ranks of gallantry. + Now, when Love no more will call, + To battle; on this sacred wall, + Venus, where her statue stands, + To hang my arms, and lute commands; + Here the bright torch to hang, and bars, + Which wag'd so oft loud midnight wars. + + But, O blessed Cyprian queen! + Blest in Memphian bow'rs serene, + Raise high the lash, and Chloe's be, + All e'er proud Chloe dealt to me! + +W.P. + + * * * * * + + + + +Arcana of Science. + + * * * * * + +_Smoke of Lamps._ + +A recent number of Gill's "Technical Repository," contains a simple mode +of consuming the smoke that ascends from the turner of an argand lamp. It +consists of a thin concave of copper, fixed by three wires, at about an +inch above the chimney-glass of the lamp, yet capable of being taken off +at pleasure. The gaseous carbonaceous matter which occasionally escapes +from the top of lamps, is thus arrested beneath the concave cap, and +subsequently consumed by the heat of the flame, instead of passing off +into the room, in the form of smoke or smut on the ceiling and walls. + +[The "Technical Repository," may have the credit of introducing this +contrivance to the British public; but it is somewhat curious that it had +not been previously adopted, since scores of lamps thus provided, are to +be seen in the cafés and restaurateurs of Paris. _Apropos_, the French oil +burns equal in brightness to our best gas, and as we are informed, this +purity is obtained by filtration through charcoal.--ED.] + + +_Caddis Worms._ + +The transformation of the deserted cases of numberless minute insects into +a constituent part of a solid rock, first formed at the bottom of a lake, +then constituting the sides of deep valleys, and the tabular summits of +lofty hills, is a phenomenon as striking as the vast reefs of coral +constructed by the labours of minute polyps. We remember to have seen such +_caddis-worms_, as they are called by fishermen, very abundant in the +wooden troughs constructed by the late Dr. Sibthorp, for aquatic plants, +in the botanic garden at Oxford, to the cases of which many small shells +of the G. Planorbis Limnea and Cyclas were affixed, precisely in the same +manner as in the fossil tubes of Auvergne; an incrusting spring, +therefore, may, perhaps, be all that is wanting to reproduce, on the banks +of the Isis or the Charwell, a rock similar in structure to that of the +Limagne. Mr. Kirby, in his "Entomology," informs us, that these larvae +ultimately change into a four-winged insect. If you are desirous to examine +them in their aquatic state, "you have only, (he says) to place yourself by +the side of a clear and shallow pool of water, and you cannot fail to +observe at the bottom little oblong moving masses, resembling pieces of +straw, wood, or even stone--of the larvae itself, nothing is to be seen +but the head and six legs, by means of which it moves itself in the water, +and drags after it the case in which the rest of the body is enclosed, and +into which, on any alarm, it instantly retires. The construction of these +habitations is very various. Some select four or five pieces of the leaves +of grass, which they glue together into a shapely polygonal case; others +employ portions of the stems of rushes, placed side by side, so as to form +an elegant fluted cylinder; some arrange round them pieces of leaves like +a spirally-rolled riband; other species construct houses which may be +called alive, forming them of the shells of various aquatic snails of +different kinds and sizes, even while inhabited, all of which are +immovably fixed to them, and dragged about at pleasure. However various +may be the form of the case externally, within it is usually cylindrical +and lined with silk."--_Introduction to Entomology, by Kirby and Spence._ + + +_Engraving on Glass._ + +Cover one side of a flat piece of glass, after having made it perfectly +clean, with bees' wax, and trace figures upon it with a needle, taking +care that every stroke cuts completely through the wax. Next, make a +border of wax all round the glass, to prevent any liquor, when poured on, +from running off. Then take some finely powdered fluate of lime (fluor +spar,) strew it even over the glass plate upon the waxed side, and then +gently pour upon it, so as not to displace the powder, as much concentrated +sulphuric acid diluted with thrice its weight of water, as is sufficient +to cover the powdered fluor spar. Let every thing remain in this state for +three hours; then remove the mixture, and clean the glass, by washing it +with oil of turpentine; the figures which were traced through the wax will +be found engraven on the glass, while the parts which the wax covered will +be uncorroded. The fluate of lime is decomposed by the sulphuric acid, and +sulphate of lime is formed. The fluoric acid, disengaged in the gaseous +state, combines with the water that diluted the sulphuric acid, and forms +liquid fluoric acid, by which the glass is corroded. + + +_Habits of Seals._ + +The brain of this animal, observes Dr. Harwood, is I think, doubtless, of +greater proportionate magnitude than in any other quadruped, and not only +does it exhibit in its countenance, the appearance of sagacity, but its +intelligence is in reality far greater than in most land quadrupeds: hence +its domestication is rendered much easier than that of other animals, and +it is susceptible of more powerful attachment. The large seal, which was +exhibited some time ago at Exeter 'Change, appeared to me to understand +the language of its keeper as perfectly as the most faithful dog. When he +entered at one end of its long apartment, it raised its body from the +water, in which it was injudiciously too constantly kept, supporting itself +erect against the bar of its enclosure, and wherever he moved, keeping its +large, dark eyes steadfastly fixed upon him. When desired to make obeisance +to visitors, it quickly threw itself on one side, and struck the opposite +one several times in quick succession with its fore-foot, producing a loud +noise. The young seal, again, which was kept on board the Alexander, in one +of the northern expeditions, became so much attached to its new mode of +life, that after being thrown into the sea, and it had become tired of +swimming at liberty, it regularly returned to the side of the beat, to be +retaken on board. Such examples might be greatly multiplied; and I cannot +help stating, that aware of this disposition to become familiar, and this +participation in the good qualities of the dog, it is astonishing that +mankind have not chosen this intellectual and finely organized quadruped, +for aquatic services scarcely less important than some of those in which +the dog is employed on the surface of the land.--_Quarterly Journal._ + + +_Gas from Resin._ + +Mr. Daniel, the meteorologist, has contrived a process for generating gas +from resin; which he effects by dissolving the resin in turpentine, or +any other essential oil, and then allowing the fluid to drop gradually in +a heated cylinder of iron. + + +_Liquorice Paper._ + +A mode has been discovered in France of fabricating paper solely from the +Glycyrrhiza Germanica, or liquorice plant. It is said that this paper is +cheap, that it is of a whiteness superior to that generally made, and that +size is not requisite in its manufacture. + + +_Tachygraphy._ + +A mathematical instrument maker at Paris, of the name of Conti, has +conceived the notion of a portable instrument which he calls a tachygraph, +by means of which any person may write, or rather print, as fast as any +other person can speak. M. Conti, however, like many other ingenious men, +is not rich; and he has applied to the Académiè des Sciences, for pecuniary +assistance, and a very favourable report has been made upon his request. + + +_Valuable Discovery in Agriculture._ + +One of the most recent of useful discoveries in agriculture is to mix +layers of green or new cut clover with layers of straw in ricks or stacks; +thus the strength of the clover is absorbed by the straw, which, thus +impregnated, both horses and cattle eat greedily, and the clover is dried +and prevented from heating. This practice is particularly calculated for +second crops of clover and rye-grass. + + +_Pine Apples._ + +The largest pine ever grown in this kingdom was cut lately from the +hothouse of John Edwards, Esq. of Rheola, Glamorganshire, and was presented +to his Majesty at Windsor. It weighed 14 lbs. 12 oz. avoirdupois, was +12-1/2 inches high, exclusive of the crown, and 26 inches in circumference. + + +_Sea Couch for preventing Sickness._ + +An elastic or swinging seat, couch, or bed, for preventing the uneasy +motions of a ship or a carriage, has recently been invented. To effect +this, the frame of the seat or couch is suspended on juribals or joints, +turning at right angles to each other, and an elasticity is produced both +in the seat or cushion, and in the swinging frames, by the use of spiral +metal springs. These springs are made by twisting steel or iron wire into +the form of an hour glass, that is, like two cones united at their apices. +The lower points of their springs are to be sown to the canvass or webbing, +and their upper parts secured in their proper situations and erect +positions by pack-thread or small cords, tied or braced from one to the +other, crossing like a net. On the tops of these springs the usual covering +of canvass is laid, and then a thin layer of horsehair or wool, upon which +the outer covering is bitted. Sir Richard Phillips, in the _Monthly +Magazine_, describes the following successful experiment for preventing +sea-sickness, made on his crossing from Dover to Calais, a few years +since. He caused an armed chair to be placed on the deck of the vessel, +and being seated in it, he began to raise himself up and down, as on +horseback. The passengers laughed at his eccentricity, but before they +reached Calais, many of them were sea-sick, whilst Sir Richard continued +to enjoy his usual health and vigour. + + +_Bites of Venomous Reptiles._ + +M. le D'Record, sen. discovered, during a long residence in America, what +he considers a sure mode of preventing mischief from such bites. "It is +sufficient," he says, "to pour a few drops of tincture of cantharides on +the wound, to cause a redness and vesiccation; not only is the poison +rendered harmless, but the stings of the reptiles are removed with the +epidermis that the bladder raises."--_Med. Journal._ + + +_Naval Schools of France._ + +In France, the system of mutual instruction among the working classes +prospers in the bosoms of the ports, and schools are founded for the +particular instruction of the sons of the inferior officers of the +arsenals, in the elements of calculation, of geometry, and of design, as +far as necessary for the plans of ships; also the principles of statics, +so as to enable them to judge of the action and effect of machinery. Prizes +of gold medals and special promotions are the rewards of the most deserving +students. Brest was formerly the only port furnished with these schools; +since the peace, however, libraries are forming in each of the others; and +in almost all, cabinets of natural history and botanical gardens are +enriched at every voyage undertaken by French ships, either to foreign +coasts, or to those of the French colonies. An observatory has been given +to Toulon and Rochefort. In both these ports naval museums are formed, in +order to preserve types of the most eminent vessels, whose originals either +have been, or soon will be, destroyed by time. Models of ingenious +machines, representations of interesting manoeuvres, a methodical +collection of raw materials, of tools, and of the product of all the arts +exercised in a dock-yard--Such are the rich materials collected in these +interesting repositories.--_From the French of M. Dupin._ + + +_Antiquity of Locks._ + +Locks were known in Egypt above four thousand years since, as was inferred +by M. Denon, from some sculptures of the great temple of Karnac, +representing locks similar to those now used in that country. A lock +resembling the Egyptian is used in Cornwall, and the same has been seen in +the Faro Islands; to both which places it was probably taken by the +Phoenicians.--_Quarterly Journal._ + + +_To increase the odour of Roses._ + +Plant a large onion by the side of the rose-tree in such a manner that it +shall touch the root of the latter. The rose which will be produced will +have an odour much stronger and more agreeable than such as have not been +thus treated; and the water distilled from these roses is equally superior +to that prepared by means of ordinary rose leaves.--_From the French._ + + * * * * * + + + + +The Selector; + +AND LITERARY NOTICES OF _NEW WORKS_. + + * * * * * + +THE SPECTRE'S VOYAGE. + + "I see a hand you cannot see, + That beckons me away, + I hear a voice you cannot hear, + That will not let me stay." + + +There is a part of the river Wye, between the city of Hereford and the town +of Ross, which was known for more than two centuries by the appellation of +"The Spectre's Voyage;" and across which, as long as it retained that +appellation, neither entreaty nor remuneration would induce any boatman to +convey passengers after a certain hour of the night. The superstitious +notions current among the lower orders were, that at about the hour of +eight on every evening, a female was seen in a small vessel sailing from +Hereford to Northbrigg, a little village then distant about three miles +from the city, of which not even the site is now discernible; that the +vessel sailed with the utmost rapidity in a dead calm and even against the +wind; that to encounter it was fatal; that the voyager landed from it on +the eastern bank of the river, a little beyond the village; that she +remained some time on shore, making the most fearful lamentations; that she +then re-entered the vessel, and sailed back in the same manner, and that +both boat and passenger vanished in a sudden manner as they arrived at a +certain part of the river, where the current is remarkably strong, within +about half a mile of the city of Hereford, + +This singular tradition, like most stories of a similar character, was not +without a foundation in truth, as the reader will perceive who takes the +trouble to peruse the following narrative. + +In the turbulent reign of Edward the Second, when the whole of England was +one theatre of lawless violence, when might was constantly triumphant over +right, and princes and soldiers only respected the very intelligible, if +not very equitable principle, + + + "That they should take who have the power, + And they should keep who can," + + +the city of Hereford was distinguished by the zeal and patriotism of its +citizens, and by the unshrinking firmness with which they adhered to the +cause of queen Isabella, and the young prince her son, afterwards the +renowned king Edward the Third, in opposition to the weak and ill-fated +monarch who then wore the crown, and his detested favourites the Spensers, +father and son. Sir Hugh Spenser, the younger, was a man of unquestionable +talents, and possessed virtues which, during a period of less violence and +personal animosity, might have proved honourable to himself, and useful to +his country. + +The discontents of the queen and the barons were not vented in fruitless +complaints or idle menaces. They flew to arms. The king of France, the +queen's brother, assisted them with men and money; the Count of Hainault, +to whose daughter Philippa, the young prince had been contracted, did the +same. The king was driven from London, and forced, with the elder Spenser, +whom he had created Earl of Winchester, to take refuge in Bristol. Being +hotly pursued to this city by the Earl of Kent and the Count of Hainault, +at the head of a formidable army, he was obliged to flee into Wales, +leaving the elder Spenser governor of the castle of Bristol. This fortress +was immediately besieged, and speedily taken, as the garrison mutinied +against their governor, and delivered him into the hands of his enemies. +This venerable noble, who had nearly reached his ninetieth year, was +instantly, without trial, or witness, or accusation, or answer, condemned +to death by the rebellious barons; he was hanged on a gibbet; his body was +cut to pieces and thrown to the dogs; and his head was sent to Winchester, +the place whence he derived his title, and was there set on a pole, and +exposed to the insults of the populace. + +When the news of this catastrophe reached the younger Spenser, he was at +the head of a fine army, which had sat down before the city of Hereford, +for the purpose of reducing it to obedience to king Edward. The formidable +force which he commanded had struck terror into the hearts of the citizens, +so that notwithstanding their attachment to queen Isabella, and their +detestation of Spenser, they had shown symptoms of their willingness to +yield to the latter upon reasonable terms; and he, desirous of obtaining +possession of the city without any unnecessary effusion of blood, had +granted a truce of a week's duration, to give them time to decide upon what +conditions they would open their gates to him. The disastrous intelligence +which he received from Bristol, however, made him doubtful whether he +should hold inviolate the truce which he had granted to the besieged. He +did not doubt but that the Earl of Kent and his troops, flushed with +conquest, would hasten to his destruction, and to the relief of Hereford, +and that unless he could possess himself of the city and castle, and by +shutting himself up in the latter be enabled to bid defiance to his +enemies, the fate of his father must inevitably be his own. + +The favourite recreation of the inhabitants of Hereford was then, as it is +now, to make excursions either alone, or in parties, upon their beautiful +river. This amusement had become so much a custom with them, that the most +timid females were not afraid to venture alone and at night in a small +skiff, with which almost every family of respectability was provided; and +on a bright moonlight night, the bosom of the river was beautifully +diversified by the white sails glittering in the moonbeams, while sweet +female voices would be heard warbling some popular melodies, the, subjects +of which were usually the praises of prince Edward, or execrations of +Spenser and those who had corrupted the king. It was on such a night, that +the incident with which our narrative commences occurred. The moon was +riding in an unclouded sky--unclouded except by those light fleecy vapours +which hovered round the form of the queen of night, increasing rather than +diminishing her beauty. The river seemed one sheet of silver, and numerous +little vessels passing and repassing, gave it a delightfully animated +appearance. In one, which seemed to be venturing nearer to the camp of the +enemy than the others, might be seen a light and delicate female form, and +on the shore which she was approaching, a little above the village of +Northbrigg, stood a soldier, whose accoutrements bespoke him to belong to +the army of Sir Hugh Spenser. + +The lady landed, and the soldier hastened to meet her. "Dearest Isabel," +he said, "blessings upon thy generous trusting heart, for this sweet +meeting! I have much to tell thee, but that my tongue dares not utter all +with which my mind is stored; and if it dared, it is not on such a night +as this, so bright, so beautiful, that tidings dark as mine should be +communicated." Isabel, who had laid her head upon his breast when they +met, started from him, and gazed with the utmost terror and surprise at +the unwonted gloom which darkened his countenance. + +"Walter, what means this? Come you to break the trusting heart which beats +for you alone? Come you to cancel your vows--to say that we must part for +ever? Oh! better had you left me to the mercy of the wave, when its work +of death was half achieved, if you reserved me only for the misery which +waits upon a broken heart, and blighted and betrayed affections?" + +"Sweet, dry these tears!" replied the soldier; "while I have life I am +thine. I come to warn thee of sure but unseen danger. The walls of +Hereford are strong, and the arms and hearts of her citizens firm and +trusty; but her hour is come, and the path of the destroyer, although +secret, is like the stream which hides itself for a time beneath the earth +only to spring forth more strongly and irresistibly than ever." + +"Thy words are dark and dreadful; but I do not know of any cause for fear, +or of any means of avoiding it, if it exists." + +"Fly with me, fly!--with thy heart and hand reward my love, and think no +more of those grim walls, and sullen citizens, with souls as iron as their +beavers, and hearts as cold as the waters of their river." + +"Oh! no, no, no! my father's head is grey, and but for me alone all his +affections, all his hopes are buried in my mother's grave. He hates thee +and thy cause. When I told him a stranger had rescued his daughter from +the wave, he raised his hands to heaven and blessed him. I told him that +that stranger was a follower of the Spensers'; he checked his unfinished +benediction, and cursed him. But if he knew thee, Walter, thy noble heart, +thy constant love, methinks that time and entreaty would make him listen +to his daughter's prayer." + +"Alas! my Isabel, entreaty would be vain, and time is already flapping his +wings, loaded with inevitable ruin, over yon devoted city and its +inhabitants. Thy father shall be safe--trust that to me; and trust me, too, +that what I promise I can perform. But thou, my loved one, thou must not +look upon the horrid face of war: and though my power extends to save thy +father from injury, it would be easier to save the wall-flowers on the +ramparts of the city from the foot of the invader, than one so fair, so +feeble, from his violence and lust." + +"Whoe'er thou art," she said, "there is a spell upon my heart which love +and gratitude have twined, and which makes it thine for ever: but sooner +would I lock my hand with that of the savage Spenser himself, when reeking +with the best blood of Hereford's citizens, than leave my father's side +when his gray hairs are in danger, and my native city, when treachery is +in her streets and outrage is approaching her walls." + +These words were uttered with an animation and vehemence so unusual to +her, that Walter stood for a moment transfixed with wonder; and before he +recovered his self-possession, Isabel, with the velocity of lightning, had +regained her skiff, and was sailing before the wind to Hereford. "Curse on +my amorous folly!" he exclaimed, "that, for a pair of pale cheeks and +sparkling eyes, has perhaps ruined a better concerted stratagem than ever +entered the brain of the Grecian Sinon. I must away, or the false girl +will wake the slumbering citizens to their defence before the deed is +done; and yet, must I devote her to the foul grasp of ruffian violence? +No, no! my power is equal to save or to destroy." As he uttered these +words he rapidly ascended the rocks which skirted that part of the banks +of the river on which he stood, and was soon lost among the wild woods +that crowned their summit. + +We shall not enter into any detailed account of the events of that night. +The royalists, by means of an unexpected attack during the truce, and +aided by internal treachery, hoped to make themselves masters of the city +of Hereford. The citizens, however, had by some unknown means obtained +intelligence of the designs of the enemy, and were prepared to repel their +attacks. Every street was lined with soldiers, and a band of the bravest +and most determined, under the command of Eustace Chandos, (Isabel's +father,) manned the city walls. The struggle was short but sanguinary--the +invaders were beaten back at every point, their best troops were left dead +in the trenches, and above two hundred prisoners (among whom was Sir Hugh +Spenser himself) fell into the hands of the citizens. The successful party +set no bounds either to their exultation or their revenge. The rejoicings +were continued for three successive days; the neighbouring country was +ravaged without cessation and without remorse; and all the prisoners were +ordered, by a message to that effect received from queen Isabella, to be +treated as felons, and hanged in the most public places in the city. This +decree was rigorously and unrelentingly executed. The royalist soldiers, +without any distinction as to rank or character, suffered the ignominious +punishment to which they were condemned, and the streets of Hereford were +blocked up by gibbets, which the most timid and merciful of its +inhabitants gazed upon with satisfaction and triumph. + +Sir Hugh Spenser, both on account of his rank and of the peculiar degree +of hatred with which each bosom beat against him, was reserved to be the +last victim. On the day of his execution the streets were lined with +spectators, and the principal families in the city occupied stations round +the scaffold. So great was the universal joy at having their enemy in their +power, that even the wives and daughters of the most distinguished citizens +were anxious to view the punishment inflicted upon him whom they considered +the grand cause of all the national evils. Isabel was not of this number; +but her father sternly compelled her to be a witness of the dismal scene. +The hour of noon was fast approaching, and the bell of the cathedral +heavily and solemnly tolled the knell of the unfortunate Spenser. The fatal +cavalcade approached the place of execution. A stern and solemn triumph +gleamed in the eyes of the soldiers as they trod by the side of the victim; +but most of the spectators, especially the females, were melted into tears +when they beheld the fine manly form of the prisoner, which seemed better +fitted to adorn the royal levee, or a lady's bower, than for the melancholy +fate to which he was about to be consigned. His head was bare, and his +light flaxen hair fell in a rich profusion of locks down his shoulders, but +left unshaded his finely-proportioned and sunburnt features. He wore the +uniform of the royal army, and a star on his breast indicated his rank, +while he held in his hand a small ivory cross, which he frequently and +fervently kissed. His deportment was firm and contemptuous, and, as he +looked on the formal and frequently grotesque figures of his guards, his +features even assumed an expression of risibility. The sight of the gibbet, +however, which was raised fifty feet high, seemed to appal him, for he had +not been apprized of the ignominious nature of his punishment. "And is +this," he said, as he scornfully dashed away a tear which had gathered in +his eye, "ye rebellious dogs, is this the death to which you doom the heir +of Winchester?" A stern and bitter smile played on the lips of his guards, +but they remained silent. "Oh, God!" he continued, "in the field, or on the +wave, or on the block, which has reeked so often with the bravest and +noblest blood, I could have died smiling; but this--" His emotion seemed +increasing, but with a violent effort he suppressed every outward sign of +it; for the visible satisfaction which gleamed on the dark faces around +him, at the state of weakness to which they had reduced the proud heart of +their foe, was more galling to his soul than the shameful death to which he +was devoted. + +By the time he reached the place of execution his face had assumed its +calm and scornful air, and he sprang upon the scaffold with apparently +unconcerned alacrity. At the same moment a dreadful shriek issued from that +part of the surrounding booths in which the family of Chandos sat; and in +another instant a female, deadly pale, and with her hair and dress +disordered, had darted on to the scaffold, and clasped the prisoner in her +arms. + +"Walter!" she cried, "Walter! can it be thou? oh! they dare not take thy +life; thou bravest, best of men! Avaunt, ye bloodthirsty brood! ye cannot +tear me from him. Not till my arms grow cold in death I'll clasp him thus, +and defy the world to sever us!" + +"Oh! Isabel!" he said, "it is too much; my soul can bear no more. I hoped +thy eyes had been spared this sight--but the cold tyrants have decreed it +thus. On! leave me, leave me!--it is in vain--unmannered ruffians, spare +her!" While he spoke, the soldiers forcibly tore her from him, and were +dragging her through the crowd.--"My father! save him! he saved thy +child!--Walter! supplicate him--he is kind." She turned her eyes to the +scaffold as she uttered these words, and beheld the form of Spenser +writhing in the air, and convulsed with the last mortal agony. A fearful +shriek burst from her heart, and she sank senseless in the arms of those +who bore her. + +Isabel survived this event more than a twelvemonth; but her reason had +fled and her health was so shattered that final recovery was hopeless. +She took scarcely any food, refused all intercourse with her former +friends, and even with her father, and would sit silent and motionless +for days together. One thing only soothed her mind, or afforded her any +gratification; and this, as she was an experienced navigator of the +river, her friends indulged her in--to sail from the city of Hereford to +that spot on which she used to meet her lover. This she did constantly +every evening; but when she landed, and had waited a short time, her +shrieks and cries were pitiable. This practice one evening proved fatal. +Instead of steering to the usual landing-place, a little above the city, +she entered a part of the river where the current is unusually strong. +The rapidity of its waves mastered and overturned the frail bark in which +she sailed, and the unfortunate Isabel sunk to rise no more! + +The tragic nature of these events made an impression on the popular mind +which two centuries did not efface. The spirit of Isabel was still said +to sail every night from Hereford to Northbrigg, to meet her lover; and +the beach across the river which this unearthly traveller pursued, was +long distinguished by the name of "The Spectre's Voyage." + +_Neele's Romance of History._ + + * * * * * + + +IRISH GRANDEES. + + +Conspicuous amongst the most conspicuous of the stars; of the ascendant, +was a lady, who took the field with an _éclat_, a brilliancy, and bustle, +which for a time fixed the attention of all upon herself. Although a fine +woman, in the strictest sense of the term, and still handsome, though not +still very young, she was even more distinguished by her air of high +supremacy, than by her beauty. She sat loftily in a lofty phaeton, which +was emblazoned with arms, and covered with coronets; and she played with +her long whip, as ladies of old managed their fans, with grace and +coquetry. She was dressed in a rich habit, whose facings and epaulettes +spoke her the lady of the noble colonel of some provincial corps of +volunteers. A high military cap, surmounted with a plume of black feathers, +well became her bright, bold, black eyes, and her brow that looked as if +accustomed "to threaten and command." The air had deepened her colour +through her rouge, as it had blown from her dark, dishevelled tresses the +mareschal powder, then still worn in Ireland--(the last lingering barbarism +of the British toilette, which France had already abandoned, with other +barbarous modes, and exchanged for the _coiffure d'Arippine_ and the _tête +à la Brutus_.) Her _pose_, her glance, her nod, her smile, all conscious +and careless as they were, proclaimed a privileged autocrat of the Irish +_bon ton_, a "_dasher_," as it was termed, of the first order; for that +species of effrontery called _dashing_ was then in full vogue, as consonant +to a state of society, where all in a certain class went by assumption. + +This lady had arrived rather early in the field, for one whose habits were +necessarily on the wrong side of time and of punctuality. She came bowling +along, keeping up her fiery steeds to a sort of curvetting gallop, like one +deep in the science of the _manège_--now deranging the order of march of +the troops, by breaking through the ranks, in spite of the impertinent +remonstrances of the out-posts and videttes, at which she laughed, at once +to show her teeth and her power;--and now scattering the humble crowd, +"like chaff before the wind," as giving her horses the rein, she permitted +them to plunge head-long on, while skilfully flourishing her long whip, she +made on every side a preliminary clearance. Many among the multitude +announced her as the famous Kitty Cut-dash, and nodded knowingly as she +passed them; but the greater number detected in the beautiful charioteer, +the equally famous Albina Countess Knocklofty, the female chief of that +great oligarchical family, the Proudforts--a family on which the church +rained mitres, the state coronets, and the people--curses. + +Beside her sat, or rather lounged, another dame of quality, bearing the +stamp of her class and caste as obviously, yet less deeply marked, than +her companion. More feminine in her air, more foreign in her dress and +entire bearing, her faultless form, and almost faultless face, had all the +advantages of the new democratic toilet of Paris, (adopted by its court, +when more important innovations were still fatally resisted;) and she +appeared in the Phoenix Park, dressed much in the same costume as Marie +Antoinette and her female favourites are described to have worn in the +gardens of Trianon, or in the bowers of St. Cloud,--to the horror of all +old _dames d'atours_, and all the partisans of the ancient regime of +whalebone and buckram! The chemise of transparent muslin, or _robe à la +Poliynae_, _chapeau de paille à la bergere_, tied down with a lilac +ribbon, with + + + "Scarf loosely flowing, hair as free," + + +gave an air of sylph-like simplicity to one, whose features, though +beautiful, were marked by an expression foreign to simplicity, evincing +that taste, not sentiment, presided over her toilet, and that, "_chez +elle, un beau desordre fut l'effet de l'art_." + +This triumphal car was followed, or surrounded, by a host of beaux; some +in military uniform, and with true English faces and figures; but the +greater number in the civil, though uncivilized, dress of the day, and +with forms and physiognomies as Irish as ever were exhibited in Pale or +Palatine, to the dread of English settlers and Scotch undertakers. +Ponderous powdered clubs, hanging from heads of dishevelled hair--shoulders +raised or stuffed to an Atlas height and breadth--the stoop of paviers, +and the lounge of chairmen--broad beavers, tight buckskins, the striped +vest of a groom, and the loose coat of a coachman, gave something ruffianly +to the air of even the finest figures, which assorted but too well with the +daring, dashing manner, that just then had succeeded, among a _particular +set_, to the courtly polish for which the travelled nobility of Ireland +were once so distinguished. Such, in exterior, were many of the members of +the famous _Cherokee Club_, and such the future legislators of that great +national indignity, which had procured them a contemptible pre-eminence in +the black book of public opinion, by the style and title of the "_Union +Lords_." As they now crowded round the cynosures of the day, there was +something too ardent and unrestrained in their homage, something too +emphatic in their expressions and gestures, for true breeding; while in +their handsome, but "light, revelling, and protesting faces," traces of +the night's orgies were still visible, which gave their fine features a +licentious cast, and deprived their open and very manly countenances of +every mark of intellectual expression.--_Lady Morgan's "O'Briens and +O'Flahertys."_ + + * * * * * + + +THE WEE MAN. + + + It was a merry company. + And they were just afloat, + When lo! a man of dwarfish span + Came up and hail'd the boat. + + "Good morrow to ye, gentle folks, + And will you let me in? + A slender space will serve my case, + For I am small and thin." + + They saw he was a dwarfish man, + And very small and thin; + Not seven such would matter much, + And so they took him in. + + They laugh'd to see his little hat, + With such a narrow brim; + They laugh'd to note his dapper coat, + With skirts so scant and trim. + + But barely had they gone a mile, + When, gravely, one and all, + At once began to think the man + Was not so very small. + + His coat had got a broader skirt, + His hat a broader brim, + His leg grew stout, and soon plump'd out + A very proper limb. + + Still on they went, and as they went + More rough the billows grew,-- + And rose and fell, a greater swell, + And he was swelling too! + + And lo! where room had been for seven, + For six there scarce was space! + For five!--for four!--for three!--not more + Than two could find a place! + + There was not even room for one! + They crowded by degrees-- + Ay, closer yet, till elbows met, + And knees were jogging knees. + + "Good sir, you must not sit a-stern. + The wave will else come in!" + Without a word he gravely stirr'd, + Another seat to win. + + "Good sir, the boat has lost her trim, + You must not sit a-lee!" + With smiling face and courteous grace + The middle seat took he. + + But still by constant quiet growth, + His back became so wide. + Each neighbour wight, to left and right, + Was thrust against the side. + + Lord! how they chided with themselves, + That they had let him in; + To see him grow so monstrous now, + That came so small and thin. + + On every brow a dew-drop stood, + They grew so scared and hot,-- + "I' the name of all that's great and tall, + Who are ye, sir, and what?" + + Loud laugh'd the Gogmagog, a laugh + As loud as giant's roar-- + "When first I came, my proper name + Was _Little_--now I'm _Moore_!" + +_Hood's Whims and Oddities Second series._ + + * * * * * + + + + +Manners & Customs of all Nations. + + * * * * * + +No. XV. + + +LIVING AT CALAIS. + + +Calais may, for various reasons, be looked upon as one of the dearest towns +in France. An excellent suite of furnished apartments may be had in one of +the most respectable _private_ houses in Calais, consisting of a +sitting-room, three bedrooms, and a kitchen, for twenty shillings a week, +and smaller ones in proportion, down to five shillings a week for a +bachelor's apartment. This, however, does not include _attendance_ of any +kind; and, with few exceptions, the apartments can only be taken by the +month. The price of meat is fixed by a _tarif_, at a maximum of sixpence +per pound for the very best. It varies, therefore, between that price and +fourpence; and this pound contains something more than ours. Poultry is +still cheaper, in proportion, or rather in fact. My dinner to-day consists, +in part, of an excellent fowl, which cost _8d._ and a pair of delicate +ducks, which cost _1s. 6d._ The price of bread is also fixed by law, and +amounts to about two-thirds of the _present_ price of ours in London. +Butter and eggs are excellent, and always fresh: the first costs from _9d._ +to _10d._ the pound of 18 ounces; and the latter _10d._ the quarter of a +hundred. Vegetables and fruit, which are all of the finest quality, and +fresh from the gardens of the adjacent villages, are as follow:--asparagus, +at the rate of _8d._ or _9d._ the hundred, peas (the picked young ones,) +_3d._ per quart; new potatoes (better than any we can get in England, +except what they call the _framed_ ones,) three pounds far a penny; +cherries and currants (picked for the table,) _2d._ per pound; strawberries +(the high flavoured wood-strawberry, which is so fine with sugar and +cream,) _4d._ for a full quart, the stocks being picked off. (This latter +is a delicacy that can scarcely be procured in England for any price.) The +above may serve as an indication of all the rest, as all are in proportion. +The finest pure milk is _2d._ per quart; good black or green teas, _4s. +6d._ per pound; and the finest green gunpowder tea, _7s._; coffee, from +_1s. 3d._ to _2s._; good brandy, _1s. 3d._ per quart, and the very best, +_2s._ (I do not mean the very finest old Cogniac, which costs _3s. 6d._) +Wine is dearer in Calais than, perhaps, in any other town in France, that +could be named; but still you may have an excellent table wine for _1s._ +per quart bottle; and they make a very palatable and wholesome beer, for +_1-1/2d._ and _2-1/2d._ per bottle--the latter of which has all the good +qualities of our porter, and none of its bad. Fish is not plentiful at +Calais, except the skate, which you may have for almost nothing, as indeed +you may at many of our own sea-port towns. But you may always have good +sized turbot (enough for six persons for _3s._ and a cod weighing from +twelve to fifteen pounds,) for half that sum. As to the wages of female +servants, they can scarcely be considered as much cheaper, nominally, than +they are with us. But then the habits of the servants, and the cost of what +they eat, make their _keep_ and wages together amount to not more than half +what they do with us. + +It only remains to tell you of what is _dearer_ here than it is in England, +I have tried all I can to find out items belonging to this latter head, and +have succeeded in _two_ alone--namely, sugar and fuel. You cannot have +brown sugar under _8d._ and indifferent loaf sugar costs _1s. 3d._ And as +to firing, it is dearer, _nominally_ alone, and in point of fact, does not +cost, to a well regulated family, near so much, in the course of the year, +as coals do in our houses.--_Monthly Magazine._ + + * * * * * + + +ROMAN FUNERALS. + + +The ceremonial of the funeral of a cardinal is considered as one of the +most imposing at Rome, which is a city of ceremonies, and yielding only +in magnificence to the obsequies of royal personages. The burial of the +Mezzo-ceto classes is conducted rather differently. The body is exposed +much in the same manner, at home; but the convoi, or passage from the +habitation to the sepulchre, is generally considered as an occasion which +calls for the utmost display. Torches, priests, psalmody, are sought for +with a spirit of rivalry which easily explains the sumptuary laws of the +Florentine and Roman statute-books, and which, unnoticed but not +extinguished in the present age, in a poorer must have been highly +offensive to the frugality and jealousies of a republic. The religious +orders, the Capucins particularly, are in constant requisition; not a day +that you may not meet two or three of their detachments in various parts +of the city:---the religious or charitable fraternities, such as the +Fratelli della Misericordia, of which the deceased is generally a brother +or a benefactor, or both, think it also a point of duty and gratitude to +swell the _cortège_, and in the greatest numbers they can muster to attend. +Their costume, which is highly picturesque, is always a striking feature, +and adds much to the brilliancy of the display. They wear a sort of sack +robe or tunic, which covers the whole body, girt with a rope round the +waist, and with holes pierced in the _capuchon_ for the eyes; their large +grey slouched hat is thrown back, much in the manner in which it appears +on the statues of Mercury, on their shoulders; their feet are often in +zoccoli, or sandals of wood, and sometimes, though rarely, bare. The +colour of their dress varies according to the rule of their society; at +Rome, I have noticed white, blue, and grey: at Florence they prefer black. +The corpse is dressed up with great care, and often with a degree of luxury +which would become a wedding; the best linen, the richest ornaments, are +lavished; garlands are placed on the head; the hands crossed, with a +crucifix between them, on the bosom, and the face and feet left quite bare. +Sometimes, through a capricious fit of piety, all this is studiously +dispensed with, and the body appears clad in the habit of some religious +order, to which the deceased was especially addicted during life. In this +manner the procession begins to move after sunset, preceded by a tall +silver cross, beadles, &c.; friars, priests, &c. chanting the De Profundis +through the principal streets to the church where it is intended it should +be interred. + +The effect, with some abatements for boys following to pick up the +drippings of the torches, and the perfect indifference of the assistants, +for neither friends nor relatives attend, is certainly very solemn. The +deep hoarse recitative of the psalm, the strange phantom-like appearance +of the fraternities, the flash and glare of the torches which they carry, +on the face of the dead; the dead body itself, in all the appalling +nakedness of mortality, but still mocked with the tawdry images of this +world, in the flowers and tinsel and gilding which surround it; the quick +swinging motion with which it is hurried along, and with which it comes +trenching, when one least expects it, on all the gaieties and busy +interests of existence (for at this hour the Corso and the Caffés are most +crowded)--all this, without any reference to the intrinsic solemnity of +such a scene, is calculated, as mere stage effect, powerfully to stir up +the sympathies and imagination of a stranger. On the inhabitants, as might +be apprehended, such pageants have long since lost all their influence; +and I have seen a line extending down a whole street, without deranging a +single lounger from his seat, or interrupting for an instant the pleasures +of ice-eating and punch-drinking, which generally takes place in the open +air. Whether this passion for bringing into coarse contact, as is often +the case, both life and death, the gloomy and the gay, be constitutional +or traditional, I know not; but a traveller can scarcely fail of being +struck with the prevalence of the feeling and practice amongst southern +nations at all periods of their history, and finding in the modern +inhabitants of those favoured regions, frequent resemblances to that +strange spirit of melancholy voluptuousness, which travelled onward from +Egypt to Greece, and from Greece, together with the other refinements of +her philosophy, into the greater part of Italy. On reaching the church, +unless the wealth and situation of the departed can permit the consolation +or the vanity of a high mass, the body is immediately committed to the +tomb. Such at least is the practice at Rome; and there are few who have +not witnessed with disgust the indecent haste of the few attendants by +whom this portion of the last rites is usually despatched. In the country, +and in smaller towns, the corpse is usually exposed for at least a day: I +know few exceptions, from Trent to Naples. It is generally an affecting +ceremony. One of the most touching instances of the kind I can remember, +was the exposure of a young girl, who had just died in the flush of beauty +in a small village in Tuscany. I was passing through at the time, and +stepped by chance into the church. The corpse was lying on a low bier +before the altar; a small lamp burnt above. Her two younger sisters were +kneeling at her side, and from time to time cast flowers upon her head. +Scarcely a peasant entered but immediately came up and touched the bier, +and, after kneeling for a few moments, rose and murmured a prayer or two +for the spiritual rest of the departed. All this was done very naturally, +and with a kindliness which spoke highly for the warmth and purity of their +affections. A similar custom still continues at Rome. The day after the +execution of the conspirator Targioni, who suffered in the late affair of +the Prince Spada, flowers and chaplets, notwithstanding every precaution +on the part of the police, were found scattered on his tomb. He has been +refused, for his contumacy in his last moments, Christian sepulture, and +was buried in a field outside the Porta del Popolo. It is remarkable that, +very nearly in the same place, the freedmen of Nero paid a similar tribute +of affection to the mortal remains of their master. Garlands and flowers, +the morning after his death, were also found upon _his_ tomb. + +_New Monthly Magazine._ + + * * * * * + + +SLAVERY IN THE EAST. + + +The slave in eastern countries, after he is trained to serve, attains the +condition of a favoured domestic; his adoption of the religion of his +master is usually the first step which conciliates the latter. Except at +a few seaports, he is seldom put to hard labour. In Asia these are no +fields tilled by slaves, no manufactories in which they are doomed to +toil; their occupations are all of a domestic nature, and good behaviour +is rewarded by kindness and confidence, which raises them in the community +to which they belong. The term gholam, or slave, in Mahomedan countries, +is not one of opprobrium, nor does it even convey the idea of a degraded +condition. The Georgians, Nubians, and Abyssinians, and even the Seedee, +or Caffree, as the woolly-headed Africans are called, are usually married, +and their children, who are termed house-born, become, in a manner, part +of their master's family. They are deemed the most attached of his +adherents: they often inherit a considerable portion of his wealth; and +not unfrequently (with the exception of the woolly-headed Caffree) lose, +by a marriage in his family, or by some other equally respectable +connexion, all trace of their origin. + +According to the Mahomedan law, the state of slavery is divided into two +conditions--the perfect and absolute, or imperfect and privileged. Those +who belong to the first class are, with all their property, at the disposal +of their masters. The second, though they cannot, before emancipation, +inherit or acquire property, have many privileges, and cannot be sold or +transferred. A female, who has a child to her master, belongs to the +privileged class; as does a slave, to whom his master has promised his +liberty, on the payment of a certain sum, or on his death.--_Sir J. +Malcolm's Sketches of Persia._ + + * * * * * + + + + +The Gatherer. + + + "I am but a _Gatherer_ and disposer of other men's stuff."--_Wotton._ + + +LEVEES. + + +Secretaries of state, presidents of the council, and generals of an army, +have crowds of visitants in a morning, all soliciting of past promises; +which are but a civiller sort of duns, that lay claim to voluntary +debts.--CONGREVE. + + * * * * * + + +PERVERSE PUN. + + +The other day as Kenny was dining at a friend's house, after dinner wine +being introduced and Kenny partaking of it, was on the instant observed +to cough immoderately, when one of the company inquired if the cause was +not owing to a bit of cork getting into the glass; to which Kenny replied, +"I should think it was Cork, for it went far to _Kill Kenny_." + +P.K.R. + + * * * * * + + +AUTHORS AND EDITORS. + + + "Do you hear, let them be well used." + SHAKSPEARE. + + +Accustomed as our readers are to the quips, quirks, and quibbles, of the +_Gatherer_, we doubt whether the following loose reflections will not be +received as egotistical, or out of place. But we are induced to the hazard +by the recent appearance of "The Tale of a Modern Genius," (stated to be +by Mr. Pennie,) and an interesting paper in the last _London Magazine_, +entitled "Memoirs of a Young Peasant:" in which productions the fates and +fortunes of genius are set forth with very powerful claims to the sympathy +of readers. Indeed, we recommend their perusal to many of our "neglected" +correspondents, in the hope of their becoming more reconciled to the +justice with which their contributions are rejected. In the comparison, +their works will be as "the labours of idleness," listlessly penned under +first impressions, or, at best, with the fond anticipation of appearing in +print. Vexatious as the disappointment may appear, what is it compared with +the bare fate of genius, stripped of the bare means of sustenance by the +unsuccessful result of a literary engagement, or the non-completion of a +purchase, on which probably depended the very day's existence. The subject +is trite and hacknied; but all that has been written about the illusions +and misgivings of genius will not alter its complexion. It is true that +such details have raised a spirit of sympathetic forbearance towards the +distresses of men of letters, except in the breasts of the most barbarous +and vulgar. But their sufferings are doubly acute, and their perceptions +doubly tender. In their intercourse with mankind, they become _flattered_ +by associates, and it not unfrequently happens that men who are the most +ready to quote such ascendancy or superiority in society, are the first +to break the charm they have created, by some act of extreme rigour. Such +conduct is cruel and unchristian. + +Again, the sufferings of men of genius are increased by their own +reflection on them, and in addition to real woes they thus inflict on +themselves thousands of imaginary ones. A loss in trade may be repaired +by the profits of the succeeding day, and all be set right, where gain +is the sole idol; but when fame is mixed up in the pursuit, there is a +suffering beyond the hour, the day, or the year--mixed up in the defeat. +Hope is crushed; and after her flittering shade spring up misanthropy and +despair. + +Light and fickle as is the public taste for literature, we are disposed +to think that, (barring the influence of great names) the chances of +success are as frequent in this as in any other field of human ingenuity; +and we can assure the public that our repose has not always been on a bed +of roses. But it seems to be with certain literary candidates as with +nations: there is a certain point of fame which men seem content to reach, +after which, in return for the darling caresses of the world, they kick at +their patrons; and if the maxim work true, that the fame of authors suffers +by our known contact and conversation with them, Sir Walter Scott's recent +avowal is a dangerous step, unless he was tired of his fame. Of course, we +have not yet arrived at the above point, so that our readers need not fear +our ingratitude; and we are willing to abide by the condition, that when we +forget our patrons, may they forget us. + + * * * * * + + +CURE FOR ENVY. + + +Bishop Berkeley (that acute reasoner) contrived a lucky antidote, for the +suffering of envy. "When I walk the streets," says he, "I use the following +natural maxim, (viz. that he is the true possessor of a thing who enjoys +it, and not he that owns it without the enjoyment of it,) to convince +myself that I have a property in the gay part of all the gilt chariots +that I meet, which I regard as amusement to delight my eyes, and the +imagination of those kind people who sit in them gaily attired only to +please me;" by which maxim he fancied himself one of the richest men in +Great Britain. + + * * * * * + +LIMBIRD'S EDITION OF THE BRITISH NOVELIST, Publishing in Monthly Parts, +price 6d. each.--Each Novel will be complete in itself, and may be +purchased separately. + +_The following Novels are already Published:_ + + + s. d. + Goldsmith's Vicar of Wakefield 0 10 + The Mysteries of Udolpho 3 6 + Mackenzie's Man of Feeling 0 6 + Rasselas 0 8 + Paul and Virginia 0 6 + The Old English Baron 0 8 + The Castle of Otranto 0 6 + The Romance of the Forest 1 8 + Almoran and Hamet 0 6 + Elizabeth, or the Exiles of Siberia 0 6 + Nature and Art 0 8 + The Italian 2 0 + A Simple Story 1 4 + The Castles of Athlin and Dunbayne 0 6 + Sicilian Romance 1 0 + The Man of the World 1 0 + Zeluco, by Dr. Moore 2 0 + Joseph Andrews 1 6 + Humphry Clinker 1 8 + Edward, by Dr. Moore 2 6 + + * * * * * + +_Published by J. LIMBIRD, 143, Strand, London, and Sold by all Booksellers +and Newsmen_. + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 11407 *** |