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diff --git a/11442-0.txt b/11442-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..081e24a --- /dev/null +++ b/11442-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1662 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 11442 *** + +THE MIRROR OF LITERATURE, AMUSEMENT, AND INSTRUCTION. + +VOL. 14, No. 405.] SATURDAY, DECEMBER 19, 1829. [PRICE 2d. + + + + +NEW BUILDINGS, INNER TEMPLE. + + +[Illustration: New Buildings, Inner Temple.] + +"The Temple," as our readers may be aware, is an immense range of +buildings, stretching from Fleet-street to the River Thames, north and +south; and from Lombard-street, Whitefriars, to Essex-street, in the +Strand, east and west. It takes its name from having been the principal +establishment, in England, of the Knights Templars; and here, in the +thirteenth century they entertained King Henry III., the Pope's Nuncio, +foreign ambassadors, and other great personages. The king's treasure was +accustomed to be kept in the part now called the _Middle Temple_; and +from the chief officer, who, as master of the Temple, was summoned to +Parliament in the 47th of Henry III., the chief minister of the Temple +Church is still called _Master of the Temple_. After the suppression of +this once celebrated order,[1] the professors of the common law +purchased the buildings, and they were then first converted into _Inns +of Court_, called the Inner and _Middle Temple_, from their former +relation to Essex House, which as a part of the buildings, and from its +situation outside the division of the city from the suburbs formed by +Temple Bar, was called the Outer Temple. + + [1] In the _Temple Church_, lie the remains, marked out by their + effigies, of numbers of the Templars. For a Description and + Engraving of the Church, see MIRROR, No. 274. + +The principal part, or what we might almost call the nucleus of the +Inner Temple, is the Hall and Chapel, which were substantially repaired +in the year 1819. Thence a range of unsightly brick buildings extended +along a broad paved terrace, to the south, descending to the Garden, or +bank of the Thames. These buildings have lately been removed, and the +above splendid range erected on their site, from the designs of Robert +Smirke, Esq., R.A. They are in the Tudor, or to speak familiarly, the +good Old English school of architecture, and combine all the picturesque +beauty of ancient style with the comfort and elegance of modern art in +the adaptation of the interior. Our succinct sketch of the origin of the +Temple will sufficiently illustrate the appropriateness of Mr. Smirke's +choice. Over the principal windows, on escutcheons, are the Pegasus, the +Temple arms, and the respective arms of Henry III. and George IV. At the +end immediately adjoining the Chapel, is a Latin inscription with the +date of the repairs, 1819, and at the eastern extremity of the present +building is another inscription with the date of 1828, in which the last +improvements were commenced. Viewed from the Terrace, the whole range +has a handsome and substantial appearance, sufficiently decorated, yet +not overloaded with ornament. From another point, Whitefriars Gate, the +end of the building, with its fine oriel window, is seen to considerable +advantage. Against the old brick house on this spot was a sun-dial, with +the quaint conceit, "Begone about your business." The cast-iron railing +of the area appears to us extremely elegant and appropriate. + +The interior is not yet completed, but, by the courtesy of the architect +we have obtained a view of its unfinished state. The principal +apartments are the _Parliament Chamber_ on the first, and the _Library_ +on the second floor. The Chamber adjoins the Hall, and is intended for a +withdrawing-room, whither the Templars of our times, after dining in the +Hall, may repair to exercise the _argumentum ad Bacculinum_ in term +time. The dimensions of this room are in height about 13 feet; length 37 +feet; and width about 27 feet. Above is the Library, which is indeed a +magnificent room. The height is about 20 feet; length 39 feet; and width +in the centre about 37 feet. The fine window, of which we spoke in our +description of the exterior, is not yet glazed; its height is 17 feet, +and width 14 feet; and the mullions, &c. are very rich. The remainder of +the buildings will be occupied by ante-rooms, and chambers for +barristers. The whole will be fire-proof, the floors being divided by +plate-iron archings upon cast-iron bearings. + +The Inner Temple Hall is a fine room, though comparatively small. It is +ornamented with the portraits of William III. and Mary, and the Judges +Coke and Littleton; it is also embellished with a picture of Pegasus, +painted by Sir James Thornhill. The Middle Temple has likewise a Hall, +which is spacious and fine: here were given many of the feasts of old +times, before mentioned. It contains a fine picture of Charles I. on +horseback, by Vandyke, and portraits of Charles II. Queen Anne, George +I. and George II. + +There is a host of pleasing associations connected with the Temple, if +we only instance the seasonable doings there at Christmas--as +breakfasting in the hall "with brawn, mustard, and malmsey;" and at +dinner, "a fair and large Bore's head upon a silver platter with +minstralsaye." + + * * * * * + + +SPRING TIDES. + +(_For the Mirror._) + + +At page 310 of the present volume of your miscellany, your correspondent +_Vyvyan_ states that the tide rises at Chepstow more than 60 feet, and +that a mark in the rocks below the bridge there denotes its having risen +to the height of 70 feet, which is, perhaps (_Vyvyan_ states), the +greatest altitude of the tides in the world. At Windsor, seated on the +east bank of the _Avon_ river, which falls into the Basin of Mines, at +the head of the Bay of Fundy, the spring tides regularly rise 70 feet +and upwards; and at Truro, at the eastern extremity of the Bay of Fundy, +the spring tides rise to an altitude of 100 feet. There are some parts +of the west coast of North America also where the tides rise to a very +high altitude; but I do not at this moment remember the particulars. My +attention having thus been directed to the Bay of Fundy, it induces me +to inform you, that an inland water communication, at a minimum depth of +eight feet, and proportionate expanse, is now forming from Halifax, +_Nova Scotia_, by the Shubenacadie river, falling into the Bay of Fundy, +near the abovementioned town of Truro. + +The total length of this canal is 53 miles, 1,024 yards, the artificial +portion of which is only 2,739 yards, the remainder being formed by a +chain of deep lakes and the Shubenacadie river. The summit level is 95 +feet 10 inches above the _high-water_ surface of _medium tides_ in +Halifax harbour; and is attained by seven locks, each 87 feet long, and +22 feet six inches wide; and the tide locks nine feet in depth of water. +The descent into the Bay of Fundy, at highwater surface medium tides, is +by eight locks. + +The estimated expense of this interesting work is £54,000. + +J.M. + + * * * * * + + +MINSTRELS. + +(_To the Editor of the Mirror._) + + +Sir,--Sometime ago a discussion arose in the public papers respecting +the right of the King's Sergeant Trumpeter to grant licenses to +minstrels for carrying on their calling in London and Westminster. I do +not recollect whether this officer succeeded in establishing the right; +but the following account of a similar privilege in another part of the +country is founded on fact, and may furnish amusement to some of your +readers:-- + +About the latter end of the reign of Richard I., Randal Blundeville, +Earl of Chester, was closely besieged by the Welsh in his Castle, in +Flintshire. In this extremity, the earl sent to his constable, Roger +Lacy, (who for his _fiery_ qualities received the appropriate cognomen +of _hell_), to hasten, with what force he could collect, to his relief. +It happened to be Midsummer-day, when a great fair was held at Chester, +the humours of which, it should seem, the worthy constable, witless of +his lord's peril, was then enjoying. He immediately got together, in the +words of my authority, "a great, lawless mob of fiddlers, players, +cobblers, and such like," and marched towards the earl. The Welsh, +although a musical people, not relishing this sort of chorus, thought it +prudent to beat a retreat, and fled. The earl, by this well-timed +presto-movement, being released from danger, returned with his constable +to Chester, and in reward of his service, granted by deed to Roger and +his heirs, authority "over all the fiddlers, minstrels, and cobblers in +Chester." + +About the end of the reign of John, or the beginning of that of Henry +III., the fire of Roger being extinguished by death, his son John Lacy, +granted this privilege by deed to his steward, one Hugh Dutton and his +heirs, in the words following:--"Dedi et concessi, et per hac presenti +charta mea, confirmavi Hugoni de Dutton, et heredibus suis, magistratum +omnium lecatorum, et _meretricum_, totius Cestershiriae," &c. + +Dugdale relates in his Monasticon, p. 860, that "under this grant, and +by ancient custom, the heirs of Dutton claim and exercise authority over +all the common fiddlers and minstrels in Chester and Cheshire; and in +memory of it, keep a yearly court at Chester on Mid-summer-day, being +Chester Fair, and in a solemn manner ride attended through the city to +St. John the Baptist's Church, with all the fiddlers of the county +playing before the Lord of Dutton, and then at the court renew their +licenses yearly; and that none ought to use the trade or employment of a +minstrel, or fiddler, either within the city or county, but by an order +and license of that court." I find too that this privilege has received +the sanction of the legislature; for by the Act of 17 George II., cap. +5., commonly called the Vagrant Act, which includes "minstrels" under +that amiable class of independents, the rights of the family of Dutton +in the county of Chester are expressly reserved. Perhaps some of your +numerous Correspondents may be able to say whether this very singular +_Court of Concert_ is still kept up. + +ANTIQUARIUS. + + * * * * * + + +ON GARDENS.[2] + +(_For the Mirror_.) + + + [2] We would suggest "Gleanings on Gardens." were not that title + forestalled by an interesting little work, lately published by + Mr. S. Felton.--ED. + +The hanging gardens, in antiquity called _Pensiles Horti_, were raised +on arches by Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, in order to gratify his +wife, Amyctis, daughter of Astyages, King of Media. These gardens are +supposed by Quintus Curtius to have been equal in height to the city, +viz. 50 feet. They contained a square of 400 feet on every side, and +were carried up into the air in several terraces laid one above another, +and the ascent from terrace to terrace was by stairs 10 feet wide. + +Among the Mexicans there are _floating gardens_, which are described by +the Abbé Clavigero, as highly curious and interesting, so as to form a +place of recreation and amusement. The abundant produce of these +prolific gardens, are brought daily by the canal in numerous small +vessels, at sun-rise, to the market-place of the capital to be sold. The +plants thrive in these situations in an astonishing manner, the mud of +the lake being extremely fertile and productive, without the aid of +rain. Whenever the owners of these gardens are inclined to change their +situations, they get into their little vessels, and by their own +strength alone, or where that is not sufficient, by the assistance of +others, they get them afloat, and tow them after them wherever they +please. + +Gardening was introduced into England from the Netherlands, from whence +vegetables were imported till 1509. Fruits and flowers of sundry sorts +before unknown, were brought into England in the reigns of Henry VII. +and VIII. from about 1500 to 1578. Grapes were first planted at +Blaxhall, in Suffolk, 1552. The ingenuity and fostering care of the +people of England, have brought under their tribute all the vegetable +creation. + +Lord Bacon has truly observed, "A garden is the purest of all human +pleasures," and no doubt he felt its influence, when he returned from +the turmoil of a _court_ and _courts_. Many of his writings were +composed under the shade of the trees in Gray's Inn Gardens; he lived in +a house facing the great gates, forming the entrance to the gardens, and +Sir Fulke Greville, Lord Brook,[3] frequently sent him "home-brewed +beer." Epicurus, the patron of refined pleasure, fixed the seat of his +enjoyment in a garden. Dr. Knox says, "In almost every description of +the seats of the blessed, ideas of a garden seem to have predominated. +The word paradise itself is synonymous with garden. The fields of +Elysium, that sweet region of poesy, are adorned with all that +imagination can conceive to be delightful. Some of the most pleasing +passages of Milton are those in which he represents the happy pair +engaged in cultivating their blissful abode. Poets have always been +delighted with the beauties of a garden. Lucan is represented by Juvenal +as reposing in his garden. Virgil's _Georgies_ prove him to have been +captivated with rural scenes; though to the surprise of his readers he +has not assigned a book to the subject of a garden. But let not the rich +suppose they have appropriated the pleasures of a garden. The possessor +of an acre, or a smaller portion, may receive a real pleasure from +observing the progress of vegetation, even in the plantation of culinary +plants. A very limited tract properly attended to, will furnish ample +employment for an individual, nor let it be thought a mean care; for the +same hand that raised the cedar, formed the hyssop on the wall." + +P.T.W. + + [3] In the street called Brook Street, was Brook House. + + * * * * * + + +GRECIAN FLIES--SPONGERS. + +(_For the Mirror_.) + + +In modern days we should term _Grecian Flies, Spongers; alias Dinner +Hunters_. Among the Grecians (according to Potter) "They who forced +themselves into other men's entertainments, were called _flies_, which +was a general name of reproach for such as insinuated themselves into +any company where they were not welcome." In Plautus, an entertainment +free from unwelcome guests is called _hospitium sine muscis_, an +entertainment without flies; and in another place of the same author, an +inquisitive and busy man, who pries and insinuates himself into the +secrets of others, is termed _musca_. We are likewise informed by Horus +Apollo, that in Egypt a fly was the hieroglyphic of an impudent man, +because that insect being beaten away, still returns again; on which +account it is that Homer makes it an emblem of courage. + +P.T.W. + + * * * * * + + + +THE SELECTOR; AND LITERARY NOTICES OF NEW WORKS. + + + * * * * * + + +MARSHAL NEY. + + +[No apology is requisite for our introduction of the following passage +from the life of Marshal Ney, in a volume of the _Family Library_, +entitled "_The Court and Camp of Buonaparte_."] + +In the campaign of 1813, Ney faithfully adhered to the falling emperor. +At Bautzen, Lutzen, Dresden, he contributed powerfully to the success; +but he and Oudinot received a severe check at Dennewitz from the Crown +Prince of Sweden. From that hour defeat succeeded defeat; the allies +invaded France; and, in spite of the most desperate resistance, +triumphantly entered Paris in March, 1814. Ney was one of the three +marshals chosen by Napoleon to negotiate with Alexander in behalf of the +King of Rome, but the attempt was unsuccessful, and all he could do was +to remain a passive spectator of the fall and exile of his chief. + +On the restoration of the Bourbons, Ney was more fortunate than many of +his brethren: he was entrusted with a high military command, and created +a knight of St. Louis, and a peer of France. + +But France was now at peace with all the world; and no one of these +great military chiefs could be more unprepared for the change than the +Prince of Moskwa. He was too old to acquire new habits. For domestic +comforts he was little adapted: during the many years of his marriage, +he had been unable to pass more than a very few months with his family. +Too illiterate to find any resource in books, too rude to be a favourite +in society, and too proud to desire that sort of distinction, he was +condemned to a solitary and an inactive life. The habit of braving +death, and of commanding vast bodies of men, had impressed his character +with a species of moral grandeur, which raised him far above the puerile +observances of the fashionable world. Plain in his manners, and still +plainer in his words, he neither knew, nor wished to know, the art of +pleasing courtiers. Of good nature he had indeed a considerable fund, +but he showed it, not so much by the endless little attentions of a +gentleman, as by scattered acts of princely beneficence. For dissipation +he had no taste; his professional cares and duties, which, during +twenty-five years, had left him no respite, had engrossed his attention +too much to allow room for the passions, vices, or follies of society to +obtain any empire over him. The sobriety of his manners was extreme, +even to austerity. + +His wife had been reared in the court of Louis XVI., and had adorned +that of the emperor. Cultivated in her mind, accomplished in her +manners, and elegant in all she said or did, her society was courted on +all sides. Her habits were expensive; luxury reigned throughout her +apartments, and presided at her board; and to all this display of +elegance and pomp of show, the military simplicity, not to say the +coarseness, of the marshal, furnished a striking contrast. His good +nature offered no other obstacle to the gratification of her wishes than +the occasional expression of a fear that his circumstances might be +deranged by them. But if he would not oppose, neither could he join in +her extravagance. While she was presiding at a numerous and brilliant +party of guests, he preferred to remain alone in a distant apartment, +where the festive sounds could not reach him. On such occasions he +almost always dined alone. + +Ney seldom appeared at court. He could neither bow nor flatter, nor +could he stoop to kiss even his sovereign's hand without something like +self-humiliation. To his princess, on the other hand, the royal smile +was as necessary as the light of the sun; and unfortunately for her, she +was sometimes disappointed in her efforts to attract it. Her wounded +vanity often beheld an insult in what was probably no more than an +inadvertence. In a word she ere long fervently regretted the court in +which the great captains had occupied the first rank, and their families +shared the almost exclusive favour of the sovereign. She complained to +her husband; and he, with a calm smile, advised her never again to +expose herself to such mortifications if she really sustained them. But +though he could thus rebuke a woman's vanity, the haughty soldier felt +his own wounded through hers. To escape from these complaints, and from +the monotony of his Parisian existence, he retired to his country-seat, +in January, 1815, the very season when people of consideration are most +engrossed by the busy scenes of the metropolis. There he led an +unfettered life; he gave his mornings to field sports; and the guests he +entertained in the evening were such as, from their humble condition, +rendered formality useless, and placed him completely at his ease. + +It was here that on the 6th of March he was surprised by the arrival of +an aide-de-camp from the minister at war, who ordered him, with all +possible despatch, to join the sixth division, of which he was the +commander, and which was stationed at Besançon. In his anxiety to learn +the extent of his instructions, Ney immediately rode to Paris; and +there, for the first time, learned the disembarkation of Buonaparte from +Elba. + +Ney eagerly undertook the commission assigned him of hastening to oppose +the invader. In his last interview with Louis his protestations of +devotedness to the Bourbons, and his denunciations against Napoleon, +were ardent--perhaps they were sincere. Whether he said that Buonaparte +_deserved_ to be confined in an iron cage, or that he would _bring_ him +to Paris in one, is not very clear, nor indeed very material.--We +reluctantly approach the darker shades in the life of this great +officer. + +On his arrival at Besançon, March 10th, he learned the disaffection of +all the troops hitherto sent against the invader, and perceived that +those by whom he was surrounded were not more to be trusted. He was +surrounded with loud and incessant cries of _Vive l'Empereur!_ Already, +at Lyons, two members of the royal family had found all opposition vain; +the march of Napoleon was equally peaceful and triumphant. During the +night of the 13th, Ney had a secret interview with a courier from his +old master; and on the following morning he announced to his troops that +the house of Bourbon had ceased to reign--that the emperor was the only +ruler France would acknowledge! He then hastened to meet Napoleon, by +whom he was received with open arms, and hailed by his indisputed title +of Bravest of the Brave. + +Ney was soon doomed to suffer the necessary consequence of his +crime--bitter and unceasing remorse. His inward reproaches became +intolerable: he felt humbled, mortified, for he had lost that noble +self-confidence, that inward sense of dignity, that unspeakable and +exalted satisfaction, which integrity alone can bestow: the man who +would have defied the world in arms, trembled before the new enemy +within him; he saw that his virtue, his honour, his peace, and the +esteem of the wise and the good, were lost to him for ever. In the +bitterness of his heart, he demanded and obtained permission to retire +for a short time into the country. But there he could not regain his +self-respect. Of his distress, and we hope of his repentance, no better +proof need be required than the reply, which, on his return to Paris, he +made to the emperor, who feigned to have believed that he had emigrated: +"I _ought_ to have done so long ago (said Ney); it is now too late." + +The prospect of approaching hostilities soon roused once more the +enthusiasm of this gallant soldier, and made him for awhile less +sensible to the gloomy agitation within. From the day of his being +ordered to join the army on the frontiers of Flanders, June 11, his +temper was observed to be less unequal, and his eye to have regained its +fiery glance. + +The story of Waterloo need not be repeated here. We shall only observe, +that on no occasion did the Bravest of the Brave exhibit more impetuous +though hopeless valour. Five horses were shot under him; his garments +were pierced with balls; his whole person was disfigured with blood and +mud, yet he would have continued the contest on foot while life +remained, had he not been forced from the field, by the dense and +resistless columns of the fugitives. He returned to the capital, and +there witnessed the second imperial abdication, and the capitulation of +Paris, before he thought of consulting his safety by flight. Perhaps he +hoped that by virtue of the twelfth article of that convention, he +should not be disquieted; if so, however, the royal ordinance of July +24th, terribly undeceived him. He secreted himself with one of his +relatives at the château of Bessaris, department of Lot, in the +expectation that he should soon have an opportunity of escaping to the +United States. But he was discovered, and in a very singular manner. + +In former days Ney had received a rich Egyptian sabre from the hands of +the First Consul. There was but another like it known to exist, and that +was possessed by Murat. The marshal was carefully secluded both from +visiters and domestics, but unluckily this splendid weapon was left on a +sofa in the drawing-room. It was perceived, and not a little admired by +a visiter, who afterwards described it to a party of friends at +Aurillac. One present immediately observed, that, from the description, +it must belong to either Ney or Murat. This came to the ears of the +prefect, who instantly despatched fourteen gensdarmes, and some police +agents, to arrest the owner. They surrounded the château; and Ney at +once surrendered himself. Perhaps he did not foresee the fatal issue of +his trial; some of his friends say that he even wished it to take place +immediately, that he might have an opportunity to contradict a report +that Louis had presented him with half a million of francs, on his +departure for Besançon. + +A council of war, composed of French marshals, was appointed to try him; +but they had little inclination to pass sentence on an old companion in +arms; and declared their incompetency to try one, who, when he +consummated his treason, was a peer of France. Accordingly, by a royal +ordinance of November 12th, the Chamber of Peers were directed to take +cognizance of the affair. His defence was made to rest by his +advocates--first, on the twelfth article of the capitulation, and when +this was overruled, on the ground of his no longer being amenable to +French laws, since Sarre-Louis, his native town, had recently been +dissevered from France. This the prisoner himself overruled; "I _am_ a +Frenchman, (cried Ney), and I will die a Frenchman!" The result was that +he was found guilty and condemned to death by an immense majority, one +hundred and sixty-nine to seventeen. On hearing the sentence read +according to usage, he interrupted the enumeration of his titles, by +saying: "Why cannot you simply call me Michael Ney--now a French +soldier, and soon a heap of dust?" His last interview with his lady, who +was sincerely attached to him, and with his children, whom he +passionately loved, was far more bitter than the punishment he was about +to undergo. This heavy trial being over, he was perfectly calm, and +spoke of his approaching fate with the utmost unconcern. "Marshal," said +one of his sentinels, a poor grenadier, "you should now think of God. I +never faced danger without such preparation." "Do you suppose (answered +Ney) that any one need teach me to die?" But he immediately gave way to +better thoughts, and added, "Comrade, you are right. I will die as +becomes a man of honour and a Christian. Send for the curate of St. +Sulpice." + +A little after eight o'clock on the morning of December 7th, the +marshal, with a firm step and an air of perfect indifference, descended +the steps leading to the court of the Luxembourg, and entered a carriage +which conveyed him to the place of execution, outside the garden gates. +He alighted, and advanced towards the file of soldiers drawn up to +despatch him. To an officer, who proposed to blindfold him, he +replied--"Are you ignorant that, for twenty-five years, I have been +accustomed to face both ball and bullet?" He took off his hat, raised it +above his head, and cried aloud--"I declare before God and man that I +have never betrayed my country: may my death render her happy! _Vive la +France!_" He then turned to the men, and, striking his other hand on his +heart, gave the word, "Soldiers--fire!" + +Thus, in his forty-seventh year, did the "Bravest of the Brave" expiate +one great error, alien from his natural character, and unworthy of the +general course of his life. If he was sometimes a stern, he was never an +implacable, enemy. Ney was sincere, honest, blunt even: so far from +flattering, he often contradicted him on whose nod his fortunes +depended. He was, with rare exceptions, merciful to the vanquished; and +while so many of his brother marshals dishonoured themselves by the most +barefaced rapine and extortion, he lived and died poor. + +Ney left four sons, two of whom are in the service of his old friend, +Bernadotte. + + * * * * * + + +THE ANNIVERSARY. + +BY ALARIC A. WATTS. + + + "Nay, chide me not; I cannot chase + The gloom that wraps my soul away, + Nor wear, as erst, the smiling face + That best beseems this hallow'd day + Fain would my yearning heart be gay, + Its wonted welcome breathe to thine; + But sighs come blended with my lay, + And tears of anguish blot the line. + + I cannot sing as once, I sung, + Our bright and cheerful hearth beside; + When gladness sway'd my heart and tongue, + And looks of fondest love replied-- + The meaner cares of earth defied, + We heeded not its outward din; + How loud soe'er the storm might chide, + So all was calm and fair within. + + A blight upon our bliss hath come, + We are not what we were of yore; + The music of our hearts is dumb; + Our fireside mirth is heard no more! + The little chick, its chirp is o'er, + That fill'd our happy home with glee; + The dove hath fled, whose pinions bore + Healing and peace for thee and me. + + Our youngest-born--our Autumn-flower, + The best beloved, because the last; + The star that shone above our bower, + When many a cherish'd dream had past, + The one sweet hope, that o'er us cast + Its rainbow'd form of life and light, + And smiled defiance on the blast, + Hath vanished from our eager sight. + + Oh, sudden was the wrench that tore + Affection's firmest links apart; + And doubly barb'd the shaft we wore + Deep in each bleeding heart of heart; + For, who can bear from bliss to part + Without one sign--one warning token; + To sleep in peace--then wake and start + To find life's fairest promise broken. + + When last this cherish'd day came round, + What aspirations sweet were ours! + Fate, long unkind, our hopes had crown'd, + And strewn, at length, our path with flowers. + How darkly now the prospect lowers; + How thorny is our homeward way; + How more than sad our evening hours, + That used to glide like thought away. + + And half infected by our gloom, + Yon little mourner sits and sighs, + His playthings, scatter'd round the room, + No more attract his listless eyes. + Nutting, his infant task, he plies, + On moves with soft and stealthy tread, + And call'd, in tone subdued replies, + As if he feard to wake the dead. + + Where is the blithe companion gone, + Whose sports he lov'd to guide and share? + Where is the merry eye that won + All hearts to fondness? Where, oh where? + The empty crib--the vacant chair-- + The favourite toy--alone remain, + To whisper to our hearts' despair, + Of hopes we cannot feel again. + + Ah, joyless is our 'ingle nook,'-- + Its genial warmth we own no more; + Our fireside wears an alter'd look,-- + A gloom it never knew before; + The converse sweet--the cherish'd lore-- + That once could cheer our stormiest day,-- + Those revels of the soul are o'er; + Those simple pleasures past away. + + Then chide me not, I cannot sing + A song befitting love and thee;-- + My heart and harp have lost the string + On which hung all their melody; + Yet soothing sweet it is to me, + Since fled the smiles of happier years; + To know that still our hearts are free, + Betie what may, to mingle tears!" + +_Literary Souvenir for_ 1830. + + * * * * * + + + +NOTES OF A READER. + + +CURIOSITIES OF FRANCE. + +_Noted by John Locke_. + + +At Lyons, "they showed us, upon the top of the hill, a church, now +dedicated to the Virgin, which was formerly a temple of Venus; near it +dwelt Thomas a Becket, when banished from England.... About half a +league from St. Vallier, we saw a house, a little out of the way, where +they say Pilate lived in banishment. We met with the owner, who seemed +to doubt the truth of the story; but told us there was mosaic work very +ancient in one of the floors." At Montpelier, "I walked, and found them +gathering of olives--a black fruit, the bigness of an acorn, with which +the trees were thickly hung. All the highways are filled with gamesters +at mall, so that walkers are in some danger of knocks.... Parasols, a +pretty sort of cover for women riding in the sun, made of straw, +something like the fashion of tin covers for dishes.... Monsieur Renaie +a gentleman of the town, in whose house Sir J. Rushworth lay, about four +years ago, sacrificed a child to the devil--a child of a servant of his +own, upon a design to get the devil to be his friend, and help him to +get some money. Several murders committed here since I came, and more +attempted; one by a brother on his sister, in the house where I lay." +[This species of crime is therefore not so new in France as recent cases +have induced the philosophical to imagine.] + +"At Toulouse saw the charteraux, very large and fine; saw the relics at +St. Sernin, where they have the greatest store of them that I have met +with; besides others, there are six apostles, and the head of the +seventh; viz. two Jameses, Philip, Simon, Jude, Barnahas, and the head +of Barthelmy. We were told of the wonders these and other relics had +done being carried in procession, but more especially the head of St. +Edward, one of our Kings of England, which, carried in procession, +delivered the town from a plague some years since.... + +"At Paris, the bills of mortality usually amount to 19 or 20,000; and +they count in the town about 500,000 souls, 50,000 more than in London, +where the bills are less. Quære, whether the Quakers, Anabaptists, and +Jews, that die in London, are reckoned in the bills of mortality."-- +_Lord King's Life._ + + * * * * * + + +ROYAL INCOMES. + + +The income of the King of England is somewhat more than £400,000. per +annum; but its amount does not perhaps exceed, in a duplicate ratio, the +receipts of some opulent subjects; and may be advantageously compared +with the French King's revenue, a civil list of about one million +sterling, free from diplomatic, judicial, and, we believe, from all +other extraneous charges. Our late excellent king's regard for economy +led him, in the early part of his reign, to approve a new arrangement of +the civil list expenditure, by which he accepted of a fixed revenue, in +lieu of those improvable funds which had formerly been appropriated to +the crown. On the revision of the civil list in 1816, it appeared, that +had George III. conducted the entire branch of expenditure with those +funds which had been provided for his predecessors, there would at that +period have remained to the crown a total surplus of £6,300,000. which +sum the public had gained by the change of provision. _Quarterly +Review_. + + * * * * * + + +BRITISH ALMANAC AND COMPANION. + + +Swift, if our memory serves us aright, compares abstracts, abridgments, +and summaries to burning-glasses, and has something about a full book +resembling the tail of a lobster. The French too have a proverb--"as +full as an egg"--but these home similes will hardly give the public an +idea of the vast variety of useful matters which these two _Year Books_ +contain. + +The _Almanac_, besides an excellent arrangement, astronomical, +meteorological, and philosophical, contains a list of common indigenous +field plants in flower, and even the taste of the epicure is consulted +in a table of fish in season, at the foot of each month. The +Miscellaneous Register includes nearly all the Court, Parliament, and +other Lists of a Red Book; and a List of Mail Coach routes direct from +London, with the hours of their arrival at the principal towns, is +completeness itself: but how will these items be deranged by Steam +Coaches? Among the Useful Tables, one of Excise Licenses is especially +valuable. + +The _Companion_ is even more important in its contents than last year. +An Explanation of the Eras of Ancient and Modern Times, and of various +countries, with a view to the comparison of their respective +dates,--stands first; next are "Facts pertaining to the course of the +Seasons," under the "Observations of a Naturalist;" an excellent paper +on the Tides; and a concise Natural History of the Weather--to be +continued in the _Companion_ for 1831; this is a delightful paper. The +Comparative Scales of Thermometers are next, with a wood-cut of the +Scales and Explanation. We have only room to particularize a +Chronological Table of the principal Geographical Discoveries of Modern +European Nations; a paper on French Measures; and a List of our +Metropolitan Charitable Institutions, their officers, &c. The +Parliamentary Register is as copious as usual; the Chronicle of the +Session is neatly compiled; and a rapid Sketch of Public Improvements, +and a Chronicle of Events of 1829 will be interesting to all readers. In +short, we can scarcely conceive a work that is likely to be more +extensively useful than the present: it concerns the business of all; it +is perhaps less domestic than in previous years; but as "great wits have +short memories," its scientific helps are not overrated. + + * * * * * + + +PENITENT LETTER. + + +The following letter occurs in Captain Beaver's _Memoirs_, said to be +written by a runaway pirate:-- + +"To Mr. Beaver.--Sir, I hope that you will parden me for riteing to you, +which I know I am not worthy of, but I hope you will forgive me for all +things past, for I am going to try to get a passage to the Cape deverds, +and then for America. Sir, if you will be so good as to let me go, I +shall be grately ableaght to you. Sir, I hope you will parden me for +running away. Sir, I am your most obedent umbld _servant_, + +"PETER HAYLES. + +"Sir, I do rite with tears in my eyes." + + * * * * * + + +FRENCH TRAVELLERS IN ENGLAND. + + +A Frenchman in London, without any knowledge of our language will cut +but a sorry figure, and be more liable to ridicule than an Englishman in +a similar condition in Paris: to wit, the waggish joke told of the +Parisian inquiring for _Old Bailey_, or _Mr. Bailey, Sen._ It is, +therefore, quite as requisite that a Frenchman should be provided with a +good French and English phrase-book, as that an Englishman should have +an English and French Manual. Of the former description is Mr. Leigh's +"_Recueil de Phrases utiles aux étrangers voyageant en Angleterre_," a +new and improved edition of which is before us. It contains every +description of information, from the embarkation at Calais to all the +Lions of London--how to punish a roguish hackney-coachman--to criticise +Miss Kemble at Covent Garden--to write an English letter, or to make out +a washing-bill--which miscellaneous matters are very useful to know in a +metropolis like ours, where, as the new Lord Mayor told a countryman the +other day, we should consider every stranger a rogue. Glancing at the +_fêtes_ or holidays, there is a woeful falling off from the Parisian +list--in ours only eleven are given--but "they manage these things +better in France." + + * * * * * + + +CO-OPERATIVE SOCIETIES. + + +In the _Quarterly Review_ (lately published) there is an excellent paper +on these Societies. + +Of the spread of these Societies we take this anecdote as an +example:--"A lady, who became acquainted at Brighton with the +Co-operative Society of that town, and carried away a knowledge of the +scheme, has formed three similar societies!, one at Tunbridge, one at +Hastings, the third we know not where. That at Hastings was, at the end +of July, just thirteen weeks old; it had made a clear profit of £79. +5_s_. 4_d_. and its returns for the last week of that month were £104. +There are now upwards of seventy Co-operative Societies in different +parts of England, and they are spreading so rapidly that the probability +is that by the time this number of our Review is published, there will +be nearly one hundred." Upon the system of Co-operation the Editor +forcibly remarks, "It is at present in its infancy--a cloud no bigger +than a man's hand. Whether it is to dissipate in heat, or gradually +spread over the land and send down refreshing showers on this parched +and withered portion of society, God only knows, and time only can +reveal." + + * * * * * + + +STANDARD OF THE JANISSARIES. + + +Odd as it may seem, a _soup-kettle_ is the standard of the Janissaries, +an emblem rather more appropriate for a Court of Aldermen. Dr. Walsh +says that he saw in the streets of Constantinople, an extraordinary +greasy-looking fellow dressed in a leather jacket, covered over with +ornaments of tin, bearing in his hand a lash of several leather thongs; +he was followed by two men, also fantastically dressed, supporting a +pole on their shoulders, from which hung a large copper kettle. They +walked through the main streets with an air of great authority, and all +the people hastily got out of the way. This he found on inquiry was the +soup-kettle of a corps of Janissaries, and always held in high respect; +indeed, so distinguishing a characteristic of this body is their _soup_, +that their colonel is called Tchorbadgé, or the distributor of soup. +Their kettle, therefore, is in fact, their standard, and whenever that +is brought forward, it is the signal of some desperate enterprize, and +in a short time 20,000 men have been known to rally round their odd +insignia of war. Apropos, have they not something to do with +_kettle-drums_? + + * * * * * + + +HOME COLONIES. + + +Workhouses are moral pesthouses, for the encouragement of idleness and +profligacy, where at a great charge to the public, a host of outcasts +are reared and trained for a career of misery. For these costly and +demoralizing establishments, which the English poor dread even more than +imprisonment or transportation--for + + _"That pauper-palace which they hate to see_," + +we would fain see substituted a _district or county colony_, where every +able-bodied human being out of employment might find work and +subsistence.--_Quarterly Review._ + + * * * * * + + +BEWICK, THE ENGRAVER. + + +The Duke of Northumberland, when first he called to see Mr. Bewick's +workshops at Newcastle, was not personally known to the engraver; yet he +showed him his birds, blocks, and drawings, as he did to all, with the +greatest liberality and cheerfulness; but on discovering the high rank +of his visiter, exclaimed, "I beg pardon, my lord, I did not know your +grace, and was unaware I had the honour of talking to so great a man." +To which the duke good-humouredly replied, "You are a much greater man +than I am, Mr. Bewick." To which Bewick, with his ready wit that never +failed or offended, resumed, "No, my lord; but were I Duke of +Northumberland, perhaps I could be."--_Mag. Nat. Hist._ + + * * * * * + + +FRENCH DRAMA. + + +Voltaire, as a dramatic writer, studied only to complete what is called +_stage effect_; and with him, moreover, originated the contemptible +practice, now so prevalent in France, and once so much in this country, +(and which the Irish triumvirate justly call '_blarneying John Bull_,') +of flattering the passions, and pouring incense on the high altar of +popular vanity.--_Foreign Review._--Nearly all Colman's comedies have +this glaring weakness, although some allowance should be made for the +strong excitement amidst which they were first produced on our stage. + + * * * * * + +It was a remark of Lord Chatham's, and equally so of Mr. Burke's, that +the occasional use of low words does not detract from the dignity of +true eloquence. Mr. Canning and some of his successors have, however, +ventured to differ from these two great men. + + * * * * * + +The people of England have, in the last year, consumed one half more of +candles, soap, starch, bricks, sugar, brandy, and one-third more of tea, +than they did only twelve years ago, a date which seems to most of us +recent.--_Finance Article, in Quarterly Review._ + + * * * * * + + + +THE ANECDOTE GALLERY + + +DR. SOUTHEY. + +BALLADS VERSUS BONNETS. + +(_For the Mirror._) + + +A Mr. L------, a respectable straw-hat manufacturer, from the vicinity +of Bond-street, who had dabbled considerably in the fine arts, in the +way of sketches and outlines, taken at the different watering-places +which he visited, determined on making a tour to the Lakes, "in search +of the picturesque." Desirous of rendering his journey poetically +interesting, he solicited from a friend of his in town, who was +acquainted with Dr. Southey, a letter of introduction to the Laureate, +which was accorded. But the epistle, instead of describing Mr. L------ +as an artist, merely designated him "an honest bonnet-maker," who had a +_penchant_ for lionizing, and who desired to be introduced to Dr. +Southey in "the way of business." With this vexatiously facetious and +laconic scrawl, poor Mr. L. made his way to the Lakes, and in due time +was ushered into the Parnassian presence of the author of "Thalaba." The +address of one of Southey's celebrity might well perplex a "man of +straw;" and it had somewhat of this effect on our tradesman-artist; who, +however, according to his own account of the affair, bustled through +pretty tolerably; adopting the _nonchalance_ of Geoffrey Crayon's uncle +on entering a superb drawing-room--looking around him with an air of +indifference, which seemed to say, "he had seen _finer things_ in his +time." After some desultory conversation, regarding the heights of +hills, the breadths of lakes, and the curative influence of the +sentimental region on the smoke-dried citizens, mixed with some +elaborate eulogies on the "_Colloquies on the Progress and Prospects of +Society_," the "last new work" of the Doctor's, he began to evince a +little uneasiness at so much ceremony with a mere tradesman; which was +more than was called for towards even the modest and retiring "bard of +Sheffield," on Mr. Southey's difficultly-acquired interview with the +latter. Mr. L., however, before parting, thought it due to the poet, as +a mark of an artist's respect for the "classic nine," to present him +with a few sketches of the scenery, which he had already taken. +Unrolling a bundle of drawing paper, Southey, who thought he had been +talking to a bonnet-maker, come to solicit orders, remarked, "Your +latest _spring patterns_, I suppose?" "Sir!" faintly articulated the +now-enlightened Mr. L., "I merely beg leave to present you--" "Really, +Sir," said the impatient poet, "I thank you sincerely; but I have no +taste in selecting bonnets; had the ladies--" a sentence which was +interrupted by the abashed and confounded bonnet-maker grasping his hat +and drawings, and hastily wishing the Laureate a good morning. + +* * H. + + * * * * * + + +BEST'S MEMS. + + +Dr. George Horne was a man of unaffected piety, cheerful temper, great +learning, and, notwithstanding his propensity to jesting, dignified +manners. He was much beloved in Magdalen College, of which he was +president; the chief complaint against him being, that he did not reside +the whole of the time in every year that the statutes required. He +resigned his headship on being promoted from the Deanery of Canterbury +to the See of Norwich; the alleged reason was, the incompatibility of +the duties; though other heads of houses, when made bishops, have +retained their academical situations. He never manifested the least +ill-humour himself, and repressed it, but with gentleness, in others. +Having engaged in a party at whist, merely because he was wanted to make +up the number, and playing indifferently ill, as he forewarned his +partner would be the case, he replied to the angry question, "What +reason could you possibly have, Mr. President, for playing that card?" +"None upon earth, I assure you." On the morning when news was received +in college of the death of one of the fellows, a good companion, a _bon +vivant_, Horne met with another fellow, an especial friend of the +defunct, and began to condole with him: "We have lost poor L----." "Ah! +Mr. President, I may well say I could have better spared a better man." +"Meaning _me_, I suppose?" said Horne, with an air that, by its +pleasantry, put to flight the other's grief. I was talking with Henry +James Pye, late poet-laureate, when he happened to mention the name of +Mr. P., a gentleman of Berkshire, and M.P. I think, for Reading; "That +is the man," said I, "who damned the king's wig in the very presence of +his majesty; with great credit, however, to his own loyalty, and very +much to the amusement of the king." "I do not well see how that could +be." "You shall hear a story which our president (Pye had been a +gentleman commoner of Magdalen College) told at his own table. The king +was out a hunting; P---- was _in_, and _of_, the field; the king's horse +fell; the king was thrown from the saddle, and his hat and wig were +thrown to a little distance from him: he got on his feet again +immediately, and began to look about for the hat and wig, which he did +not readily see, being, as we all know, short-sighted. P----, very much +alarmed by the accident, rides up in great haste and arrives at the +moment when the king is peering about and saying to the attendants, +'Where's my wig? where's my wig?' P---- cries out, 'D--n your wig! is +_your majesty safe_?'" + + * * * * * + + +CURIOUS CONCEITS. + + +While the late Edmund Burke was making preparation for the indictment +before the House of Lords, of Warren Hastings, Governor-general of +India, he was told that a person who had long resided in the East +Indies, but who was then an inmate of Bedlam, could supply him with much +useful information. Burke went accordingly to Bedlam, was taken to the +cell of the maniac, and received from him, in a long, rational, and +well-conducted conversation, the results of much and various knowledge +and experience in Indian affairs, and much instruction for the process +then intended. On leaving the cell, Burke told the keeper who attended +him, that the poor man whom he had just visited, was most iniquitously +practised upon; for that he was as much in his senses as man could be. +The keeper assured him that there was sufficient warranty and very good +cause for his confinement. Burke, with what a man in office once called +"Irish impetuosity," known to be one of Burke's characteristics, +insisted that it was an infamous affair, threatened to make the matter +public, or even bring it before parliament. The keeper then said, "Sir, +I should be sorry for you to leave this house under a false impression: +before you do so, be pleased to step back to the poor gentleman's cell, +and ask him what he had for breakfast." Burke could not refuse +compliance with a request so reasonable and easily performed. "Pray, +Sir," says he to his Indian counsellor, "be so obliging as to tell me +what you had for breakfast." The other, immediately putting on the wild +stare of the maniac, cried out, "Hobnails, Sir! It is shameful to think +how they treat us! They give us nothing but hobnails!" and went on with +a "descant wild" on the horrors of the cookery of Bethlehem Hospital. +Burke staid no longer than that his departure might not seem abrupt; +and, on the advantage of the first pause in the talk, was glad to make +his escape. I was present when Paley was much interested and amused by +an account given by one of the company, of a widow lady, who was of +entirely sound mind, except that she believed herself made of glass. +Given the vitrification, her conduct and discourse were consequent and +rational, according to the particulars which Paley drew forth by +numerous questions. Canes and parasols were deposited at the door of her +drawing-room as at the Louvre or Florentine Gallery, and for the same +reason. "You may be hurt by a blow," said she, to one of flesh and +blood; "but I should be broken to pieces: and how could I be +mended?"--_Best's Mems._ + + * * * * * + + + +SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS + + +THE FOREIGN REVIEW, NO. IX. + + +More than one acknowledgment is due from us to this excellent work, +although the publishers may doubt our sincerity by our selecting the +following interesting Ballad, from the German of Christian Count +Stolberg; which, observes the reviewer, "is by some considered the +poet's best effort, and a translation is therefore here attempted:"-- + +ELIZA VON MANSFIELD. + +A BALLAD OF THE TENTH CENTURY. + + + "Still night! how many long for thee! + Now while I wake to weep, + O thou to them hast comfort brought, + Repose and gentle sleep. + + Wished too, thou comest to me; now I + Am lonely, and am free, + And with my many sighs profound + May ease my misery. + + Alas! what evil have I done + They treat me so severely? + My father always called me his + _Good_ child whom he loved dearly. + + My dying mother on my head + Poured her best blessings forth: + It may in heaven be fulfill'd, + But surely not on earth! + + Change not this blessing to a curse + For those who me offend. + O God! forgive them what they do, + And cause them to amend. + + Ah, I with patience might bear all, + If, Love, thou wouldst not be, + Thou who consumest my troubled heart + With hopeless agony! + + If now, while one sweet hope remains, + I cannot this endure; + Thou breakest then, poor heart. So, 'till + Thou breakest, hold it sure." + + Meanwhile, sweeps on a knightly man, + Upon his gallant steed, + And reaches, guided by the path, + The castle bridge, with speed. + + There deeply sank into his heart, + The plaint of the ladye, + He deems she pleads to him for help, + And will her saviour be. + + Full of impatience and desire, + His glowing eyes ranged round, + Till high, within the window, they + The lovely lady found. + + "Ah! lady, speak, why mournest thou? + Confide thy grief to me, + And to thy cause this sword, this arm, + This life, devoted be!" + + "Ah! noble knight, nor sword, nor arm + I need, right well I wot, + But comfort for my sorrowing heart. + And, ah, that thou hast not!" + + "Let me partake thy saddening woe. + That will divide thy grief. + My tear of pity will bestow + Both comfort and relief." + + "Thou good kind youth, then hear my tale; + An orphan I, sir knight, + And with my parents did expire + My peace and my delight + + An uncle and an aunt are now + To me in parents' stead, + Who wound my heart, (God pardon it!) + As if they wished me dead. + + My father was a wealthy Count: + The inheritance now mine-- + Would I were poor! this wretched wealth + 'Tis makes me to repine. + + My uncle thirsteth, day and night, + For my possessions rare, + And therefore shuts me in this tower. + Hard-hearted and severe. + + Here shall I bide, he threatens, choose + I not, in three days, whether + I wed his son, or leave the world. + For a cloister, altogether. + + How quickly might the choice be made. + And I the veil assume, + Ah, had my youthful heart not loved + A youth in beauty's bloom. + + The youngest at the tournament, + I saw him, and I loved, + So free, so noble, and so bold-- + No one like him approved!" + + "Be, noble lady, of good cheer. + No cloister shalt thou see, + Far less of that bad cruel man + The daughter ever be. + + I can, I will deliver thee, + I have resolved it too, + To yield thee to thy youngling's arms. + As I am a Stolberg true!" + + "Thou? Stolberg? O my grief is gone! + Mine angel led thee, sure; + Thou art the dear, dear youth for whom + These sorrows I endure. + + Now say I free and openly, + What then my looks confest, + When I, my love, thy earliest lance + With oaken garland drest." + + "O God! thou? my beloved child, + Eliza Mansfield Dove, + I loved thee, too, with the first look, + As none did ever love. + + See on my lance the garland yet, + It ever carries there; + O could'st thou see thy image too, + Imprinted deeply here! + + And now, why loiter we? Ere shine + The sun, I'll bring thee home, + And nothing more shall our chaste loves + Divide, whatever come." + + "With all my soul I love thee, youth, + Yet still my virgin shame + Struggles against thy rash design, + And trembles for my fame." + + * * * * * + + "We'll seek my sister first, and there + Our wedding shall precede. + And then into my castle I + My noble bride will lead.-- + + Eliza' let us hasten, come-- + It is the mid of night, + The moon will soon conclude her course, + That shineth now so bright." + + Now softly by a secret way + The lady lightly trod. + Till she beneath the window--pale + As deadly marble, stood. + + Yet soon she felt her heart again, + And sprung unto her knight, + Who press'd her speechless to his heart + That throbb'd with chaste delight. + + Then lifts her gladly on his steed, + And her before sits he; + She winds about him her white arms, + Forth go they, valiantly. + + Now, wakened by the prancing steed. + And that true griffin's neigh, + The damsel from the window spied + Her lady borne away. + + She wildly shrieks, and plains to all + Of her calamity: + The old man foams, and cursing, swears + His niece in shame shall die. + + He summon'd all his people up, + And ere the day began, + They left the castle ready armed, + Led by that wicked man. + + Meanwhile, cheered by the friendly moon, + Through common, field, and mead, + Far over hill, and vale, and wood, + That knightly pair proceed. + + What torrent now with dashing foam + Roars loud before them so + "Fear not, my love," the Stolberg said, + "This stream full well I know." + + The gallant roan makes head, his feet + Approve the flood with care, + Then dashes, neighing, through, as if + A tiny brook it were. + + Now come they to the castle wet, + Yet wrapt in heavenly bliss; + Let them describe who such have felt, + The intensity of this. + + Now, sate they at the early meal; + The cup careered about ... + But entering soon--"Up noble Count! + The Mansfield!" cried a scout. + + The bride and sister fearfully + Their hair in sorrow tore; + The Count already had to horse, + And his full armour wore. + + Forth went he out to meet the strife. + And called to Mansfield loud, + "In vain your anger is, for she + My wife is, wed and vow'd. + + And am I not of noble stem, + Whose fame is bruited wide, + Who princes to our nation gave, + E'en in the heathen tide?" + + With lance in rest, upon him springs + That uncle bad and old, + His people follow--but the knight + Awaits him calm and bold. + + And draws his sword. As Mansfield nears, + His fury stoppage found-- + He lays about, and cleaves his scull, + And smites him to the ground. + + The rest disperse, and Stolberg hastes + Into the house again, + And him throughout the long sweet night + Her gentle arms enchain. + + * * * * * + + +A FEARFUL PROSPECT. + +(_From the "Noctes" of Blackwood._) + + +_Shepherd_.--I look to the mountains, Mr. North, and stern they staun' +in a glorious gloom, for the sun is strugglin' wi' a thunder-cloud, and +facing him a faint but fast-brightenin' rainbow. The ancient spirit o' +Scotland comes on me frae the sky; and the sowl within me reswears in +silence the oath o' the Covenant. There they are--the Covenanters a' +gather'd thegither, no in fear and tremblin', but wi' Bibles in their +bosoms, and swords by their sides, in a glen deep as the sea, and still +as death, but for the soun' o' a stream and the cry o' an eagle. "Let us +sing, to the praise and glory o' God, the hundred psalm," quoth a loud +clear voice, though it be the voice o' an auld man; and up to Heaven +hands he his strang wither'd hauns, and in the gracious wunds o' heaven +are flying abroad his gray hairs', or say rather, white as the silver or +the snaw. + +_North_.--Oh, for Wilkie! + +_Shepherd_.--The eagle and the stream are silent, and the heavens and +the earth are brocht close thegither by that triumphin' psalm. Ay, the +clouds cease their sailing and lie still; the mountains bow their heads; +and the crags, do they not seem to listen, as in that remote place the +hour o' the delighted day is filled with a holy hymn to the Lord God o' +Israel! + +_North_.--My dear Shepherd! + +_Shepherd_.--Oh! if there should be sittin' there--even in that +congregation on which, like God's own eye, looketh down the meridian +sun, now shinin' in the blue region--an Apostate! + +_North_.--The thought is terrible. + +_Shepherd_.--But na, na, na! See that bonny blue-e'ed, rosy-cheek'd, +gowden-haired lassie,--only a thought paler than usual, sweet lily that +she is,--half sittin' half lyin' on the greensward, as she leans on the +knee o' her stalwart grand-father--for the sermon's begun, and all eyes +are fastened on the preacher--look at her till your heart melts, as if +she were your ain, and God had given you that beautifu' wee image o' her +sainted mother, and tell me if you think that a' the tortures that +cruelty could devise to inflict, would ever ring frae thae sweet +innocent lips ae word o' abjuration o' the faith in which the flower is +growing up amang the dew-draps o' her native hills? + +_North_.--Never--never--never! + +_Shepherd_.--She proved it, sir, in death. Tied to a stake on the +sea-sands she stood; and first she heard, and then she saw, the white +roarin' o' the tide. But the smile forsook not her face; it brichten'd +in her een when the water reach'd her knee; calmer and calmer was her +voice of prayer, as it beat again' her bonny breast; nae shriek when a +wave closed her lips for ever; and methinks, sir,--for ages on ages hae +lapsed awa' sin' that martyrdom, and therefore Imagination may withouten +blame dally wi' grief--methinks, sir, that as her golden head +disappear'd, 'twas like a star sinkin' in the sea! + +_North_.--God bless you, my dearest James! shake hands. + + * * * * * + + +SPIRIT OF DISCOVERY + + + * * * * * + + +POPULAR PHILOSOPHY. + +_Dr. Arnott's Elements of Physics._ + +Vol. ii. Part I. + + +We are warm friends to the diffusion of knowledge, and accordingly +receive the present portion of Dr. Arnott's work with much satisfaction. +We believe the sale of the first volume to have been almost +unprecedentedly rapid, (a _fourth_ edition being called for within two +years) in comparison with the usual slow sale of _scientific_ works. +This success may easily be traced. The title of the work is not +extraordinarily inviting, illustration, not embellishment, is attempted +in a few outline diagrams, and the only external inducement to read, is +a plain, legible type, to suit all sights. Looking further, we find the +great cause in the manner as well as the matter of the volume, which is +throughout a text-book of _plain-spoken philosophy_, or as the author +says in his title-page, "independently of technical mathematics." Again, +in his introductory chapter on "Imponderable Substances," he says, "To +understand the subjects as far as men yet usefully understand them, and +sufficiently for a vast number of most useful purposes, it is only +necessary to classify important phenomena, so that their nature and +resemblances may be clearly perceived." The main error of most people +who write on philosophical subjects, or the stumbling-block of all +students, has been that of the writer presuming too much upon the +cultivated understanding of his reader. Thus, in the midst of very +familiar explanations we have often seen technicalities which must +operate as a wet blanket on the enthusiasm of the reader; and break up +the charm which the subject had hitherto created. Upon this principle, +treatise upon treatise has been published without effecting the primary +object. The matter of Dr. Arnott's work, however, appears to us to be in +strict accordance with its title--elementary; but it is accompanied with +a variety of explanations of familiar facts on philosophical principles, +which possess attractions of a most amusive character. + +The present portion of Dr. Arnott's work comprehends the subjects of +_Light_ and _Heat_, which admit of more familiar illustration than any +other branches of Natural Philosophy. Of this advantage the author has +fully availed himself in a variety of familiar exemplars, which, to +speak seriously are brought home to our very firesides. A few of these +facts will form a recreative page or two for another MIRROR: in the +meantime we quote a few illustrative observations on the most +interesting exhibitions of the day:-- + +"Common paintings and prints may be considered as parts of a panoramic +representation, showing as much of that general field of view which +always surrounds a spectator, as can be seen by the eye turned in one +direction, and looking through a window or other opening. The pleasure +from contemplating these is much increased by using a lens. There is +such a lens fitted up in the shops, with the title of _optical pillar +machine_, or _diagonal mirror_, and the print to be viewed is laid upon +a table beyond the stand of the lens, and its reflection in a mirror +supported diagonally over it, is viewed through the lens. The illusion +is rendered more complete in such a case by having a box to receive the +painting on its bottom, and where the lens and mirror, fixed in a +smaller box above, are made to slide up and down in their place to allow +of readily adjusting the focal distance. This box used in a reverse way +becomes a perfect camera obscura. The common show-stalls seen in the +streets are boxes made somewhat on this principle, but without the +mirror; and although the drawings or prints in them are generally very +coarse, they are not uninteresting. To children whose eyes are not yet +very critical, some of these show boxes afford an exceeding great +treat." + +_Cosmoramas and Dioramas._ + +"A still more perfect contrivance of the same kind has been exhibited +for some time in London and Paris under the title of _Cosmorama_ (from +Greek words signifying _views_ of the _world_, because of the great +variety of views.) Pictures of moderate size are placed beyond what have +the appearance of common windows, but of which the panes are really +large convex lenses fitted to correct the errors of appearance which the +nearness of the pictures would else produce. Then by farther using +various subordinate contrivances, calculated to aid and heighten the +effects, even shrewd judges have been led to suppose the small pictures +behind the glasses to be very large pictures, while all others have let +their eyes dwell upon them with admiration, as magical realizations of +the natural scenes and objects. Because this contrivance is cheap and +simple, many persons affect to despise it; but they do not thereby show +their wisdom; for to have made so perfect a representation of objects, +is one of the most sublime triumphs of art, whether we regard the +pictures drawn in such true perspective and colouring, or the lenses +which assist the eye in examining them. + +"It has already been stated, that the effect of such glasses in looking +at near pictures, is obtainable in a considerable degree without a +glass, by making the pictures very large and placing them at a +corresponding distance. The rule of proportion in such a case is, that a +picture of one foot square at one foot distance from the eye, appears as +large as a picture of sixty feet square at sixty feet distance. The +exhibition called the Diorama is merely a large painting prepared in +accordance with the principle now explained. In principle it has no +advantage over the cosmorama or the show box, to compensate for the +great expense incurred, but that many persons may stand before it at a +time, all very near the true point of sight, and deriving the pleasure +of sympathy in their admiration of it, while no slight motion of the +spectator can make the eye lose its point of view." + +_The Colosseum._ + +"A round building of prodigious magnitude has lately been erected in the +Regent's Park, in London, on the walls of which is painted a +representation of London and the country around, as seen from the cross +on the top of St. Paul's Cathedral. The scene taken altogether is +unquestionably one of the most extraordinary which the whole world +affords, and this representation combines the advantages of the circular +view of the panorama, the size and distance of the great diorama, and of +the details being so minutely painted, that distant objects may be +examined by a telescope or opera-glass. + +"From what has now been said, it may be understood, that for the purpose +of representing still-nature, or mere momentary states of objects in +motion, a picture truly drawn, truly coloured, and which is either very +large to correct the divergence of light and convergence of visual axes, +or if small, as viewed through a glass, would affect the retina exactly +as the realities. But the desideratum still remained of being able to +paint motion. Now this too has been recently accomplished, and in many +cases with singular felicity, by making the picture transparent, and +throwing lights and shadows upon it from behind. In the exhibitions of +the diorama and cosmorama there have been represented with admirable +truth and beauty such phenomena as--the sun-beams occasionally +interrupted by passing clouds, and occasionally darting through the +windows of a cathedral and illuminating the objects in its venerable +interior--the rising and disappearing of mist over a beautiful +landscape, runningwater, as for instance the cascades among the sublime +precipices of Mount St. Gothard in Switzerland;--and most surprising of +all, a fire or conflagration. In the cosmorama of Regent-street, the +great fire of Edinburgh was admirably represented:--first that fine city +was seen sleeping in darkness while the fire began, then the +conflagration grew and lighted up the sky, and soon at short intervals, +as the wind increased, or as roofs fell in, there were bursts of flame +towering to heaven, and vividly reflected from every wall or spire which +caught the direct light--then the clouds of smoke were seen rising in +rapid succession and sailing northward upon the wind, until they +disappeared in the womb of distant darkness. No one can have viewed that +appalling scene with indifference, and the impression left by the +representation, on those who knew the city, can scarcely have been +weaker than that left on those who saw the reality. The mechanism for +producing such effects is very simple; but spectators, that they may +fully enjoy them, need not particularly inquire about it." + +Even for the present we cannot omit mention of the delight with which we +have read several of the more playful portions of the present work; we +allude to such passages as the Influence of Heat on Animated Beings, in +which Dr. Arnott has really blended the pencil of the artist with the +pen of the philosopher, and thus produced many sketches of extreme +picturesque beauty. + + * * * * * + + +THE GATHERER + + + A snapper up of unconsidered trifles. + SHAKSPEARE. + + * * * * * + +A German having been shown Mount Edgcumbe, and magnificently entertained +with sea-fish, exclaimed--"For my part, I like flat countries, and +fresh-water fish." + + * * * * * + +POETICAL SCRAP. + +_Inscription over a chimney-sweeper's door, at the entrance to Hastings, +from the London Road_:-- + + W. Freelove liveth here, + Is willing to serve both far and near: + He'll sweep your chimneys cheap and clean, + And hopes your custom to obtain; + And, if your chimney should catch fire, + He'll put it out at your desire. + + * * * * * + +The following article appeared, some years since, in a Valenciennes +journal:--Six merchants crossing the Coast of Guinea, with seventy-five +large monkeys, were attacked by upwards of a hundred negroes. Being at a +loss how to defend themselves against such odds, one of the merchants +proposed arming the prisoners: accordingly, swords, poniards, and +pistols, were distributed amongst them, and, by imitating their masters, +these grotesque auxiliaries succeeded in putting their aggressors to +flight. + +W.G.C. + + * * * * * + + +SWIFT'S EPIGRAM, + + +_On the dispute which occurred betwixt Bononcini and Handel_. + + Bononcini swears that Handel + Cannot to him hold a candle; + And Handel swears that Bononcini, + Compared to him is a mere ninny. + 'Tis strange there should such difference be + 'Twixt tweedle-dum and tweedle-dee! + + * * * * * + + +LORD CHESTERFIELD. + + +"At what time does a lady lose all susceptibility of the tender +passion?" said his lordship to the Duchess of C----, then close upon a +century of years.[4] The reply was brisk and animated--"Your lordship +must apply to some one older than me, for I am incapable of answering +the question." + + [4] Ninety. + + * * * * * + + +BOW-STREET WIT. + + +Over the fire-place at the public office, Bow-street is a likeness of +the celebrated Sir John Fielding _Knight_, who was at the head of this +establishment after _losing his sight_. A gentleman, a few days ago, +observed that Fielding was a great encourager of _thieving_. "How so?" +asked his friend. "Why don't you know he was a _dark-knight_." + +P.T.W. + + * * * * * + +The following epitaph is on the tomb of David Birkenhead, in Davenham +churchyard, Cheshire: + + "A tailor by profession, + And in the practice, a plain and honest man: + He was a useful member of society; + For, though he picked holes in no man's coat, + He was ever ready to repair + The mischief that others did; + And whatever _breaches_ broke out in _families_, + He was the man to mend _all_, + And make matters up _again_: + He lived and died respected." + +Forty years' service in Lord Penryhn's family induced Lady Penryhn to +bestow this stone to his memory. + + * * * * * + + +AXIOM. + + + Nought but love can answer love, + And render bliss secure; + But virtue nought can virtue prove + To make that bliss secure. + + * * * * * + + +FOR A WATCH-CASE. + + + Life's but a transient span: + Then, with a fervent prayer each night, + Wind up the days, and set 'em right, + Vain mortal man! + + * * * * * + +LIMBIRD'S EDITION OF THE +_Following Novels is already Published_: + + _s. d._ +Mackenzie's Man of Feeling 0 5 +Paul and Virginia 0 6 +The Castle of Otranto 0 6 +Almoian and Hamet 0 6 +Elizabeth, or the Exiles of Siberia 0 6 +The Castles of Athlin and Dunbayne 0 6 +Rasselas 0 8 +The Old English Baron 0 8 +Nature and Art 0 8 +Goldsmith's Vicar of Wakefield 0 10 +Sicilian Romance 1 0 +The Man of the World 1 0 +A Simple Story 1 4 +Joseph Andrews 1 6 +Humphry Clinker 1 6 +The Romance of the Forest 1 8 +The Italian 2 0 +Zeluco, by Dr. Moore 2 6 +Edward, by Dr. Moore 2 6 +Roderick Random 2 6 +The Mysteries of Udelpho 3 6 +Peregrine Pickle 4 6 + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, +and Instruction, by Various + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 11442 *** |