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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 11456 ***
+
+THE MIRROR OF LITERATURE, AMUSEMENT, AND INSTRUCTION.
+
+VOL. XIV, NO. 392.] SATURDAY, OCTOBER 3, 1829. [PRICE 2d.
+
+
+
+
+The Duke's Theatre, Dorset Gardens.
+
+
+[Illustration: The Duke's Theatre, Dorset Gardens.]
+
+
+The above theatre was erected in the year 1671, about a century after the
+regular establishment of theatres in England. It rose in what may be
+called the brazen age of the Drama, when the prosecutions of the Puritans
+had just ceased, and legitimacy and licentiousness danced into the theatre
+hand in hand. At the Restoration, the few players who had not fallen in
+the wars or died of poverty, assembled under the banner of Sir William
+Davenant, at the Red Bull Theatre. Rhodes, a bookseller, at the same time,
+fitted up the Cockpit in Drury Lane, where he formed a company of entirely
+new performers. This was in 1659, when Rhodes's two apprentices, Betterton
+and Kynaston, were the stars. These companies afterwards united, and were
+called the Duke's Company. About the same time, Killigrew, that eternal
+caterer for good things, collected together a few of the old actors who
+were honoured with the title of the "King's Company," or "His Majesty's
+Servants," which distinction is preserved by the Drury Lane Company, to
+the present day, and is inherited from Killigrew, who built and opened
+the first theatre in Drury Lane, in 1663. In 1662, Sir William Davenant
+obtained a patent for building "the Duke's Theatre," in Little Lincoln's
+Inn Fields, which he opened with the play of "the Siege of Rhodes,"
+written by himself. The above company performed here till 1671, when
+another "Duke's Theatre." was built in Dorset Gardens,[1] by Sir
+Christopher Wren, in a similar style of architecture to that in Lincoln's
+Inn Fields. The company removed thither, November 9, in the same year, and
+continued performing till the union of the Duke and the King's Companies,
+in 1682; and performances were continued occasionally here until 1697. The
+building was demolished about April, 1709, and the site is now occupied by
+the works of a Gas Light Company.
+
+
+    [1] At the end of Dorset-street, now communicating with Fleet-street,
+        through Salisbury-square and Salisbury-court.
+
+
+The Duke's Theatre, as the engraving shows, had a handsome front towards
+the river, with a landing-place for visiters by water, a fashion which
+prevailed in the early age of the Drama, if we may credit the assertion of
+Taylor, the water poet, that about the year 1596, the number of watermen
+maintained by conveying persons to the theatres on the banks of the
+Thames, was not less than 40,000, showing a love of the drama at that
+early period which is very extraordinary.[2] All we have left of this
+aquatic rage is a solitary boat now and then skimming and scraping to
+Vauxhall Gardens.
+
+
+    [2] The _Globe_, the _Rose_, and the _Swan_, were on Baukside;
+        besides which there were, either then or after, six other
+        theatres on the Middlesex bank of the Thames.
+
+
+The upper part of the front will be admired for its characteristic taste;
+as the figures of Comedy and Tragedy surmounting the balustrade, the
+emblematic flame, and the wreathed arms of the founder.
+
+Operas were first introduced on the English stage, at Dorset Gardens, in
+1673, with "expensive scenery;" and in Lord Orrery's play of Henry V.,
+performed here in the year previous, the actors, Harris, Betterton, and
+Smith, wore the coronation suits of the Duke of York, King Charles, and
+Lord Oxford.
+
+The names of Betterton and Kynaston bespeak the importance of the Duke's
+Theatre. Cibber calls Betterton "an actor, as Shakspeare was an author,
+both without competitors;" in his performance of _Hamlet_, he profited by
+the instructions of Sir William Davenant, who embodied his recollections
+of Joseph Taylor, instructed by SHAKSPEARE to play the character! What
+a delightful association--to see Hamlet represented in the true vein in
+which the sublime author conceived it! Kynaston's celebrity was of a more
+equivocal description. He played _Juliet_ to Betterton's _Romeo_, and was
+the Siddons of his day; for women did not generally appear on the stage
+till after the Restoration. The anecdote of Charles II. waiting at the
+theatre for the stage _queen_ to be _shaved_ is well known.
+
+Pepys speaks of Harris, in his interesting _Diary_ as "growing very proud,
+and demanding 20_l_. for himself extraordinary more than Betterton, or
+any body else, upon every new play, and 10_l_. upon every revive; which,
+with other things, Sir William Davenant would not give him, and so he
+swore he would never act there more, in expectation of his being received
+in the other house;" (this was in 1663, at the Duke's Theatre in Lincoln's
+Inn Fields.) "He tells me that the fellow grew very proud of late, the
+King and every body else crying him up so high," &c. Poor Sir William, he
+must have been as much worried and vexed as Mr. Ebers with the Operatics,
+or any Covent Garden manager, in our time; whose days and nights are not
+very serene, although passed among the _stars_,
+
+In one of Pepys's notices of Hart, he tells us "It pleased us mightily
+to see the natural affection of a poor woman, the mother of one of the
+children brought upon the stage; the child crying, she, by force, got upon
+the stage, and took up her child, and carried it away off the stage from
+Hart." This pleasant playgoer likewise says, in 1667-8, "when I began
+first to be able to bestow a play on myself, I do not remember that I saw
+so many by half of the ordinary prentices and mean people in the pit at
+2_s_. 6_d_. a-piece as now; I going for several years no higher than the
+12_d_. and then the 18_d_. places, though I strained hard to go in then
+when I did; so much the vanity and prodigality of the age is to be
+observed in this particular."
+
+It may be at this moment interesting to mention that the first Covent
+Garden Theatre was opened under the patent granted to Sir William Davenant
+for the Dorset Gardens and Lincoln's Inn Fields Theatres. We must also
+acknowledge our obligation for the preceding notes to the _Companion to
+the Theatres_, a pretty little work which we noticed _en passant_ when
+published, and which we now seasonably recommend to the notice of our
+readers.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+FOUR SONNETS.
+
+(_For the Mirror_.)
+
+
+SPRING.
+
+
+  Season of sighs perfumed, and maiden flowers,
+    Young Beauty's birthday, cradled in delight
+  And kept by muses in the blushing bowers
+    Where snow-drops spring most delicately white!
+  Oh it is luxury to minds that feel
+    Now to prove truants to the giddy world,
+  Calmly to watch the dewy tints that steal
+    O'er opening roses--'till in smiles unfurled
+  Their fresh-made petals silently unfold.
+    Or mark the springing grass--or gaze upon
+  Primeval morning till the hues of gold
+    Blaze forth and centre in the glorious sun!
+  Whose gentler beams exhale the tears of night,
+  And bid each grateful tongue deep melodies indite.
+
+
+SUMMER.
+
+
+  Now is thy fragrant garland made complete,
+    Maturing year! but as its many dyes
+  Mingle in rainbow hues divinely sweet,
+    They fade and fleet in unobserved sighs!
+  Yet now all fresh and fair, how dear thou art,
+    Just born to breathe and perish! touched by heaven,
+  From lifeless Winter to a beating heart,
+    From scathing blasts to Summer's balmy even!
+  Methinks some angel from the bowers of bliss,
+    In May descended, scattering blossoms round,
+  Embraced each opening flower, bestowed a kiss,
+    And woke the notes of harmony profound;
+  But ere July had waned, alas, she fled,
+  Took back to heaven the flowers, and left the falling leaves instead.
+
+
+AUTUMN.
+
+
+  Field flowers and breathing minstrelsy, farewell!
+    The rose is colourless and withering fast,
+  Sweet Philomel her song forgets to swell,
+    And Summer's rich variety is past!
+  The sear leaves wander, and the hoar of age
+    Gathers her trophy for the dying year,
+  And following in her noiseless pilgrimage,
+    Waters her couch with many a pearly tear.
+  Yet there is one unchanging friend who stays
+    To cheer the passage into Winter's gloom--
+  The redbreast chants his solitary lays,
+    A simple requiem over Nature's tomb,
+  So, when the Spring of life shall end with me,
+  God of my Fathers! may I find a changeless Friend in thee!
+
+
+WINTER.
+
+
+  The trees are leafless, and the hollow blast
+    Sings a shrill anthem to the bitter gloom,
+  The lately smiling pastures are a waste,
+    While beauty generates in Nature's womb;
+  The frowning clouds are charged with fleecy snow,
+    And storm and tempest bear a rival sway;
+  Soft gurgling rivulets have ceased to flow,
+    And beauty's garlands wither in decay:
+  Yet look but heavenward! beautiful and young
+    In life and lustre see the stars of night
+  Untouch'd by time through ages roll along,
+    And clear as when at first they burst to light.
+  And then look from the stars where heaven appears
+  Clad in the fertile Spring of everlasting years!
+
+BENJAMIN GOUGH.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+EXERCISE, AIR, AND SLEEP.
+
+(_Abridged from Mr. Richards's "Treatise on Nervous Disorders."_)
+
+
+The generality of people are well aware of the vast importance of exercise;
+but few are acquainted with its _modus operandi_, and few avail
+themselves so fully as they might of its extensive benefits. The function
+of respiration, which endues the blood with its vivifying principle, is
+very much influenced by exercise; for our Omniscient Creator has given to
+our lungs the same faculty of imbibing nutriment from various kinds of
+air, as He has given to the stomach the power of extracting nourishment
+from different kinds of aliment; and as the healthy functions of the
+stomach depend upon the due performance of certain chemical and mechanical
+actions, so do the functions of the lungs depend upon the due performance
+of proper exercise.
+
+Man being an animal destined for an active and useful life, Providence has
+ordained that sloth shall bring with it its own punishment. He who passes
+nearly the whole of his life in the open air, inhaling a salubrious
+atmosphere, enjoys health and vigour of body with tranquillity of mind,
+and dies at the utmost limit allotted to mortality. He, on the contrary,
+who leads an indolent or sedentary life, combining with it excessive
+mental exertion, is a martyr to a train of nervous symptoms, which are
+extremely annoying. Man was not created for a sedentary or slothful life;
+but all his organs and attributes are calculated for an existence of
+activity and industry. If therefore we would insure health and comfort,
+we must make exercise--to use Dr. Cheyne's expression--a part of our
+religion. But this exercise should be _in the open air_, and in such
+places as are most free from smoke, or any noxious exhalations; where, in
+fact, the air circulates freely, purely, and abundantly. I am continually
+told by persons that they take a great deal of exercise, being constantly
+on their feet from morning till night; but, upon inquiry, it happens, that
+this exercise is not in the open air, but in a crowded apartment, perhaps,
+as in a public office, a manufactory, or at a dress maker's, where twenty
+or thirty young girls are crammed together from nine o'clock in the
+morning till nine at night, or, what is nearly as pernicious, in a house
+but thinly inhabited. Exercise this cannot be called; it is the worst
+species of labour, entailing upon its victims numerous evils. Good air
+is as essential as wholesome food; for the air, by coming into immediate
+contact with the blood, enters at once into the constitution. If therefore
+the air be bad, every part of the body, whether near the heart or far from
+it, must participate in the evil which is produced.
+
+It is on this account that exercise _in the open air_ is so materially
+beneficial to digestion. If the blood be not properly prepared by the
+action of good air, how can the arteries of the stomach secrete good
+gastric juice? Then, we have a mechanical effect besides. By exercise the
+circulation of the blood is rendered more energetic and regular. Every
+artery, muscle, and gland is excited into action, and the work of
+existence goes on with spirit. The muscles press the blood-vessels, and
+squeeze the glands, so that none of them can be idle; so that, in short,
+every organ thus influenced must be in action. The consequence of all this
+is, that every function is well performed. The stomach digests readily,
+the liver pours out its bile freely, the bowels act regularly, and much
+superfluous heat is thrown out by perspiration. These are all very
+important operations, and in proportion to the perfection with which they
+are performed will be the health and comfort of the individual.
+
+There is another process accomplished by exercise, which more immediately
+concerns the nervous system. "Many people," says Mr. Abernethy, "who are
+extremely irritable and hypochondriacal, and are constantly obliged to
+take medicines to regulate their bowels while they live an inactive life,
+no longer suffer from nervous irritation, or require aperient medicines
+when they use exercise to a degree that would be excessive in ordinary
+constitutions." This leads us to infer that the superfluous energy of
+the nerves is exhausted by the exercise of the body, and that as the
+abstraction of blood mitigates inflammations, in like manner does the
+abstraction of nervous irritability restore tranquillity to the system.
+This of course applies only to a state of high nervous irritation; but
+exercise is equally beneficial when the constitution is much weakened, by
+producing throughout the whole frame that energetic action which has been
+already explained.
+
+A debilitated frame ought never to take so much exercise as to cause
+fatigue, neither ought exercise to be taken immediately _before_ nor
+immediately _after_ a full meal. Mr. Abernethy's prescription is a very
+good one--to rise early and use active exercise _in the open air_, till a
+slight degree of fatigue be felt; then to rest one hour, and breakfast.
+After this rest three hours, "in order that the energies of the
+constitution may be concentrated in the work of digestion;" then take
+active exercise again for two hours, rest one, and then dine. After dinner
+rest for three hours; and afterwards, in summer, take a gentle stroll,
+which, with an hour's rest before supper, will constitute the plan of
+exercise for the day. In wet or inclement weather, the exercise may be
+taken in the house, the windows being opened, "by walking actively
+backwards and forwards, as sailors do on ship-board."
+
+We now come to the consideration of _air_. Pure air is as necessary to
+existence as good and wholesome food; perhaps more so; for our food has to
+undergo a very elaborate change before it is introduced into the mass of
+circulating blood, while the air is received at once into the lungs, and
+comes into immediate contact with the blood in that important organ. The
+effect of the air upon the blood is this: by thrusting out as it were, all
+the noxious properties which it has collected in its passage through the
+body, it endues it with the peculiar property of vitality, that is, it
+enables it to build up, repair, and excite the different functions and
+organs of the body. If therefore this air, which we inhale every instant,
+be not pure, the whole mass of blood is very soon contaminated, and the
+frame, in some part or other speedily experiences the bad effects. This
+will explain to us the almost miraculous benefits which are obtained by
+_change of air_, as well as the decided advantages of a free and copious
+ventilation. The prejudices against a free circulation of air, especially
+in the sick chamber, are productive of great evil. The rule as regards
+this is plain and simple: admit as much fresh air as you can; provided it
+does not _blow in_ upon you _in a stream_, and provided you are not in a
+state of profuse perspiration at the time; for in accordance with the
+Spanish proverb--
+
+
+  "If the wind blows on you through a hole
+  Make your will, and take care of your soul."
+
+
+but if the _whole of the body be exposed at once_ to a cold atmosphere,
+no bad consequences need be anticipated.
+
+A great deal has been said about the necessary quantity of _sleep;_ that
+is, how long one ought to indulge in sleeping. This question, like many
+others, cannot be reduced to mathematical precision; for much must depend
+upon habit, constitution, and the nature and duration of our occupations.
+A person in good health, whose mental and physical occupations are not
+particularly laborious, will find seven or eight hours' sleep quite
+sufficient to refresh his frame. Those whose constitutions are
+debilitated, or whose occupations are studious or laborious, require
+rather more; but the best rule in all eases is to sleep till you are
+refreshed, and then get up. If you feel inclined for a snug nap after
+dinner, indulge in it; but do not let it exceed _half an hour;_ if you do,
+you will be dull and uncomfortable afterwards, instead of brisk and
+lively.
+
+In sleeping, as in eating and drinking, we must consult our habits and
+feelings, which are excellent monitors. What says the poet?--
+
+  "Preach not to me your musty rules,
+    Ye drones, that mused in idle cell,
+  The heart is wiser than the schools,
+    The senses always reason well."
+
+One particular recommendation I would propose in concluding this subject,
+from the observance of which much benefit has been derived--it is to sleep
+in a room as large and as airy as possible, and in a bed but little
+encumbered with curtains. The lungs must respire during sleep, as well as
+at any other time; and it is of great consequence that the air should be
+as pure as possible. In summer curtains should not be used at all, and in
+winter we should do well without them. In summer every wise man, who can
+afford it, will sleep out of town--at any of the villages which are
+removed sufficiently from the smoke and impurities of this overgrown
+metropolis.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+THE NOVELIST.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+AN INCIDENT AT FONDI.
+
+  "Away--three cheers--on we go."
+
+
+The morning was delightful; neither Corregio, nor Claude, with all their
+magic of conception could have made it lovelier. The heaven expanded like
+an azure sea--and the dimpling clouds of gold were its Elysian isles--not
+unlike the splendid images we are apt to admire in the poems of _Petrarch_
+and _Alamanni_. The music of the birds kept time to the sound of the
+postilions' whips--the streams sung a fairy legend, and the merry woods,
+touched with the brilliant glow of an Italian sun, breathed into the air
+a delicious sonata. Such a morning as this was formed for something
+memorable! The Grand Diavolo and his bravest ruffians awaited the
+travellers' approach.
+
+The carriage had pursued the direction of the path at a speed unequalled
+in the annals of the postilions; but the termination of the dell did not
+appear. Huge impending cliffs with their crown of trees imparted a shadowy
+depth to the solitude, which the travellers did not seem to relish.
+
+"How cursed inconvenient is this dell with its frightful woods," said the
+baronet to his smiling daughter, "one might as well be sequestered in
+Dante's Inferno. Look at those awful rocks--my mind misgives me as I view
+them. Sure there are no brigands concealed hereabout!"
+
+"Hope not, Pa'," replied the graceful Rosalia; but the last word had
+scarcely died on her lips, ere a discharge of shot was heard. The baronet
+opened his carriage door, and leaped on the ground.
+
+"Hollo! John, Tom, pistols here, my lads, a pretty rencontre this! Stand
+by Rosalia, my own self and purse I don't value a grout, but stand the
+brunt, lads; here they come--oh, that I had met them at Waterloo!"
+
+This attack perplexed the thoughts of the poor baronet. He regarded it as
+a romance in which he was to become the hero. But his present situation
+did not allow him the fascination of a dream. The brigands advanced from
+their concealment, and their chief, who seemed a most pleasant and polite
+scoundrel, commanded his men to inspect the luggage of the travellers.
+
+"Humph! and is that all?" growled the baronet.
+
+"I want a thousand crowns," said the chief, in a gentle tone, "you may
+then proceed."
+
+"Humph! and won't five hundred do?"
+
+"I insist!" returned the brigand, placing his hand on his sword!
+
+This menace was enough. It produced an awful consternation in the
+countenance of the Englishman. He, dear man, felt his heart quake within
+him, as he paid the brigand his enormous demand. But a second trial was
+reserved for him--he turned to his carriage--his daughter was not there!
+where could she be? He heard a laugh, and on raising his head, saw the
+identical object of his care! She waved her delicate white handkerchief
+from the steeps above, while an Italian officer stood beside her laughing
+with all his might. The suspicions of the father were realized. He was the
+tall intriguing scamp who had charmed the eyes of Rosalia at the inn!
+
+Away ran the sire, but the guilty pair seemed to fly with the wings of
+love attached to their heels; up the steep he clambered, scaring all the
+birds from their solitudes; still the lovers kept on before; they passed
+the bridge of Laino; the infuriated sire pursued; spire, tree, castle,
+church, stream; and in short the most beautiful features of the landscape
+appeared in the chase, but the fugitives did not stop to survey them. Away
+they pressed down the sunny slope, through the glen, along the margin of
+the Casparanna, swifter to the eye of the agonized parent than Jehu's
+chariot-wheels. Now they flag--they sit down amid the ruins of yonder old
+chapel--he will reach them now; alas! how vain are the calculations of
+man! In leaping across the Cathanna Mare, he received a shot in his arm;
+the cursed Italian had fired at him, and he fell, like a wounded bird into
+the stream!
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"Dear pa', how you kick one!" exclaimed the beauteous little daughter of
+the Englishman; "surely you have had a troublesome dream." "Dream! let me
+see," said the baronet, rubbing his eyes; "then I'm not drowned, and we
+are again at Albano, are we, and this is our merry host, and thank God,
+Rosalia, you are safe, and I must kiss you, my sweet girl." This was a
+pleasant scene!
+
+R. AUGUSTINE.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+TIME.
+
+IN IMITATION OF THE OLDEN POETS.
+
+(_For the Mirror_.)
+
+
+      Time is a taper waning fast!
+      Use it, man, well whilst it doth last:
+  Lest burning downwards it consume away,
+  Before thou hast commenced the labour of the day.
+
+      Time is a pardon of a goodly soil!
+      Plenty shall crown thine honest toil:
+  But if uncultivated, rankest weeds
+  Shall choke the efforts of the rising seeds.
+
+      Time is a leasehold of uncertain date!
+      Granted to thee by everlasting fate.
+  Neglect not thou, ere thy short term expire,
+  To save thy soul from ever-burning fire.
+
+LEAR.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+SEPULCHRAL ENIGMA.
+
+(_To the Editor of the Mirror_.)
+
+
+The following Sepulchral Enigma against Pride, is engraved on a stone, in
+the Cathedral Church of Hamburgh:
+
+  "O, Mors, cur, Deus, negat, vitam,
+  be, se, bis, nos, his, nam."
+
+
+CANON.
+
+
+  Ordine daprimam mediae? mediamqz sequenti,
+    Debita sic nosces fala, superbe, tibi.
+  Quid mortalis homo jactas tot quidve superbis?
+    Cras forsan fies, pulvis et umbra levis,
+  Quid tibi opes prosunt? Quid nuuc tibi magna potesias?
+    Quidve honor? Ant praestans quid tibi forma? Nihil.
+  Vide _Variorum in Europa itinerum deliciae, &c.
+      Nathane Chitreo, Editio Secunda_, 1599.
+
+
+The above inscription and Canon are from a very scarce book, _me penes_;
+if they are deemed worthy of a place in your entertaining miscellany,
+and no solution or English version should be offered to your notice for
+insertion, I will avail myself of your permission to send one for your
+approval.
+
+Your's, &c. [Greek: S.]
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+THE VINE--A FRAGMENT.
+
+(_For the Mirror_.)
+
+
+  See o'er the wall, the white-leav'd cluster-vine
+  Shoots its redundant tendrils; and doth seem,
+  Like the untam'd enthusiast's glowing heart,
+  Ready to clasp, with an abundant love,
+  All nature in its arms!
+
+C. COLE.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+THE COSMOPOLITE.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+ON LIBERTY.
+
+
+  "I don't hate the world, but I laugh at it;
+  for none but fools can be in earnest about a trifle."
+
+
+So says Gay of the world, in one of his letters to Swift, and we have
+adapted the quotation to our idea of liberty. True it is that Addison
+apostrophizes liberty as a
+
+
+  Goddess, heavenly bright!
+
+
+but we hope our laughter will not be considered as indecorous or
+profane. Our great essayist has exalted her into a Deity, and invested
+her with a mythological charm, which makes us doubt her existence; so
+that to laugh at her can be no more irreverend than to sneer at the
+belief in apparitions, a joke which is very generally enjoyed in these
+good days of spick-and-span philosophy. Whether Liberty ever existed
+or not, is to us a matter of little import, since it is certain that
+she belongs to the grand hoax which is the whole scheme of life. The
+extension of liberty into concerns of every-day life is therefore
+reasonable enough, and to prove that we are happy in possessing this
+ideal blessing, seems to have been the aim of all who have written on
+the subject. One, however, if we remember right, sets the matter in a
+grave light, when he says to man--
+
+
+  Since thy original lapse, true liberty
+  Is lost.
+
+
+He who loves to scatter crumbs of comfort in these starving times, will
+not despair at this sublime truth, but will seek to cherish the love of
+liberty, or the consolation for the loss of it wherever he goes.
+
+The reader need not be told that we are friends to the spread of liberty:
+indeed, we think she may "triumph over time, clip his wings, pare his
+nails, file his teeth, turn back his hour-glass, blunt his scythe, and
+draw the hobnails out of his shoes;" but to show how this may be done, we
+must run over a few varieties of liberty for the benefit of such as do not
+enjoy the inestimable blessings of being _free and easy_: we quote these
+words, vulgar as they are; for, of all words in our vernacular tongue,
+to express comfort and security from ill, commend us to the expletive of
+_free and easy_. We had rather not meddle with civil or religious liberty:
+they are as combustible as the Cotopaxi, or the new governments, of South
+America; and our attempts at reformation do not extend beyond paper and
+print, which the unamused reader may burn or not, as he pleases without
+searing his own conscience or exciting our revenge. To be sure, a few of
+our examples may border on civil liberty; but we shall not seek to find
+parallels for the Ptolemaian cages, or the Tower of Famine, in our times;
+neither shall we feast upon the horrors of the French Revolution, nor the
+last polite reception of the Russians by headless Turks; notwithstanding
+all these examples would bear us out in our idea of the love of liberty,
+and the evils of the loss of it.
+
+Kings often want liberty, even amidst the multitude of their luxuries.
+They are not unfrequently the veriest slaves at court, and liege and loyal
+as we are, we seldom hear of a king eating, drinking, and sleeping as
+other people do, without envying him so happy an interval from the cares
+of state, and the painted pomp of palaces. This it is that makes the
+domestic habits of kings so interesting to every one; and many a time have
+we crossed field after field to catch a glimpse of royalty, in a plain
+green chariot on the Brighton road, when we would not have put our heads
+out of window to see a procession to the House of Lords. Some kings have
+even gone so far in their love of plain life as to drop the king, which is
+a very pleasant sort of unkingship. Frederick the Great, at one of his
+literary entertainments adopted this plan to promote free conversation,
+when he reminded the circle that there was no monarch present, and that
+every one might think aloud. The conversation soon turned upon the faults
+of different governments and rulers, and general censures were passing
+from mouth to mouth pretty freely, when Frederick suddenly stayed the
+topic, by saying, "Peace, peace, gentlemen, have a care, the king is
+coming; it may be as well if he does not hear you, lest he should be
+obliged to be still worse than you." Our Second Charles was very fond of
+liberty, and of dropping the king, or as some writers say, he never took
+the office up: this was for another purpose, in times when
+
+
+  License they mean when they cry liberty.
+
+
+Voluntarily parting with one's liberty is, however, very different to
+having it taken from us, as in the anecdote of the citizen who never
+having been out of his native place during his lifetime, was, for some
+offence, sentenced to stay within the walls a whole year; when he died
+of grief not long afterwards.
+
+State imprisonment is like a set of silken fetters for kings and other
+great people. Thus, almost all our palaces have been used as prisons,
+according to the caprice of the monarch, or the violence of the uppermost
+faction. Shakspeare, in his historical plays, gives us many pictures of
+royal and noble suffering from the loss of liberty. One of the latter,
+with a beautiful antidote, is the address of Gaunt to Bolingbroke, after
+his banishment by Richard II.:--
+
+
+  All places that the eye of heaven visits,
+  Are to a wise man ports, and happy havens:
+  Teach thy necessity to reason thus:
+  There is no virtue like necessity.
+  Think not, the king did banish thee;
+  But thou the king: woe doth heavier sit,
+  Where it perceives it is but faintly borne.
+  Go, say--I sent thee forth to purchase honour,
+  And not--the king exiled thee: or suppose,
+  Devouring pestilence hangs in our air,
+  And thou art flying to a fresher clime.
+  Look, what thy soul holds dear, imagine it
+  To lie that way thou go'st, not whence thou comest:
+  Suppose the singing birds musicians;
+  The grass whereon thou tread'st, the presence strew'd;
+  The flowers, fair ladies; and thy steps, no more
+  Than a delightful measure, or a dance;
+  For gnarling sorrow hath less power to bite
+  The man that mocks at it, and sets it light.
+
+
+Even Napoleon, whose wounds were almost green at his death, sought to
+chase away the recollections of his ill-starred splendour, by rides and
+walks in the island, and conversation with his suite in his garden; and
+Louis XVIII. after his restoration to the throne of France, passed few
+such happy days as his exile at Hartwell, which though only a pleasant
+seat enough, had more comfort than the gilded saloons of Versailles, or
+the hurly-burly of the Tuilleries, with treason hatching in the street
+beneath the windows, and revolution stinking in the very nostrils of the
+court. Shakspeare might well call a crown a
+
+
+  Polished perturbation! golden care!
+
+
+and add--
+
+                  O majesty!
+  When thou dost pinch thy bearer, thou dost sit
+  Like a rich armour worn in heat of day,
+  That scalds with safety.
+
+Goldsmith has somewhat sarcastically lamented that the appetites of the
+rich do not increase with their wealth; in like manner, it would be a
+grievous thing could liberty be monopolized or scraped into heaps like
+wealth; a petty tyrant may persecute and imprison thousands, but he cannot
+thereby add one hour or inch to his own liberty.
+
+Another and a very common loss of liberty is by pleasure and the love of
+fame, especially by the slaves of fashion and the lovers of great place;
+
+
+  Whose lives are others' not their own.
+
+
+Pleasure for the most part, consists in fits of anticipation; since, the
+extra liberty or license of a debauch must be repaid by the iron fetters
+of headache, and the heavy hand of _ennui_ on the following day: even
+the purblind puppy of fashion will tell you, if you make free with your
+constitution, you must suffer for it; and this by a species of slavery. To
+dance attendance upon a great man for a small appointment, and to _boo_
+your way through the world, belongs to the worst of servitude. Congreve
+compares a levee at a great man's to a list of duns; and Shenstone still
+more ill-naturedly says, "a courtier's dependant is a beggar's dog."
+
+Making free, or taking liberties with your fortune, brings about the
+slavery, if not the sin, of poverty; and to take a liberty with the wealth
+of another is about as sure a road to slavery as picking pockets is to
+house-breaking. Debt is another of those odious badges which mark a man
+as a slave, and let him but go on to recovery, that like a snake in the
+sunshine, he may be the more effectually scotched and secured. Gay says to
+Swift, "I hate to be in debt; for I can't bear to pawn five pounds worth
+of my liberty to a tailor or a butcher. I grant you, this is not having
+the true spirit of modern nobility; but it is hard to cure the prejudice
+of education;" and every man will own that a _greater_ slave-master is not
+to be found at Cape Coast than the law's follower, who says, "I 'rest
+you;" and then "brings you to all manner of unrest." One of these fellows
+is even greater than the sultan of an African tribe in till his glory;
+though he neither bears the insignia of rank nor power--none of the little
+finery which wins allegiance and honour--yet he constrains you "by
+virtue," and brings about a compromise and temporary cessation of your
+liberty.
+
+Taking liberties with the pockets or tables of one's relations and
+friends, is at best, but a dangerous experiment. It cannot last long
+before they beg to be excused the liberty, &c., and like the countryman
+with the golden goose, you get a cold, fireless parlour, or a colder hall
+reception for your importunity; and, perchance, the silver ore being all
+gone, you must put up with the French plate. One of the most equivocal,
+if not dangerous, forms of correspondence is that beginning with "I take
+the liberty;" for it either portends some well tried "sufferer" as Lord
+Foppington calls him; a pressing call from a fundless charity; or at best
+but a note from an advertising tailor to tell you that for several years
+past you have been paying 50 per cent. too high a price for your clothes;
+but, like most good news, this comes upon crutches, and the loss is past
+redemption.
+
+What is called the liberty of the subject we must leave for a dull
+barrister to explain: in the meantime, if any reader be impatient for the
+definition, a night's billeting in Covent Garden watchhouse will initiate
+him into its blessings; he is not so dull as to require to be told how to
+get there. The liberty of the press is another ticklish subject to handle--
+like a hedgehog--all points; but we may be allowed to quote, as one of the
+most harmless specimens of the liberty of the press--the production of THE
+MIRROR, as we always acknowledge the liberty by reference to the sources
+whence our borrowed wealth is taken. This is giving credit in one way, and
+taking credit for our own honesty.
+
+Liberty-boys and brawlers would be new acquaintance for us. We are not old
+enough to remember "Wilkes and 45;" the cap of liberty is now seldom
+introduced into our national arms, and this and all such emblems are fast
+fading away. People who used to spout forth Cowper's line and a half on
+liberty, have given up the profession, and all men are at liberty to think
+as they please. Still ours is neither the golden nor the silver age of
+liberty: it is more like paper and platina liberty, things which have the
+weight and semblance without their value.
+
+The only odd rencontre we ever had with a liberty advocate was with L'Abbe
+Gregoire, one of the cabinet advisers of Napoleon, and to judge by his
+writings, a benevolent man. On visiting him at Paris, we put into our
+pocket a little work of our leisure, containing upwards of 6,000
+quotations on almost every subject. The Abbé, who understands English
+well, was delighted with the variety, and on calling again in a few days,
+we found the venerable patriot had been searching for all the passages on
+_liberty_, which he had distinguished by registers: what an evidence is
+this of his ruling passion. At the time we did not recollect that to M.
+Gregoire is attributed the republican sentiment "the reign of Kings is the
+martyrology of nations:" his conversation proved him an enthusiast, but we
+think this liberty rather too strong.
+
+PHILO.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+REVENGE.
+
+
+          'Twas lordly hate that rul'd
+  Indomitable. 'Twas a thirst that naught
+  But blood of him who broke this aching heart
+  Could quench.'--therefore I struck----.
+
+CYMBELINE
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+THE NATURALIST.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+THE FLYING DRAGON.
+
+
+[Illustration: The Flying Dragon.]
+
+
+This beautiful species of the lizard tribe was one of the wonders of our
+ancestors, who believed it to be a fierce animal with wings, and whose
+bite was mortal; whereas, it is perfectly harmless, and differs from other
+lizards merely in its being furnished with an expanding membrane or web,
+strengthened by a few radii, or small bones. It is about twelve inches in
+length, and is found in the East Indies and Africa (_Blumenbach_), where
+it flies through short distances, from tree to tree, and subsists on
+flies, ants, and other insects. It is covered with very small scales,
+and is generally of ash-colour, varied and clouded on the back, &c.
+with brown, black, and white. The head is of a very singular form, and
+furnished with a triple pouch, under and on each side the throat.
+
+Barbarous nations have many fabulous stories of this little animal. They
+say, for instance, that, although it usually lives in the water, it often
+bounds up from the surface, and alights on the branch of some adjacent
+tree, where it makes a noise resembling the laughter of a man.
+
+The curious reader who is anxious to see a specimen of the Flying Dragon,
+will be gratified with a young one, preserved in a case with two
+Cameleons, and exposed for sale in the window of a dealer in articles of
+_vertu_, in St. Martin's Court, Leicester Square.
+
+
+COCHINEAL TRANSPLANTED TO JAVA.
+
+The success with which the cultivation of the nopal and the breeding of
+the insect which produces cochineal has been practised at Cadiz, and
+thence at Malta, is well known. A French apothecary is said to have made
+the experiment in Corsica, but on a very confined scale; and the King of
+the Netherlands, on information that the Isle of Java was well adapted
+for the cultivation of this important article of merchandize, determined
+on attempting the transplantation into that colony. As the exportation
+of the trees and of the insect is prohibited by the laws of Spain, some
+management was requisite to acquire the means of forming this new
+establishment. The following were those resorted to:--His Majesty sent to
+Cadiz, and there maintained, for nearly two years, one of his subjects,
+a very intelligent person, who introduced himself, and by degrees got
+initiated into the _Garden of Acclimation_ of the Economic Society, where
+the breeding of this important insect is carried on. He so well, fulfilled
+his commission (for which the instructions, it is said, were drawn up
+by his royal master himself), that he succeeded in procuring about one
+thousand nopals, all young and vigorous, besides a considerable number of
+insects; and, moreover, carried on his plans so ably, as to persuade the
+principal gardener of the Garden of Acclimation to enter for six years
+into the service of the King of the Netherlands, and to go to Batavia.
+Between eight and ten thousand Spanish dollars are said to have been the
+lure held out to him to desert his post. In the service of the Society he
+gained three shillings a day, paid in Spanish fashion, that is, half, at
+least, in arrear. A vessel of war was sent to bring away the precious
+cargo, which, being furtively and safely shipped, the gardener and the
+insects were on their voyage to Batavia before the least suspicion of
+what was going on was entertained by the Society.--_From the French_.
+
+
+BEES' NESTS.
+
+A French journal says, in the woods of Brazil is frequently found hanging
+from the branches the nest of a species of bee, formed of clay, and about
+two feet in diameter. It is more probable that these nests belong to some
+species of wasp, many of which construct hanging nests. One sort of these
+is very common in the northern parts of Britain, though it is not often
+found south of Yorkshire.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+ASSASSINATION OF MAJOR LAING.
+
+
+The _Literary Gazette_ of Saturday last contains the following very
+interesting intelligence respecting the assassination of Major Laing, and
+the existence of his Journal;--"In giving this tragical and disgraceful
+story to the British public, (says the Editor), we may notice that the
+individual who figures so suspiciously in it, viz. Hassouna d'Ghies, must
+be well remembered a few years ago in London society. We were acquainted
+with him during his residence here, and often met him, both at public
+entertainments and at private parties, where his Turkish dress made him
+conspicuous. He was an intelligent man, and addicted to literary pursuits;
+in manners more polished than almost any of his countrymen whom we ever
+knew, and apparently of a gentler disposition than the accusation of
+having instigated this infamous murder would fix upon him."
+
+The account then proceeds with the following translation from a
+_Marseilles Journal_:--
+
+It was about three years ago, that Major Laing, son-in-law of Colonel
+Hammer Warrington, consul-general of England in Tripoli, quitted that
+city, where he left his young wife, and penetrated into the mysterious
+continent of Africa, the grave of so many illustrious travellers. After
+having crossed the chain of Mount Atlas, the country of Fezzan, the
+desert of Lempta, the Sahara, and the kingdom of Ahades, he arrived at
+the city of Timbuctoo, the discovery of which has been so long desired
+by the learned world. Major Laing, by entering Timbuctoo, had gained the
+reward of 3,000_l_. sterling, which a learned and generous society in
+London had promised to the intrepid adventurer who should first visit
+the great African city, situated between the Nile of the Negroes and the
+river Gambaron. But Major Laing attached much less value to the gaining
+of the reward than to the fame acquired after so many fatigues and
+dangers. He had collected on his journey valuable information in all
+branches of science: having fixed his abode at Timbuctoo, he had
+composed the journal of his travels, and was preparing to return to
+Tripoli, when he was attacked by Africans, who undoubtedly were watching
+for him in the desert. Laing, who had but a weak escort, defended
+himself with heroic courage: he had at heart the preservation of his
+labours and his glory. But in this engagement he lost his right hand,
+which was struck off by the blow of a yatagan. It is impossible to
+help being moved with pity at the idea of the unfortunate traveller,
+stretched upon the sand, writing painfully with his left hand to his
+young wife, the mournful account of the combat. Nothing can be so
+affecting as this letter, written in stiff characters, by unsteady
+fingers, and all soiled with dust and blood. This misfortune was only
+the prelude to one far greater. Not long afterwards, some people of
+Ghadames, who had formed part of the Major's escort, arrived at Tripoli,
+and informed Colonel Warrington that his relation had been assassinated
+in the desert. Colonel Warrington could not confine himself to giving
+barren tears to the memory of his son-in-law. The interest of his glory,
+the honour of England, the affection of a father--all made it his duty
+to seek after the authors of the murder, and endeavour to discover what
+had become of the papers of the victim. An uncertain report was soon
+spread that the papers of Major Laing had been brought to Tripoli
+by people of Ghadames; and that a Turk, named Hassouna Dghies, had
+mysteriously received them. This is the same Dghies whom we have seen at
+Marseilles, displaying so much luxury and folly, offering to the ladies
+his perfumes and his shawls-- a sort of travelling Usbeck, without his
+philosophy and his wit. From Marseilles he went to London, overwhelmed
+with debts, projecting new ones, and always accompanied by women
+and creditors. Colonel Warrington was long engaged in persevering
+researches, and at length succeeded in finding a clue to this horrible
+mystery. The Pasha, at his request, ordered the people who had made part
+of the Major's escort to be brought from Ghadames. The truth was at
+length on the point of being known; but this truth was too formidable
+to Hassouna Dghies for him to dare to await it, and he therefore took
+refuge in the abode of Mr. Coxe, the consul of the United States. The
+Pasha sent word to Mr. Coxe, that he recognised the inviolability of the
+asylum granted to Hassouna; but that the evidence of the latter being
+necessary in the prosecution of the proceedings relative to the
+assassination of Major Laing, he begged him not to favour his flight.
+Colonel Warrington wrote to his colleague to the same effect. However,
+Hassouna Dghies left Tripoli on the 9th of August, in the night, in the
+disguise, it is said, of an American officer, and took refuge on board
+the United States corvette _Fairfield_, Captain Parker, which was then
+at anchor in the roads of Tripoli. Doubtless, Captain Parker was
+deceived with respect to Hassouna, otherwise the noble flag of the
+United States would not have covered with its protection a man accused
+of being an accomplice in an assassination.
+
+It is fully believed that this escape was ardently solicited by a French
+agent. It is even said, that the proposal was first made to the captain
+of one of our (French) ships, but that he nobly replied, that one of the
+king's officers could not favour a suspicious flight--that he would not
+receive Hassouna on board his ship, except by virtue of a written order,
+and, at all events in open day, and without disguise.
+
+The _Fairfield_ weighed anchor on the 10th of August, in the morning.
+
+The Pasha, enraged at this escape of Hassouna, summoned to his palace
+Mohamed Dghies, brother of the fugitive, and there, in the presence of
+his principal officers, commanded him, with a stern voice, to declare the
+truth. Mohamed fell at his master's feet, and declared upon oath, and in
+writing, that his brother Hassouna had had Major Laing's papers in his
+possession, but that he had delivered them up to a person, for a deduction
+of forty per cent. on the debts which he had contracted in France, and the
+recovery of which this person was endeavouring to obtain by legal
+proceedings.
+
+The declaration of Mohamed extends to three pages, containing valuable
+and very numerous details respecting the delivery of the papers of the
+unfortunate Major, and all the circumstances of this strange transaction.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The shape and size of the Major's papers are indicated with the most
+minute exactness; it is stated that these papers were taken from him
+near Timbuctoo, and subsequently delivered to the person abovementioned
+_entire, and without breaking the seals of red wax_--a circumstance which
+would demonstrate the participation of Hassouna in the assassination; for
+how can it be supposed otherwise, that the wretches who murdered the Major
+would have brought these packages to such a distance without having been
+tempted by cupidity, or even the curiosity so natural to savages, to break
+open their frail covers?
+
+Mohamed, however, after he had left the palace, fearing that the Pasha in
+his anger would make him answerable for his brother's crime, according to
+the usual mode of doing justice at Tripoli, hastened to seek refuge in the
+house of the person of whom we have spoken, and to implore his protection.
+Soon afterwards the consul-general of the Netherlands, accompanied by his
+colleagues the consuls-general of Sweden, Denmark, and Sardinia, proceeded
+to the residence of the person pointed out as the receiver, and in the
+name of Colonel Warrington, and by virtue of the declaration of Mohamed,
+called upon him instantly to restore Major Laing's papers. He answered
+haughtily, that this declaration was only a tissue of calumnies; and
+Mohamed, on his side, trusting, doubtless, in a pretended inviolability,
+yielding, perhaps, to fallacious promises, retracted his declaration,
+completely disowned it, and even went so far as to deny his own
+hand-writing.
+
+This recantation deceived nobody; the Pasha, in a transport of rage, sent
+to Mohamed his own son, Sidi Ali; this time influence was of no avail.
+Mohamed, threatened with being seized by the _chiaoux_, retracted his
+retractation; and in a new declaration, in the presence of all the
+consuls, confirmed that which he made in the morning before the Pasha and
+his officers.
+
+One consolatory fact results from these afflicting details: the papers of
+Major Laing exist, and the learned world will rejoice at the intelligence;
+but in the name of humanity, in the name of science, in the name of the
+national honour--compromised, perhaps, by disgraceful or criminal
+bargains--it must be hoped that justice may fall upon the guilty, whoever
+he may be.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+A COFFEE-ROOM CHARACTER.
+
+
+It was about the year 1805 that we were first ushered into the
+dining-house called the Cheshire Cheese, in Wine-office-court. It is known
+that Johnson once lodged in this court, and bought an enormous cudgel
+while there, to resist a threatened attack from Macpherson, the author, or
+editor, of _Ossian's Poems_. At the time we first knew the place (for its
+visiters and keepers are long since changed for the third or fourth time,)
+many came there who remembered Johnson and Goldsmith spending their
+evenings in the coffee-room; old half-pay officers, staid tradesmen of the
+neighbourhood, and the like, formed the principal portion of the company.
+
+Few in this vast city know the alley in Fleet-street which leads to the
+sawdusted floor and shining tables; those tables of mahogany, parted by
+green-curtained seats, and bound with copper rims to turn the edge of the
+knife which might perchance assail them during a warm debate; John Bull
+having a propensity to commit such mutilations in the "torrent, tempest,
+and whirlwind" of argument. Thousands have never seen the homely clock
+that ticks over the chimney, nor the capacious, hospitable-looking
+fire-place under,[3] both as they stood half a century ago, when
+Fleet-street was the emporium of literary talent, and every coffee-house
+was distinguished by some character of note who was regarded as the oracle
+of the company.
+
+
+    [3] We may add that still fewer have seen the characteristic
+        whole-length portrait of "_Harry_," _the waiter_, which has
+        been placed over the fireplace, by subscription among the
+        frequenters of the room. _Wageman_ is the painter, and nothing
+        can describe the _bonhommie_ of Harry, who has just drawn the
+        cork of a pint of port, exulting in all the vainglory of crust
+        and bees' wing.--ED. MIRROR.
+
+
+Among these was old Colonel L----e, in person short and thick-set. He
+often sacrificed copiously to the jolly god, in his box behind the door;
+he was a great smoker, and had numbered between seventy and eighty years.
+Early in the evening he was punctually at his post; he called, for his
+pipe and his "go of rack," according to his diurnal custom; and surveying
+first the persons at his own table, and then those in other parts of
+the room, he commonly sat a few minutes in silence, as if waiting the
+stimulating effect of the tobacco to wind up his conversational powers,
+or perhaps he was bringing out defined images from the dim reminiscences
+which floated in his sensorium. If a stranger were near, he commonly
+addressed him with an old soldier's freedom, on some familiar topic which
+little needed the formalities of a set introduction; but soon changed the
+subject, and commenced fighting "his battles o'er again." He talked much
+of Minden, and the campaigns of 1758 and 59. He boasted of having carried
+the colours of the 20th regiment, that bore the brunt of the day there,
+and mainly contributed to obtain a "glorious victory," as Southey, in his
+days of uncourtliness, called that of Blenheim. But though thus fond of
+showing "how fields were won," he was equally delighted with recounting
+his acquaintance with more peaceful subjects. He had known Johnson and
+Goldsmith, together with the list of worthies who honoured Fleet-street by
+making it their abode between thirty and forty years before, and were at
+that time visitants of the house. "At this very table," said he, speaking
+of that which is situated on the right-hand behind the door, "Johnson used
+always to sit when he came here, and Goldsmith also. I knew them well.
+Johnson overawed us all, and every one became silent when he spoke." The
+colonel observed of Goldsmith, "That no one would have thought much of him
+from his company, though he had a great name in the world."
+
+The colonel also knew something of Churchill, described him as by no means
+prepossessing in person, and one of the last who could have been supposed
+capable of writing as he wrote. The colonel, in his old age, imagined he
+too had a taste for poetry, and boasted of Goldsmith's having asserted
+(perhaps jokingly) that he possessed a talent for writing verse. This idea
+working in his mind for years, had induced him to print, in his old age,
+what he called, to the best of my recollection, "A Continuation of the
+Deserted Village." He always brought a copy with him of an evening, and
+was fond of referring to it, and passing it round for the company to look
+at--a weakness pardonable in a garrulous old man. On revisiting the house,
+for old acquaintance sake, after an absence of some years from London, I
+missed him from his accustomed place, which I observed to be occupied by a
+stranger. On inquiry, I found that he was departed to where human vanity
+and human wisdom are upon a level, and where man is alike deaf to the
+voice of literary and military ambition.--_New Monthly Magazine_.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+NOTES OF A READER.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+THE ANNUALS FOR 1830.
+
+
+We feel it a duty to the proprietors of these elegant works, as well as to
+our readers, to give the following _annonces_ of the several volumes for
+1830:--
+
+The _Keepsake_ is very forward. Among the contributors are Sir Walter
+Scott, Lord Byron, and the author of "Anastasius." Sir Walter's
+contribution is a dramatic romance, in imitation of the German; and Lord
+Byron's are ten letters written by him between 1821, and the time of his
+lordship's death.
+
+The _Forget-Me-Not_ will contain a very gem--being the first known attempt
+at poetry, by Lord Byron, copied from the autograph of the noble poet, and
+certified by the lady to whom it was addressed--the object of his
+lordship's first, if not his only real attachment.
+
+Mr. Ackermann has likewise announced a _Juvenile_ Forget-Me-Not, so as to
+remember all growths.
+
+The _Literary Souvenir_ is in a state of great forwardness. Among the
+contributors are the authors of "Kuzzil-bash;" "Constantinople in 1828;"
+"The Sorrows of Rosalie;" and "Rouge et Noir." The pencils of Sir Thomas
+Lawrence, Howard, Collins, Chalon, Harlowe, and Martin, have furnished
+subjects for the illustrations.
+
+The _Amulet_, among its illustrations will contain an engraving from
+Mulready's picture of an English Cottage; another from Wilkie's "Dorty
+Bairn;" and another from a drawing by Martin, engraved by Le Keux, for
+which he is said to have received one hundred and eighty guineas. Mr.
+Hall, the editor, has likewise been equally fortunate in an accession of
+literary talent.
+
+The _Juvenile_ Forget-Me-Not, under the superintendence of Mrs. S.C. Hall,
+also promises unusual attractions, both in picture and print.
+
+The _Juvenile Keepsake_, edited by Mr. T. Roscoe, is said to be completed.
+
+Another Juvenile Annual, to be called the _Zoological Keepsake_, is
+announced, with a host of cuts to enliven the "birds, beasts, and fishes"
+of the smaller growth.
+
+The _Gem_ will re-appear as the _Annual Gem_, with thirteen
+embellishments, superintended by A. Cooper, R. A.
+
+The _Bijou_ promises well. The embellishments are of the first order,
+from pictures by Sir Thomas Lawrence, Stothard, Wilkie, and the lamented
+Bonington. Among the gems are a splendid portrait of _the King_, from the
+president's picture, in the possession of Sir William Knighton, Bart.; and
+a portrait of the beautiful Mrs. Arbuthnot.
+
+The _Winter's Wreath _will bloom with more than its accustomed beauty.
+Among the contributors we notice, for the first time, the author of "Rank
+and Talent."
+
+_Religious Annuals_ are on the increase. One of the novelties of this
+class is "_Emmanuel_," to be edited by the author of "Clouds and
+Sunshine," of the excellence of which we have many grateful recollections.
+The _Iris_, to be edited by the Rev. Thomas Dale, is another novelty in
+this way.
+
+The _Musical Bijou_ has among its composers, Rossini, Bishop,
+Kalk-brenner, Rodwell, J. Barnet, and others. The lyrists and prose
+writers are Sir Walter Scott, T.H. Bayley, the Ettrick Shepherd, Messrs.
+Planche, Richard Ryan, &c.
+
+One of the most splendid designs of the season is a "_Landscape Annual,
+or the Tourist in Italy and Switzerland_," from drawings by Prout; the
+literary department by T. Roscoe, Esq. and to contain the most attractive
+views which occur to the traveller on his route from Geneva to Rome. Some
+of the plates are described as extremely brilliant.
+
+Two _Transatlantic Annuals_, the _Atlantic Souvenir_, published at
+Philadelphia, and the _Token_, published at Boston--may be expected in
+London.
+
+The foregoing are all the announcements we have been able to collect. We
+miss two or three established favourites; but we hope to make their
+promises the subject of a future paragraph.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+THE GOOSE.
+
+
+In England the goose is sacred to St. Michael; in Scotland, where dainties
+were not going every day,
+
+
+  "'Twas Christmas sent its savoury goose."
+
+
+The Michaelmas goose is said to owe its origin to Queen Elizabeth's dining
+on one at the table of an English baronet on that day when she received
+tidings of the dispersion of the Spanish Armada, in commemoration of which
+she ordered the _goose_ to make its appearance every Michaelmas. In some
+places, particularly Caithness, geese are cured and smoked, and are highly
+relishing. Smoked Solan geese are well known as contributing to the
+abundance of a Scottish breakfast, though too rank and fishy-flavoured for
+unpractised palates. The goose has made some figure in English history.
+The churlishness of the brave Richard Coeur de Lion, a sovereign
+distinguished for an insatiable appetite and vigorous digestion, in an
+affair of roast goose, was the true cause of his captivity in Germany. The
+king, disguised as a palmer, was returning to his own dominions, attended
+by Sir Fulk Doyley and Sir Thomas de Multon, "brothers in arms," and
+wearing the same privileged garb. They arrived in Almain, (Germany,) at
+the town of Carpentras, where,
+
+
+  "A _goose_ they dight to their dinner.
+  In a tavern where they were.
+  King Richard the fire bet,
+  Thomas to him the spit set;
+  Fouk Doyley tempered the wood;
+  Dear a-bought they that good;"
+
+
+for in came a _Minstralle_, or she-Minstrel, with offer of specimens of
+her art in return for a leg of the goose and a cup of the wine. Richard,
+who loved "rich meats," and cared little at this time for their usual
+accompaniment, "minstrelsy,"--
+
+
+  "--bade that she would go;
+  That turned him to mickle woe.
+  The Minstralle took in mind,
+  And said, ye are men unkind:
+  And if I may ye shall _for-think_
+  Ye gave me neither meat nor drink!"
+
+
+The lady, who was English, recognised the king, and denounced him to the
+king of Germany, who ordered the pilgrims into his presence, insulted
+Richard, "said him shame," called him _taylard_, probably for his
+affection for goose, and finally ordered him to a dungeon. But Richard,
+a true knightly eater, who, besides roast goose, liked to indulge in
+
+
+          "Bread and wine,
+  Piment and clarry good and fine;
+  Cranes and swans, and venison;
+  Partridges, plovers, and heron,--
+
+
+was neither dainty nor over-nice. At a pinch he could eat any thing, which
+on sundry emergencies stood him in great stead. _Wax_ and _nuts_, and
+tallow and grease mixed, carried him through one campaign, when the enemy
+thought to have starved out the English army and its cormorant commander.
+The courage and strength of Richard were always redoubled after dinner. It
+was then his greatest feats were performed.--_Romance of Coeur de Lion_.
+
+The livers of geese and poultry are esteemed a great delicacy by some
+_gourmands_; and on the continent great pains are taken to procure fat
+overgrown livers. The methods employed to produce this diseased state of
+the animals are as disgusting to rational taste as revolting to humanity.
+The geese are crammed with fat food, deprived of drink, kept in an
+intolerably hot atmosphere, and fastened by the feet (we have heard of
+nailing) to the shelves of the fattening cribs. The celebrated _Strasburg
+pies_, which are esteemed so great a delicacy that they are often sent as
+presents to distant places, are enriched with these diseased livers. It is
+a mistake that these pies are wholly made of this artificial animal
+substance.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+TURKEY
+
+
+Colonel Rottiers, a recent traveller in Turkey, holds out the following
+temptation to European enterprise:--
+
+The terrestrial paradise, which is supposed to be situated in Armenia,
+appeared to M. Rottiers to stretch along the shores of the Black Sea. The
+green banks, sloping into the water, are sometimes decked with box-trees
+of uncommon size, sometimes clothed with natural orchards, in which
+the cherries, pears, pomegranates, and other fruits, growing in their
+indigenous soil, possess a flavour indescribably exquisite. The bold
+eminences are crowned with superb forests or majestic ruins, which
+alternately rule the scenes of this devoted country, from the water's
+edge to the summit of the mountains. The moral and political condition
+of the country contrasts forcibly with the flourishing aspect of nature.
+At Sinope there is no commerce, and the Greeks having, in consequence,
+deserted the place, the population is at present below 5,000. This city,
+once the capital of the great Mithridates, enjoys natural advantages,
+which, but for the barbarism of the Turkish government, would soon raise
+it into commercial eminence. It has a deep and capacious harbour--the
+finest timber in the world grows in its vicinity--and the district of the
+interior, with which it immediately communicates, is one of the most
+productive and industrious in Asiatic Turkey. Amasia, the ancient capital
+of Cappadocia, Tokat, and Costambol, are rich and populous towns. Near the
+last is held an annual fair, commencing fifteen days before the feast of
+Ramadan, and which is said to be attended by at least fifty thousand
+merchants, from all parts of the east. From the nature of the country in
+which it is situated, M. Rottiers is disposed to believe that Sinope holds
+out peculiarly strong inducements to European enterprise. He also had an
+opportunity of observing, that its defences were gone totally to ruin, and
+significantly remarks, that it could not possibly withstand a _coup de
+main_. Amastra, a great and wealthy city while possessed by the Genoese
+in the middle ages, is now a wretched village, occupied by a few Turkish
+families, whose whole industry consists in making a few toys and articles
+of wooden ware. It stands on a peninsula, which appears to have been
+formerly an island, and the Isthmus uniting it to the mainland is wholly
+composed, according to the account of Mr. Eton, who surveyed part of this
+coast, of fragments of columns and marble friezes.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+GEORGIAN WINE.
+
+
+The chief production of Georgia is wine, which is of excellent quality,
+and so abundant in the countries situated between the Caspian and the
+Black Seas, that it would soon become a most important object of
+exportation, if the people could be induced to improve their methods of
+making and preserving it. At present the grapes are gathered and pressed
+without any care, and the process of fermentation is so unskilfully
+managed, that the wine rarely keeps till the following vintage. The skins
+of animals are the vessels in which it is kept. The hair is turned
+inwards, and the interior of the bag is thickly besmeared with asphaltum
+or mineral tar, which renders the vessel indeed perfectly sound, but
+imparts an abominable flavour to the wine, and even adds to its acescence.
+The Georgians have not yet learned to keep their wine in casks, without
+which it is vain to look for any improvements in its manufacture. Yet the
+mountains abound in the requisite materials, and only a few coopers are
+requisite to make the commencement. The consumption of wine in Georgia,
+and above all at Tiflis, is prodigiously great. From the prince to the
+peasant the ordinary ration of a Georgian, if we may believe M. Gamba,
+is one _tonque_, (equal to five bottles and a half of Bordeaux) per day.
+A _tonque_ of the best wine, such as is drunk by persons of rank, costs
+about twenty sous; the inferior wines are sold for less than a sous per
+bottle.--_Foreign Quar. Rev_.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+HISTORICAL FIDELITY.
+
+
+The court historiographer of the Burmese, has recorded in the national
+chronicle his account of the war with the English to the following purport:
+--"In the years 1186 and 87, the Kula-pyu, or white strangers of the west,
+fastened a quarrel upon the Lord of the Golden Palace. They landed at
+Rangoon, took that place and Prome, and were permitted to advance as far
+as Yandabo; for the king, from motives of piety and regard to life, made
+no effort whatever to oppose them. The strangers had spent vast sums of
+money in their enterprise; and by the time they reached Yandabo, their
+resources were exhausted, and they were in great distress. They petitioned
+the king, who, in his clemency and generosity, sent them large sums of
+money to pay their expenses back, and ordered them out of the country."--
+_Crawfurd's Embassy to Ava._
+
+To quote a vulgar proverb, this is making the best of a bad job.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+DRESS.
+
+
+How far a man's clothes are or are not a part of himself, is more than I
+would take on myself to decide, without farther inquiry; though I lean
+altogether to the affirmative. The inhabitants of the South Sea Islands
+were astonished and alarmed when they, first saw the Europeans strip.
+Yet they would have been much more so, could they have entered into the
+notions prevalent in the civilized world on the subject of a wardrobe;
+could they have understood how much virtue lies inherent in a superfine
+broad cloth, how much respectability in a gilt button, how much sense in
+the tie of a cravat, how much amiability in the cut of a sleeve, how much
+merit of every sort in a Stultz and a Hoby. There are who pretend, and
+that with some plausibilty, that these things are but typical; that taste
+in dress is but the outward and visible sign of the frequentation of good
+company; and that propriety of exterior is but evidence of a general sense
+of the fitness of things. Yet if this were really the case, if there were
+nothing intrinsic in the relation of the clothes to the wearer, how could
+a good coat at once render a pickpocket respectable; or a clean shirt pass
+current, as it does, with police magistrates for a clean conscience. In
+England, a handsome _toggery_ is a better defensive armour, than "helm and
+hauberk's twisted mail." While the seams are perfect, and the elbows do
+not appear through the cloth, the law cannot penetrate it. A gentleman,
+(that is to say, a man who can pay his tailor's bill,) is above suspicion;
+and benefit of clergy is nothing to the privilege and virtue of a handsome
+exterior. That the skin is nearer than the shirt, is a most false and
+mistaken idea. The smoothest skin in Christendom would not weigh with a
+jury like a cambric ruffle; and moreover, there is not a poor devil in
+town striving to keep up appearances in spite of fortune, who would not
+far rather tear his flesh than his unmentionables; which can only arise
+from their being so much more important a part of himself.--_New Monthly
+Magazine_.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The French have a kind of irritable jealousy towards the English, which
+makes them forget their general politeness. Give them but a civil word,
+make the least advance, and they receive you with open arms; but show them
+that cold reserve with which an Englishman generally treats all strangers,
+and every Frenchman's hand is on his sword.--_New Monthly Magazine_.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+THE GATHERER.
+
+
+  A snapper up of unconsidered trifles.
+SHAKSPEARE.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+JACK SHEPPARD.
+
+
+When this notorious felon was under sentence of death, the Right Hon.
+Charles Wolfran Cornwall, then Speaker of the House of Commons, was
+strongly solicited to apply to his majesty for a pardon, as he was related
+to him. "No," said Mr. Cornwall, "I should deserve public censure if I
+attempted to contribute to the prolongation of the life of a man who has
+so frequently been a nuisance to society, and has given so many proofs
+that kindness to him would be cruelty to others. Were my own son to offend
+one-tenth part so often as he has done, I should think it my duty rather
+to solicit his punishment than his pardon."
+
+C.C.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+EPITAPH
+
+
+_On S---- E----, an intelligent and amiable boy, who was unfortunately
+drowned while bathing_.
+
+Though gentle as a dove, his soul sublime,
+For heav'n impatient, would not wait for time;
+Ere youth had bloom'd his virtues ripe were seen,
+A man in intellect! a child in mien!
+A hallow'd wave from mercy's fount was pour'd,
+And, wash'd from clay, to bliss his spirit soar'd.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+A HOLY HERMIT.
+
+
+A hermit, named Parnhe, being upon the road to meet his bishop who had
+sent for him, met a lady most magnificently dressed, whose incomparable
+beauty drew the eyes of every body on her. The saint having looked at her,
+and being himself struck with astonishment, immediately burst into tears.
+Those who were with him wondering to see him weep, demanded the cause of
+his grief. "I have two reasons," replied he, "for my tears; I weep to
+think how fatal an impression that woman makes on all who behold her; and
+I am touched with sorrow when I reflect that I, for my salvation, and to
+please God, have never taken one-tenth part of the pains which this woman
+has taken to please men alone."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+BUNGLING TRANSLATION.
+
+
+At a country village in Yorkshire, was an old established cobbler, who
+cracked his joke, loved his pipe and lived happy. In short, he was a sober
+and industrious man. His quiet, however, was disturbed by an unexpected
+opposition in his trade, at the same village, and to add to his
+misfortune, the new comer established himself directly opposite to the old
+cobbler's stall, and at the same time to show his learning and probity,
+painted in large letters over his door, "_Mens conscia recti_." To
+conceive the meaning of this, the poor cobbler laboured night and day, but
+unsuccessfully; he at last determined that this "_consciarecti_" was a new
+sort of shoe made for men's use; he therefore painted over his door,
+"_Men's and Women's consciarecti_," where it remains still.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+A schoolboy reading Cassar's "Commentaries" came to translate the
+following passage thus: "Caesar venit in Gallia summa diligentia."
+"Caesar came into Gaul on the top of the Diligence."
+
+O.O.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+VERY BAD.
+
+
+A wag, who "will be the death of us," says he bought a cake the other
+evening:--"It is _thundering_ weight," observed the baker: "I hope it will
+not _lighten_ before I get it home," was the equivocal reply.
+
+Q.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+IMPROMPTU
+
+
+On hearing a _Watchman_ cry the hour on Tuesday morning, September 29, the
+last of his duty.
+
+  "Farewell! mine occupation's gone,"
+    He sung in "half-past five;"
+  Here ends his call, his beat is done,
+    How then can he survive.
+
+TOM.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+_LIMBIRD'S EDITIONS_.
+
+
+CHEAP and POPULAR WORKS published at the MIRROR OFFICE in the Strand,
+near Somerset House.
+
+The ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS, Embellished with nearly 150
+Engravings. In 6 Parts, 1s. each.
+
+The TALES of the GENII. 4 Parts, 6d. each.
+
+The MICROCOSM. By the Right Hon. G. CANNING. &c. 4 Parts, 6d. each.
+
+PLUTARCH'S LIVES, with Fifty Portraits, 12 Parts, 1s. each.
+
+COWPER'S POEMS, with 12 Engravings, 12 Numbers, 3d. each.
+
+COOK'S VOYAGES, 28 Numbers, 3d. each.
+
+The CABINET of CURIOSITIES: or, WONDERS of the WORLD DISPLAYED. 27 Nos.
+2d. each.
+
+BEAUTIES of SCOTT, 36 Numbers, 3d. each.
+
+The ARCANA of SCIENCE for 1828. Price 4s. 6d.
+
+GOLDSMITH'S ESSAYS. Price 8d.
+
+DR. FRANKLIN'S ESSAYS. Price 1s. 2d.
+
+BACON'S ESSAYS Price 8d.
+
+SALMAGUNDI. Price 1s. 8d.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Mirror of Literature, Amusement,
+and Instruction, by Various
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 11456 ***