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diff --git a/11462-0.txt b/11462-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0c2a6f0 --- /dev/null +++ b/11462-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1581 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 11462 *** + +THE MIRROR OF LITERATURE, AMUSEMENT, AND INSTRUCTION. + +VOL. 14, No. 382.] SATURDAY, JULY 25, 1829. [PRICE 2d. + + + + +POPE'S TEMPLE, AT HAGLEY + + +[Illustration: Pope's Temple, at Hagley] + +Reader! are you going out of town "_in search of the picturesque_"--if +so, bend your course to the classic, the consecrated ground of HAGLEY! +think of LYTTLETON, POPE, SHENSTONE, and THOMSON, or refresh your memory +from the "_Spring_" of the latter, as-- + + Courting the muse, thro' _Hagley_ Park thou strayst. + Thy _British Tempe_! There along the dale, + With woods o'erhung, and shagg'd with mossy rocks, + Whence on each hand the gushing waters play, + And down the rough cascade white dashing fall, + Or gleam in lengthen'd vista through the trees, + You silent steal; or sit beneath the shade + Of solemn oaks, that tuft the swelling mounts + Thrown graceful round by Nature's careless hand, + And pensive listen to the various voice + Of rural peace; the herds, the flocks, the birds, + The hollow-whispering breeze, the 'plaint of rills, + That, purling down amid the twisted roots + Which creep around their dewy murmurs shake + On the sooth'd ear. + +Such is the fervid language in which the Poet of the year invoked + + "LYTTLETON, the friend!" + +Yet these lines will kindle the delight and reverence of every lover of +Nature, in common with the effect of the _Seasons_ on the reader, who +"wonders that he never saw before what Thomson shows him, and that he +never yet has felt what Thomson impresses."[1] + + [1] Johnson's Life of Thomson. + +But we quit these nether flights of song to describe the locality of +Hagley Park, of whose beauties our Engraving is but a mere vignette, and +in comparison like holding a candle to the sun. The village of Hagley is +a short distance from Bromsgrove, in Worcestershire, whence the +pleasantest route to the park is to turn to the right on the Birmingham +road, which cuts the grounds into two unequal parts. The house is a +plain and even simple, yet classical edifice. Whately, in his work on +Gardening, describes it as surrounded by a lawn, of fine uneven ground, +and diversified with large clumps, little groups, and single trees; it +is open in front, but covered on one side by the Witchbury hills; on the +other side, and behind by the eminences in the park, which are high and +steep, and all overspread with a lofty hanging wood. The lawn pressing +to the front, or creeping up the slopes of three hills, and sometimes +winding along glades into the depth of the wood, traces a beautiful +outline to a sylvan scene, already rich to luxuriance in massive +foliage, and stately growth. The present house was built by the first +Lord Lyttleton, not on, but near to, the site of the ancient family +mansion, a structure of the sixteenth century. Admission may be obtained +on application to the housekeeper; and for paintings, carving, and +gilding, Hagley is one of the richest show-houses in the kingdom.[2] + + [2] _Show-houses_ is a very appropriate term for such of the + mansions of our nobility and gentry as are open to public + inspection. Hagley is extremely rich in treasures of art. A mere + catalogue of them would occupy the whole of our sheet; but we + must notice two curiously carved mahogany tables, which cost + £200.; four exquisitely carved busts of Shakspeare, Milton, + Spenser, and Dryden, by Scheimaker, and bequeathed to George, + Lord Lyttleton, by Pope; the portrait of Pope and his dog, + Bounce; a fine Madonna, by Rubens; several pictures by Vandyke, + Sir Peter Lely, Le Brun, &c. &c. the Gobelin tapestry of the + drawing room; the ceiling painted by Cipriani; and the family + pictures, among which is Judge Lyttleton, copied from the + painted glass in the Middle Temple Hall. + +Much as the visiter will admire the refined taste displayed within the +mansion, his admiration will be heightened by the classic taste in which +the grounds are disposed. A short distance from the house, embosomed in +trees, stands the church, built in the time of Henry III.; with a +sublime Gothic arch, richly painted windows, and a ceiling fretted with +the heraldic fires of the Lyttleton family, whose tombs are placed on +all sides; among them, the resting-place of the gay poet is +distinguished by the following plain inscription:-- + + This unadorned stone was placed here + By the particular desire and express + Directions of the Right Honourable + GEORGE, LORD LYTTLETON, + Who died August 22, 1773, aged 64. + +Leaving the church we ascend to the crest of a hill, on which stands the +Prince of Wales's Pillar. From this point, the view is inexpressibly +beautiful, in which may be seen an octagon seat sacred to the memory of +Thomson, and erected on the brow of a verdant steep, his favourite spot. +In the foreground is a gently winding valley; on the rising hill beyond +is a noble wood, whilst to the right the open country fades in the +distance; on the left the Clent hills appear, and a dusky antique tower +stands just below them at the extremity of the wood; whilst in the midst +of it, we can discern the _Doric temple sacred to Pope_. This exquisite +gem of the picturesque is represented in our Engraving. + +In the adjoining grove of oaks is the antique tower; in a beautiful +amphitheatre of wood, an Ionic rotunda; and in an embowering grove a +Palladian bridge, with a light airy portico. Here on a fine lawn is the +urn inscribed to Pope, mentioned by Shenstone: + + Here Pope! ah, never must that towering mind + To his loved haunts, or dearer friend return; + What art, what friendship! oh! what fame resign'd; + In yonder glade I trace his mournful urn. + +At the end of the valley, in an obscure corner is a hermitage, composed +of roots and moss, whence we look down on a piece of water in the +hollow, thickly shaded with tall trees, (_see the engraving_,) over +which is a fine view of distant landscape. This spot is the extremity of +the park, and the Clent hills rise in all their wild irregularity, +immediately behind it. + +We have not space to describe, or rather to abridge from Whately's +beautiful description, a tithe of the classic embellishments of Hagley. +Shenstone as well as Pope has here his votive urn. Ivied ruin, temple, +grotto, statue, fountain, and bridge; the proud portico and the humble +rustic seat, alternate amidst these ornamental charms, and never were +Nature and art more delightfully blended than in the beauties of Hagley. +Here Pope, Shenstone, and Thomson[3] passed many hours of calm +contemplation and poetic ease, amidst the hospitalities of the noble +owner of Hagley. To think of their kindred spirits haunting its groves, +and their imaginative contrivances of votive temples, urns, and tablets, +and to combine them with these enchanting scenes of Nature, is to +realize all that Poets have sung of Arcadia of old. Happy! happy life +for the man of letters; what a retreat must your bowers have afforded +from the common-place perplexities of every-day life: Alas! the picture +is almost too sunny for sober contemplation. + + [3] Thomson's affectionate letter to his sister, (quoted by + Johnson, who received it from Boswell,) is dated "Hagley, in + Worcestershire, October the 4th, 1747." + + * * * * * + +_In part of the impression of our last Number, we stated the architect +of the front of_ Apsley House, _to be Sir Jeffrey Wyatville, instead of +Mr. Benjamin Wyatt, by whom the design was furnished, and under whose +superintendence this splendid improvement has been executed. Mr. B. +Wyatt is likewise the architect of the superb mansion built for the late +Duke of York._ + + * * * * * + + +INGRATITUDE. + +A DRAMATIC SKETCH. + +(_For the Mirror_.) + + + Hence, faithless wretch! thou hast forgot the hand + That sav'd thee from oppression--from the grasp + Of want. I fed you once--then you was poor: + Even as I am now. Yet from the store + Of your abundance, you refuse to grant + The veriest trifle. May the bounty + Of that great God who gave you what you have + Ne'er from you flow. You have forgot me, sir, + But I remember ere I left this land, + By way of traffic for the western world, + I had a favourite, faithful dog, + Who for the kindnesses I pour'd upon him + Would fawn upon me: not in flattery, + But in a sort that spoke his generous nature. + Lasting as memory, + Faster than friendship--deeper than the wave + Is the affection of a mindless brute. + In a few hours (for I can almost see + The cot wherein these travell'd bones were cradled,) + I shall have ended an untoward enterprize, + And if that honest creature I have told you of + Still breathes this vital air, and will not know me, + May hospitality keep closed her gates + Against me, till I find a home within + The grave. CYMBELINE. + + * * * * * + + +M. BOILEAU TO HIS GARDENER. + +IMITATED + +(_For the Mirror_.) + + + Industrious man, thou art a prize to me, + The best of masters--surely born for thee; + Thou keeper art of this my rural seat,[4] + Kept at my charge to keep my garden neat; + To train the woodbine and to crop the yew-- + In th' art of gard'ning equall'd p'rhaps by few. + O! could I cultivate my barren soul, + As thou this garden canst so well control; + Pluck up each brier and thorn, by frequent toil, + And clear the mind as thou canst cleanse the soil[5] + + But now, my faithful servant, Anthony, + Just speak, and tell me what you think of me; + When through the day amidst the gard'ning trade + You bear the wat'ring pot, or wield the spade, + And by your labour cause each part to yield, + And make my garden like a fruitful field; + What say you, when you see me musing there + With looks intent as lost in anxious care, + And sending forth my sentiments in words + That oft intimidate the peaceful birds? + Dost thou not then suppose me void of rest, + Or think some demon agitates my breast? + Yon villagers, you know, are wont to say + Thy master's fam'd for writing many a lay, + 'Mongst other matters too he's known to sing + The glorious acts of our victorious king;[6] + Whose martial fame resounds thro' every town; + Unparallel'd in wisdom and renown. + You know it well--and by this garden wall + P'rhaps Mons and Namur[7] at this instant fall. + What shouldst thou think if haply some should say + This noted chronicler's employ'd to-day + In writing something new--and thus his time + Devotes to thee--to paint his thoughts in rhyme? + My master, thou wouldst say, can ably teach, + And often tells me more than parsons preach; + But still, methinks, if he was forc'd to toil + Like me each day--to cultivate the soil, + To prune the trees, to keep the fences round; + Reduce the rising to the level ground, + Draw water from the fountains near at hand + To cheer and fertilize the thirsty land, + He would not trade in trifles such as these, + And drive the peaceful linnets from the trees. + + Now, Anthony, I plainly see that you + Suppose yourself the busiest of the two; + But ah, methinks you'd tell a diff'rent tale + If two whole days beyond the garden pale + You were to leave the mattock and the spade + And all at once take up the poet's trade: + To give a manuscript a fairer face, + And all the beauty of poetic grace; + Or give the most offensive flower that blows + Carnation's sweets, and colours of the rose; + And change the homely language of the clown + To suit the courtly readers of the town-- + Just such a work, in fact, I mean to say, + As well might please the critics of the day! + + Soon from this work returning tir'd and lean, + More tann'd than though you'd twenty summers seen, + The wonted gard'ning tools again you'd take + Your long-accustom'd shovel and your rake; + And then exclaiming, you would surely say, + 'Twere better far to labour many a day + Than e'er attempt to take such useless flights, + And vainly strive to gain poetic heights, + Impossible to reach--I might as soon + Ascend at once and land upon the moon! + + Come, Anthony, attend: let me explain + (Although an idler) weariness and pain. + Man's ever rack'd and restless, here below, + And at his best estate must labour know. + Then comes fatigue. The Sisters nine may please + And promise poets happiness and ease; + But e'en amidst those trees, that cooling shade, + That calm retreat for them expressly made, + No rest they find--there rich effusions flow + In all the measures bardic numbers know: + Thus on their way in endless toil they move, + And spend their strength in labours that they love. + Beneath the trees the bards the muses haunt, + And with incessant toil are seen to pant; + But still amidst their pains, they pleasure find + An ample entertainment for the mind. + But, after all, 'tis plain enough to me, + A man unstudious, must unhappy be; + Who deems a dull, inactive life the best, + A life of laziness, a life of rest; + A willing slave to sloth--and well I know, + He suffers much who nothing has to do. + His mind beclouded, he obscurely sees, + And free from busy life imagines ease. + All sinful pleasures reign without control, + And passions unsubdued pollute the soul; + He thus indulges in impure desires, + Which long have lurk'd within, like latent fires: + At length they kindle--burst into a flame + On him they sport--sad spectacle of shame. + Remorse ensues--with every fierce disease. + The stone and cruel gout upon him seize; + To quell their rage some fam'd physicians come + Who scarce less cruel, crowd the sick man's room; + On him they operate--these learned folk, + Make him saw rocks, and cleave the solid oak;[8] + And gladly would the man his fate resign + For such an humble, happy state as thine. + Be thankful, Anthony, and think with me, + The poor hardworking man may happier be + If blest with strength, activity, and health, + Than those who roll in luxury and wealth. + + Two truths important, I proceed to tell, + One is a truth, you surely know full well; + That labour is essential here below + To man--a source of weal instead of woe: + The other truth, few words suffice to prove, + No blame attaches to the life I love. + So still attend--but I must say no more, + I plainly see, you wish my sermon o'er; + You gape, you close your eyes, you drop your chin, + Again methinks I'd better not begin. + Besides, these melons seem to wish to know + The reason why they are neglected so; + And ask if yonder village holds its feast + And thou awhile art there detained a guest, + While all the flowery tribes make sad complaint. + For want of water they are grown quite faint. + + _Tipton._ T.S.A. + + [4] Anteuil, near Paris. + + [5] Horace speaks thus to his steward in the country. Epistle + xiv. book 1. + + [6] Lewis XIV. + + [7] See Ode sur la prise de Namur. + + [8] This metaphor has been considered too bold, and perhaps + justly, but _Despreaux_ did not think it so. He observed to _M. + Dagnesseau_ that if this line were not good, he might burn the + whole production. + + * * * * * + + + +THE SELECTOR, AND LITERARY NOTICES OF _NEW WORKS._ + + + * * * * * + + +LIVES OF BRITISH PAINTERS, SCULPTORS, AND ARCHITECTS. + +_By Allan Cunningham._ + + +This volume is the first of a series of Lives of Artists, and the fourth +number of Murray's _Family Library_. The author is a first-rate poet, +but it appears that he undertook this task with some diffidence. We +have, however, few artists of literary attainments, and they are more +profitably employed than in authorship. Little apology was necessary, +for of all literary men, poets are best calculated to write on the Fine +Arts: and the genius of Poetry, Painting, Sculpture, and Music, is often +associated in one mind, in love of the subjects at least, if not in +practice. + +Prefixed to the "Lives," is a delightful chapter on British Art before +the birth of Hogarth, from which we quote the following:-- + +"Poetry, Painting, Sculpture, and Music, are the natural offspring of +the heart of man. They are found among the most barbarous nations; they +flourish among the most civilized; and springing from nature, and not +from necessity or accident, they can never be wholly lost in the most +disastrous changes. In this they differ from mere inventions; and, +compared with mechanical discoveries, are what a living tree is to a log +of wood. It may indeed be said that the tongue of poetry is occasionally +silent, and the hand of painting sometimes stayed; but this seems not to +affect the ever-living principle which I claim as their characteristic. +They are heard and seen again in their season, as the birds and flowers +are at the coming of spring; and assert their title to such immortality +as the things of earth may claim. It is true that the poetry of +barbarous nations is rude, and their attempts at painting uncouth; yet +even in these we may recognise the foreshadowings of future excellence, +and something of the peculiar character which, in happier days, the +genius of the same tribe is to stamp upon worthier productions. The +future Scott, or Lawrence, or Chantrey, may be indicated afar-off in the +barbarous ballads, drawings, or carvings, of an early nation. Coarse +nature and crude simplicity are the commencement, as elevated nature and +elegant simplicity are the consummation of art. + +"When the Spaniards invaded the palaces of Chili and Peru, they found +them filled with works of art. Cook found considerable beauty of drawing +and skill of workmanship in the ornamented weapons and war-canoes of the +islanders of the South Sea; and in the interior recesses of India, +sculptures and paintings, of no common merit, are found in every +village. In like manner, when Caesar landed among the barbarians of +Britain, he found them acquainted with arts and arms; and his savage +successors, the Saxons, added to unextinguishable ferocity a love of +splendour and a rude sense of beauty, still visible in the churches +which they built, and the monuments which they erected to their princes +and leaders. All those works are of that kind called ornamental: the +graces of true art, the truth of action and the dignity of sentiment are +wanting; and they seem to have been produced by a sort of mechanical +process, similar to that which creates figures in arras. Art is, indeed, +of slow and gradual growth; like the oak, it is long of growing to +maturity and strength. Much knowledge of colour, much skill of hand, +much experience in human character, and a deep sense of light and shade, +have to be acquired, to enable the pencil to embody the conceptions of +genius. The artist has to seek for all this in the accumulated mass of +professional knowledge: which time has gathered for his instruction, and +with his best wisdom, and his happiest fortune, he can only add a little +more information to the common stock, for the benefit of his successors. +In no country has Painting risen suddenly into eminence. While Poetry +takes wing at once, free and unincumbered, she is retarded in her ascent +by the very mechanism to which she must at last owe at least half her +glory. In Britain, Painting was centuries in throwing off the fetters of +mere mechanical skill, and in rising into the region of genius. The +original spirit of England had appeared in many a noble poem, while the +two sister arts were still servilely employed in preserving incredible +legends, in taking the likeness of the last saint whom credulity had +added to the calendar, and in confounding the acts of the apostles in +the darkness of allegory." + +Then follows an outline of early Art in England, in the embellishment of +cathedrals, &c.; among which is the following notice of one of the +earliest of our attempts at historical portraiture which can be +authenticated:-- + +"It is a Painting on Wood; the figures are less than life, and represent +Henry the Fifth and his relations. It measures four feet six inches +long, by four feet four inches high, and was in the days of Catholic +power the altarpiece of the church of Shene. An angel stands in the +centre, holding in his hands the expanding coverings of two tents, out +of which the king, with three princes, and the queen, with four +princesses, are proceeding to kneel at two altars, where crosses, and +sceptres, and books are lying. They wear long and flowing robes, with +loose hair, and have crowns on their heads. In the background, St. +George appears in the air, combating with the dragon, while Cleodelinda +kneels in prayer beside a lamb. It is not, indeed, quite certain that +this curious work was made during the reign of Henry the Fifth, but +there can be little doubt of its being painted as early as that of his +son." + +In the next page we have the following character of an English artist of +about the same period:-- + +"He was at once architect, sculptor, carpenter, goldsmith, armourer, +jeweller, saddler, tailor, and painter. There is extant, in Dugdale, a +curious example of the character of the times, and a scale by which we +can measure the public admiration of art. It is a contract between the +Earl of Warwick and John Rag, citizen and tailor, London, in which the +latter undertakes to execute the emblazonry of the earl's pageant in his +situation of ambassador to France. In the tailor's bill, gilded griffins +mingle with Virgin Marys; painted streamers for battle or procession, +with the twelve apostles; and 'one coat for his grace's body, lute with +fine gold,' takes precedence of St. George and the Dragon." + +We wish some of the criticism in this chapter had been milder, and a few +of the invectives not so highly charged; some of them even out-Herod the +fury of an article on Painting, in a recent number of the _Edinburgh +Review_. But we must pass on to pleasanter matters--as the following +poetical paragraphs:-- + +"The art of tapestry as well as the art of illuminating books, aided in +diffusing a love of painting over the island. It was carried to a high +degree of excellence. The earliest account of its appearance in England +is during the reign of Henry the Eighth, but there is no reason to doubt +that it was well known and in general esteem much earlier. The +traditional account, that we were instructed in it by the Saracens, has +probably some foundation. The ladies encouraged this manufacture by +working at it with their own hands; and the rich aided by purchasing it +in vast quantities whenever regular practitioners appeared in the +market. It found its way into church and palace--chamber and hall. It +served at once to cover and adorn cold and comfortless walls. It added +warmth, and, when snow was on the hill and ice in the stream, gave an +air of social snugness which has deserted some of our modern mansions. + +"At first the figures and groups, which rendered this manufacture +popular, were copies of favourite paintings; but, as taste improved and +skill increased, they showed more of originality in their conceptions, +if not more of nature in their forms. They exhibited, in common with all +other works of art, the mixed taste of the times--a grotesque union of +classical and Hebrew history--of martial life and pastoral repose--of +Greek gods and Romish saints. Absurd as such combinations certainly +were, and destitute of those beauties of form and delicate gradations +and harmony of colour which distinguish paintings worthily so +called--still when the hall was lighted up, and living faces thronged +the floor, the silent inhabitants of the walls would seem, in the eyes +of our ancestors, something very splendid. As painting rose in fame, +tapestry sunk in estimation. The introduction of a lighter and less +massive mode of architecture abridged the space for its accommodation, +and by degrees the stiff and fanciful creations of the loom vanished +from our walls. The art is now neglected. I am sorry for this, because I +cannot think meanly of an art which engaged the heads and hands of the +ladies of England, and gave to the tapestried hall of elder days fame +little inferior to what now waits on a gallery of paintings." + +Passing over Holbein, Sir Antonio Moore, Vandyke, Lely, Kneller, and +Thornhill, we come to the lives of Hogarth--Wilson--Reynolds and +Gainsborough--from which we select a few characteristic anecdotes and +sketches. In noticing Hogarth's early life, Mr. Cunningham has thrown +some discredit on a book, which on its publication, made not a little +chat among artists:-- + +"Of those early days I find this brief notice in Smith's Life of +Nollekens the sculptor. 'I have several times heard Mr. Nollekens +observe, that he had frequently seen Hogarth, when a young man, saunter +round Leicester Fields with his master's sickly child hanging its head +over his shoulder.' It is more amusing to read such a book than safe to +quote it. Hogarth had ceased to have a master for seventeen years, was +married to Jane Thornhill, kept his carriage, and was in the full blaze +of his reputation, when Nollekens was born." + +Among Hogarth's early labours are his Illustrations of Hudibras, +published in 1726. These were seventeen plates; and we have lately seen +in the possession of Mr. Britton, the architect, eleven original +paintings illustrative of Butler's witty poem, and attributed to +Hogarth. + +From the notices of Hogarth's portraits we select the following:-- + +"Hogarth's Portrait of Henry Fielding, executed after death from +recollection, is remarkable as being the only likeness extant of the +prince of English novelists. It has various histories. According to +Murphy, Fielding had made many promises to sit to Hogarth, for whose +genius he had a high esteem, but died without fulfilling them; a lady +accidentally cut a profile with her scissars, which recalled Fielding's +face so completely to Hogarth's memory, that he took up the outline, +corrected and finished it and made a capital likeness. The world is +seldom satisfied with a common account of any thing that interests +it--more especially as a marvellous one is easily manufactured. The +following, then, is the second history. Garrick, having dressed himself +in a suit of Fielding's clothes, presented himself unexpectedly before +the artist, mimicking the step, and assuming the look of their deceased +friend. Hogarth was much affected at first, but, on recovering, took his +pencil, and drew the portrait. For those who love a soberer history, the +third edition is ready. Mrs. Hogarth, when questioned concerning it, +said, that she remembered the affair well; her husband began the +picture--and finished it--one evening in his own house, and sitting by +her side. + +"Captain Coram, the projector of the Foundling Hospital, sat for his +portrait to Hogarth, and it is one of the best he ever painted. There is +a natural dignity and great benevolence expressed in a face which, in +the original, was rough and forbidding. This worthy man, having laid out +his fortune and impaired his health in acts of charity and mercy, was +reduced to poverty in his old age. An annuity of a hundred pounds was +privately purchased, and when it was presented to him, he said, 'I did +not waste the wealth which I possessed in self-indulgence or vain +expense, and am not ashamed to own that in my old age I am poor.' + +"The last which I shall notice of this class of productions, is the +portrait of the celebrated demagogue John Wilkes. This singular +performance originated in a quarrel with that witty libertine, and his +associate Churchill the poet: it immediately followed an article, from +the pen of Wilkes, in the North Briton, which insulted Hogarth as a man, +and traduced him as an artist. It is so little of a caricature, that +Wilkes good humouredly observes somewhere in his correspondence, 'I am +growing every day more and more like my portrait by Hogarth.' The +terrible scourge of the satirist fell bitterly upon the personal and +moral deformities of the man. Compared with his chastisement the +hangman's whip is but a proverb, and the pillory a post of honour. He +might hope oblivion from the infamy of both; but from Hogarth there was +no escape. It was little indeed that the artist had to do, to brand and +emblazon him with the vices of his nature--but with how much +discrimination that little is done! He took up the correct portrait, +which Walpole upbraids him with skulking into a court of law to obtain, +and in a few touches the man sank, and the demon of hypocrisy and +sensuality sat in his stead. It is a fiend, and yet it is Wilkes still. +It is said that when he had finished this remarkable portrait, the +former friendship of Wilkes overcame him, and he threw it into the fire, +from which it was saved by the interposition of his wife." + +All the criticisms on Hogarth's _moral_ pictures have an air of +originality and freshness of mind, which is so attractive, as to make us +regret that we have not room for them. In proof of this, only let the +reader turn to Mr. Cunningham's remarks on the Harlot and Rake's +Progress, at pages 98 and 99. His descriptions too of the satirical +pictures are extremely ludicrous, and in effect second only to painting +itself. The following anecdote of the celebrated _March to Finchley_ is +curious, though well known:-- + +"The original painting was, on the publication of the print, disposed of +by a kind of lottery. Seven shillings and sixpence were fixed as the +price of a print; and every purchaser of a print was entitled to a +chance in the lottery for the picture. Eighteen hundred and forty-three +chances were subscribed for; a hundred and sixty-seven tickets, which +remained, were presented to the Foundling Hospital. One of the +Hospital's tickets drew the desired prize; and on the same night Hogarth +delivered the painting to the governors, not a little pleased that it +was to adorn a public place." + +After quoting Walpole's description of Hogarth's _Sigismunda_, in which +he says-- + +"To add to the disgust raised by such vulgar expression, her fingers +were blooded by her lover's heart, that lay before her like that of a +sheep for her dinner;--" + +Mr. C. observes, "this is very severe, very pointed, and very untrue. +The Sigismunda of Hogarth is not tearing off her ornaments, nor are her +fingers bloodied by her lover's heart. It is said that the picture +resembled Mrs. Hogarth, who was a very handsome woman; and to this +circumstance Wilkes maliciously alludes in his unprincipled attack on +her husband. 'If the Sigismunda,' says this polite patriot, 'had a +resemblance of any thing ever seen on earth, or had the least pretence +to either meaning or expression, it was what he had seen, or perhaps +made--in real life--his own wife in an agony of passion; but of what +passion no connoisseur could guess.' That Mrs. Hogarth sat for the +picture of Sigismunda seems to have been known to conscientious John, +and this is supported by that lady's conduct to Walpole. This noble +biographer sent her a copy of his Anecdotes, accompanied by a courtly +and soothing note; but she was so much offended by his description of +the Sigismunda, that she took no notice of his present. The widow of the +artist was poor--and an opinion so ill-natured--so depreciating--and so +untrue, injured the property which she wished to sell: she loved too the +memory of her husband, and resented in the dignity of silence the +malicious and injurious attack. She considered the present as an insult +offered when she had no one to protect her. I love her pride and +reverence her affection." + +Of Hogarth's house at Chiswick, we have the following slight notice:-- + +"The time was now approaching when superstition, and folly, and vice, +were to be relieved from the satiric pencil which had awed them so +long--the health of Hogarth began to decline. He was aware of this, and +purchased a small house at Chiswick, to which he retired during the +summer, amusing himself with making slight sketches and retouching his +plates. This house stood till lately on a very pretty spot; but the +demon of building came into the neighbourhood, choked up the garden, and +destroyed the secluded beauty of Hogarth's cottage. The garden, well +stored with walnut, mulberry, and apple trees, contained a small study, +with a head-stone, placed over a favourite bullfinch, on which the +artist had etched the bird's head and written an epitaph. The cottage +contained many snug rooms, and was but yesterday the residence of a man +of learning and genius, Mr. Cary, the translator of Dante. The change of +scene, the free fresh air, and exercise on horseback, had for awhile a +favourable influence on Hogarth's health; but he complained that he was +no longer able to think with the readiness, and work with the elasticity +of spirit, of his earlier years. The friends of this artist observed, +and lamented, this falling away; his enemies hastened to congratulate +Churchill and Wilkes on the success of their malevolence; and these men +were capable of rejoicing in the belief that the work of nature was +their own." + +We are glad to see Mr. Cunningham throwing light on false conclusions +drawn from the eccentricities of genius, as in this little anecdote:-- + +"With Dr. Hoadley, who corrected the manuscript of the Analysis of +Beauty for the press, Hogarth was on such friendly terms that he was +admitted into one of the private theatrical exhibitions which the doctor +loved, and was appointed to perform along with Garrick and his +entertainer, a parody on that scene in Julius Caesar where the ghost +appears to Brutus. Hogarth personated the spectre, but so +unretentive--(we are told)--was his memory that though the speech +consisted only of two lines he was unable to get them by heart, and his +facetious associates wrote them on an illuminated lantern that he might +read them when he came upon the stage. Such is the way in which +anecdotes are manufactured, and conclusions of absence or imbecility +drawn. The speech of the ghost written on the paper lantern formed part +of the humour of the burlesque. Men, dull in comprehending the +eccentricities of genius, set down what passes their own understanding +to the account of the other's stupidity." + +Here our notice of the Life of Hogarth would end, did we not feel +inclined to venture a word or two respecting the omission of Hogarth's +_Tailpiece_, engraved in Ireland's "Life," and there described as his +last work. With the superstitious tale attached to it almost every one +is familiar; yet some notice ought surely to have been taken of the +story, even had it only been to expose its falsehood and absurdity. + +We find that we have proceeded but half through the volume, so that +Wilson, Reynolds, and Gainsborough must remain for another number. + + * * * * * + + + +SPIRIT OF DISCOVERY. + + + * * * * * + + +_Microscopic Objects._ + + +The most delicate test objects for microscopes are the lines on the +feathers of butterflies or moths' wings, of which there are many +gradations; some easily demonstrated, and others only to be seen with +the most powerful reflectors, and to the best advantage by the simple +and uncondensed light of the lamp. The hair of a mouse is a very good +test object: it is best seen by daylight; the most difficult parts of +which are longitudinal lines in the transparent part of the hair, which +require high powers. The hair of the bat and seal are also fine tests. +The lines on the scales of the diamond beetle, &c. are excellent opaque +proof objects. The feet of flies are likewise very interesting. + + * * * * * + + +_New Lilac Dyes._ + + +Dr. Macculloch has lately produced two fine lilac dyes from plants of +domestic growth, not hitherto applied to this purpose. One is from the +berry of the Portugal laurel, and the other the black currant. The +simplest process with alum is all that is required for either; and as +far as his trials go, the best tint is produced by the former fruit. + + * * * * * + + +_Dirty Windows._ + + +We have frequently remarked small radiant and arborescent +crystallizations on dirty windows in London, and have found them to +consist of _sulphate of ammonia_. This salt, or at least, sulphite of +ammonia (which becomes sulphate by exposure to air), is an abundant +product of the combustion of coal. + +_Brande's Journal._ + + * * * * * + + +_Indigo._ + + +This valuable plant, which gives rise to as great speculation in India, +as hops in England, is much injured by wet weather; although the +rapidity of the growth of plants during much rain, in the temperature of +the tropics, is extraordinary, yet a proportional deficiency in all that +characterizes the vegetable world necessarily follows. This we find to +be the case with all forced vegetables; and the mildness of the radish +of hastened growth, when contrasted with the highly pungent and almost +acrid flavour of the slowly and gradually advanced one, may be adduced +as explanatory of this observation. Hence, it is practically well known +to manufacturers, that the indigo plant, however fine and luxuriant, as +is the natural result of much rain, is very deficient _in produce_, and +a similar loss is experienced even if the plant, without the fall of too +much rain, has grown up under cloudy weather. Sunshine, much and +continued sunshine, is essentially necessary for the proper exercise of +those secretory organs by which this peculiar drug is formed and +perfected. + +Indigo leaves produce two dyes--blue and yellow; but the refuse leaves, +when boiled for an hour and a half, will render the water yellow, tinged +with green. This water, kept boiling for two hours, (supplying the loss +by evaporation), will, when filtered, afford a precipitate, which, when +dried, will in colour be a dun-slate, and in quantity perhaps about +equal to the blue extract such leaves have produced. This observation, +as it can lead to no practical advantage, is made for the man of +science, rather than the man of business.--_Mr. C. Weston_--_in Brande's +Journal._ + + * * * * * + + +_Chain Bridge._ + + +Mr. Disney has lately erected at his seat the Hyde, Ingatestone, Essex, +a suspension bridge of common chain, which is much cheaper than either +wood or brick. It is fifty feet long, and four feet wide. The whole cost +of material, and workmanship scarcely exceeded 30_l_. Upon a rough +estimate, a wooden bridge of the same span would have cost from 80_l_. +to 100_l_., and a high arch probably from 150_l_. to 200_l_. The piers +or posts supporting the chains are of oak, but should they in ten or +fifteen years decay, 10_l_. in money, and three days in time would set +it up again.--_Brande's Jour._ + + * * * * * + + +_Stone Roofs._ + + +The Romans employed _pumice_ in building their arched incombustible +roofs. This porous material possessed the additional advantage, when +combined with good cement, of rendering the arched surface one united +petrifaction, opposing (in consequence of its firm union) little lateral +pressure, comparatively, against the sustaining walls. + +Bonomi, the architect, suggests that the principal cause of the +destructiveness of fires in large buildings, is the want of arched +surfaces of incombustible materials. This has been disastrously +exemplified in the destruction of the choir of York Minster, where the +roof of the aisles, which are solidly arched with stone, suffered no +injury; while the choir-roof, although much more raised above the action +of the fire, has been entirely destroyed by it. + + * * * * * + + +_Fossil Saurians._ + + +Several beautiful specimens of fossil saurians, or animals of the lizard +tribe, have, as our scientific readers are aware, been found at Lyme, in +Dorsetshire; but the world would to this day have remained ignorant of +the treasures England possessed, but for the patient labours of three +female pioneers in this service, viz. _Mary Anning_, a dealer; _Miss +Congrieve_, and _Miss Philpots_, residents, who for years had been +collecting and preserving these bodies from the wreck of the coast; the +two last without any other view than the gratification of a laudable +curiosity, and who, with unequalled liberality, communicated their +collections to every man of science that visited the place; and it is to +liberal minds like theirs, and Miss Bennet's, of Wiltshire that we owe +the first rescuing of these natural gems from the spoilers. We copy this +from a communication of Mr. Cumberland to Brande's Journal, and are +truly pleased to record such amiable examples of female excellence in +scientific pursuits. At Dover, Portsmouth, and other places we could +name, we obtained the best information respecting the fossils of the +coast, from females resident there, and we need not add that this +circumstance imparted additional interest to our inquiries. + + * * * * * + + +_The Zoological Society._ + + +We copy the following from the Report to the Zoological Society, just +published: + +"In the Museum in Bruton-street various improvements have taken place. +Additional cases have been erected, wherever space could be obtained, +for the exhibition of the different collections; and two persons have +been in constant employment in preparing and setting up the more +interesting specimens. An assistant has also been lately added, for the +arrangement of the shells, insects, and the other smaller subjects of +the collection; and much care has been bestowed upon the various +departments of comparative anatomy. An instructive as well as an +attractive series in every branch of zoology, but more particularly in +the groups of mammalia, birds, and insects, has thus been arranged for +inspection. A catalogue of the more important objects in the Museum has +been published; and a more detailed list, accompanied with scientific +notices of all the species, is in preparation. + +"The increase in the number of subjects in the collection during the +last year has been considerable, and many of the additions have been of +the utmost importance to science. The whole of these, with a few +exceptions, have been presented by the friends of the society. A +detailed list of these donations which are too numerous for insertion in +this report, is laid upon the table; a reference to the contents of +which will evince that the spirit of liberality, which laid the +foundations of this already valuable collection, has not decreased. + +"A very extensive correspondence has been established with naturalists +of foreign countries, and persons resident in distant parts, who are +anxious to promote the objects of the Society. Through these channels +many valuable acquisitions have been already received; and it is +expected that much of novelty and interest will continually pour in to +increase the attractions of the Museum and Menagerie. + +"The Garden in the Regent's Park is the principal source of attraction +and of expense. The nature of the soil, which consists of a thick +ungrateful clay, increases the cost of every work. The health of the +animals requires that oak floors be raised above the surface of the +ground; and it is necessary to lay a thick substratum of dry material +under every inclosure and every walk. These disadvantages are however +amply counterbalanced by its immediate vicinity to the town. The Council +have, notwithstanding the nature of the soil, endeavoured to give to the +garden all the attractions which good cultivation and an abundance of +flowers can afford: and they have to return their thanks for the very +liberal supplies for this purpose which they have occasionally received +from the Horticultural Society. The resort to the garden has far +surpassed the most sanguine expectations of the Council; 112,226 persons +have visited it during the last year." + + * * * * * + + + +THE NOVELIST + + + * * * * * + + +THE SIEGE OF ABYDOS. + +_A Romantic Tale._ + +(_For the Mirror._) + + +The infidel Turks, ever at variance with the Christians, were, in the +reign of king Orchanes, extremely ambitious to possess the famous Castle +of Abydos; and accordingly vast preparations were made for a close +siege. Previous to the arrival of the Turkish army before the castle, +the angelic Sophronia, daughter of the governor of Abydos, was visited +by a dream. She thought, that while walking out on a beautiful evening, +breathing the fragrant air, and gazing on the brilliant stars, she fell +into a loathsome ditch, in which she remained an hour, terrified, and +unable to move. At length, a handsome youth passed, and she implored him +to rescue her. She did not implore in vain; the young man assisted her +out, cleaned her clothes, and comforted her with pleasant words. They +then proceeded to a delightful bower, put on costly attire, and the +youth regaled the rescued lady with delicious fruits, and sang sonnets +on her personal beauty. Sophronia awoke, sad and disappointed, to find +that her late bliss was only a dream. In a day or two afterwards, the +Turkish army appeared, and a vigorous siege commenced; nevertheless, the +Christians stoutly defended the place, and would, ultimately, have +obliged the enemy to retire, had no intervention taken place. It +happened, unfortunately for the garrison, that a gallant Turkish +captain, in the prime of youth, called Abdurachman approached so near to +the castle gates, as to be plainly observed by the fair Sophronia, from +a small turret window, out of which she had viewed the besiegers. The +lady imagined this captain to be the person to whom she was so much +obliged in her dream, and rejoiced at the supposed discovery; she hoped +that the assailants would be successful in taking her father's castle +that she might have an opportunity of falling into the hands of the +gallant captain she so greatly admired. The siege still raged with much +fury, but was continually repulsed by the brave Christians, insomuch +that the Turkish general became disconcerted, and in the evening of the +third day after the commencement of the siege, retired to his camp, +about a league distant from the scene of action. Sophronia, meanwhile, +was agitated at the ill success of the Turks, though she did not despair +of seeing the captain again. + +She made a confidante of her maid Annis, who undertook, daring as the +attempt was, to steal from the castle to the enemy's camp, in order to +convey a letter from her mistress to Abdurachman. The intrepid Annis +commenced her task in the night: she avoided passing the sentinels and +wardens of the castle, but found her way to a postern gate, scarcely +known to any but herself. She arrived at Abdurachman's tent; the captain +was conversing with his friends about what the general intended to do on +the morrow. Annis desired to speak with him in private, to which he +consented. She then delivered the letter, which was bound with a lock of +the fair writer's hair, and the astonished Abdurachman perused the +following:-- + +"Adored Youth, + +"I am passionately in love with you, and am sorry that you have been +frustrated in your endeavours to take the castle. As I adore you beyond +measure, and shall certainly take poison if you do not succeed; I engage +to deliver Abydos with all its riches into your hands, provided you +follow my instructions. I advise, that in the morning by sunrise, you +raise the siege and withdraw your whole army from the castle, and return +not again till you hear from _me_. My father will be so rejoiced at your +departure, that he will be off his guard, and then I can easily conduct +you with secrecy into the castle." + +The delighted Turk very politely answered this remarkable _billet doux_, +assuring the fair writer that he was at her service, and that he would +implicitly follow her directions as to the taking of Abydos. As soon as +he had dismissed Annis, he flew with Sophronia's letter to the general, +who, upon reading it, expressed great astonishment; he determined to +raise the siege the next morning, and resolved to rely fully on the +beautiful traitress for the future success of his enterprise. The next +day came, and the general raised the siege and departed. The Christians +were rejoiced to see it, and in the evening made merry and drunk wine. +The governor's daughter took advantage of the garrison at this unguarded +moment; and fearing to trust again to the sincerity of her maid, +resolved to proceed herself to Abdurachman's tent. Annis led the way. +The night was serene, and the light of the moon showed the stately +castle of Abydos, dark and majestic. No noise was heard, save the heavy +and uniform step of the sentinels, whose bright arms, as they caught the +moon's rays, sparkled against the gloomy looking building. Little did +the inmates, now as tranquil as the night, dream of being surprised by +an enemy; and little did the brave governor imagine that his own beloved +daughter, at this moment, was treacherously hastening to a merciless +foe, with the intent to conduct him to Abydos! Sophronia reached her +lover's tent weary and faint, for she had walked with great haste. She +sank into the captain's arms, and then, almost inaudibly, informed him +that not a moment was to be lost, and that he must follow her +immediately to the castle. + +He obeyed, and having formed a litter for the lady, she was borne on the +shoulders of four stout Turks. When they arrived at the postern gate, +Sophronia told the captain that he, with his men, must first enter the +castle, and then kill the sentinels and wardens, after which he would be +enabled to give admittance to all his friends. The Turks strictly obeyed +the lady, who before the affair began hastened with Annis to her +apartment in order to await the issue of her plot. The Turks entered the +castle by hundreds, killing all they met, and were soon masters of the +place. Meanwhile, Sophronia and Annis, both dreadfully agitated, heard +from their chamber the dying groans of the poor Christians. Sometimes +the clashing of swords was distinguished, as if a number of persons were +engaged in combat; sometimes the loud lamentations of women intervened; +and sometimes the voices of the conquerors were alone heard in +exultation. At length the door of Sophronia's room burst open, and +Abdurachman rushed in to seize her, while Annis, nearly dead with +terror, calmly submitted to the grasp of a common soldier who +accompanied the captain. + +The dreadful scene was acted and over; the Turks were possessors of the +famed castle of Abydos, and Sophronia's father, the governor, was +hanged. Alas! deluded Sophronia! The faithless Abdurachman, whom she +supposed to have seen in a dream, regarded her not; even lots were cast +for her, and she fell to the share of one whom she did not know. The +beautiful Sophronia took poison and expired. + +G.W.N. + + * * * * * + + + +SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS. + + + * * * * * + + +THE LIBERTINE'S CONFESSION. + +_In Imitation of the Writers of the Sixteenth Century._ + + + I'm sad and sore afraid, + That fickle, and forsworn, + I've sported life away, + And now am left forlorn. + + Poor fool! I dreamt the years + Of youth would never fly, + And pleasure's brimming bowl + Methought could ne'er run dry. + + That woman's bounteous love + Should e'er wax cold for me! + It seem'd that she must first + A woman cease to be. + + Her fondest smiles I thought + My rights by charter were; + Her sighs, her tears, forsooth,-- + Whilst I--was free as air. + + I've knelt at many a shrine, + Of wit and beauty too; + I've lisp'd light vows to all, + And sworn that all were true. + + My pastime was to gain + Their young and grateful love, + Then break the heart I won, + And straight to others rove. + + Ah! wild wit, now at last + Thy vagrancies are o'er; + The ear and gazing eye + That you enthrall'd before. + + No longer hear or see; + Whilst those you now would woo, + The time-worn truant slight, + Nor dream of love with you. + + _New Monthly Magazine._ + + * * * * * + +Dublin is a great city. Dublin, as the late Lord L----th used to say, is +"one of the tay-drinkenest, say-bathinest, car-drivinest places in the +world; it flogs for _divarsion._" + + * * * * * + + +THE TOYMAN IS ABROAD. + +(_Concluded from page 46._) + + +There is a point at which the inconvenience of superfluities so far +exceeds their utility, that luxury becomes converted into a perfect +bore. What, for instance, but an annoyance, would be the most splendid +feast, to a man whose stomach is already overladen with food? Human +ingenuity may effect much; and the Romans, by means of emetics, met this +emergency with considerable skill; but on a more enlarged experience of +general history, it must be conceded, that it is quite impossible to add +one more superfluous meal to those already established by general usage. +So also in matters of dress, ladies' hats must not be larger than the +actual doorways of the country will admit--not at least until time is +allowed for a corresponding increase in our architectural proportions. +With respect to personal ornaments also, ear-rings must not be so +weighty as to tear the lobes of the ears; nor should a bracelet prevent, +by its size, the motions of the arm. "Barbaric pomp and gold" is a fine +thing; but a medallion, as heavy and as cumbrous as a shield, appended +to a lady's bosom, would be any thing but a luxury. So, in the other +extreme, a watch should not be so small as to render the dial-plate +illegible; nor should a shoe be so tight as to lame its wearer for life. +Beauty, it has been said, should learn to suffer; and there are, I am +aware, resources in vanity, that will reconcile man, and woman too, to +martyrdom; but these resources should not be exhausted wantonly; and in +pleasure, as in economy, there is no benefit in lighting the candle at +both ends. The true philosopher extracts the greatest good out of every +thing; and fools only, as Horace has it, run into one vice in trying to +avoid another. Let not the reader, from these remarks, suppose that +their author is a morose censurer of the times; or that the least sneer +is intended against that idol of all orthodoxy "things as they are." As +a general proposition, nothing can be more true, than that whatever is +established, even in the world of fashion, is, for the time being, +wisest, discreetest, best; and, woe betide the man that flies too +directly in its face. + +There is, however, one point upon which I own myself a little sore; and +in which, I do think, superfluities are carried to a somewhat vicious +excess. The point to which I allude, and I beg the patience of the +reader, is the vast increase of superfluities, which of late years have +become primary necessaries in the appointment of a well-furnished house. +Here, indeed, is a revolution; a revolution more formidable than the +French and the American emancipation put together. We all remember the +time when one tea-table, two or three card-tables, a pier glass, a small +detachment of chairs, with two armed corporals to command them, on +either side the fire-place, with a square piece of carpet in the centre +of the floor, made a very decent display in the drawing, or (as it was +then preposterously called) the dining-room. As yet, rugs for the hearth +were not; and twice a day did Betty go upon her knees to scour the +marble and uncovered slab. In the bedrooms of those days, a narrow slip +of carpet round the bed was the maximum of woollen integument allowed +for protecting the feet of the midnight wanderer from his couch; and, in +the staircases of the fairest mansions, a like slip meandered down the +centre of the flight of steps. At that time, curtains rose and fell in a +line parallel to the horizon, after the simple plan of the green +siparium of our theatres; and, being strictly confined to the windows, +they never dreamed of displaying themselves in front of a door. No +golden serpents then twisted their voluminous folds across the entire +breadth of the room; nor did richly-carved cods' heads and shoulders, +under the denomination of dolphins, or glittering spread eagles, with a +brass ring in their mouths, support fenestral draperies, which rival the +display of a Waterloo-house calico-vender. Thus far, I admit, the change +is an improvement. Nay, I could away with ladders to go to bed withal, +though many a time and oft they have broken my shins. I would not either +object to sofas and ottomans, in any reasonable proportion; but protest +I must, and in the strongest terms too, against such a multiplication +and variety of easy chairs, as effectually exclude the possibility of +easy sitting; and against the overweening increase of spider-tables, +that interferes with rectilinear progression. An harp mounted on a +sounding-board, which is a stumbling-block to the feet of the +short-sighted, is, I concede, an absolute necessity; and a piano-forte, +like a coffin, should occupy the centre even of the smallest given +drawing-room--"the court awards it, and the law doth give it,"--but why +multiply footstools, till there is no taking a single step in safety? An +Indian cabinet also, or a buhl armoire, are, either, or both of them, +very fit and becoming; but it cannot be right to make a broker's shop of +your best apartment. An ink-stand, as large as a show twelfth-cake, is +just and lawful; ditto, an ornamental escrutoire; and a _nécessaire_ for +the work-table is, if there be meaning in language, perfectly necessary. +These, with an adequate contingent of musical snuff-boxes, _or molu_ +clocks, China figures, alabaster vases and flower-pots, together with a +discreet superfluity of cut-paper nondescripts, albums, screens, toys, +prints, caricatures, duodecimo classics, new novels and souvenirs, to +cut a dash, and litter the tables, must be allowed to the taste and +refinement of the times. But surely some space should be left for +depositing a coffee-cup, or laying down a useful volume, when the hand +may require to be relieved from its weight, or when it is proper to take +a pinch of snuff, or agreeable to wipe one's forehead. Josses, beakers, +and Sevres' vases have unquestionably the _entrée_ into a genteel +apartment; but they are not entitled to a monopoly of the _locale_; nor +are Roman antiquities, or statues even by Canova, justifiable in +usurping the elbow-room of living men and women. Most unfortunately for +myself, I have a very small house, and a wife of the most enlarged +taste; and the disproportion between these blessings is so great, that I +cannot move without the risk of a heavy pecuniary loss by breakage, and +a heavier personal affliction in perpetual imputations of awkwardness. +Then, again, it is no easy matter to put on a smiling and indifferent +countenance, whenever a friend, accustomed to some latitude of motion, +runs, as is often the case, his devastating chair against a high-priced +work of art, or overturns a table laden with an "infinite thing" in +costly _bijouterie_. I have long made it a rule to exclude from my +visiting-list, or at least not to let up stairs, ladies who pay their +morning calls with a retinue of children: but the thing is not always +possible; and one urchin with his whip will destroy more in half an +hour, than the worth of a month's average domestic expenditure. Oh! how +I hate the little fidgeting, fingering, dislocating imps! A bull in a +china-shop is innocuous to the most orderly and amenable of them. Why +did Providence make children? and why does not some wise Draconic law +banish them for ever to the nursery? + +The general merit of nick-nacks is unquestioned. Ornaments, I admit, are +ornamental; and works of art afford intellectual amusement of the +highest order. But then perfection is their only merit; and a crack or a +flaw destroys all the pleasure of a sensible beholder. Yet I have not a +statue that is not a torso, nor a Chelsea china shepherdess with her +full complement of fingers. I have not a vase with both its handles, a +snuff-box that performs its waltz correctly, nor a volume of prints that +is not dogs-eared, stained, and ink-spotted. These are serious evils; +but they are the least that flow from a neglect of the maxim which +stands at the head of my paper. Perpend it well, reader; and bear ever +in mind that, in our desires, as in our corporeal structure, it is not +given to man to add a cubit to his stature. I am very tired; so "dismiss +me--enough." _New Monthly Magazine._ + + * * * * * + + + +NOTES OF A READER. + + + * * * * * + + +THE QUARTERLY REVIEW. + + +No. 81, of this truly excellent work had not reached us in time for the +close reading which it demands, and our "Notes" from it at present are +consequently few. The first in the number is a powerful paper on Dr. +Southey's _Colloquies on the Progress and Prospects of Society_--"a +beautiful book," says the reviewer, "full of wisdom and devotion--of +poetry and feeling; conceived altogether in the spirit of other times, +such as the wise men of our own day may scoff at, but such as Evelyn, or +Isaak Walton, or Herbert would have delighted to honour." The work is in +general too polemical and political for our pages; but we may hereafter +be tempted to carve out a few pastoral pictures of the delightful +country round Keswick, where Dr. Southey resides. The present Review +contains but few extracts to our purpose, and is rather a paper on the +spirit of the _Colloquies_, than analytical of their merits. We take, +for example, the following admirable passage on the progress of +religious indifference; in which we break off somewhat hastily, +premising that the reader will be induced to turn to the Review itself +for the remainder of the article:-- + +There was a time, since the worship of images, (and happy would it have +been if the religious habits of the country had thenceforth stood +fixed,) when appropriate texts adorned the walls of the dwelling-rooms, +and children received at night a father's blessing;--and "let us worship +God" was said with solemn air, by the head of the household; and +churches were resorted to daily; and "the parson in journey" gave notice +for prayers in the hall of the inn--"for prayers and provender," quoth +he, "hinder no man;" and the cheerful angler, as he sat under the +willow-tree, watching his quill, trolled out a Christian catch. "Here we +may sit and pray, before death stops our breath;" and the merchant (like +the excellent Sutton, of the Charter House) thought how he could make +his merchandize subservient to the good of his fellow-citizens and the +glory of his God, and accordingly endowed some charitable, and learned, +and religious foundation, worthy of the munificence of a crowned head; +and the grave historian (Lord Clarendon himself does so) chose a text in +his Bible as a motto for his chapter on politics; and religion, in +short, reached unto every place, and, like Elisha stretched on the dead +child, (to use one of Jeremy Taylor's characteristic illustrations), +gave life and animation to every part of the body politic. But years +rolled on; and the original impulse given at the Reformation, and +augmented at the Rebellion, to undervalue all outward forms, has +silently continued to prevail, till, with the form of godliness, (much +of it, up doubt, objectionable, but much of it wholesome), the power in +a considerable degree expired too. + +Accordingly, our churches are now closed in the week-days, for we are +too busy to repair to them; our politicians crying out, with Pharaoh, +"Ye are idle, ye are idle; therefore would ye go and do sacrifice to the +Lord." Our cathedrals, it is true, are still open; but where are the +worshippers? Instead of entering in, the citizen avails himself of the +excellent clock which is usually attached to them, sets his watch, and +hastens upon 'Change, where the congregation is numerous and punctual, +and where the theological speculations are apt to run in Shylock's vein +pretty exclusively. If a church will answer, then, indeed, a joint-stock +company springs up; and a church is raised with as much alacrity, and +upon the same principles, as a play-house. The day when the people +brought their gifts is gone by. The "_solid temples_," that heretofore +were built as if not to be dissolved till doomsday, have been succeeded +by thin emaciated structures, bloated out by coats of flatulent plaster, +and supported upon cast-metal pegs, which the courtesy of the times +calls pillars of the church. The painted windows, that admitted a dim +religious light, have given place to the cheap house-pane and dapper +green curtain. The front, with its florid reliefs and capacious crater, +has dwindled into a miserable basin. + + * * * * * + + +AN ARTIST'S FAME. + + + _Painter._ Let none call happy one whose art's deep source + They know not--or what thorny paths he trode + To reach its dazzling goal! + _Marquis._ What dost thou mean? + _Painter._ I'll seek a simile--Some gorgeous cloud + Oft towers in wondrous majesty before ye-- + It bathes its bosom in pure ether's flood, + Evening twines crowns of roses for its head, + And for its mantle weaves a fringe of gold; + Ye gaze on it admiring and enchanted-- + Yet know not whence its airy structure rose! + If it breathe incense from some holy altar, + Or earth-born vapours from the teeming soil, + When rain from Heav'n descends--if fiery breath + Of battle, or the darkly rolling smoke + Of conflagration, thus its giant towers + Pile on the sky--ye care not, but enjoy + Its form and glory,--Thus it is with art! + Whether 'twere born amid the sunny depths + Of a glad heart entranced in mutual love-- + Or, likelier far, alas! the sorrowing child + Of restless anguish, and baptized in tears-- + Or wrung from Genius even amid the throes + Of worse than death--Ye gaze and ye admire, + Nor pause to ask what it hath cost the heart + That gave it being! + + _Blackwood's Magazine._ + + * * * * * + + Romance is ever readier + To make unbidden sacrifice, than rear + The sober edifice of mutual bliss! Ibid. + + * * * * * + + +TRUE PATRIOTISM. + + +Promote religion--protect public morals--repress vice and +infidelity--keep the different classes of the community in strict +subordination to each other--and cherish the principles, feelings, and +habits, which give stability, beauty, and happiness to society. + +Descend from the clouds of political economy, and travel in safety on +your mother earth; cast away the blinding spectacles of the +philosophers, and use the eyes you have received from nature. Practise +the vulgar principles, that it is erroneous to ruin immense good +markets, to gain petty bad ones--that you cannot carry on losing +trade--that you cannot live without profit--and that you cannot eat +without income. And pule no more about individual economy, but eat, and +drink, and enjoy yourselves, like your fathers. What! in these days of +free trade, to tell the hypochondriacal Englishman that the foaming +tankard, the honest bottle of port, and the savoury sirloin, must be +prohibited articles! You surely wish us to hang and drown ourselves by +wholesale.--Ibid. + + * * * * * + + +THE FORGET-ME-NOT. + + +The following account of the origin of the name "Forget-me-not," is +extracted from Mill's _History of Chivalry_, and was communicated to +that work by Dr. A.T. Thomson:--"Two lovers were loitering on the margin +of a lake on a fine summer's evening, when the maiden espied some of the +flowers of Myosòtis growing on the water, close to the bank of an +island, at some distance from the shore. She expressed a desire to +possess them, when the knight, in the true spirit of chivalry, plunged +into the water, and swimming to the spot, cropped the wished for plant, +but his strength was unable to fulfill the object of his achievement, +and feeling that he could not regain the shore, although very near it, +he threw the flowers upon the bank, and casting a last affectionate look +upon his lady-love, he cried 'Forget me not!' and was buried in the +waters."--_Gardener's Magazine._ + + * * * * * + + +HOME. + + + _Leonhard._ See here what spacious halls: how all around + Us breathes magnificence! + + _Spinarosa._ A princely pile! + But ah! how nobler far its daring site! + It rears its tow'rs amid these rocks and glaciers, + As if proud man were in his might resolved + To add _his_ rock to those that spurn the vale. + + _Leon._ All here is beautiful! but 'tis not home! + 'Tis true I was a child scarce eight years old + When led by Pietro into Italy-- + Yet are my home's green lineaments as fresh + As when first painted on my infant soul; + This castle bears them not.--My home lay hid + In the deep bosom of gigantic oaks, + That o'er its roof their guardian shadows flung. + Nor towers, nor gates, nor pinnacles, were there; + With lowly thatch and humble wicket graced, + Smiling, yet solitary, did it stand. + + _Blackwood's Magazine_. + + * * * * * + + +IRISH SONGS. + + +It is impossible to conceive any trash more despicable than the slang +songs which are current amongst the common people in Ireland; and this +is the more to be lamented, as the extreme susceptibility of the people +makes them liable to be easily moved to either good or evil by their +songs. Even the native Irish songs, as we are informed in Miss Brooke's +_Reliques of Irish Poetry_, are sadly interpolated with nonsensical +passages, which have been introduced to supply the place of lost or +forgotten lines; and of humorous lyrical poetry, she says there was none +in the language worth translating. Moore has given to the beautiful airs +of Ireland beautiful words; but Moore is a poet for ladies and +gentlemen, not for mankind. It may be, that there are not materials in +Ireland, for a kindred spirit to that of Burns to work upon; but the +fact is but too true, that the _poor_ Irishman has no song of even +decent ability, to cheer his hours of merriment, or soothe the period of +his sadness. Honour and undying praise be upon the memory of Burns, who +has left to us those songs which, like the breath of nature, from whose +fresh inspiration they were caught, are alike refreshing to the monarch +and the clown!--Ibid. + + * * * * * + + +A REAL MIRACLE. + + +The _fable_ of Dr. Southey's _Pilgrim of Compostella_, is as follows:-- + +A family set forth from Aquitaine to visit the shrine of St. James, at +Compostella, whither, according to the Catholic faith, the decapitated +body of that saint was conveyed from Palestine, (miraculously of +course,) in a ship of marble. At a certain small town by the way, their +son Pierre is tempted by the innkeeper's daughter. Like a second Joseph, +he resists the immodest damsel; like Potiphar's wife, she converts her +love to hate, and accuses the virtuous youth of a capital crime. Her +false oaths prevail, and he is condemned to the gallows. Rejoicing in +his martyred innocence, he exhorts his parents to pursue their +pilgrimage, and pray for the peace of his soul. Sorrowing, they proceed, +and returning, find their son hanging by the neck alive, and singing +psalms--in no actual pain--but naturally desirous to be freed from his +extraordinary state of suspended animation. They repair to the chief +magistrate of the town, by whose authority the youth was executed--find +his worship at dinner--relate the wonderful preservation of their +son--and request that he may be restored. The magistrate is incredulous, +and declares that he would sooner believe that the fowls on which he was +dining would rise again in full feather. The miracle is performed. The +cock and hen spring from the ocean of their own gravy, clacking and +crowing, with all appurtenances of spur, comb, and feather. Pierre, of +course, is liberated, and declared innocent. The cock and hen become +objects of veneration--live in a state of chastity--and are finally +translated--leaving just two eggs, from which arise another immaculate +cock and hen. The breed is perhaps still in existence, and time hath +been, that a lucrative trade was carried on in their feathers!!!--Ibid.. + + * * * * * + + + +THE GATHERER. + + + A snapper up of unconsidered trifles. + SHAKSPEARE. + + * * * * * + +Of Hogarth's first attempt at satire, the following story is related by +Nichols, who had it from one of Hogarth's fellow workmen. "One summer +Sunday, during his apprenticeship, he went with three companions to +Highgate, and the weather being warm and the way dusty, they went into a +public house, and called for ale. There happened to be other customers +in the house, who to free drinking added fierce talking, and a quarrel +ensued. One of them on receiving a blow with the bottom of a quart pot, +looked so ludicrously rueful, that Hogarth snatched out a pencil and +sketched him as he stood. It was very like and very laughable, and +contributed to the restoration of order and good humour." + + * * * * * + + +THE "GOOD BOY" LOVER. + + +"When I was a lad," said a facetious gentleman to the recorder of the +anecdote, "I was, or rather fancied myself to be, desperately in love +with a very charming young lady. Dining at her parents' house one day, I +was unfortunately helped to the gizzard of a chicken, attached to one of +the wings. Aware, like most '_good boys_' that it was extremely +ungenteel to leave anything upon my plate, and being over anxious to act +with etiquette and circumspection in this interesting circle, I, as a +'good boy' wished strictly to conform myself to the rules of good +breeding. But the _gizzard_ of a fowl! Alas! it was impossible! how +unfortunate! I _abhorred_ it! No, I could not either for _love_ or money +have swallowed such a thing! So, after blushing, playing with the +annoyance, and casting many a side-long glance to see if I was observed, +I contrived at length to roll it from my plate into my _mouchoir_, which +I had placed on my knees purposely for its reception; the next minute +all was safely lodged in my pocket. Conversing with the object of my +affections, during the evening, in a state of nervous forgetfulness, I +drew forth my handkerchief, and in a superb flourish, out flew the +GIZZARD! Good heavens! my fair one stared, coloured, laughed; I was +petrified; away flew my ecstatic dreams; and out of the house I flung +myself without one '_au revoir_,' but with a consciousness of the truth +of that delectable ballad which proclaims, that 'Love _has_ EYES!!' I +thought no more of love in that quarter, believe me!" M.L.B. + + * * * * * + + +ADMIRAL RODNEY. + + +During the heat of the memorable battles with Count de Grasse, of April +9th and 12th, 1782, the gallant Rodney desired his young aid-de-camp +(Mr. Charles Dashwood[9]) to make him a glass of lemonade, the +ingredients for which were at hand. Not having any thing to stir it with +but a knife, already discoloured by the cutting of the lemon, Sir George +coolly said, on Mr. Dashwood presenting it to him, "Child, that may do +for a midshipman, but not for an admiral--take it yourself, and send my +servant to me." C.C. + + [9] Afterwards advanced to the rank of post captain, in 1801. + + * * * * * + + +EXPRESSIVE WORDS. + + +I knew very well a French Chevalier, who on coming to England, applied +himself with amazing ardour to the study of our language, and his +remarks upon it, if not always very acute were at least entertaining. +One day, reading aloud an English work, he stopped at the word SPLASH; +expressed himself highly delighted with it, as a term, which minutely +described the thing meant; then repeating it many times with marked +pleasure, and a strong sibillation, he added, "No! no! dere is noting at +all, noting in _my_ language dat de same would be like _splash_!" +Perhaps the following sentence from the satire of a notorious wit in +Elizabeth's reign, is a fair specimen of those expressive words which +_paint_, the object of which they speak:--"To which place, Gabriel came, +_ruffling_ it out, hufty-tufty, in his new suit of velvet." The man was +vain; the writer has made him a _peacock_. M.L.B. + + * * * * * + +I would no more bring a new work out in summer than I would sell pork in +the dog-days.--_Bookseller in Cit. World._ + + * * * * * + +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. Price 6s. 6d. boards. + +The TALES of the GENII. Price 2s. + +The MICROCOSM: By the Right Hon. G. CANNING. &c. Price 2s. + +PLUTARCH'S LIVES, with Fifty Portraits, 2 vols. price 13s. boards. + +COWPER'S POEMS, with 12 Engravings, price 3s. 6d. boards. + +COOK'S VOYAGES, 2 vols. price 8s. boards. + +The CABINET of CURIOSITIES: or, WONDERS of the WORLD DISPLAYED. Price +5s. boards. + +BEAUTIES of SCOTT. 2 vols. price 7s. boards. + +The ARCANA of SCIENCE for 1828. Price 4s. 6d. + +*** Any of the above Works can be purchased in Parts. + +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 11462 *** |