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diff --git a/11487-0.txt b/11487-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a0dad97 --- /dev/null +++ b/11487-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1533 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 11487 *** + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustration. + See 11487-h.htm or 11487-h.zip: + (http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/1/1/4/8/11487/11487-h/11487-h.htm) + or + (http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/1/1/4/8/11487/11487-h.zip) + + + + +THE MIRROR OF LITERATURE, AMUSEMENT, AND INSTRUCTION. + +VOL. 13, NO. 371.] SATURDAY, MAY 23, 1829. [PRICE 2d. + + + + * * * * * + + + + +THE FORTUNE PLAYHOUSE. + + +[Illustration: The Fortune Playhouse.] + + +The Engraving represents one of the playhouses of Shakspeare's time, +as the premises appeared a few years since. This theatre was in Golden +Lane, Barbican, and was built by that celebrated and benevolent actor +Edward Alleyn, the pious founder of Dulwich College, in 1599. It was +burnt in 1624, but rebuilt in 1629. A story is told of a large treasure +being found in digging for the foundation, and it is probable that the +whole sum fell to Alleyn. Upon equal probability, is the derivation of +the name "The Fortune." The theatre was a spacious brick building, and +exhibited the royal arms in plaster on its front. These are retained in +the Engraving; where the disposal of the lower part on the building into +shops, &c. is a sorry picture of the "base purposes" to which a temple +of the Drama has been converted. + +According to the testimony of Ben Jonson and others, Alleyn was the +first actor of his time, and of course played leading characters in the +plays of Shakspeare and Jonson. He was probably the Kemble of his day, +for his biographers tell us such was his celebrity, that he drew crowds +of spectators after him wherever he performed; so that possessing some +private patrimony, with a careful and provident disposition, he soon +became master of an establishment of his own--and this was the +_Fortune_. Although Alleyn left behind him a large sum, it is hardly +probable that he made it here; for in his diary, which, we believe is +extant, he records that he once had so slender an audience, that the +whole receipts of the house amounted to no more than three pounds and a +few odd shillings--a sum which would not pay the expenses; for it +appears by the MS. of Lord Stanhope, treasurer to James I. that the +customary sum paid for the performance of a play at court, was 20 +nobles, or 6l. 12s. 4d.[1] Alleyn was likewise proprietor of the +Blackfriars' Theatre, near what is still called Playhouse Yard. However +he might have gathered laurels on the stage, he must have gained his +fortune by other means. He was keeper of the King's Bear Garden and +Menagerie, which were frequented by thousands, and produced Alleyn, the +then great sum of 500_l_. per annum. He was also thrice married, and +received portions with his two first wives; and we need not insist upon +the turn which matrimony gives to a man's fortune. + + + [1] The nightly expenses of Drury Lane and Covent Garden Theatres + in these days, are upwards of 200_l_. + + +Among the theatrico-antiquarian gossip of _The Fortune_ is, that it was +once the nursery for Henry VIII.'s children--but "no scandal about +the"--we hope. + + * * * * * + + + + +FINE ARTS + + * * * * * + + +EXHIBITION OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY. + + +All men are critics, in a greater or less degree. They can generalize +upon the merits and defects of a picture, although they cannot point out +the details of the defects, or in what the beauty of a picture consists; +and to prove this, only let the reader visit the Exhibition at Somerset +House, and watch the little critical _coteries_ that collect round the +most attractive paintings. Could all these criticisms be embodied, but +in "terms of art," what a fine lecture would they make for the Royal +Academy. + +Our discursive notice would, probably, contribute but little to this +joint-stock production; but as even comparing notes is not always +unprofitable, we venture to give our own. + +The present Exhibition is much superior to that of last year. There are +more works of imagination, and consequently greater attractions for the +lover of painting; for life-breathing as have been many of the portraits +in recent exhibitions, the interest which they created was of quite a +different nature to that which we take in not a few of the pictures of +the present collection. Portraits still superabound, and finely painted +portraits too; but, strange to say, there are fewer female portraits in +the present than in any recent exhibition. + +But the _elite_ are seven pictures by Mr. Wilkie, who has reappeared, as +it were, in British art, after an absence from England; during which he +appears to have studied manners and costume with beautiful effect; and +the paintings to which we allude, are triumphant proofs of his success. +They are embodiments or realizations of character, manners, and scenery, +with which the painter has been wont to mix, and thus to transfer them +to his canvass with vividness and fidelity--merits of the highest order +in all successes of art. We shall touch upon these pictures in our +ramble through the rooms-- + +4. _Subject from the Revelations_.--F. Danby--A sublime composition. + +10. _The Fountain_: morning.--A.W. Callcott. A delightful picture. + +14. _Rubens and the Philosopher_.--G. Clint. The anecdote of Rubens and +Brondel, the alchemist, remarkably well told. + +16. _Benaiah_.--W. Etty--The line in 2 Samuel xxiii. 20., "he slew two +lion-like men of Moab," has furnished Mr. Etty with the subject of this +picture. It is a surprising rather than a pleasing composition; but the +strength of colouring is very extraordinary. The disproportions of parts +of the principal figure will, however, be recognised by the most casual +beholder: although as a fine display of muscular energy, this picture is +truly valuable, and is a proud specimen of the powerful genius of the +painter. + +28. _Waterfall near Vatlagunta, in the peninsula of India, in the +mountains that divide the Coasts of Coromandel and Malabar: its height +between 500 and 600 feet_.--W. Daniell.--The sublime and stupendous +character of the scenery will enable the reader to form some idea of the +difficulty with which the artist had to contend. + +43. _The Lady in St. Swithin's Chair_ from vol. i. Waverley.--Sir W. +Beechey.--We confess ourselves far from pleased with this picture. There +is a want of freedom in it which is any thing but characteristic of the +incident which it is intended to portray. + +56. _The Spanish Posado_.--D. Wilkie.--We must describe this picture in +the words of the catalogue:-- + +This represents a Guerrilla council of war, at which three reverend +fathers--a Dominican, a monk of the Escurial, and a Jesuit, are +deliberating on some expedient of national defence, with an emissary in +the costume of Valencia. Behind them is the posadera, or landlady, +serving her guests with chocolate, and the begging student of Salamanca, +with his lexicon and cigar, making love to her. On the right of the +picture, a contrabandist of Bilboa enters, upon his mule, and in front +of him is an athletic Castilian armed, and a minstrel dwarf, with a +Spanish guitar. On the floor are seated the goatherd and his sister, +with the muzzled house-dog and pet lamb of the family, and through the +open portal in the background is a distant view of the Guadarama +mountains--It is next to impossible for us to do justice to the +diversified character of this picture. The deliberation of the fathers, +and the little bit of episode between the landlady and student are +extremely interesting. + +(_To be continued._) + + * * * * * + + +SPITTLE-FIELDS, AND WEAVING IN FORMER DAYS. + +(_For the Mirror_.) + + +Stowe says, "On the east side of the churchyard of St. Mary Spittle, +lyeth a large field, of old time called _Lolesworth_, now +_Spittle-Field_, which about the year 1576, was broken up for clay to +make bricke; in digging thereof many earthen pots called urnae, were +found full of ashes and the bones of men, to wit of the Romans that +inhabited here. For it was the custom of the Romans to burne their dead, +to put their ashes in an urne, and then bury the same with certain +ceremonies, in some field appointed for the purpose neere unto their +city. Every one of these pots had in them (with the ashes of the dead) +one piece of copper money, with an inscription of the emperor then +reigning. Some of them were of Claudius, some of Vespasian, some of +Nero, &c. There hath also been found (in the same field) divers coffins +of stone, containing the bones of men; these I suppose to be the bones +of some speciall persons, in the time of the Brittons, or Saxons, after +that the Romans had left to govern here. + +"The priory and hospital of St. Mary Spittle, was founded (says Pennant) +in 1197, by Walter Brune, Sheriff of London, and his wife, Rosia, for +canons regular of the order of St. Augustine. It was remarkable for its +pulpit cross, at which a preacher used to preach a sermon consolidated +out of four others, which had been preached at St. Paul's Cross, on Good +Friday, and the Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday in Easter week; giving +afterwards a sermon of his own. At these sermons the mayor and aldermen +attended, dressed in different coloured robes on each occasion. This +custom continued till the destruction of church government in the civil +wars. They have since been transferred to St. Bride's Church. Queen +Elizabeth, in April, 1559, visited St. Mary Spittal, in great state, +probably to hear a sermon delivered from the cross. This princess was +attended by a thousand men in harness with shirts of mail and corslets, +and morice pikes, and ten great pieces carried through London unto the +court, with drums and trumpets sounding, and two morice-dancers, and in +a cart two white bears." + +The priory of St. Mary, of St. Mary Spittle, contained at its +dissolution, about the year 1536, no less than 180 beds for the +reception of sick persons and travellers. Richard Tarleton, the famous +comedian, at the Curtain Theatre, it is said, "kept an ordinary in +Spittle-fields, pleasant fields for the citizens to walk in;" and the +row called Paternoster Row, as the name implies, was formerly a few +houses, where they sold rosaries, relics, &c. The once celebrated +herbalist and astrologer, Nicholas Culpepper, was another inhabitant of +this spot. He died in 1654, in a house he had some time occupied, very +pleasantly situated in the fields; but now a public house at the corner +of Red Lion Court, Red Lion Street, east of Spittlefields market. The +house, though it has undergone several repairs, still exhibits the +appearance of one of those that formed a part of old London. The weaving +art, which has arrived at such an astonishing perfection, was patronized +by the wise and liberal Edward III., who encouraged the art by the most +advantageous offers of reward and encouragement to weavers who would +come and settle in England. In 1331, two weavers came from Brabant and +settled at York. The superior skill and dexterity of these men, who +communicated their knowledge to others, soon manifested itself in the +improvement and spread of the art of weaving in this island. Many +Flemish weavers were driven from their native country by the cruel +persecutions of the Duke d'Alva, in 1567. They settled in different +parts of England, and introduced and promoted the manufacture of baizes, +serges, crapes, &c. The arts of spinning, throwing, and weaving silk, +were brought into England about the middle of the fifteenth century, and +were practised by a company of women in London, called silk women. About +1480, men began to engage in the silk manufacture, and in the year 1686, +nearly 50,000 manufacturers, of various descriptions, took refuge in +England, in consequence of the revocation of the Edict of Nantz, by +Louis le Grand, who sent thousands (says Pennant) of the most +industrious of his subjects into this kingdom to present his bitterest +enemies with the arts and manufactures of his kingdom; hence the origin +of the silk trade in Spittlefields. + +P.T.W. + + * * * * * + + +THE BIRD OF THE TOMB. + +BY LEIGH CLIFFE. + +(_For the Mirror_.) + + +In "Lyon's attempt to reach Repulse Bay," the following passage, which +suggested these verses, may be met with. "Near the large grave was a +third pile of stones, covering the body of a child. A Snow-Buntin (the +Red-Breast of the Arctic Regions) had found its way through the loose +stones which composed this little tomb, and its now forsaken, neatly +built nest, was found placed on the neck of the child." + + + Beneath the chilly Arctic clime, + Where Nature reigns severe, sublime, + Enthron'd upon eternal snows, + Or rides the waves on icy floes-- + Where fierce tremendous tempests sweep + The bosom of the rolling deep, + And beating rain, and drifting hail + Swell the wild fury of the gale; + There is a little, humble tomb, + Not deckt with sculpture's pageant pride, + Nor labour'd verse to tell by whom + The habitant was lov'd who died! + No trophied 'scutcheon marks the grave-- + No blazon'd banners round it wave-- + 'Tis but a simple pile of stones + Rais'd o'er a hapless infant's bones; + Perchance a mother's tears have dew'd + This sepulchre, so frail and rude;-- + A father mourn'd in accents wild, + His offspring lost--his only child-- + Who might, in after years, have spread + A ray of honour round his head, + Nor thought, as stone on stone he threw, + His child would meet a stranger's view. + + But, lo! upon its clay-cold breast, + The Arctic Robin rais'd its nest, + And rear'd its little fluttering young, + Where Death in awful quiet slept, + And fearless chirp'd, and gaily sung + Around the babe its parents wept. + It was the guardian of the grave, + And thus its chirping seem'd to say:-- + "Tho' naught from Death's chill grasp could save, + Tho' naught could chase his power away-- + As round this humble spot I wing, + My thrilling voice shall daily sing + A requiem o'er the faded flower, + That bloom'd and wither'd in an hour, + And prov'd life is, in every view, + Naught but a rose-bud twin'd with rue. + A blossom born at day's first light, + And fading with the earliest night; + Nor stranger's step, nor shrieking loom, + Shall scare the warbler from the tomb'" + + + * * * * * + + +CURING THE "KING'S EVIL." + +(_To the Editor of the Mirror_.) + + +About five miles from Sturminster Newton, and near the village of +Hazlebury, resides a Dr. B----, who has attained a reputation, far +extended, for curing, in a miraculous manner, the king's evil; and as +the method he employs is very different from that of most modern +practitioners, a short account of it may, perhaps, be acceptable to the +readers of the MIRROR. + +I had long known that the doctor used some particular season for his +operations, but was unable to say precisely the time, until a few days +since I had a conversation with a person who is well acquainted with the +doctor and his yearly "_fair, or feast_," as it is termed. Exactly +twenty-four hours before the new moon, in the month of May, every year, +whether it happens by night or by day, the afflicted persons assemble at +the doctor's residence, where they are supplied, by him, with the hind +legs of a _toad!_ yes, gentle reader a toad--don't start--enclosed in a +small bag (accompanied, I believe, with some verbal charm, or +incantation,) and also a lotion and salve of the doctor's preparation. +The bag containing the legs of the reptile is worn suspended from the +neck of the patient, and the lotion and salve applied in the usual +manner, until the cure is completed, or until the next year's "_fair_." + +One would think that such a mysterious routine of doctoring, would +attract but few, and those the most illiterate; but I can assure my +readers the case is different. The number of carts, chaises, and other +conveyances laden with the afflicted which passed through this place on +the 2nd instant, bore ample testimony to the number of the doctor's +applicants; and the appearance of many of them corroborated the opinion +that they moved in a respectable sphere of life. + +The new moon happening this year on the 3rd instant, at 57 minutes past +7 o'clock in the morning, the "fair" took place at the same hour the +preceding day. + +My readers, no doubt, have heard of the efficacy of the stone in the +toad's head, alluded to by Shakspeare,[2] for curing the cramp, &c. by +application to the afflicted part; but it was left for Dr. B---- to +discover the virtues of a toad's leg. Apropos, an eccentric friend of +mine, once gravely told me he intended to procure this precious Bufonian +jewel; and as probably some reader may feel a wish to possess it, I will +furnish him with the proper method of obtaining it, as communicated by +my scientific friend. Voici--Cut off poor bufo's head and enclose it in +a small box pierced with many holes; place it in an ant hill, and let it +remain some ten or twelve days, in which time, or a little longer, the +ants will have entered and eaten up every part except the stone. RURIS. + + + [2] "Sweet are the uses of Adversity, + Which, like a toad, ugly and venomous, + Wears yet, a precious jewel in his head." + + + * * * * * + + +"THE MORNING STAR." + +(_For the Mirror_.) + + + Queen of celestial beauty! Morning Star! + Accept a humble bard's untut'red lay; + To him, thy loveliness, surpasseth far + The silv'ry moon, and eke the God of day. + The world with all its pride cannot display + A form so fair, so beautiful as thine; + Its glories fade, its proudest beauties die; + But you fair star! as first created shine, + In never fading immortality! + Like vice, from virtue's glance, yon clouds retire, + Before the smile of one benignant ray, + Sleepless and sad, my soul would fain aspire, + Promethean like, to snatch ethereal fire, + And draw relief from thee! bright harbinger of day! + + +JNO. JONES. + + * * * * * + + + + +THE SKETCH-BOOK + + * * * * * + + +SCHINDERHANNES, THE GERMAN ROBBER. + + +At the commencement of the French Revolution, and for some time after, +the two banks of the Rhine were the theatre of continual wars. Commerce +was interrupted, industry destroyed, the fields ravaged, and the barns +and cottages plundered; farmers and merchants became bankrupts, and +journeymen and labourers thieves. Robbery was the only mechanical art +which was worth pursuing, and the only exercises followed were assault +and battery. These enterprises were carried on at first by individuals +trading on their own capital of skill and courage; but when the French +laws came into more active operation in the seat of their exploits, +the desperadoes formed themselves, for mutual protection, into +copartnerships, which were the terror of the country. Men soon arose +among them whose talents, or prowess, attracted the confidence of +their comrades, and chiefs were elected, and laws and institutions +established. Different places of settlement were chosen by different +societies; the famous Pickard carried his band into Belgium and Holland; +while on the confines of Germany, where the wild provinces of Kirn, +Simmerm, and Birkenfield offered a congenial field, the banditti were +concentrated, whose last and most celebrated chief, the redoubted +Schinderhannes, is the subject of this brief notice. + +His predecessors, indeed, Finck, Peter the Black, Zughetto, and Seibert +were long before renowned among those who square their conduct by the +good old rule of clubs; they were brave men, and stout and pitiless +robbers. But Schinderhannes, the boldest of the bold, young, active +and subtle, converted the obscure exploits of banditti into the +comparatively magnificent ravages of "the outlaw and his men;" and +sometimes marched at the head of sixty or eighty of his troop to the +attack of whole villages. Devoted to pleasure, no fear ever crossed him +in its pursuit; he walked publicly with his mistress, a beautiful girl +of nineteen, in the very place which the evening before had been the +scene of one of his criminal exploits; he frequented the fairs and +taverns, which were crowded with his victims; and such was the terror +he had inspired, that these audacious exposures were made with perfect +impunity. Free, generous, handsome, and jovial, it may even be conceived +that sometime he gained the protection from love which could not have +been extorted by force. + +It is scarcely a wonder that with the admirable regulations of the +robbers, they should have succeeded even to so great an extent as they +did in that unsettled country. Not more than two or three of them were +allowed to reside in the same town or village; they were scattered over +the whole face of the district, and apparently connected with each other +only by some mysterious free-masonry of their craft. When a blow was +to be struck, a messenger was sent round by the chief to warn his +followers; and at the mustering place the united band rose up, like the +clan of Roderick Dhu from the heather, to disappear as suddenly again +in darkness when the object was accomplished. Their clothing, names and +nations were changed perpetually; a Jew broker at Cologne would figure +some days after at Aix-la-Chapelle or Spa as a German baron, or a Dutch +merchant, keeping open table, and playing a high game; and the next week +he might be met with in a forest at the head of his troop. Young and +beautiful women were always in their suite, who, particularly in the +task of obtaining or falsifying passports, did more by their address +than their lovers could have effected by their courage. Spies, +principally Jews, were employed throughout the whole country, to give +notice where a booty might be obtained. Spring and autumn were the +principal seasons of their harvest; in winter the roads were almost +impassable, and in summer the days were too long; the light of the moon, +in particular, was always avoided, and so were the betraying foot prints +in the snow. They seldom marched in a body to the place of attack, but +went thither two or three in a party, some on foot, some on horseback, +and some even in carriages. As soon as they had entered a village, their +first care was to muffle the church bell, so as to prevent an alarm +being rung; or to commence a heavy fire, to give the inhabitants an +exaggerated idea of their numbers, and impress them with the feeling +that it would be more prudent to stay at home than to venture out into +the fray. + +John Buckler, _alias_ Schinderhannes, the worthy whose youthful arm +wielded with such force a power constituted in this manner, was the son +of a currier, and born at Muhlen, near Nastoeten, on the right bank of +the Rhine. The family intended to emigrate to Poland, but on the way the +father entered the Imperial service at Olmutz, in Moravia. He deserted, +and his wife and child followed him to the frontiers of Prussia, and +subsequently the travellers took up their abode again in the environs +of the Rhine. + +At the age of fifteen, Schinderhannes commenced his career of crime by +spending a louis, with which he had been entrusted, in a tavern. Afraid +to return home, he wandered about the fields till hunger compelled him +to steal a horse, which he sold. Sheep stealing was his next vocation, +but in this he was caught and transferred to prison. He made his escape, +however, the first night, and returned in a very business-like manner to +receive two crowns which were due to him on account of the sheep he had +stolen. After being associated with the band as their chief, he went to +buy a piece of linen, but thinking, from the situation of the premises, +that it might be obtained without any exchange of coin on his part, he +returned the same evening, and stealing a ladder in the neighbourhood, +placed it at a window of the warehouse, and got in. A man was writing in +the interior, but the robber looked at him steadily, and shouldering his +booty, withdrew. He was taken a second time, but escaped as before on +the same night. + +His third escape was from a dark and damp vault in the prison of +Schneppenbach, where, having succeeded in penetrating to the kitchen, +he tore an iron bar from the window by main force, and leaped out at +hazard. He broke his leg in the fall, but finding a stick, managed +to drag himself along, in the course of three nights, to Birkenmuhl, +without a morsel of food, but on the contrary, having left some ounces +of skin and flesh of his own on the road. + +Marianne Schoeffer was the first avowed mistress of Schinderhannes. +She was a young girl of fourteen, of ravishing beauty, and always +"se mettait avec une élégance extreme." Blacken Klos, one of the band, +an unsuccessful suitor of the lady, one day, after meeting with a +repulse, out of revenge carried off her clothes. When the outrage was +communicated to Schinderhannes, he followed the ruffian to a cave where +he had concealed himself, and slew him. It was Julia Blaesius, however, +who became the permanent companion of the young chief. The account +given by her of the manner in which she was united to the destiny of the +robber is altogether improbable. A person came to her, she said, and +mentioned that somebody wished to speak to her in the forest of Dolbach; +she kept the assignation, and found there a handsome young man who told +her that she must follow him--an invitation which she was obliged at +length by threats to accede to. It appears sufficiently evident, +however, that the personal attractions of Schinderhannes, who was then +not twenty-two, had been sufficient of themselves to tempt poor Julia +to her fate, and that of her own accord + + + "She fled to the forest to hear a love tale." + + +It may be, indeed, as she affirmed, that she was at first ignorant of +the profession of her mysterious lover, who might address her somewhat +in the words of the Scottish free-booter-- + + + "A lightsome eye, a soldier's mien-- + A bonnet of the blue, + A doublet of the Lincoln green, + 'Twas all of me you knew." + + +But it is known that afterwards she even accompanied him personally in +some of his adventures dressed in men's clothes. + +The robberies of this noted chief became more audacious and extensive +every day, and at last he established a kind of "black mail" among the +Jews, at their own request. Accompanied one day by only two of his +comrades, he did not hesitate to attack a cavalcade of forty-five Jews +and five Christian peasants. The booty taken was only two bundles of +tobacco, the robbers returning some provisions on a remonstrance from +one of the Jews, who pleaded poverty. Schinderhannes then ordered them +to take off their shoes and stockings, which he threw into a heap, +leaving to every one the care of finding his own property. The affray +that ensued was tremendous; the forty-five Jews who had patiently +allowed themselves to be robbed by three men, fought furiously with each +other about their old shoes; and the robber, in contempt of their +cowardice, gave his carbine to one of them to hold while he looked on. + +His daring career at length drew to a close, and he and his companions +were arrested by the French authorities, and brought to trial. The +chief, with nineteen others, were condemned to death in November, 1803, +and Julia Blaesius to two years' imprisonment. The former met his fate +with characteristic intrepidity, occupied to the last moment with his +cares about Julia and his father.--_From the Foreign Quarterly +Review.--An excellent work_. + + * * * * * + + + + +RESTROSPECTIVE GLEANINGS. + + * * * * * + + +OLD MANSIONS. + + +We are in the habit of passing by our old stone manor houses without +knowing that they were important village fortresses, and substitutes for +castles. That this is the fact is beyond all doubt, for Margaret Paston, +writing to Sir John, says, "Ry't w'chipful hwsbond, I recomawnd to zw +and prey zw to gete some crosse bowis and wydses (windlasses to strain +cross-bows,) and quarrels (arrows with square heads) for zr howsis her +ben low, yat yer may non man schet owt wt no long bowe." From hence we +learn that the service of the long bow was connected with elevation in +the building. + + * * * * * + + +LEGAL CRUSHING TO DEATH. + + +At the assizes in Sussex, August, 1735, a man who pretended to be dumb +and lame, was indicted for a barbarous murder and robbery. He had been +taken up upon suspicion, several spots of blood, and part of the +property being found upon him. When he was brought to the bar, he would +not speak or plead, though often urged to it, and the sentence to be +inflicted on such as stand mute, read to him, in vain. Four or five +persons in the court, swore that they had heard him speak, and the boy +who was his accomplice, and apprehended, was there to be a witness +against him; yet he continued mute; whereupon he was carried back to +Horsham gaol, to be pressed to death, if he would not plead--when they +laid on him 100 weight, then added 100 more, and he still continued +obstinate; they then added 100 more, which made 300 lb. weight, yet he +would not speak; 50 lb. more was added, when he was nearly dead, having +all the agonies of death upon him; then the executioner, who weighed +about 16 or 17 stone, laid down upon the board which was over him, and, +adding to the weight, killed him in an instant. G.K. + + * * * * * + + +LATE INSTRUCTION. + + +Socrates in his old age, learned to play upon a musical instrument. +Cato, aged 80, began to learn Greek; and Plutarch, in his old age, +acquired Latin. John Gelida, of Valentia, in Spain, did not begin the +study of _belles-lettres_, until he was 40 years old. + +Henry Spelman, having in his youth neglected the sciences, resumed them +at the age of 50, with extraordinary success. + +Fairfax, after having been the general of the parliamentary army in +England, went to Oxford, and took his degree as Doctor-of-Law. Colbert, +when minister, and almost 60 years of age, returned to his Latin and his +law, in a situation where the neglect of one, if not both, might have +been thought excusable; and Mons. Le Tellier, chancellor of France, +reverted to the learning of logic that he might dispute with his +grand-children. + +Sir John Davies, at the age of 25, produced a poem on "The Immortality +of the Soul," and in his 62nd year, as Mr. Thomas Campbell facetiously +observes, when a judge and a statesman, another on _dancing_. + + * * * * * + + + + +THE NOVELIST. + + * * * * * + + +ANNE OF GEIERSTEIN. + + +[As Sir Walter Scott's new work has not reached us in time to enable us +to fill in the outline of the story in our present Number, we give a few +sketchy extracts, or portraits,--such as will increase the interest for +the appearance of the Narrative. + +There are some admirable specimens of Swiss scenery, which have the +effect of sublime painting: witness the following attempt of two +travellers, father and son, who with their guide, are bewildered in the +mountains by a sudden storm. The younger attempts to scale a broken path +on the side of the precipice:] + +Thus estimating the extent of his danger by the measure of sound sense +and reality, and supported by some degree of practice in such exercise, +the brave youth went forward on his awful journey, step by step, winning +his way with a caution, and fortitude, and presence of mind, which alone +could have saved him from instant destruction. At length he gained a +point where a projecting rock formed the angle of the precipice, so far +as it had been visible to him from the platform. This, therefore, was +the critical point of his undertaking; but it was also the most perilous +part of it. The rock projected more than six feet forward over the +torrent, which he heard raging at the depth of a hundred yards beneath, +with a noise like subterranean thunder. He examined the spot with the +utmost care, and was led by the existence of shrubs, grass, and even +stunted trees, to believe that this rock marked the farthest extent of +the slip, or slide of earth, and that, could he but round the angle of +which it was the termination, he might hope to attain the continuation +of the path which had been so strangely interrupted by this convulsion +of nature. But the crag jutted out so much as to afford no possibility +of passing either under or around it; and as it rose several feet above +the position which Arthur had attained, it was no easy matter to climb +over it. This was, however, the course which he chose, as the only mode +of surmounting what he hoped might prove the last obstacle to his voyage +of discovery. A projecting tree afforded him the means of raising and +swinging himself up to the top of the crag. But he had scarcely planted +himself on it, had scarcely a moment to congratulate himself, on seeing, +amid a wild chaos of cliffs and woods, the gloomy ruins of Geierstein, +with smoke arising, and indicating something like a human habitation +beside them, when, to his extreme terror, he felt the huge cliff on +which he stood tremble, stoop slowly forward, and gradually sink from +its position. Projecting as it was, and shaken as its equilibrium had +been by the recent earthquake, it lay now so insecurely poised, that its +balance was entirely destroyed, even by the addition of the young man's +weight. Aroused by the imminence of the danger, Arthur, by an +instinctive attempt at self-preservation, drew cautiously back from the +falling crag into the tree by which he had ascended, and turned his head +back as if spell-bound, to watch the descent of the fatal rock from +which he had just retreated. It tottered for two or three seconds, as if +uncertain which way to fall; and had it taken a sidelong direction, must +have dashed the adventurer from his place of refuge, or borne both the +tree and him headlong down into the river. After a moment of horrible +uncertainty, the power of gravitation determined a direct and forward +descent. Down went the huge fragment, which must have weighed at least +twenty tons, rending and splintering in its precipitate course the trees +and bushes which it encountered, and settling at length in the channel +of the torrent, with a din equal to the discharge of a hundred pieces of +artillery. The sound was re-echoed from bank to bank, from precipice to +precipice, with emulative thunders; nor was the tumult silent till it +rose into the region of eternal snows, which, equally insensible to +terrestrial sounds, and unfavourable to animal life, heard the roar in +their majestic solitude, but suffered it to die away without a +responsive voice. + +The solid rock had trembled and rent beneath his footsteps; and +although, by an effort rather mechanical than voluntary, he had +withdrawn himself from the instant ruin attending its descent, he felt +as if the better part of him, his firmness of mind and strength of body, +had been rent away with the descending rock, as it fell thundering, +with clouds of dust and smoke, into the torrents and whirlpools of the +vexed gulf beneath. In fact, the seaman swept from the deck of a wrecked +vessel, drenched in the waves, and battered against the rocks on +the shore, does not differ more from the same mariner, when, at the +commencement of the gale, he stood upon the deck of his favourite +ship, proud of her strength and his own dexterity, than Arthur, when +commencing his journey, from the same Arthur, while clinging to the +decayed trunk of an old tree, from which, suspended between heaven and +earth, he saw the fall of the crag which he had so nearly accompanied. +The effects of his terror, indeed, were physical as well as moral, for +a thousand colours played before his eyes; he was attacked by a sick +dizziness, and deprived at once of the obedience of those limbs which +had hitherto served him so admirably; his arms and hands, as if no +longer at his own command, now clung to the branches of the tree, with a +cramp-like tenacity, over which he seemed to possess no power, and now +trembled in a state of such complete nervous relaxation, as led him to +fear that they were becoming unable to support him longer in his +position. + +[We must leave the reader here, although in dire suspense--and we regret +to do so, because a beautiful incident follows--to give the following +exquisite sketch of the heroine--a Swiss maiden. We will endeavour to +connect these passages with our abridgment of the narrative.] + +An upper vest, neither so close as to display the person--a habit +forbidden by the sumptuary laws of the canton--nor so loose as to be an +encumbrance in walking or climbing, covered a close tunic of a different +colour, and came down beneath the middle of the leg, but suffered the +ancle, in all its fine proportions, to be completely visible. The foot +was defended by a sandal, the point of which was turned upwards, and the +crossings and knots of the strings which secured it on the front of the +leg were garnished with silver rings. The upper vest was gathered round +the middle by a sash of parti-coloured silk, ornamented with twisted +threads of gold; while the tunic, open at the throat, permitted the +shape and exquisite whiteness of a well-formed neck to be visible at the +collar, and for an inch or two beneath. The small portion of the throat +and bosom thus exposed was even more brilliantly fair than was promised +by the countenance, which last bore some marks of having been freely +exposed to the sun and air--by no means in a degree to diminish its +beauty, but just so far as to show that the maiden possessed the health +which is purchased by habits of rural exercise. Her long, fair hair fell +down in a profusion of curls on each side of a face whose blue eyes, +lovely features, and dignified simplicity of expression, implied at once +a character of gentleness, and of the self-relying resolution of a mind +too virtuous to suspect evil, and too noble to fear it. Above these +locks beauty's natural and most beseeming ornament--or rather, I should +say, amongst them--was placed the small bonnet, which, from its size, +little answered the purpose of protecting the head, but served to +exercise the ingenuity of the fair wearer, who had not failed, according +to the prevailing custom of the mountain maidens, to decorate the tiny +cap with a heron's feather, and the then unusual luxury of a small and +thin chain of gold, long enough to encircle the cap four or five times, +and having the ends secured under a broad medal of the same costly +metal. I have only to add, that the stature of the young person was +something above the common size, and that the whole contour of her form, +without being in the slightest degree masculine, resembled that of +Minerva, rather than the proud beauties of Juno, or the yielding graces +of Venus. The noble brow, the well-formed and active limbs, the firm and +yet light step; above all, the total absence of any thing resembling the +consciousness of personal beauty, and the open and candid look, which +seemed desirous of knowing nothing that was hidden, and conscious that +she herself had nothing to hide, were traits not unworthy of the goddess +of wisdom and of chastity. + + * * * * * + + + + +THE SELECTOR, AND LITERARY NOTICES OF _NEW WORKS_. + + * * * * * + + +FRENCH COOKERY AND CONFECTIONERY. + + +Monsieur Ude, who is, unquestionably, the prince of gastronomers, has +just published the tenth edition of his _French Cook_, of which, line +upon line, we may say, _Decies repelita placebit_; and Jarrin, the +celebrated _artiste en sucre_, has also revised his _Italian +Confectioner_, in a fourth edition. We should think both these works +must be the literary furniture of every good kitchen, or they ought +to be; for there is just enough of the science in them to make them +extremely useful, whilst all must allow them to be entertaining. + +A few years ago, Mrs. Glasse ruled the roast of cookery, and not a +stew was made without consulting her invaluable book. Whilst we were +embroiled in war, her instructions were standing orders, but with the +peace came a host of foreign luxuries and fashions, among these, +_Cookery from France_. Hence the French system became introduced into +the establishments of the wealthy of this country, to which may be +attributed the sale of nine editions of M. Ude's work; for it is +strictly what it professes to be, "A System of Fashionable and +Economical Cookery, adapted to the use of English Families." The tenth +edition, before us, is a bulky _tome_ of about 500 pages, with an +appendix of observations on the meals of the day; mode of giving suppers +at Routs and soirées, as practised when the author was in the employ of +Lord Sefton; and above all, a brief history of the rise and progress of +Cookery, from an admirable French treatise. This is literally the _sauce +piquante_ of the volume, and we serve a little to our readers:-- + +It appears that the science of Cookery was in a very inferior state +under the first and second race of the French kings. Gregory of Tours +has preserved the account of a repast of French warriors, at which, +in this refined age, we should be absolutely astounded. According to +Eginhard, Charlemagne lived poorly, and ate but little--however, this +trait of resemblance in Charlemagne and Napoleon, the modern Eginhards +have forgotten in their comparison of these two great men. Philippe le +Bel was hardly half an hour at table, and Francis I. thought more of +women than of eating and drinking; nevertheless, it was under this +gallant monarch that the science of gastronomy took rise in France. + +Few have heard the name of Gonthier d'Andernach. What Bacon was to +philosophy, Dante and Petrarch to poetry, Michael Angelo and Raphael +to painting, Columbus and Gama to geography, Copernicus and Galileo to +astronomy, Gonthier was in France to the art of cookery. Before him, +their code of eating was formed only of loose scraps picked up here and +there; the names of dishes were strange and barbarous, like the dishes +themselves. + +Gonthier is the father of cookery, as Descartes, of French philosophy. +It is said that Gonthier, in less than ten years, invented seven +cullises, nine ragoûts, thirty-one sauces, and twenty-one soups. + +A woman opened the gates of an enlightened age; it was Catherine, the +daughter of the celebrated Lorenzo de Medici, niece of Leo the Tenth, +then in all the bloom of beauty. Accompanied by a troop of perfumers, +painters, astrologers, poets, and cooks, she crossed the Alps, and +whilst Bullan planned the Tuileries, Berini recovered from oblivion +those sauces which, for many ages, had been lost. Endowed with all the +gifts of fortune, the mother and the wife of kings, nature had also +gifted her with a palate, whose intuitive sensibility seldom falls to +the lot of sovereigns. In consequence of which, after having driven +before her this troop of male and female soothsayers, who pretended to +foretel the future, she consulted her _maître d'hôtel_, about some roast +meat brought from luxurious Florence; and dipped in a rich sauce the +same hand that held the reins of the empire, and which Roussard compared +to the rosy fingers of Aurora! Let the foolish vulgar laugh at the +importance which the queen-mother seems to place in the art of cooking; +but they have not considered that it is at table, in the midst of the +fumes of Burgundy, and the savoury odour of rich dishes, that she +meditated the means of quelling a dangerous faction, or the destruction +of a man, who disturbed her repose. It was during dinner she had an +interview with the Duke of Alba, with whom she resolved on the massacre +of St. Bartholomew. + +Not long after the massacre of St. Bartholomew the throne was occupied +by Henry de Valois, brother to Charles the Ninth, and son of Catherine. +He was a prince of good appetite, a lover of wine and good cheer, +qualities which his mother had carefully fostered and cultivated, that +she alone might hold the reigns of government. Henry de Valois spent +whole days at table, and the constellations of the kitchen shone with +the greatest splendour under this gourmand king. We date from the +beginning of his reign the invention of the fricandeau, generally +attributed to a Swiss. Now the fricandeau having its Columbus, its +discovery appears not more wonderful than that of America, and yet +it required _une grande force de tête_. + +Though we acknowledge the immense influence this monarch had over +cookery, we must not conceal that he brought in fashion aromatic sauces, +tough macaroni, cullises, and brown sauces calcined by a process like +that of roasted coffee. These sauces gave the dishes a corrosive +acidity, and as Jourdan le Cointe remarks, far from nourishing the body, +communicated to it a feverish sensation, which baffled all the skill of +physicians, in their attempts to cure it. They were positive poisons +which the Italians had introduced into France, a taste for which spread +through every class of society. + +Under the reign of Henry III. a taste for warm drinks was joined to +that of spicy dishes. Hippocrates recommends hot water in fevers, +Avicenna in consumption, Trallien in phrensy, Plato in loathings, Aetius +in strangury,--whence we conclude that warm water, having so many +different qualities, must have been a very useful article at table, had +it only been to assist digestion, considering that people ate copiously +in the reign of the Valois. They made not one single repast without a +jug full of hot water, and even wine was drunk lukewarm. + +If the poor have preserved the memory of Henry IV., we cannot say as +much of his cooks. That monarch did nothing for them;--either Nature +had not endowed him with a good appetite, (for what prince ever was +perfect,) or he looked upon them, as, in the last century, we looked +upon soups, as things of hardly any use; but in return they also did +nothing for him. + +It is very remarkable, that in France, where there is but one religion, +the sauces are infinitely varied, whilst in England, where the different +sects are innumerable, there is, we may say, but one single sauce. +Melted butter, in English cookery, plays nearly the same part as the +Lord Mayor's coach at civic ceremonies, calomel in modern medicine, or +silver forks in the fashionable novels. Melted butter and anchovies, +melted butter and capers, melted butter and parsley, melted butter and +eggs, and melted butter for ever: this is a sample of the national +cookery of this country. We may date the art of making sauces from the +age of Louis XIV. Under Louis XIII. meat was either roasted or broiled: +every baker had a stove where the citizen, as well as the great lord, +sent his meat to be dressed; but, by degrees, they began to feel the +necessity of sauces. + +It appears that the great wits of the age of Louis XIV. had not that +contempt for cookery which some idealists of our days affect to have. +Boileau has described a bad repast like a man who has often seen better; +he liked the pleasures of the table, which have never been incompatible +with the gifts of genius, or the investigations of the understanding. "I +cannot conceive," says Doctor Johnson, "the folly of those, who, when at +table, think of every thing but eating; for my part, when I am there I +think of nothing else; and whosoever does not trouble himself with this +important affair at dinner, or supper, will do no good at any other +time." Boswell affirms that he never knew a man who dispatched a dinner +better than the great moralist. But what avails it to defend cooks and +gourmands? It is an axiom in political economy, according to Malthus, +that _he who makes two blades of grass grow, where before there was but +one, ought to be considered as the benefactor of his country, and of +mankind_. Is not this a service which the epicure and the cook every day +do their country? Addison thought differently from Johnson on this +subject: "Every time," says he, "that I see a splendid dinner, I fancy +fever, gout, and dropsy, are lying in ambush for me, with the whole race +of maladies which attack mankind: in my opinion an epicure is a fool." +What does this blustering of Addison prove? Boswell also asserts, that +Addison often complained of indigestion. And in the present times, the +first chemist of the day, Sir Humphry Davy, passes for a finished +gourmand. + +Roasting, boiling, frying, broiling, do not alone constitute the arc of +cooking, otherwise the savage of the Oronoco might be _maître d'hôtel_ +with Prince Esterhazy. + +The science of gastronomy made great progress under Louis XV., a +brilliant epoch for the literature of gastronomy: together with the +fashions, customs, freedom of opinion, and taste for equipages and +horses brought from Great Britain--some new dishes taken from the +culinary code of this country, such as puddings and beef-steaks, were +also introduced into France. Thanks to the increasing progress and +discoveries in chemistry, and to the genius of our artists, the art of +cookery rose to the greatest height towards the end of the last century. +What a famous age was that of Mezelier, l'Asne, Jouvent, Richaud, Chaud, +and Robert. + +History will never forget that great man, who aspired to all kinds +of glory, and would have been, if he had wished, as great a cook as +he was a statesman--I mean the Prince de Talleyrand, who rekindled the +sacred flame in France. The first clouds of smoke, which announced the +resurrection of the science of cookery in the capital, appeared from +the kitchen of an ancient bishop. + +A revolution like the French, which presented to their eyes such +terrible spectacles, must have left some traces in their physical or +intellectual constitution. At the end of this bloody drama, the mind, +bewildered by the late dreadful scenes, was unable to feel those sweet +and peaceable emotions, in which it had formerly delighted; as the +palate, having long been at rest, and now become blunted, must require +high-seasoned dishes, to excite an appetite. The reign of the Directory, +therefore is that of Romances à la Radcliffe, as well as of Sauces à la +Provençale. Fortunately, the eighth of Brumaire pulled down the five +Directors, together with their saucepans. + +Under the Consulship, and during the empire, the art of cooking, thanks +to the labours of Beauvilliers, Balaine, and other artists, made new and +remarkable improvements. Among the promoters of the gastric science, the +name of a simple amateur makes a distinguished figure--it is Grisnod +de la Reynière, whose almanac the late Duke of York called the most +delightful book that ever issued from the press. We may affirm, that the +_Almanach des Gourmands_ made a complete revolution in the language and +usages of the country. + +We are yet too near the restoration to determine the degree of influence +it had on cookery in France. The restoration has introduced into +monarchy the representative forms friendly to epicurism, and in this +respect it is a true blessing--a new era opened _to those_ who are +hungry. + +M. Jarrin's fourth edition contains upwards of 500 receipts in Italian +confectionery, with plates of improvements, &c. like a cyclopaedian +treatise on mechanics; and when our readers know there are "seven +essential degrees of boiling sugar," they will pardon the details of the +business of this volume. The "degrees" are--1. _Le lissé_, or thread, +large or small; 2. _Le perlé_, or pearl, _le soufflet_, or blow; 4. _La +plume_, the feather; 5. _Le boulet_, the ball, large or small; 6. _Le +cassé_, the crack; and, 7. the _caramel_. So complete is M. Jarrin's +system of confectionery, that he is "independent of every other artist;" +for he even explains engraving on steel and on wood. What a host of +disappointments this must prevent! + +If we look further into, or "drink deep" of the art of confectionery, +we shall find it to be a perfect Microcosm--a little creation; for our +artist talks familiarly of "producing picturesque scenery, with trees, +lakes, rocks, &c.; gum paste, and modelling flowers, animals, figures, +&c." with astonishing mimic strife. We must abridge one of these +receipts for a "_Rock Piece Montée_ in a lake." + +"Roll out confectionery paste, the size of the dish intended to receive +it; put into a mould representing your _pond_ a lining of almond paste, +coloured pale pink, and place in the centre a sort of pedestal of almond +paste, supported by lumps of the same paste baked; when dry put it into +the stove. Prepare _syrup_ to fill the hollow of the _lake_, to +represent the _water_; having previously modelled in gum paste little +_swans_, place them in various parts of the _syrup_; put it into the +stove for three hours, then make a small hole through the paste, under +your _lake_, to drain off the syrup; a crust will remain with the +_swans_ fixed in it, representing the _water_. Next build the _rock_ on +the pedestal with rock sugar, biscuits, and other appropriate articles +in sugar, fixed to one another, supported by the confectionery paste you +have put in the middle, the whole being cemented together with caramel, +and ornamented. The moulding and heads should then be pushed in almond +paste, coloured red; the _cascades_ and other ornaments must be _spun in +sugar_." + +These are, indeed, romantic secrets. Spinning nets and cages with sugar +is another fine display of confectionery skill--we say nothing of the +nets and cages which our fair friends are sometimes spinning--for the +sugar compared with their bonds--are weak as the cords of the +Philistines. + + * * * * * + + + + +THE NATURALIST. + + * * * * * + + +ROOKS. + + +We glean the following interesting facts from the _Essex Herald_, as +they merit the record of a _Naturalist_. + +"The voracious habits of the rook, and the vast increase of these birds +of late years in certain parts of Essex, has been productive of great +mischief, especially in the vicinity of Writtle and of Waltham. Since +February last, notwithstanding a vigilant watch, the rooks have stolen +sets of potatoes from a considerable breadth of ground at Widford Hall. +On the same farm, during the sowing of a field of 16 acres with peas, +the number of rooks seen at one time on its surface has been estimated +at 1,000, which is accounted for by there being a preserve near, which, +at a moderate computation, contains 1,000 nests. But the damage done by +rooks at Navestock and Kelvedon Hatch, and their vicinities, within a +small circle, has been estimated at £2,000. annually. Many farmers pay +from 8_s_. to 10_s_. per week, to preserve their seed and plants by +watching; but notwithstanding such precautions, acre after acre of +beans, when in leaf and clear from the soil, have been pulled up, and +the crop lost. The late hurricane proved some interruption to their +breeding; and particularly at the estate of Lord Waldegrave, at +Navestock, where the young ones were thrown from their nests, and were +found under trees in myriads; the very nests blown down, it is said, +would have furnished the poor with fuel for a short period." + +The writer attributes this alarming increase of rooks to "a desire on +the part of gentlemen to cause them to be preserved with the same +watchfulness they do their game." The most effectual means of deterring +the rook from their depredations, is, he says, "to obtain several of +these birds at a period of the year when they can be more easily taken; +then cut them open, and preserve them by salt. In the spring, during the +seed time, these rooks are to be fastened down to the ground with their +wings spread, and their mouths extended by a pebble, as if in great +torture. This plan has been found so effectual, that even in the +vicinity of large preserves, the fields where the dead birds have been +so placed, have not been visited by a single rook." + +The scarcity of the rook in France, and the antipathy which the French +have to that bird is thus accounted for:-- + +"The fact has been often related by a very respectable Catholic Priest, +who resided many years at Chipping-hill, in Witham, that such was the +arbitrary conduct of the owners of abbeys and monasteries in France, in +preserving and cultivating the rook and the pigeon, that they increased +to such numbers as to become so great a pest, as to destroy the seed +when sown, and the young plants as soon as they appeared above the +ground; insomuch, that the farmer, despairing of a reward for his +labour, besides the loss of his seed, the fields were left barren, and +the supply of bread corn was, in consequence, insufficient to meet the +necessities of so rapidly increasing a people. The father of the +gentleman to whom we have alluded, was, for this offence, one of the +first victims to his imprudence. The revolutionary mob proceeded to his +residence, from whence they took him, and hung his body upon a gibbet; +they next proceeded to destroy the rooks and pigeons which he had +cultivated in great numbers, and strived to preserve with the same +tenacity as others do in this country. We are told by the son of this +martyr to his own folly, that the mob continued to shoot the birds +amidst the loudest acclamations, and that they exulted in the idea that +in each victim they witnessed the fall of an aristocrat." + + * * * * * + + +THE BANANA TREE. + + +The amount and rapidity of produce of this plant probably exceed that of +any other in the known world. In eight or nine months after the sucker +has been planted, clusters of fruit are formed; and in about two months +more they may be gathered. The stem is then cut down, and a fresh plant, +about two-thirds of the height of the parent stem, succeeds, and bears +fruit in about three months more. The only care necessary is to dig once +or twice a year round the roots. According to our author, on 1,076 +square feet, from 30 to 40 banana trees may be planted in Mexico, which +will yield in the space of the year 4,414 lbs. avoirdupois of fruit; +while the same space would yield only 33 lbs. avoirdupois of wheat, and +99 of potatoes. The immediate effect of this facility of supplying the +wants of nature is, that the man who can, by labouring two days in the +week, maintain himself and family, will devote the remaining five to +idleness or dissipation. The same regions that produce the banana, also +yield the two species of manioc, the bitter and the sweet: both of which +appear to have been cultivated before the conquest.--_Foreign Quarterly +Review._ + + * * * * * + + +INDIAN CORN. + + +The most valuable article in South American agriculture, is +unquestionably the maize, or Indian corn, which is cultivated with +nearly uniform success in every part of the republic. It appears to +be a true American grain, notwithstanding many crude conjectures to +the contrary. Sometimes it has been known to yield, in hot and humid +regions, 800 fold; fertile lands return from 300 to 400; and a return of +130 to 150 fold is considered bad--the least fertile soils giving 60 to +80. The maize forms the great bulk of food of the inhabitants, as well +as of the domestic animals; hence the dreadful consequences of a failure +of this crop. It is eaten either in the form of unfermented bread or +_tortillas_ (a sort of bannock, as it is called in Scotland;) and, +reduced to flour, is mingled with water, forming either _atolle_ or +various kinds of _chicha_. Maize will yield, in very favourable +situations, two or three crops per year; though it is but seldom that +more than one is gathered. + +The introduction of wheat is said to have been owing to the accidental +discovery, by a negro slave of Cortez, of three or four grains, among +some rice which had been issued to the soldiers. About the year 1530, +these grains were sown; and from this insignificant source has flowed +all the enormous produce of the upper lands of Mexico. Water is the only +element necessary to ensure success to the Mexican wheat grower; but it +is very difficult to attain this--and irrigation affords the most steady +supply. + +_Ibid._ + + * * * * * + + +THE AGAVE AMERICANA. + + +On Maguey, is an object of great value in the table land of the interior +of Mexico; from this plant is obtained the favourite liquor, the +_pulque_. At the moment of efflorescence, the flower stalk is +extirpated, and the juice destined to form the fruit flows into the +cavity thus produced, and is taken out two or three times a day for four +or five months; each day's produce is fermented for ten or fifteen days; +after which the _pulque_ is fit to drink, and before it has travelled in +skins, it is a very pleasant, refreshing liquor, to which the Mexicans +ascribe as many good qualities as the Highlander does to whiskey. The +stems of the _maguey_ can supply the place of hemp, and may be converted +into paper. The prickles too are used as pins by the Indians.--_Ibid_. + + * * * * * + + + + +THE ANECDOTE GALLERY. + + * * * * * + + +DOCTOR PARR. + +_Concluded from page 334_. + + +Parr was evidently fond of living in troubled waters; accordingly, on +his removal to Colchester, he got into a quarrel with the trustees of +the school on the subject of a lease. He printed a pamphlet about it, +which he never published; restrained perhaps by the remarks of Sir +W. Jones, who constantly noted the pages submitted to him, with "too +violent," "too strong;" and probably thought the whole affair a battle +of kites and crows, which Parr had swelled into importance; or, it might +be, he suppressed it, influenced by the prospect of succeeding to +Norwich school, for which he was now a candidate, and by the shrewd +observation of Dr. Foster, "that Norwich might be touched by a fellow +feeling for Colchester; and the crape-makers of the one place sympathize +with the bag-makers of the other." If the latter consideration weighed +with him, it was the first and last time that any such consideration +did, Parr being apparently of the opinion of John Wesley, that there +could be no fitter subject for a Christian man's prayers, than that he +might be delivered from what the world calls "prudence." However it +happened, the pamphlet was withheld, and Parr was elected to the school +at Norwich. + +At Norwich, Parr ventured on his first publications, and obtained his +first preferment. The publications consisted of a sermon on "The Truth +of Christianity," "A Discourse on Education," and "A Discourse on the +Late Fast;" the last of which opens with a mistake singular in Parr, +who confounds the sedition of Judas Gaulonitis, mentioned in Josephus, +(_Antiq_. xviii. 1. 1.) with that under Pilate, mentioned in St. Luke, +(xiii. 1, 2, 3.); whereas the former probably preceded the latter by +twenty years, or nearly. The preferment which he gained was the living +of Asterby, presented to him by Lady Jane Trafford, the mother of one of +his pupils; which, in 1783, he exchanged for the perpetual curacy of +Hatton, in Warwickshire, the same lady being still his patron neither +was of much value. Lord Dartmouth, whose sons had also been under his +care, endeavoured to procure something for him from Lord Thurlow, but +the chancellor is reported to have said "No," with an oath. The great +and good Bishop Lowth, however, at the request of the same nobleman, +gave him a prebend in St. Paul's, which, though a trifle at the time, +eventually became, on the expiration of leases, a source of affluence to +Parr in his old age. How far he was from such a condition at this period +of his life, is seen by the following incident given by Mr. Field. The +doctor was one day in this gentleman's library, when his eye was caught +by the title of "Stephens' Greek Thesaurus." Suddenly turning about and +striking vehemently the arm of Mr. Field, whom he addressed in a manner +very usual with him; he said, "Ah! my friend, my friend, may you never +be forced, as I was at Norwich, to sell that work, to me so precious, +from absolute and urgent necessity." + +But we must on with the Doctor in his career. In 1785, for some reason +unknown to his biographer, Parr resigned the school at Norwich, and in +the year following went to reside at Hatton. "I have an excellent house, +(he writes to a friend,) good neighbours, and a Poor, ignorant, +dissolute, insolent, and ungrateful, beyond all example. _I like +Warwickshire very much_. I have made great regulations, viz. bells chime +three times as long; Athanasian creed; communion service at the altar; +swearing act; children catechized first Sunday in the month; private +baptisms discouraged; public performed after second lesson; recovered a +100_l_. a year left the poor, with interest amounting to 115_l_., all of +which I am to put out, and settle a trust in the spring; examining all +the charities." + +Here Warwickshire pleases Parr; but Parr's taste in this, and in many +other matters, (as we shall have occasion to show by and by,) was +subject to change. He soon, therefore, becomes convinced of the superior +intellect of the men of Norfolk. He finds Warwickshire, the Boeotia of +England, two centuries behind in civilization. He is anxious, however, +to be in the commission of the peace for this ill-fated county, and +applies to Lord Hertford, then Lord Lieutenant; but the application +fails; and again, on a subsequent occasion, to Lord Warwick, and again +he is disappointed. What motives operated upon their lordships' minds +to his exclusion, they did not think it necessary to avow. + +Providence has so obviously drawn a circle about every man, within +which, for the most part, he is compelled to walk, by furnishing him +with natural affections, evidently intended to fasten upon individuals; +by urging demands upon him which the very preservation of himself and +those about him compels him to listen to; by withholding from him any +considerable knowledge of what is distant, and hereby proclaiming that +his more proper sphere lies in what is near;--by compassing, him about +with physical obstacles, with mountains, with rivers, with seas +"dissociable," with tongues which he cannot utter, or cannot understand; +that, like the wife of Hector, it proclaims in accents scarcely to be +resisted, that there is a tower assigned to everyman, where it is his +first duty to plant himself for the sake of his own, and in the defence +of which he will find perhaps enough to do, without extending his care +to the whole circuit of the city walls. + +The close of Parr's life grew brighter, The increased value of his stall +at St. Paul's set him abundantly at his ease: he can even indulge his +love of pomp--_ardetque cupidine currûs_, he encumbers himself with a +coach and four. In 1816, he married a second wife, Miss Eyre, the sister +of his friend the Rev. James Eyre; he became reconciled to his two +grand-daughters, now grown up to woman's estate; he received them into +his family, and kept them as his own, till one of them became the wife +of the Rev. John Lynes. + +In the latter years of his life, Parr had been subject to erysipelas; +once he had suffered by a carbuncle, and once by a mortification in the +hand. Owing to this tendency to diseased action in the skin, he was +easily affected by cold, and on Sunday, the 16th of January, 1825, +having, in addition to the usual duties of the day, buried a corpse, +he was, on the following night, seized with a long-continued rigor, +attended by fever and delirium, and never effectually rallied again. +There is a note, however, dated November 2, 1824, addressed by him to +Archdeacon Butler, which proves that he felt his end approaching, even +before this crisis. + +"Dear and Learned Namesake,--This letter is important, and strictly +confidential. I have given J. Lynes minute and plenary directions for my +funeral. I desire you, if you can, to preach a short, unadorned funeral +sermon. Rann Kennedy is to read the lesson and grave service, though I +could wish you to read the grave service also. Say little of me, but you +are sure to say it _well_." + +Dr. Butler complied with his request, and amply made good the opinion +here expressed. He spoke of him like a warm and stedfast friend, but not +like that worst of enemies, an indiscreet one; he did not challenge a +scrutiny by the extravagance of his praise, nor break, by his precious +balms, the head he was most anxious to honour. Dr. Parr's death was +tedious, and his faculties, except at intervals, disturbed. He took +an opportunity, however, afforded him by one of these intervals, of +summoning about his bed his wife, grand-children, and servants; +confessed to them his weaknesses and errors, asked their forgiveness for +any pain he might have caused them by petulance and haste, and professed +"his trust in God, through Christ, for the pardon of his sins." One +expression, which Dr. Johnstone reports him to have used on this +occasion, is extraordinary--that "from the beginning of his life he was +not conscious of having fallen into a crime." Far be it from us to +scrutinize the words of a delirious death-bed--These must have been +uttered (if, indeed, they are accurately given) either in some peculiar +and very limited sense, or else at a moment when a man is no longer +accountable to God for what he utters. The latter was, probably, the +case: for in the same breath in which he declares "his life, even his +early life, to have been pure," he sues for pardon at the hands of his +Maker, and acknowledges a Redeemer, as the instrument through which he +is to obtain it. + +That quickness of feeling and disposition to abandon himself to +its guidance, which made Parr an inconsistent man, made him also a +benevolent one. Benevolence he loved as a subject for his contemplation, +and the practical extension of it as a rule for his conduct. He could +scarcely bear to regard the Deity under any other aspect. He would have +children taught, in the first instance, to regard him under that aspect +alone; simply as a being who displayed infinite goodness in the +creation, in the government, and in the redemption of the world. +Language itself indicates, that the whole system of moral rectitude is +comprised in it--_[Greek: energetein], benefacere_, beneficencethe +generic term being, in common parlance, emphatically restricted to works +of charity. Nor was this mere theory in Parr. Most men who have been +economical from necessity in their youth, continue to be so, from habit, +in their age--but Parr's hand was ever open as day. Poverty had vexed, +but had never contracted his spirit; money he despised, except as it +gave him power--power to ride in his state coach, to throw wide his +doors to hospitality, to load his table with plate, and his shelves with +learning; power to adorn his church with chandeliers and painted +windows; to make glad the cottages of his poor; to grant a loan, to a +tottering farmer; to rescue from want a forlorn patriot, or a thriftless +scholar. Whether misfortune, or mismanagement, or folly, or vice, had +brought its victim low, his want was a passport to Parr's pity, and the +dew of his bounty fell alike upon the evil and the good, upon the just +and the unjust. It is told of Boerhaave, that, whenever he saw a +criminal led out to execution, he would say, "May not this man be better +than I? If otherwise, the praise is due, not to me, but to the grace of +God." Parr quotes the saying with applause. Such, we doubt not, would +have been his own feelings on such an occasion.--_Quarterly Review_. + + * * * * * + + + + +THE GATHERER + + A snapper up of unconsidered trifles. +SHAKSPEARE. + + * * * * * + + +SONG FROM THE ITALIAN OF P. ROLLI. + + + Babbling current, would you know + Why I turn to thee again, + 'Tis to find relief from woe, + Respite short from ceaseless pain. + + I and Sylvio on a day + Were upon thy bank reclin'd, + When dear Sylvio swore to me, + And thus spoke in accents kind: + + First this flowing tide shall turn + Backward to its fountain head, + Dearest nymph, ere thou shall mourn, + Thy too easy faith betray'd. + + Babbling current, backward turn, + Hide thee in thy fountain head; + For alas, I'm left to mourn + My too easy faith betray'd. + + Love and life pursu'd the swain, + Both must have the self-same date, + But mine only he could mean, + Since his love is turn'd to hate. + + Sure some fairer nymph than I, + From me lures the lovely youth, + Haply she receives like me, + Vows of everlasting truth. + + Babbling current should the fair + Stop to listen on thy shore, + Bid her, Sylvio, to beware, + Love and truth he oft had sworn. + +T.H. + + * * * * * + + +THE SPRING AND THE MORNING, + +_A Ballad._ + + + _Written by Sir Lumley Skeffington, Bart._ + _Inscribed to Miss Foote_. + + When the frosts of the Winter, in mildness were ending, + To April I gave half the welcome of May; + While the Spring, fresh in youth, came delightfully blending + The buds that are sweet, and the songs that are gay. + As the eyes fixed the heart on a vision so fair, + Not doubting, but trusting what magic was there; + Aloud I exclaim'd, with augmented desire, + I thought 'twas the Spring, when In truth, 'tis Maria. + + When the fading of stars, in the regions of splendour, + Announc'd that the morning was young in the East, + On the upland I rov'd, admiration to render, + Where freshness, and beauty, and lustre increas'd. + Whilst the beams of the morning new pleasures bestow'd, + While fondly I gaz'd, while with rapture I glow'd; + In sweetness commanding, in elegance bright, + Maria arose! a more beautiful light! + +_Gentleman's Magazine_. + + * * * * * + + +UNEXPECTED REPROOF. + + +The celebrated scholar, Muretus, was taken ill upon the road as he was +travelling from Paris to Lyons, and as his appearance was not much in +his favour, he was carried to an hospital. Two physicians attended him, +and his disease not being a very common one, they thought it right to +try something new, and out of the usual road of practice, upon him. +One of them, not knowing that their patient knew Latin, said in that +language to the other, "We may surely venture to try an experiment upon +the body of so mean a man as our patient is." "Mean, sir!" replied +Muretus, in Latin, to their astonishment, "can you pretend to call any +man so, sir, for whom the Saviour of the world did not think it beneath +him to die?" + +IRELAND. + +The following is the territorial surface of Ireland:-- + + Acres. + + Arable land, gardens, meadows, pastures, and marshes 12,125,280 + + Uncultivated lands, and bogs capable of improvement ... 4,900,000 + + Surface incapable of any kind of improvement[3]........ 2,416,664 + __________ + Total of acres 19,441,944 + + + [3] Parliamentary Report. + + * * * * * + + +ROUGE ET NOIR. + + + When jovial Barras was the Monarch of France, + And its women all lived in the light of his glance, + One eve, when tall Tallien and plump Josephine + Were trying the question, of which should be Queen, + Dame Josephine hung on one side of his chair, + With her West Indian bosom as brown as 'twas bare; + Dame Tallien as fondly on t'other side hung, + With a blush that might burn up the spot where she clung. + Old Sieyes stalked in; saw my lord at his wine, + Now toasting the copper-skin, now the carmine; + Then starting away, cried, "Barras, _le bon soir_; + 'Twas for business _I_ came; I leave _you Rouge et Noir_." + + * * * * * + + +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. 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