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diff --git a/11519-0.txt b/11519-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..98b6260 --- /dev/null +++ b/11519-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1396 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 11519 *** + +THE MIRROR OF LITERATURE, AMUSEMENT, AND INSTRUCTION. + +VOL. XIV, No. 383] SATURDAY, AUGUST 1, 1829. [PRICE 2d. + + + +TUNBRIDGE WELLS. + + +[Illustration: TUNBRIDGE WELLS IN 1748. With sketches of Dr. Johnson, +Cibber, Garrick, Lyttleton, Richardson, &c. &c. _For Explanation, see the +annexed page._] + +_References to the Characters in the Engraving._ + +1. Dr. Johnson.--2. Bishop of Salisbury (Dr. Gilbert.)--3. Lord +Harcourt.--4. Cotley Cibber.--5. Mr. Garrick.--6. Mrs. Frasi, the +singer.--7. Mr. Nash.--8. Miss Chudleigh (Duchess of Kingston.)--9. +Mr. Pitt (Earl of Chatham.)--10. A. Onslow, Esq. (the Speaker.)--11. Lord +Powis.--12. Duchess of Norfolk.--13. Miss Peggy Banks--14. Lady +Lincoln--15. Mr. (afterwards Lord) Lyttleton.--16. The Baron (a German +gamester.)--17. Samuel Richardson.--18. Mrs. Onslow.--20. Mrs. Johnson +(the Doctor's wife.)--21. Mr. Whiston--22. Loggan, the artist.--23. Woman +of the Wells. + +Tunbridge, or as old folks still call it, "the Wells," was a gay, +anecdotical resort of the last century, and about as different from the +fashionable haunts of the present, as St. James's is to Russel Square, or +an old English mansion to the egg-shell architecture of yesterday. In its +best days, it was second only to Bath, and little did its belles and beaux +dream of the fishified village of Brighthelmstone, in the adjoining county, +spreading to a city, and being docked of its syllabic proportions to the +_Brighton_ of ears polite. + +The annexed Engraving represents Tunbridge Wells about 80 years ago, or in +the year 1748. It is copied from a drawing which belonged to Samuel +Richardson, the novelist, and was found among his papers at his death in +1761. The original is in the possession of Sir Richard Phillips, who +published Richardson's _Correspondence_, in 1804; it contains portrait +figures of all the celebrated characters who were at Tunbridge Wells, in +August, 1748, at which time Richardson was likewise there, and beneath the +drawing is the above key, or the names of the characters, in the +hand-writing of the novelist. + +But the pleasantest illustration that we can supply is the following +extract from one of Richardson's Letters to Miss Westcomb, which +represents the gaiety and flirtation of the place in very attractive +colours. At this time Richardson was at Tunbridge Wells for the benefit of +his health; but he says, "I had rather be in a desert, than in a place so +public and so giddy, if I may call the place so from its frequenters. But +these waters were almost the only thing in medicine that I had not tried; +and, as my disorder seemed to increase, I was willing to try them. +Hitherto, I must own, without effect is the trial. But people here, who +slide in upon me, as I traverse the outermost edges of the walks, that I +may stand in nobody's way, nor have my dizziness increased by the swimming +triflers, tell me I shall not give them fair play under a month or six +weeks; and that I ought neither to read nor write; yet I have all my town +concerns upon me here, sent me every post and coach, and cannot help it. +Here are great numbers of people got together. A very full season, and +more coming every day--Great comfort to me." + +"What if I could inform you, that among scores of belles, flatterers, +triflers, who swim along these walks, self-satisfied and pleased, and +looking defiances to men (and to modesty, I had like to have said; for +bashfulness seems to be considered as want of breeding in all I see here); +a pretty woman is as rare as a black swan; and when one such starts up, +she is nicknamed a Beauty, and old fellows and young fellows are set +a-spinning after her." + +"_Miss Banks_ (Miss Peggy Banks) was the belle when I came first down--yet +she had been so many seasons here, that she obtained but a faint and +languid attention; so that the smarts began to put her down in their list +of had-beens. New faces, my dear, are more sought after than fine faces. A +piece of instruction lies here--that women should not make even their +faces cheap." + +"_Miss Chudleigh_ next was the triumphant toast: a lively, sweet-tempered, +gay, self-admired, and not altogether without reason, generally-admired +lady--she moved not without crowds after her. She smiled at every one. +Every one smiled before they saw her, when they heard she was on the walk. +She played, she lost, she won--all with equal good-humour. But, alas, she +went off, before she was wished to go off. And then the fellows' hearts +were almost broken for a new beauty." + +"Behold! seasonably, the very day that she went away entered upon the +walks Miss L., of Hackney!--Miss Chudleigh was forgotten (who would wish +for so transient a dominion in the land of fickledom!)--And have you seen +the new beauty?--And have you seen Miss L.? was all the inquiry from smart +to smartless. But she had not traversed the walks two days, before she was +found to want spirit and life. Miss Chudleigh was remembered by those who +wished for the brilliant mistress, and scorned the wifelike quality of +sedateness--and Miss L. is now seen with a very silly fellow or two, +walking backwards and forwards unmolested--dwindled down from the new +beauty to a very quotes pretty girl; and perhaps glad to come off so. For, +upon my word, my dear, there are very few pretty girls here." + +"But here, to change the scene, to see Mr. W----sh at eighty (Mr. Cibber +calls him papa), and Mr. Cibber at seventy-seven, hunting after new faces; +and thinking themselves happy if they can obtain the notice and +familiarity of a fine woman!--How ridiculous!--If you have not been at +Tunbridge, you may nevertheless have heard that here are a parcel of +fellows, mean traders, whom they call touters, and their business, +touting--riding out miles to meet coaches and company coming hither, to +beg their custom while here." + +"Mr. Cibber was over head and ears in love with Miss Chudleigh. Her +admirers (such was his happiness!) were not jealous of him; but, pleased +with that wit in him which they had not, were always for calling him to +her. She said pretty things--for she was Miss Chudleigh. He said pretty +things--for he was Mr. Cibber; and all the company, men and women, seemed +to think they had an interest in what was said, and were half as well +pleased as if they had said the sprightly things themselves; and mighty +well contented were they to be secondhand repeaters of the pretty things. +But once I faced the laureate squatted upon one of the benches, with a +face more wrinkled than ordinary with disappointment 'I thought,' said I, +'you were of the party at the tea-treats--Miss Chudleigh has gone into the +tea-room.'--'Pshaw!' said he, 'there is no coming at her, she is so +surrounded by the toupets.'--And I left him upon the fret--But he was +called to soon after; and in he flew, and his face shone again, and looked +smooth." + + * * * * * + +"Another extraordinary old man we have had here, but of a very different +turn; the noted _Mr. Whiston_, showing eclipses, and explaining other +phaenomena of the stars, and preaching the millennium, and anabaptism (for +he is now, it seems, of that persuasion) to gay people, who, if they have +white teeth, hear him with open mouths, though perhaps shut hearts; and +after his lecture is over, not a bit the wiser, run from him, the more +eagerly to C----r and W----sh, and to flutter among the loud-laughing +young fellows upon the walks, like boys and girls at a breaking-up." + + * * * * * + +"Your affectionate and paternal friend and servant, S. RICHARDSON." + +Richardson has mentioned only a few of the characters introduced in the +Engraving. Johnson was at that time but in his fortieth year, and much +less portly than afterwards. Cibber is the very picture of an old beau, +with laced hat and flowing wig; half-a-dozen of his pleasantries were +worth all that is heard from all the playwrights and actors of our +day--on or off the stage: Garrick too, probably did not keep all his fine +conceits within the theatre. Nos. 7, 8, and 9, in the Engraving, are a +pretty group: Miss Chudleigh (afterwards Duchess of Kingston,) between +Beau Nash and Mr. Pitt (Earl of Chatham,) both of whom are striving for a +side-long glance at the sweet tempered, and as Richardson calls her, +"generally-admired" lady. No. 17, Richardson himself is moping along like +an invalid beneath the trees, and avoiding the triflers. Mrs. Johnson is +widely separated from the Doctor, but is as well dressed as he could wish +her; and No. 21, Mr. Whiston is as unexpected among this gay crowd as snow +in harvest. What a _coterie_ of wits must Tunbridge have possessed at this +time: what assemblies and whistparties among scores of spinsters, and +ogling, dangling old bachelors; with high-heeled shoes, silken hose, court +hoops, embroidery, and point ruffles--only compare the Tunbridge parade of +1748 with that of 1829. + +We have room but for a brief sketch of Tunbridge Wells. The Springs, or +the place itself, is a short distance from the town of Tunbridge. The +discovery of the waters was in the reign of James I. Henrietta Maria, +Queen of Charles I. staid here six weeks after the birth of the prince, +afterwards Charles II.; but, as no house was near, suitable for so great a +personage, she and her suite remained under tents pitched in the +neighbourhood. The Wells, hitherto called Frant, were changed to Queen's +Mary's Wells: both have given place to Tunbridge Wells; though the springs +rise in the parish of Speldhurst. + +Waller, in his Lines to Saccharissa,[1] celebrates the Tunbridge Waters; +and Dr. Rowzee[2] wrote a treatise on their virtues. During the civil +wars, the Wells were neglected, but on the Restoration they became more +fashionable than ever.[3] Hence may be dated assembly rooms, coffee houses, +bowling greens, &c.; about which time, to suit the caprice of their owners, +many of the houses were wheeled upon sledges: a chapel[4] and a school +were likewise erected. The accommodations have been progressively +augmented; and the population has greatly increased. The trade of the +place consists chiefly in the manufacture of the articles known as +Tunbridge-ware. The Wells have always been patronized by the royal family; +and are still visited by some of their branches. + +Our Engraving represents the Upper, or principal walk, where are one of +the assembly rooms, the post-office, Tunbridge-ware, milliners, and other +shops, with a row of spreading elms on the opposite side. It is not +uninteresting to notice the humble style of the shops, and the wooden +portico and tiled roofs, in the Engraving, and to contrast them with the +ornamental shop-architecture of our days: yet our forefathers, good old +souls, thought such accommodations worthy of their patronage, and there +was then as much gaiety at Tunbridge Wells as at Brighton in its best days. + + +[1] Saccharissa, or the Lady Dorothy Sydney, resided at Penshurst, near + Tunbridge. + +[2] He prescribed eighteen pints of the water for a morning's dose. + +[3] Grammont, in his fascinating "Memoirs," thus describes the Wells at + his period, 1664, when Catherine, Queen of Charles II. was here for + two months, with all the beauties of the court: + + "Tunbridge is the same distance from London that Fontainebleau is from + Paris, and is, at the season, the general rendezvous of all the gay + and handsome of both sexes. The company, though always numerous, is + always select; since those who repair thither for diversion, even + exceed the number of those who go thither for health. Every thing here + breathes mirth and pleasure; constraint is banished; familiarity is + established upon the first acquaintance; and joy and pleasure are the + sole sovereigns of the place. The company are accommodated with + lodgings in little clean and convenient habitations, that lie + straggling and separated from each other, a mile and a half round the + Wells, where the company meet in the morning. The place consists of a + long walk, shaded by pleasant trees, under which they walk while they + are drinking the waters. On one side of this walk is a long row of + shops, plentifully stocked with all manner of toys, lace, gloves, + stockings, and where there is raffling, as at Paris, in the Foire de + Saint Germain. On the other side of the Walk is the Market and as it + is the custom here for every person to buy their own provisions, care + is taken that nothing offensive appears upon the stalls. Here young, + fair, fresh-coloured country girls, with clean linen, small straw hats, + and neat shoes and stockings, sell game, vegetables, flowers, and + fruit. Here one may live as one pleases. Here is likewise deep play, + and no want of amorous intrigues. As soon as the evening comes, every + one quits his little palace to assemble on the bowling-green, where, + in the open air, those who choose, dance upon a turf more soft and + smooth than the finest carpet in the world." + +[4] "This chapel," says Hasted, "stands remarkably in three parishes--the + pulpit in Speldhurst, the altar in Tunbridge, and the vestry in Frant. + The stream also, which parted the counties of Kent and Sussex, + formerly ran underneath it, but is now turned to a greater distance." + --_Hist. Kent_, vol. iii. + + * * * * * + + +LOVE. + +(_For the Mirror_.) + + + Sing ye love? ye sing it not, + It was never sung, I wot. + None can speak the power of love, + Tho' 'tis felt by all that move. + It is known--but not reveal'd, + 'Tis a knowledge ever seal'd! + Dwells it in the tearful eye + Of congenial sympathy? + 'Tis a radiance of the mind, + 'Tis a feeling undefin'd, + 'Tis a wonder-working spell, + 'Tis a magic none can tell, + 'Tis a charm unutterable. + +LEAR. + + * * * * * + + +GRAYSTEIL.[1] + +AN HISTORICAL BALLAD. + +(_For the Mirror_.) + + + Beneath the Douglas plaid, he wore a grinding shirt of mail; + Yet, spite of pain and weariness, press'd on that gallant Gael: + On, on, beside his regal foe, with eyes which more express'd + Than _words_, expecting favour still, from him who _once_ caress'd! + + "_'Tis_," quoth the prince, "my poor Graysteil!" and spurr'd his steed + amain, + Striving, ere toiling Kilspindie, the fortalice to gain; + But Douglas, (and his wither'd heart, with hope and dread, beat high) + Stood at proud Stirling's castle-gate, as soon as royalty! + + Stood, on his ingrate _friend_ to gaze; no answ'ring love-look came; + Then, mortal grief his spirit shook, and bow'd his war-worn frame; + Faith, _innocence_, avail'd not _him!_ he suffer'd for his line, + And fainting by the gate he sunk, but feebly call'd for _wine!_ + + The menials came, "_wine?_ up! begone! _we_ marvel who thou art! + Our _monarch_ bids to France, Graysteil, his trusty _friend_ depart!" + Blood to the Douglas' cheek uprush'd: proud blood! away he hied, + And soon afar, the "poor Graysteil," the _broken hearted_, DIED! + +M.L.B. + +_Note_--Graysteil (so called after the champion of a romance then popular) +had returned from banishment in the hope, as he was perfectly innocuous, +of renewing his ancient friendship with the Scottish king; and James +declared that he would again have received him into his service, but for +his oath, never more to countenance a Douglas. He blamed his servants for +refusing refreshment to the veteran, but did not escape censure from our +own Henry VIII. for his cruel conduct towards his "poor Graysteil," upon +this occasion. + + +[1] Archibald, of Kilspindie, a noble Douglas, and until the disgrace of + his clan, a personal friend and favourite of James V. of Scotland. For + the incidents of this ballad, vide _Tales of a Grandfather_, 1st + Series, vol. 3. + + * * * * * + + +TO THE MEMORY OF SIR HUMPHRY DAVY, BART. + +(_For the Mirror._) + + + To this low orb is lost a shining light. + Useful, resplendent, and tho' transient, bright! + For scarce has soaring genius reach'd the blaze + Of fleeting life's meridian hour, + Than Death around the naming meteor plays, + And spreads its cypress o'er the short liv'd flower. + The great projector of that grand design,[1] + In time's remotest annals, long will shine; + While sons of toil aloud proclaim his name, + And _life preserv'd_ perpetuate his _fame_. + + +[1] The Safety Lamp + + * * * * * + + +SODA WATER. + +(_To the Editor of the Mirror._) + + +The following extract from a medical periodical on _Soda Water_, will not +perhaps be deemed _mal-apropos_ at the present period of the year, and by +being inserted in your widely circulated work may be of some service to +those who are not aware of the evil effects produced by a _too free_ use +of that beverage. + +M.M.M. + + +On this fashionable article, the editor remarks, Dr. Paris makes the +following observations:--"The modern custom of drinking this inviting +beverage during, or immediately after dinner, has been a pregnant source +of indigestion. By inflating the stomach at such a period, we inevitably +counteract those _muscular_ contractions of its coats which are essential +to chymification, whilst the quantity of soda thus introduced scarcely +deserves notice; with the exception of the carbonic acid gas, it may be +regarded as water; more mischievous only in consequence of the +_exhilarating_ quality, inducing us to take it at a period at which we +would not require the more simple fluid." + +In all the waters we have obtained from fountains in London and other +places, under the names of "Soda Water" and "_double_ Soda Water," we have +not been able to discover any soda. It is common water mechanically +super-saturated with fixed air, which on being disengaged and rarified in +the stomach, may, as Dr. Paris observes, so over distend the organ as to +interrupt digestion, or diminish the powers of the digestive organs. When +acid prevails in the stomach, which is generally the case the day after +too free an indulgence in wine, true soda water, taken two or three hours +before dinner, or an hour before breakfast, not only neutralizes the acid, +but the fixed air, which is disengaged, allays the irritation, and even by +distending the organ, invigorates the muscular coat and nerves. As the +quantity of soda, in the true soda water, is much too small to neutralize +the acid, it is a good practice to add fifteen or twenty grains of the +carbonate of soda, finely powdered, to each bottle, which may be done by +pouring the contents of a bottle on it in a large glass. + +Of all the soda water we have examined, we have found that made by Mr. +Johnson, to contain the greatest quantity of soda. For the purpose of +cooling the body during warm weather, and quieting the stomach, which is +generally in a state of increased irritation when the temperature of the +air is equal or within a few degrees of that of the body, it is preferable +to any of the vegetable or mineral acids. + + * * * * * + + + +THE COSMOPOLITE. + + +SISTERS OF CHARITY.[1] + + +All the world, that is, one out of the two millions of people in this +great town, know, that the above is the title of a somewhat romantic drama, +in which Miss Kelly is fast monopolizing the tears and sympathies of the +public by her impersonation of a _Sister of Charity_. To witness it will +do every heart good; and this is the highest aim of a dramatic +representation. The performance has had the effect of drawing our +attention to the original of the character, which is intensely interesting, +though at the same time overtinged with romance. + +Every six weeks' tourist has seen or heard of the _Sisters of Charity_ on +the Continent. They are nurses in the hospitals there, but on a system +very different from the hireling attendants in similar institutions in +England. Indeed, they may be said to have quitted the world to devote +themselves to the relief of those unfortunate persons, who people the +abodes of misery and distress. They form, it appears, a numerous body, +consisting of several thousand members, who are said to perform or +superintend the administration of 300 hospitals in France. They are united +under several denominations, as nuns of those monastic communities which +escaped the storms of the revolution. Many of them are in the prime of +life, and though not bound by absolute vows, devote the whole of their +time, and even die in the act of doing good. In spiritual matters, they +are under the jurisdiction of the bishop of the district in which the +hospital is situated; in temporal concerns they are subject to the +authority of the heads of the establishment to which they belong; but they +are chiefly under the guidance of the superior of their order. They are +fed and lodged at the expense of the hospital, and receive in addition, a +certain stipend for the purchase of clothes. In the hospital at Lyons, +(which forty or fifty years ago, was the only hospital in France which was +not in a barbarous state), there are about 150 of these _Sisters_, wearing +a uniform dress of dark worsted, and remarkably clean. They receive the +trifling sum of forty francs a year for pocket-money, and sit up one night +in each week; the following is a day of relaxation, and the only one they +have. During the siege of Lyons, when cannon-balls passed through the +windows, and struck the walls every moment, not one abandoned her post +near the sick. + +Every one will rejoice at the existence of such offices as _the Sisters of +Charity_--benign, nay almost divine; and until this moment, we thought +that such had been their real character. Our belief has, however, been +somewhat staggered by an article in the last number of _the London Review_; +in which the services of the _Sisters_ are represented in a much less +amiable light than we have been accustomed to view them. This notice +occurs in a paper on a work by Dr. David Johnston, of Edinburgh, on the +Public Charities of France. The Doctor, whose book abounds with evidence +of considerable research, thus speaks of the _Sisters of Charity_:-- + +"The inmate of an hospital is alone qualified to speak with justice of the +blessings which such attendance affords. Possessed of superior education, +and from their religious profession placed above many of the worldly +considerations which affect nurses in general, the Sisters of Charity act +at once as temporal and spiritual comforters, watch over the sick bed, +soothe the prisoner in his confinement, and penetrate into the worst +abodes of misery, to comfort the distress, and instruct the ignorant." + +Such we also thought had been their portraiture, although we could not so +far speak from personal evidence. But the reviewer gainsays all this, and +even does more. After drawing a comparison, and not altogether a just one, +between the "Sisters of Charity in France," and ladies of fortune who +unostentatiously visit the sick poor in England, he says-- + +"It is matter of fact, generally observable in the instances of the +_soeurs de charité_, that in the performance of their duties towards the +sick, during the first three or four months, they display all that tender +solicitude and devotedness, which romance ascribes to them as constant and +habitual. After the first feelings have subsided, the _soeurs_ are found +to consult, in all their actions, first, their own interests, in ease and +comfort; next, those of their order, and of the servants on the +establishment personally connected with them; and, last of all, those of +the patients. On an unprejudiced examination it will be found, that a body +so constituted as the _soeurs_, are extremely unfit for the performance of +such functions as are entrusted to them in these establishments. It is +essential to the good performance of the duties of a nurse, that she +should be responsible to the medical officer for their omission. The +_soeurs_ are entirely independent of any such control, and their usual +answer to any complaint is, '_Je reponds a mon crucifix_.'" + +"It is a great mistake to suppose that these nuns are enlightened, or well +born, or well educated. In general they are ignorant women, too poor and +too deficient in personal qualities to find husbands. They are proud, +arrogant, and bigoted; and, with a few interesting exceptions, it may be +said of them, that they become nuns for want of better occupations; that +they are characterized by the ill temper of disappointment, at the world +having neglected or rejected them, rather than by any sublime elevation of +feeling, which could have led them to reject the world. It is a delusion +to suppose that all the more important duties, on the due performance of +which the success of medical treatment mainly depends, devolve upon the +_soeurs_. The fact is, that it is one of the most serious defects of the +French hospitals, that proper persons are not procured to perform these +services: such as waiting upon the patients, changing their linen, moving +them, and administering to their little wants, in a proper manner. In +Paris there is a class of men, the refuse of the working classes, who, +when all means of support fail, apply to the hospitals, and become +_infirmières_. It will scarcely be believed, that to these men are +entrusted the important duties to which we have adverted, and which the +Doctor seems to suppose are chiefly performed by the _soeurs_. These +_infirmières_ receive for their services only six-and-eightpence per month, +besides their board and lodging in the house; and, as they can earn more +at any other occupation, they seldom remain long in their situations. The +_infirmières_, or female servants, are much of the same description: badly +appointed, badly paid, negligent and rapacious, often pilfering a portion +of the allowance of provisions and wine prescribed to the patient for his +recovery. The general interference of the _soeurs_ is prejudicial. +Frequently, on the strength of their own medical opinions, they will +neglect the prescriptions; frequently they harass a patient about his +confession, when a calm state of mind is indispensable for his recovery. +They also often exercise their united influence against a medical man, to +protect favourite servants. They encumber all exertions for improvement, +so that, whenever any change is discussed, one of the first subjects for +consideration is, whether the _soeurs_ are likely to interfere. Of late, +however, their power has been somewhat checked. Under good regulations +they might, no doubt, be rendered serviceable; but every alteration of +their condition, with regard to the hospitals, to be an improvement, must +bring them nearer to the superior condition of responsible nurses, chosen +for their aptitude, and remunerated according to their merits." + +"We have been compelled to state thus much of these orders. The +associations connected with persons of their sex and supposed rank, who +have taken the veil; their apparent devotedness to such amiable and +pre-eminently serviceable duties; their solemnity of exterior, and other +incidents--are so calculated to strike the eye and possess the imagination +of the beholder, that we are not surprised to perceive that they have +misled the judgment of the Doctor, since they constantly impose on others, +who have better opportunities for observation. The _soeur de charité_ is +too fine an object for the effusion of sentiment and romance, not to be +made the most of in these worldly and unpoetic times; and were it not that +the illusions thrown around this object might lead to practical errors, we +should have refrained from disturbing them." + +Feelings similar to those professed by the reviewer, have induced us to +present the reader with his new light, which we hope is a just one. Of the +little system of plunder carried on in some institutions at home, we can +speak of one instance with certainty:--A relative near and dear to us as +life's blood, had by money and comforts, (which but for this incident +would have been kept secret), for many months relieved an inmate of a +London hospital. The patient was a poor, old female, in the last stage of +decrepitude, and fast sinking beneath the sorrows of life. She had seen +happier days, and the only relic which she possessed of better fortune, +was a pair of silver framed spectacles; which, on her death-bed, she +bequeathed to her benefactress. The poor old woman's relations were dead, +and this guardian-spirit who soothed her path to the grave, was her only +friend. Such an act of gratitude was, therefore, extremely affecting, and +her benefactress was anxious to possess the legacy--heaven knows, not for +its intrinsic value--but as a testimony of rare and unaffected gratitude; +yet, will it be believed, that the tempting bit of silver had not escaped +the clutches of the nurses of the ward, and the spectacles were not to be +found! Our informant related the circumstance with tears of indignation; +we threatened to investigate the matter, yet her meek and mild spirit +implored us to withhold: she too passed from us a short time after, and is, +we hope, gone where her good deeds will not be forgotten. + +PHILO. + + +[1] We give this paper as an illustration of the office of the _Sisters of + Charity_. The incidents upon which the Drama is founded, are those of + the Two Sisters of Ancona, a pretty little tale in the Juvenile + Keepsake, by Mrs. Godwin. One sister in an attempt to carry provisions + and intelligence to her lover, is taken prisoner by the French, and + condemned to die; the other is a nun, who effects her escape by + changing dresses, and remains, and actually perishes in her stead. On + the stage, the sister is made the daughter of the Sister of Charity, + and the fruit of a secret and unhappy connexion with a French officer, + who proves to be the commander of the detachment--hence both their + lives are saved. + + * * * * * + + + +NOTES OF A READER. + + +MONT BLANC. + + +The most interesting night of the late season of the Royal Institution, +was the lecture or narrative, given by Dr. Clarke of his ascent of Mont +Blanc in 1825. Dr. Clarke led his audience from Geneva to the summit, +detailing the enterprise, which, however, he considers not by any means so +dangerous as has been represented. At 9,000 feet above the level of the +Mediterranean the air becomes extremely rarified, and the sky exhibits a +blue-black appearance. He does not consider it at all safe for persons to +attempt the ascent, having a tendency to apoplexy, for at the height of +15,000 feet above the level of the sea, the extremely rarified state of the +air, as well as the almost unbearable oppression of the sun's rays, though +surrounded with snow, would increase that tendency to an alarming extent. +So oppressive is the sun, that on sitting down in the shade he was asleep +instantly. The passage, just above the Grande Plateau (a surface of ice +and snow, many acres in extent, 10,000 feet above the level of the sea) is +a point of great difficulty. This chink is about seven feet wide and of +immeasurable depth. To get over it the guides first proceed to render the +passage more easy. He cautions travellers to pay implicit attention to +guides, as the accident in 1822, when three persons sunk into the caverns +of snow, was occasioned by this want of caution. It is appalling, said Dr. +Clarke, to be carried over an abyss of unknown depth, slung upon cords and +drawn over. On arriving at the summit of Mont Blanc the toils are amply +repaid. Language cannot depict the scene before the traveller. The eye +wanders over immeasurable space. The sky appears to recede, and the vision +possesses double power. The Alpine scenery here is awfully grand, and the +alternate thaw and freezing (for when the sun is down it freezes rapidly) +produces the most grotesque figures. The only living creature found on the +summit of Mont Blanc is a small white butterfly (the _ansonia_,) which +flits over the snow. The chamois is found 10,000 feet above the level of +the sea; Mont Blanc is 15,500 feet above the Mediterranean. Specimens were +exhibited of the compositions of all the mountains round Mont Blanc. +Periodically an immense quantity of snow falls down from the summit of the +Mont, enough, as the guide said, to crush all Europe like flies. "On +throwing stones down the precipices, thousands of feet deep, the traveller +feels an almost irresistible desire to throw himself after them!"-- +_Monthly Magazine_. + + * * * * * + + +FURIOUS DRIVING. + + +In going upon the road, in the United States, it is looked upon as a sort +of slur on one, if another pass him, going in the same direction; and this +folly prevails to as great a degree as amongst our break-neck coachmen; +and you will see an old Quaker, whom, to look at, as he sits perched in +his wagon, you would think had been cut out of stone a couple of hundred +years ago; or hewed out of a log of wood, with the axe of some of the +first settlers--if he hear a rattle behind him, you will see him gently +turn his head; if he be passing a tavern at the time he pays little +attention, and refrains from laying the whip upon the "creatures," seeing +that he is morally certain that the rattler will stop to take "a grog" at +the tavern; but if no such invitation present itself, and especially if +there be a tavern two or three miles a-head, he begins immediately to make +provision against the consequences of the impatience of his rival, who, he +is aware, will push him hard, and on they go as fast as they can scamper, +the successful driver talking of the "_glorious achievement_" for a week.-- +_Cobbett_. + + * * * * * + + +VILLAGE BELLS. + + + ------'To the heart the solemn sweetness steals, + Like the heart's voice, unfelt by none who feels + That God is love, that man is living dust; + Unfelt by none, whom ties of brotherhood + Link to his kind; by none who puts his trust + In naught of earth that hath surviv'd the flood, + Save those mute charities, by which the good + Strengthen poor worms, and serve their Maker best. + +_Village Patriarch_. + + * * * * * + + +CURIOUS CONTRIVANCE. + + +In the Pampas, when the natives want a granary, they sew the legs of a +whole skin up, and fill it full of corn; it is then tied up to four stakes, +with the legs hanging downwards, so that it has the appearance of an +elephant hanging up; the top is again covered with hides, which prevent +the rats getting in. In stretching a skin to dry, wood is so scarce in +many parts of the Pampas, that the rib bones are carefully preserved to +supply its place, and used as pegs to fix it in the ground. When a +new-born infant is to be cradled, a square sheepskin is laced to a small +rude frame of wood, and suspended like a scale to a beam or +rail.--_Brand's Peru._ + + * * * * * + + +SOUTH AMERICAN DINNER. + + +A recent traveller thus describes a dinner party at Mendoza:--The day of +days arrived; the carriage was flying about the town with a couple of +mules, to bring all the ladies to dinner, in order to meet the foreign +gentlemen. We were all seated higgledy-piggledy at table, dish after dish +came in; every one helped themselves, no carving was required, being all +made dishes. The master of the house was walking round the room with his +coat off, very comfortably smoking his cigar, and between every fresh dish, +of which there were some thirty or forty, the ladies amused themselves +with eating olives soaked in oil, and the colonel, (one of the military +pedlars), to prove that he understood foreign manners and customs, got the +ladies one after another to ask the foreign gentlemen to drink wine with +them, which was no small ordeal for us to run through. After these half +hundred dishes, came the sweets; then the gentlemen's flints and steels +were going, the room soon filled with smoke, and the ladies retired to +dress for the ball. + + * * * * * + + +EARLY HOURS. + + +We learn that Mr. Cobbett dines at twelve o'clock on suppawn and butcher's +meat, that he sups on bread and milk at six, that he goes to bed at nine, +that he rises every morning of his life at four; that before ten o'clock +he has finished his writing for the day, and, that though no man has +written more than he has, that he never knew any one who enjoyed more +leisure than he does, and has done. "Now is there a man on earth who sits +at a table, on an average, so many hours in the day as I do? I do not +believe that there is: and I say it, not with pride, but with gratitude, +that I do not believe that the whole world contains a man who is more +constantly blessed with health than I am. In winter I go to bed at nine, +and I rise, if I do not oversleep myself, at four, or between four and +five. I have always a clear head; I am ready to take the pen, or begin +dictating, the moment I have lighted the fire, or it has been lighted for +me, and, generally speaking, I am seldom more than five minutes in bed +before I am asleep." + + * * * * * + + +AN IRISH VILLAGE INN. + + +The form and plan in all parts of the country are pretty nearly the same, +though the furniture varies; the hospitable door (inns are proverbially +hospitable) stands always open, but the guests are sheltered from the +thorough air by a screen, composed like the rest of the mansion, of mud; +the partition walls which separate it from the adjoining rooms reach no +higher than the spring of the roof, so that warmth and air, not to mention +the grunting of pigs, and other domestic sounds, are equally diffused +through all parts of the tenement; from the rafters, well blackened and +polished with smoke, depend sundry flitches of bacon, dried salmon, and so +forth, and above them, if you know the ways of the house "may be you +couldn't find (maybe you _couldn't_ means, maybe you _could_) a horn of +malt or a _cag_ of poteen, where the gauger couldn't smell it." If you are +very ignorant, you must be told, that poteen is the far famed liquor which +the Irish, on the faith of the proverb, "stolen bread is sweetest," prefer, +in spite of law, and--no--not of lawgivers, they drink it themselves, to +its unsuccessful rival, parliament whisky. Beneath the ample chimney, and +on each side of the fire-place, run low stone benches, the fire of turf or +bog is made on the ground, and the pot for boiling the "mate, or potaties" +as the chance may be, suspended over it by an iron chain; so that sitting +on the aforesaid stone benches, you may inhale, like the gods, the savour +of your dinner, while your frostbitten shins are soothed at the same time +by the fire which dresses it.--_Monthly Magazine_. + + * * * * * + + +THE TRUE GENTLEMAN. + + +By a gentleman, we mean not to draw a line that would be invidious between +high and low, rank and subordination, riches and poverty. The distinction +is in the mind. Whoever is open, loyal, and true; whoever is of humane and +affable demeanour; whoever is honourable in himself, and in his judgment +of others, and requires no law but his word to make him fulfil an +engagement--such a man is a gentleman: and such a man may be found among +the tillers of the earth. But high birth and distinction, for the most +part, insure the high sentiment which is denied to poverty and the lower +professions. It is hence, and hence only, that the great claim their +superiority; and hence, what has been so beautifully said of honour, the +law of kings, is no more than true:-- + + It aids and strengthens virtue where it meets her, + And imitates her actions where she is not. + +_De Vere_. + + * * * * * + + +ROYAL PLANTERS. + + +Among the earliest and most successful planters was Count Maurice, of +Nassau, who flourished in the seventeenth century. This prince had the +advantage of operating in the genial clime, and with the fruitful soil of +Brazil, of which in the year 1636, he was governor. He was a man of taste +and elegance, and adorned his palaces and gardens in that country with a +magnificence worthy of the satraps of the east. His residence was upon an +island formed by the confluence of two rivers, a place which before he +commenced his improvements presented no very promising subject, being a +dreary, waste, and uncultivated plain, equally worthless and unattractive. +On this spot, however, he erected a splendid palace, laid out gardens +around it of extraordinary extent and magnificence; salubrity, seclusion, +horticultural ornament were all studiously and tastefully combined in the +arrangement of the buildings; the choicest fruits of a tropical climate, +the orange, the citron, the ananas, with many others unknown to us, +solicited at once the sight, the smell, and the taste; artificial +fountains of water preserved the coolness of the air, and maintained the +verdure of the earth; thirteen bastions and turrets flanked and defended +the gardens; and seven hundred trees of various sizes, of which some rose +to thirty, some to forty, and some to fifty feet high to the lowermost +branches, were removed to the spot, and arranged by the designer's skill +in such a manner as to produce the most striking and splendid effect. Some +of these trees were of seventy and others of eighty years growth. Being +skilfully taken up they were placed carefully in carriages, conveyed over +a space of from three to four miles in extent, transported on rafts across +both the rivers, and on being replanted in the island, so favourable were +both soil and vegetation in that genial climate, that they immediately +struck root, and even bore fruit during the first year after their removal. + +Louis XIV. who, by the good efforts of the learned Jesuits, had been +taught that the practice of transplanting was well known to the Greeks and +Romans, resolved to rival, and if possible, to eclipse whatever had been +achieved in this art by these distinguished nations. Accordingly, among +the stupendous changes made on the face of nature at Versailles and other +royal residences, immense trees were taken up by the roots, erected on +carriages, and removed at the royal will and pleasure. Almost the whole +Bois de Boulogne was in this way said to be transported from Versailles to +its present site, a distance of about two leagues and a half. To order the +march of an army was the effort of common men, and every day commanders; +to order the removal of a forest seemed to suit the magnificent conception +of a prince, who, in all his enterprises, affected to act upon a scale +immeasurably greater than that of his contemporaries. In the Bois de +Boulogne, in spite of military devastation, the curious eye may still +distinguish, in the rectilinear disposition of the trees, the traces of +this extraordinary achievement. + +At Potsdam, Frederick II., and at Warsaw, the last king of Poland +transferred some thousands of large trees, in order to embellish the royal +gardens at those places; and at Lazenki, in the suburbs of Warsaw, the far +famed and unfortunate Stanislaus laid out the palace and grounds in a +style of luxuriance and magnificence which has, perhaps, never been +surpassed since the days of the Roman emperors. To add to the charm of +this favourite spot, he removed some thousands of trees and bushes with +which the gardens and the park were adorned; both were frequently thrown +open to the public, and on these occasions, entertainments of unexampled +splendour and gaiety were given to the court and to the principal +inhabitants of the capital, which are still recollected with feelings of +delight.--_Stuart's Planter's Guide_.--_Westminster Review_. + + * * * * * + + + +THE SKETCH-BOOK + + +MY FIRST INTERVIEW WITH SIR +WALTER SCOTT. + +_By the Ettrick Shepherd_. + + +One fine day in the summer of 1801, as I was busily engaged working in the +field at Ettrick House, Wat Shiel came over to me and said, that "I boud +gang away down to the Ramseycleuch as fast as my feet could carry me, for +there war some gentlemen there wha wantit to speak to me." + +"Wha can be at the Ramseycleuch that wants me, Wat?" + +"I couldna say, for it wasna me that they spak to i' the byganging. But +I'm thinking it's the Shirra an' some o' his gang." + +I was rejoiced to hear this, for I had seen the first volumes of "The +Minstrelsy of the Border," and had copied a number of old things from my +mother's recital, and sent them to the editor preparatory for a third +volume. I accordingly went towards home to put on my Sunday clothes, but +before reaching it I met with THE SHIRRA and Mr. William Laidlaw coming to +visit me. They alighted and remained in our cottage for a space better +than an hour, and my mother chanted the ballad of Old Maitlan' to them, +with which Mr. Scott was highly delighted. I had sent him a copy, (not a +very perfect one, as I found afterwards, from the singing of another +Laidlaw,) but I thought Mr. Scott had some dread of a part being forged, +that had been the cause of his journey into the wilds of Ettrick. When he +heard my mother sing it he was quite satisfied, and I remember he asked +her if she thought it had ever been printed, and her answer was, "Oo, na, +na, sir, it was never printed i' the world, for my brothers an' me learned +it frae auld Andrew Moor, an' he learned it, an' mony mae, frae are auld +Baby Mettlin, that was housekeeper to the first laird o' Tushilaw." + +"Then that must be a very auld story, indeed, Margaret," said he. + +"Ay, it is that! It is an auld story! But mair nor that, except George +Warton and James Steward, there was never ane o' my sangs prentit till ye +prentit them yoursell, an' ye hae spoilt them a'thegither. They war made +for singing, an' no for reading; and they're neither right spelled nor +right setten down." + +"Heh--heh--heh! Take ye that, Mr. Scott," said Laidlaw. + +Mr. Scott answered by a hearty laugh, and the recital of a verse, but I +have forgot what it was, and my mother gave him a rap on the knee with her +open hand, and said, "It was true enough, for a' that." + +We were all to dine at Ramseycleuch with the Messrs. Brydon, but Mr. Scott +and Mr. Laidlaw went away to look at something before dinner, and I was to +follow. On going into the stable-yard at Ramseycleuch I met with Mr. +Scott's liveryman, a far greater original than his master, whom I asked if +the Shirra was come? + +"O, ay, lad, the Shirra's come," said he. "Are ye the chiel that mak the +auld ballads and sing them?" + +"I said I fancied I was he that he meant, though I had never made ony very +_auld_ ballads." + +"Ay, then, lad, gae your ways in an' speir for the Shirra. They'll let ye +see where he is. He'll be very glad to see you." + +During the sociality of the evening, the discourse ran very much on the +different breeds of sheep, that curse of the community of Ettrick Forest. +The original black-faced Forest breed being always called _the short +sheep_, and the Cheviot breed _the long sheep_, the disputes at that +period ran very high about the practicable profits of each. Mr. Scott, who +had come into that remote district to preserve what fragments remained of +its legendary lore, was rather bored with the everlasting question of the +long and the short sheep. So at length, putting on his most serious +calculating face, he turned to Mr. Walter Brydon and said, "I'm rather at +a loss regarding the merits of this _very_ important question. How long +must a sheep actually measure to come under the denomination of _a long +sheep_?" + +Mr. Brydon, who, in the simplicity of his heart, neither perceived the +quiz nor the reproof, fell to answer with great sincerity,--"It's the woo, +sir--it's the woo that makes the difference. The lang sheep hae the short +woo, and the short sheep hae the lang thing; and these are just kind o' +names we gie them like." Mr. Scott could not preserve his grave face of +strict calculation; it went gradually away, and a hearty guffaw followed. +When I saw the very same words repeated near the beginning of the _Black +Dwarf_, how could I be mistaken of the author? It is true, Johnnie +Ballantyne persuaded me into a nominal belief of the contrary, for several +years following, but I could never get the better of that and several +similar coincidences. + +The next day we went off, five in number, to visit the wilds of Rankleburn, +to see if on the farms of Buccleuch there were any relics of the Castles +of Buccleuch or Mount-Comyn, the ancient and original possession of the +Scotts. We found no remains of either tower or fortalice, save an old +chapel and churchyard, and a mill and mill-lead, where corn never grew, +but where, as old Satchells very appropriately says, + + Had heather-bells been corn of the best, + The Buccleuch mill would have had a noble grist. + +It must have been used for grinding the chief's blackmails, which it is +known, were all paid to him in kind. Many of these still continue to be +paid in the same way; and if report says true, he would be the better of a +mill and kiln on some part of his land at this day, as well as a sterling +conscientious miller to receive and render. + +Besides having been mentioned by Satchells, there was a remaining +tradition in the country, that there was a font stone of blue marble, in +which the ancient heirs of Buccleuch were baptized, covered up among the +ruins of the old church. Mr. Scott was curious to see if we could discover +it; but on going among the ruins we found the rubbish at the spot, where +the altar was known to have been, digged out to the foundation,--we knew +not by whom, but no font had been found. As there appeared to have been a +kind of recess in the eastern gable, we fell a turning over some loose +stones, to see if the font was not concealed there, when we came upon one +half of a small pot, encrusted thick with rust. Mr. Scott's eyes +brightened, and he swore it was an ancient consecrated helmet. Laidlaw, +however, scratching it minutely out, found it covered with a layer of +pitch inside, and then said, "Ay, the truth is, sir, it is neither mair +nor less than a piece of a tar pat that some o' the farmers hae been +buisting their sheep out o', i' the auld kirk langsyne." Sir Walter's +shaggy eyebrows dipped deep over his eyes, and suppressing a smile, he +turned and strode away as fast as he could, saying, that "We had just rode +all the way to see that there was nothing to _be_ seen." + +I remember his riding upon a terribly high spirited horse, who had the +perilous fancy of leaping every drain, rivulet, and ditch that came in our +way; the consequence was, that he was everlastingly bogging himself, while +sometimes his rider kept his seat despite of his plunging, and at other +times he was obliged to extricate himself the best way he could. In coming +through a place called the Milsey Bog, I said to him, "Mr. Scott, that's +the maddest deil of a beast I ever saw. Can ye no gar him tak a wee mair +time? He's just out o' ae lair intil another wi' ye." + +"Ay," said he, "we have been very oft, these two days past, like the Pechs; +we could stand straight up and tie our shoes." I did not understand the +joke, nor do I yet, but I think these were his words. + +We visited the old castles of Thirlestane and Tushilaw, and dined and +spent the afternoon, and the night, with Mr. Brydon, of Crosslee. Sir +Walter was all the while in the highest good-humour, and seemed to enjoy +the range of mountain solitude, which we traversed, exceedingly. Indeed I +never saw him otherwise. In the fields--on the rugged mountains--or even +toiling in Tweed to the waist, I have seen his glee not only surpass +himself, but that of all other men. I remember of leaving Altrive Lake +once with him, accompanied by the same Mr. Laidlaw, and Sir Adam Fergusson, +to visit the tremendous solitudes of The Grey Mare's Tail, and Loch Skene. +I conducted them through that wild region by a path, which, if not rode by +Clavers, was, I daresay, never rode by another gentleman. Sir Adam rode +inadvertently into a gulf, and got a sad fright, but Sir Walter, in the +very worst paths, never dismounted, save at Loch Skene to take some dinner. +We went to Moffat that night, where we met with some of his family, and +such a day and night of glee I never witnessed. Our very perils were +matter to him of infinite merriment; and then there was a short-tempered +boot-boy at the inn, who wanted to pick a quarrel with him, at which he +laughed till the water ran over his cheeks. + +I was disappointed in never seeing some incident in his subsequent works +laid in a scene resembling the rugged solitude around Loch Skene, for I +never saw him survey any with so much attention. A single serious look at +a scene generally filled his mind with it, and he seldom took another; but +here he took the names of all the hills, their altitudes, and relative +situations with regard to one another, and made me repeat them several +times. It may occur in some of his works which I have not seen, and I +think it will, for he has rarely ever been known to interest himself, +either in a scene or a character, which did not appear afterwards in all +its most striking peculiarities. + +There are not above five people in the world who, I think, know Sir Walter +better, or understand his character better, than I do; and if I outlive +him, which is likely, as I am five months and ten days younger, I will +draw a mental portrait of him, the likeness of which to the original shall +not be disputed. In the meantime, this is only a reminiscence, in my own +line, of an illustrious friend among the mountains. + +The enthusiasm with which he recited, and spoke of our ancient ballads, +during that first tour of his through the forest, inspired me with a +determination immediately to begin and imitate them, which I did, and soon +grew tolerably good at it. Of course I dedicated The Mountain Bard to him: + + Blest be his generous heart for aye; + He told me where the relic lay, + Pointed my way with ready will, + Afar on Ettrick's wildest hill, + Watched my first notes with curious eye, + And wonder'd at my minstrelsy: + He little ween'd a parent's tongue + Such strains had o'er my cradle sung. + +_Edinburgh Literary Journal._ + + * * * * * + + + +RETROSPECTIVE GLEANINGS. + + +NOTES OF A BOOKWORM. + +(_For the Mirror_.) + + +Robberies and iniquities of all kinds were so uncommon in the reign of +Alfred, that it is said, he hung up golden bracelets near the highways, +and no man dared to touch them. + +Earl Godwin, in order to appease Hardicanute, (whose brother he had been +instrumental in murdering,) made him a magnificent present of a galley +with a gilt stern, rowed by fourscore men, who wore each of them a golden +bracelet on his arm, weighing sixteen ounces, and were clothed and armed +in the most sumptuous manner. Hardicanute pleased with the splendour of +the spectacle, quickly forgot his brother's murder, and on Godwin's +swearing that he was innocent of the crime, allowed him to be acquitted. + +The cities of England appear by _Domesday Book_, to have been at the +conquest little better than villages; York itself, though it was always +the second, at least the third city in England, contained only 1,418 +families; Norwich contained 738 houses; Exeter, 315; Ipswich, 538; +Northampton, 60; Hertford, 146; Bath, 64; Canterbury, 262; Southampton, 84; +and Warwick, 225. + +As the extreme ignorance of the age made deeds or writings very rare, the +county or hundred courts were the places where the most remarkable civil +transactions were finished. Here testaments were promulgated, slaves +manumitted, bargains of sale concluded; and sometimes for greater security, +the most remarkable of these deeds were inserted in the blank leaves of +the parish Bible, which thus became a register too sacred to be falsified. +It was not unusual to add to the deed an imprecation on all such as should +be guilty of that crime. + +The laws of Alfred enjoin, that if any one know that his enemy or agressor, +after doing him an injury, resolves to keep within his own house and his +own lands, he shall not fight him till he require compensation for the +injury. If he be strong enough, he may besiege him in his house for seven +days without attacking him, and if the agressor be willing, during that +time to surrender himself and his arms, his adversary may detain him +thirty days; but is compelled afterwards to restore him safe to his +friends, and _be content with the compensation_. + +The price of the King's head or his weregild, as it was then called, was +by law, 30,000 thrismas, near £1,300. of our present money. The price of +the prince's head was 15,000 thrismas; a bishop's or _alderman's_ HEAD +(quere, ought not the STOMACH to have been the part thus valued?) was +valued at 8,000; a sheriff's, 4,000; a thane's, or clergy-man's, 2,000; a +ceorles, or husband-man's, 266. It must be understood that when a person +was unwilling, or unable to pay the fine, he was outlawed, and the kindred +of the deceased might punish him as they thought proper. + +Gervase, of Tilbury, says, that in Henry the First's time, bread +sufficient for 100 men, for a day, was rated at THREE SHILLINGS, or a +shilling of that age. + +By the laws of Ethelbert, any one who committed adultery with his +neighbour's wife, was obliged to pay him a fine, AND BUY HIM ANOTHER WIFE. + +The tenants in the King's demesne lands, in the reign of Henry II., were +compelled to supply, GRATIS, the court with provisions and carriages, when +the King went into any of the counties. These exactions were so grievous, +and levied in so licentious a manner, that at the approach of the court, +the farmers often deserted their houses, and sheltered themselves and +families in the woods, from the insults of the King's retinue. + +John Baldwin held the manor of Oterasfree, in Aylesbury, of the King, in +soccage, by this service of finding litter for the King's bed, viz. in +summer, _grass or herbs_, and two grey geese; and in winter, _straw_, and +three eels, throughout the year, if the King should come thrice in the +year to Aylesbury. + +Prince Henry, son of William I. disgusted at the little attention his +brothers, Robert and William, paid to him in an accommodation respecting +the succession to the throne, retired to St. Michael's Mount, in Normandy, +and infested the neighbourhood with his forces. Robert and William, with +their joint forces, besieged him in this place, and had nearly reduced him +by the scarcity of water; when the elder hearing of his distress, +permitted him to supply himself, and also sent him some pipes of wine for +his own table. Being reproved by William for his ill-timed generosity, he +replied, "_What, shall I suffer my brother to die of thirst? Where shall +we find another when he is gone_?" + +CLARENCE. + + * * * * * + + + +SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS. + + +COBBETT'S CORN. + + +The most interesting article in the last Number of the _Westminster +Review_, is a paper on Cobbett's Corn, headed with the title of Mr. +Cobbett's Treatise on the cultivation of the plant. The reviewer has there +interwoven some choice extracts from Mr. Cobbett's book, which together +with the connecting observations, we have abridged to suit our columns:-- + +The value of Indian Corn has never been disputed: it could not, by men who +had ever seen the corn of America, or the maize of the more southern +districts of France. Its introduction into England has not been speculated +upon; for it was supposed there was an _in limine_ objection, that in our +climate it would not ripen. In the more northern part of France, for the +same reason, its cultivation is not known, and in the map prefixed to +Arthur Young's Travels in France and other countries, may be seen a line +drawn across the country, which line he considered was the limit of the +maize country. Neither has this experiment till now been tried, for +Cobbett's corn is a different variety of Indian or American, from that +cultivated either in the new or old world. It appears that it is a +dwarfish species, and one which will not only ripen in this country, but +produce results of fertility beyond that calculated upon in the United +States in the most prosperous seasons. It was an accident which threw it +into Mr. Cobbett's hands: his son brought some seeds from plants growing +in a gentleman's garden in the French province of Artois, and it was only +at his son's repeated entreaty that he was prevailed upon to try its +effects. And even this entreaty from a son might not have prevailed, had +not the influence of a sleepless night from the heat of summer, led to a +conversation to be followed by results so important. + +"In the month of June, 1827," says Mr. Cobbett, "my son and I slept one +night in the same room in the garden-house at Barn-elm. The night was very +hot, and neither his bed nor mine was cool enough to permit us to get to +sleep, in a case like which, people generally get to talking; and I, in a +mood, half between restlessness and laziness, asked him, whether Mr. +Walker had planted his corn. He said he had; and that led him off into a +train of arguing, the object of which was, to maintain his former opinion +relative to the great benefits that would attend the cultivation of this +crop. He entered into a calculation of the distances, the space of ground +required by each plant, the number of plants upon an acre, the number of +ears upon a plant, the quantity of seed upon an ear, ending in a statement +of the amount of the crop per acre. He then dwelt upon the quantity and +value of the fodder, upon the facility of cultivation, upon the small +quantity of seed required for an acre; and, finally, upon the preparation +which the growing of the crop would make for a succeeding crop of wheat. + +"I do confess, that I was very hard to be convinced; I became interested +to be sure, and I resolved to give the thing a trial immediately, if +possible, or rather to set about it immediately; but, I confess, that if +the thing had been urged upon me by almost any other person, I should not +have done it. 'Well, then,' said I, 'William, we will give your little +corn a trial, for it is not too late yet.' But now a difficulty that +appeared to be insuperable arose; namely, that the seed was all gone! The +seed was all planted in Sussex. As soon as I reflected on this, I became +really eager to make the experiment; so true it is, that we seldom know +the full value of what we have had, till we have lost it. I recollected, +however, that I had rather recently seen an ear or two of this corn in +some seed-drawers that I had in the garden-house, not being quite sure, +however, that they were of the true sort; and now I, who had so long +turned from the subject rather with indifference, could not go to sleep +for my doubts, my hopes, and fears, about these two bits of ears of corn. +We had no light, or I should have got up to go and hunt the boxes, which I +did as soon as day-light appeared, and there, to my great joy, I found two +bits of ears of corn, which from the size and shape of the cobb, I knew to +be of the true sort. This was upon the 8th of June in the morning." + +Indian corn is a kind of corn tree, so that it would be exempt from the +sneer of the Tartars who despise the men that live on "the top of a weed." +The top of Indian Corn supplies the place of hay or of straw for fodder: +it is the flower of the plant, and bears the farina like the wheat-ear, +but the grains are deposited in the ears which come out of the stalk lower +down. These ears are enveloped in their leaves which are called the husk. +The number of ears varies in different plants, three is the common number. +Seven are a curiosity. One stalk in Mr. Cobbett's field bore seven ears, +and Mr. Cobbett, jun. sent it as a present to the king's gardener at Kew, +comparing it to that "one stalk mentioned in Pharaoh's dream of the seven +years of plenty." For it must not be forgotten that Mr. Cobbett maintains +that Indian corn is the true corn of scripture, and defends this opinion +by many plausible arguments. We have no room to discuss them, and shall +only observe in contravention, that Indian corn is not now known in +Palestine or Syria, and that it is dangerous to raise a verbal discussion +founded upon a translation. His argument is, however, well worth the +attention of all our biblical readers. In America the Indian corn alone +monopolizes the name of corn: all other corn is called grain: so important +is the cultivation of it there, that it puzzles the Yankees exceedingly to +know how the old country can get on without corn; and so identified is the +great roll of grain, with the name of an ear of corn, that when Mr. +Cobbett once read an account to an American farmer, of a young English +lord lying dangerously ill from having swallowed an ear of corn; the man +started up and exclaimed, a whole ear of corn! no wonder that poor John +Bull is in such a miserable state, when his lords have got swallows like +that. + +The Indian corn being a large plant requires both air and space: it is +consequently raised in hills far apart, after the manner of our hop plants; +and reckons upon a deep ploughing between the hills after it is partly +grown up for a supply of health and vigour. This great distance between +the hills, sometimes placed four feet apart one way, and five feet apart +another way, and the height of the plant with its lofty top and its +lateral ears form a far different picture than that presented by an +English corn field. Cobbett's or the dwarf corn is, however, only four +feet high: he planted his in rows three feet apart, which distance he is +inclined to think is too small. "Three feet do not give room for good, +true, and tolerably deep ploughing: and that is the main thing in the +cultivation of corn, which indeed will not thrive well, if the ground be +not deeply moved, and very near to the plants to which they are growing. +You will see in America a field of corn late in June, perhaps, which has +not been ploughed, looking to-day sickly and sallow. Look at it only in +four days' time, if ploughed the day after you saw it, and its colour is +totally changed. Five feet are accordingly recommended as the distance +between the rows, and six inches only between the plants." + +A great advantage of Indian or Cobbett's corn is, that it occupies the +ground for little more than half the year: it is planted in May or June, +and ripens in November. Unlike common corn or grain, where there is +generally a superabundance of blades, every plant of Indian corn is of +importance: it cannot be spared; and as the sweetness of the early growth +renders it a tempting prey to birds, insects, and rabbits, it becomes +necessary to guard against their encroachments with the most lively care. + +Weeds are to be instantly put down on their first appearance, or corn is +not to be expected; "the poor corn-plant, if left to itself, will soon be +like Gulliver when bound down by the Lilliputians." The hoe is the +instrument to be used on this occasion, and then the plough; the latter +operation is repeated twice; two double ploughings are the death of weeds, +and the life of the plants; the first takes place when the corn is from +six to eight inches high, and the second, about the middle of July, or +earlier, when the plants are about a foot and a half high, or from that to +two feet. "Let no one," says Cobbett, "be afraid of their tearing about +the roots of the plants, when they are at this advanced age and height;" +and in encouraging them to pursue the work resolutely and fearlessly, he +tells them of the way in which the Yankee farmer manages the matter, and +digresses, as he loves to digress, into a picture of manners, or an old +recollection. + +"Ninety-nine of my readers out of a hundred, and I dare say, nine hundred +and ninety-nine out of a thousand, will shudder at the thought of tearing +about in this manner; thinking that breaking-off, tearing-off, cutting-off +the roots of such large plants, just as they are coming into bloom, must +be a sort of work of destruction. Let them read the book of Mr. Tull; or +let them go and see my friends the Yankees, who generally drive the thing +off to the last moment, especially if they be young enough to have a +'frolic' stand between them and the ploughing of the corn; or if the wife +want the horses to go ten or twenty miles to have a gossip with a +neighbour over a comfortable cup of tea; but they, to do them justice, do +not forget the beef steaks, or the barbecued fowls, on these occasions; +that is to say, a fowl caught up in the yard, scalded in a minute, cleaned +the next, and splitted down the back, and clapped upon the _gridiron_ +(favourite implement of mine,) and then upon the table, along with the hot +cakes, the preserved peaches, and the comfortable cup of tea. If a wife +want the horses for this purpose, or for any other, and should continue +too long a time in a visiting or frolicing humour, the poor corn gives +signs of the consequence, by becoming yellow, and sharp-pointed at the +blade. By and by, however, the Yankee comes with his plough; and it would +frighten an English farmer out of his senses to see how he goes on, +swearing at the horses, and tearing about the ground, and tumbling it up +against the plants; but, at any rate, moving it all pretty deeply, somehow +or other. I have seen them do this when the tassel was nearly at its full +height, and when the silk was appearing from the ears. One rule is +invariable; that is, that if the corn be not ploughed at all there will be +no crop; there will be tassel, and the semblance of ears; but (upon +ordinary land, at least,) there will be no crop at all." + +(_To be concluded in our next._) + + * * * * * + + + +THE GATHERER. + + "A snapper-up of unconsidered trifles." + + SHAKSPEARE. + + +ONE WAY TO DIE FOR LOVE. + + +A lady, nearly related to the writer, having a great partiality (though +married) for the feline race, particularly lavished favours upon a young +and beautiful cat, whom she constantly fed, taught to perform several +pleasing tricks, and in short made of the animal such a companion, that +she never liked it to be out of her sight. She had also in her service a +cook, who boasted not of partialities for any living creature, save a +village youth, for whom she cherished a flame that rivalled the bright and +ardent fire of her own kitchen; to him she generously assigned as a hiding +place and rendezvous, the corner of an out-house, to which she frequently +stole in order to enjoy a _téte à téte_ with her admirer. Thither also +stole puss, either in gratitude for past savoury benefactions, or in +anticipation of future. But the lady of the house, frequently missing her +favourite, and tracing her one day into the place of rendezvous, thus +unluckily effected the discovery of cook and her swain. The damsel +apprehending that such interruptions to their interviews might, from the +gourmandizing propensities of the favourite, be frequent, determined to +prevent them for ever; the very next time that puss, as usual, followed +her, seizing with savage exultation the harmless creature, she severed +with a huge carving knife, its head from its body! An exploit truly worthy +of the _tender_ passion, and the _gentle_ sex! + +M.L.B. + + * * * * * + +George I. was remarkably fond of seeing the play of _Henry VIII_. which +had something in it that seemed to hit the taste of that monarch. One +night being very attentive to that part of the play where Henry VIII. +commands his minister, Wolsey, to write circular letters of indemnity to +every county where the payment of certain heavy taxes had been disputed, +and remarking the manner in which the minister artfully communicated these +commands to his secretary, Cromwell, whispering thus:-- + + "A word with you: + Let there be letters writ to every shire + Of the King's grace and pardon; the griev'd commons + Hardly conceive of me--Let it be nois'd + That thro' _our intercession_ this revokement + And pardon comes."---- + +--The king could not help smiling at the craft of the minister, in +filching from his master the merit of the action, though he himself had +been the author of the evil complained of; and turning to the Prince of +Wales, said, "You see, George, what you have one day to expect; an English +minister will be an English minister in every age and in every reign." + +W.C.R.R. + + * * * * * + + +AN "INDWELLING" JOKE. + + +A certain would-be bibliopole, desirous of emulating the Constables, Boyds, +and Colburns of this century, lately opened a couple of windows at +Johnston, and exhibited the beautiful wood-cuts on the title page of the +Shorter Catechism to the wondering amateurs of the fine arts there with so +much success, as to induce him to become printer and publisher. Forthwith +he set to throwing off an impression of a thousand copies--he was fond of +round numbers--of a work "_on Indwelling Sin_." It threatened to be an +indwelling sore in his shop; and he set off to Campbelton to sell a few in +that pious place. A tobacco-seller and grocer gave him a cask of whisky +for the lot--which, on his return, he disposed of to a popular publican; +and now, when the wags of the place seek to wet their whistle, they +gravely call for "a gill of indwelling sin!"--_Edinburgh Literary Journal_. + + * * * * * + +Learning is like mercury, one of most powerful and excellent things in the +world in skilful hands; in unskilful, the most mischievous.--_Pope_. + + * * * * * + +LIMBIRD'S EDITION OF THE + +_Following Novels is already Published_: + + _s. d._ + Mackenzie's Man of Feeling 0 6 + Paul and Virginia 0 6 + The Castle of Otranto 0 6 + Almoran and Hamet 0 6 + Elizabeth, or the Exiles of Siberia 0 6 + The Castles of Athlin and Dunbayne 0 6 + Rasselas 0 8 + The Old English Baron 0 8 + Nature and Art 0 8 + Goldsmith's Vicar of Wakefieid 0 10 + Sicilian Romance 1 0 + The Man of the World 1 0 + A Simple Story 1 4 + Joseph Andrews 1 6 + Humphry Clinker 1 8 + The Romance of the Forest 1 8 + The Italian 2 0 + Zeluco, by Dr. Moore 2 6 + Edward, by Dr. Moore 2 6 + Roderick Random 2 6 + The Mysteries of Udolpho 3 6 + Peregrine Pickle 4 6 + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, +and Instruction, by Various + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 11519 *** |