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diff --git a/11528-0.txt b/11528-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a600cd4 --- /dev/null +++ b/11528-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1674 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 11528 *** + +THE MIRROR OF LITERATURE, AMUSEMENT, AND INSTRUCTION. + +VOL. XII, NO. 341.] SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 1828. [PRICE 2d. + + + +[Illustration: GRAND DRUIDICAL TEMPLE AT ABURY.] + + + + +TEMPLE AT ABURY. + + Sermons in stones + And good in every thing.--SHAKSPEARE. + + +What means the mysterious circle of stocks and stones on the other +side? Such will be the question of many a lover of fun, novel, +fiction, and romance; and though we cannot settle their origin with +the quickness or the humour of Munden's _Cockletop_, we will try to +let our inquirer into the secret with the smallest show of mysticism +possible. + +Our engraving represents the Temple of Abury, the most extensive of +all the ruins in Wiltshire, attributed to the Druids. Such was its +original state, before the Vandalism of modern times destroyed and +levelled much of its monumental grandeur. It consisted of a grand +circle, containing two minor circles. The outer circle contained +upwards of 28 acres, and was surrounded by a ditch. There was a circle +within each of the two circles, contained within the circumvallation; +and according to Dr. Stukely, the antiquarian, the original was thus +composed:-- + + Outward circle, within the vallum 100 stones + Northern Temple, outward circle 30 -- + Ditto, inward circle 12 -- + Cove, or cell 3 -- + Southern Temple, outward circle 30 -- + Ditto, inward circle 12 -- + Central Obelisk 1 -- + Ring Stone 1 -- + +The Temple occupied a spot to which there is a gradual and +imperceptible ascent on all sides, and was approached by two avenues +of two hundred stones each. Its general form was that of a snake, in +by gone ages, the symbol of eternity and omniscience. "To make the +form still more elegant and picture-like, the head of the snake is +carried up the southern promontory of _Hack_pen Hill--and the very +name of the hill is derived from this circumstance."[1] + + [1] Dr. Stukely, who says, that _acan_ in the Chaldee signifies + a serpent, and _hac_ is no other than a snake. In Yorkshire + they still call snakes _hags_; and in the British language + _pen_ denotes a head. + +The whole figure thus represented the circle, snake, and wings. By +this the founders meant to picture out the nature of the Divinity; +the circle meant the supreme fountain of all being, the Father; the +serpent, that divine emanation from him, which was called the Son; the +wings imported that other divine emanation from them, which was called +the Spirit, the _Anima Mundi_. That the Temple was of a _religious_, +and not of a warlike nature, is proved by its ditch being withinside +the agger of earth, contrary to the mode adopted in works of defence. + +Of the devastation and decay of Abury, the following data will afford +some idea: + + The grand total of stones, included in the temples and avenues, was + 650; in the original temples, 188. + + In Aubrey's time, A.D. 1663 73 stones + In Dr. Stukeley's time, A.D. 1722 29 -- + In 1815 17 -- + +Of very late years, says Sir Richard Colt Hoare, I do not imagine the +dilapidations of the temple have been very great. + +It should, however, be mentioned, that the tracing of the _snake form_ +is due to Dr. Stukeley; for his predecessor Aubrey mentions the avenue +as "a solemn walk leading to a monument upon the top of the hill, +without any allusion to the supposed design or its connexion with the +Grand Temple at Abury." + +It is a matter of greater speculation than we can here enter into, +as to the _date and founders of Abury_; and their history is as +dislocated as are the masses of its ruins. Antiquarians agree on the +purpose for which it was founded, viz. for the performance of the +religious ceremonies of the Druids. Sir R. Colt Hoare illustrates this +point by supposing the flat ledge projecting from the vallum, to have +been intended for the accommodation of sitting, to the spectators who +resorted hither to the public festivals; and adds he, what a grand and +imposing spectacle must so extensive and elevated an amphitheatre +have presented, the vallum and its declivities lined with spectators, +whilst the hallowed area was preserved for the officiating Druids, and +perhaps the higher order of the people! + +Gentle Reader! be ye lordling or lowlier born, once more _turn back to +the engraving_. We have a subject of yesterday rife and ready for you, +on the next page; but _turn to the engraving_. Look again at those +circles, and the fantastic forms that compose them, and think of the +infatuated thousands that were wont to assemble round them, and of the +idolized sons of power that once stood within their hallowed area. +Think of those days of sacrifice and superstition--those orgies of +ignorance and barbarism--and contrast them with the happy, happy +age of religious liberty in which it is your boast and blessing to +live--and then you may read "sermons in stones," to the masterminds of +your own time. To us, the stones of Abury are part of the poetry of +savage life, and of more interest than all the plaster toys of these +days. But they may not be so with you and "FINIS." We were once +compensated for missing Fonthill and its finery, by witnessing +day-break from Salisbury Plain, and associating its glories with the +time-worn relics of STONEHENGE! + +The _engraving_ and data are from Mr. Higgins's Celtic Druids, for +the loan of which and a portion of this article, we thank our friend +"JAMES SILVESTER," whose valuable note on "_Circular Temples_" must +stand over for our next. + + * * * * * + +We had penciled for our Supplement the following beautiful lines from +Mr. Watts's "Literary Souvenir," but they will be more in place here. +_Silbury_ is an immense mound adjoining the road to Devizes, and +opposite Abury; Sir R.C. Hoare thinks it part of Abury; but H. and +many others think it the sepulchre of a King or Arch-Druid. + +SILBURY HILL. + + Grave of Cunedha, were it vain to call + For one wild lay of all that buried lie + Beneath thy giant mound? From Tara's hall + Faint warblings yet are heard, faint echoes die + Among the Hebrides: the ghost that sung + In Ossian's ear, yet wails in feeble cry + On Morvern: but the harmonies that rung + Around the grove and cromlech, never more + Shall visit earth: for ages have unstrung + The Druid's harp, and shrouded all his lore, + Where under the world's ruin sleep in gloom + The secrets of the flood,--the letter'd store, + Which Seth's memorial pillars from the doom + Preserved not, when the sleep was Nature's tomb. + + H. + + * * * * * + + + + +FINE ARTS + +(_For the Mirror_.) + + * * * * * + + "The way to be an excellent painter is to be an + excellent man--and these united, make a character + that would shine even in a better world + than this."--JONATHAN RICHARDSON. + + +The sister arts of _Painting and Engraving_ have been making great +progress in England for some time past, and we are disposed to think +this a subject of congratulation and importance to all classes of the +community. + +The literature of the Fine Arts is likewise becoming more and more +popular every day. They form a prominent feature in every new literary +project, and not unfrequently literature, to use a hackneyed phrase, +is made their vehicle--like the namby-pamby of an English opera +for the strains of Rossini or Weber. The public are contented with +excellence in one department and mediocrity in the other; they cannot +be constantly admiring--that is out of the question--and it is +probably on this account that much of what appears _below par_ is +tolerated and even encouraged. + +We will not go the length of assenting to the proposal of converting +Sir Joshua Reynolds's Lectures into Sermons, by the mere alteration of +the terms of art into scriptural phraseology; but we venture to assert +that much national good is likely to result from these advances of +art, and its constant introduction into all our amusements. That it +promotes the growth of virtue is too old an axiom to be refuted: + + ----Ingenuas didicisse fideliter artes + Emollit mores, nec sinit esse feros. + +"The Italians commonly call a taste for the fine arts, or skill in +them, by the name of Virtue. They term the productions of artists +objects of virtue; and a person who has a taste for such things is +denominated _a virtuoso_, that is, a virtuous man." Such is the +language of the _Edinburgh Review_, in commencing an article on a +recently-published translation of Lanzi's _History of Painting in +Italy_, in six octavo volumes--and what a delightful relief is this +from the party declamations which usually occupy so large a portion of +that "critical journal." But this is not singular, for it is now no +uncommon thing to see a large letter column of a newspaper, and a +similar proportion of a printed sheet published at twopence, alike +occupied by "the Fine Arts." + +Patronage, royal and noble, has already achieved much for painting, +and even the _reported_ project for a National Gallery does much to +foster the art. It keeps the study afloat and uppermost in the public +mind; and the immense increase of exhibitions, not only in London, but +in provincial towns, serves to prove that patronage now consists in +something more substantial than tutelar notice, and unpaid promises. +Artists need no longer journey to the metropolis to find sale for +their works, for their genius is nourished on its native soil by the +liberality and good taste which abound in the neighbourhood of every +important town in the empire. It may be as well to keep up the hue and +cry about the folly of portrait-painting, if it be only to keep down +the vanity of wealth; but the munificent rewards which painters +receive for this branch of their art will enable them to devote a +greater portion of their leisure to higher studies. _Their taste_ +will not thus be impugned; for Cooke, the actor, is known to have +entertained the meanest opinion of his own performance of Richard +the Third, as an historical portrait, notwithstanding it was the +corner-stone of his fame. We do not invite the comparison; but Mr. +Hayden began with history--his want of patronage is well known; he +then tried portraits--but his want of success was reserved for the +style of his Mock Election pictures, and, in all probability, they +will turn out the philosopher's stone for his future life. + +But it is to the splendid union of Painting, Engraving, and Literature +that much of these beneficial effects may be traced. In every branch +of the fine arts and literature, what a powerful influence will this +triple advancement produce. Only compare the topographical works of +Mr. Britton with those of his predecessors--his highly-finished +line engravings, excellent antiquarian pieces on wood, and erudite +descriptions, with the wretched prints and the quaintnesses of old +topographers--or even with the lumber of some of our county +histories. With this improvement, and that of map-work, painting has +comparatively but little to do; and yet how evident is the progress of +the literature of these works.[2] + +It would be easy to adduce hundreds of instances of the recent union +of painting and engraving. About five years ago, a plan was started +for illustrating the Bible from pictures of the old masters. Upwards +of two hundred of them were transferred to wood-blocks; but the scheme +did not repay the ingenious originator--partly from their small size, +uncertainty of _effect_ to be produced on _wood_, and partly from the +very cheap rate at which the engravings were sold--the whole series +being purchaseable for three or four shillings.[3] But a similar +design is now in progress on metal, being the idea of _La Musée_ in +little. It consists of beautiful outline copies of the great +masters, published at so cheap a rate as to be within the reach of +a school-boy. Within the present year, also, two series of Views in +Great Britain, one of Views in London, and another of Paris, have been +publishing at the rate of threepence for each view; and when we see +among their artists the names of Westall, Pugin, and Pye, we have a +sufficient voucher for their excellence. + +A passing notice of a few of the more splendid works of art, (for the +above are among the cheap and popular projects of the day,) and we +must conclude. + + [2] The only place in which they do not progress mutually is the + theatre. Look at the scenery of our patent theatres, and compare + it with the vulgar daubs even of John Kemble's time. Some of the + scenes by Stanfield, Roberts, Grieve, and Pugh, are "perfect + pictures." Yet the language of the stage is at a stand, and + insipid comedy, dull tragedy, and stupid farce are more abundant + than before the "march of mind". + + [3] While on the subject of _wood-engraving_, perhaps we may he + allowed to mention our own humble plan of illustrating a sheet + of letter-press for twopence. Of course, perfection in the + engraving department would have ruined all parties concerned; + for each of our subjects (as the miniature painters tell you of + their works) might be _worked up_ to "any price". It is now six + years since the MIRROR was commenced, and as we are not speaking + of ourselves, individually, we hope we may refer to the + progressive improvement of the _graphic_ department without any + charge of vanity. + +It would be tedious to enumerate even a small portion of the fine +pictures which have been engraved during the last two years; the +mention of two or three will answer our purpose. Every printseller's +window will attest the fact. Only let the reader step into Mr. +Colnaghi's parlours, in Cockspur-street, and we might say the spacious +print gallery in Pall Mall. There let him turn over a few of the host +of fine portraits which have been transferred from the canvass to the +copper--the excellent series of royal portraits--and of men whose +names will shine in the history of their country, when their portraits +shall be gathered into the portfolios of a few collectors. Among +portraits, we ought, however, to recollect Mr. Lodge's invaluable +collection of historical characters, the originals of which were +exhibited a few months since, previous to their republication in a +more economical form. The Temple of Jupiter, published a few months +since, is perhaps one of the proudest triumphs of the year. Martin's +Deluge, too, has lately appeared, and we look forward to the +publication of his last splendid picture, the Fall of Nineveh, with +high hopes. + +In the SUPPLEMENTARY NUMBER[4] _(published with the present)_ we have +noticed in detail a few of the many superb engravings which embellish +the Christmas presents for the ensuing year, as well as their literary +talent, by a string of extracts like + + "Orient pearls at random strung." + +The success of these elegant works has benefited our artists to the +sum of twelve thousand pounds, in their preparation for 1829. A +fortnight since we mentioned the cost of the plates of the Literary +Souvenir to be 100_l._ and upwards for each subject. Another work, +still more splendid, (being nearly double the price,) is under the +direction of Mr. Charles Heath, whose masterly hand is visible in some +of the finest engraving ever submitted to the world--equalled only by +a rival in its first year--one of the best proofs of the patronage +these works enjoy. It would be invidious to particularize--but we must +mention the transference of two of Martin's designs--Marcus Curtius +(in the Forget Me Not) and Christ Tempted on the Mount--as two of the +most surprising efforts of genius we have ever witnessed. Our readers +need not be told that all the engravings are _on steel_; and were it +not for the adoption of this lasting metal, the + + [4] The engraving is from Prout's exquisite picture of the + magnificent city of _Vicenza_--for which we recollect our + obligation to the "_Forget Me Not_." + +cost of half the engravings would exceed that of the whole work: all +we hope is, that the public patronage may be as lasting as the metal; +then it will be no idle vaunt to call this the march, or even race, of +genius. In conclusion, we recommend all our lady friends (who have +not done so) to place on their drawing-room table a _Print Album_, or +_Scrap Book_, to be supported "by voluntary contributions." They may +then form a pretty correct estimate of the taste of their visiters; +and if taste in the fine arts be a test of virtue and integrity, they +may even settle the claims of any two rival aspirants by this fair and +unerring method, which should admit of no appeal. + + * * * * * + + +ANECDOTES OF CHRISTINA, THE YOUNG QUEEN OF SWEDEN. + +(_For The Mirror_.) + + +Christina was the only child of the great Gustavus Adolphus, who +succeeded to the throne of her father in 1632, when she was but five +years of age. The young queen, at an early age, discovered but little +taste for the society and occupations of her sex. When young, she was +capable of reading the Greek historians. At the age of eighteen she +assumed the reins of government. Several princes of Europe aspired +to her hand; but she rejected them all. To prevent a renewal of +applications on this subject, she solemnly appointed Gustavus her +successor, but without the smallest participation in the rights of +the crown during her own life. During her minority, Sweden enjoyed +internal repose, but was involved in a long war with the German +empire. She was crowned with great splendour in the year 1650. From +this time she entertained a philosophical contempt for pomp and +parade, and a kind of disgust for the affairs of state. She invited to +her court men of the first reputation in various studies. She was a +great collector of books, manuscripts, medals, paintings, &c. In 1654, +when she was only in her 28th year, Christina abdicated the crown, +in order that she might live a life of freedom. With her crown, she +renounced the Lutheran and embraced the Catholic religion. In quitting +the scene of her regal power, she proceeded to Rome, where she +intended to fix her abode. Some disgust which she received at Rome, +induced her, in the space of two years, to determine to visit France. +Here she was treated with respect by Louis XIV., but the ladies were +shocked with her masculine appearance and demeanour, and the unguarded +freedom of her conversation. Apartments were assigned her at +Fontainbleau, where she committed an action, which has indelibly +stained her memory, and for which, in other countries, (says her +biographer,) she would have paid the forfeit of her own life. This was +the murder of an Italian, Monaldeschi, her master of the horse, who +had betrayed some secret intrusted to him. He was summoned into a +gallery in the palace; letters were then shown to him, at the sight of +which he turned pale, and entreated for mercy; but he was instantly +stabbed by two of her own domestics in an apartment adjoining that in +which she herself was. The French court was justly offended at this +atrocious deed; yet it met with vindicators, among whom was Leibnitz, +whose name was disgraced by the cause which he attempted to justify. +Christina was sensible that she was now regarded with horror in +France, and would gladly have visited England, but she received no +encouragement for that purpose from Cromwell. She returned to Rome, +and resumed her amusements in the arts and sciences. In 1660, on the +death of Charles Gustavus, she took a journey to Sweden to recover her +crown; but her ancient subjects rejected her claims, and submitted to +a second renunciation of the throne; after which she returned to Rome. +Some differences with the pope made her resolve, in 1662, once more +to return to Sweden; but the conditions annexed by the senate to her +residence there were now so mortifying, that she proceeded no farther +than Hamburgh. She went back to Rome, and cultivated a correspondence +with the learned men there, and in other parts of Europe, and died in +1689, leaving behind her many letters, a "Collection of Miscellaneous +Thoughts or Maxims," and "Reflections on the Life and Actions of +Alexander the Great." + +P.T.W. + + * * * * * + + +METHOD OF ASCERTAINING THE STATE OF THE LUNGS. + +(_For The Mirror_.) + + +Persons desirous of ascertaining the true state of their lungs, are +directed to draw in as much breath as they conveniently can; they are +then to count as far as they are able, in a slow and audible voice, +without drawing in more breath. The number of seconds they can +continue counting must be carefully observed; in a consumption, the +time does not exceed ten, and is frequently less than six seconds; in +pleurisy and pneumonia, it ranges from nine to four seconds. When the +lungs are in a sound condition, the time will range as high as from +twenty to thirty-five seconds. + +G.W.N. + + * * * * * + + + + +THE COSMOPOLITE. + + * * * * * + +ARTISTICAL ERRORS. + +A SECOND CHAPTER OF BULLS. + +(_For The Mirror_.) + + +I saw a picture not long since, in Edinburgh, copied from an engraving +in Boydell's Shakspeare; subject,--"Lear (and suite) in the storm," +but coloured according to the imagination and taste of the artist; its +name ought assuredly to have been _Redcap and the blue-devils_, for +the venerable and lamented monarch had fine streaming locks of the +real _carrot hue_, whilst his very hideous companions showed _blue_ +faces, and blue armour; and with their strangely contorted bodies +seemed meet representatives of some of the infernal court.--In a +highly adorned prayer book, published in the reign of William +III., the engravings of which are from _silver-plates_, one print +illustrates our Lord's simile of the mote and beam, by a couple of men +aiming at each other's visual organs, ineffectually enough, one having +a great _log of wood_ growing from his eye, and the other being blind +in one eye from a _cataract_; at least, though I think I do not err +in saying, a _moat_ and castle, in it--I have seen an old edition of +Jeremy Taylor's "Life and Death of Christ," illustrated with many +remarkably good engravings. Of one of these the subject is, the +Impotent Man at the Pool of Bethesda; the fore ground is occupied by +our Saviour, the cripple, and other invalids; and in the distance +appears a small _pond_ palisaded by slender pilasters; over it hovers +an angel, who, with _a long pole_, is, to the marvel of the beholders, +dexterously "troubling the waters." In the same volume, some of the +figures are clad in the garb of the time when drawn, and St. Jude is +reading the _New Testament_ in a _pair of spectacles_!--In Holyrood +House, and in one of the rooms added in the days of Charles II., is a +panel-painting of "the Infant Hercules strangling the serpents;" and +leaping up in front of the cradle, appears one of those pretty and +rare spaniels called _King Charles's breed_. In the same palace, and +in one of the chambers, once occupied by the unfortunate Mary, is +a very old painting, intended, as the guide assures visitors, to +represent St. Peter's vision of the great sheet; it may be, but if so, +_one_ archangel in _military sandals_, holding in his hands a _small +towel_, represents (by a _figure_ in _painting_ I presume,) St. Peter, +the sheet, and its innumerable living contents. He must have taken a +hint, from the artist who painted for the passage through the Red Sea +nothing but ocean, assuring his employer, that the Israelites could +not be seen, because they were all gone over, and the Egyptians were +every one drowned!--"I once saw," writes a friend, "a full length +portrait of _Wordsworth_, in a modern painting of 'Christ riding into +Jerusalem;' it was amongst a group of Jews, and next to a likeness +of _Voltaire_. I believe the painter intended to contrast the +countenances of the Christian and infidel poets, and thus pay a +handsome compliment to the former; but the taste that placed the +ancients and moderns together, remind me of a fine old painting of the +Flemish school; a 'David with Goliah's head,' in the fore-ground of +which were a number of fat _Dutchmen_, dressed in _blue coats and +leather breeches_, with _pipes_ in their mouths."--"Raphael," says a +little French work on painting, in my possession, speaking of _unity_ +of time, "_A peché contre cette regle, dans son tableau d'Heliodore, +ou il fait intervenir le Pape Jules 2 dans le Temple de Jerusalem +porte sur les epaules, des Gonfalonniers_." The same work notices a +breach of the _unity of design_ in Paul Veronese, "_qui dans la partie +droite d'un de ses tableaux, a represente Jesus Christ benissant +l'eau, dont il va être baptise par St. Jean Baptiste; et dans la +partie gauche notre Seigneur tente par le diable_."--Upon the +celebrated "Transfiguration" of Raphael, I heard an artist remark, +"undoubtedly it is the first picture in the world, yet the painter has +erred in these respects:--the upper portion of the picture is occupied +by the subject, but the lower and fore-ground by the _Healing of +the Demoniac_. Now that event did not happen until after the +transfiguration, and we infringe upon our Saviour's _ubiquity_ by +supposing it to occur (contrary to the sacred story) at the same time. +_He_ may, indeed, as _God_ be _omnipresent_, but as _man_, the +New Testament no where asserts that the Incarnate Presence was in +different places at the same moment." Instances of erroneous judgment +are frequent in those who illustrate holy writ. Some have attempted to +embody _Him_, "whom no man hath seen at any time." Some have filled +their skies with beings as little aerial as possible, or apotheoses of +the Virgin and sundry saints. Angels, as some represent them, even in +whole lengths, are by _anatomists_ regarded as _monsters_; but what +then are the chubby winged heads _without bodies_, with which some +artists etherealize their works. Some err by mingling on the same +canvass the sacred and profane; scripture characters and the +non-descripts of heathen mythology. Nor is poetry free from the latter +error, as is exemplified in the major and minor epics, &c., of many +Christian poets. The drawings of the monks, splendid in colouring and +beautiful in finish, are mostly ludicrous in design, from glaring +anachronisms, erroneous perspective, &c. I saw a print in Montfauçon, +where fish were gamboling like porpusses on the surface of the sea, +and one or two were visible _through the paddles_ of a boat. In the +same volume was a print of the apotheosis of St. Louis, from +an illumination. The holy prince was represented dying in the +fore-ground, but over head were a couple of angels flying away with +his soul, (under the figure of a wretched infant, skinny and naked, +save the glory that covered his head,) in a kind of sheet, or rather +sack. + +But to detail all the absurdities and indecencies of these revered +artists, whether limners, or carvers in wood, were endless. Their +anachronisms, however, have been of considerable service to the +antiquary. Sculpture has its monstrosities, architecture its +incongruities, though not so palpable as those of painting, because +the art is less generally understood by the common observer, or rather +pictorial errors are in general easily detected by the eye alone, +and sometimes by the most commonly informed mind; but architectural +defects are only recognisable by those who have studied the principles +of this fine art. Poetry, I am sorry to say, is not exempt from bulls +and blunders, of various kinds and degrees of enormity; many of which +have been, from time to time, exposed in a very amusing manner. I +shall therefore, in conclusion, crave the liberty of producing one +which has lately come under my own cognizance. A modern poet, whose +compositions are fraught with beauty and genius, sings:-- + + "Then swooped the winds, that hurl the _giant oak_ + From _Snowdon's altitude_." + +And another, in stanzas of extreme strength and eloquent description, +describes a storm at night "among the mountains of Snowdon," with +these expressions:-- + + ----"The bird of night + Screams from her straw-built nest, as from the womb + Of infant death, and wheels her drowsy flight + Amid _the pine-clad rocks_, with wonder and afright." + + ----"The night-breeze dies + Faint, on _the mountain-ash leaves that surround + Snowdon's dark peaks_." + +Now, a painful pilgrimage of eleven hours, up Snowdon and back again, +enables me to declare that had oaks, pines, and service-trees adorned +that appalling and volcanic chaos, five or six years since, some storm +sufficient to have shattered the universe, must have swept them all +away, ere I looked upon that dreary assemblage of rocks which seems +like the _ruins of a world_. I ascended from the Capel Cerig side of +the mountain, and therefore venture not to say what may be the aspect +of the Llanberries; but the only verdure I beheld, was that of short, +brown heathy grass, a few stunted furze-bushes, and patches of that +vividly green moss, which is spongy and full of water. The only living +inhabitants of these wilds were a few ruffian-like miners, two or +three black slugs, and a scanty flock of straggling half-starved +mountain sheep, with their brown, ropy coats. The guide told me, that +even _eagles_, had for three centuries abandoned the desolate crags +of Snowdon; and as for its being a haunt for _owls_, neither bird nor +mouse could reside there to supply such with subsistence. Snowdon +appeared to me too swampy to be drained for cultivation in many parts, +and in most others its marble, granite and shingles, forbade the idea +of spontaneous vegetation. I am sorry for the poets, having a sincere +regard for the fraternity, but Snowdon is not adorned with pines, +firs, larches, and service-trees, like parts of the Alps; it is _not_ +wooded like the romantic Pyrenees, nor luxuriantly fertile in fruits, +flowers, and grain, like the terrible, but sylvan Etna. + +M.L.B. + + * * * * * + + + + +OLD POETS + + * * * * * + + +DRUMMOND OF HAWTHORNDEN. + + +["A Lover of Old English Poetry," has, in the last _London Magazine_, +a short paper on DRUMMOND of HAWTHORNDEN, a name dear to every +poetical mind, and every lover of early song. His intention, he says, +is "rather to excite than satiate" the taste of his readers for the +poetry of Drummond,--an object in which we cordially agree, and would +contribute our offering, had not the task, in the present instance, +been already so ably performed. We cannot, therefore, do better than +introduce to our readers a few of his judicious selections. They are +exquisite specimens of the evergreen freshness of old poetry, and by +their contrast with contemporary effusions will contribute to the +mosaic of our sheet. By the way, we hear of a sprinkling of the +antique world of letters in some of the "Annuals"--an introduction +which reflects high credit on the taste of the editors, and serves +to prove that sicklied sentimentalities, like all other sweets, when +enjoyed to excess, will cloy the fancy, but not so as entirely to +unfit the mind for a higher species of intellectual enjoyment. We +would have _old and new alternate_ in the literary wreath, lest, by +losing the comparison, the "bright lights" of other times should be +treated with irreverence and neglect.] + + +FROM THE "HYMN ON THE FAIREST FAIR." + + + I feel my bosom glow with wonted fires: + Raised from the vulgar press, my mind aspires, + _Wing'd with high thoughts_, unto His praise to climb + From deep Eternity who call'd forth time:-- + That ESSENCE, which, not mov'd, makes each thing move,-- + Uncreate beauty--all-creating love... + Ineffable, all-powerful GOD, all free,-- + Thou only liv'st, and all things live by thee... + Perfection's sum--prime cause of every cause, + Midst and beginning, where all good doth pause... + Incomprehensible, by reachless height; + And unperceived, by _excessive light_. + O King! whose greatness none can comprehend, + Whose boundless goodness does to all extend,-- + Light of all beauty, ocean without ground, + _That standing, flowest--giving, dost abound_... + Great Architect--Lord of this universe,-- + That sight is blinded would thy greatness pierce. + +Then follows this noble simile, nobly sustained, and with a flow and +harmony of verse not common in the poets of his period:-- + + Ah! as a pilgrim who the Alps doth pass, + Or Atlas' temples crown'd with winter glass,-- + The airy Caucasus, the Apennine, + Pyrenees' cliffs, where sun doth never shine;-- + When he some craggy hills hath overwent, + Begins to think on rest, his journey spent, + Till mounting some tall mountain he do find + More heights before him than he left behind,-- + With halting pace so while I would me raise + To the unbounded limits of Thy praise, + Some part of way I thought to have o'errun; + But now I see how scarce I have begun-- + With wonders new my spirits range possest, + And, wandering wayless, in a maze them rest. + + Oh! that the cause which doth consume our joy + Would the remembrance of it too destroy! + + +LIFE. + + Woods cut again do grow: + Bud doth the rose and daisy, winter done, + But we, once dead, do no more see the sun! + What fair is wrought + Falls in the prime, and passeth like a thought. + + +SONNET.--SPRING. + + Sweet Spring, thou com'st with all thy goodly train,-- + Thy head with flame, thy mantle bright with flowers: + _The zephyrs curl the green locks of the plain_,-- + The clouds for joy in pearls weep down their showers;-- + Sweet Spring, thou com'st--but ah! my pleasant hours, + And happy days, with thee come not again! + The sad memorials only of my pain + Do with thee come, which turn my sweets to sours. + Thou art the same which still thou wert before, + _Delicious, lusty, amiable, fair_, + But she whose breath embalmed thy wholesome air + Is gone--nor gold, nor gems can her restore, + Neglected virtue--seasons, go and come, + When thine, forgot, lie closed in a tomb. + + +SONNET. + + Sweet bird, that sing'st away the early hours, + Of winters past, or coming, void of care, + Well pleased with delights which present are,-- + Fair seasons, budding sprays, sweet-smelling flowers, + To rocks, to springs, to rills, from leavy bowers + Thou thy Creator's goodness dost declare, + And what dear gifts on thee he did not spare,-- + A stain to human sense in sin that lowers. + What soul can be so sick, which by thy songs + (Attir'd in sweetness) sweetly is not driven + Quite to forget earth's turmoils, spites, and wrongs, + And lift a reverend eye and thought to heaven? + Sweet artless songster, thou my mind dost raise + To airs of spheres--yes, and to angels lays! + + +SLEEP. + + Now while the Night her sable veil hath spread, + And silently her resty coach doth roll, + Rousing with her, from Thetis' azure bed, + Those starry nymphs which dance about the pole; + While Cynthia, in purest cypress clad. + The Latmian shepherd in a trance descries, + And, looking pale from height of all the skies, + She dyes her beauties in a blushing red; + While Sleep, in triumph, closed hath all eyes, + And birds and beasts a silence sweet do keep, + And Proteus' monstrous people in the deep,-- + The winds and waves, hush'd up, to rest entice,-- + I wake, I turn, I weep, oppress'd with pain, + Perplex'd in the meanders of my brain. + + Sleep, Silence' child, sweet father of soft rest, + Prince, whose approach peace to all mortals brings, + Indifferent host to shepherds and to kings, + Sole comforter of minds which are oppress'd-- + Lo! by thy charming rod, all breathing things + Lie slumb'ring, with forgetfulness possess'd, + And yet o'er me to spread thy drowsy wings + Thou spar'st, alas! who cannot be thy guest. + Since I am thine, O come,--but with that face + To inward light, which thou art wont to shew-- + With feigned solace ease a true-felt woe; + Or if, deaf god, thou do deny that grace, + Come as thou wilt, and what thou wilt bequeath + I long to kiss the image of my death! + + * * * * * + + Hark, happy lovers, hark! + This first and last of joys, + This sweetener of annoys, + This nectar of the gods, + You call a kiss, is with itself at odds: + And half so sweet is not, + In equal measure got + At light of sun as it is in the dark: + Hark, happy lovers, hark! + + * * * * * + + + + +NOTES OF A READER + + * * * * * + + +INDIAN FEAST OF SOULS. + + +Every three or four years, by a general agreement, the Indians +disinter the bodies of such as have died within that time; finding the +soft parts mouldered away, they carefully clean the bones, and each +family wrap up the remains of their departed friends in new fur. +They are then laid together in one mound or barrow, and the ceremony +concludes with a feast, with dances, songs, speeches, games, and mock +combats. + + * * * * * + + +PALEY. + + +We think it next to impossible for a candid unbeliever to read the +Evidences of Paley, in their proper order, unshaken. His Natural +Theology will open the heart, that it may understand, or at least +receive the Scriptures, if any thing can. It is philosophy in its +highest and noblest sense; scientific, without the jargon of science; +profound, but so clear that its depth is disguised. There is nothing +of the "budge Doctor" here; speculations which will convince, if aught +will, that "in the beginning _God_ created the heaven and the earth," +are made familiar as household words. They are brought home to the +experience of every man, the most ordinary observer on the facts of +nature with which he is daily conversant. A thicker clothing, for +instance, is provided in winter for that tribe of animals which are +covered with _fur_. Now, in these days, such an assertion would be +backed by an appeal to some learned Rabbi of a Zoological Society, +who had written a deep pamphlet, upon what he would probably call the +_Theory of Hair_. But to whom does Paley refer us? To any dealer in +rabbit skins. The curious contrivance in the bones of birds, to unite +strength with lightness, is noticed. The bore is larger, in proportion +to the weight of the bone, than in other animals; it is empty; the +substance of the bone itself is of a closer texture. For these facts, +any "operative" would quote Sir Everard Home, or Professor Cuvier, +by way of giving a sort of philosophical éclat to the affair, and +throwing a little learned dust in the eyes of the public. Paley, +however, advises you to make your own observations when you happen to +be engaged in the scientific operation of picking the leg or wing of a +chicken. The very singular correspondence between the two sides of any +animal, the right hand answering to the left, and so on, is touched +upon, as a proof of a contriving Creator, and a very striking one it +is. Well! we have a long and abstruse problem in chances worked out to +show that it was so many millions, and so many odd thousands to one, +that accident could not have produced the phenomenon; not a bit of it. +Paley, who was probably scratching his head at the moment, offers +no other confirmation of his assertion, than that it is the most +difficult thing in the world to get a _wig made even_, seldom as it is +that the _face_ is made awry. The circulation of the blood, and the +provision for its getting from the heart to the extremities, and back +again, affords a singular demonstration of the Maker of the body being +an admirable Master both of mechanics and hydrostatics. But what is +the language in which Paley talks of this process?--technical?--that +mystical nomenclature of Diaforius, which frightens country patients +out of their wits, thinking, as they very naturally do, that a disease +must be very horrid which involves such very horrid names? Hear our +anatomist from Giggleswick. + +"The aorta of a whale is larger in the bore than the main-pipe of the +water-works at London Bridge; and the roaring in the passage through +that pipe is inferior, in impetus and velocity, to the blood gushing +from the whale's heart." + +He cares not whence he fetches his illustrations, provided they are to +the purpose. The laminae of the feathers of birds are kept together by +teeth that hook into one another, "as a _latch_ enters into the catch, +and fastens a door." The eyes of the mole are protected by being very +small, and buried deep in a cushion of skin, so that the apertures +leading to them are like _pin-holes in a piece of velvet_, scarcely +pervious to loose particles of earth. The snail without wings, feet, +or thread, adheres to a stalk by a provision of _sticking-plaster_. +The lobster, as he grows, is furnished with a way of uncasing himself +of his buckler, and drawing his legs out of _his boots_ when they +become too small for him. + +In this unambitious manner does Paley prosecute his high theme, +drawing, as it were, philosophy from the clouds. But it is not +merely the fund of entertaining knowledge which the Natural Theology +contains, or the admirable address displayed in the adaption of it, +which fits it for working conviction; the "sunshine of the breast," +the cheerful spirit with which its benevolent author goes on his way +([Greek: kudei gaion],) this it is that carries the coldest reader +captive, and constrains him to confess within himself, and even in +spite of himself, "it is good for me to be here." + +...We mourn over the leaves of our peaches and plum-trees, as they +wither under a blight. What does Paley see in this? A legion of +animated beings (for such is a _blight_) claiming their portion of +the bounty of Nature, and made happy by our comparatively trifling +privation, We are tortured by bodily _pain_,--Paley himself was so, +even at the moment that he was thus nobly vindicating God's wisdom +and ways. What of that? Pain is not the object of contrivance--no +anatomist ever dreamt of explaining any organ of the body on the +principle of the thumb screw; it is itself productive of good; it +is seldom both violent, and long continued; and then its pauses and +intermissions become positive pleasures. "It has the power of shedding +a satisfaction over intervals of ease, which I believe," says this +true philosopher, "few enjoyments exceed." The returns of an hospital +in his neighbourhood lie before him. Does he conjure up the images of +Milton's lazar-house, and sicken at the spectacle of human suffering? +No--he finds the admitted 6,420--the dead, 234--the _cured_, 5,476; +his eye settles upon the last, and he is content. + +There is nothing in the world which has not more handles than one; and +it is of the greatest consequence to get a habit of taking hold by the +best. The bells speak as we make them; "how many a tale their music +tells!" Hogarth's industrious apprentice might hear in them that he +should be "Lord Mayor of London"--the idle apprentice that he should +be hanged at Tyburn. The landscape looks as we see it; if we go to +meet a friend, every distant object assumes his shape-- + + "In great and small, and round and square, + 'Tis Johnny, Johnny, every where." + +Crabbe's lover passed over the very same heath to his mistress and +from her; yet as he went, all was beauty--as he returned all was +blank. The world does not more surely provide different kinds of food +for different animals, than it furnishes doubts to the sceptic and +hopes to the believer, as he takes it. The one, in an honest and good +heart, pours out the box of ointment on a Saviour's head--the other, +in the pride of his philosophy, only searches into it for a dead +fly.--_Q. Rev._ + + * * * * * + + +"ALL FOR THE BEST." + + +When Bernard Gilpin was summoned up to London to give an account of +himself and his creed before Bonner, he chanced to break his leg on +the way; and, on some persons retorting upon him a favourite saying +of his own, "that nothing happens to us but what is intended for our +good," and asking him whether it was for his good that he had broken +his leg, he answered, "that he made no question but it was." And so it +turned out, for before he was able to travel again, Queen Mary died, +and he was set at liberty. + + * * * * * + +Men keep their word simply because it is _right_ to do so. They feel +it is right, and ask no further questions. Conscience carries along +with it its own authority--its own credentials. The depraved appetites +may rebel against it, but they are aware that it is rebellion.--_Q. +Rev._ + + * * * * * + + +ARAB HOSPITALITY. + + +M. Pacho, the African traveller, lately arrived at Marmorica, when the +rains had commenced, and the ground was preparing for the seed, and +was admitted to all the rites of Arab hospitality. Invited to a great +feast, he was regaled with the usual dainty of a sheep roasted whole, +and eaten with the fingers; while girls, dressed as Caryatides, +presented a large vase of milk, which was passed round to the company. +All that was expected in return was to cover bits of paper with +writing, and thus convert them into amulets; for, in his capacity +of sorcerer, the Christian is supposed to possess supernatural +powers.--_Edinburgh Rev._ + + * * * * * + + +IMPROMPTU ON WASTE. + +_By the late Edward Knight, Esq. of Drury-Lane Theatre._ + + + Oh! waste thou not the smallest thing + Created by Divinity; + For grains of sand the mountains make, + And atomics infinity. + Waste thou not, then, the smallest time-- + 'Tis imbecile infirmity; + For well thou know'st, if aught thou know'st, + That seconds form eternity. + +_Forget Me Not_--1829. + + * * * * * + + +AN ELECTION. + + +G.A. Steevens says an election is "madman's holiday;" but in the +last _Quarterly Review_ we find the following ludicrous supplemental +illustration. + +Let a stranger be introduced, for the first time, to an election, +let him be shown a multitude of men reeling about the streets of a +borough-town, fighting within an inch of their lives, smashing windows +at the Black Bear, or where + + "High in the street, o'erlooking all the place, + The Rampant Lion shows his kingly face;" + +and yelling like those animals in Exeter 'Change at supper time; and +then let him be told that these worthies are choosing the senate of +England--persons to make the laws that are to bind them and their +children, property, limb, and life, and he would certainly think the +process unpropitious. Yet, in spite of it all, a number of individuals +are thus collected, who transact the business of the nation, and +represent its various interests tolerably well. The machinery is +hideous but it produces not a bad article. + + * * * * * + + +SPANISH COMFORTS. + + +In Spain, there are few or no schools in the villages and small towns, +that would have the effect of releasing the minds of the natives from +monkish tyranny, which at present influences their principles, and +biasses their choice, with regard to political, and indeed almost all +other pursuits. Nor is any attention paid to trade. The peasantry +simply exist, like cattle, without any other signs of exertion, than +such as the necessity of food requires. They have no idea of rising in +the world; and where there is no interest there is no activity. + +It appears, that in the North of Spain, so little encouragement +is given to the arts, that even physicians are not able to obtain +support; that prints are unsaleable, and no new publications appear +but newspapers; that the tradesmen neglect their persons, very seldom +shaving, and having frequently a cigar in their mouths; that the +breath of the ladies smells of garlick; that the gentlemen smoke +cigars in bed; that there is hardly a single manufactory in the +kingdom belonging to a native in a flourishing state; that, from +recent political events, the flocks have been neglected, and the +wool deteriorated; that cleanliness is neglected, and rats and mice +unmolested; that the porters of the most respectable houses are +cobblers, who work at their trades at their doors; that women are +employed in loading and unloading ships; and that they, as well as the +servants in houses, carry every thing on their heads, even lighted +candles, without the least fear of their being extinguished; that oxen +are tied to carts by their horns; that in the inns, generally, no one +can read or write but the landlords; that the constitutional soldiers, +for their fare, generally took a leathern bag, (_barracho_,) and got +it filled with red wine as sour as vinegar; not appearing to wish for +meat, bread and cheese, with boiled soup, onions, and garlick, forming +the substance of their frugal repasts; that no memorial is erected on +the spot where the battle of Vittoria was fought in 1813; and that, in +fact, there is no national feeling in the country. + + * * * * * + + +THE EQUIVOCAL GENTLEMAN + + +Must always keep his dignity, for his dignity will not keep him. We +have no objection to meet him at a dress party, or at the quarter +sessions, nor to read his articles in the Edinburgh, the Quarterly, or +the British Critic; but we request not his contributions for Maga, +nor will Mr. North send him a general invitation to the +Noctes.--_Blackwood's Mag._ + + * * * * * + + +INTENSE COLD. + + +The lowest temperature witnessed by Capt. Franklin in North America +was on the 7th of February, of the second winter passed on the shores +of Bear Lake. At eight in the morning, the mercury in the thermometer +descended to 58° below zero; it had stood at -57.5°, and -57.3° in the +course of that and the preceding day; between the 5th and the 8th, its +general state was from -48° to -52°, though it occasionally rose to +-43°. At the temperature of -52.2°, Mr. Kendall froze some mercury +in the mould of a pistol-bullet, and fired it against a door at the +distance of six paces. A small portion of the mercury penetrated to +the depth of one-eighth of an inch, but the remainder only just lodged +in the wood. The extreme height of the mercury in the tube was from +71° at noon to 73° at three o'clock.--_Quarterly Rev._ + + * * * * * + + +PARR'S PUNNING. + + +Of all the species of wit, punning was one which Dr. Parr disliked, +and in which he seldom indulged; and yet some instances of it have +been related. Reaching a book from a high shelf in his library, two +other books came tumbling down; of which one, a critical work of +Lambert Bos, fell upon the other, which was a volume of Hume. "See!" +said he, "what has happened--_procumbit humi bos_." On another +occasion, sitting in his room, suffering under the effects of a slight +cold, when too strong a current was let in upon him, he cried out, +"Stop, stop, that is too much. I am at present only _par levibus +ventis_." At another time, a gentleman having asked him to subscribe +to Dr. Busby's translation of Lucretius, he declined to do so, +saying it would cost too much money; it would indeed be "Lucretius +_carus_."--_Field's Memoirs_. + + * * * * * + + +HOUBRAKEN'S HEADS. + + +Houbraken, as the late Lord Orford justly observes, "was ignorant of +our history, uninquisitive into the authenticity of the drawings which +were transmitted to him, and engraved whatever was sent;" adducing two +instances, namely, Carr, Earl of Somerset, and Secretary Thurloe, as +not only spurious, but not having the least resemblance to the persons +they pretend to represent. An anonymous but evidently well informed +writer (in the Gentleman's Magazine) further states, that "Thurloe's, +and about _thirty_ of the others, are copied from heads painted for no +one knows whom."--_Lodge's Illustrated Biography_. + + * * * * * + + +VIRGIL'S GEORGICS. + + +Every reader of taste knows that "glance from earth to heaven" which +pervades the Georgics throughout, and that poetical almanack which +the poet has made use of for pointing out the various seasons for +the different operations of husbandry. Will it be believed that his +Spanish translator has actually taken the trouble to convert these +indications into days of the month, and inserted the result of his +labours in the text? + + * * * * * + + +WOMAN'S EYE. + + + The light that beams from woman's eye. + And sparkles through her tear, + Responds to that impassion'd sigh + Which love delights to hear. + 'Tis the sweet language of the soul, + On which a voice is hung, + More eloquent than ever stole + From saint's or poet's tongue. + +_Forget Me Not_--1829. + + * * * * * + + +"NIMIUM NE CREDE COLORI." + + +Jack Taylor once said to a water-drinking person, with a purple face, +"better things might _prima facie_ be expected." + + * * * * * + + + + +SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS. + + * * * * * + + +MR. ABERNETHY. + + +Of Mr. Abernethy's independence and strict veneration of what +is right, we have many examples. Among others, the following is +characteristic:--A certain noble personage, now enjoying a situation +of great responsibility in the Sister Kingdom, had been waiting for +a long time in the surgeon's anteroom, when, seeing those who had +arrived before him, successively called in, he became somewhat +impatient, and sent his card in. No notice was taken of the hint; he +sent another card--another--another--and another; still no answer. +At length he gained admission in his turn; and, full of nobility +and choler, he asked, rather aristocratically, why he had been kept +waiting so long?--"Wh--ew!" responded the professor; "because you +didn't come sooner, to be sure. And now, if your lordship will sit +down, I will hear what you have to say." + +One thing Mr. Abernethy cannot abide, that is, any interruption to his +discourse. This it is, in fact, which so often irritates him, so often +causes him to snarl.--"People come here," he has often said to us, +"to consult me, and they will torture me with their long and foolish +fiddle-de-dee stories; so we quarrel, and then they blackguard me all +about this large town; but I can't help that." + +That Abernethy is odd all the world knows, but his oddity is far more +amusing than repulsive, far more playful than bearish. Yates's picture +of him last year was not bad; neither was it good--it wanted the +raciness of the original. Let the reader imagine a smug, elderly, +sleek, and venerable-looking man, approaching seventy years of age, +rather (as novel-writers say) below than above the middle height, +somewhat inclined to corpulency, and upright in his carriage withal; +with his hair most primly powdered, and nicely curled round his brow +and temples: let them imagine such a person habited in sober black, +with his feet thrust carelessly into a pair of unlaced half-boots, +and his hands into the pockets of his "peculiars," and they have the +"glorious John" of the profession before their eyes. The following +colloquy, which occurred not many days since, between him and a friend +of ours, is so characteristic of the professor, that we cannot resist +its insertion:-- + +Having entered the room, our friend "opened the proceedings." "I wish +you to ascertain what is the matter with my eye, sir. It is very +painful, and I am afraid there is some great mischief going +on."--"Which I can't see," said Abernethy, placing the patient before +the window, and looking closely at the eye.--"But--" interposed +our friend.--"Which I can't see," again said, or rather sung the +professor. "Perhaps not, sir, but--"--"Now don't bother!" ejaculated +the other; "but sit down, and I'll tell you all about it." Our friend +sat down accordingly, while Abernethy, standing with his back against +the table, thus began: "I take it for granted that, in consulting me, +you wish to know what I should do for myself, were I in a predicament +similar to yourself. Now, I have no reason to suppose that you are +in any particular predicament; and the terrible mischief which you +apprehend, depends, I take it, altogether upon the stomach. Mind,--at +present I have no reason to believe that there is any thing else +the matter with you." (Here my friend was about to disclose sundry +dreadful maladies with which he believed himself afflicted, but he was +interrupted with "Diddle-dum, diddle-dum, diddle-dum dee!" uttered in +the same smooth tone as the previous part of the address--and he was +silent.)--"Now, your stomach being out of order, it is my duty to +explain to you how to put it to rights again; and, in my whimsical +way, I shall give you an illustration of my position; for I like to +tell people something that they will remember. The kitchen, that is, +your stomach, being out of order, the garret (pointing to the head) +cannot be right, and egad! every room in the house becomes affected. +Repair the injury in the kitchen,--remedy the evil there,--(_now don't +bother_,) and all will be right. This you must do by diet. If you put +improper food into your stomach, by Gad you play the very devil with +it, and with the whole machine besides. Vegetable matter ferments, and +becomes gaseous; while animal substances are changed into a putrid, +abominable, and acrid stimulus. (_Don't bother again!_) You are going +to ask, 'What has all this to do with my eye?' I will tell you. +Anatomy teaches us, that the skin is a continuation of the membrane +which lines the stomach; and your own observation will inform you, +that the delicate linings of the mouth, throat, nose, and eyes, are +nothing more. Now some people acquire preposterous noses, others +blotches on the face and different parts of the body, others +inflammation of the eyes--all arising from irritation of the stomach. +People laugh at me for talking so much about the stomach. I sometimes +tell this story to forty different people of a morning, and some won't +listen to me; so we quarrel, and they go and abuse me all over the +town. I can't help it--they came to me for my advice, and I give it +them, if they will take it. I can't do any more. Well, sir, as to the +question of diet. I must refer you to my book. (Here the professor +smiled, and continued smiling as he proceeded.) There are only about a +dozen pages--and you will find, beginning at page 73, all that it +is necessary for you to know. I am christened 'Doctor My-Book,' and +satirized under that name all over England; but who would sit and +listen to a long lecture of twelve pages, or remember one-half of it +when it was done? So I have reduced my directions into writing, and +there they are for any body to follow, if they please. + +"Having settled the question of diet, we now come to medicine. It is, +or ought to be, the province of a medical man to soothe and assist +Nature, not to force her. Now, the only medicine I should advise you +to take, is a dose of a slight aperient medicine every morning the +first thing. I won't stipulate for the dose, as that must be regulated +by circumstances, but you must take some; for without it, by Gad; your +stomach will never be right. People go to Harrowgate, and Buxton, and +Bath, and the devil knows where, to drink the waters, and they return +full of admiration at their surpassing efficacy. Now these waters +contain next to nothing of purgative medicine; but they are taken +readily, regularly, and in such quantities, as to produce the desired +effect. You must persevere in this plan, sir, until you experience +relief, which you certainly will do. I am often asked--'Well, but +Mr. Abernethy, why don't you practise what you preach?' I answer, by +reminding the inquirer of the parson and the signpost: both point +the way, but neither follow its course."--And thus ended a +colloquy, wherein is mingled much good sense, useful advice, and +whimsicality.--_New Monthly Magazine_. + + * * * * * + + +GIPSIES. + + + Whether from India's burning plains, + Or wild Bohemia's domains + Your steps were first directed:-- + Or whether ye be Egypt's sons, + Whose stream, like Nile's for ever runs + With sources undetected,-- + + Arab's of Europe! Gipsy race! + Your Eastern manners, garb, and face + Appear a strange chimera; + None, none but you can now be styled + Romantic, picturesque, and wild, + In this prosaic era. + + Ye sole freebooters of the wood + Since Adam Bell and Robin Hood-- + Kept every where asunder + From other tribes--King, Church, and State + Spurning, and only dedicate + To freedom, sloth, and plunder. + Your forest-camp--the forms one sees + Banditti like amid the trees, + The ragged donkies grazing, + The Sibyl's eye prophetic, bright + With flashes of the fitful light, + Beneath the caldron blazing,-- + + O'er my young mind strange terrors threw: + Thy history gave me Moore Carew! + A more exalted notion + Of Gipsy life, nor can I yet + Gaze on your tents, and quite forget + My former deep emotion. + + For "auld lang syne" I'll not maltreat + Yon pseudo-Tinker, though the Cheat, + Ay sly as thievish Reynard, + Instead of mending kettles, prowls + To make foul havock of my fowls, + And decimate my hen-yard. + + Come thou, too, black-eyed lass, and try + That potent skill in palmistry. + Which sixpences can wheedle; + Mine is a friendly cottage--here + No snarling mastiff need you fear, + No Constable or Beadle. + + 'Tis yours, I know, to draw at will + Upon Futurity a bill, + And Plutus to importune:-- + Discount the bill--take half yourself + Give me the balance of the pelf. + And both may laugh at fortune. + +_Ibid_. + + * * * * * + + +GEORGE HARVEST. + + +The Rev. George Harvest, of Trinity College, Cambridge, having been +private tutor to the Duke of Richmond, was invited to dine with the +old duchess, and to accompany her party to the play. He used to travel +with a night-cap in his pocket, and having occasion for a handkerchief +at the theatre, made use of his cap for that purpose. In one of his +reveries, however, it fell from the side-box, where he was sitting, +into the pit, where a wag, who picked it up, hoisted it upon the end +of a stick, that it might be claimed by its rightful proprietor. Judge +of the consternation of a large party of ladies of rank and fashion, +when George Harvest rose in the midst of them, and claimed the +night-cap (which was somewhat greasy from use) by the initials G.H., +which were legibly marked on it. The cap was restored to him amidst +shouts of laughter, that ran through the pit to the great discomfiture +of the duchess and the rest of the party.--Ibid. + + * * * * * + + + + +SCIENTIFIC RECREATIONS. + + * * * * * + + +ELECTRICAL PHENOMENA. + +(_From the Treatise on Electricity--in the Library of Useful +Knowledge_.) + + +The colours produced by the electric explosion of metals have been +applied to impress letters or ornamental devices on silk and on paper. +For this purpose Mr. Singer directs that the outline of the required +figure should be first traced on thick drawing paper, and afterwards +cut out in the manner of stencil plates. The drawing paper is then +placed on the silk or paper intended to be marked; a leaf of gold is +laid upon it, and a card over that; the whole is then placed in a +press or under a weight, and a charge from a battery sent through the +gold leaf. The stain is confined by the interposition of the drawing +paper to the limit of the design, and in this way a profile, a flower, +or any other outline figure may be very neatly impressed. + +Most combustible bodies are capable of being inflamed by electricity, +but more especially if it be made to strike against them in the form +of a spark or shock obtained by an interrupted circuit, as by the +interposition of a stratum of air. In this way may alcohol, ether, +camphor, powdered resin, phosphorus, or gunpowder be set fire to. The +inflammation of oil of turpentine will be promoted by strewing upon it +fine particles of brass filings. If the spirit of wine be not highly +rectified, it will generally be necessary previously to warm it, and +the same precaution must be taken with other fluids, as oil and +pitch; but it is not required with ether, which usually inflames +very readily. But on the other hand, it is to be remarked that the +temperature of the body which communicates the spark appears to have +no sensible influence on the heat produced by it. Thus the sparks +taken from a piece of ice are as capable of inflaming bodies as those +from a piece of red-hot iron. Nor is the heating power of electricity +in the smallest degree diminished by its being conducted through any +number of freezing mixtures which are rapidly absorbing heat from +surrounding bodies. + + * * * * * + + +HEATING ROOMS. + + +A new invention for heating rooms has met with much encouragement in +Paris. A piece of quick-lime dipped into water, and shut hermetically +into a box constructed for the purpose, is said to give almost +a purgatory-heat, and prevent the necessity of fire during +winter.--_Lit. Gaz_. + + * * * * * + + + + +THE SELECTOR; + +AND LITERARY NOTICES OF _NEW WORKS_ + + * * * * * + + +GOLDEN RULES. + +TO RENDER MEN HONEST, RESPECTABLE, AND HAPPY. + +_By Sir Richard Phillips_. + + +All members of the human family should remember, that the human race +is, as to time and nature, but as one totality; for, since every man +and woman had two parents, each parent two parents, and so on in +geometrical progression, hence every individual, high or low, must +necessarily be descended from every individual of the whole population +as it existed but a few hundred years before, whether they were high +or low, virtuous or abandoned; while every procreative individual of +the existing race must be the actual progenitor of the entire race +which may exist at the same distance of future time. What motives for +charity, for forbearing from injuries, for benevolence, for universal +love. + + * * * * * + +The bed of sickness, with its increased sensibility of nerves, is +a delicate test of man's conscience, and of self-approbation or +reprobation. Requiring sympathy himself, he now sympathizes with +others; and, unable to direct his thoughts to external things, they +are forced upon himself. Great is then his solace, and efficacious his +medicines, if he has no other reflections than such as are supplied by +his justice, liberality, and benevolence; but accumulated will be his +sufferings, and dangerous the result, if crimes and misdeeds force +themselves at such a time on his mind; while in any delirium of fever +he will rave on those subjects, and, without vision, will often +perceive, by the mere excitement of his brain, the spectres of the +injured making grimaces before him. + + * * * * * + +If you are rich, and want to enjoy the exalted luxury of relieving +distress, go to the Bankrupt Court, to the Court for Insolvent +Debtors, to the gaols, the work-houses, and the hospitals. If you are +rich and childless, and want heirs, look to the same assemblages of +misfortune; for all are not culpable who appear in the Bankrupt and +Insolvent Lists; nor all criminal who are found in gaols; nor all +improvident who are inmates of work-houses and hospitals. On the +contrary, in these situations, an alloy of vice is mixed with virtue +enough to afford materials for as deep tragedies as ever poet fancied +or stage exhibited; and visiters of relief would act the part of +angels descending from Heaven among men, whose chief affliction is the +neglect of unthinking affluence. + + * * * * * + +Marriage is a circumstance of life, which, in its actual course, +involves the feelings and fortunes of human beings more than any +other event of their lives. It is a connexion generally formed by +inexperience, under the blindness and caprice of passion; and, though +these conditions cannot be avoided, as forming the bases of the +connexion, yet it is so important, that a man is never ruined who +has an interesting, faithful, and virtuous wife; while he is lost +to comfort, fortune, and even to hope, who has united himself to +a vicious and unprincipled one. The fate of woman is still more +intimately blended with that of her husband; for, being in the eyes +of the law and the world but second to him, she is the victim of his +follies and vices at home, and of his ill success and degradation +abroad. Rules are useless, where passions, founded on trifling +associations and accidents, govern; but much mischief often results +from fathers expecting young men to be in the social position of +old ones, and from present fortune being preferred to virtues; for +industry and talent, stimulated by affection, and fostered by family +interests, soon create competency and fortune; while a connexion +founded on mere wealth, which is often speedily wasted by dissipation, +habits of extravagance, and the chances of life, necessarily ends in +disappointment, disgust, and misery. + + * * * * * + +Wretched is the man who has no employment but to watch his own +digestions; and who, on waking in the morning, has no useful +occupation of the day presented to his mind. To such a one respiration +is a toil, and existence a continued disease. Self-oblivion is his +only resource, indulgence in alcohol in various disguises his remedy, +and death or superstition his only comfort and hope. For what was he +born, and why does he live? are questions which he constantly asks +himself; and his greatest enigmas are the smiling faces of habitual +industry, stimulated by the wants of the day, or fears for the future. +If he is excited to exertion, it is commonly to indulge some vicious +propensity, or display his scorn of those pursuits which render others +happier than himself. If he seek to relieve his inanity in books, his +literature ascends no higher than the romances, the newspapers, or the +scandal, of the day; and all the nobler pursuits of mind, as well as +body, are utterly lost in regard to him. His passage through life +is like that of a bird through the air, and his final cause appears +merely to be that of sustaining the worms in his costly tomb. + + * * * * * + +The decline of life, and the retrospections of old age, furnish +unequivocal tests of worthiness and unworthiness. Happy is the man, +who, after a well-spent life, can contemplate the rapid approach of +his last year with the consciousness that, if he were born again, he +could not, under all the circumstances of his worldly position, have +done better, and who has inflicted no injuries for which it is too +late to atone. Wretched, on the contrary, is he, who is obliged to +look back on a youth of idleness and profligacy, on a manhood +of selfishness and sensuality, and on a career of hypocrisy, of +insensibility, of concealed crime, and of injustice above the reach +of law. Visit both during the decay of their systems, observe their +feelings and tempers, view the followers at their funerals, count the +tears on their graves; and, after such a comparison, in good time make +your own choice. + + * * * * * + +Constant change is the feature of society. The world is like a magic +lantern, or the shifting scenes in a pantomime. TEN YEARS convert the +population of schools into men and women, the young into fathers and +matrons, make and mar fortunes, and bury the last generation but one. +TWENTY YEARS convert infants into lovers, and fathers and mothers, +render youth the operative generation, decide men's fortunes and +distinctions, convert active men into crawling drivellers, and bury +all the preceding generation. THIRTY YEARS raise an active generation +from nonentity, change fascinating beauties into merely bearable old +women, convert lovers into grandfathers and grandmothers, and bury the +active generation, or reduce them to decrepitude and imbecility. FORTY +YEARS, alas! change the face of all society; infants are growing old, +the bloom of youth and beauty has passed away, two active generations +have been swept from the stage of life, names so cherished are +forgotten, and unsuspected candidates for fame have started from the +exhaustless womb of nature. FIFTY YEARS! why should any desire to +retain their affections from maturity for fifty years? It is to behold +a world which they do not know, and to which they are unknown; it +is to live to weep for the generations passed away, for lovers, for +parents, for children, for friends, in the grave; it is to see every +thing turned upside down by the fickle hand of fortune, and the +absolute despotism of time; it is, in a word, to behold the vanity of +human life in all its varieties of display! + +_Social Philosophy_. + + * * * * * + + + + +THE GATHERER + + A snapper up of unconsidered trifles. +SHAKSPEARE. + + * * * * * + + +SHERRY. + + +Commentators have puzzled themselves to find out Falstaff's sherries +sack: there can be no doubt but that it was _dry sherry_, and the +French word _sec_ dry, corrupted into sack. In a poem printed in 1619, +sack and sherry are noted throughout as synonymous, every stanza of +twelve ending-- + + Give me sack, old sack, boys, + To make the muses merry, + The life of mirth, and the joy of the earth, + Is a cup of old sherry. + + * * * * * + + +CURIOUS WILL. + + + _By a Student of the University of Dublin. + Cum ita semper me amares_, + How to reward you all my care is, + _Consilium tibi do imprimis_ + For I believe that short my time is; + _Amice Admodum amande_, + Pray thee leave off thy drinking brandy, + _Video qua sorte jaceo hic_, + 'Tis all for that, O sick! O sick! + _Mors mea, vexat matrem piam_, + No dog was e'er so sick as I am. + _Secundo mi amice bone_, + My breeches take, but there's no money, + _Et vestes etiam tibi dentur_, + If such old things to wear you'll venture; + _Pediculos si potes pellas_, + But they are sometimes prince's fellows; + _Accipe libros etiam musam_, + If I had lived I ne'er had used them, + _Spero quod his contentus eris_, + For I've a friend almost as dear is, + _Vale ne plus tibi detur_. + But send her up, Jack, if you meet her. + +C.K.W. + + * * * * * + + +OLD ST. PAUL'S. + + +In the old cathedral of St. Paul, walks were laid out for merchants, +as in the Royal Exchange. Thus, "the south alley for usurye, and +poperye; the north for simony and the horse fair; in the middest for +all kinds of bargains, meetings, brawlings, murthers, conspiracies; +and the font for ordinary paiements of money, are so well knowne to +all menne as the beggar knows his dishe." + + * * * * * + + +THE LINCOLNSHIRE EEL, + +_A bit of Munchausen._ + + +In the year 1702, there was a universal complaint among the feeders +of cattle in the fens, that they frequently lost a horse, an ox, or +a cow, and could not discover by what means; when watching more +narrowly, they observed a horse, and presently after a cow, go to the +river to drink, and suddenly disappear. On going to the river-side +they saw an eel, the body of which was as large as an elephant. They +could not doubt but this was the thief who had so often robbed them of +their cattle, and they very reasonably concluded if they could catch +the eel, their cattle would henceforth drink in safety. A council +being called among the farmers, they determined upon the following +expedient:--They sent to London and purchased a cable and anchor, by +way of fishing-line and hook, and roasted a young bullock, with which +they baited the hook, and fastened the end of the cable round a barn, +which stood about a hundred feet from the river, and then waited to +see what the morning would produce. At break of day they repaired to +the riverside, when, to their great astonishment, they found that the +eel had been there and swallowed the bait, but in endeavouring to +disengage himself, had pulled the barn after him into the river, and +having broken the cable, made his escape. + + * * * * * + +With the present is published a SUPPLEMENTARY NUMBER, containing +the SPIRIT of "the ANNUALS" for 1829--with Critical Notices of their +Engravings and Literary Contents, copious Selections, and Unique +Extracts, and a FINE ENGRAVING from a splendid subject; in one of the +most popular of these elegant works. + + * * * * * + +LIMBIRD'S EDITION OF THE FOLLOWING NOVELS ARE 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 Wakefield 0 10 + Sicilian Romance 1 0 + The Man of the World 1 0 + A Simple Story 1 4 + Joseph Andrews 1 6 + Humphry Clinker 1 8 + The Romance of the Forest 1 8 + The Italian 2 0 + Zeluco, by Dr. Moore 2 6 + Edward, by Dr. Moore 2 0 + Roderick Random 2 6 + The Mysteries of Udolpho 3 6 + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, +and Instruction, by Various + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 11528 *** |