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diff --git a/11537-0.txt b/11537-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8731cda --- /dev/null +++ b/11537-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1459 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 11537 *** + +THE MIRROR OF LITERATURE, AMUSEMENT, AND INSTRUCTION. + +VOL. XIX. NO. 530.] SATURDAY, JANUARY 21, 1832. [PRICE 2_d_. + + + * * * * * + + + +LAW INSTITUTION. + + +[Illustration: LAW INSTITUTION.] + +This handsome portico is situate on the west side of Chancery Lane. It +represents, however, but a portion of the building, which extends thence +into Bell Yard, where there is a similar entrance. The whole has been +erected by Messrs. Lee and Sons, the builders of the new Post Office and +the London University; whose contract for the present work is stated at +9,214_l_. The portion in our engraving is one of the finest structures of +its kind in the metropolis. The bold yet chaste character of the Ionic +columns, and the rich foliated moulding which decorates the pediment, as +well as the soffit ceiling of the portico, must be greatly admired. We +should regret this handsome structure being pent up in so narrow a street +as Chancery Lane, did not the appropriateness of its situation promise +advantages of greater importance than mere architectural display. + +From the Fourth Annual Report, we learn that "the plan of the _Law +Institution_ originated with some individuals in the profession, who were +desirous of increasing its respectability, and promoting the general +convenience and advantage of its members." Rightly enough it appeared to +them "singular, that whilst the various public bodies, companies, and +commercial and trading classes in the metropolis, and indeed in many of +the principal towns in the kingdom, have long possessed places of general +resort, for the more convenient transaction of their business; and while +numerous institutions for promoting literature and science amongst all +ranks and conditions of society, have been long established, and others +are daily springing up, the attorneys and solicitors of the superior +courts of record at Westminster should still be without an establishment +in London, calculated to afford them similar advantages; more particularly +when the halls and libraries of the inns of court, the clubs of barristers, +special pleaders, and conveyancers, the libraries of the advocates and +writers to the signet at Edinburgh, and the association of attorneys in +Dublin, furnish a strong presumption of the advantages which would +probably result from an establishment of a similar description for +attorneys in London. + +"For effecting the purposes of the institution, it was considered +necessary to raise a fund of 50,000_l_. in shares of 25_l_. each, payable +by instalments, no one being permitted to take more than twenty shares. +The plan having been generally announced to the profession, a large +proportion of the shares were immediately subscribed for, so that no doubt +remained of the success of the design, and the committee therefore +directed inquiries to be made for a site for the intended building, and +succeeded in obtaining an eligible one in Chancery Lane, nearly opposite +to the Rolls Court, consisting of two houses, formerly occupied by Sir +John Silvester (and lately by Messrs. Collins and Wells,) and Messrs. +Clarke, Richards and Medcalf, and of the house behind, in Bell Yard, +lately in the possession of Mr. Maxwell; thus having the advantage of two +frontages, and, from its contiguity to the law offices and inns of court, +being peculiarly adapted to the objects of the institution." + +"It is the present intention of the committee to provide for the following +objects:--_viz_--_A Hall_, to be open at all hours of the day; but some +particular hour to be fixed as the general time for assembling: to be +furnished with desks, or inclosed tables, affording similar accommodations +to those in Lloyd's Coffee House; and to be provided with newspapers and +other publications calculated for general reference." + +"An Ante-room for clerks and others, in which will be kept an account of +all public and private parliamentary business, in its various stages, +appeals in the House of Lords, the general and daily cause papers, seal +papers, &c." + +"A Library to contain a complete collection of books in the law, and +relating to those branches of literature which may be considered more +particularly connected with the profession; votes, reports, acts, journals, +and other proceedings of parliament; county and local histories; +topographical, genealogical, and other matters of antiquarian research, &c. +&c." + +"An Office of Registry in which will be kept accounts and printed +particulars of property intended for sale, &c." + +"A Club Room which may afford members an opportunity of procuring dinners +and refreshments, on the plan of the University, Athenaeum, Verulam, and +similar clubs." + +"A suite of rooms for meetings." + +"Fire-proof rooms, in the basement story, to be fitted up with closets, +shelves, drawers, and partitions, for the deposit of deeds, &c." + +Upon reference to the list of members to Jan. 1831, we find their number +to be 607 in town, and 88 in the country, who hold 2000 shares in the +Institution. A charter of incorporation has recently been granted to the +Society by his Majesty, by the style of "The Society of Attorneys, +Solicitors, Proctors, and others, not being Barristers, practising in the +Courts of Law and Equity in the United Kingdom," thus giving full effect +to the arrangements contemplated by this building in Chancery Lane. + + * * * * * + + +HOPE. + +(_For the Mirror_.) + + + He mark'd two sunbeams upward driven + Till they blent in one in the bosom of heaven; + And when closed o'er the eye lid of night, + His own mind's eye saw it doubly bright, + And as upward and upward it floated on + He deemed it a seraph--and anon. + Through its light on heaven's floor he made, + The shadow bright of his dead love's shade, + In her living beauty, and he wrapt her in light, + Which dropped from the eye of the _Infinite_. + And as she breathed her heavenward sigh, + 'Twas halved by that light all radiently, + As it lit her up to eternity. + Then the future opened its ocult scroll. + And his own inward man was refined to soul, + And straightway it rose to the realms above, + On the wings of thought till it joined his love, + And though from that beauteous trance he woke + Still linger'd the thought--and he called it--hope! + + * * * * * + + +LOVE'S KERCHIEF. + +(_For the Mirror._) + + +It was a custom in my time to look through a handkerchief at the new year's +moon, and as many moons as ye saw (multiplied by the handkerchief,) so +many years would ye be before ye were wed. + + When sunset and moon-rise + Chill and burn at once on the earth-- + When love-tears and love-sighs + Tickle up boisterous mirth-- + When fate-stars are shooting, + Sparks of love to the maid + To fill her funeral eye with light, + And owlets are hooting + Her sire's ghost, which she's unlaid + With vexation, down backward in night; + Then the lover may spin from that light of her eye, + (As through his sigh it glances silkily,) + With the wheel of a dead witch's fancy, + The thread of his after destiny-- + All hidden things to prove. + Then make a warp and a woof of that thread of sight, + And weave it with loom of a fairy sprite, + As she works by the lamp of the glow-worm's light, + While it lays drunk with the dew-drop of night, + And ye'll have the _kerchief_ of love: + Then peep through it at the waning moon, + And ye shall read your fate--anon. + + * * * * * + + +A SKETCH OF SINGAPORE.[1] + + +Near the village of Kampong Glam[2] I observed a poor-looking bungalow, +surrounded by high walls, exhibiting effects of age and climate. Over the +large gateway which opened into the inclosure surrounding this dwelling +were watch-towers. On inquiry, I found this was the residence of the Rajah +of Johore, who includes Sincapore also in his dominions. The island was +purchased of him by the British Government, who now allow him an annual +pension. He is considered to have been formerly a leader of pirates; and +when we saw a brig he was building, it naturally occurred to our minds +whether he was about to resort to his old practices. We proposed visiting +this personage; and on arriving at the gateway were met by a peon, who, +after delivering our message to the Rajah, requested us to wait a few +minutes, until his _Highness_ was ready. We did not wait long, for the +Rajah soon appeared, and took his seat, in lieu of a throne, upon the +highest step of those which led to his dwelling. His appearance was +remarkable: he appeared a man of about forty years of age--teeth perfect, +but quite black, from the custom of chewing the betel constantly. His head +was large; and his shaven cranium afforded an interesting phrenological +treat. He was deformed; not more than five feet in height, of large body, +and short, thick, and deformed legs, scarcely able to support the +ponderous trunk. His neck was thick and short, and his head habitually +stooped; his face bloated, with the lower lip projecting, and large eyes +protruding, one of them having a cataractal appearance. He was dressed in +a short pair of cotton drawers, a sarong of cotton cloth came across the +shoulders in the form of a scarf, and with tarnished, embroidered slippers, +and handkerchief around the head (having the upper part exposed) after the +Malay fashion, completed the attire of this singular creature. + +As much grace and dignity was displayed in our reception as such a figure +could show, and chairs were placed by the attendants for our accommodation. +He waddled a short distance, and, notwithstanding the exertion was so +extraordinary as to cause large drops of perspiration to roll down his +face, conferred a great honour upon us by personally accompanying us to +see a tank he had just formed for fish, and with a flight of steps, for +the convenience of bathing. After viewing this, he returned to his former +station, when he re-seated himself, with a dignity of look and manner +surpassing all description; and we took our departure, after a brief +common-place conversation. + +I remarked, that on his approach the natives squatted down, as a mark of +respect: a custom similar to which prevails in several of the Polynesian +islands. + +_Mr. G.B.'s MS. Jour., Nov. 15, 1830_. + + + [1] Singapoor is derived from Sing-gah, signifying to call or + touch at, bait, stop by the way; and poor, a village (generally + fortified), a town, & c.--(Marsden's Malay Dictionary). It is + considered at this island, or rather at this part of the island + where the town is now situated (the name, however, has been + given by Europeans to the whole island), there was formerly a + village, inhabited principally by fishermen. The Malays, who + traded from the eastward to Malacca, and others of the ports to + the westward, touched at this place. Singa also signifies a lion + (known by name only in the Malay countries), from which the name + of the island has been (no doubt erroneously) supposed to be + derived. + + [2] Kampong Glam, near Sincapore, has its flame derived, it is + said, from Kampong, signifying a village; and Glam, the name of + a particular kind of tree. + + * * * * * + + + +MANNERS & CUSTOMS OF ALL NATIONS. + + +ROYAL AND NOBLE GLUTTONY. + +(_For the Mirror_.) + + +The Emperor Claudius had a strong predilection for mushrooms: he was +poisoned with them, by Agrippina, his niece and fourth wife; but as the +poison only made him sick, he sent for Xenophon, his physician, who, +pretending to give him one of the emetics he commonly used after debauches, +caused a poisoned feather to be passed into his throat. + +Nero used to call mushrooms the relish of the gods, because Claudius, his +predecessor, having been, as was supposed, poisoned by them, was, after +his death, ranked among the gods. + +Domitian one day convoked the senate, to know in what fish-kettle they +should cook a monstrous turbot, which had been presented to him. The +senators gravely weighed the matter; but as there was no utensil of this +kind big enough, it was proposed to cut the fish in pieces. This advice +was rejected. After much deliberation, it was resolved that a proper +utensil should be made for the purpose; and it was decided, that whenever +the emperor went to war a great number of potters should accompany him. +The most pleasing part of the story is, that a blind senator seemed in +perfect ecstacy at the turbot, by continually praising it, at the same +time turning in the very opposite direction. + +Julius Caesar sometimes ate at a meal the revenues of several provinces. + +Vitellius made four meals a day; and all those he took with his friends +never cost less than ten thousand crowns. That which was given to him by +his brother was most magnificent: two thousand select dishes were served +up: seven thousand fat birds, and every delicacy which the ocean and +Mediterranean sea could furnish. + +Nero sat at the table from midday till midnight, amidst the most monstrous +profusion. + +Geta had all sorts of meat served up to him in alphabetical order. + +Heliogabalus regaled twelve of his friends in the most incredible manner: +he gave to each guest animals of the same species as those he served them +to eat; he insisted upon their carrying away all the vases or cups of gold, +silver, and precious stones, out of which they had drunk; and it is +remarkable, that he supplied each with a new one every time he asked to +drink. He placed on the head of each a crown interwoven with green foliage, +and gave each a superbly-ornamented and well-yoked car to return home in. +He rarely ate fish but when he was near the sea; and when he was at a +distance from it, he had them served up to him in sea-water. + +Louis VIII. invented a dish called _Truffes a la purée d'ortolans_. The +happy few who tasted this dish, as concocted by the royal hand of Louis +himself, described it as the very perfection of the culinary art. The Duc +d'Escars was sent for one day by his royal master, for the purpose of +assisting in the preparation of a glorious dish of _Truffes a la purée +d'ortolans_; and their joint efforts being more than usually successful, +the happy friends sat down to _Truffes a la purée d'ortolans_ for ten, the +whole of which they caused to disappear between them, and then each +retired to rest, triumphing in the success of their happy toils. In the +middle of the night, however, the Duc d'Escars suddenly awoke, and found +himself alarmingly indisposed. He rang the bells of his apartment, when +his servant came in, and his physicians were sent for; but they were of no +avail, for he was dying of a surfeit. In his last moments he caused some +of his attendants to go and inquire whether his majesty was not suffering +in a similar manner with himself, but they found him sleeping soundly and +quietly. In the morning, when the king was informed of the sad catastrophe +of his faithful friend and servant, he exclaimed, "Ah, I told him I had +the better digestion of the two." + +W.G.C. + + * * * * * + + + +THE SKETCH BOOK. + + +EVERY MAN IN HIS HUMOUR. A FRAGMENT. + +(_For the Mirror_.) + + +During the rage of the last continental war in Europe, occasion--no matter +what--called an honest Yorkshire squire to take a journey to Warsaw. +Untravelled and unknowing, he provided himself no passport: his business +concerned himself alone, and what had foreign nations to do with him? His +route lay through the states of neutral and contending powers. He landed +in Holland--passed the usual examination; but, insisting that the affairs +which brought him there were of a private nature, he was +imprisoned--questioned--sifted;--and appearing to be incapable of design, +was at length permitted to pursue his journey. + +To the officer of the guard who conducted him to the frontiers he made +frequent complaints of the loss he should sustain by the delay. He swore +it was uncivil, and unfriendly, and ungenerous: five hundred Dutchmen +might have travelled through Great Britain without a question,--they never +questioned any stranger in Great Britain, nor stopped him, nor imprisoned +him, nor guarded him. + +Roused from his native phlegm by these reflections on the police of his +country, the officer slowly drew the pipe from his mouth, and emitting the +smoke, "Mynheer," said he, "when you first set your foot on the land of +the Seven United Provinces, you should have declared you came hither on +affairs of commerce;" and replacing his pipe, relapsed into immovable +taciturnity. + +Released from this unsocial companion, he soon arrived at a French post, +where the sentinel of the advanced guard requested the honour of his +permission to ask for his passports. On his failing to produce any, he was +entreated to pardon the liberty he took of conducting him to the +commandant--but it was his duty, and he must, however reluctantly, perform +it. + +Monsieur le Commandant received him with cold and pompous politeness. He +made the usual inquiries; and our traveller, determined to avoid the error +which had produced such inconvenience, replied that commercial concerns +drew him to the continent. "Ma foi," said the commandant, "c'est un +negotiant, un bourgeois"--take him away to the citadel, we will examine +him to-morrow, at present we must dress for the comedie--"Allons." + +"Monsieur," said the sentinel, as he conducted him to the guard-room, "you +should not have mentioned commerce to Monsieur le Commandant; no gentleman +in France disgraces himself with trade--we despise traffic; you should +have informed Monsieur le Commandant, that you entered the dominions of +the Grand Monarque to improve in dancing, or in singing, or in dressing: +arms are the profession of a man of fashion, and glory and accomplishments +his pursuits--Vive le Roi." + +He had the honour of passing the night with a French guard, and the next +day was dismissed. Proceeding on his journey, he fell in with a detachment +of German Chasseurs. They demanded his name, quality, and business. He +came he said to dance, and to sing, and to dress. "He is a Frenchman," +said the corporal--"A spy!" cries the sergeant. He was directed to mount +behind a dragoon, and carried to the camp. + +There he was soon discharged; but not without a word of advice. "We +Germans," said the officer, "eat, drink, and smoke: these are our +favourite employments; and had you informed the dragoons you followed no +other business, you would have saved them, me, and yourself, infinite +trouble." + +He soon approached the Prussian dominions, where his examination was still +more strict; and on answering that his only designs were to eat, and to +drink, and to smoke--"To eat! and to drink! and to smoke!" exclaimed the +officer with astonishment. "Sir, you must he forwarded to Postdam--war is +the only business of mankind." The acute and penetrating Frederick soon +comprehended the character of our traveller, and gave him a passport under +his own hand. "It is an ignorant, an innocent Englishman," says the +veteran; "the English are unacquainted with military duties; when they +want a general they borrow him of me." + +At the barriers of Saxony he was again interrogated. "I am a soldier," +said our traveller, "behold the passport of the first warrior of the +age."--"You are a pupil of the destroyer of millions," replied the +sentinel, "we must send you to Dresden; and, hark'e, sir, conceal your +passport, as you would avoid being torn to pieces by those whose husbands, +sons, and relations have been wantonly sacrificed at the shrine of +Prussian ambition." A second examination at Dresden cleared him of +suspicion. + +Arrived at the frontiers of Poland, he flattered himself his troubles were +at an end; but he reckoned without his host. + +"Your business in Poland?" interrogated the officer. + +"I really don't know, sir." + +"Not know your own business, sir!" resumed the officer; "I must conduct +you to the Starost." + +"For the love of God," said the wearied traveller, "take pity on me. I +have been imprisoned in Holland for being desirous to keep my own affairs +to myself;--I have been confined all night in a French guard-house, for +declaring myself a merchant;--I have been compelled to ride seven miles +behind a German dragoon, for professing myself a man of pleasure;--I have +been carried fifty miles a prisoner in Prussia, for acknowledging my +attachment to ease and good living;--I have been threatened with +assassination in Saxony, for avowing myself a warrior. If you will have +the goodness to let me know how I may render such an account of myself as +not to give offence, I shall ever consider you as my friend and protector." + +M--A--NS. + + * * * * * + + + +RETROSPECTIVE GLEANINGS. + + +SPEECH OF KING HENRY THE FIRST. + +(_To the Editor_.) + + +The following speech of Henry the First will, no doubt, be thought by some +of your numerous readers curious enough to deserve a corner in your +valuable _Mirror_. It is the first that ever was delivered from the throne; +--is preserved to us by only one historian (Mathew Paris), and scarcely +taken notice of by any other. Henry the First, the Conqueror's youngest +son, had dispossessed his eldest brother, Robert, of his right of +succession to the crown of England. The latter afterwards coming over to +England, upon a friendly visit to him, and Henry, being suspicious that +this circumstance might turn to his disadvantage, called together the +great men of the realm, and spoke to them as follows:-- + +"My friends and faithful subjects, both natives and foreigners,--You all +know very well that my brother Robert was both called by God, and elected +King of Jerusalem, which he now might have happily governed; and how +shamefully he refused that rule, for which he justly deserves God's anger +and reproof. You know also, in many other instances, his pride and +brutality: because he is a man that delights in war and bloodshed, he is +impatient of peace. I know that he thinks you a parcel of contemptible +fellows: he calls you a set of gluttons and drunkards, whom he hopes to +tread under his feet. I, truly a king, meek, humble, and peaceable, will +preserve and cherish you in your ancient liberties, which I have formerly +sworn to perform; will hearken to your wise councils with patience; and +will govern you justly, after the example of the best of princes. If you +desire it, I will strengthen this promise with a written character; and +all those laws which the Holy King Edward, by the inspiration of God, so +wisely enacted, I will again swear to keep inviolably. If you, my brethren, +will stand by me faithfully, we shall easily repulse the strongest efforts +the cruelest enemy can make against me and these kingdoms. If I am only +supported by the valour of the English nation, all the weak threats of the +Normans will no longer seem formidable to me." + +The historian adds, that this harrangue of Henry to his nobles had the +desired effect, though he afterwards broke all his promises to them. Duke +Robert went back much disgusted; when his brother soon after followed, +gained a victory over him, took him prisoner, put out his eyes, and +condemned him to perpetual imprisonment. + +G.K. + + * * * * * + + +REMEDY FOR ALDERMEN SLEEPING IN CHURCH. + + "Sleep no more."--_Macbeth_. + + +Bishop Andrews was applied to for advice by a corpulent alderman of +Cambridge, who had been often reproved for sleeping at church, and whose +conscience troubled him on this account. Andrews told him it was an ill +habit of body, and not of mind, and advised him to eat little at dinner. +The alderman tried this expedient, but found it ineffectual. He applied +again with great concern to the bishop, who advised him to make a hearty +meal, as usual, but to take his full sleep before he went to church. The +advice was followed, and the alderman came to St. Mary's Church, where the +preacher was prepared with a sermon against sleeping at church, which was +thrown away, for the good alderman looked at the preacher during the whole +sermon time, and spoiled the design. + +P.T.W. + + * * * * * + + + +THE NATURALIST. + + +THE BARN OWL. + +(_Concluded from page 28._) + + +When I found that this first settlement on the gateway had succeeded so +well, I set about forming other establishments. This year I have had four +broods, and I trust that next season I can calculate on having nine. This +will be a pretty increase, and it will help to supply the place of those +which in this neighbourhood are still unfortunately doomed to death, by +the hand of cruelty or superstition. We can now always have a peep at the +owls, in their habitation on the old ruined gateway, whenever we choose. +Confident of protection, these pretty birds betray no fear when the +stranger mounts up to their place of abode. I would here venture a surmise, +that the barn owl sleeps standing. Whenever we go to look at it, we +invariably see it upon the perch bolt upright, and often with its eyes +closed, apparently fast asleep. Buffon and Bewick err (no doubt, +unintentionally) when they say that the barn owl snores during its repose. +What they took for snoring was the cry of the young birds for food. I had +fully satisfied myself on this score some years ago. However, in December, +1823, I was much astonished to hear this same snoring kind of noise, which +had been so common in the month of July. On ascending the ruin, I found a +brood of young owls in the apartment. + +Upon this ruin is placed a perch, about a foot from the hole at which the +owls enter. Sometimes, at midday, when the weather is gloomy, you may see +an owl upon it, apparently enjoying the refreshing diurnal breeze. This +year (1831) a pair of barn owls hatched their young, on the 7th of +September, in a sycamore tree near the old ruined gateway. + +If this useful bird caught its food by day, instead of hunting for it by +night, mankind would have ocular demonstration of its utility in thinning +the country of mice, and it would be protected and encouraged every where. +It would be with us what the ibis was with the Egyptians. When it has +young, it will bring a mouse to the nest about every twelve or fifteen +minutes. But, in order to have a proper idea of the enormous quantity of +mice which this bird destroys we must examine the pellets which it ejects +from its stomach in the place of its retreat. Every pellet contains from +four to seven skeletons of mice. In sixteen months from the time that the +apartment of the owl on the old gateway was cleaned out, there has been a +deposit of above a bushel of pellets. + +The barn owl sometimes carries off rats. One evening I was sitting under a +shed, and killed a very large rat, as it was coming out of a hole, about +ten yards from where I was watching it. I did not go to take it up, hoping +to get another shot. As it lay there, a barn owl pounced upon it, and flew +away with it. + +This bird has been known to catch fish. Some years ago, on a fine evening +in the month of July, long before it was dark, as I was standing on the +middle of the bridge, and minuting the owl by my watch, as she brought +mice into her nest, all on a sudden she dropped perpendicularly into the +water. Thinking that she had fallen down in epilepsy, my first thoughts +were to go and fetch the boat; but before I had well got to the end of the +bridge, I saw the owl rise out of the water with a fish in her claws, and +take it to the nest. This fact is mentioned by the late much revered and +lamented Mr. Atkinson of Leeds, in his _Compendium_, in a note, under the +signature of W., a friend of his, to whom I had communicated it a few days +after I had witnessed it. + +I cannot make up my mind to pay any attention to the description of the +amours of the owl by a modern writer; at least the barn owl plays off no +buffooneris here, such as those which he describes. An owl is an owl all +the world over, whether under the influence of Momus, Venus, or Diana. + +When farmers complain that the barn owl destroys the eggs of their pigeons, +they lay the saddle on the wrong horse. They ought to put it on the rat. +Formerly I could get very few young pigeons till the rats were excluded +effectually from the dovecot. Since that took place, it has produced a +great abundance every year, though the barn owls frequent it, and are +encouraged all around it. The barn owl merely resorts to it for repose and +concealment. If it were really an enemy to the dovecot, we should see the +pigeons in commotion as soon as it begins its evening flight; but the +pigeons heed it not: whereas if the sparrow-hawk or windhover should make +their appearance, the whole community would be up at once, proof +sufficient that the barn owl is not looked upon as a bad, or even a +suspicious, character by the inhabitants of the dovecot. + +Till lately, a great and well-known distinction has always been made +betwixt the screeching and the hooting of owls. The tawny owl is the only +owl which hoots; and when I am in the woods after poachers, about an hour +before daybreak, I hear with extreme delight its loud, clear, and sonorous +notes, resounding far and near through hill and dale. Very different from +these notes is the screech of the barn owl. But Sir William Jardine +informs us that this owl hoots; and that he has shot it in the act of +hooting. This is stiff authority; and I believe it because it comes from +the pen of Sir William Jardine. Still, however, methinks that it ought to +be taken in a somewhat diluted state; we know full well that most +extraordinary examples of splendid talent do, from time to time, make +their appearance on the world's wide stage. Thus, Franklin brought down +fire from the skies:--"Eripuit fulmen coelo, sceptrumque tyrannis."[1] +Paganini has led all London captive, by a single piece of twisted +catgut:--"Tu potes reges comitesque stultos ducere."[2] Leibnetz tells us +of a dog in Germany that could pronounce distinctly thirty words, +Goldsmith informs us that he once heard a raven whistle the tune of the +"Shamrock," with great distinctness, truth, and humour. With these +splendid examples before our eyes, may we not be inclined to suppose that +the barn owl which Sir William shot in the absolute act of hooting may +have been a gifted bird, of superior parts and knowledge (una de multis,[3] +as Horace said of Miss Danaus), endowed perhaps, from its early days with +the faculty of hooting, or else skilled in the art by having been taught +it by its neighbour, the tawny owl? I beg to remark that though I +unhesitatingly grant the faculty of hooting to this one particular +individual owl, still I flatly refuse to believe that hooting is common to +barn owls in general. Ovid, in his sixth book _Fastortim_, pointedly says +that it screeched in his day:-- + + "Est illis strigibus nomen: sed nominis hujus + Causa, quod horrendâ stridere nocte Solent."[4] + +The barn owl may be heard shrieking here perpetually on the portico, and +in the large sycamore trees near the house. It shrieks equally when the +moon shines and when the night is rough and cloudy; and he who takes an +interest in it may here see the barn owl the night through when there is a +moon; and he may hear it shriek when perching on the trees, or when it is +on wing. He may see it and hear it shriek, within a few yards of him, long +before dark; and again, often after daybreak, before it takes its final +departure to its wonted resting place. I am amply repaid for the pains I +have taken to protect and encourage the barn owl; it pays me a +hundred-fold by the enormous quantity of mice which it destroys throughout +the year. The servants now no longer wish to persecute it. Often, on a +fine summer's evening, with delight I see the villagers loitering under +the sycamore trees longer than they would otherwise do, to have a peep at +the barn owl, as it leaves the ivy-mantled tower: fortunate for it, if, in +lieu of exposing itself to danger, by mixing with the world at large, it +only knew the advantage of passing its nights at home; for here + + "No birds that haunt my valley free + To slaughter I condemn; + Taught by the Power that pities me, + I learn to pity them." + +_Magazine of Natural History._ + + + [1] "He snatched lightning from heaven, and the sceptre from + tyrants." + + [2] "Thou canst lead kings and their silly nobles." + + [3] "One out of many." + + [4] "They are called owls (striges) because they are accustomed + to screech (stridere) by night." + + * * * * * + + +VAMPIRE BAT. + + +This species of bat is abundant at Tongatabu, and most of the Polynesian +Islands. At the sacred burial place at Maofanga (island of Tongatabu) they +were pendant in great numbers from a lofty Casuarina tree, which grew in +the enclosure. One being shot, at Tongatabu, it was given to a native, at +his request, who took it home to eat. From the number of skulls found in +the huts at the island of Erromanga (New Hebrides group), and the ribs +being also worn in clusters, as ornaments, in the ears, they very probably +form an article of food among the natives. Capt. S.P. Henry related to me, +that when at Aiva (one of the Fidji group) he fired at some of these bats, +which he had observed hanging from the trees, on which they all flew up, +making a loud screaming noise, at the same time discharging their foeces +on the assailants.--_Mr. G.B.'s MS. Journal, August, 1829._ + + * * * * * + + + +THE SELECTOR AND LITERARY NOTICES OF WORKS. + + +ANNUAL BIOGRAPHY AND OBITUARY OF 1831. + + +Within this volume, it may almost be said, "keeps death his antic court." +It comprises biographies of celebrated persons, who have died within the +year, as well as a General Biographical List of others lower in the roll +of fame. The biographies are 31 in number: among them are memoirs of Henry +Mackenzie, Elliston, Jackson the artist, Abernethy, Mrs. Siddons, Rev. +Robert Hall, Thomas Hope, Carrington, the poet of Dartmoor, Northcote the +artist, and the Earl of Norbury, and William Roscoe. These names alone +would furnish a volume of the most interesting character, and they are +aided by others of almost equal note. The memoirs are from various sources, +in part original; but, as we have cause to know the difficulty of +procuring biographical particulars of persons recently deceased, from +their surviving relatives, we are not surprised at the paucity of such +details in the present volume. Nevertheless some of the papers are stamped +with this original value; as the memoirs of Mrs. Siddons and Mr. Thomas +Hope. Our extracts are of the anecdotic turn. + +_Abernethy._ + +An anecdote illustrative of the sound integrity, as well as of the humour, +of Mr. Abernethy's character, may here be introduced. On his receiving the +appointment of Professor of Anatomy and Surgery to the Royal College of +Surgeons, a professional friend observed to him that they should now have +something new.--"What do you mean?" asked Mr. Abernethy. "Why," said the +other, "of course you will brush up the lectures which you have been so +long delivering at St. Bartholomew's Hospital, and let us have them in an +improved form."--"Do you take me for a fool or a knave?" rejoined Mr. +Abernethy. "I have always given the students at the Hospital that to which +they are entitled--the best produce of my mind. If I could have made my +lectures to them better, I would certainly have made them so. I will give +the College of Surgeons precisely the same lectures, down to the smallest +details:--nay, I will tell the old fellows how to make a poultice." Soon +after, when he was lecturing to the students at St. Bartholomew's, and +adverting to the College of Surgeons, he chucklingly exclaimed, "I told +the big wigs how to make a poultice!" It is said by those who have +witnessed it, that Mr Abernethy's explanation of the art of making a +poultice was irresistibly entertaining. + +"Pray, Mr. Abernethy, what is a cure for gout?" was the question of an +indolent and luxurious citizen. "Live upon sixpence a-day--and earn it!" +was the pithy answer. + +A scene of much entertainment once took place between our eminent surgeon +and the famous John Philpot Curran. Mr. Curran, it seems, being personally +unknown to him, had visited Mr. Abernethy several times without having had +an opportunity of fully explaining (as he thought) the nature of his +malady: at last, determined to have a hearing, when interrupted in his +story, he fixed his dark bright eye on the "doctor," and said--"Mr. +Abernethy, I have been here on eight different days, and I have paid you +eight different guineas; but you have never yet listened to the symptoms +of my complaint. I am resolved, Sir, not to leave this room till you +satisfy me by doing so." Struck by his manner, Mr. Abernethy threw himself +back in his chair, and assuming the posture of a most indefatigable +listener, exclaimed, in a tone of half surprise, half humour,--"Oh! very +well, Sir; I am ready to hear you out. Go on, give me the whole--your +birth, parentage, and education. I wait your pleasure; go on." Upon which +Curran, not a whit disconcerted, gravely began:--"My name is John Philpot +Curran. My parents were poor, but I believe honest people, of the province +of Munster, where also I was born, at Newmarket, in the County of Cork, in +the year one thousand seven hundred and fifty. My father being employed to +collect the rents of a Protestant gentleman, of small fortune, in that +neighbourhood, procured my admission into one of the Protestant +free-schools, where I obtained the first rudiments of my education. I was +next enabled to enter Trinity College, Dublin, in the humble sphere of a +_sizer_:"--and so he continued for several minutes, giving his astonished +hearer a true, but irresistibly laughable account of his "birth, parentage, +and education," as desired, till he came to his illness and sufferings, +the detail of which was not again interrupted. It is hardly necessary to +add, that Mr. Abernethy's attention to his gifted patient was, from that +hour to the close of his life, assiduous, unremitting, and devoted. + +In lecturing, Mr. Abernethy's manner was peculiar, abrupt, and +conversational; and often when he indulged in episodes and anecdotes he +convulsed his class with laughter, especially when he used to enforce his +descriptions by earnest gesticulation. Frequently, while lecturing, he +would descend from his high stool, on which he sat with his legs dangling, +to exhibit to his class some peculiar attitudes and movements illustrative +of the results of different casualties and disorders; so that a stranger +coming in, unacquainted with the lecturer's topics, might easily have +supposed him to be an actor entertaining his audience with a monologue, +after the manner of Matthews or Yates. This disposition, indeed, gave rise +to a joke among his pupils of "_Abernethy at Home_," whenever he lectured +upon any special subject. In relating a case, he was seen at times to be +quite fatigued with the contortions into which he threw his body and limbs; +and the stories he would tell of his consultations, with the dialogue +between his patient and himself, were theatrical and comic to the greatest +degree. + +_Northcote and the present King._ + +A certain Royal Duke was at the head of those who chaperoned Master Betty, +the young Roscius, at the period when the _furor_ of fashion made all the +_beau monde_ consider it an enviable honour to be admitted within +throne-distance of the boy-actor. Amongst others who obtained the +privilege of making a portrait of this chosen favourite of fortune, was Mr. +Northcote. + +The royal Duke to whom we allude was in the habit of taking Master Betty +to Argyll Place in his own carriage; and there were usually three or four +ladies and gentlemen of rank, who either accompanied his Royal Highness, +or met him at the studio of the artist. + +Northcote, nothing awed by the splendid coteries thus assembled, +maintained his opinions upon all subjects that were discussed,--and his +independence obtained for him general respect, though one pronounced him a +cynic--another an eccentric--another a humorist--another a +free-thinker--and the prince, with manly taste, in the nautical phrase, +dubbed him a d----d honest, independent, little old fellow. + +One day, however, the royal Duke, being left with only Lady ----, the +young Roscius, and the painter, and his patience being, perhaps, worn a +little with the tedium of an unusually long sitting, thought to beguile an +idle minute by quizzing the personal appearance of the Royal Academician. +Northcote, at no period of life, was either a buck, a blood, a fop, or a +maccaroni; he soon dispatched the business of dressing when a young man; +and, as he advanced to a later period, he certainly could not be called a +dandy. The loose gown in which he painted was principally composed of +shreds and patches, and might, perchance, be half a century old; his white +hair was sparingly bestowed on each side, and his cranium was entirely +bald. The royal visiter, standing behind him whilst he painted, first +gently lifted, or rather twitched the collar of the gown, which Mr. +Northcote resented, by suddenly turning and expressing his displeasure by +a frown. Nothing daunted, his Royal Highness presently, with his finger, +touched the professor's grey locks, observing, "You do not devote much +time to the toilette, I perceive--pray how long?" + +Northcote instantly replied, "Sir, I never allow any one to take personal +liberties with me;--you are the first who ever presumed to do so, and I +beg your Royal Highness to recollect that I am in my own house." He then +resumed his painting. + +The Prince, whatever he thought or felt, kept it to himself; and, +remaining silent for some minutes, Mr. Northcote addressed his +conversation to the lady, when the royal Duke, gently opening the door of +the studio, shut it after him, and walked away. + +Northcote did not quit his post, but proceeded with the picture. It +happened that the royal carriage was not ordered until five o'clock;--it +was now not four. Presently the royal Duke returned, reopened the door, +and said, "Mr. Northcote, it rains; pray lend me an umbrella." Northcote, +without emotion, rang the bell; the servant attended; and he desired her +to bring her mistress's umbrella, that being the best in the house, and +sufficiently handsome. The royal Duke patiently waited for it in the back +drawing-room, the studio door still open; when, having received it, he +again walked down stairs, attended by the female servant. On her opening +the street door, his Royal Highness thanked her, and, spreading the +umbrella, departed. + +"Surely his Royal Highness is not gone,--I wish you would allow me to ask," +said Lady ----. "Certainly his Royal Highness is gone," replied Northcote; +"but I will inquire at your instance." The bell was rung again, and the +servant confirmed the assertion. + +"Dear Mr. Northcote," said Lady ----, "I fear you have highly offended +his Royal Highness."--"Madam," replied the painter, "I am the offended +party." Lady ---- made no remark, except wishing that her carriage had +arrived. When it came, Mr. Northcote courteously attended her down to the +hall: he bowed, she curtsied, and stepping into her carriage, set off with +the young Roscius. + +The next day, about noon, Mr. Northcote happening to be alone, a gentle +tap was heard, and the studio door being opened, in walked his Royal +Highness. "Mr. Northcote," said he, "I am come to return your sister's +umbrella, which she was so good as to lend me yesterday." The painter +bowed, received it, and placed it in a corner. + +"I brought it myself, Mr. Northcote, that I might have the opportunity of +saying that I yesterday thoughtlessly took a very unbecoming liberty with +you, and you properly resented it. I really am angry with myself, and hope +you will forgive me, and think no more of it." + +"And what did you say?" inquired the first friend to whom Northcote +related the circumstance. "Say! Gude God! what would 'e have me have said? +Why, nothing? I only bowed, and he might see what I felt. I could, at the +instant, have sacrificed my life for him!--such a Prince is worthy to be a +King!" The venerable painter had the gratification to live to see him a +King. May he long remain so! + + * * * * * + + + +SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS. + + +THE DEVIL'S SONATA. + + +Tartini's compositions are very numerous, consisting of above a hundred +sonatas, and as many concertos. Among them is the famous "Sonata del +Diavolo," of the origin of which Tartini himself gave the following +account to the celebrated astronomer Lalande:-- + +"One night, in the year 1713, I dreamed that I had made a compact with his +Satanic Majesty, by which he was received into my service. Everything +succeeded to the utmost of my desires, and my every wish was anticipated +by my new domestic. I thought that, on taking up my violin to practise, I +jocosely asked him if he could play on this instrument? He answered, that +he believed he was able to pick out a tune; when, to my astonishment, he +began a sonata, so strange, and yet so beautiful, and executed in so +masterly a manner, that in the whole course of my life I had never heard +anything so exquisite. So great was my amazement that I could scarcely +breathe. Awakened by the violence of my feelings, I instantly seized my +violin, in the hope of being able to catch some part of the ravishing +melody which I had just heard, but all in vain. The piece which I composed +according to my scattered recollections is, it is true, the best I ever +produced. I have entitled it 'Sonata del Diavolo;' but it is so far +inferior to that which had made so forcible an impression on me, that I +should have dashed my violin into a thousand pieces, and given up music +for ever in despair, had it been possible to deprive myself of the +enjoyments which I receive from it." + +Time, and the still more surprising flights of more modern performers, +have deprived this famous sonata of anything diabolical which it may once +have appeared to possess; but it has great fire and originality, and +contains difficulties of no trifling magnitude, even at the present day. +That process of mind, by which we sometimes hear in sleep a beautiful +piece of music, an eloquent discourse, or a fine poem, seems one of those +mysterious things which show how fearfully and wonderfully we are made. It +would appear that there are times when the soul, in that partial disunion +between it and the body which takes place during sleep, and when it sees, +hears, and acts, without the intervention of the bodily organs, exerts +powers of which at other times its material trammels render it +incapable.--What powers may it not exert when the disunion shall be total! + +(From an interesting paper on "the Violin," in the _Metropolitan_.) + + * * * * * + + +THE CAMBRIDGE "FRESHMAN." + + +See a stripling alighting from the Cambridge "Fly" at Crisford's Hotel, +Trumpington-street. It is a day or two before the commencement of the +October term, and a small cluster of gownsmen are gathered round to make +their several recognitions of returning friends, in spite of shawls, +cloaks, petershams, patent gambroons, and wrap-rascals, in which they are +enveloped; while our fresh-comer's attention is divided between their +sable "curtains" and solicitude for his bags and portmanteau. If his pale +cheek and lack-lustre eye could speak but for a moment, like Balaam's ass, +what painful truths would they discover! what weary watchings over the +midnight taper would they describe! If those fingers, which are now as +white as windsor soap can make them, could complain of their wrongs, what +contaminations with dusty Ainsworth and Scapulas would they enumerate! if +his brain were to reveal its labours, what labyrinths of prose and verse, +in which it has been bewildered when it had no clue of a friendly +translation, or Clavis to conduct it through the wanderings, would it +disclose! what permutations and combinations of commas, what elisions and +additions of letters, what copious annotations on a word, an accent, or a +stop, parallelizing a passage of Plato with one of Anacreon, one of +Xenophon with one of Lycophron, or referring the juvenile reader to a +manuscript in the Vatican,--what inexplicable explanations would it +anathematize! + +The youth calls on a friend, and if "gay" is inveigled into a "wet night," +and rolls back to the hotel at two in the morning _Bacchi plenus_, whereas +the "steady man" regales himself with sober Bohea, talks of Newton and +Simeon, resolves to read mathematics with Burkitt, go to chapel fourteen +times a week, and never miss Trinity Church[1] on Thursday evenings. The +next day he asks the porter of his college where the tutor lives; the +key-bearing Peter laughs in his face, and tells him where he _keeps_; he +reaches the tutor's rooms, finds the door _sported_, and knocks till his +knuckles bleed. He talks of Newton to his tutor, and his tutor thinks him +a fool. He sallies forth from Law's (the tailor's) for the first time in +the academical toga and trencher, marches most majestically across the +grass-plot in the quadrangle of his college, is summoned before the master, +who had caught sight of him from the lodge-windows, and reprimanded. His +gown is a spick-and-span new one, of orthodox length, and without a single +rent; he caps every Master of Arts he meets; besides a few Bachelors, and +gets into the gutter to give them the wall. He comes into chapel in his +surplice, and sees it is not surplice-morning, runs back to his rooms for +his gown, and on his return finds the second lesson over. He has a +tremendous larum at his bed's head, and turns out every day at five +o'clock in imitation of Paley. He is in the lecture-room the very moment +the clock has struck eight, and takes down every word the tutor says. He +buys "Hints to Freshmen," reads it right through, and resolves to eject +his sofa from his rooms.[2] He talks of the roof of King's chapel, walks +through the market-place to look at Hobson's conduit, and quotes Milton's +sonnet on that famous carrier. He proceeds to Peter House to see Gray's +fire-escape, and to Christ's to steal a bit of Milton's mulberry tree. He +borrows all the mathematical MSS. he can procure, and stocks himself with +scribbling paper enough for the whole college. He goes to a wine-party, +toasts the university officers, sings sentiments, asks for tongs to sugar +his coffee, finds his cap and gown stolen and old ones left in their place. +He never misses St. Mary's (the University Church) on Sundays, is on his +legs directly the psalmody begins, and is laughed at by the other gownsmen. +He reads twelve or thirteen hours a day, and talks of being a wrangler. He +is never on the wrong side of the gates after ten, and his buttery bills +are not wound up with a single penny of fines. He leaves the rooms of a +friend in college, rather late perhaps, and after ascending an +Atlas-height of stairs, and hugging himself with the anticipation of +crawling instanter luxuriously to bed, finds his door broken down, his +books in the coal-scuttle and grate, his papers covered with more curves +than Newton or Descartes could determine, his bed in the middle of the +room, and his surplice on whose original purity he had so prided himself, +drenched with ink. If he is matriculated he laughs at the _beasts_ (those +who are not matriculated), and mangles slang: _wranglers, fops, and +medalists become_ quite "household words" to him. He walks to Trumpington +every day before _hall_ to get an appetite for dinner, and never misses +grace. He speaks reverently of masters and tutors, and does not curse even +the proctors; he is merciful to his wine-bin, which is chiefly saw-dust, +pays his bills, and owes nobody a guinea--he is a Freshman!--_Monthly +Magazine._ + + + [1] Mr. Simeon's. None of our well-beloved renders, we presume, + are so fresh as not to know this gentleman's name. + + [2] One of the sage and momentous injunctions of this pastoral charge. + + * * * * * + + + +THE NOVELIST. + + +THE CONFESSION OF SERVENTIUS. + +_From the Latin of an ancient Paduan Manuscript._ + +_By Miss M.L. Beevor._ + +(_For the Mirror_.) + + +The hours of my weary existence are fast verging to a close: already have +the dreadful preparations commenced. Heavily falls the sound of the +midnight bell upon my shrinking ear; upon my withered, quailing heart, it +is _felt_ in every stroke like a thunder-bolt; and the rude, reckless +shout, heard, though far distant, as distinctly as the fearful throbbings +of that miserable heart, tells but too eloquently that the faggots have +reached their place of destination, and that the fearful pile is even now +erecting. Once I believed myself one of the most courageous of men; I have +beheld _death_ in many terrible shapes, and feared it in none; but, oh! to +burn,--to _burn!_ this is a thing from which the startled spirit recoils +in speechless horror, and vainly, vainly strives to wrench itself by +forceful thought from the shuddering, encumbering frame! Even now, do I +seem to behold the finger of scorn pointed at me;--ay,--at ME! whilst +bound to the firm stake with thongs, strong as the iron bands of death, I +cannot even writhe under the anguish of shame, wrath, and apprehended +bodily torture! The pile is lighted,--the last words of the reckless +priest have died upon mine ear, and his figure and countenance, with the +myriad forms and faces, of the insulting multitude around me, are lost in +suffocating volumes of uprising, dense, white smoke! The blaze enfolds me +like a garment! my unspeakable tortures,--my infernal agonies have +commenced!--the diabolical shouts and shrieks of the fiendish +spectators--the crackling and hissing of my tender flesh--the bursting of +my over swollen tendons, muscles, and arteries, with the out-gush of the +crimson vital stream from every pore,--I hear,--I see,--I feel,--and in my +morbid imagination, die many deaths in one! I fancied myself brave; alas! +I never fancied myself--_burning!_ But, no more; since I have taken up my +pen solely to wile away these last, brief, melancholy hours, in narrating +those circumstances of my past life, which shall have tended to shrivel +ere long, amidst diabolical agonies, the trembling hand that records them, +like a parched scroll, and to scatter the ashes of this now vigorous body, +to the winds. + +ROME,--the beautiful--the Eternal,--was my birthplace; and those, whom I +was taught to consider as my parents, said, that the blood of its ancient +heroes filled my veins. If so,--and if Servilius and Andrea, were indeed +my progenitors, our family must have suffered the most amazing reverses of +fortune; they were venders of fruit, lemonade, and perfumed iced waters, +in the streets, but a kind-hearted pair, and for their station, +well-informed. + +In the clear moon-light of our Italian skies, in those soft nights, when, +instead of ingloriously slumbering away the cool calm hours, all come +forth who are capable of feeling the beauties and sublimities of nature, +and of inhaling inspiration with the rich, odorous breeze,--in those fresh, +fragrant, and impassioned hours, did Servilius and Andrea delight to lead +me through ROME, and to _read_ the Eternal City unto me, as a book; and +then fell upon me, in that most sacred place, a portion of divine +enthusiasm, of holy inspiration, until, in a retrospect of the thoughts, +feelings, schemes, and aspirations of that infantile era, freely could I +weep, and ask myself, were such things in sober earnest, _ever?_ + +It was singular, that Servilius and Andrea, never suffered _me_ to toil; +their sole care seemed to be, to bestow upon me, during their intervals of +labour, all the instruction and accomplishments which their limited means +allowed; and without vanity I may affirm, that my mind richly repaid them +for the trouble of cultivation. I trust I was not haughty in my childhood, +but when I observed other boys of my age and station, water-carriers, +labourers in the vineyards, and engaged in various menial occupations from +which I was exempted, the knowledge that in _something_ I was regarded as +their superior, soon forced itself upon me; I felt a distaste for the +society of little unlettered, and unmannered boors, and in silence and +solitude made progress in studies, which, mere matters of amusement to me, +would have been hailed by many youths as tasks more severe than daily +manual labour. + +Servilius and Andrea associated with but few in their own rank of life; +but now and then received visits from their superiors; amongst these were +two, whom I shall never, never cease to remember, and to lament, and to +whom, as I look backwards through the vista of five-and-thirty years, I +still cannot forbear imagining that _I_ was _related_ by no _common ties_. +Of this interesting pair, one was a lady, young, pale, but strikingly +beautiful, and the other, a cavalier, her senior but by a very few years, +handsome, noble, graceful and accomplished. + +Artemisia, so was the lady called, always wore the costume of a religious +house when she visited Andrea, but whether this were merely assumed for +convenience, or whether she were actually one of the holy sisterhood, I +had then neither the desire, nor the means of ascertaining; I only know, +that she used sometimes to call me her "dear child," and seemed to vie in +affection for me, with the cavalier. Serventius,--yes--the noble gentleman +bore my name, for which I liked him all the better, used occasionally to +meet her at the house of Servilius and Andrea; and their affection for +each other struck even my childish spirit as being more than fraternal; +shall I also confess, that I indulged myself in the indistinct idea--the +sweet dream--that this noble, virtuous, accomplished, and beautiful pair, +(whose only object in visiting our humble residence seemed to be to behold +me) were my real parents, and that of Servilius and Andrea, I was only the +foster-child. + +One evening Serventius and Artemisia having concluded their usual repast +of bread, honey, eggs and fruit, amused themselves by asking me a thousand +different questions concerning the history, biography, geography, customs, +religion, and arts of the ancient Romans, to all of which, my replies were, +it seems, extremely satisfactory. Serventius warmly thanked Servilius and +Andrea for the pains they had bestowed upon my education, and then said, +turning to me: + +"My son, the time is coming when we must begin to think of some profession +for you; what do you desire to be?" + +"A soldier," said I. + +"Then ask that lady." + +I flew to Artemisia, who shook her head at me. "She will not--she will not, +Sir," I exclaimed, "let me be a soldier like you." + +"No, my dear, I know she will not; she cannot spare you to go to the wars +and get killed, so you must make up your mind never to be a soldier." + +"Then," answered I proudly, "I will be a poet." Hereupon Artemisia and +Serventius laughed, and informed me that the profession of a poet, if such +it might be termed, was the most laborious, thankless, and ill requited of +any, and that to be a poet, was in fact little better than being an +honourable mendicant. The Church and the Bar were mentioned, but as I +expressed a decided antipathy to them, Serventius named the medical +profession. + +"Yes," said I, with great glee, "I like that, and I will be a doctor;" for +the bustle, importance, visiting, and gossiping of the honourable +fraternity of physicians, had given me an idea that the profession itself +was one of unmingled pleasure! Hapless choice! Miserable infatuation! And +shall I most blame myself for selecting that which has caused my present +fatal situation, or the foolish fondness which placed in the hands of a +child, the decision of his future fate? But, let me proceed; the first +faint glimmerings of dawn are stealing into my grated cell, and, at +noon--I shudder... + +Shortly after this memorable conversation, Andrea and Servilius appeared +overwhelmed with affliction, and one evening brought home with them a +large package, containing as I supposed, new clothes; next morning, I +found that those which I had been accustomed to wear had been removed +whilst I slept, and in their stead, suits of the very deepest mourning +appeared. I dressed myself in one of these, and upon asking Servilius and +his wife the meaning of this change, was answered by Andrea with so wild a +burst of grief, and incoherent lamentation, that I durst inquire no +further. After they had gone forth to their daily employment I also +quitted the cottage for a stroll, and detected a woman pointing me out to +her children as "a poor, little boy, who had probably lost both his +parents." "That I have not," said I, sharply, "for I breakfasted with them +not half an hour ago!" The woman stared at me with an expression of doubt, +and muttering something that sounded extremely like "little liar," turned +from me, and went her way. + +(_To be concluded in our next_.) + + * * * * * + + + +SPIRIT OF DISCOVERY + + +ORIGIN OF PRAIRIES. + + +The origin of prairies has occasioned much theory; it is to our mind very +simple: they are caused by the Indian custom of annually burning the +leaves and grass in autumn, which prevents the growth of any young trees. +Time thus will form prairies; for, some of the old trees annually perishing, +and there being no undergrowth to supply their place, they become thinner +every year; and, as they diminish, they shade the grass less, which +therefore grows more luxuriantly; and, where a strong wind carries a fire +through dried grass and leaves, which cover the earth with combustible +matter several feet deep, the volume of flame destroys all before it; the +very animals cannot escape. We have seen it enwrap the forest upon which +it was precipitated, and destroy whole acres of trees. After beginning;, +the circle widens every year, until the prairies expand boundless as the +ocean. Young growth follows the American settlement, since the settler +keeps off those annual burnings. + +_American Quarterly Review_. + + * * * * * + + +SUTTON WASH EMBANKMENT. + + +This is said to be one of the grandest public works ever achieved in +England. It is an elevated mound of earth, with a road over, carried +across an estuary of the sea situated between Lynn and Boston, and +shortening the distance between the two towns more than fifteen miles. +This bank has to resist, for four hours in every twelve, the weight and +action of the German Ocean, preventing it from flowing over 15,000 acres +of mud, which will very soon become land of the greatest fertility. In the +centre the tide flows up a river, which is destined to serve as a drain to +the embanked lands, and has a bridge over it of oak, with a movable centre +of cast iron, for the purpose of admitting ships. + + * * * * * + + +BRITISH IRON TRADE. + + +The following view of the progressive and wonderful increase of the +iron-trade is extracted from the Companion to the Almanac for 1829:-- + + Iron made in Number + Great Britain. of + Tons. Furnaces. + In 1740 17,000 59 + 1788 68,000 85 + 1796 125,000 121 + 1806 250,000 + 1820 400,000 + 1827 690,000 284 + +The difference iron districts in which it is made are as under, in 1827: + + Tons. Furnaces. + South Wales, 272,000 90 + Staffordshire, 216,000 95 + Shropshire, 78,000 31 + Yorkshire, 43,000 24 + Scotland, 36,500 18 + North Wales, 24,000 12 + Derbyshire, 20,500 14 + +"About 3/10ths of this quantity is of a quality suitable for the foundry, +which is all used in Great Britain and Ireland, with the exception of a +small quantity exported to France and America. The other 7/10ths is made +into bars, rods, sheets," &c. It will be seen that the make of the Welsh +furnaces is much greater with reference to their number, than that of any +other district. By a Parliamentary paper, it is stated that in 1828, of +"Iron and Steel, wrought and unwrought," there were exported from Great +Britain, 100,403 tons, of the _declared_ (under real) value of +1,226,617_l_. In the same year 15,495 tons of bar iron was imported from +abroad. We believe since 1828, the export of iron has greatly increased. +Our foreign trade, however, is likely to receive a check in a short period. +Both the French and Americans are beginning to manufacture extensively for +themselves; a result that might naturally be anticipated. An extensive new +joint-stock company has been established in the former country, one of the +principal proprietors of which is Marshal Soult, and works on a great +scale are forming near Montpellier. We have always thought that it was +excessively injudicious to permit our machinery to be exported abroad; and +it appears that the British iron masters are now constructing the +machinery for these very works, where it is stated that pig iron can be +made for half the price it now costs to manufacture it in this country. +The exportation of machinery is continually increasing, for we find by a +Parliamentary paper, the declared value in 1824 stated at 129,652_l._, +while the machinery exported in 1829, amounts to 256,539_l_. Time will +exhibit the policy of such proceedings.--VYVYAN. + + * * * * * + + + +THE GATHERER. + + +FREDERICK I. OF PRUSSIA, + + +Whose chief pleasure was in the proficiency of his troops in military +discipline, whenever a new soldier made his first appearance in the guards, +asked him three questions. The first was, "How old are you?" the second, +"How long have you been in my service?" and the third, if he received his +pay and his clothing as he wished. + +A young Frenchman, who had been well disciplined, offered himself to enter +the guards, where he was immediately accepted, in consequence of his +experience in military tactics. The young recruit did not understand the +Prussian language; so that the captain informed him, that when the king +saw him first on the parade, he would make the usual inquiries of him in +the Prussian language, therefore he must learn to make the suitable +answers, in the form of which he was instructed. As soon as the king +beheld a new face in the ranks, taking a lusty piece of snuff, he went up +to him, and, unluckily for the soldier, he put the second question first, +and asked him how long he had been in his service. The soldier answered as +he was instructed, "Twenty-one years, and please your Majesty." The king +was struck with his figure, which did not announce his age to be more than +the time he answered he had been in his service. "How old are you?" said +the king, in surprise. "One year, please your Majesty." The king, still +more surprised, said, "Either you or I must be a fool!" The soldier, +taking this for the third question, relative to his pay and clothing, +replied, "Both, please your Majesty." "This is the first time," said +Frederick, still more surprised, "that I have been called a fool at the +head of my own guards." + +The soldier's stock of instruction was now exhausted; and when the monarch +still pursued the design of unravelling the mystery, the soldier informed +him he could speak no more German, but that he would answer him in his +native tongue. + +Here Frederick perceived the nature of the situation, at which he laughed +very heartily, and advised the young man to apply himself to learning the +language of Prussia, and mind his duty. + +I.B.D. + + * * * * * + + +HALF-HANGED.--ANNE GREEN. + + +Derham, in his _Physico-Theology_ on Respiration, says--"The story of Anne +Green, executed at Oxford, December 14, 1650, is still well remembered +among the seniors there. She was hanged by the neck near half an hour, +some of her friends in the mean time thumping her on the breast, others +hanging with all their weight upon her legs, sometimes lifting her up, and +then pulling her down again with a sudden jerk, thereby the sooner to +dispatch her out of her pain, as her printed account wordeth it. After she +was in her coffin, being observed to breathe, a lusty fellow stamped with +all his force on her breast and stomach, to put her out of her pain; but, +by the assistance of Dr. Piety, Dr. Willis, Dr. Bathurst, and Dr. Clark, +she was again brought to life. I myself saw her many years after, after +she had (I heard) borne divers children. The particulars of her crime, +execution, and restoration, see in a little pamphlet, called _News from +the Dead_, written, as I have been informed, by Dr. Bathurst (afterwards +the most vigilant and learned President of Trinity College, Oxon), and +published in 1651, with verses upon the occasion." + +P.T.W. + + * * * * * + + +ENIGMATICAL REPLIES. + + +A pleasant young fellow, about half-seas-over, passing through the Strand +at a late hour, was accosted by a watchman, who began with all the +insolence of office to file a string of interrogatories, in the hope of +being handsomly paid for his trouble. + +"What is your name, sir?"--"Five Shillings." + +"Where do you live?"--"Out of the king's dominions." + +"Where have you been?"--"Where you would have been with all your heart." + +"Where are you going?"--"Where you dare not go for your ears." + +The officious guardian of the night thought these answers sufficient to +warrant him to take the young man to the watch-house. The next morning, on +being brought before the magistrate, he told his worship, "that as to the +first question, his name was Thomas Crown; with regard to the second, he +lived in Little Britain; with respect to the third, he had been drinking a +glass of wine with a friend; and that as to the last," said he, "I was +going home to my wife." The magistrate reprimanded the watchman in severe +terms, and wished Mr. Crown a good morning.--I.B.D. + + * * * * * + + +SMUGGLING EXTRAORDINARY. + + +General Anstruther, having made himself unpopular, was obliged, on his +return to Scotland, to pass in disguise to his own estate; and crossing a +frith, he said to the waterman, "This is a pretty boat, I fancy you +sometimes smuggle with it." The fellow replied, "I never smuggled a +Brigadier before." + + * * * * * + + +A NOBLE COUNT. + + +Amadeus the Ninth, Count of Savoy, being once asked where he kept his +hounds, he pointed to a great number of poor people, who were seated at +tables, eating and drinking, and replied, "Those are my hounds, with whom +I go in chase of Heaven." When he was told that his alms would exhaust his +revenues, "Take the collar of my order," said he, "sell it, and relieve my +people." He was surnamed "the Happy." + +P.T.W. + + * * * * * + + +EPITAPHS. + + +_In Stratford Churchyard, near Salisbury._ + +To the memory of Elizabeth, wife of William Brunsdon, who died Dec. 31, +1779, aged 101 years. + + Freed from the sorrows, sickness, pain, and care, + To which all breath-inspired clay is heir, + The tend'rest mother, and the worthiest wife, + Reaps the full harvest of a well-spent life. + Here rest her ashes with her kindred dust-- + Death's only conquest o'er the favoured just: + Her soul in Christ the tyrant's power defied, + And the _Saint_ triumphed when the woman died. + +_In Amesbury Churchyard, Witts._ + + When sorrow weeps o'er virtue's sacred dust, + Then tears become us, and our grief is just; + Such cause had she to weep who gratefully pays + This last sad tribute of her love and praise, + Who mourns a sister and a friend combined, + Where female softness met a manly mind: + Mourns, but not murmurs--sighs, but not despairs-- + Feels for her loss, but as a Christian bears. + +COLBOURNE. + + * * * * * + + +FAMILIAR SCIENCE. + + +On January 31st will be published, with many Engravings, price 5 s., + + ARCANA OF SCIENCE, + AND + ANNUAL REGISTER of the USEFUL ARTS, + for 1832: + +Abridged from the Transactions of Public Societies, and Scientific +Journals, British and Foreign, for the past year. + +*** This volume will contain all the Important Facts in the year 1831--in +the + + MECHANIC ARTS, + CHEMICAL SCIENCE, + ZOOLOGY, + BOTANY, + MINERALOGY, + GEOLOGY, + METEOROLOGY, + RURAL ECONOMY, + GARDENING. + DOMESTIC ECONOMY, + USEFUL AND ELEGANT ARTS, + GEOGRAPHICAL DISCOVERIES, + MISCELLANEOUS SCIENTIFIC INFORMATION. + +Printing for JOHN LIMBIRD, 143, Strand; of whom may be had volumes (upon +the same plan) for 1828, price 4_s_. 6_d_., 1829--30--31, price 5_s_. each. + + * * * * * + +_Printed and Published by J. LIMBIRD, 143, Strand, (near Somerset House,) +London; sold by ERNEST FLEISCHER, 626, New Market, Leipsic; G.G. BENNIS, +55, Rue Neuve, St. Augustin, Paris; and by all Newsmen and Booksellers._ + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, +and Instruction, by Various + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 11537 *** |