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diff --git a/11551-0.txt b/11551-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6f2f7b2 --- /dev/null +++ b/11551-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1483 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 11551 *** + +THE MIRROR OF LITERATURE, AMUSEMENT, AND INSTRUCTION. + +VOL. 19, NO. 546.] SATURDAY, MAY 12, 1832. [PRICE 2d. + + * * * * * + + + +ST. PANCRAS (OLD) CHURCH. + + +[Illustration: ST. PANCRAS (OLD) CHURCH.] + +This humble village fane is situated to the north of London, somewhat +more than a mile from Holborn Bars. Persons unacquainted with the site, +may hitherto have considered it as part and parcel of this vast +metropolis: but, lo! here it stands amidst much of its primitive, +peaceful rusticity. + +Pancras is still, by courtesy, called a _village_, though its charms may +be of the _rus-in-urbe_ description. It derives its name from the saint +to whom the church is dedicated:[1] it was called St. Pancras when the +Survey of Domesday was taken. The parish is of great extent. Mr. Lysons +states it at 2,700 acres of land, including the site of buildings. It is +bounded on the north by Islington, Hornsey, and Finchley; and on the +west by Hampstead and Marybone. On the south it meets the parishes of +St. Giles's in the Fields, St. George the Martyr, St. George, +Bloomsbury, and St. Andrew's, Holborn.[2] On the east it is bounded by +St. James's, Clerkenwell. Kentish Town, part of Highgate, Camden Town, +and Somer's Town,[3] are comprised within this parish as hamlets. Mr. +Lysons supposes it to have included the prebendal manor of Kentish +Town,[4] or Cantelows, which now constitutes a stall in St. Paul's +Cathedral. Among the prebendaries have been men eminent for their +learning and piety: as Lancelot Andrews, bishop of Winchester, Dr. +Sherlock, Archdeacon Paley, and the Rev. William Beloe, B.D. well known +by his translation of Herodotus. + + [1] St. Pancras was a young Phrygian nobleman, who suffered + death under the Emperor Dioclesian, for his zealous adherence to + the Christian faith. + + [2] Lysons's Environs, 4to. vol. ii. part ii. + + [3] The parish extends in this direction to the foot of Gray's + Inn Lane, and includes part of a house in Queen's Square. + + [4] Anciently Kentistonne, where William Bruges, Garter King at + Arms in the reign of Henry V. had a country-house, at which he + entertained the emperor Sigismund. + +It would occupy too much space to detail the progressive increase of +this district. When a visitation of the church was made in the year +1251, there were only forty houses in the parish. The desolate situation +of the village in the latter part of the sixteenth century is +emphatically described by Norden, in his _Speculum Britanniæ_. After +noticing the solitary condition of the church, he says, "yet about this +structure have bin manie buildings now decaied, leaving poore Pancras +without companie or comfort." In some manuscription additions to his +work, the same writer has the following observations:--"Although this +place be, as it were, forsaken of all; and true men seldom frequent the +same, but upon devyne occasions; yet it is visyted by thieves, who +assemble there not to pray, but to wait for praye; and manie fell into +their handes, clothed, that are glad when they are escaped naked. Walk +not there too late." Newcourt, whose work was published in 1700, says +that houses had been built near the church. The first important increase +of the parish took place in the neighbourhood of Tottenham Court Road. + +"Pancras Church," says Norden, "standeth all alone, as utterly forsaken, +old and wether-beten, which, for the antiquity thereof, it is thought +not to yield to Paules in London." It is of rude Gothic architecture, +built of stones and flints, which are now covered with plaster. Mr. +Lysons says, "It is certainly not older than the fourteenth century, +perhaps in Norden's time it had the appearance of great decay; the same +building, nevertheless, repaired from time to time, still remains; looks +no longer 'old and wether-beten,' and may still exist perhaps to be +spoken of by some antiquary of a future century. It is a very small +structure, consisting only of a nave and chancel; at the west end is a +low tower, with a kind of dome."[5] Mr. Lysons speaks of the +disproportionate size of the church to the population of the parish; but +since his time another church has been erected, the splendour and size +of which in every respect accord with the increased wealth and numbers +of the parish. + + [5] The visitation of the church in the year 1251, mentions a + very small tower, a good slope font, and a small marble stone + ornamented with copper to carry the _Pax_. + +The church and churchyard of Pancras have long been noted as the +burial-place of such Roman Catholics as die in London and its +vicinity.[6] Many of the tombs exhibit a cross, and the initials R.I.P. +(_Requiescat in pace_), which initials, or others analogous to them, are +always used by the Catholics on their sepulchral monuments. Mr. Lysons +heard it assigned by some of that persuasion, as a reason for this +preference to Pancras as a burial-place, that masses were formerly said +in a church in the south of France, dedicated to the same saint, for the +souls of the deceased interred at St. Pancras in England. After the +French revolution, a great number of ecclesiastics and other refugees, +some of them of high rank, were buried in this churchyard; and in 1811, +Mr. Lysons observed that probably about 30 of the French clergy had on +an average been buried at Pancras for some years past: in 1801 there +were 41, and in 1802, 32. Mr. Lysons's explanation of this preference to +Pancras by the Catholics is, however, disputed by the author of +_Ecclesiastical Topography_, who observes that a reason more generally +given is, that "Pancras was the last church in England where mass was +performed after the Reformation." + + [6] Strype, in his additions to Stowe, says, the Roman Catholics + have of late _effected_ to be buried at this place. + +In the chancel are monuments of Daniel Clarke, Esq. who had been +master-cook to Queen Elizabeth; and of Cooper the artist, whose style +approached so near to that of Vandyke, that he has been called Vandyke +in miniature: he taught the author of Hudibras to paint; his wife was +sister to Pope's mother. + +In the churchyard are the tombs of Anthony Woodhead, 1678, who was in +his day, the great champion of the Roman Catholic religion, and was +reputed to have written the Whole Duty of Man; Lady Slingsby, whose name +occurs as an actress in Dryden and Lee's plays, from 1681 to 1689; +Jeremy Collier, 1726, the pertinacious non-juror, who repressed the +immoralities of the stage; Ned Ward, author of the London Spy, 1731; +Leoni, the architect, 1746; Lady Henrietta, wife of Beard, the vocalist, +1753; Van Bleeck, the portrait-painter; Ravenet, the engraver, 1764; +Mazzinghi, 1775, leader of the band at Marylebone Gardens, and father of +Mazzinghi, the celebrated composer; Henry and Robert Rackett, Pope's +nephews; Woollett, the engraver, 1785, to whose memory a monument has +been placed in the cloisters of Westminster Abbey; Baron de Wenzel, the +celebrated oculist, 1790; Mary Wollestonecraft Godwin, author of a +Vindication of the Rights of Woman, 1797; the Rev. Arthur O'Leary, or +Father O'Leary, the amiable Franciscan friar, 1802; Paoli, the patriotic +Corsican, 1807; Walker editor of the Pronouncing Dictionary; the +Chevalier d'Eon, 1810, of epicene notoriety; and Packer, the comedian, +1806, who is said to have performed 4,852 times, besides walking in +processions; Edwards, professor of Perspective, 1806; Scheemakers, the +statuary, 1808. + +In the _Beauties of England and Wales_, it is stated that 23 acres of +land belong to the church; and the great increase of buildings renders +these of considerable value; though it is not known to whom the church +is indebted for this possession. + + * * * * * + + +ELEGY. + +FROM THE GERMAN. + +(_For the Mirror._) + + + Through oak-woods green, + A silver sheen, + Sweet moon, from thee + Afforded me + A tranquil joy, + Me, _then_, a happy boy. + Still makes thy light + My window bright, + But can no more + Lost peace restore: + My brow is shaded, + My cheek with weeping faded. + Thy beams, O moon, + Will glitter soon, + As softly clear, + Upon my bier: + For soon, earth must + Conceal in youth my dust. + + C.H. + + * * * * * + + +CLEOPATRA'S NEEDLES. + +(_For the Mirror._) + + +These remains of ancient art are destined to be removed to Europe.[7] +The palace of Cleopatra was built upon the walls facing the port of +Alexandria, Egypt, having a gallery on the outside, supported by several +fine columns. Towards the eastern part of the palace are two obelisks, +vulgarly called _Cleopatra's Needles_. They are of Thebaic stone, and +covered with hieroglyphics; one is overturned, broken, and lying under +the sand; the other is on its pedestal. These two obelisks, each of them +of a single stone, are about sixty feet high, by seven feet square at +the base. The Egyptian priests called these obelisks the sun's fingers, +because they served as stiles or gnomons to mark the hours on the +ground. In the first ages of the world they were made use of to transmit +to posterity the principal precepts of philosophy, which were engraven +on them in hieroglyphics. + + "Between the statues, _Obelisks_ were placed: + And the learned walls with _hieroglyphics_ grac'd. + _Pope._ + +In after ages they were used to immortalize the actions of heroes, and +the memory of persons beloved. + + [7] One is stated to be on its way to England; our parliament + has voted 10,000_l_ to defray the expense. The other needle is + destined for France. + +The first obelisk we know of was that raised by Rameses, King of Egypt, +in the time of the Trojan war. Augustus erected an obelisk at Rome, in +the Campus Martius, which served to mark the hours on an horizontal +dial, drawn on the pavement. This obelisk was brought from Egypt, and +was said to have been formed by Sesostris, near a thousand years before +Christ. It was used by Manlius for the same purpose for which it was +originally destined, namely, to measure the height of the sun. + +P.T.W. + + * * * * * + + +THE DYING MAIDEN'S PARDON TO HER FAITHLESS LOVER. + +FROM THE FRENCH. + +(_For the Mirror._) + + + If death's keen anguish thou would'st charm + Ere speeds his fatal dart, + Come, place thine hand--while yet 'tis warm, + Upon my breaking heart. + + And though remorse--thou may'st not feel + When its last throb is o'er, + Thou'lt say--"that heart which lov'd so well, + Shall passion feel no more." + + E'en love for thee forsakes my soul-- + Thy work, relentless see, + Near as I am life's destin'd gaol, + I'm frozen--less than thee. + + Yet take this heart--I ne'er had more + To give thee in thy need: + Search well--for at its inmost core, + Thy pardon thou may'st read. + +T.R.P. + + * * * * * + + + +ANECDOTE GALLERY. + + + * * * * * + + +TRAITS OF IRISH CHARACTER. + +(_For the Mirror._) + + +A gentleman residing in the vicinity of Dublin, found, notwithstanding +the protection of a thick, and thorny hedge, that great depredations +were committed on his garden and paddocks; so he inclosed them with a +high, strong wall. As he kept cows, and had more milk than was +sufficient for his family, he distributed the overplus amongst his poor +neighbours. One day, inspecting in person, this distribution, he saw a +woman attending with her pails, who, he was tolerably certain did not +require such assistance. "You, here! my good friend," said he, "I +thought you kept a cow?" + +"Ay, plase yer honour's honour, and _two_ it was that I _once_ kept, the +craters!" + +"_Once_, why don't you keep them now?" + +"Ough! 'tis yeaself must answer that question, for why? the bastes did +well enough afore your rav'rence run up that bit o' wall round your +fields, seein' the cows lived off your grass; but sorra for me now, I've +sold 'em both, by rason I couldn't _keep_ 'em no longer." + +An English gentleman, on a tour in Ireland, was beset at a fine +waterfall by numerous beggars; one woman was particularly clamorous for +relief, but Mr. R. instructed by his guide, said to her, "My good +friend, you cannot possibly want relief, as you keep several cows, and +have a very profitable farm; indeed I cannot bestow my charity upon +you." The woman, looking sulky, and _detected_, immediately pointed to +another, exclaiming, "Then give to _her_, for she's got _nothing_!" The +stranger in Dublin is particularly requested to send all beggars to an +institution in Copper Alley, for their relief. Being once much +importuned by an old man for money, we desired him to go to this place. +"I can't," said he. + +"Why not?" + +"Becase 'tis a bad place for the poor." + +"How so? don't they give you anything to eat?" + +"Ah, yes, yes, but the thing is, my jewel, they wont by no manes give a +poor body _anything to drink_." The intelligent reader will not be at a +loss to translate the complaint of thirsty Pat. + + * * * * * + + +FRENCH CRUELTY. + + +During the late French Revolution, one of the royalist soldiers having +his horse shot under him by a pupil of the Polytechnic School, and +finding when thus brought down, that he could not regain his feet and +resume a posture of defence, but was entirely at the mercy of his +ferocious young adversary, he immediately surrendered his sword, +exclaiming, "I am your prisoner, and entreat of you mercy and life." To +which the _generous_ and _heroic_ youth replied, "No prisoners, no +mercy!" and taking from his pocket a pike-head or some similar rough +weapon, deliberately drove it into the unfortunate soldier's heart! + + * * * * * + + +EFFRONTERY. + + +A nobleman being, it is said, some years since, in the shop of a +celebrated London shoemaker, saw, pass through it, a very handsome young +woman, "Who is that fine girl?" said he. + +"My daughter," replied the _cord-wainer_, "with sixty thousand pounds at +your lordship's service." + + * * * * * + + +A BLUNDER. + + +Literary topics came under discussion one evening in a small social +circle, of which the writer made one, and particularly the +autobiographical works, and personal memoirs, now so much in vogue. A +gentleman then stated, that having seen much of the world, he thought he +must follow the fashion, and one day favour it with his own life and +adventures. Numerous ladies were to figure in his book, which was, in +fact, as he modestly gave the present company to understand, to be a +complete chronicle of the flirtations and conquests of himself, and male +allies, with letters, portraits, &c. and _names_ in full. "But," +remarked a lady, humouring the jest, "if you _do_ render your book so +very personal, are you not afraid of the consequences?" + +"Not at all," replied the embryo author very gravely, "for though I +shall enjoy the remarks of the world, upon my _autobiography_, they +cannot affect me, as it will of course be a _posthumous work_." + + * * * * * + + +COOL COURAGE. + + +During the disastrous fire of the Kent East Indiaman, a lady on board +exhibited a very singular instance of _sang froid_ and presence of mind. +Being in one of the cabins, with a large, helpless, despairing, and of +course, most troublesome party, chiefly of her own sex, "all hands" of +the other being "turned up," we presume, to check the advances of the +devouring element, she proposed, by way of keeping them quiet, _to make +tea for them_, and we believe her proposal was accepted, and had the +desired effect. + +_Great Marlow, Bucks_. + +M.L.B. + + * * * * * + + +ABSTRACT STUDIES. + +(_For the Mirror_.) + + +Demosthenes to be the more removed from noise, and less subject to +distraction, caused a small chamber to be made under ground, in which he +shut himself up sometimes for whole months, shaving half his head and +only half his face, that he might not be in a condition to go abroad. It +was there, by the light of a small lamp, he composed his admirable +Orations, which were said by those who envied him, to smell of the oil, +to imply that they were too elaborate. He rose very early, and used to +say, that he was sorry when any workman was at his business before him. +He copied Thucydides' history eight times with his own hand, in order to +render the style of that great man familiar to him. + +Adrian Turnebus, a French critic, was so indefatigable in his study, +that it was said of him, as it was of Budaeus, that he spent some hours +in study even on the day he was married. + +Frederick Morel had so strong an attachment to study, that when he was +informed of his wife's being at the point of death, he would not lay +down his pen, till he had finished what he was upon, and when she was +dead, as she was before they could prevail on him to stir, he was only +heard to reply coldly, "I am very sorry, she was a good woman." + +Sir Isaac Newton, when he had any mathematical problems or solutions in +his mind, would never quit the subject on any account; dinner was often +known to be three hours ready for him before he could be brought to +table. His man often said, when he was getting up in the morning, and +began to dress, he would, with one leg in his breeches, sit down again +on the bed, and remain there for hours before he got his clothes on. + +Mr. Abraham Sharp, the astronomer, through his love of study, was very +irregular as to his meals, which he frequently took in the following +manner: a little square hole, something like a window, made a +communication between the room where he usually studied, and another +chamber in the house, where a servant could enter, and before this hole +he had contrived a sliding board, the servant always placing his +victuals in the hole, without speaking a word or making the least noise, +and when he had leisure he visited it to see what it contained, and to +satisfy his hunger or thirst. But it often happened that the breakfast, +the dinner, and the supper remained untouched by him, so deeply was he +engaged in his calculations and solemn musings. At one time after his +provisions had been neglected for a long season, his family became +uneasy, and resolved to break in upon his retirement; he complained, but +with great mildness, that they had disconcerted his thoughts in a chain +of calculations which had cost him intense application for three days +successively. On an old oak table, where for a long course of years he +used to write, cavities might easily be perceived, worn by the perpetual +rubbing of his arms and elbows.[8] + +SWAINE. + + [8] Mr. Colton used to say that he wrote his treasurable, + "Lacon: or, many things in a few words," upon a small, rickety + deal table. We perceive from Galignani's _Messenger_, that Mr. + Colton put an end to his existence, a few days since, at + Fontainbleau, it is stated in consequence of the dread of a + surgical operation which it had become necessary that he should + undergo. + + * * * * * + + +THE SELECTOR; AND LITERARY NOTICES OF _NEW WORKS_. + + + * * * * * + + +THE CONTRAST. + + +The title of Lord Mulgrave's clever novel is sufficiently explained by +the hero, Lord Castleton, a man of high refinement, marrying an +unsophisticated, uneducated peasant girl. The scenes and incidents of +her introduction into the fashionable world are replete with humour, yet +true to the life. Thus, how naturally are her new Ladyship's +embarrassments told:-- + +"There were some points on which she would even have endeavoured to +extract knowledge from the servants; but dreading, from her former +habits, nothing so much as too great a familiarity in this respect, +Castleton had made it one of his first desires to her, that she would +confine her communications with them, to asking for what she wanted. To +this, as to every other desire of his, she yielded, as far as she could, +implicit obedience; but it was often a great exertion on her part to do +so. Of her own maid she had felt from the first a considerable awe; and +to such a degree did this continue, that she could not conceive any +fatigue from labour equal to the burthen of her assistance. Being +naturally of a disposition both active and obliging, it was quite new to +her to have any thing done for her which she could do for herself. For +some time she had as great a horror of touching a bell-rope, as others +have in touching the string of a shower-bath; and when services were +obtruded on her by the domestics as a matter of course, she had much +difficulty in checking the exuberance of her gratitude. + +"At home, Big Betsey, mentioned before as the maid of all work, never +considered as any part of her multitudinous duties the waiting on Miss +Lucy, who she not only said 'mought moind herself,' but sometimes called +to her, almost authoritatively, 'to lend a hauping haund.' It was, +probably, in consequence of the habit thus engendered, that Lady +Castleton was one day caught 'lending a helping hand' to an over-loaded +under laundry-maid, who had been sent by her superior with a +wicker-bound snowy freight of her Ladyship's own superfine linen. But of +all the irksome feelings caused by Lucy's new position, there was none +from which she suffered more, than _waiting_ to be _waited on_. And it +was hinted in the hall, that when my Lord was not in the room, my Lady +got up to help herself to what she wanted from the sideboard!! And it +was whispered in the female conclave of the housekeeper's room, that her +Lady-ship seemed even to like to--lace her own stays!!" + +Again, after Lady Castleton receiving a visit from a ton-ish family, his +Lordship asks:-- + +And did they make many inquiries of you? ask many questions?" + +"Oh, such a many!" + +"So many, dearest love, you mean to say." + +"Well, so I do, thank you; and then the mamma asked me, as she had never +seen me before, if I had not been much abroad; and I said, never at all +till I married; and then she said, 'What! had I been to Paris since?' +and I find she meant foreign parts by abroad. And she told me that we +ought to go to London soon; that the season was advanced, and that the +Pasta would come out soon this spring. What is the Pasta--a plant?" + +"A plant! no, love. Pasta is a singer's name, you could not be expected +to know that; but I hope you didn't say any thing to show them your +ignorance?" + +"Oh, no; you told me, whenever I was completely puzzled, that silence +was best; so I said nothing. Pasta's the name of a singer, then! Oh, +that accounts, for a moment after she the mamma said, that her daughter +Arabella sang delightfully, and asked me if I would sing with her; so I +said no, I'd much rather listen. That was right, warn't it? You see I +knew you'd ask me all about it, so I recollected it for you. Arabella +then asked me if I would accompany her? so I said, Wherever she +liked,--where did she want to go? But, I suppose, she altered her mind, +for she sat down to the grand instrument you had brought here for me to +begin my lessons upon; and then she sang such an extraordinary song--all +coming from her throat. And the sister asked me if I understood German? +and I answered, No, nor French neither." + +"That was an unnecessary addition, my love." + +"Well, so it was. Then the youngest sister explained to me, that it was +a song a Swiss peasant girl sang whilst she was milking her cow; and I +said that must be very difficult, to sing while milking a cow. And then +the mamma asked how I knew; and I said I had _tried_ very _often_." + +"How could you, dear Lucy, volunteer such an avowal?" + +"I thought you would be afraid of that; but it all did very well, for +the mother said I was so amusing, had so much natural wit, and they all +tried to persuade me I had said something clever." + +"Well, go on--and what then?" + +"And then the lady took me aside, and began saying so much in praise of +you; and when she once got me on that subject, I was ready and glib +enough, I warrant you. But somehow, though I then found it so much +easier to speak, I find it more difficult to recollect exactly what I +said. Is not that strange? And then she said that my happiness would +excite so much envy in the great world; that you had been admired, +courted, nay, even loved by rich, noble, clever ladies. Why was all +this? and how could you ever think to leave all these, to seek out from +her quiet home your poor little Lucy?" + +"Oh, that's a story of by-gone days. These were follies of my youth, +which I thought I had lived to repent. + + "'Nor knew, till seated by thy side, + My heart in all save hope the same.'" + +"Why, save hope, my dear Lord? What may you not only hope, but trust, +from my constant devotion?" + +"I did not mean to tie myself precisely to every word I uttered. It was +only a quotation." + +"And what is a quotation?" + +"A quotation is the vehicle in which imagination posts forward, when she +only hires her Pegasus from memory. Or sometimes it is only a quit-rent, +which the intellectual cultivator, who farms an idea, pays to the +original proprietor; or rather,"--(seeing that he was not making the +matter more intelligible by his explanation,)--"or rather, it is when we +convey our own thoughts by the means of the more perfect expressions of +some favourite author." + +"But then, surely _you_ need not be driven to borrow, whose own words +always sound to me like a book. As for poor me, I wish I could talk in +quotations for ever; then I need not fear to make these mistakes, which, +as it is, I am afraid I am always like to do." + +(A scene at _the Opera_ is richer still: the performance _Semiramide_:) + +"Lady Gayland took the opportunity of inquiring of Lady Castleton, 'how +the opera had amused her?' There was that unmistakable air of real +interest in Lady Gayland's manner, whenever she addressed Lucy, which +made her always reply in a tone of confidence, different from that which +she felt towards any other member of the society in which she moved. + +"Why, to tell the honest truth," said she, leaning forwards towards her +questioner, "I can't say that I could the least understand what it all +meant. It's not likely that people should sing when they're in such +sorrow; and then I can't guess why that young man should kill the queen +that was so kind to him all along." + +"I don't wonder that that should surprise you, my dear; but he was not +aware of what he was doing. It was in the dark." + +"In the dark! But I could see very well who it was, though I did not +know her so well as he did, and was so much farther off." + +"I am afraid you are in the dark, too, a little as yet," said Lady +Gayland, (tapping her gently with her fan.) "But, tell me, did you not +admire the singing, though you could not understand the story." + +"Why, I should, perhaps, if I had known the language; but even then they +seemed to me more like birds, than men and women singing words. I like a +song that I can make out every word that's said." + +"The curtain then rose for the ballet; at first, Lucy was delighted with +the scenery and pageantry, for the spectacle was grand and imposing. But +at length the resounding plaudits announced the _entrée_ of the perfect +Taglioni. Lucy was a little astonished at her costume upon her first +appearance. She was attired as a goddess, and goddesses' gowns are +somewhat of the shortest, and their legs rather _au naturel_; but when +she came to elicit universal admiration by pointing her toe, and +revolving in the slow _pirouette_, Lucy, from the situation in which she +sat was overpowered with shame at the effect; and whilst Lady Gayland, +with her _longnette_ fixed on the stage, ejaculated, 'Beautiful! +inimitable!' the unpractised Lucy could not help exclaiming, 'O that is +too bad! I cannot stay to see that!' and she turned her head away +blushing deeply." + +"Is your ladyship ill?" exclaimed Lord Stayinmore. "Castleton, I am +afraid Lady Castleton feels herself indisposed." + +"Would you like to go?" kindly inquired Castleton. + +"O so much!" she answered. + +"Are you ill, my dear?" asked Lady Gayland. + +"Oh, no!" she said. + +"Then you had better stay, it is so beautiful." + +"Thank you, Lord Castleton is kind enough to let me go." + +(They get into the carriage.) + +"And how do you find yourself now, my dear Lucy?" tenderly inquired +Castleton, as the carriage drove off. + +"Oh, I am quite well, thank you." + +"Quite well! are you? What was it, then, that was the matter with you?" + +"There was nothing the matter with me, it was that woman." + +"What woman? what can you mean? Did you not say that you were ill; and +was not that the reason that we hurried away?" + +"No! YOU said I was ill; and I did not contradict you, because you tell +me that in the world, as you call it, it is not always right to give the +real reason for what we do; and therefore I thought, perhaps, that +though of course you wished me to come away, you liked to put it upon my +being ill." + +"Of course I wished you to come away! I was never more unwilling to move +in all my life; and nothing but consideration for your health would have +induced me to stir. Why should I have wished you to come away?" + +"Why, the naked woman," stammered Lucy. + +"What can you mean?" + +"You couldn't surely wish me to sit by the side of those people, to see +such a thing as that?" + +"As to being by the side of those people, I must remind you, that it was +Lady Gayland's box in which you were; and that whatever she, with her +acknowledged taste and refinement, sanctions with her presence, can only +be objected to by ignorance or prejudice. You have still a great deal to +learn, my dear Lucy," added he, more kindly; "and nothing can be so +fatal to your progress in that respect, as your attempting to lead, or +to find fault, with what you do not understand." + +"But surely I can understand that it is not right to do what I saw that +woman do," interrupted Lucy, presuming a little more doggedly than she +usually ventured to do on any subject with her husband; for this time +she had been really shocked by what she had seen. + +"Wrong it certainly is not, if you mean moral wrong. As to such an +exhibition being becoming or not in point of manners, that depends +entirely upon custom. Many things at your father's might strike me as +coarseness, which made no impression upon you from habit, though much +worse in my opinion than this presumed indecorum. Those things probably +arose from ignorance on your parts, which might be corrected. This, on +the other hand, from conventional indifference, consequent on custom, +which it is not in you to correct. Depend upon it you will only get +yourself laughed at, and me too, if you preach about dancers' +petticoats." + +"I don't want to preach to any body; and you know how much it fashes me +to contend with you." + +"Don't say FASHES, say distresses, or annoys, not _fashes_, for heaven's +sake, my dear Lucy." + +"Oh, dear, it was very stupid of me to forget it. That was one of the +first things you taught me, and it is a many days since I said it last; +but it is so strange to me to venture to differ with you, that I get +confused, and don't say any thing as right as I could do. Even now I +should like to ask, if modesty is a merit, whether nakedness ought to be +a show; but I'll say no more, for I dare say you won't make me go there +again." + +"No, that will be the best way to settle it." + +The plot of the Contrast is not, as the reader may perceive, one of +fashionable life: it has more of the romance of nature in its +composition: the characters are not the drawling bores that we find in +fashionable novels, though their affected freaks are occasionally +introduced to contrast with unsophisticated humility, and thus exhibit +the deformities of high life. The whole work is, however, light as +gossamer: we had almost said that a fly might read it through the +meshes, without endangering his patience or liberty. + + * * * * * + + +THE LIBRARY OF ENTERTAINING KNOWLEDGE + + +Maintains its rank in sober, we mean useful, literature. The volume +before us contains such matter as is only to be found in large and +expensive works, with a host of annotations from the journals of recent +travellers and other volumes which bear upon the main subject. This part +of the series, describing vegetable substances used for the food of man, +is executed with considerable minuteness. A Pythagorean would gloat over +its accuracy, and a vegetable diet man would become inflated with its +success in establishing his eccentricities. The contents are the +Corn-plants, Esculent Roots, Herbs, Spices, Tea, Coffee, &c. &c. In such +a multiplicity of facts as the history of these plants must necessarily +include, some misstatements may be expected. For example, the opinion +that succory is superior to coffee, though supported by Drs. Howison and +Duncan, is not entitled to notice. All over the continent, succory, or +_chicorée_, is used to _adulterate_ coffee, notwithstanding which a few +scheming persons have attempted to introduce it in this country as an +improvement, by selling it at four times its worth. Why say "it is +sometimes considered superior to the exotic berry," and in the same +page, "it is not likely to gain much esteem, where economy is not the +consideration." We looked in vain for mention of the President of the +Horticultural Society under Celery; though we never eat a fine head of +this delicious vegetable without grateful recollection of Mr. T.A. +Knight. All preachment of the economy of the Potato is judiciously +omitted, though we fear to the displeasure of Sir John Sinclair; nor is +there more space devoted to this overpraised root than it deserves. +Truffles are not only used "like mushrooms," but for stuffing game and +poultry, especially in France: who does not remember the _perdrixaux +truffes_, of the Parisian _carte_. The chapter on coffee, cacao, tea, +and sugar, is brief but entertaining. We may observe, by the way, that +one of the obstacles to the profitable cultivation of tea in this +country is our ignorance of the modes of drying, &c. as practised in +China. + +Another volume of the Entertaining Series, published since that just +noticed, contains a selection of _Criminal Trials_, amongst which are +those of Throckmorton and the Duke of Norfolk, for treason. They are, in +the main, reprints from the State Trials, which the professional editor +states to contain a large fund of instruction and _entertainment_. We +have been deceived in the latter quality, though we must admit that in +judicious hands, a volume of untiring interest might be wrought up from +the State records. As they are, their dulness and prolixity are past +endurance. As the present work proceeds in chronological order, it will +doubtless improve in its entertaining character, since no class of +literature has been more enriched by the publication of journals, +diaries, &c., than historical biography, which will thus enable the +editor to enliven his pages with characteristic traits of the principal +actors. This has been done, to some extent, in the portion before us, +and in like manner fits the volume for popular reading. + + * * * * * + + + +MANNERS & CUSTOMS OF ALL NATIONS. + + + * * * * * + + +FIRE TEMPLES IN PERSIA. + +[Illustration: Persian Temple] + + +These mystical relics are but a short journey from the celebrated ruins +of Persepolis. Mr. Buckingham describes them in his usual picturesque +language: "Having several villages in sight, as the sun rose, with +cultivated land, flocks, trees, and water, we arrived at the foot of the +mountain, which forms the northern boundary of the plain of Merdusht. +The first object we saw on the west was a small rock, on which stood two +fire altars of a peculiar form: their dimensions were five feet square +at the base, and three at the top, and they were five feet high. There +were pillars or pilasters at the corners, and arches in the sides. In +the centre of each of these, near the top, was a square basin, about +eight inches in diameter, and six in depth, for the reception of the +fire, formerly used by the disciples of Zoroaster in their worship." + +Like Pythagoras, it may be here observed, Zoroaster, the inventer of +Magic, or the doctrines of the Magi, admitted no visible object of +devotion except fire, which he considered as the most proper emblem of a +supreme being; these doctrines seem to have been preserved by Numa, in +the worship and ceremonies which he instituted in honour of Vesta. +According to some of the moderns, the doctrines, laws, and regulations +of Zoroaster are still extant, and they have been lately introduced in +Europe, in a French translation by M. Anquetil. + +Mr. Buckingham notices an existing custom, which he attributes to this +reverence to fire. "Throughout all Persia, a custom prevails of giving +the salute 'Salami Alaikom,' whenever the first lighted lamp or candle +is brought into the room in the evening; and this is done between +servants and masters as well as between equals. As this is not practised +in any other Mahommedan country, it is probably a relic of the ancient +reverence to fire, once so prevalent here, though the form of the salute +is naturally that of the present religion." + + * * * * * + + + +THE NATURALIST. + + + * * * * * + + +WHALE CHASE. + + +A Scottish journal, the _Caledonian Mercury_, describes the following +animated scene, which lately took place off the town of Stornoway, in +the island of Lewis. An immense shoal of whales was, early in the +morning, chased to the mouth of the harbour by two fishing-boats, which +had met them in the offing. + +"The circumstance was immediately descried from the shore, and a host of +boats, amounting to 30 or 40, and armed with every species of weapon, +set off to join the others in pursuit. The chase soon became one of +bustle and anxiety on the part both of man and fish. The boats arranged +themselves in the form of a crescent, in the fold of which the whales +were collected, and where they had to encounter incessant showers of +stones, splashing of oars, with frequent gashes from a harpoon or spear, +while the din created by the shouts of the boats' crews and the +multitude on shore, was tremendous. On more than one occasion, however, +the floating phalanx was broken, and it required the greatest activity +and tact ere the breach could be repaired and possession of the +fugitives regained. The shore was neared by degrees, the boats advancing +and retreating by turns, till at length they succeeded in driving the +captive monsters on a beach opposite to the town, and within a few yards +of it. The gambols of the whales were now highly diverting, and, except +when a fish became unmanageable and enraged while the harpoon was fixed, +or the noose of a rope pulled tight round its tail, they were not at all +dangerous to be approached. In the course of a few hours the capture was +complete, the shore was strewed with their dead carcases, while the sea +presented a bloody and troubled aspect, giving evident proofs that it +was with no small effort they were subdued. For fear of contagion, the +whole fish amounting to ninety-eight, some of them very large, were +immediately towed to a spot distant from the town, where they were on +Thursday sold by public roup, the proceeds to be divided among the +captors. An annual visit is generally paid by the whales to the Lewis +coast, and besides being profitable when caught, they generally furnish +a source of considerable amusement. On the present occasion, the whole +inhabitants of the place, male and female, repaired to the beach, +opposite to the scene of slaughter, where they evidently were delighted +spectators, and occasionally gave assistance. A young sailor received a +stroke from the tail of one of the largest fish, which nearly killed +him." + + * * * * * + + +AUDUBON. + + +The Philadelphia journals communicate some particulars of the journey of +this enterprising naturalist into E. Florida. He has discovered, shot, +and drawn a new Ibis, which he has named _Tantalus fuscus_. In a letter, +he says + +"I have discovered three different new species of Heath, one bearing a +yellow blossom, the two others a red and purple one;--also, a beautiful +new Kalmia, and several extraordinary parasitical plants, bearing some +resemblance to the pineapple plant, growing on the _eastern_ side of the +cyprus tree in swamps, about 6 or 10 feet above the water. + +"During my late excursion I almost became an amphibious being--spending +the most of my days in the water, and by night pitching my tent on the +barren sands. Whilst I remained at Spring Garden, the alligators were +yet in full life; the white-headed eagles setting; the smaller resident +birds paring; and strange to say, the warblers which migrate, moving +easterly every warm day, and returning every cold day, a curious +circumstance, tending to illustrate certain principles in natural +economy." + +Six boxes of prepared skins of birds, &c. as well as a number of choice +shells, seeds, roots, &c. the result of Audubon's researches, have been +received in Charleston. + +"In this collection there are between four and five hundred skins of +Birds, several of them rare in this part of the United States--some that +are never found here, and a few that have not yet been described. Of +these are two of the species of Pelican (Pelicanus) not described by +Wilson. The Parrot (psittacus Carolinensis); the palm warbler of +Buonaparte (Silvia palmerea), and the Florida Jay, a beautiful bird +without the crest, so common in that genus. + +"Among the new discoveries of Audubon in Florida, we perceive a noble +bird partaking of the appearance both of the Falcon and Vulture tribes, +which would seem to be a connecting link between the two. His habits +too, it is said, partake of his appearance, he being alternately a bird +of prey, and feeding on the same food with the Vultures. This bird +remains yet to be described, and will add not only a new species, but a +new genus to the birds of the United States. We perceive also in Mr. +Audubon's collection, a new species of Coot (Fulica).[9] + + [9] Abridged from printed extracts furnished by our + correspondent, M.L.B. + + * * * * * + + +REMARKABLE JAY. + + +A lady residing at Blackheath has in her possession a fine Jay, which +displays instinct allied to reason and reflection in no ordinary degree. +This bird is stated by a Correspondent, (A.T.) to repeat distinctly any +word that may be uttered before. She can identify persons after having +once seen them, and been told their names; the latter she will pronounce +with surprising clearness. She has a strong affection for a goldfinch in +the same apartment, the latter bird appearing to return this fondness by +fluttering its wings and other demonstrations of delight. The Jay has +also been seen playing with two kittens, while the old cat looked +composedly on at their gambols. This bird is in beautiful plumage, and +is about twenty years of age. She is well known to the residents of +Blackheath and its vicinity. + + * * * * * + + +ENTOMOLOGY. + + +I have lately observed a curious fact, which I have never seen noticed +in any book which has fallen in my way, viz. that it is the tail of the +caterpillar which becomes the head of the butterfly. I found it hard to +believe till I had convinced myself of it in a number of instances. The +caterpillar weaves its web from its mouth, finishes with the head +downwards, and the head, with the six front legs, are thrown off from +the chrysalis, and may be found dried up, but quite distinguishable, at +the bottom of the web. The butterfly comes out at the top. Is this fact +generally known?--_Corresp. Mag. Nat. Hist._ + + * * * * * + + +THE RIVER TINTO. + + +The river Tinto rises in Sierra Morena, and empties itself into the +Mediterranean, near Huelva, having the name of Tinto given it from the +tinge of its waters, which are as yellow as a topaz, hardening the sand +and petrifying it in a most surprising manner. If a stone happen to fall +in, and rest on another, they both become in a year's time perfectly +united and conglutiated. This river withers all the plants on its banks, +as well as the roots of trees, which it dyes of the same hue as its +waters. No kind of verdure will flourish where it reaches, nor any fish +live in its stream. It kills worms in cattle, when given them to drink; +but in general no animals will drink out of the river, except goats, +whose flesh, nevertheless, has an excellent flavour. These singular +properties continue till other rivulets run into it, and alter its +nature; for when it passes by Niebla, it is not different from other +rivers. It falls into the Mediterranean six leagues lower down, at the +town of Huelva, where it is two leagues broad, and admits of large +vessels, which may come up the river as high as San Juan del Puerto, +three leagues above Huelva.--_From a Correspondent._ + + * * * * * + + + +SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS + + + * * * * * + + +THE GALLEY SLAVES. + + +About a mile distant from one of the southern barriers of Paris, a +palace was built during _our_ Henry the Sixth's brief and precarious +possession of French royalty, by the Bishop of Winchester. It was known +by the name of Winchester, of which, however, the French kept +continually clipping and changing the consonants, until the Anglo-Saxon +Winchester dwindled into the French appellation of Bicêtre. The Bishop's +old palace was treated as unceremoniously as his name, being burnt in +some of the civil wars. But there is this advantage in a sumptuous +edifice, that its very ruins suggest the thought and supply the means of +rebuilding it. Bicêtre, accordingly, reared its head, and is now a +straggling mass of building, containing a mad-house, a poor-house, an +hospital, and a prison. + +To see it is a matter of trifling difficulty, except on one particular +day--that devoted to the rivetting of the _chaine_. A surgeon, however, +belonging to the establishment, promised to procure me admission, and on +receiving his summons, I started one forenoon for Bicêtre. Mortifying +news awaited my arrival. The convicts had plotted a general insurrection +and escape, which was to have taken place on the preceding night. It had +been discovered in time, however, and such precautions taken, as +completely prevented even the attempt. The chief of these precautions +appeared in half a regiment of troops, that had bivouacked all night in +the square adjoining the prison, and were still some lying, some +loitering about. Strict orders had been issued, that no strangers should +be admitted to witness the ceremony of rivetting; and the turnkeys and +gaolers, in appearance not yet recovered from the alarm of the preceding +evening, refused to listen to either bribe, menace, or solicitation. It +was confoundedly vexatious. Whilst expostulating with the turnkey, I +caught a glimpse through a barred window of the interior court, athwart +which the chains lay extended, whilst in one railed off even from this +the convicts were crowded, marching round and round--precaution forbade +their remaining still--and uttering from time to time such yells and +imprecations as might deafen and appal a Mohawk. "I have caught a +glimpse at least," thought I, as we were unceremoniously turned out. + +My friend, the surgeon, bade us, however, not despair. When the man of +influence arrived he hoped to prevail; and in the mean time he led us to +view the other curiosities of Bicêtre. There was the well, the kitchen, +the anatomical theatre. The courts were crowded with aged paupers, who +each well knew that his carcass would undergo what laceration the +scalpel of my friend and his comrades chose to inflict upon it. But the +thought seemed not to affect them so much as it did us. Methought the +business of dissecting dead subjects might have been carried on more +remote from the living candidates; but I was wrong, for mystery and +secrecy always beget fear. + +The mad-house was another curiosity. It contains many whose brain the +revolution of July, 1830, had turned. One man, a fine youth, had +travelled on foot from a distant part of the kingdom, to shed his blood +as a sacrifice to the memory of Napoleon. He gave his last franc to +obtain admission within the pillar of the Place Vendôme, and when there +opened the veins of both his arms, crying out, "I offer the blood of the +brave to the manes of Napoleon." His rolling black eye was now +contrasted with a face pale as death. He had lost so much blood that few +hopes were entertained of his recovery. + +But by far the most curious patient of the mad-house, was a young man +who imagined himself to be a woman. He was handsome, but not feminine in +appearance. He adored a little mirror, with which he was gratified. Rags +of all colours were his delight; and he had made a precious collection. +His coquetry was evident; and he answered pertinently all questions, +never belying at the same time his fixed opinion, that he was endowed +with a maiden's charms. + +We looked over the book of reports, and found seven-eighths of the +female patients to have become deranged from love; whilst, with the +majority of the males, the hallucination proceeded from disappointments +of ambition. Surprised, I could make out no case of a religious maniac; +glad, I could discover none of a student. + +We now returned to machinations for the purpose of entering the +forbidden prison. Aprons were handed us, not unlike a barber's. They +were surgeons' aprons, always worn by those of the establishment when on +duty. Might not then the barbers' aprons be a tradition of the +barber-surgeons? I refrained from asking the question in that company. +The scheme was, that we should pass for _Carabins_--such is the nickname +of French students in chirurgery--and in this quality demand admission. +The Cerberus of the prison grinned at the deceit, but wearied and amused +by our importunities, he actually opened the _quicket_ and admitted us. +There are two grated doors of this kind, one always locked whilst the +other is opened. In an instant we were in Pandemonium. + +The buildings, which surrounded and formed the courts, evidently the +oldest and strongest of Bicêtre, harmonized in dinginess with the scene. +At every barred window, and these were numerous, about a dozen ruffianly +heads were thrust together, to regard the chains of their +companions.--What a study of physiognomy! The murderer's scowl was +there, by the side of the laughing countenance of the vagabond, whose +shouts and jokes formed a kind of tenor to the muttered imprecations of +the other. Here and there was protruded the fine, open, high-fronted +head,--pale, striking, features, and dark looks, of some felon of +intellect and natural superiority; whilst by his side, ignominy looked +stupidly and maliciously on. A handsome little fellow at one of the +grates, was dressing his hair unconsciously with most agitated fingers, +evidently affected by the scene. Our question of "What are you in for?" +aroused him. "False signing a billet of twenty thousand francs," replied +he, with a shrug and a smile. "And he, your neighbour?" asked we +cautiously, concerning one of a fine, thoughtful, philosophic, and +passionate countenance. "Ha! you may ask--he gave his mistress a potion, +for the purpose of merely seducing her, and it turned out to be +poison--a _carabin_ like yourselves." But these made no part of the +_chaine_. + +The convicts destined for this operation were kept in movement round a +post in an adjoining court, and were shouting, rarely in intelligible +language, to their companions. Joy was the universal tone, and a +sniveller ran imminent danger. One poor fellow I remarked holding down +his head, when he was saluted with a kick from him who followed, and the +objurgation, _Tu es forçat, toi, heim?_--"You a convict, and durst be +sad." These men were all unmanacled. Methought a general rush on their +part both practicable and formidable. One half must have perished, and +the other half might have escaped. + +They were now marched out from the inner court in batches of thirty at a +time, drawn up in rank, stripped, and examined with such rigid scrutiny +as I dare not precise. They were then marched and placed along one of +the extended chains, and made to sit down, resting it in their laps. A +square fetter was then fitted and placed around the neck of each. In +this, before, some detached links from the chain were placed, whilst a +huge smith proceeded to rivet each from behind. Fixing a kind of movable +anvil behind the convict's back, the fetter that encircled his neck was +brought with its joint upon it, and half a dozen blows of the sledge +riveted the captive inextricably to the main chain and to his +twenty-nine comrades. The smith must be adroit at his task, and the +convict steady in his position; for, as the fetter is tight round the +neck, the hammer, in its blow, must pass within a quarter of an inch of +his skull, and a wince on his part might prove fatal. This, indeed, is +the trying moment, when the stoutest cheek is blanched. The sturdiest +frame, shaken by the blows of the sledge, then betrays emotion, and +tears of penitence are at that moment almost always seen to fall. On +sitting down, each had in general an air of bravado, produced in a great +measure by the regards of the seemingly more hardened ruffians from the +windows. Under the riveting there was no smile; whilst after it, apathy +was affected or resumed, each endeavouring to make his iron collar as +supportable and comfortable as possible, by enveloping it in a +handkerchief, and guaranteeing the neck from its chill or galling. + +When the _chaine_ was completed, its wearers were made to stand up. They +formed themselves in couples, the chain running betwixt two ranks, and +they walked round the yard to take their first lesson in their galling +exercise. They are thus fettered together till they reach Brest or +Toulon. The choice is left to them of walking or being carried in carts, +more provender being given to those who make the journey on foot. + +The only part of their habiliments, which seemed left to themselves to +provide, was a covering for the head, the red or green cap being given +them only upon entering the _bagne_. For their journey, some of the +fellows had provided themselves with strange head-gear, mostly made of +straw; one had a three-cocked hat; others, one of all kinds of _outré_ +shapes. A prime vagabond had woven for himself a complete and +magnificent tiara, precisely like the Roman Pontiff's in form, and +surmounted by a cross. This was the _Pope_, the Pope of the _Chaine_, +and I never heard a shout so appalling, as that with which his +appearance was welcomed by the prisoners from the windows of the +building. They danced, they yelled, tore and tumbled over each other in +the most exuberant delight, thrusting their crowded heads and distorted +features almost through the gratings. I have gleaned from it quite an +idea of a scene of merriment and exultation _below_. + +The said Pope was a very extraordinary fellow: a slight fair form, +pointed features, and eyes that were penetrating, despite their common +shade of grey. He was called _Champenois_, his real name unknown, not +more than three-and-twenty, and the Lieutenant of the _Chaine_ said, one +of the most talented and extraordinary characters that _he_ had ever met +with. He had been the prime mover of the intended insurrection, but +without a proof against him, except his universal authority, unusual in +so young a thief. His physiognomy was one, which it required not a +second look in order to remember for ever. + +Another figure struck me, not so much as singular in itself, as in +contrast with those around. It struck me as that of an English +cabin-boy, a pale, freckled, ill-conditioned lad. On following the +calling over of the register in roll, I found my conjecture too true. He +was an unfortunate young sailor, a native of England, guilty of some +misdemeanour, and by name Aikin. He understood not a word of French, but +protested with a shake of his head against his being English; patriotism +had in him outlived honesty and self-respect. I spoke to him in English: +he wept, but would not reply, puckering up his poor lips in all the +agony of his desolate condition. I was glad to remark the humanity with +which he had been chained to a prisoner, pensive and downcast like +himself. + +There were some cases certainly hard; one or two for resisting the +_gen-d'armerie_ in a riot at Rouen. To transport a rioter, unless under +aggravated circumstances, is grievous enough; but after the revolution +of July, that hallowed riot, to make a galley-slave of a _brave_ for +resisting the police, must have been at least surprising to him. The +tribunal no doubt felt the necessity of severity; and we acknowledged it +all in deploring the degradation of these poor devils for an act, which +in so many thousand others was, at the moment, extolled to the skies as +the acmé of heroism. But justice hath her lottery-wheel as well as +fortune. + +As the last _chaine_ was completing, an ecclesiastic went round to +collect money of the visitors. But as there were few, so were the +offerings. The convicts at the same time produced the fruits of their +ingenuity in straw work-boxes, needle-cases, carved ivory and wood. The +guardians, to do them justice, seemed humane. + +The _bagne_ at Toulon, the destination of the members of the _chaine_, +was respectably peopled when I visited it some years ago. It contained +amongst others, Sarrazin, a famous general, who had deserted to us from +Buonaparte, and whose works on the Spanish and other campaigns, are +still read with interest. The general had caught the inexcusable habit +of marrying a wife in each town wherein he was quartered, and was sent +to the gallies for _trigintagamy_. They boasted a bishop too amongst the +convicts at Toulon, a merry little fellow, that bore his fate gaily, and +who still contrived to exercise a kind of spiritual supremacy over his +unfortunate comrades. + +The ingenuity and hardihood of these men is surprising. Despite the +vigilance, the ramparts, the fetters, and the logs, they escape hourly +and daily;--at what risk is manifest from the regulations, by which +three cannon shots always announce the disappearance of a convict, +serving to warn the peasants, and call them to earn the handsome reward +given to whoever arrests one of the branded fugitives. They are easily +recognised by the halt in one limb; as they are wont to drag after them +that which has been accustomed to the bullet. + +The only pursuits that seem to pervade the _bagne_, are those of +_eating_ and _dying_: with the exception of escape, all others are +denied. And those who have given up the latter hope, confine their +thoughts either to bettering their meagre fare of beans, or to getting +rid of existence in the most advantageous way. It is remarkable and +degrading to observe the utmost human ingenuity and industry employed, +in order to procure a dish of potatoes fried in grease once in the week. +Yet such is the luxury of a _forçat_, and he must labour for it harder +than even an Hibernian peasant, or a poet of the same line. + +The more philosophic, who scorn the luxury of potatoes, and with it the +life that affords no other, meditate how best to get rid of existence; +and this they effect almost ever in one way; viz., by killing their most +obnoxious keeper, and thus earning the guillotine. + +It is a frequent scene in the _bagne_, that of an execution. It occurs +every week or fortnight. All the convicts are obliged to attend, for the +purpose of striking them with terror, and working contrition and good +behaviour in them. Alas! it is a huge mistake. For these days are of all +other days of _fête_ to them. Their countenances are marked by universal +joy, and they shout congratulations, not condolences, to their comrade +about to perish. Death to them is indeed an escape. Its ceremony is to +them a marriage feast: and decapitation, what a _black job_ was to Lord +Portsmouth,--the only variety and excitement that could give a spur to +their heavy and painful existence. + +Speak as we may against the pains of death, this is worse, not only +physically but morally; for it degrades humanity far lower than is +conceiveable. The French have an idea that they can imitate the American +mode of punishment by solitary confinement. This again will be still +worse than the galleys; since religious consolation can alone redeem or +ameliorate man in this state of durance; and as this makes no part of +the French system, I cannot help thinking the _guillotine_ more +merciful, than either their _bagne_ or their solitary cells.--_Monthly +Magazine._ + + * * * * * + + +THE SEALS. + +Written at the suggestion of a Lover who inferred the decline, of his +mistress's affections from her changing the seals of her letters. + +BY THE AUTHOR OF THE HUNCHBACK. + + + You've changed the seal--you've changed it thrice: + Your first implied you loved: + How welcome was the dear device, + A thousand kisses proved. + + Your next was love--it spoke the flame, + Yet scarce so plain methought-- + I kiss'd it, wishing it the same + Your first sweet letter brought + + The second change, was change indeed-- + To friendship--Judge my bliss-- + And did I kiss that seal--I did-- + But 'twas a farewell kiss. + + The third--nor love, nor friendship--There + Indeed love's dream should end-- + As coldest stranger better far + Than lover turn'd to friend. + + No kiss I gave that seal--no name-- + Still dear--of thine it bore-- + The signet, whence the impress came, + Perhaps a rival wore. + + I smil'd to think 'twas so--'twas strange-- + And have such cause to sigh-- + How couldst thou--fairest creature--change? + O, wherefore could not I. + +_Monthly Mag._ + + * * * * * + +By a Parliamentary return it appears, that Kensington Palace cost the +public in 1828, 2,412_l_. 8_s_. 11_d_.; in 1829, 4,638_l_. 8_s_.; in +1830, 6,203_l_. 5_s_. 11_d_.; and in 183l, 3,921_l_. 15_s_. Hampton +Court in 1828, cost 4,430_l_. 19_s_. 5_d_.; in 1829, 5,964_l_. 13_s_. +1_d_.; in 1830, 4,144_l_. 2_s_. 4_d_.; and in 183l, 3,994_l_. 15_s_. +11_d_.--_Times_. + + * * * * * + + + +THE GATHERER. + + + * * * * * + +Dr. Johnson has remarked that the French are fond of Young's _Night +Thoughts_, a fact which is hard to be accounted for, that a nation so +celebrated for their gaiety should have a regard for an author treating +on such serious subjects. + +_Wigs_.--In the reign of Queen Anne, enormous full-bottomed wigs often +cost twenty or thirty guineas each. + +"_Capillary Attraction_."--When Charles II. was espoused to the Infanta +of Portugal, a fleet was sent over to Lisbon, with proper attendants to +bring her hither, but her majesty being informed that there were some +particular customs in Portugal, with relation to the ladies, which the +king would not easily dispense with, the fleet was detained six or seven +weeks, at a great expense, till _her majesty's hair grew_. + +(Mr. Prince, with his Russia Oil, would have prospered under Royal +Patronage in those days; and Mr. Rowland would not have needed +immortality in Byron's verse: "incomparable _huile Macassar_.") + +_The King of Kippen._--When James V. of Scotland, travelled in disguise, +he used a name which was known only to some of the principal nobility +and attendants. He was called the Goodman (the tenant, that is) of +Ballangiech. Ballangiech is a steep pass, which leads down behind the +Castle of Stirling. Once, when he was feasting in Stirling, the king +sent for some venison from the neighbouring hills. The deer were killed +and put on horses' backs to be transported to Stirling. Unluckily, they +had to pass the castle gates of Ampryor, belonging to a chief of the +Buchanans, who had a considerable number of guests with him. It was +late, and the company were rather short of victuals, though they had +more than enough of liquor. The chief, seeing so much fat venison +passing his very door, seized on it; and, to the expostulations of the +keepers, who told him that it belonged to King James, he answered +insolently, that if James was king in Scotland, he, Buchanan, was king +in Kippen, being the name of the district in which the Castle of Ampryor +lay. On hearing what had happened, the king got on horseback, and rode +instantly from Stirling to Buchanan's house, where he found a strong, +fierce-looking Highlander, with an axe on his shoulder, standing +sentinel at the door. This grim warder refused the king admittance, +saying that "the Laird of Arnpryor was at dinner, and would not be +disturbed." "Yet go up to the company, my good friend," said the king, +"and tell him that the good man of Ballangiech is come to feast with the +King of Kippen." The porter went grumbling into the house, and told his +master that there was a fellow with a red beard who called himself the +good man of Ballangiech, at the gate, and said he was come to dine with +the King of Kippen. As soon as Buchanan heard these words, he knew that +the king was there in person, and hastened down to kneel at James's +feet, and to ask forgiveness for his insolent behaviour. But the king, +who only meant to give him a fright, forgave him freely, and, going into +the castle, feasted on his own venison, which Buchanan had intercepted. +Buchanan of Arnpryor was ever afterwards called King of Kippen. + +W.G.C. + +_Remarkable Murder_.--"Anno 1605: one William Calverly, of Calverly, in +the county of York, esquire, murthered two of his own children at home +at his own house, then stabbed his wife into the body, with full intent +to have killed her, and then went out with intention to have killed his +child, at nurse, but was prevented. He was pressed to death, at York, +for this murther, because he stood mute, and would not plead."--_Old +History_. + +_Law respecting Caps_.--An old Law, enacted that every person above +seven years of age, should wear on Sundays, and Holidays, a cap of wool, +knit-made, thickened and dressed in England, by some of the trade of +Cappers--under the forfeiture of three-farthings for every day's +neglect; excepting _Maids, Ladies_, and _Gentlemen_, and every _Lord, +Knight_, and Gentleman of _Twenty marks of land_, and their _heirs_, and +such as had borne office of worship in any _City, Town_, or _Place_, and +the Wardens of the London Companies. + +T. GILL. + +_Splendid Biography_.--Richard Neville, the Great Earl of Warwick and +Salisbury, was well known in history by the appellation of the King +Maker. His biographer says, "He was a man whose hospitality was so +abundant, that the ordinary consumption of a breakfast, at his house in +London, was six oxen; whose popularity was so great, that his absence +was accounted as the absence of the sun from the hemisphere; whose +service was so courted, that men of all degrees were proud to wear the +badges of his livery; and whose authority was so potent, that kings were +raised, or deposed, as suited his humour." + +P.T.W. + +_Character of England by Henry the Seventh._--Henry the Seventh (whose +breeding had been low and private) being once pressed by some of his +council, to pursue his title to France, returned this answer: "That +France was indeed a flourishing and gallant kingdom; but England, in his +mind, was as fine a seat for a country gentleman as any that could be +found in Europe." + +G.K. + +_The Plough._ + + "Look how the purple flower, which the plough + Hath shorn in sunder, languishing doth die." + + _Peachum._ + +This implement was known to the Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans, and was +invented at a very early period, being perhaps nearly coeval with the +cultivation of the soil itself. Anciently, the tenants (in England) in +some manors, were not allowed to have their rural implements sharpened +by any but those whom the lord appointed; for which an acknowledgment +was to be paid, called _agusa dura_; in some places _agusage_, a fee for +sharpening plough-tackle, which some take to be the same with what was +otherwise called _reillage_, from the ancient French _reille_, a +_ploughshare_. + +_Ancient Fête at Gorhamlury._--In the year 1577, Queen Elizabeth was +entertained at Gorhambury, by Sir Nicholas Bacon, Lord Keeper, from +Saturday, May the 18th, to the Wednesday following, at the expense of +577_l_. 6_s_. 7-1/4_d_. besides fifteen bucks and two stags. Among the +dainties of the feathered kind, enumerated in this entertainment, Mr. +Nichols mentions herons, bitterns, godwites, dotterels, shovelers, +curlews, and knots. Sir Nicholas Bacon was frequently visited by the +queen, who dated many of her state papers from Gorhambury. + +P.T.W. + +_Adrian the Fourth._--Adrian the Fourth was the only Englishman who ever +filled the Papal chair. His name was Nicholas Breakspeare, and he was +born at Abbot's Langley, a village in Herts. Such was the unbounded +pride of this pontiff, that when the Emperor Frederick the First went to +Rome, in 1155, to receive the imperial diadem, the Pope, after many +difficulties concerning the ceremonial of investiture, insisted that the +emperor should prostrate himself before him, kiss his feet, hold his +stirrup, and lead the white palfrey on which the holy father rode. +Frederick did not submit to this humiliation without reluctance; and as +he took hold of the stirrup, he observed that "he had not yet been +taught the profession of a groom." In a letter to his old friend, John +of Salisbury, he says that St. Peter's Chair was the most uneasy seat in +the world, and that his crown seemed to be clapped burning on his head. +Yet did this haughty Pope (according to Dr. Cave) allow his mother to be +maintained by the alms of the church of Canterbury. + +P.T.W. + +_Quid pro quo._--A peasant of Burgundy, whom Louis XI. had taken some +notice of, while Dauphin, appeared before him when he ascended the +throne, and presented him with an extraordinary large radish; Louis +received it with much goodwill, and handsomely repaid the peasant. The +great man of the place, to whom the countryman related his good fortune, +imagined that if he were to offer Louis something, he would, at any +rate, make him a prince. Accordingly he went to court, and presented his +finest horse to the king. Louis received his present as graciously as he +had before taken the radish, and after he had sufficiently praised the +horse, "See here," said he, taking the radish in his hand, "here is a +radish, which, like your horse, is one of the rarest of its kind; I +present it to you with many thanks." + +Iota. + +_Muswell Hill_ derives its name from a famous well on the hill, where, +formerly, the fraternity of St. John of Jerusalem, in Clerkenwell, had +their dairy, with a large farm adjacent. Here they built a chapel for +the benefit of some nuns, in which they fixed the image of our Lady of +Muswell. These nuns had the sole management of the dairy: and it is +singular, that the said well and farm do, at this time, belong to the +parish of St. James, Clerkenwell. The water of this spring was then +deemed a miraculous cure for scrofulous and cutaneous disorders. For +that reason it was much resorted to; and, as tradition says, a king of +Scotland made a pilgrimage hither, and was perfectly cured. + + * * * * * + +_Printed and Published by J. LIMBIRD, 143, Strand, London; sold by +ERNEST FLEISCHER, 626, New Market, Leipsic; 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 11551 *** |