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diff --git a/11567-0.txt b/11567-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..26d25e4 --- /dev/null +++ b/11567-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1534 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 11567 *** + +THE MIRROR OF LITERATURE, AMUSEMENT, AND INSTRUCTION. + +VOL. XIX. NO. 543.] SATURDAY, APRIL 21, 1832. [PRICE 2d. + + * * * * * + +MELROSE ABBEY. + + +[Illustration: Melrose Abbey.] + +(_From a finished sketch, by a Correspondent_.) + + +These venerable ruins stand upon the southern bank of the Tweed, in +Roxburghshire. The domestic buildings of the monastery are entirely +gone; but the remains of the church connected with, as seen in the above +Engraving, are described by Mr. Chambers[1] as "the finest specimen of +Gothic architecture and Gothic sculpture of which this country +(Scotland) can boast. By singular good fortune, Melrose is also one of +the most entire, as it is the most beautiful, of all the ecclesiastical +ruins scattered throughout this reformed land. To say that it is +beautiful, is to say nothing. It is exquisitely--splendidly lovely. It +is an object of infinite grace and immeasurable charm; it is fine in its +general aspect and in its minutest details; it is a study--a glory." We +confess ourselves delighted with Mr. Chambers's well-directed +enthusiasm. + + [1] Picture of Scotland, vol. i. + +A page of interesting facts towards the history of the Abbey will be +found appended to the "Recollections" of a recent visit by one of our +esteemed Correspondents, in _The Mirror_, vol. x., p. 445. In the +present view, the ornate Gothic style of the building is seen to +advantage, but more especially the richness of the windows, and the +niches above them: the latter, from drawings made "early in the reign of +King William," were originally filled with statues; and, connected with +the destruction of some of them, Mr. Chambers relates the following +anecdote "told by the person who shows Melrose:" + +"On the eastern window of the church, there were formerly thirteen +effigies, supposed to represent our Saviour and his apostles. These, +harmless and beautiful as they were, happened to provoke the wrath of a +praying weaver in Gattonside, who, in a moment of inspired zeal, went up +one night by means of a ladder, and with a hammer and chisel, knocked +off the heads and limbs of the figures. Next morning he made no scruple +to publish the transaction, observing, with a great deal of exultation, +to every person whom he met, that he had 'fairly stumpet thae vile +paipist dirt _nou!_' The people sometimes catch up a remarkable word +when uttered on a remarkable occasion by one of their number, and turn +the utterer into ridicule, by attaching it to him as a nickname; and it +is some consolation to think that this monster was therefore treated +with the sobriquet of 'Stumpie,' and of course carried it about with him +to his grave." + +The exquisite beauty and elaborate ornament of Melrose can, according to +the entertaining work already quoted, be told only in a volume of prose; +but, as compression is the spirit of true poetry, we quote the following +descriptive lines: + + + If thou would'st view fair Melrose aright, + Go visit it by the pale moonlight; + For the gay beams of lightsome day + Gild but to flout the ruins gray. + When the broken arches are dark in night, + And each shafted oriel glimmers white; + When the cold light's uncertain shower + Streams on the ruin'd central tower; + When buttress and buttress, alternately, + Seem framed of ebon and ivory; + Wnen silver edges the imagery, + And the scrolls that teach thee to live and die; + When distant Tweed is heard to rave, + And the howlet to hoot o'er the dead man's grave, + Then go--but go alone the while-- + Then view St. David's[2] ruined pile; + And, home returning, soothly swear, + Was never scene so sad and fair. + * * * * * + By a steel-clench'd postern door, + They enter'd now the chancel tall; + The darken'd roof rose high aloof + On pillars, lofty, light, and small; + The key-stone, that lock'd each ribbed aisle, + Was a fleur-de-lys or a quatre-feuille; + The corbells[3] were carved grotesque and grim; + And the pillars, with cluster'd shafts so trim, + With base and capital furnish'd around, + Seem'd bundles of lances which garlands had bound. + * * * * * + The moon on the east oriel shone, + Through slender shafts of shapely stone, + By foliated tracery combined; + Thou would'st have thought some fairy's hand + 'Twixt poplars straight the osier wand + In many a freakish knot had twined; + Then framed a spell, when the work was done, + And changed the willow-wreaths to stone.[4] + + + [2] Built by David I. in 1136. + + [3] Corbells, the projections from which the arches spring, + usually cut in a fantastic face, or mask. + + [4] Sir Walter Scott's "Lay of the Last Minstrel." + + +The monks of Melrose were caricatured for their sensuality at the +Reformation. Their Abbey suffered in consequence; for the condemnator, +out of the ruins, built himself a house, which may still be seen near +the church. "The regality," says Mr. Chambers, "soon after passed into +the hands of Lord Binning, an eminent lawyer, ancestor to the Earl of +Haddington; and about a century ago, the whole became the property of +the Buccleuch family." + + * * * * * + + +LACONICS. + +(_For the Mirror_.) + + +The most important advantages we enjoy, and the greatest discoveries +that science can boast, have proceeded from men who have either seen +little of the world, or have secluded themselves entirely for the +purposes of study. Not only those arts which are exclusively the result +of calculation, such as navigation, mechanism, and others, but even +agriculture, may be said to derive its improvement, if not its origin, +from the same source. + +Where a cause is good, an appeal should be directed to the heart rather +than the head: the application comes more home, and reaches more +forcibly, where it is the most necessary--the natural rather than the +improved faculties of the human understanding. + +Common sense is looked upon as a vulgar quality, but nevertheless it is +the only talisman to conduct us prosperously through the world. The man +of refined sense has been compared to one who carries about with him +nothing but gold, when he may be every moment in want of smaller change. + +The grand cause of failure in most undertakings is the want of +unanimity. This, however, we find is not wanting where actual danger, as +well as possible advantage may accrue to the parties concerned. It is +whimsical enough that thieves and other ruffians, while they bid open +defiance to the laws, both of God and man, pay implicit obedience to +their own. + +Aristotle laid it down as a maxim "that all inquiry should begin with +doubt." Whenever, then, we meet with mysteries beyond our feeble +comprehension, would it not be more rational to doubt the very faculty +we are employing--the capacity of our reason itself. + +The most politic, because the most effectual way of governing in a +family, is for the husband occasionally to lay aside his supremacy; so +in public, as well as private life, that king will be most popular who +does not at all times exercise his full prerogative. + +It would appear that there is a great sympathy between the mind of man +and falsehood: when we have a truth to tell, it takes better, if +conveyed in a fable; and the rage for novels shows, that we may not only +divert extremely without a syllable of truth, but truth is even +compelled to borrow the habit of falsehood to secure itself an agreeable +reception. + +In our intercourse with others, we should endeavour to turn the +conversation towards those subjects with which our companions are +professionally acquainted: thus we shall agreeably please as well as +innocently flatter in affording them the opportunity to shine; while we +should acquire that knowledge which we could no where else obtain so +well. + +What an extraordinary method of reducing oneself to beggary is gambling! +The man who has but little money in the world, and knows not how to +procure more without risking his life and character, must needs put it +in the power of fortune to take away what he has. Put the case in the +opposite light, it is just as absurd: the man who has money to spare, +must needs make the experiment whether it may not become the property of +another. + +It is a mistake to suppose a great mind inattentive to trifles: its +capacity and comprehension enable it to embrace every thing. + +The failing of vanity extends throughout all classes: the poor have but +little time to bestow on their persons, and yet in the selection of +their clothes we find they prefer such as are of a flaring and gaudy +colour. + +Philosophy has not so much enabled men to overcome their weaknesses, as +it has taught the art of concealing them from the world. + +That a little learning is dangerous is one of our surest maxims. If +knowledge does not produce the effect of ameliorating our imperfect +condition, it were, without question, better let alone altogether; it is +not to be made merely an appendix to the mind, but must be incorporated +and identified with it. + +They who have experienced sorrow are the most capable of appreciating +joy; so, those only who have been sick, feel the full value of health. + +By the expression "common people," is meant the man of rank as well as +the more industrious peasant; for in our estimate of men, the mind, and +not the eye, is the most proper judge. + +Some men are, of course, more original thinkers than others, but all, +without exception, who hope to appear in print with any effect, must +first be readers themselves. It was said by Dr. Johnson, that more than +half an author's time was occupied in reading what others had said +concerning the subject he was himself writing upon. + +Every man, in his more serious moments, must confess that he has done +few things in the course of his life he would not wish undone; and +experience must have shown him that the things he most feared would have +been better ihan those he most prayed for. + +Vanity is our dearest weakness, in more senses than one: a man will +sacrifice every thing, and starve out all his other inclinations to keep +alive that one. + +The man who trusts entirely to nature when he is sick, runs a great +risk; but he who puts himself in the hands of a physician runs a still +greater: of the two, nature would seem the better nurse, for she will, +at all events, act honestly, and can have no possible interest in +tampering with disease. + +A great idea may be thus defined:--it gives us the perception of many +others, and it discovers to us all at once what we could only have +arrived at by a course of reading or inquiry. + +We are told to place no faith in appearances, yet it will be found a +wiser course to judge from the human countenance rather than the human +voice: most men place a guard over their words and their actions, but +very few can blind the expression that is conveyed by the features. + +To assist our fellow-creatures is the noblest privilege of mortality: it +is, in some sort, forestalling the bounty of Providence. + +There is no doubt that memory, although it may be cultivated, is +originally a gift of nature; so, also, application must be regarded as a +natural endowment; for there are some men, however well disposed, who +can never bring themselves to grapple closely with any thing. + +It has been suggested that man has no real necessity for clothing. All +other creatures are furnished with every necessary for their existence, +and it is improbable one nobler than them all should be left in a +defective condition: there are some nations, in severer climates than +ours, who have no notion of clothing; and, even in civilized life, the +most tender parts of the body are constantly exposed, as the face, neck, +&c. + +It is the temper of a blade that must be the proof of a good sword, and +not the gilding of the hilt or the richness of the scabbard; so it is +not his grandeur and possessions that make a man considerable, but his +intrinsic merit. + +F. + + * * * * * + + +THE KNIGHT'S RETURN. + +FROM THE GERMAN. + +(_For the Mirror_.) + + + + "Page, what sound mine ears is greeting, + Whence the lime-trees wave in pride?" + "'Tis, sir knight, the herds that bleating, + Wander o'er the mountain's side." + + "Say, my page, what means this singing? + Notes so sad, some ill betide;" + "In the village, crowds are bringing + From the chapel, home a bride." + + "Say then, why so slowly passes + Yon dark-rob'd and silent train?" + "From the saying bridal-masses, + Monks are coming o'er the plain." + + "Speak then, why I now behold it; + Whence yon banner's milk-white hue?" + "Ask no further, they unfold it + To the bride an honour due." + + "Say, my page, what means that writing + Graven on yon marble-stone?" + "'Tis the youth and maiden plighting + Love to one, and one alone." + + "How, my page, that name the dearest? + See, and true its meaning tell." + "Know, and tremble as thou hearest, + "'Twas for secret love she fell." + + "What! my page, if thus 'tis written, + If for love she dar'd to die, + Bertha dead! if thus 'tis written, + As she perish'd, so will _I_." + +H. + + * * * * * + + +SCOTCH ECONOMY. + +(_To the Editor._) + + +The amusing letter of _S.S._ in No. 536, of _The Mirror_, has but so +very recently met my eyes, that I have been obliged unavoidably to allow +some weeks to elapse ere I noticed it. Indeed, to advert to it at all, I +should not have considered necessary, but that your correspondent seems +to imply a doubt as to the accuracy of my assertion, in the article +"Shavings," (vide No. 533, p. 83.) Permit me, for the satisfaction of +your readers to state, that I was no "flying tourist," when the fact of +a very considerable waste of fuel in Edinburgh, (fuel which would, I +thought, sell in England, if not wanted in Scotland,) came repeatedly, I +may say, almost daily, under my own personal observation. A residence of +two years in Edinburgh (yes, it certainly was "the Scottish capital," +for I had previously resided during a longer period in the Irish one,) +enabled me to state what I then beheld, with a scrutiny which certainly +would not have been warranted by a mere casual visit of two days, two +weeks, or two months; that the circumstance should have irritated _S.S._ +I cannot consider any fault of mine; my statement was correct. The +possibility of Irish labourers being employed to build in Scotland, as +they are very generally in England, does not seem to have occurred to +your correspondent; I confess it did to me, but considered, to mention +it in my trifling "Domestic Hint," quite unnecessary, since, had their +wastefulness been hitherto unknown to their employers, it might +henceforth, if they pleased "to take a hint," be by them materially +checked. In days when the complaint of poverty is universal, when the +working classes find it difficult to carry on any employment which shall +bring them bread, and when thousands wander over the united kingdom with +no apparent means of subsistence, I did not imagine that a "Hint," as to +a possible source of emolument (were it confined but to half a dozen +individuals) to the poor, would be considered a meet subject for +ridicule. I said, or intended to say, if shavings and loose chippings of +wood are of little value for fuel in Scotland, they are acceptable in +England; and why, if the proprietors of new houses choose during their +erection, to save the fuel they produce, and of which I repeat I have +seen vast quantities burnt, and bestow it as a charity on such persons +as might think it worth acceptance for sale, "over the Border;" why they +should not do so, I have yet to learn.[5] However, waiving this scheme, +which _S.S._ may be inclined to think rather Utopian, and conceding, +that if Scotland needs not for fuel, her refuse chips and shavings, they +would not answer in that light as a marketable commodity in the sister +country, still wood and wood-ashes have become of late years, agents so +valuable and important in chemistry, and other sciences and arts, as to +furnish another, and all-sufficient reason why no reckless destruction +should be allowed of an article, every species of which may be rendered, +under some modification, of utility. + + + [5] Has Scotland no paupers to whom the gift of wood fuel might + prove acceptable, in spite of peat? We have in England abundance + of wood, yet our own poor are distressed for it, glad to pick up + sticks for firing, and often steal it from fences, &c. in their + necessity, and the gift of wood is to them a charity, as well as + that of coals. Why should aught that could he made of use, be + wantonly destroyed? It is contrary to Scripture; it is in + opposition to common sense. + + +Respecting the well preserved eggs of Scotland; though _S.S._ is +probably aware of the circumstance, yet some of your readers may not be, +their sale in England (and indeed I have understood America) brings her +in no inconsiderable profit. In this country they arrive, and I have my +account from an eye-witness, in large deal boxes, most curiously packed, +relying solely on each other for support; since, set up perpendicularly +on their ends, with no straw, heather, saw-dust, or any other material +to fill the interstices between them, the fate of every box of this +fragile ware depends, during its journey and unlading, on the safety or +fracture of a single egg; but such is the nicety and compactness of +their packing, that rarely, if ever, an accident occurs. + +M.L.B. + + * * * * * + + +PRICE OF TEA. + +(_To the Editor_.) + + +As I have been a subscriber to _The Mirror_ from its commencement, and +very frequently refer to its pages with much pleasure and profit, I hope +I may be allowed to correct a statement made in No. 541, p. 222, under +the article _Tea_. It is said that the profit of one pound to sell at +7_s_. is 2_s_. 2_d_. + + + _s. d._ + Thus, cost price 2 5 + Duty 2 5 + Profit 2 2 + ____ + 7 0 + + +In all retail houses of any respectability in the Tea trade, I am sure +that Tea costing 2_s_. 5_d_. at the sale is never sold above 6_s_. per +lb. and in five out of six shops of the above description 5_s_. 4_d_. +and 5_s_. 6_d_. is the utmost price demanded for such Tea. I and my +family have been in the trade, in one house, considerably more than half +a century, and I can assure you, that from 6_d_. to 8_d_. per lb. is the +present retail profit upon Tea sold at the East India Company's sales, +under 3_s_. per lb. + +S. + +In reply to this note, the authenticity of which we do not question, +we can only refer the writer to our distinct quotation from "the +evidence of Mr. Mills, a Tea Broker, before the House of Lords.' In our +15th volume, No. 414, p. 104, the proportion of profit is differently +stated from an article in the _Quarterly Review_. A pound of 11_s_. + +Hyson + + + _s. d._ + Costs at the Company's Sale 4 4 + King's Duty 4 4 + ____ + 8 8 + Retailer's profit, brokerage, &c. 2 4 + _____ + 11 0 + + +We have often received from one of the most extensively dealing retail +Tea-dealers in the metropolis, an assurance, similar to that of our +correspondent, _S_. so that we do not require the substantiation he +proffers.--_Ed. M_. + + * * * * * + + + + +The Naturalist. + +GLEANINGS IN NATURAL HISTORY. + + +Observers of Nature seem to be just now appreciating the observation of +the benevolent _Gilbert White_, of Selborne, who lived and died in the +last century: "that if stationary men would pay some attention to the +districts on which they reside, and would publish their thoughts +respecting the objects that surround them, from such materials might be +drawn the most complete county histories." Accordingly, a little system +of rural philosophy has been founded upon the best of all bases, +home-observation, and such books as have resulted from these labours, +promise to make the study of Nature more popular than will all the +Zoological, Botanical, and Geological Societies of Europe. Among these +works we include the cheap reprint of the _Natural History of Selborne_; +Mr. Rennie's delightful observations which are scattered through the +Zoological volumes of the _Library of Entertaining Knowledge_; but more +especially the _Journal of a Naturalist_, published by Mr. Leonard +Knapp, about three years since, and stated by the author to have +originated in his admiration of Mr. White's _Selborne_. The volume +before us is the result of a congenial feeling, and is written by Edward +Jesse, Esq., deputy surveyor of his majesty's parks, by means of which +appointment he must have possessed peculiar opportunities and facilities +of observation, as is evident in the local recollections throughout his +volume. Thus, we find miscellaneous particulars of the Royal Parks and +Forests, and from the writer's residence on the bank of the Thames, (we +conclude, near Bushy Park,) a few Maxims for an Angler. The whole is a +very charming _melange_, with a most discursive arrangement, it is true, +but never falling into dulness, or tiring the reader with too minute +detail. We intend, therefore, to range through the volume, and gather a +few of its most interesting gleanings to our garner. + +Our author thinks he has discovered the use for the remarkable and, +indeed, what appears disproportionate length, of the + + +Claws of the Skylark. + +"That they were not intended to enable the bird to search the earth for +food, or to fix itself more securely on the branches of trees, is +evident, as they neither scratch the ground nor roost on trees. The lark +makes its nest generally in grass fields, where it is liable to be +injured either by cattle grazing over it, or by the mower. In case of +alarm from either these or other causes, the parent birds remove their +eggs, by means of their long claws, to a place of greater security; and +this transportation I have observed to be effected in a very short space +of time. By placing a lark's egg, which is rather large in proportion to +the size of the bird, in the foot, and then drawing the claws over it, +you will perceive that they are of sufficient length to secure the egg +firmly, and by this means the bird is enabled to convey its eggs to +another place, where she can sit upon and hatch them. When one of my +mowers first told me that he had observed the fact, I was somewhat +disinclined to credit it; but I have since ascertained it beyond a +doubt, and now mention it as another strong proof of that order in the +economy of Nature, by means of which this affectionate bird is enabled +to secure its forthcoming offspring. I call it affectionate, because few +birds show a stronger attachment to their young." + + +Instinct allied to reason. + +Several interesting anecdotes are quoted to show that there is something +more than mere instinct, which influences the conduct of some animals. +Bees and spiders afford many traits, but we quote the elephant and +parrot: + +"I was one day feeding the poor elephant (who was so barbarously put to +death at Exeter 'Change) with potatoes, which he took out of my hand. +One of them, a round one, fell on the floor, just out of the reach of +his proboscis. He leaned against his wooden bar, put out his trunk, and +could just touch the potato, but could not pick it up. After several +ineffectual efforts, he at last _blew_ the potato against the opposite +wall with sufficient force to make it rebound, and he then, without +difficulty, secured it. Now it is quite clear, I think, that instinct +never taught the elephant to procure his food in this manner; and it +must, therefore, have been reason, or some intellectual faculty, which +enabled him to be so good a judge of cause and effect. Indeed, the +_reflecting_ power of some animals is quite extraordinary. I had a dog +who was much attached to me, and who, in consequence of his having been +tied up on a Sunday morning, to prevent his accompanying me to church, +would conceal himself in good time on that day, and I was sure to find +him either at the entrance of the church, or if he could get in, under +the place where I usually sat. + +"I have been often much delighted with watching the manner in which some +of the old bucks in Bushy Park contrive to get the berries from the fine +thorn-trees there. They will raise themselves on their hind legs, give a +spring, entangle their horns in the lower branches of the tree, give +them one or two shakes, which make some of the berries full, and they +will then quietly pick them up. + +"A strong proof of intellect was given in the case of Colonel O'Kelly's +parrot. When the colonel and his parrot were at Brighton, the bird was +asked to sing; he answered 'I can't,' Another time he left off in the +middle of a tune, and said, 'I have forgot.' Colonel O'Kelly continued +the tune for a few notes; the parrot took it up where the Colonel had +left off. The parrot took up the bottom of a lady's petticoat, and said +'What a pretty foot!' The parrot seeing the family at breakfast said, +'Won't you give some breakfast to Poll?' The company teazed and mopped +him a good deal; he said 'I don't like it.'--(From a Memorandum found +amongst the late Earl of Guildford's Papers.)" + + +Eels. + +Several pages are devoted to the economy of these curious creatures, and +as many points of their history are warmly contested, Mr. Jesse's +experience is valuable. + +"That they do wander[6] from one place to another is evident, as I am +assured that they have been found in ponds in Richmond Park, which had +been previously cleaned out and mudded, and into which no water could +run except from the springs which supplied it.[7] An annual migration of +young eels takes place in the River Thames in the month of May, and they +have generally made their appearance at Kingston, in their way upwards, +about the second week in that month, and accident has so determined it, +that, for several years together it was remarked that the 10th of May +was the day of what the fishermen call eel-fair; but they have been more +irregular in their proceedings since the interruption of the lock at +Teddington. These young eels are about two inches in length, and they +make their approach in one regular and undeviating column of about five +inches in breadth, and as thick together as it is possible for them to +be. As the procession generally lasts two or three days, and as they +appear to move at the rate of nearly two miles and a half an hour, some +idea may be formed of their enormous number. + + [6] From the following lines of Oppian, the rambling spirit of + eels seems to have been known to the ancients-- + + The wandering eel, + Oft to the neighbouring beach will silent steal" + + [7] I have been informed, upon the authority of a nobleman well + known for his attachment to field sports, that, if an eel is + found on land, its head is invariably turned towards the sea, + for which it is always observed to make in the most direct line + possible. If this information is correct (and there seems to be + no reason to doubt it.) it shows that the eel, like the swallow, + is possessed of a strong migratory instinct. May we not suppose + that the swallow, like the eel, performs its migrations in the + same undeviating course? + + +"Eels feed on almost all animal substances, whether dead or living. It +is well known that they devour the young of all water-fowl that are not +too large for them. Mr. Bingley states, that he saw exposed for sale at +Retford, in Nottinghamshire, a quantity of eels that would have filled a +couple of wheelbarrows, the whole of which had been taken out of the +body of a dead horse, thrown into a ditch near one of the adjacent +villages; and a friend of mine saw the body of a man taken out of the +Serpentine River in Hyde Park, where it had been some time, and from +which a large eel crawled out. The winter retreat of eels is very +curious. They not only get deep into the mud, but in Bushy Park, where +the mud in the ponds is not very deep, and what there is, is of a sandy +nature, the eels make their way under the banks of the ponds, and have +been found knotted together in a large mass. Eels vary much in size in +different waters. The largest I ever caught was in Richmond Park, and it +weighed five pounds, but some are stated to have been caught in Ireland +which weighed from fifteen to twenty pounds. Seven pounds is, I believe, +no unusual size. The large ones are extremely strong and muscular. +Fishing one day at Pain's Hill, near Cobham, in Surrey, I hooked an eel +amongst some weeds, but before I could land him, he had so twisted a new +strong double wire, to which the hook was fixed, that he broke it and +made his escape." + +Sir Humphry Davy's opinions respecting eels are quoted from his +_Salmonia_:[8] Mr. Jesse adds: + + + [8] See MIRROR, vol. xii. p. 253. + + +"It is with considerable diffidence that one would venture to differ in +opinion with Sir Humphry Davy, but I cannot help remarking, that, as +eels are now known to migrate _from_ fresh water, as was shown in the +case of the Richmond Park ponds, this restless propensity may arise from +their impatience of the greater degree of warmth in those ponds in the +month of May, and not from their wish to get into water still warmer, as +suggested by Sir Humphry Davy. Very large eels are certainly found in +rivers, the Thames and Mole for instance, where I have seen them so that +they must either have remained in them, or have returned from the sea, +which Sir H. Davy thinks they never do, though I should add, that the +circumstance already related of so many large eels being seen dead or +dying during a hot summer, near the Nore, would appear to confirm his +assertion. If eels are oviparous, as Sir Humphry Davy thinks they are, +would not the ova have been found, especially in the conger,--many of +which are taken and brought to our markets, frequently of a very large +size? It does not appear, however, that any of the fringes along the +air-bladder have ever arrived at such a size and appearance as to have +justified any one in the supposition that they were ovaria, though, as +has been stated, distinguished naturalists, from the time of Aristotle +to the present moment, have been endeavouring to ascertain this fact. +Since the above was written, I have been shown ova in the lamprey, and +what appeared to have been melt taken from a conger eel, at a +fishmonger's in Bond-street. These specimens were preserved by Mr. +Yarrell, of Little Ryder-street, St. James's, who had the kindness to +open two eels, sent to him from Scotland, in my presence, and in which +the fringes were very perceptible, though they were without any ova. +That ingenious and indefatigable naturalist is, however, of opinion that +eels are oviparous, though he failed in producing proof that the common +eels were so. + +"In further proof, however, of eels being viviparous, it may be added +(if the argument of analogy applies in this case), that the animalculæ +of paste eels are decidedly viviparous. Mr. Bingley also, in his animal +biography, says that eels are viviparous. Blumenbach says, too, that +'according to the most correct observations they are certainly +viviparous.' He adds also, that, the eel is so tenacious of life, that +its heart, when removed from the body, retains its irritability for +forty hours afterwards." + +We are not inclined to attach very considerable importance to Mr. +Bingley's experience, much as we admire his entertaining _Animal +Biography_: we believe him to be classed among book-naturalists, and he +wrote this work many years since. + +(_To be continued_.) + + * * * * * + + +QUEEN ANNE'S SPRING, NEAR ETON. + + +[Illustration: Queen Anne's Spring, near Eton.] + + +(_From a Correspondent_.) + +The accompanying sketch represents a sequestered spot of sylvan shade +whence rises a Spring which tradition designates Queen Anne's. Here the +limpid crystal flows in gentle, yet ceaseless streams, conveying "Health +to the sick and solace to the swain." + +It has some claims to antiquity; and its merits have been appreciated by +royalty. Queen Anne was the first august personage who had recourse to +it; in later times, Queen Charlotte for many years had the pure element +conveyed to her royal abode at Windsor, and in 1785, a stone, with a +cipher and date, was placed there by her illustrious consort, George +III. This spring is situate at Chalvey, (a village between Eton and Salt +Hill,) on the property of J. Mason, Esq., Cippenham. It was the +observation of the esteemed and celebrated Dr. Heberdeen, that it but +required a physician to write a treatise on the water, to render it as +efficacious as Malvern. + +URANIA. + + * * * * * + + + + +Spirit Of The Public Journals. + + * * * * * + + +STATE OF MAGIC IN EGYPT, BY AN EYE-WITNESS. + + +At the Consul General's table, in Egypt, in August, 1822, the +conversation turned on the belief in magic; and the Consul's Italian +Staff propounded the following story, which seemed to have perfect +possession of their best belief. They said that a magician of great name +was then in Cairo--I think a Mogrebine; and that he had been sent for to +the Consul's house, and put to the following proof:--A silver spoon had +been lost, and he was invited to point out the thief. On arriving, he +sent for an Arab boy at hazard out of the street, and after various +ceremonies, poured ink into the boy's hand, into which the boy was to +look. It was stated, that he asked the boy what he saw, and the boy +answered, "_I see a little man_,"--Tell him to bring a flag,--"_Now he +has brought a flag_."--Tell him to bring another.--"_Now he has brought +another_."--Tell him to bring a third,--"_Now he has brought it_."--Tell +him to bring a fourth.--"_He has brought it_."--Tell him to bring the +captain of them all.--"_I see a great Sheik on horseback_."--Tell him to +bring the man that stole the spoon.--"_Now he has brought him_."--What +is he like?--"_He is a Frangi, poor-looking and mesquin_." After which +followed other points of personal description not remembered; but which +drew from the Staff the observation, that a European of exactly those +qualities had been about the house. We expressed our desire to be +introduced to the magician, and the Consul gravely intimated it might +hurt the prejudices of his wife, as being a Catholic; to the great mirth +of the beautiful Consuless when she was told of it, who, though a +Catholic and an Italian, declared she was the only person in the family +that set all the magicians in Egypt at defiance. + +Having some time afterwards established ourselves in a house of our own, +on the edge of the garden of the Austrian Consulate (as I remember by +the token that a Turkish officer who had been taking his evening walk of +meditation, very gravely opened the window from the garden, put in first +one leg of his huge trousers and then the other, and strode into the +room followed by his pipe-bearer, as being the shortest cut into the +street; though I must do him the justice to say he laughed and was very +conversable, when I brought him up with a salam and a cup of coffee, by +way of demonstrating there was somebody in the house besides the Arab +owner), we sent for the magician. I remember a well-dressed personable +man, of what, after the fashion of the nomenclature in the Chamber of +Deputies, might be called the young middle-age. He agreed to show us a +specimen of his art, though I do not recollect that the nature of it was +defined. He fixed upon our little boy of seven years old to be his +instrument; and I remember he talked some nonsense about requiring an +innocent agent, and how a woman might do as well, if she could plead the +innocent presence of the unborn. He dispatched a servant into the bazar, +to procure frankincense and other things which he directed; and on their +being produced we all retired into a room, and closed the doors and +windows. An earthen pot was placed in the middle of the floor, +containing fire, and the magician sat down by it. He placed the little +boy before him, and poured ink into the hollow of the boy's hand, and +bid him look into it steadily. I think the mother rather quailed, at +seeing her child in such propinquity with "the Enemy;" but recovered +herself on being exhorted to defy the devil and all his works. And the +thing was not entirely without danger from another quarter; for it was +understood the Pasha had directed a special edict against all dealing +with familiar spirits; and the Pasha's edicts were not altogether to be +trifled with, as we knew from the mishap of a poor Indian servant, who +was caught in the bazar in the fact of taking thirteen of the Pasha's +tin piasters in change for a dollar, when the political economy of Cairo +had decreed that twelve were to be equal in public estimation, and was +immediately incarcerated in the place of skulls, or at least of heads, +from which it is supposed he would have come out shorn of his beard and +the chin it grew from, if the Consular cocked hat and Abyssinian charger +had not proceeded at a gallop to the Court at Shubra, to claim him as a +subject of the British crown; and much did poor Baloo vow, that no +earthly temptation should take him again to quit the gentle rule of the +old Lady in Leadenhall-street, who, though she pinches a Peishwa and +mercilessly screws a renter when it suits her, it must be allowed has a +reverent care for the heads of all her lieges, and gives them a fair +chance of going to their graves with the members nature had bestowed on +them. + +_Hisce positis_, as the logicians say, the magician began his process. +The boy was innocent of fear; being in fact a person rather perplexed +and imperfect in those parts of theology that should have caused him to +feel alarm. His native nurse first taught him to kiss his hand to the +moon walking in brightness; which, being especially reprobated in the +book of Job, we persuaded him to renounce. We next found him making +salams as he passed the fat old gentleman with an elephant's head, and +other foul idolatries bedaubed with rose-pink and butter, that show +themselves on various milestone-like appurtenances to an Indian road. +After his visit to the Persian Gulph he leaned more towards monotheism; +and I once found him seated between two guns on the quarter-deck of an +Arab frigate, in the midst of a fry of devotees of little more than his +own age, busily engaged in chanting canticles in praise of Mohammed the +"amber-_ee_." His early leaning towards the ugly gods of Hindoston, had +made it a delicate matter to introduce him to our Evil Principle; and +the fact was, that when he afterwards saw the Freischutz in England, we +had no means of making him comprehend the nature of the crimson fiend, +but by telling him he was a relation of his old elephant-headed friend +Gunputty. On the whole I imagine there never was a better subject to +cope with a sorcerer; and when he asked the cause of the immediate +preparations we told him the man was going to show some feats of +legerdemain such as he used to see in India. The magician began by +throwing grains of incense upon the fire, bowing with a seesaw motion +and repeating "_Heyya hadji Capitân, Heyya hadji Capitân;_" which being +interpreted, if it was intended to have any meaning, would appear to +imply "_Hurra, pilgrim Captain!_" being, as I understood it at the time, +an invocation by his style and title, of the spirit he wished to see. +When nothing came, he increased his zeal after the manner of a priest of +Baal, and seemed determined that if the "Captain" was sleeping or on a +journey, he should not be missed for want of calling. One slight +_variorum_ reading I observed. Instead of saying to the boy "What do you +see?" as had been reported--he said "_Do you see a little man?_" which, +if he had been accessible to fear or phantasy, was manifestly telling +him what he was to look for. The boy, however, resolutely declared he +saw nothing; and the sorcerer continued his calls upon his spirit. When +in this manner curiosity had been roused to something like expectation, +the boy suddenly exclaimed, "I see something!"--_Tremor occupat +artis;_--when he quashed it all by adding, "I see my nose." By the dim +light of the fire, he had succeeded in getting a glimpse of his own +countenance reflected in the ink. The magician doubled his exertions by +way of carrying the thing off; but there was much less gravity in his +audience afterwards; and at last he was forced to declare that the +spirit would not come, and the reason he believed was because we were +Christians. He said, however, if an Arab boy was substituted the spirit +would come. A servant therefore was sent out to bring a boy by the offer +of a piastre, and one was soon produced. Whether there was any +confederacy or not, I had no precise means to ascertain; but I was +inclined to think not. The Arab boy was trusted with the ink in place of +the European, and on the magician's asking him the leading question "Do +you see a little man?" he took but one look and answered "Yes." The +orders then followed "Tell him to bring a flag." &c. to all of which, +whether operated on by some dread of refusing, or by the natural +inclination of one rogue to help another, he duly answered that the +thing was done. I do not remember any further _denoùment_ that there +was; and so ended the magic of the magician of Grand Cairo. + +Being disappointed in this experiment, we began to seek for the +opportunity of making others, and offered a reward for any person who +would show us a specimen of imp or spirit. One man was produced, who was +stated to be of considerable fame. He said he would show me a spirit; +but I must go out with him three nights running to a cross road at +midnight, and perform divers ceremonies and lustrations which he +proceeded to describe. I believe he he had got an inkling, that I +intended to leave Cairo the next day. I told him, however, that I would +cheerfully go through any ceremonies he might propose. He next said, it +would be necessary that I should repeat the name of the spirit I called +for, eleven thousand times; and this I assured him I would painfully +perform. He then said, he was afraid at my age the operation would be +dangerous. I wonder whether the rogue meant that I was too young, or too +old, or too middle-aged; for I was exactly thirty-eight. Seeing that I +only pressed him the more, he took his fee and walked off, intimating +that there was no use in doing these things with Frangis. + +I saw another instance in Cairo, of the way in which a story accumulates +by telling, and the degree in which even sensible Europeans by long +residence are induced to give into the beliefs they find around them. +The conversation turned one day on the power of charming serpents, +supposed to be inherent in certain descendants of the _Psylli_. One of +the Consular Staff immediately declared, that a most remarkable instance +of the fact had happened in the Consul-General's own courtyard the day +before. That one of those gifted men had come into the yard, and +declared he knew by his art that there were serpents in the stable; and +that he had immediately gone and summoned forth two snakes of the most +poisonous kind, which he seized in his hands and brought, in the +presence of the relator, to the Consular threshold. Now it happened to +me to see the whole of this scene. I was wandering about the Consul's +court, gazing at the curiosities scattered around, enough to have set up +any European museum with an Egyptian branch, and particularly, I +remember, at a lame mummy's crutch, found with him in his coffin, on +which it is possible the original owner hopped away from the plague of +frogs. An old rural Arab of respectable appearance was standing at the +Consul's door, holding in his hand the crooked stick which an Arab keeps +to recover the halter of his camel if he happens to lose it while +mounted, and presenting altogether a parallel to a substantial yeoman +with his riding-whip, come to town to do a little justice business with +the Mayor. A stable-keeper came and said, that two snakes had made their +appearance in the stable; on which the Arab, being no more in the habit +of fearing such vermin than a European farmer of fearing rats, proceeded +towards the stable, and I followed him. Sure enough there were two +snakes in dalliance in the horse's stall; and my construction was, that +it was the poor animals' St. Valentine. The Arab, however, ruthlessly +smote them with his gib stick, in a way that showed an exact +comprehension of what would settle a snake; and brought them hanging by +the tails and still writhing with the remains of life, and laid them at +the threshold of the house. I looked at the snakes, and felt a strong +persuasion that they were of a harmless kind; but whether they were or +not, was of small moment as the Arab treated them. + +I remember in India once driving one of the snake-jugglers to discovery. +He told the servants there were snakes in the stable; and offered to +produce one. He accordingly went, with piping and other ceremonies, and +soon demonstrated a goodly _cobra de capello_ struggling by the tail. He +secured this in his repertory of snakes, and said he thought there was +another; on which he went through the same operations again. Though he +had been too quick for me on both occasions, I offered him a rupee to +produce a third, which he agreed to; and this time I saw the snake's +head, struggling rather oddly in his nether garments. He ran into the +horse's stall, rushed forward with a shriek to distract attention, and +then I saw him jerk out a snake of some four feet long, and drag it +backwards by the tip of the tail as if desperately afraid of it. Knowing +his snakes must be an exhaustible quantity, I proffered a second rupee +for another, taking care to keep between him and the snake-basket; which +he declined. But on turning round and giving him a chance to communicate +with his receptacle, he quickly presented himself with the assurance +that now he thought he knew where a serpent might be lodged. The Indian +servants all devoutly believed in his skill; but it is impossible not to +be ashamed of Europeans, who adorn their books with marks of similar +gullibility.--_Abridged from Tait's Edinburgh Mag._ + + * * * * * + + + + +Notes of a Reader + + * * * * * + + +RECREATIONS IN THE LAW. + + +Gentle reader, we are not about to direct your notice to the Temple +Gardens, the olden feasts in our Law Halls--through which men ate their +way to eminence--nor to prove that looking to a Chancellorship is +woolgathering--nor to invite you to the shrubby groves of Lincoln's Inn, +or to promenade with the spirit of BACON in Gray's Inn. All these may be +pleasurable occupations; but there is mirth in store in the _study_ of +the Law itself, which is not "dull and crabbed as some fools (or knaves) +suppose." + +In a recent _Mirror_, (No. 540) this may have been made manifest to the +reader in the Legal Rhymes, quoted by our correspondent, _W.A.R.;_[9] +but lo! here is a volume of evidence in "_The Cenveyancer's Guide;_" a +Poem, by John Crisp, Esq., of Furnival's Inn; in which the art of +Conveyancing is sung in Hudibrastic verse, and said in notes of pleasant +prose. Happy are we to see Mr. Crisp's volume in a third edition, since +we opine from this success the bright moments of relief which his Muse +may have shed upon the _viginti annorum lucubrutiones_ of thousands +of students. We have not space for quotations from the poem itself, in +which _Doe_ and _Roe_ figure as heroes, with their occasional +friend Thomas Stiles. We can only say their movements are sung with the +terseness and point which we so much admire in the great originals, so +as to make men acknowledge there is good in every thing. Our extracts +are from the Introduction and Notes. First is + + +A LEGAL GLEE. + + "A woman having a settlement, + Married a man with none, + The question was, he being dead, + If that she had was gone. + Quoth _Sir John Pratt_, her settlement + Suspended did remain, + Living the husband--but him dead, + It doth revive again. + + + "CHORUS OF PUISNE JUDGES. + "Living the husband--but him dead, + It doth revive again." + + + [9] ERRATA in one of our correspondent's "Legal + + for "six beaches," read "six braches." + for "book ycleped," read "_bock ylered_." + for "token" read "_teken_." + for "Hamelyn" read "_Howelin_." + + Corrected from Blount's _Tenures_, p. 665, ed. 1815. + + +A print of Westminster Hall, by Mosely, from a drawing made by Gravelot, +who died in 1773, bears the following versified inscription:-- + + + "When fools fall out, for ev'ry flaw, + They run horn mad to go to law, + A hedge awry, a wrong plac'd gate, + Will serve to spend a whole estate. + Your case the lawyer says is good, + And justice cannot he withstood; + By tedious process from above, + From office they to office move, + Thro' pleas, demurrers, the dev'l and all, + At length they bring it to the _Hall_; + The dreadful hall by Rufus rais'd, + For lofty Gothick arches prais'd. + + "The _first of Term_, the fatal day, + Doth various images convey; + First, from the courts with clam'rous bawl, + The _criers_ their _attornies_ call; + One of the gown discreet and wise, + By _proper_ means his witness tries; + From _Wreathock's_ gang, not right or laws, + H' assures his trembling client's cause. + _This_ gnaws his haudkerchies, whilst _that_ + Gives the kind ogling nymph his hat; + Here one in love with choristers, + Minds singing more than law affairs. + A _Serjeant_ limping on behind, + Shews justice lame as well as blind. + To gain new clients some dispute, + Others protract an ancient suit, + Jargon and noise alone prevail, + Whilst sense and reason's sure to fail: + At _Babel_ thus _law terms_ begun, + And now at West----er go on." + + +At page 24, of the Poem, there is a happy allusion to the permanence or +lasting of a limitation: + + + "But if the limitation's made + So long as cheating's us'd in trade, + Or vice prevails: 'tis then a fee, + As good as ever need to be: + For tho' 'tis base instead of pure, + Alas it ever will endure." + + +Upon this passage is the following confirmative note: "Cheating will +always prevail, in defiance of all human laws, for it cannot be avoided, +but so long as contracts be suffered, many offences shall follow +thereby."--(_Doctor and Student_, c. 3.) In buying and selling, the law +of nations connives at some cunning and overreaching in respect of the +price. By the civil law, a just price is said to be that, whereby +neither the buyer nor seller is injured above one moiety of the true and +common value; and in this case the person injured shall not be relieved +by rescinding the sale, for he must impute it to his own imprudence and +indiscretion. + +The origin of _Fee-tail estates_: + + + "The expression, fee-tail, was borrowed from the feudists, among + whom it signified any mutilated or truncated inheritance from which + the heirs general were cut off, being derived from the barbarous + word _taliare_ to cut.--(2 _Blac. Comm_. 112.) + + +_Fines and Recoveries (as fund and refund_,) are like the poles, arctic +and attractive. Of the latter is the following _quid-pro-quo_ anecdote: + + + "A physician of an acrimonious disposition, and having a thorough + hatred of lawyers, was in company with a barrister, and in the + course of conversation, reproached the profession of the latter with + the use of phrases utterly unintelligible. 'For example,' said he, + 'I never could understand what you lawyers mean by docking an + entail.' 'That is very likely,' answered the lawyer, 'but I will + explain it to you; it is doing what you doctors never consent + to--_suffering a recovery_.' + + +Among the notes to _Rights and Titles_ is the following: + + + "Master _Mason_, of _Trinity College_, sent his pupil to another of + the fellows to borrow a book of him, who told him, 'I am loth to + lend books out of my chamber, but if it please thy tutor to come and + read upon it in my chamber, he shall as long as he will.' It was + winter, and some days after the same fellow sent to Mr. _Mason_ to + borrow his bellows, but Mr. _Mason_ said to his pupil, 'I am loth to + lend my bellows out of my chamber, but if thy tutor would come and + blow the fire in my chamber, he shall as long as he will.' + + +In the next page is a note on the _Nature of Property_, in the +perspicuous style of a master-mind: + + + "There is nothing which so generally strikes the imagination, and + engages the affections of mankind, as the right of property; or that + sole and despotic dominion which one man claims and exercises over + the external things of the world, in total exclusion of the right of + any other individual in the universe. And yet there are very few + that will give themselves the trouble to consider the original and + foundation of this right. Pleased as we are with the possession, we + seem afraid to look back to the means by which it was acquired, as + if fearful of some defect in our title; or at best we rest satisfied + with the decision of the laws in our favour, without examining the + reason and authority upon which those laws have been built. We think + it enough that our title is derived by the grant of the former + proprietor, by descent from our ancestors, or by the last will and + testament of the dying owner; not caring to reflect that (accurately + and strictly speaking) there is no foundation in nature, or in + natural law, why a set of words upon parchment should convey the + dominion of land; why the son should have a right to exclude his + fellow creature from a determinate spot of ground, because his + father had so done before him; or why the occupier of a particular + field, or of a jewel, when lying on his death bed, and no longer + able to maintain possession, should be entitled to tell the rest + of the world which of them should enjoy it after him.--(2 _Blac. + Comm._ 2) + + "The _two sheriff's of London_ are the _one sheriff of Middlesex_; + thus constituting in the latter case, what may be denominated, in + the words of _George Colman the Younger_, (see his address to the + Reviewers, in his _vagaries_,) 'a plural unit.' Henry the First, + in the same charter by which he declared and confirmed the + privileges of the City of _London_, (and among others, that of + choosing their own sheriffs,) conferred on them, in consideration of + an annual rent of 300_l._, to be paid to his majesty and his + successors for ever, the perpetual sheriffalty of _Middlesex_. This + was an enormous price; 300_l._. in those days were equal to more + than three times as many thousands at the present time. + + +Here is a lively commentary upon the _Inclosure Acts_: + + + "To a pamphlet which was published some years ago, against the + propriety of enclosing _Waltham Forest_, the following quaint motto + was prefixed: + + + "The fault is great in man or woman, + Who steals a goose from off a common, + But who can plead that man's excuse, + Who steals the common from the goose?" + + +How to decide a Chancery Suit: + +"The _Shellys_ were a family of distinction in _Sussex_. _Richard_ and +_Thomas Shelly_ were a long time engaged in litigation; and Queen +Elizabeth hearing of it, ordered her Lord Chancellor to summon the +Judges to put an end to it, to prevent the ruin of so ancient a +family."--(_Engl. Baronets_, ed. 1737.) + +With these pleasantries we leave the _Conveyancer's Guide_, hoping it +may be long ere the witty author sings his "Farewell to his Muse." + + * * * * * + + + + +Manners & Customs of all Nations. + + * * * * * + + +THE CURFEW BELL. + +(_For the Mirror_.) + + + Hark! the curfews solemn sound; + Silence, darkness, spreads around. + + +There are now but few places in which this ancient custom--the memento +of the iron sway of William the Conqueror--is retained. + +Its impression when I heard it for the first time, will never be effaced +from my memory. Let not the reader suppose that it was merely the +_sound_ of the bell to which I allude; to use the language of Thomas +Moore, I may justly say, "Oh! no, it was something more exquisite +still." + +It was during the autumn of last year, that I had occasion to visit the +eastern coast of Kent. Accustomed to an inland county, the prospect of +wandering by the sea shore, and inhaling the sea breezes, afforded me no +trifling degree of pleasure. The most frequented road to the sea, was +through a succession of meadows and pastures; the ground becoming more +irregular and broken as it advanced, till at last it was little better +than an accumulation of sand-hills. I have since been informed by a +veteran tar, that these sand-hills bear a striking resemblance to those +on that part of the coast of Egypt, where the British troops under the +gallant Abercrombie were landed. + +The evening was beautifully calm, not a sound disturbed its +tranquillity; and the sun was just sinking to repose in all his dying +glory. At this part of the coast, the sands are hard and firm to walk +upon; and on arriving at their extremity, where the waves were gently +breaking at my feet, "forming sweet music to the thoughtful ear," I +looked around, and gazed on the various objects that presented +themselves to my view, with feelings of deep interest and pleasure. The +evening was too far advanced to discern clearly the coast of France, but +its dim outline might just be traced, bounding the view. Every now and +then a vessel might be seen making her silent way round the foreland, +her form gradually lessening, till at last it was entirely lost in the +distance. As it grew darker, the strong, red glare of the light-house +shedding its lurid gleams on the waves, added a novel effect to the +scene. + +At the very moment I was turning from the shore, to retrace my steps, +the deep tone of a distant bell fell on my ear. It was the Curfew +Bell--which had been tolled regularly at eight o'clock in the evening, +since the days of the despotic William. + +The vast changes that had taken place in society, in fact, in every +thing, since the institution of this custom, occupied my thoughts during +my walk; and I felt no little gratification in the assurance that what +was originally the edict of a barbarous and despotic age, was now merely +retained as a relic of ancient times. + +It may be thought romantic, but the first hearing of the Curfew Bell +often occurs to my memory; and there are times when I fancy myself +walking on that lone shore, and the objects that I then thought so +beautiful, are as distinctly and vividly seen as if I were actually +there. + +REGINALD. + +The only drawback from the interest of this brief paper is that the +writer does not state the name of the Village whence he heard the Curfew +Bell. + + * * * * * + + +BARBAROUS PUNISHMENTS. + + +It is almost inconceivable how long Fnglishmen have retained their +barbarous practices. It is not more than a century since a trial for +witchcraft took place in England, and hardly eighty since one occurred +in Scotland. The crime of coining the King's money is still treated as +treason, and women, for the commission of this crime as well as that of +murdering their husbands, were sentenced to be strangled, and afterwards +publicly burned. In London this horrible outrage upon civilized feelings +was perpetrated in Smithfield. One of these melancholy exhibitions took +place within the memory of many persons. The criminal was a fine young +woman, and the strangling had not been completed, for when the flames +reached her at the stake, she uttered a shriek. This produced, as it +well might, a general horror, and the practice was abandoned, though the +law was not abrogated. It was the mild and enlightened Sir Samuel +Romilly who first brought in a bill to annul the old acts which ordered +the most revolting mutilation of the corpses of traitors, agreeable to a +sentence expressed in the most barbarous jargon. Mark, this was only a +few years since, I believe in 1811. + +What must have been the taste of our forefathers, who suffered +miscreants to obtain their livelihood for the moment by stationing +themselves at Temple-bar, after the rebellion in 1745, with +magnifying-glasses, that the spectators might more nicely discriminate +the features of those unfortunate gentlemen whose heads had been fixed +over the gateway. No London populace, however tumultuary, would now for +a moment tolerate such an outrage upon all that is decent and +humane--(From a clever letter in _the Times_ of April 12, by Colonel +Jones.) + + * * * * * + + + + +THE SELECTOR AND LITERARY NOTICES OF _NEW WORKS._ + + * * * * * + + +THE ALTRIVE TALES. + +By the Ettrick Shepherd. + + +Mr. Hogg proposes to collect and reprint under the above title, the best +of the grave and gay tales with which he has aided the Magazines and +Annuals during the last few years. The Series will extend to fourteen +volumes, the first of which, now before us, preceded by a poetical +dedication and autobiographical memoir. The poem is an exquisite +performance; but the biography, with due allowance for the Shepherd's +claim, is a most objectionable preface. It is so disfigured with +self-conceit and vituperative recollections of old grievances, that we +regret some kind friend of the author did not suggest the omission of +these personalities. They will be neither advantageous to the writer, +interesting to the public, nor propitiatory for the work itself; since +the world care less about the squabbles of authors and booksellers than +even an "untoward event" in Parliament; and if the writer of every book +were to detail his vexations as a preface, the publication of a long +series of "Calamities" might be commenced immediately. + +To our way of thinking, the pleasantest part of the Shepherd's memoir is +his reminiscences of men of talent, with whom his own abilities have +brought him in contact. Thus, of + + +_Southey._ + + +"My first interview with Mr. Southey was at the Queen's Head inn, in +Keswick, where I had arrived, wearied, one evening, on my way to +Westmoreland; and not liking to intrude on his family circle that +evening, I sent a note up to Greta Hall, requesting him to come down and +see me, and drink one half mutchkin along with me. He came on the +instant, and stayed with me about an hour and a half. But I was a +grieved as well as an astonished man, when I found that he refused all +participation in my beverage of rum punch. For a poet to refuse his +glass was to me a phenomenon; and I confess I doubted in my own mind, +and doubt to this day, if perfect sobriety and transcendent poetical +genius can exist together. In Scotland I am sure they cannot. With +regard to the English, I shall leave them to settle that among +themselves, as they have little that is worth drinking. + +"Before we had been ten minutes together my heart was knit to Southey, +and every hour thereafter my esteem for him increased. I breakfasted +with him next morning, and remained with him all that day and the next; +and the weather being fine, we spent the time in rambling on the hills +and sailing on the lake; and all the time he manifested a delightful +flow of spirits, as well as a kind sincerity of manner, repeating +convivial poems and ballads, and always between hands breaking jokes on +his nephew, young Coleridge, in whom he seemed to take great delight. He +gave me, with the utmost readiness, a poem and ballad of his own, for a +work which I then projected. I objected to his going with Coleridge and +me, for fear of encroaching on his literary labours; and, as I had +previously resided a month at Keswick, I knew every scene almost in +Cumberland; but he said he was an early riser, and never suffered any +task to interfere with his social enjoyments and recreations; and along +with us he went both days. + +"Southey certainly is as elegant a writer as any in the kingdom. But +those who would love Southey as well as admire him, must see him, as I +did, in the bosom, not only of one lovely family, but of three, all +attached to him as a father, and all elegantly maintained and educated, +it is generally said, by his indefatigable pen. The whole of Southey's +conversation and economy, both at home and afield, left an impression of +veneration on my mind, which no future contingency shall ever either +extinguish or injure. Both his figure and countenance are imposing, and +deep thought is strongly marked in his dark eye; but there is a defect +in his eyelids, for these he has no power of raising; so that, when he +looks up, he turns up his face, being unable to raise his eyes; and when +he looks towards the top of one of his romantic mountains, one would +think he was looking at the zenith. This peculiarity is what will most +strike every stranger in the appearance of the accomplished laureate. He +does not at all see well at a distance, which made me several times +disposed to get into a passion with him, because he did not admire the +scenes which I was pointing out. We have only exchanged a few casual +letters since that period, and I have never seen this great and good man +again." + +In the Recollections of Wordsworth we find related the affront which led +to Hogg's caricature of Wordsworth's style, an offence which shut out +the Shepherd from the society of the amiable poet of the Lakes. + +"This anecdote has been told and told again, but never truly; and was +likewise brought forward in the 'Noctes Ambrosianæ,' as a joke; but it +was no joke; and the plain, simple truth of the matter was thus:-- + +It chanced one night, when I was there, that there was a resplendent +arch across the zenith from the one horizon to the other, of something +like the aurora borealis, but much brighter. It was a scene that is well +remembered, for it struck the country with admiration, as such a +phenomenon had never before been witnessed in such perfection; and, as +far as I could learn, it had been more brilliant over the mountains and +pure waters of Westmoreland than any where else. Well, when word came +into the room of the splendid meteor, we all went out to view it; and, +on the beautiful platform at Mount Ryedale we were all walking, in twos +and threes, arm-in-arm, talking of the phenomenon, and admiring it. Now, +be it remembered, that Wordsworth, Professor Wilson, Lloyd, De Quincey, +and myself, were present, besides several other literary gentlemen, +whose names I am not certain that I remember aright. Miss Wordsworth's +arm was in mine, and she was expressing some fears that the splendid +stranger might prove ominous, when I, by ill luck, blundered out the +following remark, thinking that I was saying a good thing:--'Hout, +me'em! it is neither mair nor less than joost a treeumphal airch, raised +in honour of the meeting of the poets.' 'That's not amiss.--Eh? +Eh?--that's very good,' said the Professor, laughing. But Wordsworth, +who had De Quincey's arm, gave a grunt, and turned on his heel, and +leading the little opium-chewer aside, he addressed him in these +disdainful and venomous words:--'Poets? Poets?--What does the fellow +mean?--Where are they?' Who could forgive this? For my part, I never +can, and never will! I admire Wordsworth; as who does not, whatever they +may pretend? but for that short sentence I have a lingering ill-will at +him which I cannot get rid of. It is surely presumption in any man to +circumscribe all human excellence within the narrow sphere of his own +capacity. The '_Where are they?_' was too bad! I have always some hopes +that De Quincey was _leeing_, for I did not myself hear Wordsworth utter +the words." + +Appended to this anecdote is a characteristic observation on the poetry +of Wordsworth. + +"It relates to the richness of his works for quotations. For these they +are a mine that is altogether inexhaustible. There is nothing in nature +that you may not get a quotation out of Wordsworth to suit, and a +quotation too that breathes the very soul of poetry. There are only +three books in the world that are worth the opening in search of mottos +and quotations, and all of them are alike rich. These are, the Old +Testament, Shakspeare, and the poetical works of Wordsworth, and, +strange to say, the 'Excursion' abounds most in them." + +We chanced to fall upon the Shepherd's allusion to the liberties taken +with his name in _Blackwood's Magazine_, which work owes its +establishment and much of its early success to Mr. Hogg's co-operation. +We believe it to be pretty well known that the offensive language +attributed to the Shepherd in the "Noctes" has no more to do with Mr. +Hogg than by attempting to imitate his conversational style. This +impropriety, which is beyond a literary joke, was reprobated some months +since by the _Quarterly Review_, but here the offending parties are +properly visited with a burst of honest indignation which may not pass +unheeded. Mr. Hogg says + + + "For my part, after twenty years of feelings hardly suppressed, he + has driven me beyond the bounds of human patience. That Magazine of + his, which owes its rise principally to myself, has often put words + and sentiments into my mouth of which I have been greatly ashamed, + and which have given much pain to my family and relations, and many + of those after a solemn written promise that such freedoms should + never be repeated. I have been often urged to restrain and humble + him by legal measures as an incorrigible offender deserves. I know I + have it in my power, and if he dares me to the task, I want but a + hair to make a tether of." + + +The Shepherd appears to have written since 1813, fifteen volumes of +poetry and as many volumes of prose, besides his contributions to +periodical works; and, what is not the less extraordinary he was forty +years of age before he wrote his first poem. + +The Tales in the present volume are the Adventures of Captain Lochy, the +Pongos, and Marion's Jock. + + * * * * * + + + + +THE GATHERER. + + +_Marriage Tree_.--A marriage tree, generally of the pine kind, is +planted in the churchyard, by every new-married couple, in the parish of +Varallo Pombio, in the Tyrol. A fine grove of pines, the result of this +custom, now shades this churchyard. + +W.G.C. + + +_Slippery Love_.--Thevenard was the first singer of his time, at Paris, +in the operas of Lulli. He was more than sixty years old when, seeing a +beautiful _female slipper_ in a shoemaker's shop, he fell violently in +love, unsight, unseen, with the person for whom it was made; and having +discovered the lady, married her. He died at Paris in 1741, at the age +of 72. + +P.T.W. + + +Character of England. + +Anglia, 1 Mons, 2 Pons, 3 Fons, 4 Ecclesia, 5 Faemina, 6 Lana. + +(That is to say:) + +For 1, Mountains; 2, Bridges; 3, Rivers; 4, Churches faire; 5, Women; +and 6, Wool, England is past compare. + +G.K. + + +_On our Lady Church in Salisbury_. + + + How many dayes in one whole year there be, + So many windows in one church we see, + So many marble pillars there appear, + As there are hours throughout the fleeting year. + So many gates, as moons one year do view, + Strange tale to tell, yet not so strange as true. + +G.K. + + +_Astronomical Toasts_.--Lord Chesterfield dined one day with the French +and Spanish ambassadors. After dinner, toasts were proposed. The Spanish +ambassador proposed the King of Spain under the title of the Sun. The +French ambassador gave his king as the Moon. Lord C. then arose, "Your +excellencies," said he, "have taken the two greatest luminaries, and the +Stars are too small for a comparison with my royal master. I therefore +beg to give your excellencies, Joshua." + + +_Talleyrand._--(The following _bon mot_ is worthy of extract from the +_Literary Gazette_, and smacks of the raciest days of the noble +utterer.) M. Talleyrand was enjoying his rubber, when the conversation +turned on the recent union of an elderly lady of respectable rank. +"However could Madame de S------ make such a match? a person of her +birth to marry a valet-de-chambre!" "Ah," replied Talleyrand, "it was +late in the game; at nine we don't reckon honours." + + +_Remarkable Circumstance._--William Coghan, who was at Oxford in the +year 1575, when the sweating sickness raged at that place, and who has +given a brief account of its ravages, says, "It began on the sixth day +of July, from which day to the twelfth day of August next ensuing, there +died five hundred and ten persons, all men and no women." + +P.T.W. + + +_A Loyalist._--The Earl of St. Alban's was, like many other staunch +loyalists, little remembered by Charles II. He was, however, an +attendant at court, and one of his majesty's companions in his gay +hours. On one such occasion, a stranger came with an importunate suit, +for an office of great value, just vacant. The king, by way of joke, +comsired the earl to personate him, and demanded the petitioner to be +admitted. The gentleman addressing himself to the supposed monarch, +enumerated his services to the royal family, and hoped the grant of the +place would not be deemed too great a reward. "By no means," answered +the earl, "and I am only sorry that as soon as I heard of the vacancy, I +conferred it on my faithful friend, the Earl of St. Alban's," pointing +to the king, "who constantly followed the fortunes, both of my father +and myself, and has hitherto gone unrewarded." Charles granted, for this +joke, what the utmost real services looked for in vain. + +T. GILL. + + * * * * * + +_Printed and published by J. LIMBIRD, 143, Strand, (near Somerset +House,) London; sold by ERNEST FLEISCHER, 626, New Market, Leipsic; +G.G. BENNIS, 55. Run 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 11567 *** |