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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/11741-0.txt b/11741-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..62cfbdc --- /dev/null +++ b/11741-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1608 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 11741 *** + +THE MIRROR OF LITERATURE, AMUSEMENT, AND INSTRUCTION. + +VOL. XIX. NO. 539.] SATURDAY, MARCH 24, 1832. [PRICE 2_d_. + + + + * * * * * + + + +[Illustration: WINDSOR CASTLE, (N.E.)] + +WINDSOR CASTLE, (N.E.) + +Our sketchy tour of Windsor Castle has hitherto been told in visits far +between, perhaps, if not few, for the interesting character of the whole +fabric.[1] + +The present Cut includes the North-east view, a picturesque if not +important point. The reader will remember, if he has not enjoyed, the +splendid terrace on the north; this is now continued on the eastern side. +The fine tower at the eastern end of the north terrace, (at the angle,) is +_Brunswick Tower_, with a projecting bastion in its front containing the +apparatus for heating the orangery, with rooms for the attendants; it is +octagon shaped, and has a most commanding appearance, the height being 120 +feet above the level of the terrace. + +A staircase turret communicates with the apartments, the principal one +being appropriated as a private dining-room by the late King, while the +larger apartments on the east front were reserved for splendid +entertainments. In a central position between the state dining-room and +St. George's Hall is a music saloon, in which is placed a fine-toned organ. +A communication has been effected between Brunswick Tower and the state +apartments by a corridor terminating at the King's Guard Chamber, where a +new tower, named after George the Third, has been erected: the principal +window is extremely large, and divided by Gothic tracery into several +compartments, producing a noble and cathedral-like appearance. + +Beneath the Castle, in the Engraving, are seen the wooded slopes of the +Little Park, the "green retreats" of Pope, where + + ----Waving groves a checker'd scene display + And part admit, and part exclude the day. + +*** The friendly suggestion of our Correspondent, G.C. (Windsor Castle) +shall be considered. + + +[1] For Views of Windsor Castle, with the late renovations, see the + following Numbers of the _Mirror_: + + No. 292, George the Fourth's Gateway, South and East Sides. + + Long Gallery. + + No. 437, Bedchamber in which George IV. died. + + No. 444, Private Dining Room. + + No. 486, George IV. Gateway, from the interior of the Quadrangle. + + No. 488, St. George's Chapel. + + * * * * * + + +THE MARCH OF MIND. + +(_To the Editor_.) + +It is generally supposed that the extensive search after, and diffusion of, +knowledge, is in a great measure peculiar to these present times. It seems +therefore to me a very curious thing to find a learned man and an +accomplished courtier protesting against book-learning as an evil, so far +back as the year 1646, and a curious thing he himself appears to have +thought it, introducing his opinion as a "paradox" until he explains. In +this explanation we find the same opinion that is now strenuously insisted +on by Mr. Cobbett, namely, that a man who properly understands his own +business or employment, though he have nothing of literature, is by no +means to be accounted ignorant. + +The letters of James Howell, Esq. are well known as fluent examples of the +best style of writing of his day, and as repositories of many curious +facts and intelligent remarks. The following letter appears to be +addressed to Lord Dorchester-- + +"My Lord,--The subject of this letter may, peradventure, seem a paradox to +some, but not, I know, to your Lordship, when you are pleased to weigh +well the reasons. Learning is a thing that hath been much cried up, and +coveted in all ages, especially in this last century of years, by people +of all sorts, though never so mean and mechanical; every man strains his +fortune to keep his children at school; the cobbler will clout it till +midnight, the porter will carry burdens till his bones crack again, the +ploughman will pinch both back and belly to give his son _learning_, and I +find that this ambition reigns no where so much as in this island. But, +under favour, this word, _learning_, is taken in a narrower sense among us +than among other nations: we seem to restrain it only to the _book_, +whereas, indeed, any artisan whatsoever (if he knew the secret and mystery +of his trade) may be called a learned man: a good mason; a good shoemaker, +that can manage St. Crispin's lance handsomely; a skilful yeoman; a good +ship-wright, &c. may be all called learned men, and indeed the usefullest +sort of learned men. + +"The extravagant humour of our country is not to be altogether +commended--that all men should aspire to book-learning; there is not a +simpler animal, and a more superfluous member of a state than a mere +scholar, a self-pleasing student. Archimedes, though an excellent +engineer, when Syracuse was lost, was found in his study, intoxicated with +speculations; and another great, learned philosopher, like a fool or +frantic, when being in a bath, he leaped out naked among the people, and +cried, 'I have found it, I have found it,' having hit then upon an +extraordinary conclusion in geometry. There is a famous tale of Thomas +Aquinas, the angelical doctor, and of Bonadventure, the seraphical doctor, +of whom Alexander Hales, our countryman, reports, that these great clerks +were invited to dinner by the French King, on purpose to observe their +humours, and being brought to the room where the table was laid, the first +fell to eating of bread as hard as he could drive, at last, breaking out +of a brown study, he cried out '_Conclusum est contra Manichaeos;_' the +other fell a gazing upon the Queen, and the King asking him how he liked +her, he answered, 'Oh, sir, if an earthly Queen be so beautiful, what +shall we think of the Queen of Heaven?' The latter was the better courtier +of the two. + +"My Lord, I know none in this age more capable to sit in the chair, and +censure what is true learning, and what _not_, than yourself; therefore, +in speaking of this subject to your Lordship, I fear to have committed the +same error as Phormio did, in discoursing of war before Hannibal. + +"My Lord, your most humble, &c. + +"JAMES HOWELL." + + * * * * * + + +ILLUMINATED PSALTER. + +(_For the Mirror_.) + +There is an illuminated Psalter preserved amongst the MSS. in the British +Museum, 2. A. 16., written by John Mallard, Chaplain to Henry VIII., +wherein are several notes in that king's hand writing, some in pencil +prefixed to Psalm liii. ("_Dixit incipiens_.") According to a very ancient +custom are the figures of King David and a fool, in this instance +evidently the portraits of Henry and his jester, Will Somers. + +S. K. + + * * * * * + + +ANCIENT VALENTINES. + +(_For the Mirror_.) + +The earliest poetical Valentines remaining, are those preserved in the +works of Charles Duke of Orleans, father to Louis XII. of France. He was +taken prisoner at the battle of Agincourt, and remained in England +twenty-five years, and called his mistress his _Valentine_. In the royal +library of MSS. now in the British Museum, there is a magnificent volume +containing his writings whilst in England; it belonged to Henry VIII. for +whom it was copied from older MSS. It is illuminated: one painting +represents the duke in the White Tower, at a writing table. This MSS. also +contain some of the compositions of Eloisa. + +S.K. + + * * * * * + + + +THE COSMOPOLITE. + + +SUPERSTITIONS, FABLES, &C. RELATIVE TO ANIMALS. + +(_Continued from page_ 171.) + +The fore-foot of a _Hare_ worn constantly in the pocket, is esteemed by +certain worthy old dames as a sure preventive of rheumatic disorders. + +The _Lynx_ was believed by the ancients, from the acuteness of its sight, +to have the power of seeing through stone walls; and amongst other +absurdities then gravely maintained were these: that the _Elephant_ had no +joints, and being unable to lie down, was obliged to sleep leaning against +a tree; that _Deer_ lived several hundred years; that the _Badger_ had the +legs of one side shorter than those of the other; that the _Chameleon_ +lived entirely on air, and the _Salamander_ in fire; whilst the sphynx, +satyr, unicorn, centaur, hypogriff, hydra, dragon, griffin, cockatrice, &c. +&c. &c. were either the creations of fancy, or fabled accounts of +creatures of whose real form, origin, nature, and qualities, but the most +imperfect knowledge was afloat. + +The flesh of the _Rhinoceros_, and almost every part of its body, is +reckoned by the ignorant natives of countries where it is found, an +antidote against poison. + +That the _Jackal_ is the "Lion's Provider," entirely, is an erroneous idea; +but it is true that the terrific cry of this animal when in chase, rouses +the lion, whose ear is dull, and enables him to join in the pursuit of +prey. Many stories are told respecting the generosity of the _Lion_, and +it was once confidently believed that no stress of hunger would induce him +to devour a virgin, though his imperial appetite might satiate itself on +men and matrons. The title of King of the Beasts, given at a period when +strength and ferocity were deemed the prime qualities of man--is now more +justly considered to belong to the mild, majestic, and almost rational +elephant. The _White Elephant_ is a sacred animal with the Siamese, and +the cow with the Bramins and Hindoos. + +The _Bear_ was believed never to devour a man whom it found dead; and it +was imagined to lick its cubs into proper shape: hence the expression +"unlicked cub," applied to a raw, awkward, unpolished youth. The saliva of +the _Lama_, which when angry it ejects, has been erroneously supposed to +possess a corrosive quality. + +The hoof of the _Moose-deer_ was formerly in great repute for curing +epilepsies, but has now justly fallen into neglect. The Laplander, +commencing his journey, whispers into the ear of his _Rein-deer_, +believing these animals understand and will obey his oral directions. The +_Elk_ is accounted by the Indians an animal of good omen, and often to +dream of him indicates a long life. They imagine also the existence of a +gigantic elk, which walks without difficulty in eight feet of snow, has an +arm growing from its shoulder which it uses as we do, is invulnerable to +all weapons, is king of the elks and attended by a numerous herd of +courtiers. The fur of the _Glutton_ is so valued by the Kamschatdales that +they say celestial beings are clad in no other. + +It was long a popular error that the _Porcupine_, when irritated, +discharged its quills at its adversary; that these quills were poisonous, +and rendered wounds inflicted by them difficult to cure: a better +acquaintance with the natural history of this harmless animal has now +exploded these fables. Our British porcupine, the innocuous _Hedgehog_, +has long been the object of unceasing persecution, from the popular belief +that it bites and sucks the udders of cows, an absurdity sufficiently +contradicted by the smallness of its mouth. In like manner, the +_Goat-sucker_ is a persecuted bird, since, as its name implies, it has been +thought to suck the teats of goats and other animals; whereas the form of +its bill entirely precludes such an act, and it is an inoffensive bird, +living upon insects. The superstition has probably originated from its +being often found in warm climates under cattle, capturing the insects +that torment them. It is supposed, in some places, that the _Shrew-mouse_ +is of so baneful and deleterious a nature that whenever it creeps over a +beast, cow, sheep, or horse (in particular), the animal is afflicted with +cruel anguish, and threatened with a loss of the use of its limb. +A shrew-ash was the remedy for this misfortune, viz. an ash whose twigs or +branches gently applied to the affected members relieved the pain: our +provident forefathers, anticipating such an accident to their cattle, +always kept a shrew-ash at hand, which, once medicated, retained its +virtue for ever: it was thus prepared: into the body of an ash a deep hole +was bored with an auger, and a poor devoted shrew-mouse being thrust into +it, the orifice was plugged up, probably with quaint incantations now +forgotten. + +The _Toad_, owing to its hideous, disgusting appearance, has been the +subject of many superstitions: it is commonly thought to spit venom, +whilst, as yet, the question is unsettled, whether or not it be poisonous +in any respect; some affirm that a viscous humour of poisonous quality +exudes from the skin, like perspiration; whilst others pretend that +cancers may be cured by the application of living toads to them; and a man +has been known to swallow one of these abominations for a wager, taking +care, however, to follow this horrid meal by an immediate and copious +draught of oil. But the very glance of the toad has been supposed fatal; +of its entrails fancied poisonous potions have been concocted; and for +magical purposes it was believed extremely efficacious; a precious stone +was asserted to be found in its head, invaluable in medicine and magic. In +Carthagena and Portobello (America) these creatures swarm to such a degree +in wet weather that many of the inhabitants believe every drop of rain to +be converted into a toad. It is said of the Pipa, or Surinam toad, a +hideous, but probably harmless, animal, that very malignant effects are +experienced from it when calcined. + +The _Crocodile_ is feigned to weep and groan like a human being in pain +and distress, in order to excite the sympathy of man, and thus allure him +into his tremendous jaws. + +The _Lizard_, though now declared by naturalists to be perfectly harmless, +was long considered poisonous by the ignorant; and in Sweden and +Kamschatka, the green lizard is the subject of strange superstitions, and +regarded with horror. Newts, efts, swifts, snakes, and blind-worms are, +in popular credence, all venomous; and that the _Ear-wig_ most justly +derives its name from entering people's ears, and either causing deafness, +or, by penetrating to the brain, death itself, is with many considered an +indisputable fact. The Irish have a large beetle of which strange tales +are believed; they term it the _Coffin-cutter_, and it has some connexion +with the grave and purgatory, not now, unfortunately, to be recalled to +our memory. + +It is, in Germany, a popular belief, that the _Stag-beetle_ (perhaps the +same insect) carries burning coals into houses by means of its jaws, and +that it has thus occasioned many dreadful fires. (How convenient would +_Swing_ find such a superstition in England!) The _Death-watch_ +superstition is too well known to need particular notice in this paper. It +is singular that the _House-cricket_ should by some persons be considered +an unlucky, by others a lucky, inmate of the mansion: those who hold the +latter opinion consider its destruction the means of bringing misfortune +on their habitations. "In Dumfries-shire," says Sir William Jardine, "it +is a common superstition that if crickets forsake a house which they have +long inhabited, some evil will befal the family; generally the death of +some member is portended. In like manner the presence or return of this +cheerful little insect is lucky, and portends some good to the family." + +(_To be continued_.) + + * * * * * + + + +NOTES OF A READER. + + +DOMESTIC LIFE IN AMERICA. + +_Servants_. + +The following sketch of what the Americans feel on this point, from Mrs. +Trollope's _Domestic Manners of the Americans_, is clever and amusing:-- + +"The greatest difficulty in organizing a family establishment in Ohio is +getting servants, or, as it is there called, 'getting help,' for it is +more than petty treason to the republic to call a free citizen a _servant_. +The whole class of young women, whose bread depends upon their labour, are +taught to believe that the most abject poverty is preferable to domestic +service. Hundreds of half-naked girls work in the paper-mills, or in any +other manufactory, for less than half the wages they would receive in +service: but they think their equality is compromised by the latter, and +nothing but the wish to obtain some particular article of finery will ever +induce them to submit to it. A kind friend, however, exerted herself so +effectually for me, that a tall stately lass soon presented herself, +saying, 'I be come to help you.' The intelligence was very agreeable, and +I welcomed her in the most gracious manner possible, and asked what I +should give her by the year. 'Oh Gimini!' exclaimed the damsel, with a +loud laugh, 'you be a downright Englisher, sure enough. I should like to +see a young lady engage by the year in America! I hope I shall get a +husband before many months, or I expect I shall be an outright old maid, +for I be most seventeen already; besides, mayhap I may want to go to +school. You must just give me a dollar and a half a week; and mother's +slave, Phillis, must come over once a week, I expect, from t'other side +the water, to help me clean.' I agreed to the bargain, of course, with all +dutiful submission; and seeing she was preparing to set to work in a +yellow dress parsemé with red roses, I gently hinted, that I thought it +was a pity to spoil so fine a gown, and that she had better change it. +''Tis just my best and worst,' she answered, 'for I've got no other.' And +in truth I found that this young lady had left the paternal mansion with +no more clothes of any kind than what she had on. I immediately gave her +money to purchase what was necessary for cleanliness and decency, and set +to work with my daughters to make her a gown. She grinned applause when +our labour was completed, but never uttered the slightest expression of +gratitude for that or for anything else we could do for her. She was +constantly asking us to lend her different articles of dress, and when we +declined it, she said, 'Well, I never seed such grumpy folks as you be; +there is several young ladies of my acquaintance what goes to live out now +and then with the old women about the town, and they and their gurls +always lends them what they asks for; I guess, you Inglish thinks we +should poison your things, just as bad as if we was negurs.' And here I +beg to assure the reader, that whenever I give conversations, they were +not made _à loisir_, but were written down immediately after they occurred, +with all the verbal fidelity my memory permitted." + +"This young lady left me at the end of two months, because I refused to +lend her money enough to buy a silk dress to go to a ball, saying, 'Then +it is not worth my while to stay any longer.' I cannot imagine it possible +that such a state of things can be desirable or beneficial to any of the +parties concerned. I might occupy a hundred pages on the subject, and yet +fail to give an adequate idea of the sore, angry, ever-wakeful pride that +seemed to torment these poor wretches. In many of them it was so excessive, +that all feeling of displeasure, or even of ridicule, was lost in pity. +One of these was a pretty girl, whose natural disposition must have been +gentle and kind; but her good feelings were soured, and her gentleness +turned into morbid sensitiveness, by having heard a thousand and a +thousand times that she was as good as any other lady, that all men were +equal, and women too, and that it was a sin and a shame for a free-born +American to be treated like a servant. When she found she was to dine in +the kitchen, she turned up her pretty lip, and said, 'I guess that's +'cause you don't think I'm good enough to eat with you. You'll find that +won't do here.' I found afterwards that she rarely ate any dinner at all, +and generally passed the time in tears. I did everything in my power to +conciliate and make her happy, but I am sure she hated me. I gave her very +high wages, and she stayed till she had obtained several expensive +articles of dress, and then, _un beau matin_, she came to me full dressed, +and said, 'I must go.' 'When shall you return, Charlotte?' 'I expect you +will see no more of me.' And so we parted. Her sister was also living with +me, but her wardrobe was not yet completed, and she remained some weeks +longer till it was." + +"Such being the difficulties respecting domestic arrangements," adds our +author, "it is obvious, that the ladies who are brought up amongst them +cannot have leisure for any developement of the mind: it is, in fact, out +of the question; and, remembering this, it is more surprising that some +among them should be very pleasing, than that none should be highly +instructed. But, whatever may be the talents of the persons who meet +together in society, the very shape, form, and arrangement of the meeting +is sufficient to paralyze conversation. The women invariably herd together +at one part of the room, and the men at the other; but, in justice to +Cincinnati, I must acknowledge that this arrangement is by no means +peculiar to that city, or to the western side of the Alleghanies. +Sometimes a small attempt at music produces a partial reunion; a few of +the most daring youths animated by the consciousness of curled hair and +smart waistcoats, approach the piano-forte, and begin to mutter a little +to the half-grown pretty things, who are comparing with one another 'how +many quarters' music they have had.' Where the mansion is of sufficient +dignity to have two drawing-rooms, the piano, the little ladies, and the +slender gentlemen are left to themselves; and on such occasions the sound +of laughter is often heard to issue from among them. But the fate of the +more dignified personages, who are left in the other room, is extremely +dismal. The gentlemen spit, talk of elections and the price of produce, +and spit again. The ladies look at each other's dresses till they know +every pin by heart; talk of Parson Somebody's last sermon on the day of +judgment, or Dr. T'otherbody's new pills for dyspepsia, till the 'tea' is +announced, when they all console themselves together for whatever they may +have suffered in keeping awake, by taking more tea, coffee, hot cake and +custard, hoe cake, johny cake, waffle cake, and dodger cake, pickled +peaches, and preserved cucumbers, ham, turkey, hung beef, apple sauce, and +pickled oysters, than ever were prepared in any other country of the known +world. After this massive meal is over, they return to the drawing-room, +and it always appeared to me that they remained together as long as they +could bear it, and then they rise _en masse_--cloak, bonnet, shawl, and +exit." + +_Conversation of an American Woman._ + +"'Well now, so you be from the old country? Ay--you'll see sights here I +guess.' 'I hope I shall see many.' 'That's a fact.--Why they do say, +that if a poor body contrives to be smart enough to scrape together a few +dollars, that your King George always comes down upon 'em, and takes it +all away. Don't he?' 'I do not remember hearing of such a transaction.' 'I +guess they be pretty close about it.' 'Your papers ben't like ourn, I +reckon? Now we says and prints just what we likes.' 'You spend a good deal +of time in reading the newspapers.' 'And I'd like you to tell me how we +can spend it better. How should freemen spend their time, but looking +after their government, and watching that them fellers as we gives offices +to, doos their duty, and gives themselves no airs?' 'But I sometimes think, +sir, that your fences might be in more thorough repair, and your roads in +better order, if less time was spent in politics.' 'The Lord! to see how +little you knows of a free country? Why, what's the smoothness of a road +put against the freedom of a free-born American? And what does a broken +zig-zag signify, comparable to knowing that the men what we have been +pleased to send up to Congress, speaks handsome and straight, as we +chooses they should?' 'It is from a sense of duty, then, that you all go +to the liquor store to read the papers?' 'To be sure it is, and he'd be no +true-born American as didn't. I don't say that the father of a family +should always be after liquor, but I do say that I'd rather have my son +drunk three times in a week, than not to look after the affairs of his +country,'" + +_Hogs_. + +"Immense droves of hogs were continually arriving from the country by the +road that led to most of our favourite walks; they were often fed and +lodged in the prettiest valleys, and worse still, were slaughtered beside +the prettiest streams. Another evil threatened us from the same quarter, +that was yet heavier. Our cottage had an ample piazza, (a luxury almost +universal in the country houses of America,) which, shaded by a group of +acacias, made a delightful sitting-room; from this favourite spot we one +day perceived symptoms of building in a field close to it; with much +anxiety we hastened to the spot, and asked what building was to be erected +there. ''Tis to be a slaughter-house for hogs,' was the dreadful reply. +As there were several gentlemen's houses in the neighbourhood, I asked if +such an erection might not be indicted as a nuisance. 'A what?' 'A +nuisance,' I repeated, and explained what I meant. 'No, no,' was the reply, +'that may do very well for your tyrannical country, where a rich man's +nose is more thought of than a poor man's mouth; but hogs be profitable +produce here, and we be too free for such a law as that, I guess.'" + + * * * * * + + +THE BELL ROCK LIGHT HOUSE. + +On the 9th ult., about 10 P.M., a large herring-gull struck one of the +south-eastern mullions of the Bell Rock Light House with such force, that +two of the polished plates of glass, measuring about two feet square, and +a quarter of an inch in thickness, were shivered to pieces and scattered +over the floor in a thousand atoms, to the great alarm of the keeper on +watch, and the other two inmates of the house, who rushed instantly to the +light room. It fortunately happened, that although one of the red-shaded +sides of the reflector-frame was passing in its revolution at the moment, +the pieces of broken glass were so minute, that no injury was done to the +red glass. The gull was found to measure five feet between the tips of the +wings. In his gullet was found a large herring, and in its throat a piece +of plate-glass, of about one inch in length.--(From No. I. of the +_Nautical Magazine_, a work of clever execution, great promise, and +extraordinary cheapness.) + + * * * * * + + +NO CHALK. + +It appears that the bill for the abolition of imprisonment for debt in +America "works well," as applied to New York; and the system is +consequently to be put in general force all over the Union--a fact, which, +as a poet like Mr. Watts would say, adds another leaf to America's laurel. +But the paper which announced this gratifying intelligence, relates in a +paragraph nearly subjoined to it, a circumstance in natural history that +seems to have some connexion with the affairs between debtor and creditor +in the United States. It informs us, that up to the present period of +scientific investigation, "_no chalk_ has been discovered in North +America." Now this is really a valuable bit of discovery; and we heartily +wish that the Geological Society, instead of wasting their resources on +anniversary-dinners, as they have lately been doing, would at once set +about establishing the proof of a similar absence of that article in this +country. Surely, our brethren on the other side of the Atlantic, will not +fail to take the hint which nature herself has so benificently thrown out +to them; and instead of abolishing the power of getting into prison, put +an end at once to the power of getting into debt. The scarcity of chalk +ought certainly to be numbered among the natural blessings of America. Had +the soil on that side of the ocean been as chalky as this, America might +have been visited by a comet, like Pitt, with a golden train of eight +hundred millions.--_Monthly Magazine_. + + * * * * * + + + +THE NATURALIST. + + +ANGLING. + +(_From the Angler's Museum, quoted in the Magazine of Natural History_.) + +Every one who is acquainted with the habits of fish is sensible of the +extreme acuteness of their vision, and well knows how easily they are +scared by shadows in motion, or even at rest, projected from the bank; and +often has the angler to regret the suspension of a successful fly-fishing +by the accidental passage of a person along the opposite bank of the +stream: yet, by noting the apparently trivial habits of one of nature's +anglers, not only is our difficulty obviated, but our success insured. The +heron, guided by a wonderful instinct, preys chiefly in the absence of the +sun; fishing in the dusk of the morning and evening, on cloudy days and +moonlight nights. But should the river become flooded to discoloration, +then does the "long-necked felon" fish indiscriminately in sun and shade; +and in a recorded instance of his fishing on a bright day, it is related +of him, that, like a skilful angler, he occupied the shore opposite the +sun. + + * * * * * + + +SKILFUL ANATOMISTS. + +(_For the Mirror_.) + +It may not be generally known that the tadpole acts the same part with +fish that ants do with birds; and that through the agency of this little +reptile, perfect skeletons, even of the smallest fishes may be obtained. +To produce this, it is but necessary to suspend the fish by threads +attached to the head and tail in an horizontal position, in a jar of water, +such as is found in a pond, and change it often, till the tadpoles have +finished their work. Two or three tadpoles will perfectly dissect a fish +in twenty-four hours. + +H.S.S. + + * * * * * + + +THREE ENTHUSIASTIC NATURALISTS. + +The first is a learned entomologist, who, hearing one evening at the +Linnean Society that a yellow Scarabaeus, otherwise beetle, of a very rare +kind was to be captured on the sands at Swansea, immediately took his seat +in the mail for that place, and brought back in triumph the object of his +desire. The second is Mr. David Douglas, who spent two years among the +wild Indians of the Rocky Mountains, was reduced to such extremities as +occasionally to sup upon the flaps of his saddle; and once, not having +this resource, was obliged to eat up all the seeds he had collected the +previous forty days in order to appease the cravings of nature. Not +appalled by these sufferings, he has returned again to endure similar +hardships, and all for a few simples. The third example is Mr. Drummond, +the assistant botanist to Franklin in his last hyperborean journey. In the +midst of snow, with the thermometer 15° below zero, without a tent, +sheltered from the inclemency of the weather only by a hut built of the +branches of trees, and depending for subsistence from day to day on a +solitary Indian hunter, "I obtained," says this amiable and enthusiastic +botanist, "a few mosses; and, on Christmas day,"--mark, gentle reader, the +day, of all others, as if it were a reward for his devotion,--"I had the +pleasure of finding a very minute Gymnóstomum, hitherto undescribed. I +remained alone for the rest of the winter, except when my man occasionally +visited me with meat; and I found the time hang very heavy, as I had no +books, and nothing could be done in the way of collecting specimens of +natural history." + +_Magazine of Natural History_ + + * * * * * + + +[Illustration: BURIAL PLACE IN TONGATABU.] + +This is another of Mr. Bennett's sketches made during his recent visit to +several of the Polynesian Islands. It represents the burial-place of the +Chiefs of Tongatabu: over this "earthly prison of their bones," we may say +with Titus Andronicus: + + In pence and honour rest you here my sons: + (The) readiest champions, repose you here, + Secure from worldly chances and mishaps: + Here lurks no treason, here no envy swells, + Here grow no damned grudges: here are no storms, + No noise, but silence and eternal sleep. + +Mr. Bennett thus describes the spot, with some interesting circumstances: + +"July 29th. I visited this morning a beautiful spot named Maofanga, at a +short distance from our anchorage; here was the burial-place of the chiefs. +The tranquillity of this secluded spot, and the drooping trees of the +casuarina equisetifolia, added to the mournful solemnity of the place. +Off this place, the Astrolabe French discovery ship lay when, some time +before, she fired on the natives. The circumstances respecting this affair, +as communicated to me, if correct, do not reflect much credit on the +commander of the vessel. They are as follow: During a gale the Astrolabe +drove on the reef, but was afterwards got off by the exertion of the +natives; some of the men deserting from the ship, the chiefs were accused +of enticing them away, and on the men not being given up the ship fired on +the village; the natives barricaded themselves on the beach by throwing up +sand heaps, and afterwards retired into the woods. The natives pointed out +the effects of the shot; on the trees, a large branch of a casuarina tree +in the sacred enclosure was shot off, several coco-nut trees were cut in +two, and the marks of several spent shots still remain on the trees: three +natives were killed in this attack. A great number of the flying-fox, or +vampire bat, hung from the casuarina trees in this enclosure, but the +natives interposed to prevent our firing at them, the place being tabued. +Mr. Turner had been witness to the interment here, not long previously, of +the wife of a chief, and allied to the royal family. The body, enveloped +in mats, was placed in a vault, in which some of her relations had been +before interred, and being covered up, several natives advanced with +baskets of sand, &c. and strewed it over the vault; others then approached +and cut themselves on the head with hatchets, wailing and showing other +demonstrations of grief. Small houses are erected over the vaults. All the +burial-places are either fenced round or surrounded by a low wall of coral +stones, and have a very clean, neat, and regular appearance. + +"I observed that nearly the whole of the natives whom I had seen, were +deficient in the joints of the little finger of the left hand, and some of +both; some of the first joint only, others two, and many the whole of both +fingers. On inquiry, I found that a joint is chopped off on any occasion +of the illness or death of a relation or chief, as a propitiatory offering +to the Spirit. There is a curious analogy between this custom and one +related by Mr. Burchell as existing among the Bushmen tribe in Southern +Africa, and performed for similar superstitious reasons to express grief +for the loss of relations. + +"Near this place was the Hufanga, or place of refuge, in which a person in +danger of being put to death is in safety as long as he remains there; on +looking in the enclosure, it was only a place gravelled over, in which was +a small house and some trees planted."[1] + + +[1] United Service Journal, Jan. 1832. + + * * * * * + + + +THE SELECTOR; AND LITERARY NOTICES OF _NEW WORKS_. + + +FRANCIS THE FIRST. + +_An Historical Drama. By Frances Ann Kemble_. + +This extraordinary production has awakened an interest in the dramatic and +literary world, scarcely equalled in our times. We know of its fortune +upon the stage by report only; but, from our acquaintance with the +requisites of the acting drama, we should conceive its permanence will be +more problematical in the theatre than in the closet; and considering the +conditions upon which dramatic fame is now attainable, we think the clever +authoress will not have reason to regret these inequalities of success. +That Miss Kemble's tragedy possesses points to be made, and passages that +will _tell_ on the stage, cannot be denied; but its interest for +representation requires to be concentrated; it "wants a hero, an uncommon +thing." It is well observed in the _Quarterly Review_, (by the way, the +only notice yet taken of the tragedy, that merits attention,) that "the +piece is crowded with characters of the greatest variety, all of +considerable importance in the piece, engaged in the most striking +situations, and contributing essentially to the main design. Instead of +that simple unity of interest, from which modern tragic writers have +rarely ventured to depart, it takes the wider range of that historic unity, +which is the characteristic of our elder drama; moulds together, and +connects by some common agent employed in both, incidents which have no +necessary connexion; and--what in the present tragedy strikes us as on +many accounts especially noticeable--unites by a fine though less +perceptible moral link, remote but highly tragic events with the immediate, +if we may so speak, the domestic interests of the play." This language is +finely characteristic of the drama. Again, the interest has "so much +Shakspearianism in the conception as to afford a remarkable indication of +the noble school in which the young authoress has studied, and the high +models which, with courage, in the present day, fairly to be called +originality, she has dared to set before her. In fact, Francis the First +is cast entirely in the mould of one of Shakspeare's historical tragedies." +The drama too was written without any view to its representation, as the +_Quarterly_ reviewer has been "informed by persons who long ago perused +the manuscript, several years before Miss Kemble appeared upon the stage, +and at a time when she little anticipated the probability that she herself +might be called upon to impersonate the conceptions of her own imagination. +We believe that we are quite safe when we state that the drama, in its +present form, was written when the authoress was not more than seventeen." +Yet it should be added that the above statement is not made by way of +extenuation; for, to say the truth, it needs no such adventitious aid. + +A mere outline of the story will convince the reader that, as the Reviewer +states, "the tragedy is alive from the beginning to the end;" and our +extracts will we trust show the language to be bold and vigorous; the +imagery sweetly poetical; and the workings of the passions which actuate +the personages to be evidently of high promise if not of masterly spirit. + +The tragedy opens with the recall of the Constable De Bourbon from Italy, +through the supposed political intrigue, but really, the secret love, of +the mother of Francis, Louisa of Savoy, Duchess of Angouleme, whom Miss +Kemble calls the Queen Mother. In the second scene the Queen Mother +communicates to Gonzales, a monk in disguise, but in, reality an emissary +of the Court of Spain, her secret passion for De Bourbon, and her design +in his recall. + +Francis is introduced at a tourney, where he not only triumphs in the +jousts, but over the heart of the beautiful Françoise de Foix. + +Bourbon returns, and the second act opens with his interview with Renée, +(or Margaret,) the daughter of the Queen Mother, and sister of Francis I., +for whom he really entertains an affection. In the second scene the Queen +Mother declares her passion to Bourbon, who, at first supposes he is to be +tempted by Margaret's hand, but finding the Queen herself to be the lure, +he indignantly rejects her. The character of Bourbon in this scene is +admirably brought out. The artifice of the Queen--the scorn of +Bourbon--and the Queen's meditated vengeance are powerfully wrought: + +BOURBON. + + I would have you know, + De Bourbon storms, and does not steal his honours + And though your highness thinks I am ambitious, + (And rightly thinks) I am not _so_ ambitious + Ever to beg rewards that I can win,-- + No man shall call me debtor to his tongue. + +QUEEN (_rising._) + + 'Tis proudly spoken; nobly too--but what-- + What if a woman's hand were to bestow + Upon the Duke de Bourbon such high honours, + To raise him to such state, that grasping man, + E'en in his wildest thoughts of mad ambition, + Ne'er dreamt of a more glorious pinnacle? + +BOURBON. + + I'd kiss the lady's hand, an she were fair. + But if this world fill'd up the universe,-- + If it could gather all the light that lives + In ev'ry other star or sun, or world; + If kings could be my subjects, and that I + Could call such pow'r and such a world my own, + I would not take it from a woman's hand. + Fame is my mistress, madam, and my sword + The only friend I ever wooed her with. + I hate all honours smelling of the distaff, + And, by this light, would as lief wear a spindle + Hung round my neck, as thank a lady's hand + For any favour greater than a kiss.-- + +QUEEN. + + And how, if such a woman loved you,--how + If, while she crown'd your proud ambition, she + Could crown her own ungovernable passion, + And felt that all this earth possess'd, and she + Could give, were all too little for your love? + Oh good, my lord! there may be such a woman. + +BOURBON (_aside._) + + Amazement! can it be, sweet Margaret-- + That she has read our love?--impossible!--and yet-- + That lip ne'er wore so sweet a smile!--it is. + That look _is_ pardon and acceptance! (_aloud_)-- + speak. (_He falls at the Queen's feet._) + Madam, in pity speak but one word more,-- + Who is that woman? + +QUEEN (_throwing off her veil._) + + I am that woman! + +BOURBON (_starting up._) + + You, by the holy mass! I scorn your proffers; + Is there no crimson blush to tell of fame + And shrinking womanhood! Oh shame! shame! shame! + +(_The Queen remains clasping her hands to her temples, while _De Bourbon_ +walks hastily up and down; after a long pause the _Queen_ speaks._) + +(_The _Queen_ summons her Confessor._) + +_Enter _GONZALES. + + Sir, we have business with this holy father; + You may retire. + +BOURBON. + + Confusion! + +QUEEN. + + Are we obeyed? + +BOURBON (_aside._) + + Oh Margaret!--for thee! for thy dear sake! + [_Rushes out. The _Queen_ sinks into a chair._] + +QUEEN. + + Refus'd and scorn'd! Infamy!--the word chokes me! + How now! why stand'st thou gazing at me thus? + +GONZALES. + + I wait your highness' pleasure.--(_Aside_) So all is well-- + A crown hath fail'd to tempt him--as I see + In yonder lady's eyes. + +QUEEN. + + Oh sweet revenge! + Thou art my only hope, my only dower, + And I will make thee worthy of a Queen. + Proud noble, I will weave thee such a web,-- + I will so spoil and trample on thy pride, + That thou shalt wish the woman's distaff were + Ten thousand lances rather than itself. + Ha! waiting still, sir Priest! Well as them seest + Our venture hath been somewhat baulk'd,--'tis not + Each arrow readies swift and true the aim,-- + Love having failed, we'll try the best expedient, + That offers next,--what sayst thou to revenge? + 'Tis not so soft, but then 'tis very sure; + Say, shall we wring this haughty soul a little? + Tame this proud spirit, curb this untrain'd charger? + We will not weigh too heavily, nor grind + Too hard, but, having bow'd him to the earth, + Leave the pursuit to others--carrion birds, + Who stoop, but not until the falcon's gorg'd + Upon the prey he leaves to their base talons. + +GONZALES. + + It rests but with your grace to point the means. + +QUEEN. + + Where be the plans of those possessions + Of Bourbon's house?--see that thou find them straight: + His mother was my kinswoman, and I + Could aptly once trace characters like those + She used to write--enough--Guienne--Auvergne + And all Provence that lies beneath his claim,-- + That claim disprov'd, of right belong to me.-- + The path is clear, do thou fetch me those parchments. + [_Exit_ Gonzales. + Not dearer to my heart will be the day + When first the crown of France deck'd my son's forehead, + Than that when I can compass thy perdition,-- + When I can strip the halo of thy fame + From off thy brow, seize on the wide domains, + That make thy hatred house akin to empire, + And give thy name to deathless infamy. [_Exit_. + +The King holds a Council to appoint a successor to the Constable in Italy. +This scene is of stirring interest. The Queen goads the high-minded +Bourbon nigh unto madness, and at length breaks out into open insult. +Lautrec the brother of Françoise, and despised by Bourbon, is named the +governor. In the ceremony Francis addresses Lautrec:-- + +FRANCIS. + + With our own royal hand we'll buckle on + The sword, that in thy grasp must be the bulwark + And lode-star of our host. Approach. + +QUEEN. + + Not so. + Your pardon, sir; but it hath ever been + The pride and privilege of woman's hand + To arm the valour that she loves so well: + We would not, for your crown's best jewel, bate + One jot of our accustom'd state to-day: + Count Lautrec, we will arm thee, at our feet: + Take thou the brand which wins thy country's wars,-- + Thy monarch's trust, and thy fair lady's favour. + Why, how now!--how is this!--my lord of Bourbon! + If we mistake not, 'tis the sword of office + Which graces still your baldrick;--with your leave, + We'll borrow it of you. + +BOURBON (_starting up_.) + + Ay, madam, 'tis the sword + You buckled on with your own hand, the day + You sent me forth to conquer in your cause; + And there it is;--(_breaks the sword_)--take it--and with it all + Th' allegiance that I owe to France; ay take it; + And with it, take the hope I breathe o'er it: + That so, before Colonna's host, your arms + Lie crush'd and sullied with dishonour's stain; + So, reft in sunder by contending factions, + Be your Italian provinces; so torn + By discord and dissension this vast empire; + So broken and disjoin'd your subjects' loves; + So fallen your son's ambition, and your pride. + +QUEEN (_rising_.) + + What ho--a guard within there--Charles of Bourbon, + I do arrest thee, traitor to the crown. + +_Enter Guard_. + + Away with yonder wide-mouth'd thunderer; + We'll try if gyves and straight confinement cannot + Check this high eloquence, and cool the brain + Which harbours such unmannerd hopes. + [Bourbon _is forced out_. + Dream ye, my lords, that thus with open ears, + And gaping mouths and eyes, ye sit and drink + This curbless torrent of rebellious madness. + And you, sir, are you slumbering on your throne; + Or has all majesty fled from the earth, + That women must start up, and in your council + Speak, think, and act for ye; and, lest your vassals, + The very dirt beneath your feet, rise up + And cast ye off, must women, too, defend ye? + For shame, my lords, all, all of ye, for shame,-- + Off, off with sword and sceptre, for there is + No loyalty in subjects; and in kings, + No king-like terror to enforce their rights. + +Meanwhile Lautrec proposes to his sister Françoise, the hand of his friend, +the gallant Laval; whilst the fair maiden is importuned by Francis, who +endeavours to make the poet Clement Marot the bearer of his intrigue. In a +scene between Francis and the poet, the licentious impatience of the King, +and the unsullied honour of Clement are finely contrasted. + +FRANCIS. + + I would I'd borne the scroll myself, thy words + Image her forth so fair. + +CLEMENT. + + Do they, indeed? + Then sorrow seize my tongue, for, look you, sir, + I will not speak of your own fame or honour, + Nor of your word to me: king's words, I find, + Are drafts on our credulity, not pledges + Of their own truth. You have been often pleas'd + To shower your royal favours on my head; + And fruitful honours from your kindly will + Have rais'd me far beyond my fondest hopes; + But had I known such service was to be + The nearest way my gratitude might take + To solve the debt, I'd e'en have given back + All that I hold of you: and, now, not e'en + Your crown and kingdom could requite to me + The cutting sense of shame that I endur'd + When on me fell the sad reproachful glance + Which told me how I stood in the esteem + Of yonder lady. Let me tell you, sir, + You've borrow'd for a moment what whole years + Cannot bestow--an honourable name. + Now fare you well; I've sorrow at my heart, + To think your majesty hath reckon'd thus + Upon my nature. I was poor before, + Therefore I can be poor again without + Regret, so I lose not mine own esteem. + + * * * * * + +FRANCIS. + + Excellent. + Oh, ye are precious wooers, all of ye. + I marvel how ye ever ope your lips + Unto, or look upon that fearful thing, + A lovely woman. + +CLEMENT. + + And I marvel, sir, + At those who do not feel the majesty,-- + By heaven, I'd almost said the holiness,-- + That circles round a fair and virtuous woman: + There is a gentle purity that breathes + In such a one, mingled with chaste respect, + And modest pride of her own excellence,-- + A shrinking nature, that is so adverse + To aught unseemly, that I could as soon + Forget the sacred love I owe to heav'n, + As dare, with impure thoughts, to taint the air + Inhal'd by such a being: than whom, my liege, + Heaven cannot look on anything more holy, + Or earth be proud of anything more fair. [_Exit_. + +Gonzales, the monk, is despatched by the Queen to Bourbon in prison. At +the door he meets Margaret, who had bribed her way to her lover, and was +returning after ineffectual attempts to soothe him into submission, +shame-struck at the exposure of her mother's guilt. The Queen intrusts +Gonzales with a signet ring as the means of liberating him and conducting +him to the royal chamber. Bourbon is immovable; and in revenge upon the +Court, he falls in with a private scheme of Gonzales, which is to accept +of his liberty, and set off to the Court of Spain. The undisguising of the +treacherous monk is in these powerful lines: + +GONZALES. + + Now, + That day is come, ay, and that very hour: + Now shout your war-cry; now unsheath your sword; + I'll join the din, and make these tottering walls + Tremble and nod to hear our fierce defiance. + Nay, never start, and look upon my cowl-- + You love not priests, De Bourbon, more than I. + Off, vile denial of my manhood's pride; + Off, off to hell! where thou wast first invented, + Now once again I stand and breathe a knight. + Nay, stay not gazing thus: it is Garcia, + Whose name hath reach'd thee long ere now, I trow; + Whom thou hast met in deadly fight full oft, + When France and Spain join'd in the battle field. + Beyond the Pyrenean boundary + That guards thy land, are forty thousand men: + Their unfurl'd pennons flout fair France's sun, + And wanton in the breezes of her sky: + Impatient halt they there; their foaming steeds, + Pawing the huge and rock-built barrier, + That bars their further course--they wait for thee: + For thee whom France hath injur'd and cast off; + For thee, whose blood it pays with shameful chains, + More shameful death; for thee, whom Charles of Spain + Summons to head his host, and lead them on + To conquest and to glory. + +The interest now reverts to the fate of Françoise, and Bourbon is lost +sight of; a transition which, both in acting and reading, endangers the +drama.[1] News arrives of the flight of Lautrec from his government; of +his arrest, his imprisonment, and capital condemnation.[2] He enjoins his +sister to intercede in his behalf with Francis; she complies, but it is at +the expense of her honour; broken-hearted, she sinks beneath her shame at +the crime into which she has been betrayed, and returns home. Francis +pursues her, and the Queen, now aware of his passion for her, dispatches +the monk Gonzales on a secret mission to poison Françoise, who, she fears, +may supplant her in her ascendancy over the King. A fine passage occurs in +the scene wherein the Queen proposes her scheme to Gonzales. + +QUEEN. + + Didst ever look upon the dead? + +GONZALES. + + Ay, madam, + Full oft; and in each calm or frightful guise + Death comes in,--on the bloody battle-field; + When with each gush of black and curdling life + A curse was uttered,--when the pray'rs I've pour'd, + Have been all drown'd with din of clashing arms-- + And shrieks and shouts, and loud artillery, + That shook the slipp'ry earth, all drunk with gore-- + I've seen it, swoll'n with subtle poison, black + And staring with concentrate agony-- + When ev'ry vein hath started from its bed, + And wreath'd like knotted snakes, around the brows + That, frantic, dash'd themselves in tortures down + Upon the earth. I've seen life float away + On the faint sound of a far tolling bell-- + Leaving its late warm tenement as fair, + As though 'twere th' incorruptible that lay + Before me--and all earthly taint had vanish'd + With the departed spirit. + +Laval returns from Italy to claim his bride. In the earlier part of the +play, a hint is given of Gonzales' rancorous hate of Laval, the +undercurrent of which is now revealed. Gonzales, beneath the seal of +confession, obtains the secret of the crime of Françoise. In her presence, +as the betrothed Laval rushes to embrace his bride, he taunts him with her +guilt. The wretched Françoise, in vain conjured to assert her innocence, +stabs herself. The King had been followed thither by the Queen; both now +appear. Gonzales riots revenge in one of the most vigorous portions of the +drama: + +GONZALES. + + Look on thy bride! look on that faded thing, + That e'en the tears thy manhood showers go fast, + And bravely, cannot wake to life again! + I call all nature to bear witness here-- + As fair a flower once grew within my home, + As young, as lovely, and as dearly lov'd-- + I had a sister once, a gentle maid-- + The only daughter of my father's house, + Round whom our ruder loves did all entwine, + As round the dearest treasure that we own'd. + She was the centre of our souls' affections-- + She was the bud, that underneath our strong + And sheltering arms, spread over her, did blow. + So grew this fair, fair girl, till envious fate + Brought on the hour when she was withered. + Thy father, sir--now mark--for 'tis the point + And moral of my tale--thy father, then, + Was, by my sire, in war ta'en prisoner-- + Wounded almost to death, he brought him home, + Shelter'd him,--cherish'd him,--and, with a care, + Most like a brother's, watch'd his bed of sickness, + Till ruddy health, once more through all his veins + Sent life's warm stream in strong returning tide. + How think ye he repaid my father's love? + From her dear home he lur'd my sister forth, + And, having robb'd her of her treasur'd honour, + Cast her away, defil'd,--despoil'd--forsaken-- + The daughter of a high and ancient line-- + The child of so much love--she died--she died-- + Upon the threshold of that home, from which + My father spurn'd her--over whose pale corse + I swore to hunt, through life, her ravisher-- + Nor ever from by bloodhound track desist, + Till line and deep atonement had been made-- + Honour for honour given--blood for blood. + + +"The Queen orders Gonzales to death; but the monk accuses her of the +intended murder of Françoise, and produces her written order to that +effect. The King can no longer be blind to his mother's crimes; she is +disgraced, degraded, and condemned to pass the rest of her days in a +convent." + +Here the fourth act, and the acting play closes. In the fifth De Bourbon +reappears. Lautrec proposes to join him, and assassinate the King, in +revenge for the ruin of Françoise. The memorable battle of Pavia ensues, +and terminates with the death of the King and the triumph of Bourbon. + +Triboulet, the jester of the Court of Francis, is introduced with some +pleasantry, by way of relief to the darker deeds. + +We cannot conclude this imperfect sketch better than by the following +judicious observations from the _Quarterly Review_: "How high Miss Kemble's +young aspirings have been--what conceptions she has formed to herself of +the dignity of tragic poetry--may be discovered from this most remarkable +work; at this height she must maintain herself, or soar a still bolder +flight. The turmoil, the hurry, the business, the toil, even the celebrity +of a theatric life must yield her up at times to that repose, that +undistracted retirement within her own mind, which, however brief, +is essential to the perfection of the noblest work of the +imagination--genuine tragedy. Amidst her highest successes on the stage, +she must remember that the world regards her as one to whom a still higher +part is fallen. She must not be content with the fame of the most +extraordinary work which has ever been produced by a female at her age, +(for as such we scruple not to describe her Francis the First,)--with +having sprung at once to the foremost rank, not only of living actors but +of modern dramatists;--she must consider that she has given us a pledge +and earnest for a long and brightening course of distinction, in the +devotion of all but unrivalled talents in two distinct, though congenial, +capacities, to the revival of the waning glories of the English theatre." + + +[1] This disadvantage is greater on the stage, since the audience neither + see nor hear more of Bourbon, and only four acts of the piece are + performed. In the closet it will not be so obvious, as Bourbon + returns in the fifth act. + +[2] This is an entire variation from history. + + * * * * * + + + +SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS. + + +OLD ENGLISH MUSIC. + +It was in the course of the sixteenth century that the psalmody of England, +and the other Protestant countries, was brought to the state in which it +now remains, and in which it is desirable that it should continue to +remain. For this psalmody we are indebted to the Reformers of Germany, +especially Luther, who was himself an enthusiastic lover of music, and is +believed to have composed some of the finest tunes, particularly the +Hundredth Psalm, and the hymn on the Last Judgment, which Braham sings +with such tremendous power at our great performances of sacred music. Our +psalm-tunes, consisting of prolonged and simple sounds, are admirably +adapted for being sung by great congregations; and as the effect of this +kind of music is much increased by its venerable antiquity, it would be +very unfortunate should it yield to the influence of innovation: for this +reason, it is much to be desired that organists and directors of choirs +should confine themselves to the established old tunes, instead of +displacing them by modern compositions. + +Towards the end of the sixteenth, and beginning of the seventeenth, +century, shone that constellation of English musicians, whose inimitable +madrigals are still, and long will be, the delight of every lover of vocal +harmony. It is to Italy, however, that we are indebted for this species of +composition. The madrigal is a piece of vocal music adapted to words of an +amorous or cheerful cast, composed for four, five, or six voices, and +intended for performance in convivial parties or private musical societies. +It is full of ingenious and elaborate contrivances; but, in the happier +specimens, contains likewise agreeable and expressive melody. At the +period of which we now speak, vocal harmony was so generally cultivated, +that, in social parties, the madrigal books were generally laid on the +table, and every one was expected to take the part allotted to him. Any +person who made the avowal of not being able to sing a part at sight was +looked upon as unacquainted with the usages of good society--like a +gentleman who now-a-days says he cannot play a game at whist, or a lady +that she cannot join in a quadrille or a mazurka. The Italian madrigals of +Luca Marenzio and others are still in request: and among the English +madrigalists we may mention Wilbye, author of "Flora gave me fairest +flowers;" Morley, whose "Now is the month of Maying" is so modern in its +air, that it is introduced as the finale of one of our most popular operas, +the Duenna; and Michael Este, the composer of the beautiful trio, "How +merrily we live that Shepherds be." This music retains all its original +freshness, and has been listened to, age after age, with unabated pleasure. + +The glee, which is a simpler and less elaborate form of the madrigal,--and +that amusing _jeu d'esprit_ so well known by the name of Catch, made their +appearance about the end of the sixteenth century. The first collection of +catches that made its appearance in England is dated in +1609.--_Metropolitan_. + + * * * * * + + +BENEDICTION ON CHILDREN. + +IMPROMPTU. + +_By Thomas Campbell, Esq_. + + + Imps, that hold your daily revels + Round the windows of my bower + Would that Hell's ten thousand devils + Had you in their clutch this hour! + + Screaming, yelling, little nasties, + Would that Ogres down their maw + Had you cramm'd in Christmas pasties, + That would make ye hold your jaw. + + Saucy imps, stew'd down to jelly, + Ye would make a sauce most rare; + Or with pudding in each belly, + Rival roasted pig or hare. + + Sweeter than the fish of these is, + Would be yours, young human _bores_; + All with apples at your noses, + Would I saw you dish'd by scores! + + Herod slaughter'd harmless sucklings, + Not with tongues like yours to vex; + Were he here, ye Devil's ducklings, + I would bid him wring your necks. + +_Metropolitan_. + + * * * * * + + +DRAMATIC CHARACTER OF THE CATHOLIC RELIGION. + +The religion of the south of Europe is still essentially dramatic; and it +may be questioned how far this adaptation to the genius of the people has +tended to perpetuate the influence, not only of the Roman Catholic, but +also of the Greek church. Even in the pulpit, not merely does the earnest +preacher, by vehement gesticulation, by the utmost variety of pause and +intonation, _act_, as far as possible, the scenes which he describes; but +the crucifix, if the expression may be permitted, plays the principal part; +the Saviour is held forth to the multitude in the living and visible +emblem of his sufferings. The ceremonies of the Holy Week in Rome are a +most solemn, and to most minds, affecting religious drama. The oratorios, +as with us, are in general on scriptural subjects; and operas on themes of +equal sanctity are listened to without the least feeling of profanation. +Nor are the more audacious exhibitions of the dark ages by any means +exploded. Every traveller on the continent who has much curiosity, must +have witnessed, whether with devout indignation or mere astonishment, the +strange manner in which scriptural subjects are still represented by +marionnettes, by tableax parlans, or even performed by regular actors. In +the unphilosophized parts of modern Europe, these scenes are witnessed by +the populace, not merely with respect, but with profound interest; and if +they tend to perpetuate superstition, must be acknowledged likewise to +keep alive religious sentiment. But if this be the case in the nineteenth +century, how powerfully must such exhibitions have operated on the general +mind in the dark ages! The alternative lay between total ignorance and +this mode of communicating the truth. For the general mass of the clergy +were then as ignorant as the laity; and as the wild work, which in these +sacred dramas is sometimes made of the scripture history, may be supposed +to have embodied the knowledge of a whole fraternity, we may not unfairly +conjecture the kind of instruction to be obtained from each individual. +The state of language in Europe must have greatly contributed to the +adoption of public instruction, by means of dramatic representation. The +services of the church were in Latin, now become a dead language. This +_originated_, perhaps, rather in sincere reverence, and the dread of +profaning the sacred mysteries by transferring them into the vulgar tongue, +than in any systematic design of keeping the people in the dark; for, from +the gradual extinction of the Latin, as the vernacular idiom, and the +gradual growth of the modern languages, there was no marked period in +which the change might appear to be called for, until the question became +involved with weightier matters of controversy. The confusion of tongues, +almost throughout Europe, before the great predominant languages were +formed out of the conflicting dialects, must greatly have impeded the +preaching the Gospel, for which, in other respects, only a very small part +of the clergy were qualified. Though, in these times, most extraordinary +effects are attributed to the eloquence of certain preachers, for instance, +Fra. Giovanni di Vicenza, yet many of the itinerant friars, the first, we +believe, who addressed the people with great activity in the vulgar tongue, +must have been much circumscribed by the limits of their own patois.[1] +But the spectacle of the dramatic exhibitions everywhere spoke a common +language; and the dialogue, which, in parts of the Chester mysteries, is a +kind of Anglicized French, and which, even if translated into the native +tongue, was constantly interspersed with Latin, and therefore, but darkly +and imperfectly understood, was greatly assisted by the perpetual +interpretation which was presented before the eyes. The vulgar were thus +imperceptibly wrought up to profound feelings of reverence for the purity +of the Virgin; the unexampled sufferings of the Redeemer; the miraculous +powers of the apostles, and the constancy of the martyrs; we must add, +(for after all it was a strange Christianity, though in every respect the +Christianity of the age,) with the most savage detestation at the cruelty +of Herod or Pilate, and the treachery of Judas; and the most revolting +horror, at the hideous appearance, and blasphemous language of the Prince +of Darkness, who almost always played a principal part in these scriptural +dramas.--_Quarterly Review._ + +[1] It is related in the life of St. Bernard, that his pale and emaciated + appearance, and the animation and the fire, which seemed to kindle his + whole being as he spoke, made so deep an impression on those who could + only see him and hear his voice, that Germans, who understand not a + word of his language, were often moved to tears.--_Neander, Der + Heilige Bernard_, p. 49. + + * * * * * + + + +SPIRIT OF DISCOVERY. + + +BIRMINGHAM RAILWAY. + +The line of the proposed plan for this useful and excellent undertaking +has been forwarded to us. We know not whether the projectors are aware +that a straight line is no longer necessary, but that the sharpest turns +may now be made on rail-roads by an American invention, lately carried +into effect in the United States with singular success.--The line of +railway will be 112-1/2 miles. Birmingham being between 3 and 400 feet +higher than London, and the intervening ground much broken, the railway +could not be laid down without an inclination in its planes; the rise, +however, will in no case exceed 1 in 330. The highest point of the line is +on the summit of an inclined plane 15 miles long, rising 13-1/3 feet in +each mile, and is 315 feet above the level at Maiden Lane, London; from +which it is distant 31 miles. The termination at Birmingham is 256 feet +higher than the commencement at London. It is intended that there should +be 10 tunnels--one at Primrose Hill half a mile long, one near Watford a +mile long, and one near Kilsby, 78 miles from London, a mile and a quarter +long. The others are each less than a quarter of a mile in length, with +the exception of one, which is a third of a mile long. They will all be 25 +feet in height, well lighted, and ought rather to be called galleries than +tunnels. The strata through which the railway is carried, appear generally +to follow in this order from London: + + Miles. + London clay and plastic clay 15-1/2 + Chalk and chalk flints 18-1/2 + Chalk, marl, weald clay, iron sand, + and Oxford clay or clunch clay 20 + Great and inferior oolite limestones, + and sandy beds 18 + Lias marls, lias limestone or water + lime and shale beds 16 + Red marl and new red sandstone 24-1/2 + ------- + 112-1/2 + +The railway will be composed of two lines of rails with a space between +them of six feet, but at particular points two additional lines will be +required as turns-out to facilitate the passage of the locomotive engines +and carriages. If we assume the average rate of travelling on the railway +to be 20 miles an hour, (which is about the mark,) that 1,200 persons pass +along it in a day, and 120 are conveyed in each train of carriages, then +only ten trains of carriages would be required for all the passengers; +each train would separately take a minute and a half, and the ten trains +not more than fifteen minutes in passing over half a mile of ground. Allow +twice this time for the passage of cattle and merchandise, and it is +manifest that the traffic on railways can never be a source of annoyance +to persons residing near them. All who have travelled in carriages drawn +by locomotive steam-engines on the Liverpool and Manchester railway can +vouch for the safety and comfort, as well as the expedition, of this mode +of conveyance; but the strongest evidence of public opinion on this +subject is the fact, that twice as many persons go by the railway, as were +formerly carried in coaches running on the roads between the two +places--and yet, although the expense of travelling is reduced one-half, +and the works of the railway cost more than 800,000_l_., the proprietors +are in the receipt of a dividend of 9_l_. for a year on their 100_l_. +shares! Enough has been ascertained of the traffic in the districts +through which the London and Birmingham Railway will pass, to remove all +doubt as to an ample return for the necessary outlay.--_Metropolitan_. + + * * * * * + + + +THE GATHERER. + + +_A Dancing Archbishop_.--Dr. King, Archbishop of Dublin, having invited +several persons of distinction to dine with him, had, amongst a great +variety of dishes, a fine leg of mutton and caper sauce; but the doctor, +who was not fond of butter, and remarkable for preferring a trencher to a +plate, had some of the abovementioned pickle introduced dry for his use; +which, as he was mincing, he called aloud to the company to observe him; +"I here present you, my lords and gentlemen," said he, "with a sight that +may henceforward serve you to talk of as something curious, namely, that +you saw an Archbishop of Dublin, at fourscore and seven years of age, cut +capers upon a trencher." + +T.H. + + * * * * * + + +_Singular Parish_.--In the parish of East Twyford, near Harrow, in the +county of Middlesex, there is only one house, and the farmer who occupies +it is perpetual churchwarden of a church which has no incumbent, and in +which no duty is performed. The parish has been in this state ever since +the time of Queen Elizabeth. + +H.S.S. + + * * * * * + + +_Scandal_.--It is as well not to trust to one's gratitude _after_ dinner. +I have heard many a host libelled by his guests, with his Burgundy yet +reeking on their rascally lips.--_Lord Byron_. + + * * * * * + + +A lady with a well plumed head dress, being in deep conversation with a +naval officer, one of the company said, "it was strange to see so fine a +woman _tar'd_ and feathered." + + * * * * * + + +_A Scolding Wife_.--Dr. Casin having heard the famous Thomas Fuller repeat +some verses on a scolding wife, was so delighted with them, as to request +a copy. "There is no necessity for that," said Fuller, "as you have got +the original." + + * * * * * + + +_Bouts Rimés_ are words or syllables which rhyme, arranged in a particular +order, and are given to a poet with a subject, on which he must write +verses ending in the same rhymes, disposed in the same order. Menage gives +the following account of the origin of this ridiculous conceit. Dulot, (a +poet of the 17th century,) was one day complaining in a large company, +that 300 sonnets had been stolen from him. One of the company expressing +his astonishment at the number, "Oh," said he, "they are blank sonnets, or +rhymes (_bouts rimés_) of all the sonnets I may have occasion to write." +This ludicrous story produced such an effect, that it became a fashionable +amusement to compose blank sonnets, and in 1648, a quarto volume of _bouts +rimés_ was published. + + * * * * * + + +_Poisoned Arrows_ used in Guiana are not shot from a bow, but blown +through a tube. They are made of the hard substance of the cokarito tree, +and are about a foot long, and the size of a knitting-needle. One end is +sharply pointed, and dipped in the poison of worraia, the other is +adjusted to the cavity of the reed, from which it is to be blown by a roll +of cotton. The reed is several feet in length. A single breath carries the +arrow 30 or 40 yards. + + * * * * * + + +_Sterling Applause_.--Lord Bolingbroke was so pleased with Barton Booth's +performance of _Cato_, at Drury Lane Theatre, in 1712, that he presented +the actor with fifty guineas from the stage-box--an example which was +immediately followed by Bolingbroke's political opponents. + + * * * * * + + +_Claret_ has been accused of producing the gout, but without reason. +Persons who drench themselves with Madeira, Port, &c. and indulge in an +occasional debauch of Claret, may indeed be visited in that way; because a +transition from the strong brandied wines to the lighter, is always +followed by a derangement of the digestive organs. + + * * * * * + + +_Quarantine in America_.--Dr. Richard Bayley is the person to whom New +York is chiefly indebted for its quarantine laws. His death was, however, +by contagion. In August, 1801, Doctor Bayley, in the discharge of his duty +as health physician, enjoined the passengers and crew of an Irish emigrant +ship, afflicted with the ship fever, to go on shore to the rooms and tents +appointed for them, leaving their luggage behind. The next morning, on +going to the hospital, he found that both crew and passengers, well, sick, +and dying, were huddled together in one apartment, where they had passed +the night. He inconsiderately entered this room before it had been +properly ventilated, but remained scarcely a moment, being obliged to +retire by a deadly sickness at the stomach, and violent pain in the head, +with which he was suddenly seized. He returned home, retired to bed, and +in the afternoon of the seventh day following, he expired. + + * * * * * + + +_Shaving_ is said to have come into use during the reigns of Louis XIII. +and XIV. of France, both of whom ascended the throne without a beard. +Courtiers and citizens then began to shave, in order to look like the king, +and, as France soon took the lead in all matters of fashion on the +continent, shaving became general. It is at best a tedious operation. +Seume, a German author, says, in his journal, "To-day I threw my powder +apparatus out of the window, when will come the blessed day that I shall +send the shaving apparatus after it." + + * * * * * + + +_Book Morality_.--Dr. Beddoes wrote a history of Isaac Jenkins, which was +intended to impress useful moral lessons on the labouring classes in an +attractive manner. Above 40,000 copies of this work were sold in a short +time. + + * * * * * + + +_The Bedford Missal_ throws even the costly scrap-books of these times +into the shade. It was made for the celebrated John, Duke of Bedford, (one +of the younger sons of Henry IV.) and contains 59 large, and more than +1,000 small miniature paintings. + + * * * * * + + +_The Bedford Level_ was drained at an expense of £400,000. by the noble +family of Russell, Earls and Dukes of Bedford, and others; by which means +100,000 acres of good land have been brought into use. + + * * * * * + + + +POPULAR SCIENCE. + +With many Engravings, price 5s. + +ARCANA OF SCIENCE + +And Annual Register of the Useful Arts for 1832. Abridged from the +Transactions of Public Societies, and Scientific Journals, British and +Foreign, for the past year. This volume will contain all the Important +Facts in the year 1831--in the Mechanic Arts, Chemical Science, Zoology, +Botany, Mineralogy, Geology, Meteorology, Rural Economy, Gardening, +Domestic Economy, Useful and Elegant Arts, Miscellaneous Scientific +Information. + +"It is with great pleasure that we find the success of the former volumes +of this valuable record of whatever is new in science or interesting in +art, such as to encourage its publisher to make fresh exertions for public +favour, in the compilation of the year passed. Such a work is exceedingly +valuable, and may be considered in the light of a Cyclopaedia, to which +the most eminent of their time for talent and attainments are constantly +contributing."--_New Monthly Magazine. March_, 1832. + +"As heretofore, a very useful record of the improvements and novelties of +the year."--_Literary Gazette_. + +"The Arcana of Science and Art contains a vast deal of information of an +useful kind."--_Athenaeum_. + +Printed for JOHN LIMBIRD, 143, Strand; of whom may be had volumes (upon +the same plan) for 1828, price 4s. 6d, 1829--30--31, price 5s. each. + + * * * * * + + +_Printed and Published by J. LIMBIRD, 143, Strand, (near Somerset House,) +London; sold by ERNEST FLEISCHER, 626, New Market, Leipsic; C.G. BENNIS, +55, Rue Neuve, St. Augustin, Paris; and by all Newsmen and Booksellers._ + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, +and Instruction, by Various + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 11741 *** diff --git a/11741-h/11741-h.htm b/11741-h/11741-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..cca48bc --- /dev/null +++ b/11741-h/11741-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,1976 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> +<head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" /> + + <title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Mirror of Literature, Volume XIX. No. 539.</title> + + <style type="text/css"> + <!-- + body {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + p {text-align: justify;} + blockquote {text-align: justify;} + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 {text-align: center;} + pre {font-size: 0.7em;} + + hr {text-align: center; width: 50%;} + html>body hr {margin-right: 25%; margin-left: 25%; width: 50%;} + hr.full {width: 100%;} + html>body hr.full {margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 0%; width: 100%;} + hr.short {text-align: center; width: 20%;} + html>body hr.short {margin-right: 40%; margin-left: 40%; width: 20%;} + + .note, .footnote + {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} + + span.pagenum + {position: absolute; left: 1%; right: 91%; font-size: 8pt;} + + .poem + {margin-left:10%; margin-right:10%; margin-bottom: 1em; text-align: left;} + .poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} + .poem p {margin: 0; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem p.i2 {margin-left: 1em;} + .poem p.i4 {margin-left: 2em;} + .poem p.i6 {margin-left: 3em;} + .poem p.i8 {margin-left: 4em;} + .poem p.i10 {margin-left: 5em;} + .poem p.i14 {margin-left: 9em;} + + .figure + {padding: 1em; margin: 0; text-align: center; font-size: 0.8em; margin: auto;} + .figure img + {border: none;} + .figure p + + .side { float:right; + font-size: 75%; + width: 25%; + padding-left:10px; + border-left: dashed thin; + margin-left: 10px; + text-align: left; + text-indent: 0; + font-weight: bold; + font-style: italic;} + --> + </style> +</head> +<body> +<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 11741 ***</div> + + <hr class="full" /> + +<span class="pagenum"> + <a id="page49" + name="page49"> + </a>[pg 49] +</span> + + <h1>THE MIRROR<br /> + OF<br /> + LITERATURE, AMUSEMENT, AND INSTRUCTION.</h1> + <hr class="full" /> + + <table width="100%" summary="Volume, Number, and Date"> + <tr> + <td align="left"><b>Vol. XIX. No. 539.]</b></td> + <td align="center"><b>SATURDAY, JANUARY 28, 1832.</b></td> + <td align="right"><b>[PRICE 2d.</b></td> + </tr> + </table> + <hr class="full" /> + +<h2>WINDSOR CASTLE, (N.E.)</h2> + +<div class="figure" style="width:100%;"> + <a href="images/539-001.png"> + <img width = "100%" src="images/539-001.png" alt="WINDSOR CASTLE, (N.E.)" /> + </a> +</div> + +<span class="pagenum"> + <a id="page177" + name="page177"> + </a>[pg 177] +</span> + +<p> +Our sketchy tour of Windsor Castle has hitherto been told in visits far +between, perhaps, if not few, for the interesting character of the whole +fabric. +<a id="footnotetag1" + name="footnotetag1"></a><sup> + <a href="#footnote1">1</a> +</sup> + +</p> +<p> +The present Cut includes the North-east view, a picturesque if not +important point. The reader will remember, if he has not enjoyed, the +splendid terrace on the north; this is now continued on the eastern side. +The fine tower at the eastern end of the north terrace, (at the angle,) is +<i>Brunswick Tower</i>, with a projecting bastion in its front containing the +apparatus for heating the orangery, with rooms for the attendants; it is +octagon shaped, and has a most commanding appearance, the height being 120 +feet above the level of the terrace. +</p> +<p> +A staircase turret communicates with the apartments, the principal one +being appropriated as a private dining-room by the late King, while the +larger apartments on the east front were reserved for splendid +entertainments. In a central position between the state dining-room and +St. George's Hall is a music saloon, in which is placed a fine-toned organ. +A communication has been effected between Brunswick Tower and the state +apartments by a corridor terminating at the King's Guard Chamber, where a +new tower, named after George the Third, has been erected: the principal +window is extremely large, and divided by Gothic tracery into several +compartments, producing a noble and cathedral-like appearance. +</p> +<p> +Beneath the Castle, in the Engraving, are seen the wooded slopes of the +Little Park, the "green retreats" of Pope, where +</p> +<div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>——Waving groves a checker'd scene display</p> + <p>And part admit, and part exclude the day.</p> + </div> +</div> +<p> +*** The friendly suggestion of our Correspondent, G.C. (Windsor Castle) +shall be considered. +</p> + +<hr /> +<span class="pagenum"> + <a id="page178" + name="page178"> + </a>[pg 178] +</span> + +<h3>THE MARCH OF MIND.</h3> +<h4>(To the Editor.)</h4> +<p> +It is generally supposed that the extensive search after, and diffusion of, +knowledge, is in a great measure peculiar to these present times. It seems +therefore to me a very curious thing to find a learned man and an +accomplished courtier protesting against book-learning as an evil, so far +back as the year 1646, and a curious thing he himself appears to have +thought it, introducing his opinion as a "paradox" until he explains. In +this explanation we find the same opinion that is now strenuously insisted +on by Mr. Cobbett, namely, that a man who properly understands his own +business or employment, though he have nothing of literature, is by no +means to be accounted ignorant. +</p> +<p> +The letters of James Howell, Esq. are well known as fluent examples of the +best style of writing of his day, and as repositories of many curious +facts and intelligent remarks. The following letter appears to be +addressed to Lord Dorchester— +</p> +<p> +"My Lord,—The subject of this letter may, peradventure, seem a paradox to +some, but not, I know, to your Lordship, when you are pleased to weigh +well the reasons. Learning is a thing that hath been much cried up, and +coveted in all ages, especially in this last century of years, by people +of all sorts, though never so mean and mechanical; every man strains his +fortune to keep his children at school; the cobbler will clout it till +midnight, the porter will carry burdens till his bones crack again, the +ploughman will pinch both back and belly to give his son <i>learning</i>, and I +find that this ambition reigns no where so much as in this island. But, +under favour, this word, <i>learning</i>, is taken in a narrower sense among us +than among other nations: we seem to restrain it only to the <i>book</i>, +whereas, indeed, any artisan whatsoever (if he knew the secret and mystery +of his trade) may be called a learned man: a good mason; a good shoemaker, +that can manage St. Crispin's lance handsomely; a skilful yeoman; a good +ship-wright, &c. may be all called learned men, and indeed the usefullest +sort of learned men. +</p> +<p> +"The extravagant humour of our country is not to be altogether +commended—that all men should aspire to book-learning; there is not a +simpler animal, and a more superfluous member of a state than a mere +scholar, a self-pleasing student. Archimedes, though an excellent +engineer, when Syracuse was lost, was found in his study, intoxicated with +speculations; and another great, learned philosopher, like a fool or +frantic, when being in a bath, he leaped out naked among the people, and +cried, 'I have found it, I have found it,' having hit then upon an +extraordinary conclusion in geometry. There is a famous tale of Thomas +Aquinas, the angelical doctor, and of Bonadventure, the seraphical doctor, +of whom Alexander Hales, our countryman, reports, that these great clerks +were invited to dinner by the French King, on purpose to observe their +humours, and being brought to the room where the table was laid, the first +fell to eating of bread as hard as he could drive, at last, breaking out +of a brown study, he cried out '<i>Conclusum est contra Manichaeos;</i>' the +other fell a gazing upon the Queen, and the King asking him how he liked +her, he answered, 'Oh, sir, if an earthly Queen be so beautiful, what +shall we think of the Queen of Heaven?' The latter was the better courtier +of the two. +</p> +<p> +"My Lord, I know none in this age more capable to sit in the chair, and +censure what is true learning, and what <i>not</i>, than yourself; therefore, +in speaking of this subject to your Lordship, I fear to have committed the +same error as Phormio did, in discoursing of war before Hannibal. +</p> +<p> +"My Lord, your most humble, &c. +</p> +<p> +"JAMES HOWELL." +</p> + +<hr /> +<h3>ILLUMINATED PSALTER.</h3> +<h4><i>(For the Mirror.)</i></h4> +<p> +There is an illuminated Psalter preserved amongst the MSS. in the British +Museum, 2. A. 16., written by John Mallard, Chaplain to Henry VIII., +wherein are several notes in that king's hand writing, some in pencil +prefixed to Psalm liii. ("<i>Dixit incipiens</i>.") According to a very ancient +custom are the figures of King David and a fool, in this instance +evidently the portraits of Henry and his jester, Will Somers. +</p> +<p> +S. K. +</p> + +<hr /> +<h3>ANCIENT VALENTINES.</h3> +<h4><i>(For the Mirror.)</i></h4> + +<p> +The earliest poetical Valentines remaining, are those preserved in the +works of Charles Duke of Orleans, father to Louis XII. of France. He was +taken prisoner at the battle of Agincourt, and remained in England +twenty-five years, and called his mistress his <i>Valentine</i>. In the royal +library of MSS. now in the British +<span class="pagenum"> + <a id="page179" + name="page179"> + </a>[pg 179] +</span> + Museum, there is a magnificent volume +containing his writings whilst in England; it belonged to Henry VIII. for +whom it was copied from older MSS. It is illuminated: one painting +represents the duke in the White Tower, at a writing table. This MSS. also +contain some of the compositions of Eloisa. +</p> +<p> +S.K. +</p> + +<hr class="full" /> +<h2>THE COSMOPOLITE.</h2> +<hr /> +<h3>SUPERSTITIONS, FABLES, &c. RELATIVE TO ANIMALS.</h3> +<h4><i>(Continued from page</i> 171.<i>)</i></h4> + +<p> +The fore-foot of a <i>Hare</i> worn constantly in the pocket, is esteemed by +certain worthy old dames as a sure preventive of rheumatic disorders. +</p> +<p> +The <i>Lynx</i> was believed by the ancients, from the acuteness of its sight, +to have the power of seeing through stone walls; and amongst other +absurdities then gravely maintained were these: that the <i>Elephant</i> had no +joints, and being unable to lie down, was obliged to sleep leaning against +a tree; that <i>Deer</i> lived several hundred years; that the <i>Badger</i> had the +legs of one side shorter than those of the other; that the <i>Chameleon</i> +lived entirely on air, and the <i>Salamander</i> in fire; whilst the sphynx, +satyr, unicorn, centaur, hypogriff, hydra, dragon, griffin, cockatrice, &c. +&c. &c. were either the creations of fancy, or fabled accounts of +creatures of whose real form, origin, nature, and qualities, but the most +imperfect knowledge was afloat. +</p> +<p> +The flesh of the <i>Rhinoceros</i>, and almost every part of its body, is +reckoned by the ignorant natives of countries where it is found, an +antidote against poison. +</p> +<p> +That the <i>Jackal</i> is the "Lion's Provider," entirely, is an erroneous idea; +but it is true that the terrific cry of this animal when in chase, rouses +the lion, whose ear is dull, and enables him to join in the pursuit of +prey. Many stories are told respecting the generosity of the <i>Lion</i>, and +it was once confidently believed that no stress of hunger would induce him +to devour a virgin, though his imperial appetite might satiate itself on +men and matrons. The title of King of the Beasts, given at a period when +strength and ferocity were deemed the prime qualities of man—is now more +justly considered to belong to the mild, majestic, and almost rational +elephant. The <i>White Elephant</i> is a sacred animal with the Siamese, and +the cow with the Bramins and Hindoos. +</p> +<p> +The <i>Bear</i> was believed never to devour a man whom it found dead; and it +was imagined to lick its cubs into proper shape: hence the expression +"unlicked cub," applied to a raw, awkward, unpolished youth. The saliva of +the <i>Lama</i>, which when angry it ejects, has been erroneously supposed to +possess a corrosive quality. +</p> +<p> +The hoof of the <i>Moose-deer</i> was formerly in great repute for curing +epilepsies, but has now justly fallen into neglect. The Laplander, +commencing his journey, whispers into the ear of his <i>Rein-deer</i>, +believing these animals understand and will obey his oral directions. The +<i>Elk</i> is accounted by the Indians an animal of good omen, and often to +dream of him indicates a long life. They imagine also the existence of a +gigantic elk, which walks without difficulty in eight feet of snow, has an +arm growing from its shoulder which it uses as we do, is invulnerable to +all weapons, is king of the elks and attended by a numerous herd of +courtiers. The fur of the <i>Glutton</i> is so valued by the Kamschatdales that +they say celestial beings are clad in no other. +</p> +<p> +It was long a popular error that the <i>Porcupine</i>, when irritated, +discharged its quills at its adversary; that these quills were poisonous, +and rendered wounds inflicted by them difficult to cure: a better +acquaintance with the natural history of this harmless animal has now +exploded these fables. Our British porcupine, the innocuous <i>Hedgehog</i>, +has long been the object of unceasing persecution, from the popular belief +that it bites and sucks the udders of cows, an absurdity sufficiently +contradicted by the smallness of its mouth. In like manner, the +<i>Goat-sucker</i> is a persecuted bird, since, as its name implies, it has been +thought to suck the teats of goats and other animals; whereas the form of +its bill entirely precludes such an act, and it is an inoffensive bird, +living upon insects. The superstition has probably originated from its +being often found in warm climates under cattle, capturing the insects +that torment them. It is supposed, in some places, that the <i>Shrew-mouse</i> +is of so baneful and deleterious a nature that whenever it creeps over a +beast, cow, sheep, or horse (in particular), the animal is afflicted with +cruel anguish, and threatened with a loss of the use of its limb. +A shrew-ash was the remedy for this misfortune, viz. an ash whose twigs or +branches gently applied to the affected members relieved the pain: our +provident forefathers, anticipating such an accident to their cattle, +always kept a +<span class="pagenum"> + <a id="page180" + name="page180"> + </a>[pg 180] +</span> + shrew-ash at hand, which, once medicated, retained its +virtue for ever: it was thus prepared: into the body of an ash a deep hole +was bored with an auger, and a poor devoted shrew-mouse being thrust into +it, the orifice was plugged up, probably with quaint incantations now +forgotten. +</p> +<p> +The <i>Toad</i>, owing to its hideous, disgusting appearance, has been the +subject of many superstitions: it is commonly thought to spit venom, +whilst, as yet, the question is unsettled, whether or not it be poisonous +in any respect; some affirm that a viscous humour of poisonous quality +exudes from the skin, like perspiration; whilst others pretend that +cancers may be cured by the application of living toads to them; and a man +has been known to swallow one of these abominations for a wager, taking +care, however, to follow this horrid meal by an immediate and copious +draught of oil. But the very glance of the toad has been supposed fatal; +of its entrails fancied poisonous potions have been concocted; and for +magical purposes it was believed extremely efficacious; a precious stone +was asserted to be found in its head, invaluable in medicine and magic. In +Carthagena and Portobello (America) these creatures swarm to such a degree +in wet weather that many of the inhabitants believe every drop of rain to +be converted into a toad. It is said of the Pipa, or Surinam toad, a +hideous, but probably harmless, animal, that very malignant effects are +experienced from it when calcined. +</p> +<p> +The <i>Crocodile</i> is feigned to weep and groan like a human being in pain +and distress, in order to excite the sympathy of man, and thus allure him +into his tremendous jaws. +</p> +<p> +The <i>Lizard</i>, though now declared by naturalists to be perfectly harmless, +was long considered poisonous by the ignorant; and in Sweden and +Kamschatka, the green lizard is the subject of strange superstitions, and +regarded with horror. Newts, efts, swifts, snakes, and blind-worms are, +in popular credence, all venomous; and that the <i>Ear-wig</i> most justly +derives its name from entering people's ears, and either causing deafness, +or, by penetrating to the brain, death itself, is with many considered an +indisputable fact. The Irish have a large beetle of which strange tales +are believed; they term it the <i>Coffin-cutter</i>, and it has some connexion +with the grave and purgatory, not now, unfortunately, to be recalled to +our memory. +</p> +<p> +It is, in Germany, a popular belief, that the <i>Stag-beetle</i> (perhaps the +same insect) carries burning coals into houses by means of its jaws, and +that it has thus occasioned many dreadful fires. (How convenient would +<i>Swing</i> find such a superstition in England!) The <i>Death-watch</i> +superstition is too well known to need particular notice in this paper. It +is singular that the <i>House-cricket</i> should by some persons be considered +an unlucky, by others a lucky, inmate of the mansion: those who hold the +latter opinion consider its destruction the means of bringing misfortune +on their habitations. "In Dumfries-shire," says Sir William Jardine, "it +is a common superstition that if crickets forsake a house which they have +long inhabited, some evil will befal the family; generally the death of +some member is portended. In like manner the presence or return of this +cheerful little insect is lucky, and portends some good to the family." +</p> +<p> +<i>(To be continued.)</i> +</p> + +<hr class="full" /> +<h2>NOTES OF A READER.</h2> +<hr /> +<h3>DOMESTIC LIFE IN AMERICA.</h3> +<p> +<i>Servants</i>. +</p> +<p> +The following sketch of what the Americans feel on this point, from Mrs. +Trollope's <i>Domestic Manners of the Americans</i>, is clever and amusing:— +</p> +<p> +"The greatest difficulty in organizing a family establishment in Ohio is +getting servants, or, as it is there called, 'getting help,' for it is +more than petty treason to the republic to call a free citizen a <i>servant</i>. +The whole class of young women, whose bread depends upon their labour, are +taught to believe that the most abject poverty is preferable to domestic +service. Hundreds of half-naked girls work in the paper-mills, or in any +other manufactory, for less than half the wages they would receive in +service: but they think their equality is compromised by the latter, and +nothing but the wish to obtain some particular article of finery will ever +induce them to submit to it. A kind friend, however, exerted herself so +effectually for me, that a tall stately lass soon presented herself, +saying, 'I be come to help you.' The intelligence was very agreeable, and +I welcomed her in the most gracious manner possible, and asked what I +should give her by the year. 'Oh Gimini!' exclaimed the damsel, with a +loud laugh, 'you be a downright Englisher, sure enough. I should like to +see a young lady engage by the year in America! I hope I shall get a +husband before many months, or I expect I shall be an outright old maid, +for I be most seventeen already; besides, mayhap I +<span class="pagenum"> + <a id="page181" + name="page181"> + </a>[pg 181] +</span> + may want to go to +school. You must just give me a dollar and a half a week; and mother's +slave, Phillis, must come over once a week, I expect, from t'other side +the water, to help me clean.' I agreed to the bargain, of course, with all +dutiful submission; and seeing she was preparing to set to work in a +yellow dress parsemé with red roses, I gently hinted, that I thought it +was a pity to spoil so fine a gown, and that she had better change it. +''Tis just my best and worst,' she answered, 'for I've got no other.' And +in truth I found that this young lady had left the paternal mansion with +no more clothes of any kind than what she had on. I immediately gave her +money to purchase what was necessary for cleanliness and decency, and set +to work with my daughters to make her a gown. She grinned applause when +our labour was completed, but never uttered the slightest expression of +gratitude for that or for anything else we could do for her. She was +constantly asking us to lend her different articles of dress, and when we +declined it, she said, 'Well, I never seed such grumpy folks as you be; +there is several young ladies of my acquaintance what goes to live out now +and then with the old women about the town, and they and their gurls +always lends them what they asks for; I guess, you Inglish thinks we +should poison your things, just as bad as if we was negurs.' And here I +beg to assure the reader, that whenever I give conversations, they were +not made <i>à loisir</i>, but were written down immediately after they occurred, +with all the verbal fidelity my memory permitted." +</p> +<p> +"This young lady left me at the end of two months, because I refused to +lend her money enough to buy a silk dress to go to a ball, saying, 'Then +it is not worth my while to stay any longer.' I cannot imagine it possible +that such a state of things can be desirable or beneficial to any of the +parties concerned. I might occupy a hundred pages on the subject, and yet +fail to give an adequate idea of the sore, angry, ever-wakeful pride that +seemed to torment these poor wretches. In many of them it was so excessive, +that all feeling of displeasure, or even of ridicule, was lost in pity. +One of these was a pretty girl, whose natural disposition must have been +gentle and kind; but her good feelings were soured, and her gentleness +turned into morbid sensitiveness, by having heard a thousand and a +thousand times that she was as good as any other lady, that all men were +equal, and women too, and that it was a sin and a shame for a free-born +American to be treated like a servant. When she found she was to dine in +the kitchen, she turned up her pretty lip, and said, 'I guess that's +'cause you don't think I'm good enough to eat with you. You'll find that +won't do here.' I found afterwards that she rarely ate any dinner at all, +and generally passed the time in tears. I did everything in my power to +conciliate and make her happy, but I am sure she hated me. I gave her very +high wages, and she stayed till she had obtained several expensive +articles of dress, and then, <i>un beau matin</i>, she came to me full dressed, +and said, 'I must go.' 'When shall you return, Charlotte?' 'I expect you +will see no more of me.' And so we parted. Her sister was also living with +me, but her wardrobe was not yet completed, and she remained some weeks +longer till it was." +</p> +<p> +"Such being the difficulties respecting domestic arrangements," adds our +author, "it is obvious, that the ladies who are brought up amongst them +cannot have leisure for any developement of the mind: it is, in fact, out +of the question; and, remembering this, it is more surprising that some +among them should be very pleasing, than that none should be highly +instructed. But, whatever may be the talents of the persons who meet +together in society, the very shape, form, and arrangement of the meeting +is sufficient to paralyze conversation. The women invariably herd together +at one part of the room, and the men at the other; but, in justice to +Cincinnati, I must acknowledge that this arrangement is by no means +peculiar to that city, or to the western side of the Alleghanies. +Sometimes a small attempt at music produces a partial reunion; a few of +the most daring youths animated by the consciousness of curled hair and +smart waistcoats, approach the piano-forte, and begin to mutter a little +to the half-grown pretty things, who are comparing with one another 'how +many quarters' music they have had.' Where the mansion is of sufficient +dignity to have two drawing-rooms, the piano, the little ladies, and the +slender gentlemen are left to themselves; and on such occasions the sound +of laughter is often heard to issue from among them. But the fate of the +more dignified personages, who are left in the other room, is extremely +dismal. The gentlemen spit, talk of elections and the price of produce, +and spit again. The ladies look at each other's dresses till they know +every pin by heart; talk of +<span class="pagenum"> + <a id="page182" + name="page182"> + </a>[pg 182] +</span> + Parson Somebody's last sermon on the day of +judgment, or Dr. T'otherbody's new pills for dyspepsia, till the 'tea' is +announced, when they all console themselves together for whatever they may +have suffered in keeping awake, by taking more tea, coffee, hot cake and +custard, hoe cake, johny cake, waffle cake, and dodger cake, pickled +peaches, and preserved cucumbers, ham, turkey, hung beef, apple sauce, and +pickled oysters, than ever were prepared in any other country of the known +world. After this massive meal is over, they return to the drawing-room, +and it always appeared to me that they remained together as long as they +could bear it, and then they rise <i>en masse</i>—cloak, bonnet, shawl, and +exit." +</p> +<p> +<i>Conversation of an American Woman.</i> +</p> +<p> +"'Well now, so you be from the old country? Ay—you'll see sights here I +guess.' 'I hope I shall see many.' 'That's a fact.—Why they do say, +that if a poor body contrives to be smart enough to scrape together a few +dollars, that your King George always comes down upon 'em, and takes it +all away. Don't he?' 'I do not remember hearing of such a transaction.' 'I +guess they be pretty close about it.' 'Your papers ben't like ourn, I +reckon? Now we says and prints just what we likes.' 'You spend a good deal +of time in reading the newspapers.' 'And I'd like you to tell me how we +can spend it better. How should freemen spend their time, but looking +after their government, and watching that them fellers as we gives offices +to, doos their duty, and gives themselves no airs?' 'But I sometimes think, +sir, that your fences might be in more thorough repair, and your roads in +better order, if less time was spent in politics.' 'The Lord! to see how +little you knows of a free country? Why, what's the smoothness of a road +put against the freedom of a free-born American? And what does a broken +zig-zag signify, comparable to knowing that the men what we have been +pleased to send up to Congress, speaks handsome and straight, as we +chooses they should?' 'It is from a sense of duty, then, that you all go +to the liquor store to read the papers?' 'To be sure it is, and he'd be no +true-born American as didn't. I don't say that the father of a family +should always be after liquor, but I do say that I'd rather have my son +drunk three times in a week, than not to look after the affairs of his +country,'" +</p> +<p> +<i>Hogs</i>. +</p> +<p> +"Immense droves of hogs were continually arriving from the country by the +road that led to most of our favourite walks; they were often fed and +lodged in the prettiest valleys, and worse still, were slaughtered beside +the prettiest streams. Another evil threatened us from the same quarter, +that was yet heavier. Our cottage had an ample piazza, (a luxury almost +universal in the country houses of America,) which, shaded by a group of +acacias, made a delightful sitting-room; from this favourite spot we one +day perceived symptoms of building in a field close to it; with much +anxiety we hastened to the spot, and asked what building was to be erected +there. ''Tis to be a slaughter-house for hogs,' was the dreadful reply. +As there were several gentlemen's houses in the neighbourhood, I asked if +such an erection might not be indicted as a nuisance. 'A what?' 'A +nuisance,' I repeated, and explained what I meant. 'No, no,' was the reply, +'that may do very well for your tyrannical country, where a rich man's +nose is more thought of than a poor man's mouth; but hogs be profitable +produce here, and we be too free for such a law as that, I guess.'" +</p> + +<hr /> +<h3>THE BELL ROCK LIGHT HOUSE.</h3> + +<p> +On the 9th ult., about 10 P.M., a large herring-gull struck one of the +south-eastern mullions of the Bell Rock Light House with such force, that +two of the polished plates of glass, measuring about two feet square, and +a quarter of an inch in thickness, were shivered to pieces and scattered +over the floor in a thousand atoms, to the great alarm of the keeper on +watch, and the other two inmates of the house, who rushed instantly to the +light room. It fortunately happened, that although one of the red-shaded +sides of the reflector-frame was passing in its revolution at the moment, +the pieces of broken glass were so minute, that no injury was done to the +red glass. The gull was found to measure five feet between the tips of the +wings. In his gullet was found a large herring, and in its throat a piece +of plate-glass, of about one inch in length.—(From No. I. of the +<i>Nautical Magazine</i>, a work of clever execution, great promise, and +extraordinary cheapness.) +</p> + +<hr /> +<h3>NO CHALK.</h3> + +<p> +It appears that the bill for the abolition of imprisonment for debt in +America +<span class="pagenum"> + <a id="page183" + name="page183"> + </a>[pg 183] +</span> + "works well," as applied to New York; and the system is +consequently to be put in general force all over the Union—a fact, which, +as a poet like Mr. Watts would say, adds another leaf to America's laurel. +But the paper which announced this gratifying intelligence, relates in a +paragraph nearly subjoined to it, a circumstance in natural history that +seems to have some connexion with the affairs between debtor and creditor +in the United States. It informs us, that up to the present period of +scientific investigation, "<i>no chalk</i> has been discovered in North +America." Now this is really a valuable bit of discovery; and we heartily +wish that the Geological Society, instead of wasting their resources on +anniversary-dinners, as they have lately been doing, would at once set +about establishing the proof of a similar absence of that article in this +country. Surely, our brethren on the other side of the Atlantic, will not +fail to take the hint which nature herself has so benificently thrown out +to them; and instead of abolishing the power of getting into prison, put +an end at once to the power of getting into debt. The scarcity of chalk +ought certainly to be numbered among the natural blessings of America. Had +the soil on that side of the ocean been as chalky as this, America might +have been visited by a comet, like Pitt, with a golden train of eight +hundred millions.—<i>Monthly Magazine</i>. +</p> + +<hr class="full" /> +<h2>THE NATURALIST.</h2> +<hr /> +<h3>ANGLING.</h3> +<h4><i>(From the Angler's Museum, quoted in the Magazine of Natural History.) +</i></h4> +<p> +Every one who is acquainted with the habits of fish is sensible of the +extreme acuteness of their vision, and well knows how easily they are +scared by shadows in motion, or even at rest, projected from the bank; and +often has the angler to regret the suspension of a successful fly-fishing +by the accidental passage of a person along the opposite bank of the +stream: yet, by noting the apparently trivial habits of one of nature's +anglers, not only is our difficulty obviated, but our success insured. The +heron, guided by a wonderful instinct, preys chiefly in the absence of the +sun; fishing in the dusk of the morning and evening, on cloudy days and +moonlight nights. But should the river become flooded to discoloration, +then does the "long-necked felon" fish indiscriminately in sun and shade; +and in a recorded instance of his fishing on a bright day, it is related +of him, that, like a skilful angler, he occupied the shore opposite the +sun. +</p> + +<hr /> +<h3>SKILFUL ANATOMISTS.</h3> +<h4>(<i>For the Mirror.)</i></h4> + +<p> +It may not be generally known that the tadpole acts the same part with +fish that ants do with birds; and that through the agency of this little +reptile, perfect skeletons, even of the smallest fishes may be obtained. +To produce this, it is but necessary to suspend the fish by threads +attached to the head and tail in an horizontal position, in a jar of water, +such as is found in a pond, and change it often, till the tadpoles have +finished their work. Two or three tadpoles will perfectly dissect a fish +in twenty-four hours. +</p> +<p> +H.S.S. +</p> + +<hr /> +<h3>THREE ENTHUSIASTIC NATURALISTS.</h3> +<p> +The first is a learned entomologist, who, hearing one evening at the +Linnean Society that a yellow Scarabaeus, otherwise beetle, of a very rare +kind was to be captured on the sands at Swansea, immediately took his seat +in the mail for that place, and brought back in triumph the object of his +desire. The second is Mr. David Douglas, who spent two years among the +wild Indians of the Rocky Mountains, was reduced to such extremities as +occasionally to sup upon the flaps of his saddle; and once, not having +this resource, was obliged to eat up all the seeds he had collected the +previous forty days in order to appease the cravings of nature. Not +appalled by these sufferings, he has returned again to endure similar +hardships, and all for a few simples. The third example is Mr. Drummond, +the assistant botanist to Franklin in his last hyperborean journey. In the +midst of snow, with the thermometer 15° below zero, without a tent, +sheltered from the inclemency of the weather only by a hut built of the +branches of trees, and depending for subsistence from day to day on a +solitary Indian hunter, "I obtained," says this amiable and enthusiastic +botanist, "a few mosses; and, on Christmas day,"—mark, gentle reader, the +day, of all others, as if it were a reward for his devotion,—"I had the +pleasure of finding a very minute Gymnóstomum, hitherto undescribed. I +remained alone for the rest of the winter, except when my man occasionally +visited me with meat; and I found the time hang very heavy, as I had no +books, and nothing could be done in the way of collecting specimens of +natural history." +</p> +<p> +<i>Magazine of Natural History</i> +</p> +<hr /> +<span class="pagenum"> + <a id="page184" + name="page184"> + </a>[pg 184] +</span> + + +<div class="figure" style="width:100%;"> + <a href="images/539-002.png"> + <img width = "100%" src="images/539-002.png" alt="BURIAL PLACE IN TONGATABU." /> + </a> +</div> + +<h3>BURIAL PLACE IN TONGATABU.</h3> + +<p> +This is another of Mr. Bennett's sketches made during his recent visit to +several of the Polynesian Islands. It represents the burial-place of the +Chiefs of Tongatabu: over this "earthly prison of their bones," we may say +with Titus Andronicus: +</p> +<div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>In pence and honour rest you here my sons:</p> + <p>(The) readiest champions, repose you here,</p> + <p>Secure from worldly chances and mishaps:</p> + <p>Here lurks no treason, here no envy swells,</p> + <p>Here grow no damned grudges: here are no storms,</p> + <p>No noise, but silence and eternal sleep.</p> + </div> +</div> +<p> +Mr. Bennett thus describes the spot, with some interesting circumstances: +</p> +<p> +"July 29th. I visited this morning a beautiful spot named Maofanga, at a +short distance from our anchorage; here was the burial-place of the chiefs. +The tranquillity of this secluded spot, and the drooping trees of the +casuarina equisetifolia, added to the mournful solemnity of the place. +Off this place, the Astrolabe French discovery ship lay when, some time +before, she fired on the natives. The circumstances respecting this affair, +as communicated to me, if correct, do not reflect much credit on the +commander of the vessel. They are as follow: During a gale the Astrolabe +drove on the reef, but was afterwards got off by the exertion of the +natives; some of the men deserting from the ship, the chiefs were accused +of enticing them away, and on the men not being given up the ship fired on +the village; the natives barricaded themselves on the beach by throwing up +sand heaps, and afterwards retired into the woods. The natives pointed out +the effects of the shot; on the trees, a large branch of a casuarina tree +in the sacred enclosure was shot off, several coco-nut trees were cut in +two, and the marks of several spent shots still remain on the trees: three +natives were killed in this attack. A great number of the flying-fox, or +vampire bat, hung from the casuarina trees in this enclosure, but the +natives interposed to prevent our firing at them, the place being tabued. +Mr. Turner had been witness to the interment here, not long previously, of +the wife of a chief, and allied to the royal family. The body, enveloped +in mats, was placed in a vault, in which some of her relations had been +before interred, and being covered up, several natives advanced with +baskets of sand, &c. and strewed it over the vault; others then approached +and cut themselves on the head with hatchets, wailing and showing other +demonstrations of grief. Small houses are erected over the vaults. All the +burial-places are either fenced round or surrounded by a low wall of coral +stones, and have a very clean, neat, and regular appearance. +</p> +<p> +"I observed that nearly the whole of the natives whom I had seen, were +deficient in the joints of the little finger of the left hand, and some of +both; some of the first joint only, others two, and many the whole of both +fingers. On inquiry, I found that a joint is chopped off on any occasion +of the illness or death of a relation or chief, as a propitiatory offering +to the Spirit. There is a curious analogy between this custom and one +related by Mr. Burchell as existing among the Bushmen tribe in Southern +Africa, and performed for similar superstitious reasons to express grief +for the loss of relations. +</p> +<p> +"Near this place was the Hufanga, or place of refuge, in which a person in +danger of being put to death is in safety as long as he remains there; on +looking in the enclosure, it was only a place gravelled over, in which was +a small house and some trees planted." +<a id="footnotetag2" + name="footnotetag2"></a><sup> + <a href="#footnote2">2</a> +</sup> +</p> + +<hr class="full" /> +<span class="pagenum"> + <a id="page185" + name="page185"> + </a>[pg 185] +</span> + +<h2>THE SELECTOR; AND LITERARY NOTICES OF <i>NEW WORKS</i>.</h2> +<hr /> +<h3>FRANCIS THE FIRST.</h3> +<h4><i>An Historical Drama. By Frances Ann Kemble</i>.</h4> +<p> +This extraordinary production has awakened an interest in the dramatic and +literary world, scarcely equalled in our times. We know of its fortune +upon the stage by report only; but, from our acquaintance with the +requisites of the acting drama, we should conceive its permanence will be +more problematical in the theatre than in the closet; and considering the +conditions upon which dramatic fame is now attainable, we think the clever +authoress will not have reason to regret these inequalities of success. +That Miss Kemble's tragedy possesses points to be made, and passages that +will <i>tell</i> on the stage, cannot be denied; but its interest for +representation requires to be concentrated; it "wants a hero, an uncommon +thing." It is well observed in the <i>Quarterly Review</i>, (by the way, the +only notice yet taken of the tragedy, that merits attention,) that "the +piece is crowded with characters of the greatest variety, all of +considerable importance in the piece, engaged in the most striking +situations, and contributing essentially to the main design. Instead of +that simple unity of interest, from which modern tragic writers have +rarely ventured to depart, it takes the wider range of that historic unity, +which is the characteristic of our elder drama; moulds together, and +connects by some common agent employed in both, incidents which have no +necessary connexion; and—what in the present tragedy strikes us as on +many accounts especially noticeable—unites by a fine though less +perceptible moral link, remote but highly tragic events with the immediate, +if we may so speak, the domestic interests of the play." This language is +finely characteristic of the drama. Again, the interest has "so much +Shakspearianism in the conception as to afford a remarkable indication of +the noble school in which the young authoress has studied, and the high +models which, with courage, in the present day, fairly to be called +originality, she has dared to set before her. In fact, Francis the First +is cast entirely in the mould of one of Shakspeare's historical tragedies." +The drama too was written without any view to its representation, as the +<i>Quarterly</i> reviewer has been "informed by persons who long ago perused +the manuscript, several years before Miss Kemble appeared upon the stage, +and at a time when she little anticipated the probability that she herself +might be called upon to impersonate the conceptions of her own imagination. +We believe that we are quite safe when we state that the drama, in its +present form, was written when the authoress was not more than seventeen." +Yet it should be added that the above statement is not made by way of +extenuation; for, to say the truth, it needs no such adventitious aid. +</p> +<p> +A mere outline of the story will convince the reader that, as the Reviewer +states, "the tragedy is alive from the beginning to the end;" and our +extracts will we trust show the language to be bold and vigorous; the +imagery sweetly poetical; and the workings of the passions which actuate +the personages to be evidently of high promise if not of masterly spirit. +</p> +<p> +The tragedy opens with the recall of the Constable De Bourbon from Italy, +through the supposed political intrigue, but really, the secret love, of +the mother of Francis, Louisa of Savoy, Duchess of Angouleme, whom Miss +Kemble calls the Queen Mother. In the second scene the Queen Mother +communicates to Gonzales, a monk in disguise, but in, reality an emissary +of the Court of Spain, her secret passion for De Bourbon, and her design +in his recall. +</p> +<p> +Francis is introduced at a tourney, where he not only triumphs in the +jousts, but over the heart of the beautiful Françoise de Foix. +</p> +<p> +Bourbon returns, and the second act opens with his interview with Renée, +(or Margaret,) the daughter of the Queen Mother, and sister of Francis I., +for whom he really entertains an affection. In the second scene the Queen +Mother declares her passion to Bourbon, who, at first supposes he is to be +tempted by Margaret's hand, but finding the Queen herself to be the lure, +he indignantly rejects her. The character of Bourbon in this scene is +admirably brought out. The artifice of the Queen—the scorn of +Bourbon—and the Queen's meditated vengeance are powerfully wrought: +</p> + +<div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>BOURBON.</p> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>I would have you know,</p> + <p>De Bourbon storms, and does not steal his honours</p> + <p>And though your highness thinks I am ambitious,</p> + <p>(And rightly thinks) I am not <i>so</i> ambitious</p> + <p>Ever to beg rewards that I can win,—</p> + <p>No man shall call me debtor to his tongue.</p> + </div> + <span class="pagenum"> + <a id="page186" + name="page186"> + </a>[pg 186] +</span> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>QUEEN (<i>rising.</i>)</p> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>'Tis proudly spoken; nobly too—but what—</p> + <p>What if a woman's hand were to bestow</p> + <p>Upon the Duke de Bourbon such high honours,</p> + <p>To raise him to such state, that grasping man,</p> + <p>E'en in his wildest thoughts of mad ambition,</p> + <p>Ne'er dreamt of a more glorious pinnacle?</p> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>BOURBON.</p> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>I'd kiss the lady's hand, an she were fair.</p> + <p>But if this world fill'd up the universe,—</p> + <p>If it could gather all the light that lives</p> + <p>In ev'ry other star or sun, or world;</p> + <p>If kings could be my subjects, and that I</p> + <p>Could call such pow'r and such a world my own,</p> + <p>I would not take it from a woman's hand.</p> + <p>Fame is my mistress, madam, and my sword</p> + <p>The only friend I ever wooed her with.</p> + <p>I hate all honours smelling of the distaff,</p> + <p>And, by this light, would as lief wear a spindle</p> + <p>Hung round my neck, as thank a lady's hand</p> + <p>For any favour greater than a kiss.—</p> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>QUEEN.</p> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>And how, if such a woman loved you,—how</p> + <p>If, while she crown'd your proud ambition, she</p> + <p>Could crown her own ungovernable passion,</p> + <p>And felt that all this earth possess'd, and she</p> + <p>Could give, were all too little for your love?</p> + <p>Oh good, my lord! there may be such a woman.</p> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>BOURBON (<i>aside.</i>)</p> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Amazement! can it be, sweet Margaret—</p> + <p>That she has read our love?—impossible!—and yet—</p> + <p>That lip ne'er wore so sweet a smile!—it is.</p> + <p>That look <i>is</i> pardon and acceptance! (<i>aloud</i>)—</p> + <p class="i2">speak. (<i>He falls at the Queen's feet.</i>)</p> + <p>Madam, in pity speak but one word more,—</p> + <p>Who is that woman?</p> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>QUEEN (<i>throwing off her veil.</i>)</p> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>I am that woman!</p> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>BOURBON (<i>starting up.</i>)</p> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>You, by the holy mass! I scorn your proffers;</p> + <p>Is there no crimson blush to tell of fame</p> + <p>And shrinking womanhood! Oh shame! shame! shame!</p> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>(<i>The Queen remains clasping her hands to her</i></p> + <p class="i2"><i>temples, while</i> De Bourbon <i> walks hastily</i></p> + <p class="i2"><i>up and down; after a long pause the</i></p> + <p class="i2">Queen <i> speaks.</i>)</p> + <p class="i2">(<i>The </i>Queen<i> summons her Confessor.</i>)</p> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <p><i>Enter </i>GONZALES.</p> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Sir, we have business with this holy father;</p> + <p>You may retire.</p> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>BOURBON.</p> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Confusion!</p> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>QUEEN.</p> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Are we obeyed?</p> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>BOURBON (<i>aside.</i>)</p> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Oh Margaret!—for thee! for thy dear sake!</p> + <p class="i2"> [<i>Rushes out. The </i>Queen<i> sinks into a chair.</i>]</p> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>QUEEN.</p> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Refus'd and scorn'd! Infamy!—the word chokes me!</p> + <p>How now! why stand'st thou gazing at me thus?</p> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>GONZALES.</p> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>I wait your highness' pleasure.—(<i>Aside</i>) So all is well—</p> + <p>A crown hath fail'd to tempt him—as I see</p> + <p>In yonder lady's eyes.</p> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>QUEEN.</p> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Oh sweet revenge!</p> + <p>Thou art my only hope, my only dower,</p> + <p>And I will make thee worthy of a Queen.</p> + <p>Proud noble, I will weave thee such a web,—</p> + <p>I will so spoil and trample on thy pride,</p> + <p>That thou shalt wish the woman's distaff were</p> + <p>Ten thousand lances rather than itself.</p> + <p>Ha! waiting still, sir Priest! Well as them seest</p> + <p>Our venture hath been somewhat baulk'd,—'tis not</p> + <p>Each arrow readies swift and true the aim,—</p> + <p>Love having failed, we'll try the best expedient,</p> + <p>That offers next,—what sayst thou to revenge?</p> + <p>'Tis not so soft, but then 'tis very sure;</p> + <p>Say, shall we wring this haughty soul a little?</p> + <p>Tame this proud spirit, curb this untrain'd charger?</p> + <p>We will not weigh too heavily, nor grind</p> + <p>Too hard, but, having bow'd him to the earth,</p> + <p>Leave the pursuit to others—carrion birds,</p> + <p>Who stoop, but not until the falcon's gorg'd</p> + <p>Upon the prey he leaves to their base talons.</p> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>GONZALES.</p> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>It rests but with your grace to point the means.</p> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>QUEEN.</p> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Where be the plans of those possessions</p> + <p>Of Bourbon's house?—see that thou find them straight:</p> + <p>His mother was my kinswoman, and I</p> + <p>Could aptly once trace characters like those</p> + <p>She used to write—enough—Guienne—Auvergne</p> + <p>And all Provence that lies beneath his claim,—</p> + <p>That claim disprov'd, of right belong to me.—</p> + <p>The path is clear, do thou fetch me those parchments.</p> + <p class="i2">[<i>Exit</i> Gonzales.</p> + <p>Not dearer to my heart will be the day</p> + <p>When first the crown of France deck'd my son's forehead,</p> + <p>Than that when I can compass thy perdition,—</p> + <p>When I can strip the halo of thy fame</p> + <p>From off thy brow, seize on the wide domains,</p> + <p>That make thy hatred house akin to empire,</p> + <p>And give thy name to deathless infamy. [<i>Exit</i>.</p> + </div> +</div> +<p> +The King holds a Council to appoint a successor to the Constable in Italy. +This scene is of stirring interest. The Queen goads the high-minded +Bourbon nigh unto madness, and at length breaks out into open insult. +Lautrec the brother of Françoise, and despised by Bourbon, is named the +governor. In the ceremony Francis addresses Lautrec:— +</p> +<div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>FRANCIS.</p> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>With our own royal hand we'll buckle on</p> + <p>The sword, that in thy grasp must be the bulwark</p> + <p>And lode-star of our host. Approach.</p> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>QUEEN.</p> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Not so.</p> + <p>Your pardon, sir; but it hath ever been</p> + <p>The pride and privilege of woman's hand</p> + <p>To arm the valour that she loves so well:</p> + <p>We would not, for your crown's best jewel, bate</p> + <p>One jot of our accustom'd state to-day:</p> + <p>Count Lautrec, we will arm thee, at our feet:</p> + <p>Take thou the brand which wins thy country's wars,—</p> + <p>Thy monarch's trust, and thy fair lady's favour.</p> + <p>Why, how now!—how is this!—my lord of Bourbon!</p> + <p>If we mistake not, 'tis the sword of office</p> + <p>Which graces still your baldrick;—with your leave,</p> + <p>We'll borrow it of you.</p> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>BOURBON (<i>starting up</i>.)</p> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Ay, madam, 'tis the sword</p> + <p>You buckled on with your own hand, the day</p> + <p>You sent me forth to conquer in your cause;</p> + <p>And there it is;—(<i>breaks the sword</i>)—take it—and with it all</p> + <p>Th' allegiance that I owe to France; ay take it;</p> + <p>And with it, take the hope I breathe o'er it:</p> + <p>That so, before Colonna's host, your arms</p> + <p>Lie crush'd and sullied with dishonour's stain;</p> + <p>So, reft in sunder by contending factions,</p> + <p>Be your Italian provinces; so torn</p> + <p>By discord and dissension this vast empire;</p> + <p>So broken and disjoin'd your subjects' loves;</p> + <p>So fallen your son's ambition, and your pride.</p> + </div> + <span class="pagenum"> + <a id="page187" + name="page187"> + </a>[pg 187] +</span> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>QUEEN (<i>rising</i>.)</p> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>What ho—a guard within there—Charles of Bourbon,</p> + <p>I do arrest thee, traitor to the crown.</p> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <p><i>Enter Guard</i>.</p> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Away with yonder wide-mouth'd thunderer;</p> + <p>We'll try if gyves and straight confinement cannot</p> + <p>Check this high eloquence, and cool the brain</p> + <p>Which harbours such unmannerd hopes.</p> + <p class="i2">[Bourbon <i>is forced out</i>.</p> + <p>Dream ye, my lords, that thus with open ears,</p> + <p>And gaping mouths and eyes, ye sit and drink</p> + <p>This curbless torrent of rebellious madness.</p> + <p>And you, sir, are you slumbering on your throne;</p> + <p>Or has all majesty fled from the earth,</p> + <p>That women must start up, and in your council</p> + <p>Speak, think, and act for ye; and, lest your vassals,</p> + <p>The very dirt beneath your feet, rise up</p> + <p>And cast ye off, must women, too, defend ye?</p> + <p>For shame, my lords, all, all of ye, for shame,—</p> + <p>Off, off with sword and sceptre, for there is</p> + <p>No loyalty in subjects; and in kings,</p> + <p>No king-like terror to enforce their rights.</p> + </div> +</div> +<p> +Meanwhile Lautrec proposes to his sister Françoise, the hand of his friend, +the gallant Laval; whilst the fair maiden is importuned by Francis, who +endeavours to make the poet Clement Marot the bearer of his intrigue. In a +scene between Francis and the poet, the licentious impatience of the King, +and the unsullied honour of Clement are finely contrasted. +</p> +<div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>FRANCIS.</p> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>I would I'd borne the scroll myself, thy words</p> + <p>Image her forth so fair.</p> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>CLEMENT.</p> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Do they, indeed?</p> + <p>Then sorrow seize my tongue, for, look you, sir,</p> + <p>I will not speak of your own fame or honour,</p> + <p>Nor of your word to me: king's words, I find,</p> + <p>Are drafts on our credulity, not pledges</p> + <p>Of their own truth. You have been often pleas'd</p> + <p>To shower your royal favours on my head;</p> + <p>And fruitful honours from your kindly will</p> + <p>Have rais'd me far beyond my fondest hopes;</p> + <p>But had I known such service was to be</p> + <p>The nearest way my gratitude might take</p> + <p>To solve the debt, I'd e'en have given back</p> + <p>All that I hold of you: and, now, not e'en</p> + <p>Your crown and kingdom could requite to me</p> + <p>The cutting sense of shame that I endur'd</p> + <p>When on me fell the sad reproachful glance</p> + <p>Which told me how I stood in the esteem</p> + <p>Of yonder lady. Let me tell you, sir,</p> + <p>You've borrow'd for a moment what whole years</p> + <p>Cannot bestow—an honourable name.</p> + <p>Now fare you well; I've sorrow at my heart,</p> + <p>To think your majesty hath reckon'd thus</p> + <p>Upon my nature. I was poor before,</p> + <p>Therefore I can be poor again without</p> + <p>Regret, so I lose not mine own esteem.</p> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <hr /> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>FRANCIS.</p> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Excellent.</p> + <p>Oh, ye are precious wooers, all of ye.</p> + <p>I marvel how ye ever ope your lips</p> + <p>Unto, or look upon that fearful thing,</p> + <p>A lovely woman.</p> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>CLEMENT.</p> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>And I marvel, sir,</p> + <p>At those who do not feel the majesty,—</p> + <p>By heaven, I'd almost said the holiness,—</p> + <p>That circles round a fair and virtuous woman:</p> + <p>There is a gentle purity that breathes</p> + <p>In such a one, mingled with chaste respect,</p> + <p>And modest pride of her own excellence,—</p> + <p>A shrinking nature, that is so adverse</p> + <p>To aught unseemly, that I could as soon</p> + <p>Forget the sacred love I owe to heav'n,</p> + <p>As dare, with impure thoughts, to taint the air</p> + <p>Inhal'd by such a being: than whom, my liege,</p> + <p>Heaven cannot look on anything more holy,</p> + <p>Or earth be proud of anything more fair. [<i>Exit</i>.</p> + </div> +</div> +<p> +Gonzales, the monk, is despatched by the Queen to Bourbon in prison. At +the door he meets Margaret, who had bribed her way to her lover, and was +returning after ineffectual attempts to soothe him into submission, +shame-struck at the exposure of her mother's guilt. The Queen intrusts +Gonzales with a signet ring as the means of liberating him and conducting +him to the royal chamber. Bourbon is immovable; and in revenge upon the +Court, he falls in with a private scheme of Gonzales, which is to accept +of his liberty, and set off to the Court of Spain. The undisguising of the +treacherous monk is in these powerful lines: +</p> +<div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>GONZALES.</p> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Now,</p> + <p>That day is come, ay, and that very hour:</p> + <p>Now shout your war-cry; now unsheath your sword;</p> + <p>I'll join the din, and make these tottering walls</p> + <p>Tremble and nod to hear our fierce defiance.</p> + <p>Nay, never start, and look upon my cowl—</p> + <p>You love not priests, De Bourbon, more than I.</p> + <p>Off, vile denial of my manhood's pride;</p> + <p>Off, off to hell! where thou wast first invented,</p> + <p>Now once again I stand and breathe a knight.</p> + <p>Nay, stay not gazing thus: it is Garcia,</p> + <p>Whose name hath reach'd thee long ere now, I trow;</p> + <p>Whom thou hast met in deadly fight full oft,</p> + <p>When France and Spain join'd in the battle field.</p> + <p>Beyond the Pyrenean boundary</p> + <p>That guards thy land, are forty thousand men:</p> + <p>Their unfurl'd pennons flout fair France's sun,</p> + <p>And wanton in the breezes of her sky:</p> + <p>Impatient halt they there; their foaming steeds,</p> + <p>Pawing the huge and rock-built barrier,</p> + <p>That bars their further course—they wait for thee:</p> + <p>For thee whom France hath injur'd and cast off;</p> + <p>For thee, whose blood it pays with shameful chains,</p> + <p>More shameful death; for thee, whom Charles of Spain</p> + <p>Summons to head his host, and lead them on</p> + <p>To conquest and to glory.</p> + </div> +</div> +<p> +The interest now reverts to the fate of Françoise, and Bourbon is lost +sight of; a transition which, both in acting and reading, endangers the +drama. +<a id="footnotetag3" + name="footnotetag3"></a><sup> + <a href="#footnote3">3</a> +</sup> + News arrives of the flight of Lautrec from his government; of +his arrest, his imprisonment, and capital condemnation. +<a id="footnotetag4" + name="footnotetag4"></a><sup> + <a href="#footnote4">4</a> +</sup> + He enjoins his +sister to intercede in his behalf with Francis; she complies, but it is at +the expense of her honour; broken-hearted, she sinks beneath her shame at +the crime into which she has been betrayed, and returns home. Francis +<span class="pagenum"> + <a id="page188" + name="page188"> + </a>[pg 188] +</span> +pursues her, and the Queen, now aware of his passion for her, dispatches +the monk Gonzales on a secret mission to poison Françoise, who, she fears, +may supplant her in her ascendancy over the King. A fine passage occurs in +the scene wherein the Queen proposes her scheme to Gonzales. +</p> +<div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>QUEEN.</p> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Didst ever look upon the dead?</p> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>GONZALES.</p> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Ay, madam,</p> + <p>Full oft; and in each calm or frightful guise</p> + <p>Death comes in,—on the bloody battle-field;</p> + <p>When with each gush of black and curdling life</p> + <p>A curse was uttered,—when the pray'rs I've pour'd,</p> + <p>Have been all drown'd with din of clashing arms—</p> + <p>And shrieks and shouts, and loud artillery,</p> + <p>That shook the slipp'ry earth, all drunk with gore—</p> + <p>I've seen it, swoll'n with subtle poison, black</p> + <p>And staring with concentrate agony—</p> + <p>When ev'ry vein hath started from its bed,</p> + <p>And wreath'd like knotted snakes, around the brows</p> + <p>That, frantic, dash'd themselves in tortures down</p> + <p>Upon the earth. I've seen life float away</p> + <p>On the faint sound of a far tolling bell—</p> + <p>Leaving its late warm tenement as fair,</p> + <p>As though 'twere th' incorruptible that lay</p> + <p>Before me—and all earthly taint had vanish'd</p> + <p>With the departed spirit.</p> + </div> +</div> +<p> +Laval returns from Italy to claim his bride. In the earlier part of the +play, a hint is given of Gonzales' rancorous hate of Laval, the +undercurrent of which is now revealed. Gonzales, beneath the seal of +confession, obtains the secret of the crime of Françoise. In her presence, +as the betrothed Laval rushes to embrace his bride, he taunts him with her +guilt. The wretched Françoise, in vain conjured to assert her innocence, +stabs herself. The King had been followed thither by the Queen; both now +appear. Gonzales riots revenge in one of the most vigorous portions of the +drama: +</p> +<div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>GONZALES.</p> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Look on thy bride! look on that faded thing,</p> + <p>That e'en the tears thy manhood showers go fast,</p> + <p>And bravely, cannot wake to life again!</p> + <p>I call all nature to bear witness here—</p> + <p>As fair a flower once grew within my home,</p> + <p>As young, as lovely, and as dearly lov'd—</p> + <p>I had a sister once, a gentle maid—</p> + <p>The only daughter of my father's house,</p> + <p>Round whom our ruder loves did all entwine,</p> + <p>As round the dearest treasure that we own'd.</p> + <p>She was the centre of our souls' affections—</p> + <p>She was the bud, that underneath our strong</p> + <p>And sheltering arms, spread over her, did blow.</p> + <p>So grew this fair, fair girl, till envious fate</p> + <p>Brought on the hour when she was withered.</p> + <p>Thy father, sir—now mark—for 'tis the point</p> + <p>And moral of my tale—thy father, then,</p> + <p>Was, by my sire, in war ta'en prisoner—</p> + <p>Wounded almost to death, he brought him home,</p> + <p>Shelter'd him,—cherish'd him,—and, with a care,</p> + <p>Most like a brother's, watch'd his bed of sickness,</p> + <p>Till ruddy health, once more through all his veins</p> + <p>Sent life's warm stream in strong returning tide.</p> + <p>How think ye he repaid my father's love?</p> + <p>From her dear home he lur'd my sister forth,</p> + <p>And, having robb'd her of her treasur'd honour,</p> + <p>Cast her away, defil'd,—despoil'd—forsaken—</p> + <p>The daughter of a high and ancient line—</p> + <p>The child of so much love—she died—she died—</p> + <p>Upon the threshold of that home, from which</p> + <p>My father spurn'd her—over whose pale corse</p> + <p>I swore to hunt, through life, her ravisher—</p> + <p>Nor ever from by bloodhound track desist,</p> + <p>Till line and deep atonement had been made—</p> + <p>Honour for honour given—blood for blood.</p> + </div> +</div> +<p> +"The Queen orders Gonzales to death; but the monk accuses her of the +intended murder of Françoise, and produces her written order to that +effect. The King can no longer be blind to his mother's crimes; she is +disgraced, degraded, and condemned to pass the rest of her days in a +convent." +</p> +<p> +Here the fourth act, and the acting play closes. In the fifth De Bourbon +reappears. Lautrec proposes to join him, and assassinate the King, in +revenge for the ruin of Françoise. The memorable battle of Pavia ensues, +and terminates with the death of the King and the triumph of Bourbon. +</p> +<p> +Triboulet, the jester of the Court of Francis, is introduced with some +pleasantry, by way of relief to the darker deeds. +</p> +<p> +We cannot conclude this imperfect sketch better than by the following +judicious observations from the <i>Quarterly Review</i>: "How high Miss Kemble's +young aspirings have been—what conceptions she has formed to herself of +the dignity of tragic poetry—may be discovered from this most remarkable +work; at this height she must maintain herself, or soar a still bolder +flight. The turmoil, the hurry, the business, the toil, even the celebrity +of a theatric life must yield her up at times to that repose, that +undistracted retirement within her own mind, which, however brief, is +essential to the perfection of the noblest work of the +imagination—genuine tragedy. Amidst her highest successes on the stage, +she must remember that the world regards her as one to whom a still higher +part is fallen. She must not be content with the fame of the most +extraordinary work which has ever been produced by a female at her age, +(for as such we scruple not to describe her Francis the First,)—with +having sprung at once to the foremost rank, not only of living actors but +of modern dramatists;—she must consider that she has given us a pledge +and earnest for a long and brightening course of distinction, in the +devotion of all but unrivalled talents in two distinct, though congenial, +capacities, to the revival of the waning glories of the English theatre." +</p> + +<span class="pagenum"> + <a id="page189" + name="page189"> + </a>[pg 189] +</span> + +<hr class="full" /> +<h2>SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.</h2> +<hr /> +<h3>OLD ENGLISH MUSIC.</h3> +<p> +It was in the course of the sixteenth century that the psalmody of England, +and the other Protestant countries, was brought to the state in which it +now remains, and in which it is desirable that it should continue to +remain. For this psalmody we are indebted to the Reformers of Germany, +especially Luther, who was himself an enthusiastic lover of music, and is +believed to have composed some of the finest tunes, particularly the +Hundredth Psalm, and the hymn on the Last Judgment, which Braham sings +with such tremendous power at our great performances of sacred music. Our +psalm-tunes, consisting of prolonged and simple sounds, are admirably +adapted for being sung by great congregations; and as the effect of this +kind of music is much increased by its venerable antiquity, it would be +very unfortunate should it yield to the influence of innovation: for this +reason, it is much to be desired that organists and directors of choirs +should confine themselves to the established old tunes, instead of +displacing them by modern compositions. +</p> +<p> +Towards the end of the sixteenth, and beginning of the seventeenth, +century, shone that constellation of English musicians, whose inimitable +madrigals are still, and long will be, the delight of every lover of vocal +harmony. It is to Italy, however, that we are indebted for this species of +composition. The madrigal is a piece of vocal music adapted to words of an +amorous or cheerful cast, composed for four, five, or six voices, and +intended for performance in convivial parties or private musical societies. +It is full of ingenious and elaborate contrivances; but, in the happier +specimens, contains likewise agreeable and expressive melody. At the +period of which we now speak, vocal harmony was so generally cultivated, +that, in social parties, the madrigal books were generally laid on the +table, and every one was expected to take the part allotted to him. Any +person who made the avowal of not being able to sing a part at sight was +looked upon as unacquainted with the usages of good society—like a +gentleman who now-a-days says he cannot play a game at whist, or a lady +that she cannot join in a quadrille or a mazurka. The Italian madrigals of +Luca Marenzio and others are still in request: and among the English +madrigalists we may mention Wilbye, author of "Flora gave me fairest +flowers;" Morley, whose "Now is the month of Maying" is so modern in its +air, that it is introduced as the finale of one of our most popular operas, +the Duenna; and Michael Este, the composer of the beautiful trio, "How +merrily we live that Shepherds be." This music retains all its original +freshness, and has been listened to, age after age, with unabated pleasure. +</p> +<p> +The glee, which is a simpler and less elaborate form of the madrigal,—and +that amusing <i>jeu d'esprit</i> so well known by the name of Catch, made their +appearance about the end of the sixteenth century. The first collection of +catches that made its appearance in England is dated in +1609.—<i>Metropolitan</i>. +</p> + +<hr /> +<h3>BENEDICTION ON CHILDREN.</h3> +<h4>IMPROMPTU.</h4> +<h4><i>By Thomas Campbell, Esq</i>.</h4> + +<div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Imps, that hold your daily revels</p> + <p class="i2">Round the windows of my bower</p> + <p>Would that Hell's ten thousand devils</p> + <p class="i2">Had you in their clutch this hour!</p> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Screaming, yelling, little nasties,</p> + <p class="i2">Would that Ogres down their maw</p> + <p>Had you cramm'd in Christmas pasties,</p> + <p class="i2">That would make ye hold your jaw.</p> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Saucy imps, stew'd down to jelly,</p> + <p class="i2">Ye would make a sauce most rare;</p> + <p>Or with pudding in each belly,</p> + <p class="i2">Rival roasted pig or hare.</p> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Sweeter than the fish of these is,</p> + <p class="i2">Would be yours, young human <i>bores</i>;</p> + <p>All with apples at your noses,</p> + <p class="i2">Would I saw you dish'd by scores!</p> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Herod slaughter'd harmless sucklings,</p> + <p class="i2">Not with tongues like yours to vex;</p> + <p>Were he here, ye Devil's ducklings,</p> + <p class="i2">I would bid him wring your necks.</p> + </div> +</div> +<p> +<i>Metropolitan</i>. +</p> + +<hr /> +<h3>DRAMATIC CHARACTER OF THE CATHOLIC RELIGION.</h3> + +<p> +The religion of the south of Europe is still essentially dramatic; and it +may be questioned how far this adaptation to the genius of the people has +tended to perpetuate the influence, not only of the Roman Catholic, but +also of the Greek church. Even in the pulpit, not merely does the earnest +preacher, by vehement gesticulation, by the utmost variety of pause and +intonation, <i>act</i>, as far as possible, the scenes which he describes; but +the crucifix, if the expression may be permitted, plays the principal part; +the Saviour is held forth to the multitude in the living and visible +emblem of his sufferings. The ceremonies of the Holy Week in Rome are a +most solemn, and to most minds, affecting religious drama. The oratorios, +as with us, are in general on scriptural subjects; and +<span class="pagenum"> + <a id="page190" + name="page190"> + </a>[pg 190] +</span> + operas on themes of +equal sanctity are listened to without the least feeling of profanation. +Nor are the more audacious exhibitions of the dark ages by any means +exploded. Every traveller on the continent who has much curiosity, must +have witnessed, whether with devout indignation or mere astonishment, the +strange manner in which scriptural subjects are still represented by +marionnettes, by tableax parlans, or even performed by regular actors. In +the unphilosophized parts of modern Europe, these scenes are witnessed by +the populace, not merely with respect, but with profound interest; and if +they tend to perpetuate superstition, must be acknowledged likewise to +keep alive religious sentiment. But if this be the case in the nineteenth +century, how powerfully must such exhibitions have operated on the general +mind in the dark ages! The alternative lay between total ignorance and +this mode of communicating the truth. For the general mass of the clergy +were then as ignorant as the laity; and as the wild work, which in these +sacred dramas is sometimes made of the scripture history, may be supposed +to have embodied the knowledge of a whole fraternity, we may not unfairly +conjecture the kind of instruction to be obtained from each individual. +The state of language in Europe must have greatly contributed to the +adoption of public instruction, by means of dramatic representation. The +services of the church were in Latin, now become a dead language. This +<i>originated</i>, perhaps, rather in sincere reverence, and the dread of +profaning the sacred mysteries by transferring them into the vulgar tongue, +than in any systematic design of keeping the people in the dark; for, from +the gradual extinction of the Latin, as the vernacular idiom, and the +gradual growth of the modern languages, there was no marked period in +which the change might appear to be called for, until the question became +involved with weightier matters of controversy. The confusion of tongues, +almost throughout Europe, before the great predominant languages were +formed out of the conflicting dialects, must greatly have impeded the +preaching the Gospel, for which, in other respects, only a very small part +of the clergy were qualified. Though, in these times, most extraordinary +effects are attributed to the eloquence of certain preachers, for instance, +Fra. Giovanni di Vicenza, yet many of the itinerant friars, the first, we +believe, who addressed the people with great activity in the vulgar tongue, +must have been much circumscribed by the limits of their own patois. +<a id="footnotetag5" + name="footnotetag5"></a><sup> + <a href="#footnote5">5</a> +</sup> +But the spectacle of the dramatic exhibitions everywhere spoke a common +language; and the dialogue, which, in parts of the Chester mysteries, is a +kind of Anglicized French, and which, even if translated into the native +tongue, was constantly interspersed with Latin, and therefore, but darkly +and imperfectly understood, was greatly assisted by the perpetual +interpretation which was presented before the eyes. The vulgar were thus +imperceptibly wrought up to profound feelings of reverence for the purity +of the Virgin; the unexampled sufferings of the Redeemer; the miraculous +powers of the apostles, and the constancy of the martyrs; we must add, +(for after all it was a strange Christianity, though in every respect the +Christianity of the age,) with the most savage detestation at the cruelty +of Herod or Pilate, and the treachery of Judas; and the most revolting +horror, at the hideous appearance, and blasphemous language of the Prince +of Darkness, who almost always played a principal part in these scriptural +dramas.—<i>Quarterly Review.</i> +</p> + +<hr class="full" /> +<h2>SPIRIT OF DISCOVERY.</h2> +<hr /> +<h3>BIRMINGHAM RAILWAY.</h3> +<p> +The line of the proposed plan for this useful and excellent undertaking +has been forwarded to us. We know not whether the projectors are aware +that a straight line is no longer necessary, but that the sharpest turns +may now be made on rail-roads by an American invention, lately carried +into effect in the United States with singular success.—The line of +railway will be 112-1/2 miles. Birmingham being between 3 and 400 feet +higher than London, and the intervening ground much broken, the railway +could not be laid down without an inclination in its planes; the rise, +however, will in no case exceed 1 in 330. The highest point of the line is +on the summit of an inclined plane 15 miles long, rising 13-1/3 feet in +each mile, and is 315 feet above the level at Maiden Lane, London; from +which it is distant 31 miles. The termination at Birmingham is 256 feet +higher than the commencement at London. It is intended that there should +be 10 tunnels—one at Primrose Hill half a mile long, one near +<span class="pagenum"> + <a id="page191" + name="page191"> + </a>[pg 191] +</span> + Watford a +mile long, and one near Kilsby, 78 miles from London, a mile and a quarter +long. The others are each less than a quarter of a mile in length, with +the exception of one, which is a third of a mile long. They will all be 25 +feet in height, well lighted, and ought rather to be called galleries than +tunnels. The strata through which the railway is carried, appear generally +to follow in this order from London: +</p> +<pre> Miles. + London clay and plastic clay 15-1/2 + Chalk and chalk flints 18-1/2 + Chalk, marl, weald clay, iron sand, + and Oxford clay or clunch clay 20 + Great and inferior oolite limestones, + and sandy beds 18 + Lias marls, lias limestone or water + lime and shale beds 16 + Red marl and new red sandstone 24-1/2 + ———- + 112-1/2 +</pre> +<p> +The railway will be composed of two lines of rails with a space between +them of six feet, but at particular points two additional lines will be +required as turns-out to facilitate the passage of the locomotive engines +and carriages. If we assume the average rate of travelling on the railway +to be 20 miles an hour, (which is about the mark,) that 1,200 persons pass +along it in a day, and 120 are conveyed in each train of carriages, then +only ten trains of carriages would be required for all the passengers; +each train would separately take a minute and a half, and the ten trains +not more than fifteen minutes in passing over half a mile of ground. Allow +twice this time for the passage of cattle and merchandise, and it is +manifest that the traffic on railways can never be a source of annoyance +to persons residing near them. All who have travelled in carriages drawn +by locomotive steam-engines on the Liverpool and Manchester railway can +vouch for the safety and comfort, as well as the expedition, of this mode +of conveyance; but the strongest evidence of public opinion on this +subject is the fact, that twice as many persons go by the railway, as were +formerly carried in coaches running on the roads between the two +places—and yet, although the expense of travelling is reduced one-half, +and the works of the railway cost more than 800,000<i>l</i>., the proprietors +are in the receipt of a dividend of 9<i>l</i>. for a year on their 100<i>l</i>. +shares! Enough has been ascertained of the traffic in the districts +through which the London and Birmingham Railway will pass, to remove all +doubt as to an ample return for the necessary outlay.—<i>Metropolitan</i>. +</p> +<hr class="full" /> +<h2>THE GATHERER.</h2> + + +<p> +<i>A Dancing Archbishop</i>.—Dr. King, Archbishop of Dublin, having invited +several persons of distinction to dine with him, had, amongst a great +variety of dishes, a fine leg of mutton and caper sauce; but the doctor, +who was not fond of butter, and remarkable for preferring a trencher to a +plate, had some of the abovementioned pickle introduced dry for his use; +which, as he was mincing, he called aloud to the company to observe him; +"I here present you, my lords and gentlemen," said he, "with a sight that +may henceforward serve you to talk of as something curious, namely, that +you saw an Archbishop of Dublin, at fourscore and seven years of age, cut +capers upon a trencher." +</p> +<p> +T.H. +</p> + +<hr /> + + +<p> +<i>Singular Parish</i>.—In the parish of East Twyford, near Harrow, in the +county of Middlesex, there is only one house, and the farmer who occupies +it is perpetual churchwarden of a church which has no incumbent, and in +which no duty is performed. The parish has been in this state ever since +the time of Queen Elizabeth. +</p> +<p> +H.S.S. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<p> +<i>Scandal</i>.—It is as well not to trust to one's gratitude <i>after</i> dinner. +I have heard many a host libelled by his guests, with his Burgundy yet +reeking on their rascally lips.—<i>Lord Byron</i>. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<p> +A lady with a well plumed head dress, being in deep conversation with a +naval officer, one of the company said, "it was strange to see so fine a +woman <i>tar'd</i> and feathered." +</p> + +<hr /> + +<p> +<i>A Scolding Wife</i>.—Dr. Casin having heard the famous Thomas Fuller repeat +some verses on a scolding wife, was so delighted with them, as to request +a copy. "There is no necessity for that," said Fuller, "as you have got +the original." +</p> + +<hr /> + +<p> +<i>Bouts Rimés</i> are words or syllables which rhyme, arranged in a particular +order, and are given to a poet with a subject, on which he must write +verses ending in the same rhymes, disposed in the same order. Menage gives +the following account of the origin of this ridiculous conceit. Dulot, (a +poet of the 17th century,) was one day complaining in a large company, +that 300 sonnets had been stolen from him. One of the company expressing +his astonishment at the number, "Oh," said he, "they are blank sonnets, or +rhymes (<i>bouts rimés</i>) of all the sonnets I may have occasion to write." +This ludicrous story produced +<span class="pagenum"> + <a id="page192" + name="page192"> + </a>[pg 192] +</span> + such an effect, that it became a fashionable +amusement to compose blank sonnets, and in 1648, a quarto volume of <i>bouts +rimés</i> was published. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<p> +<i>Poisoned Arrows</i> used in Guiana are not shot from a bow, but blown +through a tube. They are made of the hard substance of the cokarito tree, +and are about a foot long, and the size of a knitting-needle. One end is +sharply pointed, and dipped in the poison of worraia, the other is +adjusted to the cavity of the reed, from which it is to be blown by a roll +of cotton. The reed is several feet in length. A single breath carries the +arrow 30 or 40 yards. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<p> +<i>Sterling Applause</i>.—Lord Bolingbroke was so pleased with Barton Booth's +performance of <i>Cato</i>, at Drury Lane Theatre, in 1712, that he presented +the actor with fifty guineas from the stage-box—an example which was +immediately followed by Bolingbroke's political opponents. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<p> +<i>Claret</i> has been accused of producing the gout, but without reason. +Persons who drench themselves with Madeira, Port, &c. and indulge in an +occasional debauch of Claret, may indeed be visited in that way; because a +transition from the strong brandied wines to the lighter, is always +followed by a derangement of the digestive organs. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<p> +<i>Quarantine in America</i>.—Dr. Richard Bayley is the person to whom New +York is chiefly indebted for its quarantine laws. His death was, however, +by contagion. In August, 1801, Doctor Bayley, in the discharge of his duty +as health physician, enjoined the passengers and crew of an Irish emigrant +ship, afflicted with the ship fever, to go on shore to the rooms and tents +appointed for them, leaving their luggage behind. The next morning, on +going to the hospital, he found that both crew and passengers, well, sick, +and dying, were huddled together in one apartment, where they had passed +the night. He inconsiderately entered this room before it had been +properly ventilated, but remained scarcely a moment, being obliged to +retire by a deadly sickness at the stomach, and violent pain in the head, +with which he was suddenly seized. He returned home, retired to bed, and +in the afternoon of the seventh day following, he expired. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<p> +<i>Shaving</i> is said to have come into use during the reigns of Louis XIII. +and XIV. of France, both of whom ascended the throne without a beard. +Courtiers and citizens then began to shave, in order to look like the king, +and, as France soon took the lead in all matters of fashion on the +continent, shaving became general. It is at best a tedious operation. +Seume, a German author, says, in his journal, "To-day I threw my powder +apparatus out of the window, when will come the blessed day that I shall +send the shaving apparatus after it." +</p> + +<hr /> + +<p> +<i>Book Morality</i>.—Dr. Beddoes wrote a history of Isaac Jenkins, which was +intended to impress useful moral lessons on the labouring classes in an +attractive manner. Above 40,000 copies of this work were sold in a short +time. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<p> +<i>The Bedford Missal</i> throws even the costly scrap-books of these times +into the shade. It was made for the celebrated John, Duke of Bedford, (one +of the younger sons of Henry IV.) and contains 59 large, and more than +1,000 small miniature paintings. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<p> +<i>The Bedford Level</i> was drained at an expense of £400,000. by the noble +family of Russell, Earls and Dukes of Bedford, and others; by which means +100,000 acres of good land have been brought into use. +</p> + +<hr class="full" /> + +<h3>POPULAR SCIENCE.</h3> + +<h4>With many Engravings, price 5s.</h4> + +<h3>ARCANA OF SCIENCE</h3> + +<p> +And Annual Register of the Useful Arts for 1832. Abridged from the +Transactions of Public Societies, and Scientific Journals, British and +Foreign, for the past year. This volume will contain all the Important +Facts in the year 1831—in the Mechanic Arts, Chemical Science, Zoology, +Botany, Mineralogy, Geology, Meteorology, Rural Economy, Gardening, +Domestic Economy, Useful and Elegant Arts, Miscellaneous Scientific +Information. +</p> +<p> +"It is with great pleasure that we find the success of the former volumes +of this valuable record of whatever is new in science or interesting in +art, such as to encourage its publisher to make fresh exertions for public +favour, in the compilation of the year passed. Such a work is exceedingly +valuable, and may be considered in the light of a Cyclopaedia, to which +the most eminent of their time for talent and attainments are constantly +contributing."—<i>New Monthly Magazine. March</i>, 1832. +</p> +<p> +"As heretofore, a very useful record of the improvements and novelties of +the year."—<i>Literary Gazette</i>. +</p> +<p> +"The Arcana of Science and Art contains a vast deal of information of an +useful kind."—<i>Athenaeum</i>. +</p> +<p> +Printed for JOHN LIMBIRD, 143, Strand; of whom may be had volumes (upon +the same plan) for 1828, price 4s. 6d, 1829—30—31, price 5s. each. +</p> + +<hr class="full" /> + +<blockquote class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote1" + name="footnote1"> + </a><b>Footnote 1</b>: + <a href="#footnotetag1"> + (return) + </a><p> + For Views of Windsor Castle, with the late renovations, see the + following Numbers of the <i>Mirror</i>:</p> + + <p> + No. 292, George the Fourth's Gateway, South and East Sides. + </p> + + <p> + Long Gallery. + </p> + <p> + No. 437, Bedchamber in which George IV. died. + </p> + <p> + No. 444, Private Dining Room. + </p> + <p> + No. 486, George IV. Gateway, from the interior of the Quadrangle. + </p> + <p> + No. 488, St. George's Chapel. + </p> +</blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote2" name="footnote2"> + </a><b>Footnote 2</b>: + <a href="#footnotetag2"> + (return) + </a> + United Service Journal, Jan. 1832. +</blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote3" name="footnote3"> + </a><b>Footnote 3</b>: + <a href="#footnotetag3"> + (return) + </a> + This disadvantage is greater on the stage, since the audience neither + see nor hear more of Bourbon, and only four acts of the piece are + performed. In the closet it will not be so obvious, as Bourbon + returns in the fifth act. +</blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote4" name="footnote4"> + </a><b>Footnote 4</b>: + <a href="#footnotetag4"> + (return) + </a> + This is an entire variation from history. +</blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote5" name="footnote5"> + </a><b>Footnote 5</b>: + <a href="#footnotetag5"> + (return) + </a> + It is related in the life of St. Bernard, that his pale and emaciated + appearance, and the animation and the fire, which seemed to kindle his + whole being as he spoke, made so deep an impression on those who could + only see him and hear his voice, that Germans, who understand not a + word of his language, were often moved to tears.—<i>Neander, Der + Heilige Bernard</i>, p. 49. +</blockquote> +<hr class="full" /> +<p> +<i>Printed and Published by J. LIMBIRD, 143, Strand, (near Somerset House,) +London; sold by ERNEST FLEISCHER, 626, New Market, Leipsic; C.G. BENNIS, +55, Rue Neuve, St. Augustin, Paris; and by all Newsmen and Booksellers.</i> +</p> +<hr class="full" /> + +<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 11741 ***</div> +</body> +</html> diff --git a/11741-h/images/539-001.png b/11741-h/images/539-001.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..277f38c --- /dev/null +++ b/11741-h/images/539-001.png diff --git a/11741-h/images/539-002.png b/11741-h/images/539-002.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..9521a4b --- /dev/null +++ b/11741-h/images/539-002.png diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ea3d948 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #11741 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/11741) diff --git a/old/11741-8.txt b/old/11741-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f978d1e --- /dev/null +++ b/old/11741-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2032 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and +Instruction, by Various + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction + Volume 19. Issue 539 - 24 Mar 1832 + +Author: Various + +Release Date: March 28, 2004 [EBook #11741] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MIRROR OF LITERATURE *** + + + + +Produced by Jonathan Ingram, Allen Siddle and PG Distributed Proofreaders + + + + + + + + +THE MIRROR OF LITERATURE, AMUSEMENT, AND INSTRUCTION. + +VOL. XIX. NO. 539.] SATURDAY, MARCH 24, 1832. [PRICE 2_d_. + + + + * * * * * + + + +[Illustration: WINDSOR CASTLE, (N.E.)] + +WINDSOR CASTLE, (N.E.) + +Our sketchy tour of Windsor Castle has hitherto been told in visits far +between, perhaps, if not few, for the interesting character of the whole +fabric.[1] + +The present Cut includes the North-east view, a picturesque if not +important point. The reader will remember, if he has not enjoyed, the +splendid terrace on the north; this is now continued on the eastern side. +The fine tower at the eastern end of the north terrace, (at the angle,) is +_Brunswick Tower_, with a projecting bastion in its front containing the +apparatus for heating the orangery, with rooms for the attendants; it is +octagon shaped, and has a most commanding appearance, the height being 120 +feet above the level of the terrace. + +A staircase turret communicates with the apartments, the principal one +being appropriated as a private dining-room by the late King, while the +larger apartments on the east front were reserved for splendid +entertainments. In a central position between the state dining-room and +St. George's Hall is a music saloon, in which is placed a fine-toned organ. +A communication has been effected between Brunswick Tower and the state +apartments by a corridor terminating at the King's Guard Chamber, where a +new tower, named after George the Third, has been erected: the principal +window is extremely large, and divided by Gothic tracery into several +compartments, producing a noble and cathedral-like appearance. + +Beneath the Castle, in the Engraving, are seen the wooded slopes of the +Little Park, the "green retreats" of Pope, where + + ----Waving groves a checker'd scene display + And part admit, and part exclude the day. + +*** The friendly suggestion of our Correspondent, G.C. (Windsor Castle) +shall be considered. + + +[1] For Views of Windsor Castle, with the late renovations, see the + following Numbers of the _Mirror_: + + No. 292, George the Fourth's Gateway, South and East Sides. + + Long Gallery. + + No. 437, Bedchamber in which George IV. died. + + No. 444, Private Dining Room. + + No. 486, George IV. Gateway, from the interior of the Quadrangle. + + No. 488, St. George's Chapel. + + * * * * * + + +THE MARCH OF MIND. + +(_To the Editor_.) + +It is generally supposed that the extensive search after, and diffusion of, +knowledge, is in a great measure peculiar to these present times. It seems +therefore to me a very curious thing to find a learned man and an +accomplished courtier protesting against book-learning as an evil, so far +back as the year 1646, and a curious thing he himself appears to have +thought it, introducing his opinion as a "paradox" until he explains. In +this explanation we find the same opinion that is now strenuously insisted +on by Mr. Cobbett, namely, that a man who properly understands his own +business or employment, though he have nothing of literature, is by no +means to be accounted ignorant. + +The letters of James Howell, Esq. are well known as fluent examples of the +best style of writing of his day, and as repositories of many curious +facts and intelligent remarks. The following letter appears to be +addressed to Lord Dorchester-- + +"My Lord,--The subject of this letter may, peradventure, seem a paradox to +some, but not, I know, to your Lordship, when you are pleased to weigh +well the reasons. Learning is a thing that hath been much cried up, and +coveted in all ages, especially in this last century of years, by people +of all sorts, though never so mean and mechanical; every man strains his +fortune to keep his children at school; the cobbler will clout it till +midnight, the porter will carry burdens till his bones crack again, the +ploughman will pinch both back and belly to give his son _learning_, and I +find that this ambition reigns no where so much as in this island. But, +under favour, this word, _learning_, is taken in a narrower sense among us +than among other nations: we seem to restrain it only to the _book_, +whereas, indeed, any artisan whatsoever (if he knew the secret and mystery +of his trade) may be called a learned man: a good mason; a good shoemaker, +that can manage St. Crispin's lance handsomely; a skilful yeoman; a good +ship-wright, &c. may be all called learned men, and indeed the usefullest +sort of learned men. + +"The extravagant humour of our country is not to be altogether +commended--that all men should aspire to book-learning; there is not a +simpler animal, and a more superfluous member of a state than a mere +scholar, a self-pleasing student. Archimedes, though an excellent +engineer, when Syracuse was lost, was found in his study, intoxicated with +speculations; and another great, learned philosopher, like a fool or +frantic, when being in a bath, he leaped out naked among the people, and +cried, 'I have found it, I have found it,' having hit then upon an +extraordinary conclusion in geometry. There is a famous tale of Thomas +Aquinas, the angelical doctor, and of Bonadventure, the seraphical doctor, +of whom Alexander Hales, our countryman, reports, that these great clerks +were invited to dinner by the French King, on purpose to observe their +humours, and being brought to the room where the table was laid, the first +fell to eating of bread as hard as he could drive, at last, breaking out +of a brown study, he cried out '_Conclusum est contra Manichaeos;_' the +other fell a gazing upon the Queen, and the King asking him how he liked +her, he answered, 'Oh, sir, if an earthly Queen be so beautiful, what +shall we think of the Queen of Heaven?' The latter was the better courtier +of the two. + +"My Lord, I know none in this age more capable to sit in the chair, and +censure what is true learning, and what _not_, than yourself; therefore, +in speaking of this subject to your Lordship, I fear to have committed the +same error as Phormio did, in discoursing of war before Hannibal. + +"My Lord, your most humble, &c. + +"JAMES HOWELL." + + * * * * * + + +ILLUMINATED PSALTER. + +(_For the Mirror_.) + +There is an illuminated Psalter preserved amongst the MSS. in the British +Museum, 2. A. 16., written by John Mallard, Chaplain to Henry VIII., +wherein are several notes in that king's hand writing, some in pencil +prefixed to Psalm liii. ("_Dixit incipiens_.") According to a very ancient +custom are the figures of King David and a fool, in this instance +evidently the portraits of Henry and his jester, Will Somers. + +S. K. + + * * * * * + + +ANCIENT VALENTINES. + +(_For the Mirror_.) + +The earliest poetical Valentines remaining, are those preserved in the +works of Charles Duke of Orleans, father to Louis XII. of France. He was +taken prisoner at the battle of Agincourt, and remained in England +twenty-five years, and called his mistress his _Valentine_. In the royal +library of MSS. now in the British Museum, there is a magnificent volume +containing his writings whilst in England; it belonged to Henry VIII. for +whom it was copied from older MSS. It is illuminated: one painting +represents the duke in the White Tower, at a writing table. This MSS. also +contain some of the compositions of Eloisa. + +S.K. + + * * * * * + + + +THE COSMOPOLITE. + + +SUPERSTITIONS, FABLES, &C. RELATIVE TO ANIMALS. + +(_Continued from page_ 171.) + +The fore-foot of a _Hare_ worn constantly in the pocket, is esteemed by +certain worthy old dames as a sure preventive of rheumatic disorders. + +The _Lynx_ was believed by the ancients, from the acuteness of its sight, +to have the power of seeing through stone walls; and amongst other +absurdities then gravely maintained were these: that the _Elephant_ had no +joints, and being unable to lie down, was obliged to sleep leaning against +a tree; that _Deer_ lived several hundred years; that the _Badger_ had the +legs of one side shorter than those of the other; that the _Chameleon_ +lived entirely on air, and the _Salamander_ in fire; whilst the sphynx, +satyr, unicorn, centaur, hypogriff, hydra, dragon, griffin, cockatrice, &c. +&c. &c. were either the creations of fancy, or fabled accounts of +creatures of whose real form, origin, nature, and qualities, but the most +imperfect knowledge was afloat. + +The flesh of the _Rhinoceros_, and almost every part of its body, is +reckoned by the ignorant natives of countries where it is found, an +antidote against poison. + +That the _Jackal_ is the "Lion's Provider," entirely, is an erroneous idea; +but it is true that the terrific cry of this animal when in chase, rouses +the lion, whose ear is dull, and enables him to join in the pursuit of +prey. Many stories are told respecting the generosity of the _Lion_, and +it was once confidently believed that no stress of hunger would induce him +to devour a virgin, though his imperial appetite might satiate itself on +men and matrons. The title of King of the Beasts, given at a period when +strength and ferocity were deemed the prime qualities of man--is now more +justly considered to belong to the mild, majestic, and almost rational +elephant. The _White Elephant_ is a sacred animal with the Siamese, and +the cow with the Bramins and Hindoos. + +The _Bear_ was believed never to devour a man whom it found dead; and it +was imagined to lick its cubs into proper shape: hence the expression +"unlicked cub," applied to a raw, awkward, unpolished youth. The saliva of +the _Lama_, which when angry it ejects, has been erroneously supposed to +possess a corrosive quality. + +The hoof of the _Moose-deer_ was formerly in great repute for curing +epilepsies, but has now justly fallen into neglect. The Laplander, +commencing his journey, whispers into the ear of his _Rein-deer_, +believing these animals understand and will obey his oral directions. The +_Elk_ is accounted by the Indians an animal of good omen, and often to +dream of him indicates a long life. They imagine also the existence of a +gigantic elk, which walks without difficulty in eight feet of snow, has an +arm growing from its shoulder which it uses as we do, is invulnerable to +all weapons, is king of the elks and attended by a numerous herd of +courtiers. The fur of the _Glutton_ is so valued by the Kamschatdales that +they say celestial beings are clad in no other. + +It was long a popular error that the _Porcupine_, when irritated, +discharged its quills at its adversary; that these quills were poisonous, +and rendered wounds inflicted by them difficult to cure: a better +acquaintance with the natural history of this harmless animal has now +exploded these fables. Our British porcupine, the innocuous _Hedgehog_, +has long been the object of unceasing persecution, from the popular belief +that it bites and sucks the udders of cows, an absurdity sufficiently +contradicted by the smallness of its mouth. In like manner, the +_Goat-sucker_ is a persecuted bird, since, as its name implies, it has been +thought to suck the teats of goats and other animals; whereas the form of +its bill entirely precludes such an act, and it is an inoffensive bird, +living upon insects. The superstition has probably originated from its +being often found in warm climates under cattle, capturing the insects +that torment them. It is supposed, in some places, that the _Shrew-mouse_ +is of so baneful and deleterious a nature that whenever it creeps over a +beast, cow, sheep, or horse (in particular), the animal is afflicted with +cruel anguish, and threatened with a loss of the use of its limb. +A shrew-ash was the remedy for this misfortune, viz. an ash whose twigs or +branches gently applied to the affected members relieved the pain: our +provident forefathers, anticipating such an accident to their cattle, +always kept a shrew-ash at hand, which, once medicated, retained its +virtue for ever: it was thus prepared: into the body of an ash a deep hole +was bored with an auger, and a poor devoted shrew-mouse being thrust into +it, the orifice was plugged up, probably with quaint incantations now +forgotten. + +The _Toad_, owing to its hideous, disgusting appearance, has been the +subject of many superstitions: it is commonly thought to spit venom, +whilst, as yet, the question is unsettled, whether or not it be poisonous +in any respect; some affirm that a viscous humour of poisonous quality +exudes from the skin, like perspiration; whilst others pretend that +cancers may be cured by the application of living toads to them; and a man +has been known to swallow one of these abominations for a wager, taking +care, however, to follow this horrid meal by an immediate and copious +draught of oil. But the very glance of the toad has been supposed fatal; +of its entrails fancied poisonous potions have been concocted; and for +magical purposes it was believed extremely efficacious; a precious stone +was asserted to be found in its head, invaluable in medicine and magic. In +Carthagena and Portobello (America) these creatures swarm to such a degree +in wet weather that many of the inhabitants believe every drop of rain to +be converted into a toad. It is said of the Pipa, or Surinam toad, a +hideous, but probably harmless, animal, that very malignant effects are +experienced from it when calcined. + +The _Crocodile_ is feigned to weep and groan like a human being in pain +and distress, in order to excite the sympathy of man, and thus allure him +into his tremendous jaws. + +The _Lizard_, though now declared by naturalists to be perfectly harmless, +was long considered poisonous by the ignorant; and in Sweden and +Kamschatka, the green lizard is the subject of strange superstitions, and +regarded with horror. Newts, efts, swifts, snakes, and blind-worms are, +in popular credence, all venomous; and that the _Ear-wig_ most justly +derives its name from entering people's ears, and either causing deafness, +or, by penetrating to the brain, death itself, is with many considered an +indisputable fact. The Irish have a large beetle of which strange tales +are believed; they term it the _Coffin-cutter_, and it has some connexion +with the grave and purgatory, not now, unfortunately, to be recalled to +our memory. + +It is, in Germany, a popular belief, that the _Stag-beetle_ (perhaps the +same insect) carries burning coals into houses by means of its jaws, and +that it has thus occasioned many dreadful fires. (How convenient would +_Swing_ find such a superstition in England!) The _Death-watch_ +superstition is too well known to need particular notice in this paper. It +is singular that the _House-cricket_ should by some persons be considered +an unlucky, by others a lucky, inmate of the mansion: those who hold the +latter opinion consider its destruction the means of bringing misfortune +on their habitations. "In Dumfries-shire," says Sir William Jardine, "it +is a common superstition that if crickets forsake a house which they have +long inhabited, some evil will befal the family; generally the death of +some member is portended. In like manner the presence or return of this +cheerful little insect is lucky, and portends some good to the family." + +(_To be continued_.) + + * * * * * + + + +NOTES OF A READER. + + +DOMESTIC LIFE IN AMERICA. + +_Servants_. + +The following sketch of what the Americans feel on this point, from Mrs. +Trollope's _Domestic Manners of the Americans_, is clever and amusing:-- + +"The greatest difficulty in organizing a family establishment in Ohio is +getting servants, or, as it is there called, 'getting help,' for it is +more than petty treason to the republic to call a free citizen a _servant_. +The whole class of young women, whose bread depends upon their labour, are +taught to believe that the most abject poverty is preferable to domestic +service. Hundreds of half-naked girls work in the paper-mills, or in any +other manufactory, for less than half the wages they would receive in +service: but they think their equality is compromised by the latter, and +nothing but the wish to obtain some particular article of finery will ever +induce them to submit to it. A kind friend, however, exerted herself so +effectually for me, that a tall stately lass soon presented herself, +saying, 'I be come to help you.' The intelligence was very agreeable, and +I welcomed her in the most gracious manner possible, and asked what I +should give her by the year. 'Oh Gimini!' exclaimed the damsel, with a +loud laugh, 'you be a downright Englisher, sure enough. I should like to +see a young lady engage by the year in America! I hope I shall get a +husband before many months, or I expect I shall be an outright old maid, +for I be most seventeen already; besides, mayhap I may want to go to +school. You must just give me a dollar and a half a week; and mother's +slave, Phillis, must come over once a week, I expect, from t'other side +the water, to help me clean.' I agreed to the bargain, of course, with all +dutiful submission; and seeing she was preparing to set to work in a +yellow dress parsemé with red roses, I gently hinted, that I thought it +was a pity to spoil so fine a gown, and that she had better change it. +''Tis just my best and worst,' she answered, 'for I've got no other.' And +in truth I found that this young lady had left the paternal mansion with +no more clothes of any kind than what she had on. I immediately gave her +money to purchase what was necessary for cleanliness and decency, and set +to work with my daughters to make her a gown. She grinned applause when +our labour was completed, but never uttered the slightest expression of +gratitude for that or for anything else we could do for her. She was +constantly asking us to lend her different articles of dress, and when we +declined it, she said, 'Well, I never seed such grumpy folks as you be; +there is several young ladies of my acquaintance what goes to live out now +and then with the old women about the town, and they and their gurls +always lends them what they asks for; I guess, you Inglish thinks we +should poison your things, just as bad as if we was negurs.' And here I +beg to assure the reader, that whenever I give conversations, they were +not made _à loisir_, but were written down immediately after they occurred, +with all the verbal fidelity my memory permitted." + +"This young lady left me at the end of two months, because I refused to +lend her money enough to buy a silk dress to go to a ball, saying, 'Then +it is not worth my while to stay any longer.' I cannot imagine it possible +that such a state of things can be desirable or beneficial to any of the +parties concerned. I might occupy a hundred pages on the subject, and yet +fail to give an adequate idea of the sore, angry, ever-wakeful pride that +seemed to torment these poor wretches. In many of them it was so excessive, +that all feeling of displeasure, or even of ridicule, was lost in pity. +One of these was a pretty girl, whose natural disposition must have been +gentle and kind; but her good feelings were soured, and her gentleness +turned into morbid sensitiveness, by having heard a thousand and a +thousand times that she was as good as any other lady, that all men were +equal, and women too, and that it was a sin and a shame for a free-born +American to be treated like a servant. When she found she was to dine in +the kitchen, she turned up her pretty lip, and said, 'I guess that's +'cause you don't think I'm good enough to eat with you. You'll find that +won't do here.' I found afterwards that she rarely ate any dinner at all, +and generally passed the time in tears. I did everything in my power to +conciliate and make her happy, but I am sure she hated me. I gave her very +high wages, and she stayed till she had obtained several expensive +articles of dress, and then, _un beau matin_, she came to me full dressed, +and said, 'I must go.' 'When shall you return, Charlotte?' 'I expect you +will see no more of me.' And so we parted. Her sister was also living with +me, but her wardrobe was not yet completed, and she remained some weeks +longer till it was." + +"Such being the difficulties respecting domestic arrangements," adds our +author, "it is obvious, that the ladies who are brought up amongst them +cannot have leisure for any developement of the mind: it is, in fact, out +of the question; and, remembering this, it is more surprising that some +among them should be very pleasing, than that none should be highly +instructed. But, whatever may be the talents of the persons who meet +together in society, the very shape, form, and arrangement of the meeting +is sufficient to paralyze conversation. The women invariably herd together +at one part of the room, and the men at the other; but, in justice to +Cincinnati, I must acknowledge that this arrangement is by no means +peculiar to that city, or to the western side of the Alleghanies. +Sometimes a small attempt at music produces a partial reunion; a few of +the most daring youths animated by the consciousness of curled hair and +smart waistcoats, approach the piano-forte, and begin to mutter a little +to the half-grown pretty things, who are comparing with one another 'how +many quarters' music they have had.' Where the mansion is of sufficient +dignity to have two drawing-rooms, the piano, the little ladies, and the +slender gentlemen are left to themselves; and on such occasions the sound +of laughter is often heard to issue from among them. But the fate of the +more dignified personages, who are left in the other room, is extremely +dismal. The gentlemen spit, talk of elections and the price of produce, +and spit again. The ladies look at each other's dresses till they know +every pin by heart; talk of Parson Somebody's last sermon on the day of +judgment, or Dr. T'otherbody's new pills for dyspepsia, till the 'tea' is +announced, when they all console themselves together for whatever they may +have suffered in keeping awake, by taking more tea, coffee, hot cake and +custard, hoe cake, johny cake, waffle cake, and dodger cake, pickled +peaches, and preserved cucumbers, ham, turkey, hung beef, apple sauce, and +pickled oysters, than ever were prepared in any other country of the known +world. After this massive meal is over, they return to the drawing-room, +and it always appeared to me that they remained together as long as they +could bear it, and then they rise _en masse_--cloak, bonnet, shawl, and +exit." + +_Conversation of an American Woman._ + +"'Well now, so you be from the old country? Ay--you'll see sights here I +guess.' 'I hope I shall see many.' 'That's a fact.--Why they do say, +that if a poor body contrives to be smart enough to scrape together a few +dollars, that your King George always comes down upon 'em, and takes it +all away. Don't he?' 'I do not remember hearing of such a transaction.' 'I +guess they be pretty close about it.' 'Your papers ben't like ourn, I +reckon? Now we says and prints just what we likes.' 'You spend a good deal +of time in reading the newspapers.' 'And I'd like you to tell me how we +can spend it better. How should freemen spend their time, but looking +after their government, and watching that them fellers as we gives offices +to, doos their duty, and gives themselves no airs?' 'But I sometimes think, +sir, that your fences might be in more thorough repair, and your roads in +better order, if less time was spent in politics.' 'The Lord! to see how +little you knows of a free country? Why, what's the smoothness of a road +put against the freedom of a free-born American? And what does a broken +zig-zag signify, comparable to knowing that the men what we have been +pleased to send up to Congress, speaks handsome and straight, as we +chooses they should?' 'It is from a sense of duty, then, that you all go +to the liquor store to read the papers?' 'To be sure it is, and he'd be no +true-born American as didn't. I don't say that the father of a family +should always be after liquor, but I do say that I'd rather have my son +drunk three times in a week, than not to look after the affairs of his +country,'" + +_Hogs_. + +"Immense droves of hogs were continually arriving from the country by the +road that led to most of our favourite walks; they were often fed and +lodged in the prettiest valleys, and worse still, were slaughtered beside +the prettiest streams. Another evil threatened us from the same quarter, +that was yet heavier. Our cottage had an ample piazza, (a luxury almost +universal in the country houses of America,) which, shaded by a group of +acacias, made a delightful sitting-room; from this favourite spot we one +day perceived symptoms of building in a field close to it; with much +anxiety we hastened to the spot, and asked what building was to be erected +there. ''Tis to be a slaughter-house for hogs,' was the dreadful reply. +As there were several gentlemen's houses in the neighbourhood, I asked if +such an erection might not be indicted as a nuisance. 'A what?' 'A +nuisance,' I repeated, and explained what I meant. 'No, no,' was the reply, +'that may do very well for your tyrannical country, where a rich man's +nose is more thought of than a poor man's mouth; but hogs be profitable +produce here, and we be too free for such a law as that, I guess.'" + + * * * * * + + +THE BELL ROCK LIGHT HOUSE. + +On the 9th ult., about 10 P.M., a large herring-gull struck one of the +south-eastern mullions of the Bell Rock Light House with such force, that +two of the polished plates of glass, measuring about two feet square, and +a quarter of an inch in thickness, were shivered to pieces and scattered +over the floor in a thousand atoms, to the great alarm of the keeper on +watch, and the other two inmates of the house, who rushed instantly to the +light room. It fortunately happened, that although one of the red-shaded +sides of the reflector-frame was passing in its revolution at the moment, +the pieces of broken glass were so minute, that no injury was done to the +red glass. The gull was found to measure five feet between the tips of the +wings. In his gullet was found a large herring, and in its throat a piece +of plate-glass, of about one inch in length.--(From No. I. of the +_Nautical Magazine_, a work of clever execution, great promise, and +extraordinary cheapness.) + + * * * * * + + +NO CHALK. + +It appears that the bill for the abolition of imprisonment for debt in +America "works well," as applied to New York; and the system is +consequently to be put in general force all over the Union--a fact, which, +as a poet like Mr. Watts would say, adds another leaf to America's laurel. +But the paper which announced this gratifying intelligence, relates in a +paragraph nearly subjoined to it, a circumstance in natural history that +seems to have some connexion with the affairs between debtor and creditor +in the United States. It informs us, that up to the present period of +scientific investigation, "_no chalk_ has been discovered in North +America." Now this is really a valuable bit of discovery; and we heartily +wish that the Geological Society, instead of wasting their resources on +anniversary-dinners, as they have lately been doing, would at once set +about establishing the proof of a similar absence of that article in this +country. Surely, our brethren on the other side of the Atlantic, will not +fail to take the hint which nature herself has so benificently thrown out +to them; and instead of abolishing the power of getting into prison, put +an end at once to the power of getting into debt. The scarcity of chalk +ought certainly to be numbered among the natural blessings of America. Had +the soil on that side of the ocean been as chalky as this, America might +have been visited by a comet, like Pitt, with a golden train of eight +hundred millions.--_Monthly Magazine_. + + * * * * * + + + +THE NATURALIST. + + +ANGLING. + +(_From the Angler's Museum, quoted in the Magazine of Natural History_.) + +Every one who is acquainted with the habits of fish is sensible of the +extreme acuteness of their vision, and well knows how easily they are +scared by shadows in motion, or even at rest, projected from the bank; and +often has the angler to regret the suspension of a successful fly-fishing +by the accidental passage of a person along the opposite bank of the +stream: yet, by noting the apparently trivial habits of one of nature's +anglers, not only is our difficulty obviated, but our success insured. The +heron, guided by a wonderful instinct, preys chiefly in the absence of the +sun; fishing in the dusk of the morning and evening, on cloudy days and +moonlight nights. But should the river become flooded to discoloration, +then does the "long-necked felon" fish indiscriminately in sun and shade; +and in a recorded instance of his fishing on a bright day, it is related +of him, that, like a skilful angler, he occupied the shore opposite the +sun. + + * * * * * + + +SKILFUL ANATOMISTS. + +(_For the Mirror_.) + +It may not be generally known that the tadpole acts the same part with +fish that ants do with birds; and that through the agency of this little +reptile, perfect skeletons, even of the smallest fishes may be obtained. +To produce this, it is but necessary to suspend the fish by threads +attached to the head and tail in an horizontal position, in a jar of water, +such as is found in a pond, and change it often, till the tadpoles have +finished their work. Two or three tadpoles will perfectly dissect a fish +in twenty-four hours. + +H.S.S. + + * * * * * + + +THREE ENTHUSIASTIC NATURALISTS. + +The first is a learned entomologist, who, hearing one evening at the +Linnean Society that a yellow Scarabaeus, otherwise beetle, of a very rare +kind was to be captured on the sands at Swansea, immediately took his seat +in the mail for that place, and brought back in triumph the object of his +desire. The second is Mr. David Douglas, who spent two years among the +wild Indians of the Rocky Mountains, was reduced to such extremities as +occasionally to sup upon the flaps of his saddle; and once, not having +this resource, was obliged to eat up all the seeds he had collected the +previous forty days in order to appease the cravings of nature. Not +appalled by these sufferings, he has returned again to endure similar +hardships, and all for a few simples. The third example is Mr. Drummond, +the assistant botanist to Franklin in his last hyperborean journey. In the +midst of snow, with the thermometer 15° below zero, without a tent, +sheltered from the inclemency of the weather only by a hut built of the +branches of trees, and depending for subsistence from day to day on a +solitary Indian hunter, "I obtained," says this amiable and enthusiastic +botanist, "a few mosses; and, on Christmas day,"--mark, gentle reader, the +day, of all others, as if it were a reward for his devotion,--"I had the +pleasure of finding a very minute Gymnóstomum, hitherto undescribed. I +remained alone for the rest of the winter, except when my man occasionally +visited me with meat; and I found the time hang very heavy, as I had no +books, and nothing could be done in the way of collecting specimens of +natural history." + +_Magazine of Natural History_ + + * * * * * + + +[Illustration: BURIAL PLACE IN TONGATABU.] + +This is another of Mr. Bennett's sketches made during his recent visit to +several of the Polynesian Islands. It represents the burial-place of the +Chiefs of Tongatabu: over this "earthly prison of their bones," we may say +with Titus Andronicus: + + In pence and honour rest you here my sons: + (The) readiest champions, repose you here, + Secure from worldly chances and mishaps: + Here lurks no treason, here no envy swells, + Here grow no damned grudges: here are no storms, + No noise, but silence and eternal sleep. + +Mr. Bennett thus describes the spot, with some interesting circumstances: + +"July 29th. I visited this morning a beautiful spot named Maofanga, at a +short distance from our anchorage; here was the burial-place of the chiefs. +The tranquillity of this secluded spot, and the drooping trees of the +casuarina equisetifolia, added to the mournful solemnity of the place. +Off this place, the Astrolabe French discovery ship lay when, some time +before, she fired on the natives. The circumstances respecting this affair, +as communicated to me, if correct, do not reflect much credit on the +commander of the vessel. They are as follow: During a gale the Astrolabe +drove on the reef, but was afterwards got off by the exertion of the +natives; some of the men deserting from the ship, the chiefs were accused +of enticing them away, and on the men not being given up the ship fired on +the village; the natives barricaded themselves on the beach by throwing up +sand heaps, and afterwards retired into the woods. The natives pointed out +the effects of the shot; on the trees, a large branch of a casuarina tree +in the sacred enclosure was shot off, several coco-nut trees were cut in +two, and the marks of several spent shots still remain on the trees: three +natives were killed in this attack. A great number of the flying-fox, or +vampire bat, hung from the casuarina trees in this enclosure, but the +natives interposed to prevent our firing at them, the place being tabued. +Mr. Turner had been witness to the interment here, not long previously, of +the wife of a chief, and allied to the royal family. The body, enveloped +in mats, was placed in a vault, in which some of her relations had been +before interred, and being covered up, several natives advanced with +baskets of sand, &c. and strewed it over the vault; others then approached +and cut themselves on the head with hatchets, wailing and showing other +demonstrations of grief. Small houses are erected over the vaults. All the +burial-places are either fenced round or surrounded by a low wall of coral +stones, and have a very clean, neat, and regular appearance. + +"I observed that nearly the whole of the natives whom I had seen, were +deficient in the joints of the little finger of the left hand, and some of +both; some of the first joint only, others two, and many the whole of both +fingers. On inquiry, I found that a joint is chopped off on any occasion +of the illness or death of a relation or chief, as a propitiatory offering +to the Spirit. There is a curious analogy between this custom and one +related by Mr. Burchell as existing among the Bushmen tribe in Southern +Africa, and performed for similar superstitious reasons to express grief +for the loss of relations. + +"Near this place was the Hufanga, or place of refuge, in which a person in +danger of being put to death is in safety as long as he remains there; on +looking in the enclosure, it was only a place gravelled over, in which was +a small house and some trees planted."[1] + + +[1] United Service Journal, Jan. 1832. + + * * * * * + + + +THE SELECTOR; AND LITERARY NOTICES OF _NEW WORKS_. + + +FRANCIS THE FIRST. + +_An Historical Drama. By Frances Ann Kemble_. + +This extraordinary production has awakened an interest in the dramatic and +literary world, scarcely equalled in our times. We know of its fortune +upon the stage by report only; but, from our acquaintance with the +requisites of the acting drama, we should conceive its permanence will be +more problematical in the theatre than in the closet; and considering the +conditions upon which dramatic fame is now attainable, we think the clever +authoress will not have reason to regret these inequalities of success. +That Miss Kemble's tragedy possesses points to be made, and passages that +will _tell_ on the stage, cannot be denied; but its interest for +representation requires to be concentrated; it "wants a hero, an uncommon +thing." It is well observed in the _Quarterly Review_, (by the way, the +only notice yet taken of the tragedy, that merits attention,) that "the +piece is crowded with characters of the greatest variety, all of +considerable importance in the piece, engaged in the most striking +situations, and contributing essentially to the main design. Instead of +that simple unity of interest, from which modern tragic writers have +rarely ventured to depart, it takes the wider range of that historic unity, +which is the characteristic of our elder drama; moulds together, and +connects by some common agent employed in both, incidents which have no +necessary connexion; and--what in the present tragedy strikes us as on +many accounts especially noticeable--unites by a fine though less +perceptible moral link, remote but highly tragic events with the immediate, +if we may so speak, the domestic interests of the play." This language is +finely characteristic of the drama. Again, the interest has "so much +Shakspearianism in the conception as to afford a remarkable indication of +the noble school in which the young authoress has studied, and the high +models which, with courage, in the present day, fairly to be called +originality, she has dared to set before her. In fact, Francis the First +is cast entirely in the mould of one of Shakspeare's historical tragedies." +The drama too was written without any view to its representation, as the +_Quarterly_ reviewer has been "informed by persons who long ago perused +the manuscript, several years before Miss Kemble appeared upon the stage, +and at a time when she little anticipated the probability that she herself +might be called upon to impersonate the conceptions of her own imagination. +We believe that we are quite safe when we state that the drama, in its +present form, was written when the authoress was not more than seventeen." +Yet it should be added that the above statement is not made by way of +extenuation; for, to say the truth, it needs no such adventitious aid. + +A mere outline of the story will convince the reader that, as the Reviewer +states, "the tragedy is alive from the beginning to the end;" and our +extracts will we trust show the language to be bold and vigorous; the +imagery sweetly poetical; and the workings of the passions which actuate +the personages to be evidently of high promise if not of masterly spirit. + +The tragedy opens with the recall of the Constable De Bourbon from Italy, +through the supposed political intrigue, but really, the secret love, of +the mother of Francis, Louisa of Savoy, Duchess of Angouleme, whom Miss +Kemble calls the Queen Mother. In the second scene the Queen Mother +communicates to Gonzales, a monk in disguise, but in, reality an emissary +of the Court of Spain, her secret passion for De Bourbon, and her design +in his recall. + +Francis is introduced at a tourney, where he not only triumphs in the +jousts, but over the heart of the beautiful Françoise de Foix. + +Bourbon returns, and the second act opens with his interview with Renée, +(or Margaret,) the daughter of the Queen Mother, and sister of Francis I., +for whom he really entertains an affection. In the second scene the Queen +Mother declares her passion to Bourbon, who, at first supposes he is to be +tempted by Margaret's hand, but finding the Queen herself to be the lure, +he indignantly rejects her. The character of Bourbon in this scene is +admirably brought out. The artifice of the Queen--the scorn of +Bourbon--and the Queen's meditated vengeance are powerfully wrought: + +BOURBON. + + I would have you know, + De Bourbon storms, and does not steal his honours + And though your highness thinks I am ambitious, + (And rightly thinks) I am not _so_ ambitious + Ever to beg rewards that I can win,-- + No man shall call me debtor to his tongue. + +QUEEN (_rising._) + + 'Tis proudly spoken; nobly too--but what-- + What if a woman's hand were to bestow + Upon the Duke de Bourbon such high honours, + To raise him to such state, that grasping man, + E'en in his wildest thoughts of mad ambition, + Ne'er dreamt of a more glorious pinnacle? + +BOURBON. + + I'd kiss the lady's hand, an she were fair. + But if this world fill'd up the universe,-- + If it could gather all the light that lives + In ev'ry other star or sun, or world; + If kings could be my subjects, and that I + Could call such pow'r and such a world my own, + I would not take it from a woman's hand. + Fame is my mistress, madam, and my sword + The only friend I ever wooed her with. + I hate all honours smelling of the distaff, + And, by this light, would as lief wear a spindle + Hung round my neck, as thank a lady's hand + For any favour greater than a kiss.-- + +QUEEN. + + And how, if such a woman loved you,--how + If, while she crown'd your proud ambition, she + Could crown her own ungovernable passion, + And felt that all this earth possess'd, and she + Could give, were all too little for your love? + Oh good, my lord! there may be such a woman. + +BOURBON (_aside._) + + Amazement! can it be, sweet Margaret-- + That she has read our love?--impossible!--and yet-- + That lip ne'er wore so sweet a smile!--it is. + That look _is_ pardon and acceptance! (_aloud_)-- + speak. (_He falls at the Queen's feet._) + Madam, in pity speak but one word more,-- + Who is that woman? + +QUEEN (_throwing off her veil._) + + I am that woman! + +BOURBON (_starting up._) + + You, by the holy mass! I scorn your proffers; + Is there no crimson blush to tell of fame + And shrinking womanhood! Oh shame! shame! shame! + +(_The Queen remains clasping her hands to her temples, while _De Bourbon_ +walks hastily up and down; after a long pause the _Queen_ speaks._) + +(_The _Queen_ summons her Confessor._) + +_Enter _GONZALES. + + Sir, we have business with this holy father; + You may retire. + +BOURBON. + + Confusion! + +QUEEN. + + Are we obeyed? + +BOURBON (_aside._) + + Oh Margaret!--for thee! for thy dear sake! + [_Rushes out. The _Queen_ sinks into a chair._] + +QUEEN. + + Refus'd and scorn'd! Infamy!--the word chokes me! + How now! why stand'st thou gazing at me thus? + +GONZALES. + + I wait your highness' pleasure.--(_Aside_) So all is well-- + A crown hath fail'd to tempt him--as I see + In yonder lady's eyes. + +QUEEN. + + Oh sweet revenge! + Thou art my only hope, my only dower, + And I will make thee worthy of a Queen. + Proud noble, I will weave thee such a web,-- + I will so spoil and trample on thy pride, + That thou shalt wish the woman's distaff were + Ten thousand lances rather than itself. + Ha! waiting still, sir Priest! Well as them seest + Our venture hath been somewhat baulk'd,--'tis not + Each arrow readies swift and true the aim,-- + Love having failed, we'll try the best expedient, + That offers next,--what sayst thou to revenge? + 'Tis not so soft, but then 'tis very sure; + Say, shall we wring this haughty soul a little? + Tame this proud spirit, curb this untrain'd charger? + We will not weigh too heavily, nor grind + Too hard, but, having bow'd him to the earth, + Leave the pursuit to others--carrion birds, + Who stoop, but not until the falcon's gorg'd + Upon the prey he leaves to their base talons. + +GONZALES. + + It rests but with your grace to point the means. + +QUEEN. + + Where be the plans of those possessions + Of Bourbon's house?--see that thou find them straight: + His mother was my kinswoman, and I + Could aptly once trace characters like those + She used to write--enough--Guienne--Auvergne + And all Provence that lies beneath his claim,-- + That claim disprov'd, of right belong to me.-- + The path is clear, do thou fetch me those parchments. + [_Exit_ Gonzales. + Not dearer to my heart will be the day + When first the crown of France deck'd my son's forehead, + Than that when I can compass thy perdition,-- + When I can strip the halo of thy fame + From off thy brow, seize on the wide domains, + That make thy hatred house akin to empire, + And give thy name to deathless infamy. [_Exit_. + +The King holds a Council to appoint a successor to the Constable in Italy. +This scene is of stirring interest. The Queen goads the high-minded +Bourbon nigh unto madness, and at length breaks out into open insult. +Lautrec the brother of Françoise, and despised by Bourbon, is named the +governor. In the ceremony Francis addresses Lautrec:-- + +FRANCIS. + + With our own royal hand we'll buckle on + The sword, that in thy grasp must be the bulwark + And lode-star of our host. Approach. + +QUEEN. + + Not so. + Your pardon, sir; but it hath ever been + The pride and privilege of woman's hand + To arm the valour that she loves so well: + We would not, for your crown's best jewel, bate + One jot of our accustom'd state to-day: + Count Lautrec, we will arm thee, at our feet: + Take thou the brand which wins thy country's wars,-- + Thy monarch's trust, and thy fair lady's favour. + Why, how now!--how is this!--my lord of Bourbon! + If we mistake not, 'tis the sword of office + Which graces still your baldrick;--with your leave, + We'll borrow it of you. + +BOURBON (_starting up_.) + + Ay, madam, 'tis the sword + You buckled on with your own hand, the day + You sent me forth to conquer in your cause; + And there it is;--(_breaks the sword_)--take it--and with it all + Th' allegiance that I owe to France; ay take it; + And with it, take the hope I breathe o'er it: + That so, before Colonna's host, your arms + Lie crush'd and sullied with dishonour's stain; + So, reft in sunder by contending factions, + Be your Italian provinces; so torn + By discord and dissension this vast empire; + So broken and disjoin'd your subjects' loves; + So fallen your son's ambition, and your pride. + +QUEEN (_rising_.) + + What ho--a guard within there--Charles of Bourbon, + I do arrest thee, traitor to the crown. + +_Enter Guard_. + + Away with yonder wide-mouth'd thunderer; + We'll try if gyves and straight confinement cannot + Check this high eloquence, and cool the brain + Which harbours such unmannerd hopes. + [Bourbon _is forced out_. + Dream ye, my lords, that thus with open ears, + And gaping mouths and eyes, ye sit and drink + This curbless torrent of rebellious madness. + And you, sir, are you slumbering on your throne; + Or has all majesty fled from the earth, + That women must start up, and in your council + Speak, think, and act for ye; and, lest your vassals, + The very dirt beneath your feet, rise up + And cast ye off, must women, too, defend ye? + For shame, my lords, all, all of ye, for shame,-- + Off, off with sword and sceptre, for there is + No loyalty in subjects; and in kings, + No king-like terror to enforce their rights. + +Meanwhile Lautrec proposes to his sister Françoise, the hand of his friend, +the gallant Laval; whilst the fair maiden is importuned by Francis, who +endeavours to make the poet Clement Marot the bearer of his intrigue. In a +scene between Francis and the poet, the licentious impatience of the King, +and the unsullied honour of Clement are finely contrasted. + +FRANCIS. + + I would I'd borne the scroll myself, thy words + Image her forth so fair. + +CLEMENT. + + Do they, indeed? + Then sorrow seize my tongue, for, look you, sir, + I will not speak of your own fame or honour, + Nor of your word to me: king's words, I find, + Are drafts on our credulity, not pledges + Of their own truth. You have been often pleas'd + To shower your royal favours on my head; + And fruitful honours from your kindly will + Have rais'd me far beyond my fondest hopes; + But had I known such service was to be + The nearest way my gratitude might take + To solve the debt, I'd e'en have given back + All that I hold of you: and, now, not e'en + Your crown and kingdom could requite to me + The cutting sense of shame that I endur'd + When on me fell the sad reproachful glance + Which told me how I stood in the esteem + Of yonder lady. Let me tell you, sir, + You've borrow'd for a moment what whole years + Cannot bestow--an honourable name. + Now fare you well; I've sorrow at my heart, + To think your majesty hath reckon'd thus + Upon my nature. I was poor before, + Therefore I can be poor again without + Regret, so I lose not mine own esteem. + + * * * * * + +FRANCIS. + + Excellent. + Oh, ye are precious wooers, all of ye. + I marvel how ye ever ope your lips + Unto, or look upon that fearful thing, + A lovely woman. + +CLEMENT. + + And I marvel, sir, + At those who do not feel the majesty,-- + By heaven, I'd almost said the holiness,-- + That circles round a fair and virtuous woman: + There is a gentle purity that breathes + In such a one, mingled with chaste respect, + And modest pride of her own excellence,-- + A shrinking nature, that is so adverse + To aught unseemly, that I could as soon + Forget the sacred love I owe to heav'n, + As dare, with impure thoughts, to taint the air + Inhal'd by such a being: than whom, my liege, + Heaven cannot look on anything more holy, + Or earth be proud of anything more fair. [_Exit_. + +Gonzales, the monk, is despatched by the Queen to Bourbon in prison. At +the door he meets Margaret, who had bribed her way to her lover, and was +returning after ineffectual attempts to soothe him into submission, +shame-struck at the exposure of her mother's guilt. The Queen intrusts +Gonzales with a signet ring as the means of liberating him and conducting +him to the royal chamber. Bourbon is immovable; and in revenge upon the +Court, he falls in with a private scheme of Gonzales, which is to accept +of his liberty, and set off to the Court of Spain. The undisguising of the +treacherous monk is in these powerful lines: + +GONZALES. + + Now, + That day is come, ay, and that very hour: + Now shout your war-cry; now unsheath your sword; + I'll join the din, and make these tottering walls + Tremble and nod to hear our fierce defiance. + Nay, never start, and look upon my cowl-- + You love not priests, De Bourbon, more than I. + Off, vile denial of my manhood's pride; + Off, off to hell! where thou wast first invented, + Now once again I stand and breathe a knight. + Nay, stay not gazing thus: it is Garcia, + Whose name hath reach'd thee long ere now, I trow; + Whom thou hast met in deadly fight full oft, + When France and Spain join'd in the battle field. + Beyond the Pyrenean boundary + That guards thy land, are forty thousand men: + Their unfurl'd pennons flout fair France's sun, + And wanton in the breezes of her sky: + Impatient halt they there; their foaming steeds, + Pawing the huge and rock-built barrier, + That bars their further course--they wait for thee: + For thee whom France hath injur'd and cast off; + For thee, whose blood it pays with shameful chains, + More shameful death; for thee, whom Charles of Spain + Summons to head his host, and lead them on + To conquest and to glory. + +The interest now reverts to the fate of Françoise, and Bourbon is lost +sight of; a transition which, both in acting and reading, endangers the +drama.[1] News arrives of the flight of Lautrec from his government; of +his arrest, his imprisonment, and capital condemnation.[2] He enjoins his +sister to intercede in his behalf with Francis; she complies, but it is at +the expense of her honour; broken-hearted, she sinks beneath her shame at +the crime into which she has been betrayed, and returns home. Francis +pursues her, and the Queen, now aware of his passion for her, dispatches +the monk Gonzales on a secret mission to poison Françoise, who, she fears, +may supplant her in her ascendancy over the King. A fine passage occurs in +the scene wherein the Queen proposes her scheme to Gonzales. + +QUEEN. + + Didst ever look upon the dead? + +GONZALES. + + Ay, madam, + Full oft; and in each calm or frightful guise + Death comes in,--on the bloody battle-field; + When with each gush of black and curdling life + A curse was uttered,--when the pray'rs I've pour'd, + Have been all drown'd with din of clashing arms-- + And shrieks and shouts, and loud artillery, + That shook the slipp'ry earth, all drunk with gore-- + I've seen it, swoll'n with subtle poison, black + And staring with concentrate agony-- + When ev'ry vein hath started from its bed, + And wreath'd like knotted snakes, around the brows + That, frantic, dash'd themselves in tortures down + Upon the earth. I've seen life float away + On the faint sound of a far tolling bell-- + Leaving its late warm tenement as fair, + As though 'twere th' incorruptible that lay + Before me--and all earthly taint had vanish'd + With the departed spirit. + +Laval returns from Italy to claim his bride. In the earlier part of the +play, a hint is given of Gonzales' rancorous hate of Laval, the +undercurrent of which is now revealed. Gonzales, beneath the seal of +confession, obtains the secret of the crime of Françoise. In her presence, +as the betrothed Laval rushes to embrace his bride, he taunts him with her +guilt. The wretched Françoise, in vain conjured to assert her innocence, +stabs herself. The King had been followed thither by the Queen; both now +appear. Gonzales riots revenge in one of the most vigorous portions of the +drama: + +GONZALES. + + Look on thy bride! look on that faded thing, + That e'en the tears thy manhood showers go fast, + And bravely, cannot wake to life again! + I call all nature to bear witness here-- + As fair a flower once grew within my home, + As young, as lovely, and as dearly lov'd-- + I had a sister once, a gentle maid-- + The only daughter of my father's house, + Round whom our ruder loves did all entwine, + As round the dearest treasure that we own'd. + She was the centre of our souls' affections-- + She was the bud, that underneath our strong + And sheltering arms, spread over her, did blow. + So grew this fair, fair girl, till envious fate + Brought on the hour when she was withered. + Thy father, sir--now mark--for 'tis the point + And moral of my tale--thy father, then, + Was, by my sire, in war ta'en prisoner-- + Wounded almost to death, he brought him home, + Shelter'd him,--cherish'd him,--and, with a care, + Most like a brother's, watch'd his bed of sickness, + Till ruddy health, once more through all his veins + Sent life's warm stream in strong returning tide. + How think ye he repaid my father's love? + From her dear home he lur'd my sister forth, + And, having robb'd her of her treasur'd honour, + Cast her away, defil'd,--despoil'd--forsaken-- + The daughter of a high and ancient line-- + The child of so much love--she died--she died-- + Upon the threshold of that home, from which + My father spurn'd her--over whose pale corse + I swore to hunt, through life, her ravisher-- + Nor ever from by bloodhound track desist, + Till line and deep atonement had been made-- + Honour for honour given--blood for blood. + + +"The Queen orders Gonzales to death; but the monk accuses her of the +intended murder of Françoise, and produces her written order to that +effect. The King can no longer be blind to his mother's crimes; she is +disgraced, degraded, and condemned to pass the rest of her days in a +convent." + +Here the fourth act, and the acting play closes. In the fifth De Bourbon +reappears. Lautrec proposes to join him, and assassinate the King, in +revenge for the ruin of Françoise. The memorable battle of Pavia ensues, +and terminates with the death of the King and the triumph of Bourbon. + +Triboulet, the jester of the Court of Francis, is introduced with some +pleasantry, by way of relief to the darker deeds. + +We cannot conclude this imperfect sketch better than by the following +judicious observations from the _Quarterly Review_: "How high Miss Kemble's +young aspirings have been--what conceptions she has formed to herself of +the dignity of tragic poetry--may be discovered from this most remarkable +work; at this height she must maintain herself, or soar a still bolder +flight. The turmoil, the hurry, the business, the toil, even the celebrity +of a theatric life must yield her up at times to that repose, that +undistracted retirement within her own mind, which, however brief, +is essential to the perfection of the noblest work of the +imagination--genuine tragedy. Amidst her highest successes on the stage, +she must remember that the world regards her as one to whom a still higher +part is fallen. She must not be content with the fame of the most +extraordinary work which has ever been produced by a female at her age, +(for as such we scruple not to describe her Francis the First,)--with +having sprung at once to the foremost rank, not only of living actors but +of modern dramatists;--she must consider that she has given us a pledge +and earnest for a long and brightening course of distinction, in the +devotion of all but unrivalled talents in two distinct, though congenial, +capacities, to the revival of the waning glories of the English theatre." + + +[1] This disadvantage is greater on the stage, since the audience neither + see nor hear more of Bourbon, and only four acts of the piece are + performed. In the closet it will not be so obvious, as Bourbon + returns in the fifth act. + +[2] This is an entire variation from history. + + * * * * * + + + +SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS. + + +OLD ENGLISH MUSIC. + +It was in the course of the sixteenth century that the psalmody of England, +and the other Protestant countries, was brought to the state in which it +now remains, and in which it is desirable that it should continue to +remain. For this psalmody we are indebted to the Reformers of Germany, +especially Luther, who was himself an enthusiastic lover of music, and is +believed to have composed some of the finest tunes, particularly the +Hundredth Psalm, and the hymn on the Last Judgment, which Braham sings +with such tremendous power at our great performances of sacred music. Our +psalm-tunes, consisting of prolonged and simple sounds, are admirably +adapted for being sung by great congregations; and as the effect of this +kind of music is much increased by its venerable antiquity, it would be +very unfortunate should it yield to the influence of innovation: for this +reason, it is much to be desired that organists and directors of choirs +should confine themselves to the established old tunes, instead of +displacing them by modern compositions. + +Towards the end of the sixteenth, and beginning of the seventeenth, +century, shone that constellation of English musicians, whose inimitable +madrigals are still, and long will be, the delight of every lover of vocal +harmony. It is to Italy, however, that we are indebted for this species of +composition. The madrigal is a piece of vocal music adapted to words of an +amorous or cheerful cast, composed for four, five, or six voices, and +intended for performance in convivial parties or private musical societies. +It is full of ingenious and elaborate contrivances; but, in the happier +specimens, contains likewise agreeable and expressive melody. At the +period of which we now speak, vocal harmony was so generally cultivated, +that, in social parties, the madrigal books were generally laid on the +table, and every one was expected to take the part allotted to him. Any +person who made the avowal of not being able to sing a part at sight was +looked upon as unacquainted with the usages of good society--like a +gentleman who now-a-days says he cannot play a game at whist, or a lady +that she cannot join in a quadrille or a mazurka. The Italian madrigals of +Luca Marenzio and others are still in request: and among the English +madrigalists we may mention Wilbye, author of "Flora gave me fairest +flowers;" Morley, whose "Now is the month of Maying" is so modern in its +air, that it is introduced as the finale of one of our most popular operas, +the Duenna; and Michael Este, the composer of the beautiful trio, "How +merrily we live that Shepherds be." This music retains all its original +freshness, and has been listened to, age after age, with unabated pleasure. + +The glee, which is a simpler and less elaborate form of the madrigal,--and +that amusing _jeu d'esprit_ so well known by the name of Catch, made their +appearance about the end of the sixteenth century. The first collection of +catches that made its appearance in England is dated in +1609.--_Metropolitan_. + + * * * * * + + +BENEDICTION ON CHILDREN. + +IMPROMPTU. + +_By Thomas Campbell, Esq_. + + + Imps, that hold your daily revels + Round the windows of my bower + Would that Hell's ten thousand devils + Had you in their clutch this hour! + + Screaming, yelling, little nasties, + Would that Ogres down their maw + Had you cramm'd in Christmas pasties, + That would make ye hold your jaw. + + Saucy imps, stew'd down to jelly, + Ye would make a sauce most rare; + Or with pudding in each belly, + Rival roasted pig or hare. + + Sweeter than the fish of these is, + Would be yours, young human _bores_; + All with apples at your noses, + Would I saw you dish'd by scores! + + Herod slaughter'd harmless sucklings, + Not with tongues like yours to vex; + Were he here, ye Devil's ducklings, + I would bid him wring your necks. + +_Metropolitan_. + + * * * * * + + +DRAMATIC CHARACTER OF THE CATHOLIC RELIGION. + +The religion of the south of Europe is still essentially dramatic; and it +may be questioned how far this adaptation to the genius of the people has +tended to perpetuate the influence, not only of the Roman Catholic, but +also of the Greek church. Even in the pulpit, not merely does the earnest +preacher, by vehement gesticulation, by the utmost variety of pause and +intonation, _act_, as far as possible, the scenes which he describes; but +the crucifix, if the expression may be permitted, plays the principal part; +the Saviour is held forth to the multitude in the living and visible +emblem of his sufferings. The ceremonies of the Holy Week in Rome are a +most solemn, and to most minds, affecting religious drama. The oratorios, +as with us, are in general on scriptural subjects; and operas on themes of +equal sanctity are listened to without the least feeling of profanation. +Nor are the more audacious exhibitions of the dark ages by any means +exploded. Every traveller on the continent who has much curiosity, must +have witnessed, whether with devout indignation or mere astonishment, the +strange manner in which scriptural subjects are still represented by +marionnettes, by tableax parlans, or even performed by regular actors. In +the unphilosophized parts of modern Europe, these scenes are witnessed by +the populace, not merely with respect, but with profound interest; and if +they tend to perpetuate superstition, must be acknowledged likewise to +keep alive religious sentiment. But if this be the case in the nineteenth +century, how powerfully must such exhibitions have operated on the general +mind in the dark ages! The alternative lay between total ignorance and +this mode of communicating the truth. For the general mass of the clergy +were then as ignorant as the laity; and as the wild work, which in these +sacred dramas is sometimes made of the scripture history, may be supposed +to have embodied the knowledge of a whole fraternity, we may not unfairly +conjecture the kind of instruction to be obtained from each individual. +The state of language in Europe must have greatly contributed to the +adoption of public instruction, by means of dramatic representation. The +services of the church were in Latin, now become a dead language. This +_originated_, perhaps, rather in sincere reverence, and the dread of +profaning the sacred mysteries by transferring them into the vulgar tongue, +than in any systematic design of keeping the people in the dark; for, from +the gradual extinction of the Latin, as the vernacular idiom, and the +gradual growth of the modern languages, there was no marked period in +which the change might appear to be called for, until the question became +involved with weightier matters of controversy. The confusion of tongues, +almost throughout Europe, before the great predominant languages were +formed out of the conflicting dialects, must greatly have impeded the +preaching the Gospel, for which, in other respects, only a very small part +of the clergy were qualified. Though, in these times, most extraordinary +effects are attributed to the eloquence of certain preachers, for instance, +Fra. Giovanni di Vicenza, yet many of the itinerant friars, the first, we +believe, who addressed the people with great activity in the vulgar tongue, +must have been much circumscribed by the limits of their own patois.[1] +But the spectacle of the dramatic exhibitions everywhere spoke a common +language; and the dialogue, which, in parts of the Chester mysteries, is a +kind of Anglicized French, and which, even if translated into the native +tongue, was constantly interspersed with Latin, and therefore, but darkly +and imperfectly understood, was greatly assisted by the perpetual +interpretation which was presented before the eyes. The vulgar were thus +imperceptibly wrought up to profound feelings of reverence for the purity +of the Virgin; the unexampled sufferings of the Redeemer; the miraculous +powers of the apostles, and the constancy of the martyrs; we must add, +(for after all it was a strange Christianity, though in every respect the +Christianity of the age,) with the most savage detestation at the cruelty +of Herod or Pilate, and the treachery of Judas; and the most revolting +horror, at the hideous appearance, and blasphemous language of the Prince +of Darkness, who almost always played a principal part in these scriptural +dramas.--_Quarterly Review._ + +[1] It is related in the life of St. Bernard, that his pale and emaciated + appearance, and the animation and the fire, which seemed to kindle his + whole being as he spoke, made so deep an impression on those who could + only see him and hear his voice, that Germans, who understand not a + word of his language, were often moved to tears.--_Neander, Der + Heilige Bernard_, p. 49. + + * * * * * + + + +SPIRIT OF DISCOVERY. + + +BIRMINGHAM RAILWAY. + +The line of the proposed plan for this useful and excellent undertaking +has been forwarded to us. We know not whether the projectors are aware +that a straight line is no longer necessary, but that the sharpest turns +may now be made on rail-roads by an American invention, lately carried +into effect in the United States with singular success.--The line of +railway will be 112-1/2 miles. Birmingham being between 3 and 400 feet +higher than London, and the intervening ground much broken, the railway +could not be laid down without an inclination in its planes; the rise, +however, will in no case exceed 1 in 330. The highest point of the line is +on the summit of an inclined plane 15 miles long, rising 13-1/3 feet in +each mile, and is 315 feet above the level at Maiden Lane, London; from +which it is distant 31 miles. The termination at Birmingham is 256 feet +higher than the commencement at London. It is intended that there should +be 10 tunnels--one at Primrose Hill half a mile long, one near Watford a +mile long, and one near Kilsby, 78 miles from London, a mile and a quarter +long. The others are each less than a quarter of a mile in length, with +the exception of one, which is a third of a mile long. They will all be 25 +feet in height, well lighted, and ought rather to be called galleries than +tunnels. The strata through which the railway is carried, appear generally +to follow in this order from London: + + Miles. + London clay and plastic clay 15-1/2 + Chalk and chalk flints 18-1/2 + Chalk, marl, weald clay, iron sand, + and Oxford clay or clunch clay 20 + Great and inferior oolite limestones, + and sandy beds 18 + Lias marls, lias limestone or water + lime and shale beds 16 + Red marl and new red sandstone 24-1/2 + ------- + 112-1/2 + +The railway will be composed of two lines of rails with a space between +them of six feet, but at particular points two additional lines will be +required as turns-out to facilitate the passage of the locomotive engines +and carriages. If we assume the average rate of travelling on the railway +to be 20 miles an hour, (which is about the mark,) that 1,200 persons pass +along it in a day, and 120 are conveyed in each train of carriages, then +only ten trains of carriages would be required for all the passengers; +each train would separately take a minute and a half, and the ten trains +not more than fifteen minutes in passing over half a mile of ground. Allow +twice this time for the passage of cattle and merchandise, and it is +manifest that the traffic on railways can never be a source of annoyance +to persons residing near them. All who have travelled in carriages drawn +by locomotive steam-engines on the Liverpool and Manchester railway can +vouch for the safety and comfort, as well as the expedition, of this mode +of conveyance; but the strongest evidence of public opinion on this +subject is the fact, that twice as many persons go by the railway, as were +formerly carried in coaches running on the roads between the two +places--and yet, although the expense of travelling is reduced one-half, +and the works of the railway cost more than 800,000_l_., the proprietors +are in the receipt of a dividend of 9_l_. for a year on their 100_l_. +shares! Enough has been ascertained of the traffic in the districts +through which the London and Birmingham Railway will pass, to remove all +doubt as to an ample return for the necessary outlay.--_Metropolitan_. + + * * * * * + + + +THE GATHERER. + + +_A Dancing Archbishop_.--Dr. King, Archbishop of Dublin, having invited +several persons of distinction to dine with him, had, amongst a great +variety of dishes, a fine leg of mutton and caper sauce; but the doctor, +who was not fond of butter, and remarkable for preferring a trencher to a +plate, had some of the abovementioned pickle introduced dry for his use; +which, as he was mincing, he called aloud to the company to observe him; +"I here present you, my lords and gentlemen," said he, "with a sight that +may henceforward serve you to talk of as something curious, namely, that +you saw an Archbishop of Dublin, at fourscore and seven years of age, cut +capers upon a trencher." + +T.H. + + * * * * * + + +_Singular Parish_.--In the parish of East Twyford, near Harrow, in the +county of Middlesex, there is only one house, and the farmer who occupies +it is perpetual churchwarden of a church which has no incumbent, and in +which no duty is performed. The parish has been in this state ever since +the time of Queen Elizabeth. + +H.S.S. + + * * * * * + + +_Scandal_.--It is as well not to trust to one's gratitude _after_ dinner. +I have heard many a host libelled by his guests, with his Burgundy yet +reeking on their rascally lips.--_Lord Byron_. + + * * * * * + + +A lady with a well plumed head dress, being in deep conversation with a +naval officer, one of the company said, "it was strange to see so fine a +woman _tar'd_ and feathered." + + * * * * * + + +_A Scolding Wife_.--Dr. Casin having heard the famous Thomas Fuller repeat +some verses on a scolding wife, was so delighted with them, as to request +a copy. "There is no necessity for that," said Fuller, "as you have got +the original." + + * * * * * + + +_Bouts Rimés_ are words or syllables which rhyme, arranged in a particular +order, and are given to a poet with a subject, on which he must write +verses ending in the same rhymes, disposed in the same order. Menage gives +the following account of the origin of this ridiculous conceit. Dulot, (a +poet of the 17th century,) was one day complaining in a large company, +that 300 sonnets had been stolen from him. One of the company expressing +his astonishment at the number, "Oh," said he, "they are blank sonnets, or +rhymes (_bouts rimés_) of all the sonnets I may have occasion to write." +This ludicrous story produced such an effect, that it became a fashionable +amusement to compose blank sonnets, and in 1648, a quarto volume of _bouts +rimés_ was published. + + * * * * * + + +_Poisoned Arrows_ used in Guiana are not shot from a bow, but blown +through a tube. They are made of the hard substance of the cokarito tree, +and are about a foot long, and the size of a knitting-needle. One end is +sharply pointed, and dipped in the poison of worraia, the other is +adjusted to the cavity of the reed, from which it is to be blown by a roll +of cotton. The reed is several feet in length. A single breath carries the +arrow 30 or 40 yards. + + * * * * * + + +_Sterling Applause_.--Lord Bolingbroke was so pleased with Barton Booth's +performance of _Cato_, at Drury Lane Theatre, in 1712, that he presented +the actor with fifty guineas from the stage-box--an example which was +immediately followed by Bolingbroke's political opponents. + + * * * * * + + +_Claret_ has been accused of producing the gout, but without reason. +Persons who drench themselves with Madeira, Port, &c. and indulge in an +occasional debauch of Claret, may indeed be visited in that way; because a +transition from the strong brandied wines to the lighter, is always +followed by a derangement of the digestive organs. + + * * * * * + + +_Quarantine in America_.--Dr. Richard Bayley is the person to whom New +York is chiefly indebted for its quarantine laws. His death was, however, +by contagion. In August, 1801, Doctor Bayley, in the discharge of his duty +as health physician, enjoined the passengers and crew of an Irish emigrant +ship, afflicted with the ship fever, to go on shore to the rooms and tents +appointed for them, leaving their luggage behind. The next morning, on +going to the hospital, he found that both crew and passengers, well, sick, +and dying, were huddled together in one apartment, where they had passed +the night. He inconsiderately entered this room before it had been +properly ventilated, but remained scarcely a moment, being obliged to +retire by a deadly sickness at the stomach, and violent pain in the head, +with which he was suddenly seized. He returned home, retired to bed, and +in the afternoon of the seventh day following, he expired. + + * * * * * + + +_Shaving_ is said to have come into use during the reigns of Louis XIII. +and XIV. of France, both of whom ascended the throne without a beard. +Courtiers and citizens then began to shave, in order to look like the king, +and, as France soon took the lead in all matters of fashion on the +continent, shaving became general. It is at best a tedious operation. +Seume, a German author, says, in his journal, "To-day I threw my powder +apparatus out of the window, when will come the blessed day that I shall +send the shaving apparatus after it." + + * * * * * + + +_Book Morality_.--Dr. Beddoes wrote a history of Isaac Jenkins, which was +intended to impress useful moral lessons on the labouring classes in an +attractive manner. Above 40,000 copies of this work were sold in a short +time. + + * * * * * + + +_The Bedford Missal_ throws even the costly scrap-books of these times +into the shade. It was made for the celebrated John, Duke of Bedford, (one +of the younger sons of Henry IV.) and contains 59 large, and more than +1,000 small miniature paintings. + + * * * * * + + +_The Bedford Level_ was drained at an expense of £400,000. by the noble +family of Russell, Earls and Dukes of Bedford, and others; by which means +100,000 acres of good land have been brought into use. + + * * * * * + + + +POPULAR SCIENCE. + +With many Engravings, price 5s. + +ARCANA OF SCIENCE + +And Annual Register of the Useful Arts for 1832. Abridged from the +Transactions of Public Societies, and Scientific Journals, British and +Foreign, for the past year. This volume will contain all the Important +Facts in the year 1831--in the Mechanic Arts, Chemical Science, Zoology, +Botany, Mineralogy, Geology, Meteorology, Rural Economy, Gardening, +Domestic Economy, Useful and Elegant Arts, Miscellaneous Scientific +Information. + +"It is with great pleasure that we find the success of the former volumes +of this valuable record of whatever is new in science or interesting in +art, such as to encourage its publisher to make fresh exertions for public +favour, in the compilation of the year passed. Such a work is exceedingly +valuable, and may be considered in the light of a Cyclopaedia, to which +the most eminent of their time for talent and attainments are constantly +contributing."--_New Monthly Magazine. March_, 1832. + +"As heretofore, a very useful record of the improvements and novelties of +the year."--_Literary Gazette_. + +"The Arcana of Science and Art contains a vast deal of information of an +useful kind."--_Athenaeum_. + +Printed for JOHN LIMBIRD, 143, Strand; of whom may be had volumes (upon +the same plan) for 1828, price 4s. 6d, 1829--30--31, price 5s. each. + + * * * * * + + +_Printed and Published by J. LIMBIRD, 143, Strand, (near Somerset House,) +London; sold by ERNEST FLEISCHER, 626, New Market, Leipsic; C.G. BENNIS, +55, Rue Neuve, St. Augustin, Paris; and by all Newsmen and Booksellers._ + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, +and Instruction, by Various + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MIRROR OF LITERATURE *** + +***** This file should be named 11741-8.txt or 11741-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/1/7/4/11741/ + +Produced by Jonathan Ingram, Allen Siddle and PG Distributed Proofreaders + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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No. 539.</title> + + <style type="text/css"> + <!-- + body {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + p {text-align: justify;} + blockquote {text-align: justify;} + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 {text-align: center;} + pre {font-size: 0.7em;} + + hr {text-align: center; width: 50%;} + html>body hr {margin-right: 25%; margin-left: 25%; width: 50%;} + hr.full {width: 100%;} + html>body hr.full {margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 0%; width: 100%;} + hr.short {text-align: center; width: 20%;} + html>body hr.short {margin-right: 40%; margin-left: 40%; width: 20%;} + + .note, .footnote + {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} + + span.pagenum + {position: absolute; left: 1%; right: 91%; font-size: 8pt;} + + .poem + {margin-left:10%; margin-right:10%; margin-bottom: 1em; text-align: left;} + .poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} + .poem p {margin: 0; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem p.i2 {margin-left: 1em;} + .poem p.i4 {margin-left: 2em;} + .poem p.i6 {margin-left: 3em;} + .poem p.i8 {margin-left: 4em;} + .poem p.i10 {margin-left: 5em;} + .poem p.i14 {margin-left: 9em;} + + .figure + {padding: 1em; margin: 0; text-align: center; font-size: 0.8em; margin: auto;} + .figure img + {border: none;} + .figure p + + .side { float:right; + font-size: 75%; + width: 25%; + padding-left:10px; + border-left: dashed thin; + margin-left: 10px; + text-align: left; + text-indent: 0; + font-weight: bold; + font-style: italic;} + --> + </style> +</head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and +Instruction, by Various + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction + Volume 19. Issue 539 - 24 Mar 1832 + +Author: Various + +Release Date: March 28, 2004 [EBook #11741] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MIRROR OF LITERATURE *** + + + + +Produced by Jonathan Ingram, Allen Siddle and PG Distributed Proofreaders + + + + + +</pre> + + <hr class="full" /> + +<span class="pagenum"> + <a id="page49" + name="page49"> + </a>[pg 49] +</span> + + <h1>THE MIRROR<br /> + OF<br /> + LITERATURE, AMUSEMENT, AND INSTRUCTION.</h1> + <hr class="full" /> + + <table width="100%" summary="Volume, Number, and Date"> + <tr> + <td align="left"><b>Vol. XIX. No. 539.]</b></td> + <td align="center"><b>SATURDAY, JANUARY 28, 1832.</b></td> + <td align="right"><b>[PRICE 2d.</b></td> + </tr> + </table> + <hr class="full" /> + +<h2>WINDSOR CASTLE, (N.E.)</h2> + +<div class="figure" style="width:100%;"> + <a href="images/539-001.png"> + <img width = "100%" src="images/539-001.png" alt="WINDSOR CASTLE, (N.E.)" /> + </a> +</div> + +<span class="pagenum"> + <a id="page177" + name="page177"> + </a>[pg 177] +</span> + +<p> +Our sketchy tour of Windsor Castle has hitherto been told in visits far +between, perhaps, if not few, for the interesting character of the whole +fabric. +<a id="footnotetag1" + name="footnotetag1"></a><sup> + <a href="#footnote1">1</a> +</sup> + +</p> +<p> +The present Cut includes the North-east view, a picturesque if not +important point. The reader will remember, if he has not enjoyed, the +splendid terrace on the north; this is now continued on the eastern side. +The fine tower at the eastern end of the north terrace, (at the angle,) is +<i>Brunswick Tower</i>, with a projecting bastion in its front containing the +apparatus for heating the orangery, with rooms for the attendants; it is +octagon shaped, and has a most commanding appearance, the height being 120 +feet above the level of the terrace. +</p> +<p> +A staircase turret communicates with the apartments, the principal one +being appropriated as a private dining-room by the late King, while the +larger apartments on the east front were reserved for splendid +entertainments. In a central position between the state dining-room and +St. George's Hall is a music saloon, in which is placed a fine-toned organ. +A communication has been effected between Brunswick Tower and the state +apartments by a corridor terminating at the King's Guard Chamber, where a +new tower, named after George the Third, has been erected: the principal +window is extremely large, and divided by Gothic tracery into several +compartments, producing a noble and cathedral-like appearance. +</p> +<p> +Beneath the Castle, in the Engraving, are seen the wooded slopes of the +Little Park, the "green retreats" of Pope, where +</p> +<div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>——Waving groves a checker'd scene display</p> + <p>And part admit, and part exclude the day.</p> + </div> +</div> +<p> +*** The friendly suggestion of our Correspondent, G.C. (Windsor Castle) +shall be considered. +</p> + +<hr /> +<span class="pagenum"> + <a id="page178" + name="page178"> + </a>[pg 178] +</span> + +<h3>THE MARCH OF MIND.</h3> +<h4>(To the Editor.)</h4> +<p> +It is generally supposed that the extensive search after, and diffusion of, +knowledge, is in a great measure peculiar to these present times. It seems +therefore to me a very curious thing to find a learned man and an +accomplished courtier protesting against book-learning as an evil, so far +back as the year 1646, and a curious thing he himself appears to have +thought it, introducing his opinion as a "paradox" until he explains. In +this explanation we find the same opinion that is now strenuously insisted +on by Mr. Cobbett, namely, that a man who properly understands his own +business or employment, though he have nothing of literature, is by no +means to be accounted ignorant. +</p> +<p> +The letters of James Howell, Esq. are well known as fluent examples of the +best style of writing of his day, and as repositories of many curious +facts and intelligent remarks. The following letter appears to be +addressed to Lord Dorchester— +</p> +<p> +"My Lord,—The subject of this letter may, peradventure, seem a paradox to +some, but not, I know, to your Lordship, when you are pleased to weigh +well the reasons. Learning is a thing that hath been much cried up, and +coveted in all ages, especially in this last century of years, by people +of all sorts, though never so mean and mechanical; every man strains his +fortune to keep his children at school; the cobbler will clout it till +midnight, the porter will carry burdens till his bones crack again, the +ploughman will pinch both back and belly to give his son <i>learning</i>, and I +find that this ambition reigns no where so much as in this island. But, +under favour, this word, <i>learning</i>, is taken in a narrower sense among us +than among other nations: we seem to restrain it only to the <i>book</i>, +whereas, indeed, any artisan whatsoever (if he knew the secret and mystery +of his trade) may be called a learned man: a good mason; a good shoemaker, +that can manage St. Crispin's lance handsomely; a skilful yeoman; a good +ship-wright, &c. may be all called learned men, and indeed the usefullest +sort of learned men. +</p> +<p> +"The extravagant humour of our country is not to be altogether +commended—that all men should aspire to book-learning; there is not a +simpler animal, and a more superfluous member of a state than a mere +scholar, a self-pleasing student. Archimedes, though an excellent +engineer, when Syracuse was lost, was found in his study, intoxicated with +speculations; and another great, learned philosopher, like a fool or +frantic, when being in a bath, he leaped out naked among the people, and +cried, 'I have found it, I have found it,' having hit then upon an +extraordinary conclusion in geometry. There is a famous tale of Thomas +Aquinas, the angelical doctor, and of Bonadventure, the seraphical doctor, +of whom Alexander Hales, our countryman, reports, that these great clerks +were invited to dinner by the French King, on purpose to observe their +humours, and being brought to the room where the table was laid, the first +fell to eating of bread as hard as he could drive, at last, breaking out +of a brown study, he cried out '<i>Conclusum est contra Manichaeos;</i>' the +other fell a gazing upon the Queen, and the King asking him how he liked +her, he answered, 'Oh, sir, if an earthly Queen be so beautiful, what +shall we think of the Queen of Heaven?' The latter was the better courtier +of the two. +</p> +<p> +"My Lord, I know none in this age more capable to sit in the chair, and +censure what is true learning, and what <i>not</i>, than yourself; therefore, +in speaking of this subject to your Lordship, I fear to have committed the +same error as Phormio did, in discoursing of war before Hannibal. +</p> +<p> +"My Lord, your most humble, &c. +</p> +<p> +"JAMES HOWELL." +</p> + +<hr /> +<h3>ILLUMINATED PSALTER.</h3> +<h4><i>(For the Mirror.)</i></h4> +<p> +There is an illuminated Psalter preserved amongst the MSS. in the British +Museum, 2. A. 16., written by John Mallard, Chaplain to Henry VIII., +wherein are several notes in that king's hand writing, some in pencil +prefixed to Psalm liii. ("<i>Dixit incipiens</i>.") According to a very ancient +custom are the figures of King David and a fool, in this instance +evidently the portraits of Henry and his jester, Will Somers. +</p> +<p> +S. K. +</p> + +<hr /> +<h3>ANCIENT VALENTINES.</h3> +<h4><i>(For the Mirror.)</i></h4> + +<p> +The earliest poetical Valentines remaining, are those preserved in the +works of Charles Duke of Orleans, father to Louis XII. of France. He was +taken prisoner at the battle of Agincourt, and remained in England +twenty-five years, and called his mistress his <i>Valentine</i>. In the royal +library of MSS. now in the British +<span class="pagenum"> + <a id="page179" + name="page179"> + </a>[pg 179] +</span> + Museum, there is a magnificent volume +containing his writings whilst in England; it belonged to Henry VIII. for +whom it was copied from older MSS. It is illuminated: one painting +represents the duke in the White Tower, at a writing table. This MSS. also +contain some of the compositions of Eloisa. +</p> +<p> +S.K. +</p> + +<hr class="full" /> +<h2>THE COSMOPOLITE.</h2> +<hr /> +<h3>SUPERSTITIONS, FABLES, &c. RELATIVE TO ANIMALS.</h3> +<h4><i>(Continued from page</i> 171.<i>)</i></h4> + +<p> +The fore-foot of a <i>Hare</i> worn constantly in the pocket, is esteemed by +certain worthy old dames as a sure preventive of rheumatic disorders. +</p> +<p> +The <i>Lynx</i> was believed by the ancients, from the acuteness of its sight, +to have the power of seeing through stone walls; and amongst other +absurdities then gravely maintained were these: that the <i>Elephant</i> had no +joints, and being unable to lie down, was obliged to sleep leaning against +a tree; that <i>Deer</i> lived several hundred years; that the <i>Badger</i> had the +legs of one side shorter than those of the other; that the <i>Chameleon</i> +lived entirely on air, and the <i>Salamander</i> in fire; whilst the sphynx, +satyr, unicorn, centaur, hypogriff, hydra, dragon, griffin, cockatrice, &c. +&c. &c. were either the creations of fancy, or fabled accounts of +creatures of whose real form, origin, nature, and qualities, but the most +imperfect knowledge was afloat. +</p> +<p> +The flesh of the <i>Rhinoceros</i>, and almost every part of its body, is +reckoned by the ignorant natives of countries where it is found, an +antidote against poison. +</p> +<p> +That the <i>Jackal</i> is the "Lion's Provider," entirely, is an erroneous idea; +but it is true that the terrific cry of this animal when in chase, rouses +the lion, whose ear is dull, and enables him to join in the pursuit of +prey. Many stories are told respecting the generosity of the <i>Lion</i>, and +it was once confidently believed that no stress of hunger would induce him +to devour a virgin, though his imperial appetite might satiate itself on +men and matrons. The title of King of the Beasts, given at a period when +strength and ferocity were deemed the prime qualities of man—is now more +justly considered to belong to the mild, majestic, and almost rational +elephant. The <i>White Elephant</i> is a sacred animal with the Siamese, and +the cow with the Bramins and Hindoos. +</p> +<p> +The <i>Bear</i> was believed never to devour a man whom it found dead; and it +was imagined to lick its cubs into proper shape: hence the expression +"unlicked cub," applied to a raw, awkward, unpolished youth. The saliva of +the <i>Lama</i>, which when angry it ejects, has been erroneously supposed to +possess a corrosive quality. +</p> +<p> +The hoof of the <i>Moose-deer</i> was formerly in great repute for curing +epilepsies, but has now justly fallen into neglect. The Laplander, +commencing his journey, whispers into the ear of his <i>Rein-deer</i>, +believing these animals understand and will obey his oral directions. The +<i>Elk</i> is accounted by the Indians an animal of good omen, and often to +dream of him indicates a long life. They imagine also the existence of a +gigantic elk, which walks without difficulty in eight feet of snow, has an +arm growing from its shoulder which it uses as we do, is invulnerable to +all weapons, is king of the elks and attended by a numerous herd of +courtiers. The fur of the <i>Glutton</i> is so valued by the Kamschatdales that +they say celestial beings are clad in no other. +</p> +<p> +It was long a popular error that the <i>Porcupine</i>, when irritated, +discharged its quills at its adversary; that these quills were poisonous, +and rendered wounds inflicted by them difficult to cure: a better +acquaintance with the natural history of this harmless animal has now +exploded these fables. Our British porcupine, the innocuous <i>Hedgehog</i>, +has long been the object of unceasing persecution, from the popular belief +that it bites and sucks the udders of cows, an absurdity sufficiently +contradicted by the smallness of its mouth. In like manner, the +<i>Goat-sucker</i> is a persecuted bird, since, as its name implies, it has been +thought to suck the teats of goats and other animals; whereas the form of +its bill entirely precludes such an act, and it is an inoffensive bird, +living upon insects. The superstition has probably originated from its +being often found in warm climates under cattle, capturing the insects +that torment them. It is supposed, in some places, that the <i>Shrew-mouse</i> +is of so baneful and deleterious a nature that whenever it creeps over a +beast, cow, sheep, or horse (in particular), the animal is afflicted with +cruel anguish, and threatened with a loss of the use of its limb. +A shrew-ash was the remedy for this misfortune, viz. an ash whose twigs or +branches gently applied to the affected members relieved the pain: our +provident forefathers, anticipating such an accident to their cattle, +always kept a +<span class="pagenum"> + <a id="page180" + name="page180"> + </a>[pg 180] +</span> + shrew-ash at hand, which, once medicated, retained its +virtue for ever: it was thus prepared: into the body of an ash a deep hole +was bored with an auger, and a poor devoted shrew-mouse being thrust into +it, the orifice was plugged up, probably with quaint incantations now +forgotten. +</p> +<p> +The <i>Toad</i>, owing to its hideous, disgusting appearance, has been the +subject of many superstitions: it is commonly thought to spit venom, +whilst, as yet, the question is unsettled, whether or not it be poisonous +in any respect; some affirm that a viscous humour of poisonous quality +exudes from the skin, like perspiration; whilst others pretend that +cancers may be cured by the application of living toads to them; and a man +has been known to swallow one of these abominations for a wager, taking +care, however, to follow this horrid meal by an immediate and copious +draught of oil. But the very glance of the toad has been supposed fatal; +of its entrails fancied poisonous potions have been concocted; and for +magical purposes it was believed extremely efficacious; a precious stone +was asserted to be found in its head, invaluable in medicine and magic. In +Carthagena and Portobello (America) these creatures swarm to such a degree +in wet weather that many of the inhabitants believe every drop of rain to +be converted into a toad. It is said of the Pipa, or Surinam toad, a +hideous, but probably harmless, animal, that very malignant effects are +experienced from it when calcined. +</p> +<p> +The <i>Crocodile</i> is feigned to weep and groan like a human being in pain +and distress, in order to excite the sympathy of man, and thus allure him +into his tremendous jaws. +</p> +<p> +The <i>Lizard</i>, though now declared by naturalists to be perfectly harmless, +was long considered poisonous by the ignorant; and in Sweden and +Kamschatka, the green lizard is the subject of strange superstitions, and +regarded with horror. Newts, efts, swifts, snakes, and blind-worms are, +in popular credence, all venomous; and that the <i>Ear-wig</i> most justly +derives its name from entering people's ears, and either causing deafness, +or, by penetrating to the brain, death itself, is with many considered an +indisputable fact. The Irish have a large beetle of which strange tales +are believed; they term it the <i>Coffin-cutter</i>, and it has some connexion +with the grave and purgatory, not now, unfortunately, to be recalled to +our memory. +</p> +<p> +It is, in Germany, a popular belief, that the <i>Stag-beetle</i> (perhaps the +same insect) carries burning coals into houses by means of its jaws, and +that it has thus occasioned many dreadful fires. (How convenient would +<i>Swing</i> find such a superstition in England!) The <i>Death-watch</i> +superstition is too well known to need particular notice in this paper. It +is singular that the <i>House-cricket</i> should by some persons be considered +an unlucky, by others a lucky, inmate of the mansion: those who hold the +latter opinion consider its destruction the means of bringing misfortune +on their habitations. "In Dumfries-shire," says Sir William Jardine, "it +is a common superstition that if crickets forsake a house which they have +long inhabited, some evil will befal the family; generally the death of +some member is portended. In like manner the presence or return of this +cheerful little insect is lucky, and portends some good to the family." +</p> +<p> +<i>(To be continued.)</i> +</p> + +<hr class="full" /> +<h2>NOTES OF A READER.</h2> +<hr /> +<h3>DOMESTIC LIFE IN AMERICA.</h3> +<p> +<i>Servants</i>. +</p> +<p> +The following sketch of what the Americans feel on this point, from Mrs. +Trollope's <i>Domestic Manners of the Americans</i>, is clever and amusing:— +</p> +<p> +"The greatest difficulty in organizing a family establishment in Ohio is +getting servants, or, as it is there called, 'getting help,' for it is +more than petty treason to the republic to call a free citizen a <i>servant</i>. +The whole class of young women, whose bread depends upon their labour, are +taught to believe that the most abject poverty is preferable to domestic +service. Hundreds of half-naked girls work in the paper-mills, or in any +other manufactory, for less than half the wages they would receive in +service: but they think their equality is compromised by the latter, and +nothing but the wish to obtain some particular article of finery will ever +induce them to submit to it. A kind friend, however, exerted herself so +effectually for me, that a tall stately lass soon presented herself, +saying, 'I be come to help you.' The intelligence was very agreeable, and +I welcomed her in the most gracious manner possible, and asked what I +should give her by the year. 'Oh Gimini!' exclaimed the damsel, with a +loud laugh, 'you be a downright Englisher, sure enough. I should like to +see a young lady engage by the year in America! I hope I shall get a +husband before many months, or I expect I shall be an outright old maid, +for I be most seventeen already; besides, mayhap I +<span class="pagenum"> + <a id="page181" + name="page181"> + </a>[pg 181] +</span> + may want to go to +school. You must just give me a dollar and a half a week; and mother's +slave, Phillis, must come over once a week, I expect, from t'other side +the water, to help me clean.' I agreed to the bargain, of course, with all +dutiful submission; and seeing she was preparing to set to work in a +yellow dress parsemé with red roses, I gently hinted, that I thought it +was a pity to spoil so fine a gown, and that she had better change it. +''Tis just my best and worst,' she answered, 'for I've got no other.' And +in truth I found that this young lady had left the paternal mansion with +no more clothes of any kind than what she had on. I immediately gave her +money to purchase what was necessary for cleanliness and decency, and set +to work with my daughters to make her a gown. She grinned applause when +our labour was completed, but never uttered the slightest expression of +gratitude for that or for anything else we could do for her. She was +constantly asking us to lend her different articles of dress, and when we +declined it, she said, 'Well, I never seed such grumpy folks as you be; +there is several young ladies of my acquaintance what goes to live out now +and then with the old women about the town, and they and their gurls +always lends them what they asks for; I guess, you Inglish thinks we +should poison your things, just as bad as if we was negurs.' And here I +beg to assure the reader, that whenever I give conversations, they were +not made <i>à loisir</i>, but were written down immediately after they occurred, +with all the verbal fidelity my memory permitted." +</p> +<p> +"This young lady left me at the end of two months, because I refused to +lend her money enough to buy a silk dress to go to a ball, saying, 'Then +it is not worth my while to stay any longer.' I cannot imagine it possible +that such a state of things can be desirable or beneficial to any of the +parties concerned. I might occupy a hundred pages on the subject, and yet +fail to give an adequate idea of the sore, angry, ever-wakeful pride that +seemed to torment these poor wretches. In many of them it was so excessive, +that all feeling of displeasure, or even of ridicule, was lost in pity. +One of these was a pretty girl, whose natural disposition must have been +gentle and kind; but her good feelings were soured, and her gentleness +turned into morbid sensitiveness, by having heard a thousand and a +thousand times that she was as good as any other lady, that all men were +equal, and women too, and that it was a sin and a shame for a free-born +American to be treated like a servant. When she found she was to dine in +the kitchen, she turned up her pretty lip, and said, 'I guess that's +'cause you don't think I'm good enough to eat with you. You'll find that +won't do here.' I found afterwards that she rarely ate any dinner at all, +and generally passed the time in tears. I did everything in my power to +conciliate and make her happy, but I am sure she hated me. I gave her very +high wages, and she stayed till she had obtained several expensive +articles of dress, and then, <i>un beau matin</i>, she came to me full dressed, +and said, 'I must go.' 'When shall you return, Charlotte?' 'I expect you +will see no more of me.' And so we parted. Her sister was also living with +me, but her wardrobe was not yet completed, and she remained some weeks +longer till it was." +</p> +<p> +"Such being the difficulties respecting domestic arrangements," adds our +author, "it is obvious, that the ladies who are brought up amongst them +cannot have leisure for any developement of the mind: it is, in fact, out +of the question; and, remembering this, it is more surprising that some +among them should be very pleasing, than that none should be highly +instructed. But, whatever may be the talents of the persons who meet +together in society, the very shape, form, and arrangement of the meeting +is sufficient to paralyze conversation. The women invariably herd together +at one part of the room, and the men at the other; but, in justice to +Cincinnati, I must acknowledge that this arrangement is by no means +peculiar to that city, or to the western side of the Alleghanies. +Sometimes a small attempt at music produces a partial reunion; a few of +the most daring youths animated by the consciousness of curled hair and +smart waistcoats, approach the piano-forte, and begin to mutter a little +to the half-grown pretty things, who are comparing with one another 'how +many quarters' music they have had.' Where the mansion is of sufficient +dignity to have two drawing-rooms, the piano, the little ladies, and the +slender gentlemen are left to themselves; and on such occasions the sound +of laughter is often heard to issue from among them. But the fate of the +more dignified personages, who are left in the other room, is extremely +dismal. The gentlemen spit, talk of elections and the price of produce, +and spit again. The ladies look at each other's dresses till they know +every pin by heart; talk of +<span class="pagenum"> + <a id="page182" + name="page182"> + </a>[pg 182] +</span> + Parson Somebody's last sermon on the day of +judgment, or Dr. T'otherbody's new pills for dyspepsia, till the 'tea' is +announced, when they all console themselves together for whatever they may +have suffered in keeping awake, by taking more tea, coffee, hot cake and +custard, hoe cake, johny cake, waffle cake, and dodger cake, pickled +peaches, and preserved cucumbers, ham, turkey, hung beef, apple sauce, and +pickled oysters, than ever were prepared in any other country of the known +world. After this massive meal is over, they return to the drawing-room, +and it always appeared to me that they remained together as long as they +could bear it, and then they rise <i>en masse</i>—cloak, bonnet, shawl, and +exit." +</p> +<p> +<i>Conversation of an American Woman.</i> +</p> +<p> +"'Well now, so you be from the old country? Ay—you'll see sights here I +guess.' 'I hope I shall see many.' 'That's a fact.—Why they do say, +that if a poor body contrives to be smart enough to scrape together a few +dollars, that your King George always comes down upon 'em, and takes it +all away. Don't he?' 'I do not remember hearing of such a transaction.' 'I +guess they be pretty close about it.' 'Your papers ben't like ourn, I +reckon? Now we says and prints just what we likes.' 'You spend a good deal +of time in reading the newspapers.' 'And I'd like you to tell me how we +can spend it better. How should freemen spend their time, but looking +after their government, and watching that them fellers as we gives offices +to, doos their duty, and gives themselves no airs?' 'But I sometimes think, +sir, that your fences might be in more thorough repair, and your roads in +better order, if less time was spent in politics.' 'The Lord! to see how +little you knows of a free country? Why, what's the smoothness of a road +put against the freedom of a free-born American? And what does a broken +zig-zag signify, comparable to knowing that the men what we have been +pleased to send up to Congress, speaks handsome and straight, as we +chooses they should?' 'It is from a sense of duty, then, that you all go +to the liquor store to read the papers?' 'To be sure it is, and he'd be no +true-born American as didn't. I don't say that the father of a family +should always be after liquor, but I do say that I'd rather have my son +drunk three times in a week, than not to look after the affairs of his +country,'" +</p> +<p> +<i>Hogs</i>. +</p> +<p> +"Immense droves of hogs were continually arriving from the country by the +road that led to most of our favourite walks; they were often fed and +lodged in the prettiest valleys, and worse still, were slaughtered beside +the prettiest streams. Another evil threatened us from the same quarter, +that was yet heavier. Our cottage had an ample piazza, (a luxury almost +universal in the country houses of America,) which, shaded by a group of +acacias, made a delightful sitting-room; from this favourite spot we one +day perceived symptoms of building in a field close to it; with much +anxiety we hastened to the spot, and asked what building was to be erected +there. ''Tis to be a slaughter-house for hogs,' was the dreadful reply. +As there were several gentlemen's houses in the neighbourhood, I asked if +such an erection might not be indicted as a nuisance. 'A what?' 'A +nuisance,' I repeated, and explained what I meant. 'No, no,' was the reply, +'that may do very well for your tyrannical country, where a rich man's +nose is more thought of than a poor man's mouth; but hogs be profitable +produce here, and we be too free for such a law as that, I guess.'" +</p> + +<hr /> +<h3>THE BELL ROCK LIGHT HOUSE.</h3> + +<p> +On the 9th ult., about 10 P.M., a large herring-gull struck one of the +south-eastern mullions of the Bell Rock Light House with such force, that +two of the polished plates of glass, measuring about two feet square, and +a quarter of an inch in thickness, were shivered to pieces and scattered +over the floor in a thousand atoms, to the great alarm of the keeper on +watch, and the other two inmates of the house, who rushed instantly to the +light room. It fortunately happened, that although one of the red-shaded +sides of the reflector-frame was passing in its revolution at the moment, +the pieces of broken glass were so minute, that no injury was done to the +red glass. The gull was found to measure five feet between the tips of the +wings. In his gullet was found a large herring, and in its throat a piece +of plate-glass, of about one inch in length.—(From No. I. of the +<i>Nautical Magazine</i>, a work of clever execution, great promise, and +extraordinary cheapness.) +</p> + +<hr /> +<h3>NO CHALK.</h3> + +<p> +It appears that the bill for the abolition of imprisonment for debt in +America +<span class="pagenum"> + <a id="page183" + name="page183"> + </a>[pg 183] +</span> + "works well," as applied to New York; and the system is +consequently to be put in general force all over the Union—a fact, which, +as a poet like Mr. Watts would say, adds another leaf to America's laurel. +But the paper which announced this gratifying intelligence, relates in a +paragraph nearly subjoined to it, a circumstance in natural history that +seems to have some connexion with the affairs between debtor and creditor +in the United States. It informs us, that up to the present period of +scientific investigation, "<i>no chalk</i> has been discovered in North +America." Now this is really a valuable bit of discovery; and we heartily +wish that the Geological Society, instead of wasting their resources on +anniversary-dinners, as they have lately been doing, would at once set +about establishing the proof of a similar absence of that article in this +country. Surely, our brethren on the other side of the Atlantic, will not +fail to take the hint which nature herself has so benificently thrown out +to them; and instead of abolishing the power of getting into prison, put +an end at once to the power of getting into debt. The scarcity of chalk +ought certainly to be numbered among the natural blessings of America. Had +the soil on that side of the ocean been as chalky as this, America might +have been visited by a comet, like Pitt, with a golden train of eight +hundred millions.—<i>Monthly Magazine</i>. +</p> + +<hr class="full" /> +<h2>THE NATURALIST.</h2> +<hr /> +<h3>ANGLING.</h3> +<h4><i>(From the Angler's Museum, quoted in the Magazine of Natural History.) +</i></h4> +<p> +Every one who is acquainted with the habits of fish is sensible of the +extreme acuteness of their vision, and well knows how easily they are +scared by shadows in motion, or even at rest, projected from the bank; and +often has the angler to regret the suspension of a successful fly-fishing +by the accidental passage of a person along the opposite bank of the +stream: yet, by noting the apparently trivial habits of one of nature's +anglers, not only is our difficulty obviated, but our success insured. The +heron, guided by a wonderful instinct, preys chiefly in the absence of the +sun; fishing in the dusk of the morning and evening, on cloudy days and +moonlight nights. But should the river become flooded to discoloration, +then does the "long-necked felon" fish indiscriminately in sun and shade; +and in a recorded instance of his fishing on a bright day, it is related +of him, that, like a skilful angler, he occupied the shore opposite the +sun. +</p> + +<hr /> +<h3>SKILFUL ANATOMISTS.</h3> +<h4>(<i>For the Mirror.)</i></h4> + +<p> +It may not be generally known that the tadpole acts the same part with +fish that ants do with birds; and that through the agency of this little +reptile, perfect skeletons, even of the smallest fishes may be obtained. +To produce this, it is but necessary to suspend the fish by threads +attached to the head and tail in an horizontal position, in a jar of water, +such as is found in a pond, and change it often, till the tadpoles have +finished their work. Two or three tadpoles will perfectly dissect a fish +in twenty-four hours. +</p> +<p> +H.S.S. +</p> + +<hr /> +<h3>THREE ENTHUSIASTIC NATURALISTS.</h3> +<p> +The first is a learned entomologist, who, hearing one evening at the +Linnean Society that a yellow Scarabaeus, otherwise beetle, of a very rare +kind was to be captured on the sands at Swansea, immediately took his seat +in the mail for that place, and brought back in triumph the object of his +desire. The second is Mr. David Douglas, who spent two years among the +wild Indians of the Rocky Mountains, was reduced to such extremities as +occasionally to sup upon the flaps of his saddle; and once, not having +this resource, was obliged to eat up all the seeds he had collected the +previous forty days in order to appease the cravings of nature. Not +appalled by these sufferings, he has returned again to endure similar +hardships, and all for a few simples. The third example is Mr. Drummond, +the assistant botanist to Franklin in his last hyperborean journey. In the +midst of snow, with the thermometer 15° below zero, without a tent, +sheltered from the inclemency of the weather only by a hut built of the +branches of trees, and depending for subsistence from day to day on a +solitary Indian hunter, "I obtained," says this amiable and enthusiastic +botanist, "a few mosses; and, on Christmas day,"—mark, gentle reader, the +day, of all others, as if it were a reward for his devotion,—"I had the +pleasure of finding a very minute Gymnóstomum, hitherto undescribed. I +remained alone for the rest of the winter, except when my man occasionally +visited me with meat; and I found the time hang very heavy, as I had no +books, and nothing could be done in the way of collecting specimens of +natural history." +</p> +<p> +<i>Magazine of Natural History</i> +</p> +<hr /> +<span class="pagenum"> + <a id="page184" + name="page184"> + </a>[pg 184] +</span> + + +<div class="figure" style="width:100%;"> + <a href="images/539-002.png"> + <img width = "100%" src="images/539-002.png" alt="BURIAL PLACE IN TONGATABU." /> + </a> +</div> + +<h3>BURIAL PLACE IN TONGATABU.</h3> + +<p> +This is another of Mr. Bennett's sketches made during his recent visit to +several of the Polynesian Islands. It represents the burial-place of the +Chiefs of Tongatabu: over this "earthly prison of their bones," we may say +with Titus Andronicus: +</p> +<div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>In pence and honour rest you here my sons:</p> + <p>(The) readiest champions, repose you here,</p> + <p>Secure from worldly chances and mishaps:</p> + <p>Here lurks no treason, here no envy swells,</p> + <p>Here grow no damned grudges: here are no storms,</p> + <p>No noise, but silence and eternal sleep.</p> + </div> +</div> +<p> +Mr. Bennett thus describes the spot, with some interesting circumstances: +</p> +<p> +"July 29th. I visited this morning a beautiful spot named Maofanga, at a +short distance from our anchorage; here was the burial-place of the chiefs. +The tranquillity of this secluded spot, and the drooping trees of the +casuarina equisetifolia, added to the mournful solemnity of the place. +Off this place, the Astrolabe French discovery ship lay when, some time +before, she fired on the natives. The circumstances respecting this affair, +as communicated to me, if correct, do not reflect much credit on the +commander of the vessel. They are as follow: During a gale the Astrolabe +drove on the reef, but was afterwards got off by the exertion of the +natives; some of the men deserting from the ship, the chiefs were accused +of enticing them away, and on the men not being given up the ship fired on +the village; the natives barricaded themselves on the beach by throwing up +sand heaps, and afterwards retired into the woods. The natives pointed out +the effects of the shot; on the trees, a large branch of a casuarina tree +in the sacred enclosure was shot off, several coco-nut trees were cut in +two, and the marks of several spent shots still remain on the trees: three +natives were killed in this attack. A great number of the flying-fox, or +vampire bat, hung from the casuarina trees in this enclosure, but the +natives interposed to prevent our firing at them, the place being tabued. +Mr. Turner had been witness to the interment here, not long previously, of +the wife of a chief, and allied to the royal family. The body, enveloped +in mats, was placed in a vault, in which some of her relations had been +before interred, and being covered up, several natives advanced with +baskets of sand, &c. and strewed it over the vault; others then approached +and cut themselves on the head with hatchets, wailing and showing other +demonstrations of grief. Small houses are erected over the vaults. All the +burial-places are either fenced round or surrounded by a low wall of coral +stones, and have a very clean, neat, and regular appearance. +</p> +<p> +"I observed that nearly the whole of the natives whom I had seen, were +deficient in the joints of the little finger of the left hand, and some of +both; some of the first joint only, others two, and many the whole of both +fingers. On inquiry, I found that a joint is chopped off on any occasion +of the illness or death of a relation or chief, as a propitiatory offering +to the Spirit. There is a curious analogy between this custom and one +related by Mr. Burchell as existing among the Bushmen tribe in Southern +Africa, and performed for similar superstitious reasons to express grief +for the loss of relations. +</p> +<p> +"Near this place was the Hufanga, or place of refuge, in which a person in +danger of being put to death is in safety as long as he remains there; on +looking in the enclosure, it was only a place gravelled over, in which was +a small house and some trees planted." +<a id="footnotetag2" + name="footnotetag2"></a><sup> + <a href="#footnote2">2</a> +</sup> +</p> + +<hr class="full" /> +<span class="pagenum"> + <a id="page185" + name="page185"> + </a>[pg 185] +</span> + +<h2>THE SELECTOR; AND LITERARY NOTICES OF <i>NEW WORKS</i>.</h2> +<hr /> +<h3>FRANCIS THE FIRST.</h3> +<h4><i>An Historical Drama. By Frances Ann Kemble</i>.</h4> +<p> +This extraordinary production has awakened an interest in the dramatic and +literary world, scarcely equalled in our times. We know of its fortune +upon the stage by report only; but, from our acquaintance with the +requisites of the acting drama, we should conceive its permanence will be +more problematical in the theatre than in the closet; and considering the +conditions upon which dramatic fame is now attainable, we think the clever +authoress will not have reason to regret these inequalities of success. +That Miss Kemble's tragedy possesses points to be made, and passages that +will <i>tell</i> on the stage, cannot be denied; but its interest for +representation requires to be concentrated; it "wants a hero, an uncommon +thing." It is well observed in the <i>Quarterly Review</i>, (by the way, the +only notice yet taken of the tragedy, that merits attention,) that "the +piece is crowded with characters of the greatest variety, all of +considerable importance in the piece, engaged in the most striking +situations, and contributing essentially to the main design. Instead of +that simple unity of interest, from which modern tragic writers have +rarely ventured to depart, it takes the wider range of that historic unity, +which is the characteristic of our elder drama; moulds together, and +connects by some common agent employed in both, incidents which have no +necessary connexion; and—what in the present tragedy strikes us as on +many accounts especially noticeable—unites by a fine though less +perceptible moral link, remote but highly tragic events with the immediate, +if we may so speak, the domestic interests of the play." This language is +finely characteristic of the drama. Again, the interest has "so much +Shakspearianism in the conception as to afford a remarkable indication of +the noble school in which the young authoress has studied, and the high +models which, with courage, in the present day, fairly to be called +originality, she has dared to set before her. In fact, Francis the First +is cast entirely in the mould of one of Shakspeare's historical tragedies." +The drama too was written without any view to its representation, as the +<i>Quarterly</i> reviewer has been "informed by persons who long ago perused +the manuscript, several years before Miss Kemble appeared upon the stage, +and at a time when she little anticipated the probability that she herself +might be called upon to impersonate the conceptions of her own imagination. +We believe that we are quite safe when we state that the drama, in its +present form, was written when the authoress was not more than seventeen." +Yet it should be added that the above statement is not made by way of +extenuation; for, to say the truth, it needs no such adventitious aid. +</p> +<p> +A mere outline of the story will convince the reader that, as the Reviewer +states, "the tragedy is alive from the beginning to the end;" and our +extracts will we trust show the language to be bold and vigorous; the +imagery sweetly poetical; and the workings of the passions which actuate +the personages to be evidently of high promise if not of masterly spirit. +</p> +<p> +The tragedy opens with the recall of the Constable De Bourbon from Italy, +through the supposed political intrigue, but really, the secret love, of +the mother of Francis, Louisa of Savoy, Duchess of Angouleme, whom Miss +Kemble calls the Queen Mother. In the second scene the Queen Mother +communicates to Gonzales, a monk in disguise, but in, reality an emissary +of the Court of Spain, her secret passion for De Bourbon, and her design +in his recall. +</p> +<p> +Francis is introduced at a tourney, where he not only triumphs in the +jousts, but over the heart of the beautiful Françoise de Foix. +</p> +<p> +Bourbon returns, and the second act opens with his interview with Renée, +(or Margaret,) the daughter of the Queen Mother, and sister of Francis I., +for whom he really entertains an affection. In the second scene the Queen +Mother declares her passion to Bourbon, who, at first supposes he is to be +tempted by Margaret's hand, but finding the Queen herself to be the lure, +he indignantly rejects her. The character of Bourbon in this scene is +admirably brought out. The artifice of the Queen—the scorn of +Bourbon—and the Queen's meditated vengeance are powerfully wrought: +</p> + +<div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>BOURBON.</p> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>I would have you know,</p> + <p>De Bourbon storms, and does not steal his honours</p> + <p>And though your highness thinks I am ambitious,</p> + <p>(And rightly thinks) I am not <i>so</i> ambitious</p> + <p>Ever to beg rewards that I can win,—</p> + <p>No man shall call me debtor to his tongue.</p> + </div> + <span class="pagenum"> + <a id="page186" + name="page186"> + </a>[pg 186] +</span> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>QUEEN (<i>rising.</i>)</p> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>'Tis proudly spoken; nobly too—but what—</p> + <p>What if a woman's hand were to bestow</p> + <p>Upon the Duke de Bourbon such high honours,</p> + <p>To raise him to such state, that grasping man,</p> + <p>E'en in his wildest thoughts of mad ambition,</p> + <p>Ne'er dreamt of a more glorious pinnacle?</p> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>BOURBON.</p> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>I'd kiss the lady's hand, an she were fair.</p> + <p>But if this world fill'd up the universe,—</p> + <p>If it could gather all the light that lives</p> + <p>In ev'ry other star or sun, or world;</p> + <p>If kings could be my subjects, and that I</p> + <p>Could call such pow'r and such a world my own,</p> + <p>I would not take it from a woman's hand.</p> + <p>Fame is my mistress, madam, and my sword</p> + <p>The only friend I ever wooed her with.</p> + <p>I hate all honours smelling of the distaff,</p> + <p>And, by this light, would as lief wear a spindle</p> + <p>Hung round my neck, as thank a lady's hand</p> + <p>For any favour greater than a kiss.—</p> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>QUEEN.</p> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>And how, if such a woman loved you,—how</p> + <p>If, while she crown'd your proud ambition, she</p> + <p>Could crown her own ungovernable passion,</p> + <p>And felt that all this earth possess'd, and she</p> + <p>Could give, were all too little for your love?</p> + <p>Oh good, my lord! there may be such a woman.</p> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>BOURBON (<i>aside.</i>)</p> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Amazement! can it be, sweet Margaret—</p> + <p>That she has read our love?—impossible!—and yet—</p> + <p>That lip ne'er wore so sweet a smile!—it is.</p> + <p>That look <i>is</i> pardon and acceptance! (<i>aloud</i>)—</p> + <p class="i2">speak. (<i>He falls at the Queen's feet.</i>)</p> + <p>Madam, in pity speak but one word more,—</p> + <p>Who is that woman?</p> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>QUEEN (<i>throwing off her veil.</i>)</p> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>I am that woman!</p> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>BOURBON (<i>starting up.</i>)</p> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>You, by the holy mass! I scorn your proffers;</p> + <p>Is there no crimson blush to tell of fame</p> + <p>And shrinking womanhood! Oh shame! shame! shame!</p> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>(<i>The Queen remains clasping her hands to her</i></p> + <p class="i2"><i>temples, while</i> De Bourbon <i> walks hastily</i></p> + <p class="i2"><i>up and down; after a long pause the</i></p> + <p class="i2">Queen <i> speaks.</i>)</p> + <p class="i2">(<i>The </i>Queen<i> summons her Confessor.</i>)</p> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <p><i>Enter </i>GONZALES.</p> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Sir, we have business with this holy father;</p> + <p>You may retire.</p> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>BOURBON.</p> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Confusion!</p> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>QUEEN.</p> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Are we obeyed?</p> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>BOURBON (<i>aside.</i>)</p> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Oh Margaret!—for thee! for thy dear sake!</p> + <p class="i2"> [<i>Rushes out. The </i>Queen<i> sinks into a chair.</i>]</p> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>QUEEN.</p> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Refus'd and scorn'd! Infamy!—the word chokes me!</p> + <p>How now! why stand'st thou gazing at me thus?</p> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>GONZALES.</p> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>I wait your highness' pleasure.—(<i>Aside</i>) So all is well—</p> + <p>A crown hath fail'd to tempt him—as I see</p> + <p>In yonder lady's eyes.</p> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>QUEEN.</p> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Oh sweet revenge!</p> + <p>Thou art my only hope, my only dower,</p> + <p>And I will make thee worthy of a Queen.</p> + <p>Proud noble, I will weave thee such a web,—</p> + <p>I will so spoil and trample on thy pride,</p> + <p>That thou shalt wish the woman's distaff were</p> + <p>Ten thousand lances rather than itself.</p> + <p>Ha! waiting still, sir Priest! Well as them seest</p> + <p>Our venture hath been somewhat baulk'd,—'tis not</p> + <p>Each arrow readies swift and true the aim,—</p> + <p>Love having failed, we'll try the best expedient,</p> + <p>That offers next,—what sayst thou to revenge?</p> + <p>'Tis not so soft, but then 'tis very sure;</p> + <p>Say, shall we wring this haughty soul a little?</p> + <p>Tame this proud spirit, curb this untrain'd charger?</p> + <p>We will not weigh too heavily, nor grind</p> + <p>Too hard, but, having bow'd him to the earth,</p> + <p>Leave the pursuit to others—carrion birds,</p> + <p>Who stoop, but not until the falcon's gorg'd</p> + <p>Upon the prey he leaves to their base talons.</p> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>GONZALES.</p> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>It rests but with your grace to point the means.</p> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>QUEEN.</p> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Where be the plans of those possessions</p> + <p>Of Bourbon's house?—see that thou find them straight:</p> + <p>His mother was my kinswoman, and I</p> + <p>Could aptly once trace characters like those</p> + <p>She used to write—enough—Guienne—Auvergne</p> + <p>And all Provence that lies beneath his claim,—</p> + <p>That claim disprov'd, of right belong to me.—</p> + <p>The path is clear, do thou fetch me those parchments.</p> + <p class="i2">[<i>Exit</i> Gonzales.</p> + <p>Not dearer to my heart will be the day</p> + <p>When first the crown of France deck'd my son's forehead,</p> + <p>Than that when I can compass thy perdition,—</p> + <p>When I can strip the halo of thy fame</p> + <p>From off thy brow, seize on the wide domains,</p> + <p>That make thy hatred house akin to empire,</p> + <p>And give thy name to deathless infamy. [<i>Exit</i>.</p> + </div> +</div> +<p> +The King holds a Council to appoint a successor to the Constable in Italy. +This scene is of stirring interest. The Queen goads the high-minded +Bourbon nigh unto madness, and at length breaks out into open insult. +Lautrec the brother of Françoise, and despised by Bourbon, is named the +governor. In the ceremony Francis addresses Lautrec:— +</p> +<div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>FRANCIS.</p> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>With our own royal hand we'll buckle on</p> + <p>The sword, that in thy grasp must be the bulwark</p> + <p>And lode-star of our host. Approach.</p> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>QUEEN.</p> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Not so.</p> + <p>Your pardon, sir; but it hath ever been</p> + <p>The pride and privilege of woman's hand</p> + <p>To arm the valour that she loves so well:</p> + <p>We would not, for your crown's best jewel, bate</p> + <p>One jot of our accustom'd state to-day:</p> + <p>Count Lautrec, we will arm thee, at our feet:</p> + <p>Take thou the brand which wins thy country's wars,—</p> + <p>Thy monarch's trust, and thy fair lady's favour.</p> + <p>Why, how now!—how is this!—my lord of Bourbon!</p> + <p>If we mistake not, 'tis the sword of office</p> + <p>Which graces still your baldrick;—with your leave,</p> + <p>We'll borrow it of you.</p> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>BOURBON (<i>starting up</i>.)</p> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Ay, madam, 'tis the sword</p> + <p>You buckled on with your own hand, the day</p> + <p>You sent me forth to conquer in your cause;</p> + <p>And there it is;—(<i>breaks the sword</i>)—take it—and with it all</p> + <p>Th' allegiance that I owe to France; ay take it;</p> + <p>And with it, take the hope I breathe o'er it:</p> + <p>That so, before Colonna's host, your arms</p> + <p>Lie crush'd and sullied with dishonour's stain;</p> + <p>So, reft in sunder by contending factions,</p> + <p>Be your Italian provinces; so torn</p> + <p>By discord and dissension this vast empire;</p> + <p>So broken and disjoin'd your subjects' loves;</p> + <p>So fallen your son's ambition, and your pride.</p> + </div> + <span class="pagenum"> + <a id="page187" + name="page187"> + </a>[pg 187] +</span> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>QUEEN (<i>rising</i>.)</p> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>What ho—a guard within there—Charles of Bourbon,</p> + <p>I do arrest thee, traitor to the crown.</p> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <p><i>Enter Guard</i>.</p> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Away with yonder wide-mouth'd thunderer;</p> + <p>We'll try if gyves and straight confinement cannot</p> + <p>Check this high eloquence, and cool the brain</p> + <p>Which harbours such unmannerd hopes.</p> + <p class="i2">[Bourbon <i>is forced out</i>.</p> + <p>Dream ye, my lords, that thus with open ears,</p> + <p>And gaping mouths and eyes, ye sit and drink</p> + <p>This curbless torrent of rebellious madness.</p> + <p>And you, sir, are you slumbering on your throne;</p> + <p>Or has all majesty fled from the earth,</p> + <p>That women must start up, and in your council</p> + <p>Speak, think, and act for ye; and, lest your vassals,</p> + <p>The very dirt beneath your feet, rise up</p> + <p>And cast ye off, must women, too, defend ye?</p> + <p>For shame, my lords, all, all of ye, for shame,—</p> + <p>Off, off with sword and sceptre, for there is</p> + <p>No loyalty in subjects; and in kings,</p> + <p>No king-like terror to enforce their rights.</p> + </div> +</div> +<p> +Meanwhile Lautrec proposes to his sister Françoise, the hand of his friend, +the gallant Laval; whilst the fair maiden is importuned by Francis, who +endeavours to make the poet Clement Marot the bearer of his intrigue. In a +scene between Francis and the poet, the licentious impatience of the King, +and the unsullied honour of Clement are finely contrasted. +</p> +<div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>FRANCIS.</p> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>I would I'd borne the scroll myself, thy words</p> + <p>Image her forth so fair.</p> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>CLEMENT.</p> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Do they, indeed?</p> + <p>Then sorrow seize my tongue, for, look you, sir,</p> + <p>I will not speak of your own fame or honour,</p> + <p>Nor of your word to me: king's words, I find,</p> + <p>Are drafts on our credulity, not pledges</p> + <p>Of their own truth. You have been often pleas'd</p> + <p>To shower your royal favours on my head;</p> + <p>And fruitful honours from your kindly will</p> + <p>Have rais'd me far beyond my fondest hopes;</p> + <p>But had I known such service was to be</p> + <p>The nearest way my gratitude might take</p> + <p>To solve the debt, I'd e'en have given back</p> + <p>All that I hold of you: and, now, not e'en</p> + <p>Your crown and kingdom could requite to me</p> + <p>The cutting sense of shame that I endur'd</p> + <p>When on me fell the sad reproachful glance</p> + <p>Which told me how I stood in the esteem</p> + <p>Of yonder lady. Let me tell you, sir,</p> + <p>You've borrow'd for a moment what whole years</p> + <p>Cannot bestow—an honourable name.</p> + <p>Now fare you well; I've sorrow at my heart,</p> + <p>To think your majesty hath reckon'd thus</p> + <p>Upon my nature. I was poor before,</p> + <p>Therefore I can be poor again without</p> + <p>Regret, so I lose not mine own esteem.</p> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <hr /> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>FRANCIS.</p> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Excellent.</p> + <p>Oh, ye are precious wooers, all of ye.</p> + <p>I marvel how ye ever ope your lips</p> + <p>Unto, or look upon that fearful thing,</p> + <p>A lovely woman.</p> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>CLEMENT.</p> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>And I marvel, sir,</p> + <p>At those who do not feel the majesty,—</p> + <p>By heaven, I'd almost said the holiness,—</p> + <p>That circles round a fair and virtuous woman:</p> + <p>There is a gentle purity that breathes</p> + <p>In such a one, mingled with chaste respect,</p> + <p>And modest pride of her own excellence,—</p> + <p>A shrinking nature, that is so adverse</p> + <p>To aught unseemly, that I could as soon</p> + <p>Forget the sacred love I owe to heav'n,</p> + <p>As dare, with impure thoughts, to taint the air</p> + <p>Inhal'd by such a being: than whom, my liege,</p> + <p>Heaven cannot look on anything more holy,</p> + <p>Or earth be proud of anything more fair. [<i>Exit</i>.</p> + </div> +</div> +<p> +Gonzales, the monk, is despatched by the Queen to Bourbon in prison. At +the door he meets Margaret, who had bribed her way to her lover, and was +returning after ineffectual attempts to soothe him into submission, +shame-struck at the exposure of her mother's guilt. The Queen intrusts +Gonzales with a signet ring as the means of liberating him and conducting +him to the royal chamber. Bourbon is immovable; and in revenge upon the +Court, he falls in with a private scheme of Gonzales, which is to accept +of his liberty, and set off to the Court of Spain. The undisguising of the +treacherous monk is in these powerful lines: +</p> +<div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>GONZALES.</p> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Now,</p> + <p>That day is come, ay, and that very hour:</p> + <p>Now shout your war-cry; now unsheath your sword;</p> + <p>I'll join the din, and make these tottering walls</p> + <p>Tremble and nod to hear our fierce defiance.</p> + <p>Nay, never start, and look upon my cowl—</p> + <p>You love not priests, De Bourbon, more than I.</p> + <p>Off, vile denial of my manhood's pride;</p> + <p>Off, off to hell! where thou wast first invented,</p> + <p>Now once again I stand and breathe a knight.</p> + <p>Nay, stay not gazing thus: it is Garcia,</p> + <p>Whose name hath reach'd thee long ere now, I trow;</p> + <p>Whom thou hast met in deadly fight full oft,</p> + <p>When France and Spain join'd in the battle field.</p> + <p>Beyond the Pyrenean boundary</p> + <p>That guards thy land, are forty thousand men:</p> + <p>Their unfurl'd pennons flout fair France's sun,</p> + <p>And wanton in the breezes of her sky:</p> + <p>Impatient halt they there; their foaming steeds,</p> + <p>Pawing the huge and rock-built barrier,</p> + <p>That bars their further course—they wait for thee:</p> + <p>For thee whom France hath injur'd and cast off;</p> + <p>For thee, whose blood it pays with shameful chains,</p> + <p>More shameful death; for thee, whom Charles of Spain</p> + <p>Summons to head his host, and lead them on</p> + <p>To conquest and to glory.</p> + </div> +</div> +<p> +The interest now reverts to the fate of Françoise, and Bourbon is lost +sight of; a transition which, both in acting and reading, endangers the +drama. +<a id="footnotetag3" + name="footnotetag3"></a><sup> + <a href="#footnote3">3</a> +</sup> + News arrives of the flight of Lautrec from his government; of +his arrest, his imprisonment, and capital condemnation. +<a id="footnotetag4" + name="footnotetag4"></a><sup> + <a href="#footnote4">4</a> +</sup> + He enjoins his +sister to intercede in his behalf with Francis; she complies, but it is at +the expense of her honour; broken-hearted, she sinks beneath her shame at +the crime into which she has been betrayed, and returns home. Francis +<span class="pagenum"> + <a id="page188" + name="page188"> + </a>[pg 188] +</span> +pursues her, and the Queen, now aware of his passion for her, dispatches +the monk Gonzales on a secret mission to poison Françoise, who, she fears, +may supplant her in her ascendancy over the King. A fine passage occurs in +the scene wherein the Queen proposes her scheme to Gonzales. +</p> +<div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>QUEEN.</p> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Didst ever look upon the dead?</p> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>GONZALES.</p> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Ay, madam,</p> + <p>Full oft; and in each calm or frightful guise</p> + <p>Death comes in,—on the bloody battle-field;</p> + <p>When with each gush of black and curdling life</p> + <p>A curse was uttered,—when the pray'rs I've pour'd,</p> + <p>Have been all drown'd with din of clashing arms—</p> + <p>And shrieks and shouts, and loud artillery,</p> + <p>That shook the slipp'ry earth, all drunk with gore—</p> + <p>I've seen it, swoll'n with subtle poison, black</p> + <p>And staring with concentrate agony—</p> + <p>When ev'ry vein hath started from its bed,</p> + <p>And wreath'd like knotted snakes, around the brows</p> + <p>That, frantic, dash'd themselves in tortures down</p> + <p>Upon the earth. I've seen life float away</p> + <p>On the faint sound of a far tolling bell—</p> + <p>Leaving its late warm tenement as fair,</p> + <p>As though 'twere th' incorruptible that lay</p> + <p>Before me—and all earthly taint had vanish'd</p> + <p>With the departed spirit.</p> + </div> +</div> +<p> +Laval returns from Italy to claim his bride. In the earlier part of the +play, a hint is given of Gonzales' rancorous hate of Laval, the +undercurrent of which is now revealed. Gonzales, beneath the seal of +confession, obtains the secret of the crime of Françoise. In her presence, +as the betrothed Laval rushes to embrace his bride, he taunts him with her +guilt. The wretched Françoise, in vain conjured to assert her innocence, +stabs herself. The King had been followed thither by the Queen; both now +appear. Gonzales riots revenge in one of the most vigorous portions of the +drama: +</p> +<div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>GONZALES.</p> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Look on thy bride! look on that faded thing,</p> + <p>That e'en the tears thy manhood showers go fast,</p> + <p>And bravely, cannot wake to life again!</p> + <p>I call all nature to bear witness here—</p> + <p>As fair a flower once grew within my home,</p> + <p>As young, as lovely, and as dearly lov'd—</p> + <p>I had a sister once, a gentle maid—</p> + <p>The only daughter of my father's house,</p> + <p>Round whom our ruder loves did all entwine,</p> + <p>As round the dearest treasure that we own'd.</p> + <p>She was the centre of our souls' affections—</p> + <p>She was the bud, that underneath our strong</p> + <p>And sheltering arms, spread over her, did blow.</p> + <p>So grew this fair, fair girl, till envious fate</p> + <p>Brought on the hour when she was withered.</p> + <p>Thy father, sir—now mark—for 'tis the point</p> + <p>And moral of my tale—thy father, then,</p> + <p>Was, by my sire, in war ta'en prisoner—</p> + <p>Wounded almost to death, he brought him home,</p> + <p>Shelter'd him,—cherish'd him,—and, with a care,</p> + <p>Most like a brother's, watch'd his bed of sickness,</p> + <p>Till ruddy health, once more through all his veins</p> + <p>Sent life's warm stream in strong returning tide.</p> + <p>How think ye he repaid my father's love?</p> + <p>From her dear home he lur'd my sister forth,</p> + <p>And, having robb'd her of her treasur'd honour,</p> + <p>Cast her away, defil'd,—despoil'd—forsaken—</p> + <p>The daughter of a high and ancient line—</p> + <p>The child of so much love—she died—she died—</p> + <p>Upon the threshold of that home, from which</p> + <p>My father spurn'd her—over whose pale corse</p> + <p>I swore to hunt, through life, her ravisher—</p> + <p>Nor ever from by bloodhound track desist,</p> + <p>Till line and deep atonement had been made—</p> + <p>Honour for honour given—blood for blood.</p> + </div> +</div> +<p> +"The Queen orders Gonzales to death; but the monk accuses her of the +intended murder of Françoise, and produces her written order to that +effect. The King can no longer be blind to his mother's crimes; she is +disgraced, degraded, and condemned to pass the rest of her days in a +convent." +</p> +<p> +Here the fourth act, and the acting play closes. In the fifth De Bourbon +reappears. Lautrec proposes to join him, and assassinate the King, in +revenge for the ruin of Françoise. The memorable battle of Pavia ensues, +and terminates with the death of the King and the triumph of Bourbon. +</p> +<p> +Triboulet, the jester of the Court of Francis, is introduced with some +pleasantry, by way of relief to the darker deeds. +</p> +<p> +We cannot conclude this imperfect sketch better than by the following +judicious observations from the <i>Quarterly Review</i>: "How high Miss Kemble's +young aspirings have been—what conceptions she has formed to herself of +the dignity of tragic poetry—may be discovered from this most remarkable +work; at this height she must maintain herself, or soar a still bolder +flight. The turmoil, the hurry, the business, the toil, even the celebrity +of a theatric life must yield her up at times to that repose, that +undistracted retirement within her own mind, which, however brief, is +essential to the perfection of the noblest work of the +imagination—genuine tragedy. Amidst her highest successes on the stage, +she must remember that the world regards her as one to whom a still higher +part is fallen. She must not be content with the fame of the most +extraordinary work which has ever been produced by a female at her age, +(for as such we scruple not to describe her Francis the First,)—with +having sprung at once to the foremost rank, not only of living actors but +of modern dramatists;—she must consider that she has given us a pledge +and earnest for a long and brightening course of distinction, in the +devotion of all but unrivalled talents in two distinct, though congenial, +capacities, to the revival of the waning glories of the English theatre." +</p> + +<span class="pagenum"> + <a id="page189" + name="page189"> + </a>[pg 189] +</span> + +<hr class="full" /> +<h2>SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.</h2> +<hr /> +<h3>OLD ENGLISH MUSIC.</h3> +<p> +It was in the course of the sixteenth century that the psalmody of England, +and the other Protestant countries, was brought to the state in which it +now remains, and in which it is desirable that it should continue to +remain. For this psalmody we are indebted to the Reformers of Germany, +especially Luther, who was himself an enthusiastic lover of music, and is +believed to have composed some of the finest tunes, particularly the +Hundredth Psalm, and the hymn on the Last Judgment, which Braham sings +with such tremendous power at our great performances of sacred music. Our +psalm-tunes, consisting of prolonged and simple sounds, are admirably +adapted for being sung by great congregations; and as the effect of this +kind of music is much increased by its venerable antiquity, it would be +very unfortunate should it yield to the influence of innovation: for this +reason, it is much to be desired that organists and directors of choirs +should confine themselves to the established old tunes, instead of +displacing them by modern compositions. +</p> +<p> +Towards the end of the sixteenth, and beginning of the seventeenth, +century, shone that constellation of English musicians, whose inimitable +madrigals are still, and long will be, the delight of every lover of vocal +harmony. It is to Italy, however, that we are indebted for this species of +composition. The madrigal is a piece of vocal music adapted to words of an +amorous or cheerful cast, composed for four, five, or six voices, and +intended for performance in convivial parties or private musical societies. +It is full of ingenious and elaborate contrivances; but, in the happier +specimens, contains likewise agreeable and expressive melody. At the +period of which we now speak, vocal harmony was so generally cultivated, +that, in social parties, the madrigal books were generally laid on the +table, and every one was expected to take the part allotted to him. Any +person who made the avowal of not being able to sing a part at sight was +looked upon as unacquainted with the usages of good society—like a +gentleman who now-a-days says he cannot play a game at whist, or a lady +that she cannot join in a quadrille or a mazurka. The Italian madrigals of +Luca Marenzio and others are still in request: and among the English +madrigalists we may mention Wilbye, author of "Flora gave me fairest +flowers;" Morley, whose "Now is the month of Maying" is so modern in its +air, that it is introduced as the finale of one of our most popular operas, +the Duenna; and Michael Este, the composer of the beautiful trio, "How +merrily we live that Shepherds be." This music retains all its original +freshness, and has been listened to, age after age, with unabated pleasure. +</p> +<p> +The glee, which is a simpler and less elaborate form of the madrigal,—and +that amusing <i>jeu d'esprit</i> so well known by the name of Catch, made their +appearance about the end of the sixteenth century. The first collection of +catches that made its appearance in England is dated in +1609.—<i>Metropolitan</i>. +</p> + +<hr /> +<h3>BENEDICTION ON CHILDREN.</h3> +<h4>IMPROMPTU.</h4> +<h4><i>By Thomas Campbell, Esq</i>.</h4> + +<div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Imps, that hold your daily revels</p> + <p class="i2">Round the windows of my bower</p> + <p>Would that Hell's ten thousand devils</p> + <p class="i2">Had you in their clutch this hour!</p> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Screaming, yelling, little nasties,</p> + <p class="i2">Would that Ogres down their maw</p> + <p>Had you cramm'd in Christmas pasties,</p> + <p class="i2">That would make ye hold your jaw.</p> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Saucy imps, stew'd down to jelly,</p> + <p class="i2">Ye would make a sauce most rare;</p> + <p>Or with pudding in each belly,</p> + <p class="i2">Rival roasted pig or hare.</p> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Sweeter than the fish of these is,</p> + <p class="i2">Would be yours, young human <i>bores</i>;</p> + <p>All with apples at your noses,</p> + <p class="i2">Would I saw you dish'd by scores!</p> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Herod slaughter'd harmless sucklings,</p> + <p class="i2">Not with tongues like yours to vex;</p> + <p>Were he here, ye Devil's ducklings,</p> + <p class="i2">I would bid him wring your necks.</p> + </div> +</div> +<p> +<i>Metropolitan</i>. +</p> + +<hr /> +<h3>DRAMATIC CHARACTER OF THE CATHOLIC RELIGION.</h3> + +<p> +The religion of the south of Europe is still essentially dramatic; and it +may be questioned how far this adaptation to the genius of the people has +tended to perpetuate the influence, not only of the Roman Catholic, but +also of the Greek church. Even in the pulpit, not merely does the earnest +preacher, by vehement gesticulation, by the utmost variety of pause and +intonation, <i>act</i>, as far as possible, the scenes which he describes; but +the crucifix, if the expression may be permitted, plays the principal part; +the Saviour is held forth to the multitude in the living and visible +emblem of his sufferings. The ceremonies of the Holy Week in Rome are a +most solemn, and to most minds, affecting religious drama. The oratorios, +as with us, are in general on scriptural subjects; and +<span class="pagenum"> + <a id="page190" + name="page190"> + </a>[pg 190] +</span> + operas on themes of +equal sanctity are listened to without the least feeling of profanation. +Nor are the more audacious exhibitions of the dark ages by any means +exploded. Every traveller on the continent who has much curiosity, must +have witnessed, whether with devout indignation or mere astonishment, the +strange manner in which scriptural subjects are still represented by +marionnettes, by tableax parlans, or even performed by regular actors. In +the unphilosophized parts of modern Europe, these scenes are witnessed by +the populace, not merely with respect, but with profound interest; and if +they tend to perpetuate superstition, must be acknowledged likewise to +keep alive religious sentiment. But if this be the case in the nineteenth +century, how powerfully must such exhibitions have operated on the general +mind in the dark ages! The alternative lay between total ignorance and +this mode of communicating the truth. For the general mass of the clergy +were then as ignorant as the laity; and as the wild work, which in these +sacred dramas is sometimes made of the scripture history, may be supposed +to have embodied the knowledge of a whole fraternity, we may not unfairly +conjecture the kind of instruction to be obtained from each individual. +The state of language in Europe must have greatly contributed to the +adoption of public instruction, by means of dramatic representation. The +services of the church were in Latin, now become a dead language. This +<i>originated</i>, perhaps, rather in sincere reverence, and the dread of +profaning the sacred mysteries by transferring them into the vulgar tongue, +than in any systematic design of keeping the people in the dark; for, from +the gradual extinction of the Latin, as the vernacular idiom, and the +gradual growth of the modern languages, there was no marked period in +which the change might appear to be called for, until the question became +involved with weightier matters of controversy. The confusion of tongues, +almost throughout Europe, before the great predominant languages were +formed out of the conflicting dialects, must greatly have impeded the +preaching the Gospel, for which, in other respects, only a very small part +of the clergy were qualified. Though, in these times, most extraordinary +effects are attributed to the eloquence of certain preachers, for instance, +Fra. Giovanni di Vicenza, yet many of the itinerant friars, the first, we +believe, who addressed the people with great activity in the vulgar tongue, +must have been much circumscribed by the limits of their own patois. +<a id="footnotetag5" + name="footnotetag5"></a><sup> + <a href="#footnote5">5</a> +</sup> +But the spectacle of the dramatic exhibitions everywhere spoke a common +language; and the dialogue, which, in parts of the Chester mysteries, is a +kind of Anglicized French, and which, even if translated into the native +tongue, was constantly interspersed with Latin, and therefore, but darkly +and imperfectly understood, was greatly assisted by the perpetual +interpretation which was presented before the eyes. The vulgar were thus +imperceptibly wrought up to profound feelings of reverence for the purity +of the Virgin; the unexampled sufferings of the Redeemer; the miraculous +powers of the apostles, and the constancy of the martyrs; we must add, +(for after all it was a strange Christianity, though in every respect the +Christianity of the age,) with the most savage detestation at the cruelty +of Herod or Pilate, and the treachery of Judas; and the most revolting +horror, at the hideous appearance, and blasphemous language of the Prince +of Darkness, who almost always played a principal part in these scriptural +dramas.—<i>Quarterly Review.</i> +</p> + +<hr class="full" /> +<h2>SPIRIT OF DISCOVERY.</h2> +<hr /> +<h3>BIRMINGHAM RAILWAY.</h3> +<p> +The line of the proposed plan for this useful and excellent undertaking +has been forwarded to us. We know not whether the projectors are aware +that a straight line is no longer necessary, but that the sharpest turns +may now be made on rail-roads by an American invention, lately carried +into effect in the United States with singular success.—The line of +railway will be 112-1/2 miles. Birmingham being between 3 and 400 feet +higher than London, and the intervening ground much broken, the railway +could not be laid down without an inclination in its planes; the rise, +however, will in no case exceed 1 in 330. The highest point of the line is +on the summit of an inclined plane 15 miles long, rising 13-1/3 feet in +each mile, and is 315 feet above the level at Maiden Lane, London; from +which it is distant 31 miles. The termination at Birmingham is 256 feet +higher than the commencement at London. It is intended that there should +be 10 tunnels—one at Primrose Hill half a mile long, one near +<span class="pagenum"> + <a id="page191" + name="page191"> + </a>[pg 191] +</span> + Watford a +mile long, and one near Kilsby, 78 miles from London, a mile and a quarter +long. The others are each less than a quarter of a mile in length, with +the exception of one, which is a third of a mile long. They will all be 25 +feet in height, well lighted, and ought rather to be called galleries than +tunnels. The strata through which the railway is carried, appear generally +to follow in this order from London: +</p> +<pre> Miles. + London clay and plastic clay 15-1/2 + Chalk and chalk flints 18-1/2 + Chalk, marl, weald clay, iron sand, + and Oxford clay or clunch clay 20 + Great and inferior oolite limestones, + and sandy beds 18 + Lias marls, lias limestone or water + lime and shale beds 16 + Red marl and new red sandstone 24-1/2 + ———- + 112-1/2 +</pre> +<p> +The railway will be composed of two lines of rails with a space between +them of six feet, but at particular points two additional lines will be +required as turns-out to facilitate the passage of the locomotive engines +and carriages. If we assume the average rate of travelling on the railway +to be 20 miles an hour, (which is about the mark,) that 1,200 persons pass +along it in a day, and 120 are conveyed in each train of carriages, then +only ten trains of carriages would be required for all the passengers; +each train would separately take a minute and a half, and the ten trains +not more than fifteen minutes in passing over half a mile of ground. Allow +twice this time for the passage of cattle and merchandise, and it is +manifest that the traffic on railways can never be a source of annoyance +to persons residing near them. All who have travelled in carriages drawn +by locomotive steam-engines on the Liverpool and Manchester railway can +vouch for the safety and comfort, as well as the expedition, of this mode +of conveyance; but the strongest evidence of public opinion on this +subject is the fact, that twice as many persons go by the railway, as were +formerly carried in coaches running on the roads between the two +places—and yet, although the expense of travelling is reduced one-half, +and the works of the railway cost more than 800,000<i>l</i>., the proprietors +are in the receipt of a dividend of 9<i>l</i>. for a year on their 100<i>l</i>. +shares! Enough has been ascertained of the traffic in the districts +through which the London and Birmingham Railway will pass, to remove all +doubt as to an ample return for the necessary outlay.—<i>Metropolitan</i>. +</p> +<hr class="full" /> +<h2>THE GATHERER.</h2> + + +<p> +<i>A Dancing Archbishop</i>.—Dr. King, Archbishop of Dublin, having invited +several persons of distinction to dine with him, had, amongst a great +variety of dishes, a fine leg of mutton and caper sauce; but the doctor, +who was not fond of butter, and remarkable for preferring a trencher to a +plate, had some of the abovementioned pickle introduced dry for his use; +which, as he was mincing, he called aloud to the company to observe him; +"I here present you, my lords and gentlemen," said he, "with a sight that +may henceforward serve you to talk of as something curious, namely, that +you saw an Archbishop of Dublin, at fourscore and seven years of age, cut +capers upon a trencher." +</p> +<p> +T.H. +</p> + +<hr /> + + +<p> +<i>Singular Parish</i>.—In the parish of East Twyford, near Harrow, in the +county of Middlesex, there is only one house, and the farmer who occupies +it is perpetual churchwarden of a church which has no incumbent, and in +which no duty is performed. The parish has been in this state ever since +the time of Queen Elizabeth. +</p> +<p> +H.S.S. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<p> +<i>Scandal</i>.—It is as well not to trust to one's gratitude <i>after</i> dinner. +I have heard many a host libelled by his guests, with his Burgundy yet +reeking on their rascally lips.—<i>Lord Byron</i>. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<p> +A lady with a well plumed head dress, being in deep conversation with a +naval officer, one of the company said, "it was strange to see so fine a +woman <i>tar'd</i> and feathered." +</p> + +<hr /> + +<p> +<i>A Scolding Wife</i>.—Dr. Casin having heard the famous Thomas Fuller repeat +some verses on a scolding wife, was so delighted with them, as to request +a copy. "There is no necessity for that," said Fuller, "as you have got +the original." +</p> + +<hr /> + +<p> +<i>Bouts Rimés</i> are words or syllables which rhyme, arranged in a particular +order, and are given to a poet with a subject, on which he must write +verses ending in the same rhymes, disposed in the same order. Menage gives +the following account of the origin of this ridiculous conceit. Dulot, (a +poet of the 17th century,) was one day complaining in a large company, +that 300 sonnets had been stolen from him. One of the company expressing +his astonishment at the number, "Oh," said he, "they are blank sonnets, or +rhymes (<i>bouts rimés</i>) of all the sonnets I may have occasion to write." +This ludicrous story produced +<span class="pagenum"> + <a id="page192" + name="page192"> + </a>[pg 192] +</span> + such an effect, that it became a fashionable +amusement to compose blank sonnets, and in 1648, a quarto volume of <i>bouts +rimés</i> was published. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<p> +<i>Poisoned Arrows</i> used in Guiana are not shot from a bow, but blown +through a tube. They are made of the hard substance of the cokarito tree, +and are about a foot long, and the size of a knitting-needle. One end is +sharply pointed, and dipped in the poison of worraia, the other is +adjusted to the cavity of the reed, from which it is to be blown by a roll +of cotton. The reed is several feet in length. A single breath carries the +arrow 30 or 40 yards. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<p> +<i>Sterling Applause</i>.—Lord Bolingbroke was so pleased with Barton Booth's +performance of <i>Cato</i>, at Drury Lane Theatre, in 1712, that he presented +the actor with fifty guineas from the stage-box—an example which was +immediately followed by Bolingbroke's political opponents. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<p> +<i>Claret</i> has been accused of producing the gout, but without reason. +Persons who drench themselves with Madeira, Port, &c. and indulge in an +occasional debauch of Claret, may indeed be visited in that way; because a +transition from the strong brandied wines to the lighter, is always +followed by a derangement of the digestive organs. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<p> +<i>Quarantine in America</i>.—Dr. Richard Bayley is the person to whom New +York is chiefly indebted for its quarantine laws. His death was, however, +by contagion. In August, 1801, Doctor Bayley, in the discharge of his duty +as health physician, enjoined the passengers and crew of an Irish emigrant +ship, afflicted with the ship fever, to go on shore to the rooms and tents +appointed for them, leaving their luggage behind. The next morning, on +going to the hospital, he found that both crew and passengers, well, sick, +and dying, were huddled together in one apartment, where they had passed +the night. He inconsiderately entered this room before it had been +properly ventilated, but remained scarcely a moment, being obliged to +retire by a deadly sickness at the stomach, and violent pain in the head, +with which he was suddenly seized. He returned home, retired to bed, and +in the afternoon of the seventh day following, he expired. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<p> +<i>Shaving</i> is said to have come into use during the reigns of Louis XIII. +and XIV. of France, both of whom ascended the throne without a beard. +Courtiers and citizens then began to shave, in order to look like the king, +and, as France soon took the lead in all matters of fashion on the +continent, shaving became general. It is at best a tedious operation. +Seume, a German author, says, in his journal, "To-day I threw my powder +apparatus out of the window, when will come the blessed day that I shall +send the shaving apparatus after it." +</p> + +<hr /> + +<p> +<i>Book Morality</i>.—Dr. Beddoes wrote a history of Isaac Jenkins, which was +intended to impress useful moral lessons on the labouring classes in an +attractive manner. Above 40,000 copies of this work were sold in a short +time. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<p> +<i>The Bedford Missal</i> throws even the costly scrap-books of these times +into the shade. It was made for the celebrated John, Duke of Bedford, (one +of the younger sons of Henry IV.) and contains 59 large, and more than +1,000 small miniature paintings. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<p> +<i>The Bedford Level</i> was drained at an expense of £400,000. by the noble +family of Russell, Earls and Dukes of Bedford, and others; by which means +100,000 acres of good land have been brought into use. +</p> + +<hr class="full" /> + +<h3>POPULAR SCIENCE.</h3> + +<h4>With many Engravings, price 5s.</h4> + +<h3>ARCANA OF SCIENCE</h3> + +<p> +And Annual Register of the Useful Arts for 1832. Abridged from the +Transactions of Public Societies, and Scientific Journals, British and +Foreign, for the past year. This volume will contain all the Important +Facts in the year 1831—in the Mechanic Arts, Chemical Science, Zoology, +Botany, Mineralogy, Geology, Meteorology, Rural Economy, Gardening, +Domestic Economy, Useful and Elegant Arts, Miscellaneous Scientific +Information. +</p> +<p> +"It is with great pleasure that we find the success of the former volumes +of this valuable record of whatever is new in science or interesting in +art, such as to encourage its publisher to make fresh exertions for public +favour, in the compilation of the year passed. Such a work is exceedingly +valuable, and may be considered in the light of a Cyclopaedia, to which +the most eminent of their time for talent and attainments are constantly +contributing."—<i>New Monthly Magazine. March</i>, 1832. +</p> +<p> +"As heretofore, a very useful record of the improvements and novelties of +the year."—<i>Literary Gazette</i>. +</p> +<p> +"The Arcana of Science and Art contains a vast deal of information of an +useful kind."—<i>Athenaeum</i>. +</p> +<p> +Printed for JOHN LIMBIRD, 143, Strand; of whom may be had volumes (upon +the same plan) for 1828, price 4s. 6d, 1829—30—31, price 5s. each. +</p> + +<hr class="full" /> + +<blockquote class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote1" + name="footnote1"> + </a><b>Footnote 1</b>: + <a href="#footnotetag1"> + (return) + </a><p> + For Views of Windsor Castle, with the late renovations, see the + following Numbers of the <i>Mirror</i>:</p> + + <p> + No. 292, George the Fourth's Gateway, South and East Sides. + </p> + + <p> + Long Gallery. + </p> + <p> + No. 437, Bedchamber in which George IV. died. + </p> + <p> + No. 444, Private Dining Room. + </p> + <p> + No. 486, George IV. Gateway, from the interior of the Quadrangle. + </p> + <p> + No. 488, St. George's Chapel. + </p> +</blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote2" name="footnote2"> + </a><b>Footnote 2</b>: + <a href="#footnotetag2"> + (return) + </a> + United Service Journal, Jan. 1832. +</blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote3" name="footnote3"> + </a><b>Footnote 3</b>: + <a href="#footnotetag3"> + (return) + </a> + This disadvantage is greater on the stage, since the audience neither + see nor hear more of Bourbon, and only four acts of the piece are + performed. In the closet it will not be so obvious, as Bourbon + returns in the fifth act. +</blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote4" name="footnote4"> + </a><b>Footnote 4</b>: + <a href="#footnotetag4"> + (return) + </a> + This is an entire variation from history. +</blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote5" name="footnote5"> + </a><b>Footnote 5</b>: + <a href="#footnotetag5"> + (return) + </a> + It is related in the life of St. Bernard, that his pale and emaciated + appearance, and the animation and the fire, which seemed to kindle his + whole being as he spoke, made so deep an impression on those who could + only see him and hear his voice, that Germans, who understand not a + word of his language, were often moved to tears.—<i>Neander, Der + Heilige Bernard</i>, p. 49. +</blockquote> +<hr class="full" /> +<p> +<i>Printed and Published by J. LIMBIRD, 143, Strand, (near Somerset House,) +London; sold by ERNEST FLEISCHER, 626, New Market, Leipsic; C.G. BENNIS, +55, Rue Neuve, St. Augustin, Paris; and by all Newsmen and Booksellers.</i> +</p> +<hr class="full" /> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, +and Instruction, by Various + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MIRROR OF LITERATURE *** + +***** This file should be named 11741-h.htm or 11741-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/1/7/4/11741/ + +Produced by Jonathan Ingram, Allen Siddle and PG Distributed Proofreaders + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction + Volume 19. Issue 539 - 24 Mar 1832 + +Author: Various + +Release Date: March 28, 2004 [EBook #11741] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MIRROR OF LITERATURE *** + + + + +Produced by Jonathan Ingram, Allen Siddle and PG Distributed Proofreaders + + + + + + + + +THE MIRROR OF LITERATURE, AMUSEMENT, AND INSTRUCTION. + +VOL. XIX. NO. 539.] SATURDAY, MARCH 24, 1832. [PRICE 2_d_. + + + + * * * * * + + + +[Illustration: WINDSOR CASTLE, (N.E.)] + +WINDSOR CASTLE, (N.E.) + +Our sketchy tour of Windsor Castle has hitherto been told in visits far +between, perhaps, if not few, for the interesting character of the whole +fabric.[1] + +The present Cut includes the North-east view, a picturesque if not +important point. The reader will remember, if he has not enjoyed, the +splendid terrace on the north; this is now continued on the eastern side. +The fine tower at the eastern end of the north terrace, (at the angle,) is +_Brunswick Tower_, with a projecting bastion in its front containing the +apparatus for heating the orangery, with rooms for the attendants; it is +octagon shaped, and has a most commanding appearance, the height being 120 +feet above the level of the terrace. + +A staircase turret communicates with the apartments, the principal one +being appropriated as a private dining-room by the late King, while the +larger apartments on the east front were reserved for splendid +entertainments. In a central position between the state dining-room and +St. George's Hall is a music saloon, in which is placed a fine-toned organ. +A communication has been effected between Brunswick Tower and the state +apartments by a corridor terminating at the King's Guard Chamber, where a +new tower, named after George the Third, has been erected: the principal +window is extremely large, and divided by Gothic tracery into several +compartments, producing a noble and cathedral-like appearance. + +Beneath the Castle, in the Engraving, are seen the wooded slopes of the +Little Park, the "green retreats" of Pope, where + + ----Waving groves a checker'd scene display + And part admit, and part exclude the day. + +*** The friendly suggestion of our Correspondent, G.C. (Windsor Castle) +shall be considered. + + +[1] For Views of Windsor Castle, with the late renovations, see the + following Numbers of the _Mirror_: + + No. 292, George the Fourth's Gateway, South and East Sides. + + Long Gallery. + + No. 437, Bedchamber in which George IV. died. + + No. 444, Private Dining Room. + + No. 486, George IV. Gateway, from the interior of the Quadrangle. + + No. 488, St. George's Chapel. + + * * * * * + + +THE MARCH OF MIND. + +(_To the Editor_.) + +It is generally supposed that the extensive search after, and diffusion of, +knowledge, is in a great measure peculiar to these present times. It seems +therefore to me a very curious thing to find a learned man and an +accomplished courtier protesting against book-learning as an evil, so far +back as the year 1646, and a curious thing he himself appears to have +thought it, introducing his opinion as a "paradox" until he explains. In +this explanation we find the same opinion that is now strenuously insisted +on by Mr. Cobbett, namely, that a man who properly understands his own +business or employment, though he have nothing of literature, is by no +means to be accounted ignorant. + +The letters of James Howell, Esq. are well known as fluent examples of the +best style of writing of his day, and as repositories of many curious +facts and intelligent remarks. The following letter appears to be +addressed to Lord Dorchester-- + +"My Lord,--The subject of this letter may, peradventure, seem a paradox to +some, but not, I know, to your Lordship, when you are pleased to weigh +well the reasons. Learning is a thing that hath been much cried up, and +coveted in all ages, especially in this last century of years, by people +of all sorts, though never so mean and mechanical; every man strains his +fortune to keep his children at school; the cobbler will clout it till +midnight, the porter will carry burdens till his bones crack again, the +ploughman will pinch both back and belly to give his son _learning_, and I +find that this ambition reigns no where so much as in this island. But, +under favour, this word, _learning_, is taken in a narrower sense among us +than among other nations: we seem to restrain it only to the _book_, +whereas, indeed, any artisan whatsoever (if he knew the secret and mystery +of his trade) may be called a learned man: a good mason; a good shoemaker, +that can manage St. Crispin's lance handsomely; a skilful yeoman; a good +ship-wright, &c. may be all called learned men, and indeed the usefullest +sort of learned men. + +"The extravagant humour of our country is not to be altogether +commended--that all men should aspire to book-learning; there is not a +simpler animal, and a more superfluous member of a state than a mere +scholar, a self-pleasing student. Archimedes, though an excellent +engineer, when Syracuse was lost, was found in his study, intoxicated with +speculations; and another great, learned philosopher, like a fool or +frantic, when being in a bath, he leaped out naked among the people, and +cried, 'I have found it, I have found it,' having hit then upon an +extraordinary conclusion in geometry. There is a famous tale of Thomas +Aquinas, the angelical doctor, and of Bonadventure, the seraphical doctor, +of whom Alexander Hales, our countryman, reports, that these great clerks +were invited to dinner by the French King, on purpose to observe their +humours, and being brought to the room where the table was laid, the first +fell to eating of bread as hard as he could drive, at last, breaking out +of a brown study, he cried out '_Conclusum est contra Manichaeos;_' the +other fell a gazing upon the Queen, and the King asking him how he liked +her, he answered, 'Oh, sir, if an earthly Queen be so beautiful, what +shall we think of the Queen of Heaven?' The latter was the better courtier +of the two. + +"My Lord, I know none in this age more capable to sit in the chair, and +censure what is true learning, and what _not_, than yourself; therefore, +in speaking of this subject to your Lordship, I fear to have committed the +same error as Phormio did, in discoursing of war before Hannibal. + +"My Lord, your most humble, &c. + +"JAMES HOWELL." + + * * * * * + + +ILLUMINATED PSALTER. + +(_For the Mirror_.) + +There is an illuminated Psalter preserved amongst the MSS. in the British +Museum, 2. A. 16., written by John Mallard, Chaplain to Henry VIII., +wherein are several notes in that king's hand writing, some in pencil +prefixed to Psalm liii. ("_Dixit incipiens_.") According to a very ancient +custom are the figures of King David and a fool, in this instance +evidently the portraits of Henry and his jester, Will Somers. + +S. K. + + * * * * * + + +ANCIENT VALENTINES. + +(_For the Mirror_.) + +The earliest poetical Valentines remaining, are those preserved in the +works of Charles Duke of Orleans, father to Louis XII. of France. He was +taken prisoner at the battle of Agincourt, and remained in England +twenty-five years, and called his mistress his _Valentine_. In the royal +library of MSS. now in the British Museum, there is a magnificent volume +containing his writings whilst in England; it belonged to Henry VIII. for +whom it was copied from older MSS. It is illuminated: one painting +represents the duke in the White Tower, at a writing table. This MSS. also +contain some of the compositions of Eloisa. + +S.K. + + * * * * * + + + +THE COSMOPOLITE. + + +SUPERSTITIONS, FABLES, &C. RELATIVE TO ANIMALS. + +(_Continued from page_ 171.) + +The fore-foot of a _Hare_ worn constantly in the pocket, is esteemed by +certain worthy old dames as a sure preventive of rheumatic disorders. + +The _Lynx_ was believed by the ancients, from the acuteness of its sight, +to have the power of seeing through stone walls; and amongst other +absurdities then gravely maintained were these: that the _Elephant_ had no +joints, and being unable to lie down, was obliged to sleep leaning against +a tree; that _Deer_ lived several hundred years; that the _Badger_ had the +legs of one side shorter than those of the other; that the _Chameleon_ +lived entirely on air, and the _Salamander_ in fire; whilst the sphynx, +satyr, unicorn, centaur, hypogriff, hydra, dragon, griffin, cockatrice, &c. +&c. &c. were either the creations of fancy, or fabled accounts of +creatures of whose real form, origin, nature, and qualities, but the most +imperfect knowledge was afloat. + +The flesh of the _Rhinoceros_, and almost every part of its body, is +reckoned by the ignorant natives of countries where it is found, an +antidote against poison. + +That the _Jackal_ is the "Lion's Provider," entirely, is an erroneous idea; +but it is true that the terrific cry of this animal when in chase, rouses +the lion, whose ear is dull, and enables him to join in the pursuit of +prey. Many stories are told respecting the generosity of the _Lion_, and +it was once confidently believed that no stress of hunger would induce him +to devour a virgin, though his imperial appetite might satiate itself on +men and matrons. The title of King of the Beasts, given at a period when +strength and ferocity were deemed the prime qualities of man--is now more +justly considered to belong to the mild, majestic, and almost rational +elephant. The _White Elephant_ is a sacred animal with the Siamese, and +the cow with the Bramins and Hindoos. + +The _Bear_ was believed never to devour a man whom it found dead; and it +was imagined to lick its cubs into proper shape: hence the expression +"unlicked cub," applied to a raw, awkward, unpolished youth. The saliva of +the _Lama_, which when angry it ejects, has been erroneously supposed to +possess a corrosive quality. + +The hoof of the _Moose-deer_ was formerly in great repute for curing +epilepsies, but has now justly fallen into neglect. The Laplander, +commencing his journey, whispers into the ear of his _Rein-deer_, +believing these animals understand and will obey his oral directions. The +_Elk_ is accounted by the Indians an animal of good omen, and often to +dream of him indicates a long life. They imagine also the existence of a +gigantic elk, which walks without difficulty in eight feet of snow, has an +arm growing from its shoulder which it uses as we do, is invulnerable to +all weapons, is king of the elks and attended by a numerous herd of +courtiers. The fur of the _Glutton_ is so valued by the Kamschatdales that +they say celestial beings are clad in no other. + +It was long a popular error that the _Porcupine_, when irritated, +discharged its quills at its adversary; that these quills were poisonous, +and rendered wounds inflicted by them difficult to cure: a better +acquaintance with the natural history of this harmless animal has now +exploded these fables. Our British porcupine, the innocuous _Hedgehog_, +has long been the object of unceasing persecution, from the popular belief +that it bites and sucks the udders of cows, an absurdity sufficiently +contradicted by the smallness of its mouth. In like manner, the +_Goat-sucker_ is a persecuted bird, since, as its name implies, it has been +thought to suck the teats of goats and other animals; whereas the form of +its bill entirely precludes such an act, and it is an inoffensive bird, +living upon insects. The superstition has probably originated from its +being often found in warm climates under cattle, capturing the insects +that torment them. It is supposed, in some places, that the _Shrew-mouse_ +is of so baneful and deleterious a nature that whenever it creeps over a +beast, cow, sheep, or horse (in particular), the animal is afflicted with +cruel anguish, and threatened with a loss of the use of its limb. +A shrew-ash was the remedy for this misfortune, viz. an ash whose twigs or +branches gently applied to the affected members relieved the pain: our +provident forefathers, anticipating such an accident to their cattle, +always kept a shrew-ash at hand, which, once medicated, retained its +virtue for ever: it was thus prepared: into the body of an ash a deep hole +was bored with an auger, and a poor devoted shrew-mouse being thrust into +it, the orifice was plugged up, probably with quaint incantations now +forgotten. + +The _Toad_, owing to its hideous, disgusting appearance, has been the +subject of many superstitions: it is commonly thought to spit venom, +whilst, as yet, the question is unsettled, whether or not it be poisonous +in any respect; some affirm that a viscous humour of poisonous quality +exudes from the skin, like perspiration; whilst others pretend that +cancers may be cured by the application of living toads to them; and a man +has been known to swallow one of these abominations for a wager, taking +care, however, to follow this horrid meal by an immediate and copious +draught of oil. But the very glance of the toad has been supposed fatal; +of its entrails fancied poisonous potions have been concocted; and for +magical purposes it was believed extremely efficacious; a precious stone +was asserted to be found in its head, invaluable in medicine and magic. In +Carthagena and Portobello (America) these creatures swarm to such a degree +in wet weather that many of the inhabitants believe every drop of rain to +be converted into a toad. It is said of the Pipa, or Surinam toad, a +hideous, but probably harmless, animal, that very malignant effects are +experienced from it when calcined. + +The _Crocodile_ is feigned to weep and groan like a human being in pain +and distress, in order to excite the sympathy of man, and thus allure him +into his tremendous jaws. + +The _Lizard_, though now declared by naturalists to be perfectly harmless, +was long considered poisonous by the ignorant; and in Sweden and +Kamschatka, the green lizard is the subject of strange superstitions, and +regarded with horror. Newts, efts, swifts, snakes, and blind-worms are, +in popular credence, all venomous; and that the _Ear-wig_ most justly +derives its name from entering people's ears, and either causing deafness, +or, by penetrating to the brain, death itself, is with many considered an +indisputable fact. The Irish have a large beetle of which strange tales +are believed; they term it the _Coffin-cutter_, and it has some connexion +with the grave and purgatory, not now, unfortunately, to be recalled to +our memory. + +It is, in Germany, a popular belief, that the _Stag-beetle_ (perhaps the +same insect) carries burning coals into houses by means of its jaws, and +that it has thus occasioned many dreadful fires. (How convenient would +_Swing_ find such a superstition in England!) The _Death-watch_ +superstition is too well known to need particular notice in this paper. It +is singular that the _House-cricket_ should by some persons be considered +an unlucky, by others a lucky, inmate of the mansion: those who hold the +latter opinion consider its destruction the means of bringing misfortune +on their habitations. "In Dumfries-shire," says Sir William Jardine, "it +is a common superstition that if crickets forsake a house which they have +long inhabited, some evil will befal the family; generally the death of +some member is portended. In like manner the presence or return of this +cheerful little insect is lucky, and portends some good to the family." + +(_To be continued_.) + + * * * * * + + + +NOTES OF A READER. + + +DOMESTIC LIFE IN AMERICA. + +_Servants_. + +The following sketch of what the Americans feel on this point, from Mrs. +Trollope's _Domestic Manners of the Americans_, is clever and amusing:-- + +"The greatest difficulty in organizing a family establishment in Ohio is +getting servants, or, as it is there called, 'getting help,' for it is +more than petty treason to the republic to call a free citizen a _servant_. +The whole class of young women, whose bread depends upon their labour, are +taught to believe that the most abject poverty is preferable to domestic +service. Hundreds of half-naked girls work in the paper-mills, or in any +other manufactory, for less than half the wages they would receive in +service: but they think their equality is compromised by the latter, and +nothing but the wish to obtain some particular article of finery will ever +induce them to submit to it. A kind friend, however, exerted herself so +effectually for me, that a tall stately lass soon presented herself, +saying, 'I be come to help you.' The intelligence was very agreeable, and +I welcomed her in the most gracious manner possible, and asked what I +should give her by the year. 'Oh Gimini!' exclaimed the damsel, with a +loud laugh, 'you be a downright Englisher, sure enough. I should like to +see a young lady engage by the year in America! I hope I shall get a +husband before many months, or I expect I shall be an outright old maid, +for I be most seventeen already; besides, mayhap I may want to go to +school. You must just give me a dollar and a half a week; and mother's +slave, Phillis, must come over once a week, I expect, from t'other side +the water, to help me clean.' I agreed to the bargain, of course, with all +dutiful submission; and seeing she was preparing to set to work in a +yellow dress parseme with red roses, I gently hinted, that I thought it +was a pity to spoil so fine a gown, and that she had better change it. +''Tis just my best and worst,' she answered, 'for I've got no other.' And +in truth I found that this young lady had left the paternal mansion with +no more clothes of any kind than what she had on. I immediately gave her +money to purchase what was necessary for cleanliness and decency, and set +to work with my daughters to make her a gown. She grinned applause when +our labour was completed, but never uttered the slightest expression of +gratitude for that or for anything else we could do for her. She was +constantly asking us to lend her different articles of dress, and when we +declined it, she said, 'Well, I never seed such grumpy folks as you be; +there is several young ladies of my acquaintance what goes to live out now +and then with the old women about the town, and they and their gurls +always lends them what they asks for; I guess, you Inglish thinks we +should poison your things, just as bad as if we was negurs.' And here I +beg to assure the reader, that whenever I give conversations, they were +not made _a loisir_, but were written down immediately after they occurred, +with all the verbal fidelity my memory permitted." + +"This young lady left me at the end of two months, because I refused to +lend her money enough to buy a silk dress to go to a ball, saying, 'Then +it is not worth my while to stay any longer.' I cannot imagine it possible +that such a state of things can be desirable or beneficial to any of the +parties concerned. I might occupy a hundred pages on the subject, and yet +fail to give an adequate idea of the sore, angry, ever-wakeful pride that +seemed to torment these poor wretches. In many of them it was so excessive, +that all feeling of displeasure, or even of ridicule, was lost in pity. +One of these was a pretty girl, whose natural disposition must have been +gentle and kind; but her good feelings were soured, and her gentleness +turned into morbid sensitiveness, by having heard a thousand and a +thousand times that she was as good as any other lady, that all men were +equal, and women too, and that it was a sin and a shame for a free-born +American to be treated like a servant. When she found she was to dine in +the kitchen, she turned up her pretty lip, and said, 'I guess that's +'cause you don't think I'm good enough to eat with you. You'll find that +won't do here.' I found afterwards that she rarely ate any dinner at all, +and generally passed the time in tears. I did everything in my power to +conciliate and make her happy, but I am sure she hated me. I gave her very +high wages, and she stayed till she had obtained several expensive +articles of dress, and then, _un beau matin_, she came to me full dressed, +and said, 'I must go.' 'When shall you return, Charlotte?' 'I expect you +will see no more of me.' And so we parted. Her sister was also living with +me, but her wardrobe was not yet completed, and she remained some weeks +longer till it was." + +"Such being the difficulties respecting domestic arrangements," adds our +author, "it is obvious, that the ladies who are brought up amongst them +cannot have leisure for any developement of the mind: it is, in fact, out +of the question; and, remembering this, it is more surprising that some +among them should be very pleasing, than that none should be highly +instructed. But, whatever may be the talents of the persons who meet +together in society, the very shape, form, and arrangement of the meeting +is sufficient to paralyze conversation. The women invariably herd together +at one part of the room, and the men at the other; but, in justice to +Cincinnati, I must acknowledge that this arrangement is by no means +peculiar to that city, or to the western side of the Alleghanies. +Sometimes a small attempt at music produces a partial reunion; a few of +the most daring youths animated by the consciousness of curled hair and +smart waistcoats, approach the piano-forte, and begin to mutter a little +to the half-grown pretty things, who are comparing with one another 'how +many quarters' music they have had.' Where the mansion is of sufficient +dignity to have two drawing-rooms, the piano, the little ladies, and the +slender gentlemen are left to themselves; and on such occasions the sound +of laughter is often heard to issue from among them. But the fate of the +more dignified personages, who are left in the other room, is extremely +dismal. The gentlemen spit, talk of elections and the price of produce, +and spit again. The ladies look at each other's dresses till they know +every pin by heart; talk of Parson Somebody's last sermon on the day of +judgment, or Dr. T'otherbody's new pills for dyspepsia, till the 'tea' is +announced, when they all console themselves together for whatever they may +have suffered in keeping awake, by taking more tea, coffee, hot cake and +custard, hoe cake, johny cake, waffle cake, and dodger cake, pickled +peaches, and preserved cucumbers, ham, turkey, hung beef, apple sauce, and +pickled oysters, than ever were prepared in any other country of the known +world. After this massive meal is over, they return to the drawing-room, +and it always appeared to me that they remained together as long as they +could bear it, and then they rise _en masse_--cloak, bonnet, shawl, and +exit." + +_Conversation of an American Woman._ + +"'Well now, so you be from the old country? Ay--you'll see sights here I +guess.' 'I hope I shall see many.' 'That's a fact.--Why they do say, +that if a poor body contrives to be smart enough to scrape together a few +dollars, that your King George always comes down upon 'em, and takes it +all away. Don't he?' 'I do not remember hearing of such a transaction.' 'I +guess they be pretty close about it.' 'Your papers ben't like ourn, I +reckon? Now we says and prints just what we likes.' 'You spend a good deal +of time in reading the newspapers.' 'And I'd like you to tell me how we +can spend it better. How should freemen spend their time, but looking +after their government, and watching that them fellers as we gives offices +to, doos their duty, and gives themselves no airs?' 'But I sometimes think, +sir, that your fences might be in more thorough repair, and your roads in +better order, if less time was spent in politics.' 'The Lord! to see how +little you knows of a free country? Why, what's the smoothness of a road +put against the freedom of a free-born American? And what does a broken +zig-zag signify, comparable to knowing that the men what we have been +pleased to send up to Congress, speaks handsome and straight, as we +chooses they should?' 'It is from a sense of duty, then, that you all go +to the liquor store to read the papers?' 'To be sure it is, and he'd be no +true-born American as didn't. I don't say that the father of a family +should always be after liquor, but I do say that I'd rather have my son +drunk three times in a week, than not to look after the affairs of his +country,'" + +_Hogs_. + +"Immense droves of hogs were continually arriving from the country by the +road that led to most of our favourite walks; they were often fed and +lodged in the prettiest valleys, and worse still, were slaughtered beside +the prettiest streams. Another evil threatened us from the same quarter, +that was yet heavier. Our cottage had an ample piazza, (a luxury almost +universal in the country houses of America,) which, shaded by a group of +acacias, made a delightful sitting-room; from this favourite spot we one +day perceived symptoms of building in a field close to it; with much +anxiety we hastened to the spot, and asked what building was to be erected +there. ''Tis to be a slaughter-house for hogs,' was the dreadful reply. +As there were several gentlemen's houses in the neighbourhood, I asked if +such an erection might not be indicted as a nuisance. 'A what?' 'A +nuisance,' I repeated, and explained what I meant. 'No, no,' was the reply, +'that may do very well for your tyrannical country, where a rich man's +nose is more thought of than a poor man's mouth; but hogs be profitable +produce here, and we be too free for such a law as that, I guess.'" + + * * * * * + + +THE BELL ROCK LIGHT HOUSE. + +On the 9th ult., about 10 P.M., a large herring-gull struck one of the +south-eastern mullions of the Bell Rock Light House with such force, that +two of the polished plates of glass, measuring about two feet square, and +a quarter of an inch in thickness, were shivered to pieces and scattered +over the floor in a thousand atoms, to the great alarm of the keeper on +watch, and the other two inmates of the house, who rushed instantly to the +light room. It fortunately happened, that although one of the red-shaded +sides of the reflector-frame was passing in its revolution at the moment, +the pieces of broken glass were so minute, that no injury was done to the +red glass. The gull was found to measure five feet between the tips of the +wings. In his gullet was found a large herring, and in its throat a piece +of plate-glass, of about one inch in length.--(From No. I. of the +_Nautical Magazine_, a work of clever execution, great promise, and +extraordinary cheapness.) + + * * * * * + + +NO CHALK. + +It appears that the bill for the abolition of imprisonment for debt in +America "works well," as applied to New York; and the system is +consequently to be put in general force all over the Union--a fact, which, +as a poet like Mr. Watts would say, adds another leaf to America's laurel. +But the paper which announced this gratifying intelligence, relates in a +paragraph nearly subjoined to it, a circumstance in natural history that +seems to have some connexion with the affairs between debtor and creditor +in the United States. It informs us, that up to the present period of +scientific investigation, "_no chalk_ has been discovered in North +America." Now this is really a valuable bit of discovery; and we heartily +wish that the Geological Society, instead of wasting their resources on +anniversary-dinners, as they have lately been doing, would at once set +about establishing the proof of a similar absence of that article in this +country. Surely, our brethren on the other side of the Atlantic, will not +fail to take the hint which nature herself has so benificently thrown out +to them; and instead of abolishing the power of getting into prison, put +an end at once to the power of getting into debt. The scarcity of chalk +ought certainly to be numbered among the natural blessings of America. Had +the soil on that side of the ocean been as chalky as this, America might +have been visited by a comet, like Pitt, with a golden train of eight +hundred millions.--_Monthly Magazine_. + + * * * * * + + + +THE NATURALIST. + + +ANGLING. + +(_From the Angler's Museum, quoted in the Magazine of Natural History_.) + +Every one who is acquainted with the habits of fish is sensible of the +extreme acuteness of their vision, and well knows how easily they are +scared by shadows in motion, or even at rest, projected from the bank; and +often has the angler to regret the suspension of a successful fly-fishing +by the accidental passage of a person along the opposite bank of the +stream: yet, by noting the apparently trivial habits of one of nature's +anglers, not only is our difficulty obviated, but our success insured. The +heron, guided by a wonderful instinct, preys chiefly in the absence of the +sun; fishing in the dusk of the morning and evening, on cloudy days and +moonlight nights. But should the river become flooded to discoloration, +then does the "long-necked felon" fish indiscriminately in sun and shade; +and in a recorded instance of his fishing on a bright day, it is related +of him, that, like a skilful angler, he occupied the shore opposite the +sun. + + * * * * * + + +SKILFUL ANATOMISTS. + +(_For the Mirror_.) + +It may not be generally known that the tadpole acts the same part with +fish that ants do with birds; and that through the agency of this little +reptile, perfect skeletons, even of the smallest fishes may be obtained. +To produce this, it is but necessary to suspend the fish by threads +attached to the head and tail in an horizontal position, in a jar of water, +such as is found in a pond, and change it often, till the tadpoles have +finished their work. Two or three tadpoles will perfectly dissect a fish +in twenty-four hours. + +H.S.S. + + * * * * * + + +THREE ENTHUSIASTIC NATURALISTS. + +The first is a learned entomologist, who, hearing one evening at the +Linnean Society that a yellow Scarabaeus, otherwise beetle, of a very rare +kind was to be captured on the sands at Swansea, immediately took his seat +in the mail for that place, and brought back in triumph the object of his +desire. The second is Mr. David Douglas, who spent two years among the +wild Indians of the Rocky Mountains, was reduced to such extremities as +occasionally to sup upon the flaps of his saddle; and once, not having +this resource, was obliged to eat up all the seeds he had collected the +previous forty days in order to appease the cravings of nature. Not +appalled by these sufferings, he has returned again to endure similar +hardships, and all for a few simples. The third example is Mr. Drummond, +the assistant botanist to Franklin in his last hyperborean journey. In the +midst of snow, with the thermometer 15 deg. below zero, without a tent, +sheltered from the inclemency of the weather only by a hut built of the +branches of trees, and depending for subsistence from day to day on a +solitary Indian hunter, "I obtained," says this amiable and enthusiastic +botanist, "a few mosses; and, on Christmas day,"--mark, gentle reader, the +day, of all others, as if it were a reward for his devotion,--"I had the +pleasure of finding a very minute Gymnostomum, hitherto undescribed. I +remained alone for the rest of the winter, except when my man occasionally +visited me with meat; and I found the time hang very heavy, as I had no +books, and nothing could be done in the way of collecting specimens of +natural history." + +_Magazine of Natural History_ + + * * * * * + + +[Illustration: BURIAL PLACE IN TONGATABU.] + +This is another of Mr. Bennett's sketches made during his recent visit to +several of the Polynesian Islands. It represents the burial-place of the +Chiefs of Tongatabu: over this "earthly prison of their bones," we may say +with Titus Andronicus: + + In pence and honour rest you here my sons: + (The) readiest champions, repose you here, + Secure from worldly chances and mishaps: + Here lurks no treason, here no envy swells, + Here grow no damned grudges: here are no storms, + No noise, but silence and eternal sleep. + +Mr. Bennett thus describes the spot, with some interesting circumstances: + +"July 29th. I visited this morning a beautiful spot named Maofanga, at a +short distance from our anchorage; here was the burial-place of the chiefs. +The tranquillity of this secluded spot, and the drooping trees of the +casuarina equisetifolia, added to the mournful solemnity of the place. +Off this place, the Astrolabe French discovery ship lay when, some time +before, she fired on the natives. The circumstances respecting this affair, +as communicated to me, if correct, do not reflect much credit on the +commander of the vessel. They are as follow: During a gale the Astrolabe +drove on the reef, but was afterwards got off by the exertion of the +natives; some of the men deserting from the ship, the chiefs were accused +of enticing them away, and on the men not being given up the ship fired on +the village; the natives barricaded themselves on the beach by throwing up +sand heaps, and afterwards retired into the woods. The natives pointed out +the effects of the shot; on the trees, a large branch of a casuarina tree +in the sacred enclosure was shot off, several coco-nut trees were cut in +two, and the marks of several spent shots still remain on the trees: three +natives were killed in this attack. A great number of the flying-fox, or +vampire bat, hung from the casuarina trees in this enclosure, but the +natives interposed to prevent our firing at them, the place being tabued. +Mr. Turner had been witness to the interment here, not long previously, of +the wife of a chief, and allied to the royal family. The body, enveloped +in mats, was placed in a vault, in which some of her relations had been +before interred, and being covered up, several natives advanced with +baskets of sand, &c. and strewed it over the vault; others then approached +and cut themselves on the head with hatchets, wailing and showing other +demonstrations of grief. Small houses are erected over the vaults. All the +burial-places are either fenced round or surrounded by a low wall of coral +stones, and have a very clean, neat, and regular appearance. + +"I observed that nearly the whole of the natives whom I had seen, were +deficient in the joints of the little finger of the left hand, and some of +both; some of the first joint only, others two, and many the whole of both +fingers. On inquiry, I found that a joint is chopped off on any occasion +of the illness or death of a relation or chief, as a propitiatory offering +to the Spirit. There is a curious analogy between this custom and one +related by Mr. Burchell as existing among the Bushmen tribe in Southern +Africa, and performed for similar superstitious reasons to express grief +for the loss of relations. + +"Near this place was the Hufanga, or place of refuge, in which a person in +danger of being put to death is in safety as long as he remains there; on +looking in the enclosure, it was only a place gravelled over, in which was +a small house and some trees planted."[1] + + +[1] United Service Journal, Jan. 1832. + + * * * * * + + + +THE SELECTOR; AND LITERARY NOTICES OF _NEW WORKS_. + + +FRANCIS THE FIRST. + +_An Historical Drama. By Frances Ann Kemble_. + +This extraordinary production has awakened an interest in the dramatic and +literary world, scarcely equalled in our times. We know of its fortune +upon the stage by report only; but, from our acquaintance with the +requisites of the acting drama, we should conceive its permanence will be +more problematical in the theatre than in the closet; and considering the +conditions upon which dramatic fame is now attainable, we think the clever +authoress will not have reason to regret these inequalities of success. +That Miss Kemble's tragedy possesses points to be made, and passages that +will _tell_ on the stage, cannot be denied; but its interest for +representation requires to be concentrated; it "wants a hero, an uncommon +thing." It is well observed in the _Quarterly Review_, (by the way, the +only notice yet taken of the tragedy, that merits attention,) that "the +piece is crowded with characters of the greatest variety, all of +considerable importance in the piece, engaged in the most striking +situations, and contributing essentially to the main design. Instead of +that simple unity of interest, from which modern tragic writers have +rarely ventured to depart, it takes the wider range of that historic unity, +which is the characteristic of our elder drama; moulds together, and +connects by some common agent employed in both, incidents which have no +necessary connexion; and--what in the present tragedy strikes us as on +many accounts especially noticeable--unites by a fine though less +perceptible moral link, remote but highly tragic events with the immediate, +if we may so speak, the domestic interests of the play." This language is +finely characteristic of the drama. Again, the interest has "so much +Shakspearianism in the conception as to afford a remarkable indication of +the noble school in which the young authoress has studied, and the high +models which, with courage, in the present day, fairly to be called +originality, she has dared to set before her. In fact, Francis the First +is cast entirely in the mould of one of Shakspeare's historical tragedies." +The drama too was written without any view to its representation, as the +_Quarterly_ reviewer has been "informed by persons who long ago perused +the manuscript, several years before Miss Kemble appeared upon the stage, +and at a time when she little anticipated the probability that she herself +might be called upon to impersonate the conceptions of her own imagination. +We believe that we are quite safe when we state that the drama, in its +present form, was written when the authoress was not more than seventeen." +Yet it should be added that the above statement is not made by way of +extenuation; for, to say the truth, it needs no such adventitious aid. + +A mere outline of the story will convince the reader that, as the Reviewer +states, "the tragedy is alive from the beginning to the end;" and our +extracts will we trust show the language to be bold and vigorous; the +imagery sweetly poetical; and the workings of the passions which actuate +the personages to be evidently of high promise if not of masterly spirit. + +The tragedy opens with the recall of the Constable De Bourbon from Italy, +through the supposed political intrigue, but really, the secret love, of +the mother of Francis, Louisa of Savoy, Duchess of Angouleme, whom Miss +Kemble calls the Queen Mother. In the second scene the Queen Mother +communicates to Gonzales, a monk in disguise, but in, reality an emissary +of the Court of Spain, her secret passion for De Bourbon, and her design +in his recall. + +Francis is introduced at a tourney, where he not only triumphs in the +jousts, but over the heart of the beautiful Francoise de Foix. + +Bourbon returns, and the second act opens with his interview with Renee, +(or Margaret,) the daughter of the Queen Mother, and sister of Francis I., +for whom he really entertains an affection. In the second scene the Queen +Mother declares her passion to Bourbon, who, at first supposes he is to be +tempted by Margaret's hand, but finding the Queen herself to be the lure, +he indignantly rejects her. The character of Bourbon in this scene is +admirably brought out. The artifice of the Queen--the scorn of +Bourbon--and the Queen's meditated vengeance are powerfully wrought: + +BOURBON. + + I would have you know, + De Bourbon storms, and does not steal his honours + And though your highness thinks I am ambitious, + (And rightly thinks) I am not _so_ ambitious + Ever to beg rewards that I can win,-- + No man shall call me debtor to his tongue. + +QUEEN (_rising._) + + 'Tis proudly spoken; nobly too--but what-- + What if a woman's hand were to bestow + Upon the Duke de Bourbon such high honours, + To raise him to such state, that grasping man, + E'en in his wildest thoughts of mad ambition, + Ne'er dreamt of a more glorious pinnacle? + +BOURBON. + + I'd kiss the lady's hand, an she were fair. + But if this world fill'd up the universe,-- + If it could gather all the light that lives + In ev'ry other star or sun, or world; + If kings could be my subjects, and that I + Could call such pow'r and such a world my own, + I would not take it from a woman's hand. + Fame is my mistress, madam, and my sword + The only friend I ever wooed her with. + I hate all honours smelling of the distaff, + And, by this light, would as lief wear a spindle + Hung round my neck, as thank a lady's hand + For any favour greater than a kiss.-- + +QUEEN. + + And how, if such a woman loved you,--how + If, while she crown'd your proud ambition, she + Could crown her own ungovernable passion, + And felt that all this earth possess'd, and she + Could give, were all too little for your love? + Oh good, my lord! there may be such a woman. + +BOURBON (_aside._) + + Amazement! can it be, sweet Margaret-- + That she has read our love?--impossible!--and yet-- + That lip ne'er wore so sweet a smile!--it is. + That look _is_ pardon and acceptance! (_aloud_)-- + speak. (_He falls at the Queen's feet._) + Madam, in pity speak but one word more,-- + Who is that woman? + +QUEEN (_throwing off her veil._) + + I am that woman! + +BOURBON (_starting up._) + + You, by the holy mass! I scorn your proffers; + Is there no crimson blush to tell of fame + And shrinking womanhood! Oh shame! shame! shame! + +(_The Queen remains clasping her hands to her temples, while _De Bourbon_ +walks hastily up and down; after a long pause the _Queen_ speaks._) + +(_The _Queen_ summons her Confessor._) + +_Enter _GONZALES. + + Sir, we have business with this holy father; + You may retire. + +BOURBON. + + Confusion! + +QUEEN. + + Are we obeyed? + +BOURBON (_aside._) + + Oh Margaret!--for thee! for thy dear sake! + [_Rushes out. The _Queen_ sinks into a chair._] + +QUEEN. + + Refus'd and scorn'd! Infamy!--the word chokes me! + How now! why stand'st thou gazing at me thus? + +GONZALES. + + I wait your highness' pleasure.--(_Aside_) So all is well-- + A crown hath fail'd to tempt him--as I see + In yonder lady's eyes. + +QUEEN. + + Oh sweet revenge! + Thou art my only hope, my only dower, + And I will make thee worthy of a Queen. + Proud noble, I will weave thee such a web,-- + I will so spoil and trample on thy pride, + That thou shalt wish the woman's distaff were + Ten thousand lances rather than itself. + Ha! waiting still, sir Priest! Well as them seest + Our venture hath been somewhat baulk'd,--'tis not + Each arrow readies swift and true the aim,-- + Love having failed, we'll try the best expedient, + That offers next,--what sayst thou to revenge? + 'Tis not so soft, but then 'tis very sure; + Say, shall we wring this haughty soul a little? + Tame this proud spirit, curb this untrain'd charger? + We will not weigh too heavily, nor grind + Too hard, but, having bow'd him to the earth, + Leave the pursuit to others--carrion birds, + Who stoop, but not until the falcon's gorg'd + Upon the prey he leaves to their base talons. + +GONZALES. + + It rests but with your grace to point the means. + +QUEEN. + + Where be the plans of those possessions + Of Bourbon's house?--see that thou find them straight: + His mother was my kinswoman, and I + Could aptly once trace characters like those + She used to write--enough--Guienne--Auvergne + And all Provence that lies beneath his claim,-- + That claim disprov'd, of right belong to me.-- + The path is clear, do thou fetch me those parchments. + [_Exit_ Gonzales. + Not dearer to my heart will be the day + When first the crown of France deck'd my son's forehead, + Than that when I can compass thy perdition,-- + When I can strip the halo of thy fame + From off thy brow, seize on the wide domains, + That make thy hatred house akin to empire, + And give thy name to deathless infamy. [_Exit_. + +The King holds a Council to appoint a successor to the Constable in Italy. +This scene is of stirring interest. The Queen goads the high-minded +Bourbon nigh unto madness, and at length breaks out into open insult. +Lautrec the brother of Francoise, and despised by Bourbon, is named the +governor. In the ceremony Francis addresses Lautrec:-- + +FRANCIS. + + With our own royal hand we'll buckle on + The sword, that in thy grasp must be the bulwark + And lode-star of our host. Approach. + +QUEEN. + + Not so. + Your pardon, sir; but it hath ever been + The pride and privilege of woman's hand + To arm the valour that she loves so well: + We would not, for your crown's best jewel, bate + One jot of our accustom'd state to-day: + Count Lautrec, we will arm thee, at our feet: + Take thou the brand which wins thy country's wars,-- + Thy monarch's trust, and thy fair lady's favour. + Why, how now!--how is this!--my lord of Bourbon! + If we mistake not, 'tis the sword of office + Which graces still your baldrick;--with your leave, + We'll borrow it of you. + +BOURBON (_starting up_.) + + Ay, madam, 'tis the sword + You buckled on with your own hand, the day + You sent me forth to conquer in your cause; + And there it is;--(_breaks the sword_)--take it--and with it all + Th' allegiance that I owe to France; ay take it; + And with it, take the hope I breathe o'er it: + That so, before Colonna's host, your arms + Lie crush'd and sullied with dishonour's stain; + So, reft in sunder by contending factions, + Be your Italian provinces; so torn + By discord and dissension this vast empire; + So broken and disjoin'd your subjects' loves; + So fallen your son's ambition, and your pride. + +QUEEN (_rising_.) + + What ho--a guard within there--Charles of Bourbon, + I do arrest thee, traitor to the crown. + +_Enter Guard_. + + Away with yonder wide-mouth'd thunderer; + We'll try if gyves and straight confinement cannot + Check this high eloquence, and cool the brain + Which harbours such unmannerd hopes. + [Bourbon _is forced out_. + Dream ye, my lords, that thus with open ears, + And gaping mouths and eyes, ye sit and drink + This curbless torrent of rebellious madness. + And you, sir, are you slumbering on your throne; + Or has all majesty fled from the earth, + That women must start up, and in your council + Speak, think, and act for ye; and, lest your vassals, + The very dirt beneath your feet, rise up + And cast ye off, must women, too, defend ye? + For shame, my lords, all, all of ye, for shame,-- + Off, off with sword and sceptre, for there is + No loyalty in subjects; and in kings, + No king-like terror to enforce their rights. + +Meanwhile Lautrec proposes to his sister Francoise, the hand of his friend, +the gallant Laval; whilst the fair maiden is importuned by Francis, who +endeavours to make the poet Clement Marot the bearer of his intrigue. In a +scene between Francis and the poet, the licentious impatience of the King, +and the unsullied honour of Clement are finely contrasted. + +FRANCIS. + + I would I'd borne the scroll myself, thy words + Image her forth so fair. + +CLEMENT. + + Do they, indeed? + Then sorrow seize my tongue, for, look you, sir, + I will not speak of your own fame or honour, + Nor of your word to me: king's words, I find, + Are drafts on our credulity, not pledges + Of their own truth. You have been often pleas'd + To shower your royal favours on my head; + And fruitful honours from your kindly will + Have rais'd me far beyond my fondest hopes; + But had I known such service was to be + The nearest way my gratitude might take + To solve the debt, I'd e'en have given back + All that I hold of you: and, now, not e'en + Your crown and kingdom could requite to me + The cutting sense of shame that I endur'd + When on me fell the sad reproachful glance + Which told me how I stood in the esteem + Of yonder lady. Let me tell you, sir, + You've borrow'd for a moment what whole years + Cannot bestow--an honourable name. + Now fare you well; I've sorrow at my heart, + To think your majesty hath reckon'd thus + Upon my nature. I was poor before, + Therefore I can be poor again without + Regret, so I lose not mine own esteem. + + * * * * * + +FRANCIS. + + Excellent. + Oh, ye are precious wooers, all of ye. + I marvel how ye ever ope your lips + Unto, or look upon that fearful thing, + A lovely woman. + +CLEMENT. + + And I marvel, sir, + At those who do not feel the majesty,-- + By heaven, I'd almost said the holiness,-- + That circles round a fair and virtuous woman: + There is a gentle purity that breathes + In such a one, mingled with chaste respect, + And modest pride of her own excellence,-- + A shrinking nature, that is so adverse + To aught unseemly, that I could as soon + Forget the sacred love I owe to heav'n, + As dare, with impure thoughts, to taint the air + Inhal'd by such a being: than whom, my liege, + Heaven cannot look on anything more holy, + Or earth be proud of anything more fair. [_Exit_. + +Gonzales, the monk, is despatched by the Queen to Bourbon in prison. At +the door he meets Margaret, who had bribed her way to her lover, and was +returning after ineffectual attempts to soothe him into submission, +shame-struck at the exposure of her mother's guilt. The Queen intrusts +Gonzales with a signet ring as the means of liberating him and conducting +him to the royal chamber. Bourbon is immovable; and in revenge upon the +Court, he falls in with a private scheme of Gonzales, which is to accept +of his liberty, and set off to the Court of Spain. The undisguising of the +treacherous monk is in these powerful lines: + +GONZALES. + + Now, + That day is come, ay, and that very hour: + Now shout your war-cry; now unsheath your sword; + I'll join the din, and make these tottering walls + Tremble and nod to hear our fierce defiance. + Nay, never start, and look upon my cowl-- + You love not priests, De Bourbon, more than I. + Off, vile denial of my manhood's pride; + Off, off to hell! where thou wast first invented, + Now once again I stand and breathe a knight. + Nay, stay not gazing thus: it is Garcia, + Whose name hath reach'd thee long ere now, I trow; + Whom thou hast met in deadly fight full oft, + When France and Spain join'd in the battle field. + Beyond the Pyrenean boundary + That guards thy land, are forty thousand men: + Their unfurl'd pennons flout fair France's sun, + And wanton in the breezes of her sky: + Impatient halt they there; their foaming steeds, + Pawing the huge and rock-built barrier, + That bars their further course--they wait for thee: + For thee whom France hath injur'd and cast off; + For thee, whose blood it pays with shameful chains, + More shameful death; for thee, whom Charles of Spain + Summons to head his host, and lead them on + To conquest and to glory. + +The interest now reverts to the fate of Francoise, and Bourbon is lost +sight of; a transition which, both in acting and reading, endangers the +drama.[1] News arrives of the flight of Lautrec from his government; of +his arrest, his imprisonment, and capital condemnation.[2] He enjoins his +sister to intercede in his behalf with Francis; she complies, but it is at +the expense of her honour; broken-hearted, she sinks beneath her shame at +the crime into which she has been betrayed, and returns home. Francis +pursues her, and the Queen, now aware of his passion for her, dispatches +the monk Gonzales on a secret mission to poison Francoise, who, she fears, +may supplant her in her ascendancy over the King. A fine passage occurs in +the scene wherein the Queen proposes her scheme to Gonzales. + +QUEEN. + + Didst ever look upon the dead? + +GONZALES. + + Ay, madam, + Full oft; and in each calm or frightful guise + Death comes in,--on the bloody battle-field; + When with each gush of black and curdling life + A curse was uttered,--when the pray'rs I've pour'd, + Have been all drown'd with din of clashing arms-- + And shrieks and shouts, and loud artillery, + That shook the slipp'ry earth, all drunk with gore-- + I've seen it, swoll'n with subtle poison, black + And staring with concentrate agony-- + When ev'ry vein hath started from its bed, + And wreath'd like knotted snakes, around the brows + That, frantic, dash'd themselves in tortures down + Upon the earth. I've seen life float away + On the faint sound of a far tolling bell-- + Leaving its late warm tenement as fair, + As though 'twere th' incorruptible that lay + Before me--and all earthly taint had vanish'd + With the departed spirit. + +Laval returns from Italy to claim his bride. In the earlier part of the +play, a hint is given of Gonzales' rancorous hate of Laval, the +undercurrent of which is now revealed. Gonzales, beneath the seal of +confession, obtains the secret of the crime of Francoise. In her presence, +as the betrothed Laval rushes to embrace his bride, he taunts him with her +guilt. The wretched Francoise, in vain conjured to assert her innocence, +stabs herself. The King had been followed thither by the Queen; both now +appear. Gonzales riots revenge in one of the most vigorous portions of the +drama: + +GONZALES. + + Look on thy bride! look on that faded thing, + That e'en the tears thy manhood showers go fast, + And bravely, cannot wake to life again! + I call all nature to bear witness here-- + As fair a flower once grew within my home, + As young, as lovely, and as dearly lov'd-- + I had a sister once, a gentle maid-- + The only daughter of my father's house, + Round whom our ruder loves did all entwine, + As round the dearest treasure that we own'd. + She was the centre of our souls' affections-- + She was the bud, that underneath our strong + And sheltering arms, spread over her, did blow. + So grew this fair, fair girl, till envious fate + Brought on the hour when she was withered. + Thy father, sir--now mark--for 'tis the point + And moral of my tale--thy father, then, + Was, by my sire, in war ta'en prisoner-- + Wounded almost to death, he brought him home, + Shelter'd him,--cherish'd him,--and, with a care, + Most like a brother's, watch'd his bed of sickness, + Till ruddy health, once more through all his veins + Sent life's warm stream in strong returning tide. + How think ye he repaid my father's love? + From her dear home he lur'd my sister forth, + And, having robb'd her of her treasur'd honour, + Cast her away, defil'd,--despoil'd--forsaken-- + The daughter of a high and ancient line-- + The child of so much love--she died--she died-- + Upon the threshold of that home, from which + My father spurn'd her--over whose pale corse + I swore to hunt, through life, her ravisher-- + Nor ever from by bloodhound track desist, + Till line and deep atonement had been made-- + Honour for honour given--blood for blood. + + +"The Queen orders Gonzales to death; but the monk accuses her of the +intended murder of Francoise, and produces her written order to that +effect. The King can no longer be blind to his mother's crimes; she is +disgraced, degraded, and condemned to pass the rest of her days in a +convent." + +Here the fourth act, and the acting play closes. In the fifth De Bourbon +reappears. Lautrec proposes to join him, and assassinate the King, in +revenge for the ruin of Francoise. The memorable battle of Pavia ensues, +and terminates with the death of the King and the triumph of Bourbon. + +Triboulet, the jester of the Court of Francis, is introduced with some +pleasantry, by way of relief to the darker deeds. + +We cannot conclude this imperfect sketch better than by the following +judicious observations from the _Quarterly Review_: "How high Miss Kemble's +young aspirings have been--what conceptions she has formed to herself of +the dignity of tragic poetry--may be discovered from this most remarkable +work; at this height she must maintain herself, or soar a still bolder +flight. The turmoil, the hurry, the business, the toil, even the celebrity +of a theatric life must yield her up at times to that repose, that +undistracted retirement within her own mind, which, however brief, +is essential to the perfection of the noblest work of the +imagination--genuine tragedy. Amidst her highest successes on the stage, +she must remember that the world regards her as one to whom a still higher +part is fallen. She must not be content with the fame of the most +extraordinary work which has ever been produced by a female at her age, +(for as such we scruple not to describe her Francis the First,)--with +having sprung at once to the foremost rank, not only of living actors but +of modern dramatists;--she must consider that she has given us a pledge +and earnest for a long and brightening course of distinction, in the +devotion of all but unrivalled talents in two distinct, though congenial, +capacities, to the revival of the waning glories of the English theatre." + + +[1] This disadvantage is greater on the stage, since the audience neither + see nor hear more of Bourbon, and only four acts of the piece are + performed. In the closet it will not be so obvious, as Bourbon + returns in the fifth act. + +[2] This is an entire variation from history. + + * * * * * + + + +SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS. + + +OLD ENGLISH MUSIC. + +It was in the course of the sixteenth century that the psalmody of England, +and the other Protestant countries, was brought to the state in which it +now remains, and in which it is desirable that it should continue to +remain. For this psalmody we are indebted to the Reformers of Germany, +especially Luther, who was himself an enthusiastic lover of music, and is +believed to have composed some of the finest tunes, particularly the +Hundredth Psalm, and the hymn on the Last Judgment, which Braham sings +with such tremendous power at our great performances of sacred music. Our +psalm-tunes, consisting of prolonged and simple sounds, are admirably +adapted for being sung by great congregations; and as the effect of this +kind of music is much increased by its venerable antiquity, it would be +very unfortunate should it yield to the influence of innovation: for this +reason, it is much to be desired that organists and directors of choirs +should confine themselves to the established old tunes, instead of +displacing them by modern compositions. + +Towards the end of the sixteenth, and beginning of the seventeenth, +century, shone that constellation of English musicians, whose inimitable +madrigals are still, and long will be, the delight of every lover of vocal +harmony. It is to Italy, however, that we are indebted for this species of +composition. The madrigal is a piece of vocal music adapted to words of an +amorous or cheerful cast, composed for four, five, or six voices, and +intended for performance in convivial parties or private musical societies. +It is full of ingenious and elaborate contrivances; but, in the happier +specimens, contains likewise agreeable and expressive melody. At the +period of which we now speak, vocal harmony was so generally cultivated, +that, in social parties, the madrigal books were generally laid on the +table, and every one was expected to take the part allotted to him. Any +person who made the avowal of not being able to sing a part at sight was +looked upon as unacquainted with the usages of good society--like a +gentleman who now-a-days says he cannot play a game at whist, or a lady +that she cannot join in a quadrille or a mazurka. The Italian madrigals of +Luca Marenzio and others are still in request: and among the English +madrigalists we may mention Wilbye, author of "Flora gave me fairest +flowers;" Morley, whose "Now is the month of Maying" is so modern in its +air, that it is introduced as the finale of one of our most popular operas, +the Duenna; and Michael Este, the composer of the beautiful trio, "How +merrily we live that Shepherds be." This music retains all its original +freshness, and has been listened to, age after age, with unabated pleasure. + +The glee, which is a simpler and less elaborate form of the madrigal,--and +that amusing _jeu d'esprit_ so well known by the name of Catch, made their +appearance about the end of the sixteenth century. The first collection of +catches that made its appearance in England is dated in +1609.--_Metropolitan_. + + * * * * * + + +BENEDICTION ON CHILDREN. + +IMPROMPTU. + +_By Thomas Campbell, Esq_. + + + Imps, that hold your daily revels + Round the windows of my bower + Would that Hell's ten thousand devils + Had you in their clutch this hour! + + Screaming, yelling, little nasties, + Would that Ogres down their maw + Had you cramm'd in Christmas pasties, + That would make ye hold your jaw. + + Saucy imps, stew'd down to jelly, + Ye would make a sauce most rare; + Or with pudding in each belly, + Rival roasted pig or hare. + + Sweeter than the fish of these is, + Would be yours, young human _bores_; + All with apples at your noses, + Would I saw you dish'd by scores! + + Herod slaughter'd harmless sucklings, + Not with tongues like yours to vex; + Were he here, ye Devil's ducklings, + I would bid him wring your necks. + +_Metropolitan_. + + * * * * * + + +DRAMATIC CHARACTER OF THE CATHOLIC RELIGION. + +The religion of the south of Europe is still essentially dramatic; and it +may be questioned how far this adaptation to the genius of the people has +tended to perpetuate the influence, not only of the Roman Catholic, but +also of the Greek church. Even in the pulpit, not merely does the earnest +preacher, by vehement gesticulation, by the utmost variety of pause and +intonation, _act_, as far as possible, the scenes which he describes; but +the crucifix, if the expression may be permitted, plays the principal part; +the Saviour is held forth to the multitude in the living and visible +emblem of his sufferings. The ceremonies of the Holy Week in Rome are a +most solemn, and to most minds, affecting religious drama. The oratorios, +as with us, are in general on scriptural subjects; and operas on themes of +equal sanctity are listened to without the least feeling of profanation. +Nor are the more audacious exhibitions of the dark ages by any means +exploded. Every traveller on the continent who has much curiosity, must +have witnessed, whether with devout indignation or mere astonishment, the +strange manner in which scriptural subjects are still represented by +marionnettes, by tableax parlans, or even performed by regular actors. In +the unphilosophized parts of modern Europe, these scenes are witnessed by +the populace, not merely with respect, but with profound interest; and if +they tend to perpetuate superstition, must be acknowledged likewise to +keep alive religious sentiment. But if this be the case in the nineteenth +century, how powerfully must such exhibitions have operated on the general +mind in the dark ages! The alternative lay between total ignorance and +this mode of communicating the truth. For the general mass of the clergy +were then as ignorant as the laity; and as the wild work, which in these +sacred dramas is sometimes made of the scripture history, may be supposed +to have embodied the knowledge of a whole fraternity, we may not unfairly +conjecture the kind of instruction to be obtained from each individual. +The state of language in Europe must have greatly contributed to the +adoption of public instruction, by means of dramatic representation. The +services of the church were in Latin, now become a dead language. This +_originated_, perhaps, rather in sincere reverence, and the dread of +profaning the sacred mysteries by transferring them into the vulgar tongue, +than in any systematic design of keeping the people in the dark; for, from +the gradual extinction of the Latin, as the vernacular idiom, and the +gradual growth of the modern languages, there was no marked period in +which the change might appear to be called for, until the question became +involved with weightier matters of controversy. The confusion of tongues, +almost throughout Europe, before the great predominant languages were +formed out of the conflicting dialects, must greatly have impeded the +preaching the Gospel, for which, in other respects, only a very small part +of the clergy were qualified. Though, in these times, most extraordinary +effects are attributed to the eloquence of certain preachers, for instance, +Fra. Giovanni di Vicenza, yet many of the itinerant friars, the first, we +believe, who addressed the people with great activity in the vulgar tongue, +must have been much circumscribed by the limits of their own patois.[1] +But the spectacle of the dramatic exhibitions everywhere spoke a common +language; and the dialogue, which, in parts of the Chester mysteries, is a +kind of Anglicized French, and which, even if translated into the native +tongue, was constantly interspersed with Latin, and therefore, but darkly +and imperfectly understood, was greatly assisted by the perpetual +interpretation which was presented before the eyes. The vulgar were thus +imperceptibly wrought up to profound feelings of reverence for the purity +of the Virgin; the unexampled sufferings of the Redeemer; the miraculous +powers of the apostles, and the constancy of the martyrs; we must add, +(for after all it was a strange Christianity, though in every respect the +Christianity of the age,) with the most savage detestation at the cruelty +of Herod or Pilate, and the treachery of Judas; and the most revolting +horror, at the hideous appearance, and blasphemous language of the Prince +of Darkness, who almost always played a principal part in these scriptural +dramas.--_Quarterly Review._ + +[1] It is related in the life of St. Bernard, that his pale and emaciated + appearance, and the animation and the fire, which seemed to kindle his + whole being as he spoke, made so deep an impression on those who could + only see him and hear his voice, that Germans, who understand not a + word of his language, were often moved to tears.--_Neander, Der + Heilige Bernard_, p. 49. + + * * * * * + + + +SPIRIT OF DISCOVERY. + + +BIRMINGHAM RAILWAY. + +The line of the proposed plan for this useful and excellent undertaking +has been forwarded to us. We know not whether the projectors are aware +that a straight line is no longer necessary, but that the sharpest turns +may now be made on rail-roads by an American invention, lately carried +into effect in the United States with singular success.--The line of +railway will be 112-1/2 miles. Birmingham being between 3 and 400 feet +higher than London, and the intervening ground much broken, the railway +could not be laid down without an inclination in its planes; the rise, +however, will in no case exceed 1 in 330. The highest point of the line is +on the summit of an inclined plane 15 miles long, rising 13-1/3 feet in +each mile, and is 315 feet above the level at Maiden Lane, London; from +which it is distant 31 miles. The termination at Birmingham is 256 feet +higher than the commencement at London. It is intended that there should +be 10 tunnels--one at Primrose Hill half a mile long, one near Watford a +mile long, and one near Kilsby, 78 miles from London, a mile and a quarter +long. The others are each less than a quarter of a mile in length, with +the exception of one, which is a third of a mile long. They will all be 25 +feet in height, well lighted, and ought rather to be called galleries than +tunnels. The strata through which the railway is carried, appear generally +to follow in this order from London: + + Miles. + London clay and plastic clay 15-1/2 + Chalk and chalk flints 18-1/2 + Chalk, marl, weald clay, iron sand, + and Oxford clay or clunch clay 20 + Great and inferior oolite limestones, + and sandy beds 18 + Lias marls, lias limestone or water + lime and shale beds 16 + Red marl and new red sandstone 24-1/2 + ------- + 112-1/2 + +The railway will be composed of two lines of rails with a space between +them of six feet, but at particular points two additional lines will be +required as turns-out to facilitate the passage of the locomotive engines +and carriages. If we assume the average rate of travelling on the railway +to be 20 miles an hour, (which is about the mark,) that 1,200 persons pass +along it in a day, and 120 are conveyed in each train of carriages, then +only ten trains of carriages would be required for all the passengers; +each train would separately take a minute and a half, and the ten trains +not more than fifteen minutes in passing over half a mile of ground. Allow +twice this time for the passage of cattle and merchandise, and it is +manifest that the traffic on railways can never be a source of annoyance +to persons residing near them. All who have travelled in carriages drawn +by locomotive steam-engines on the Liverpool and Manchester railway can +vouch for the safety and comfort, as well as the expedition, of this mode +of conveyance; but the strongest evidence of public opinion on this +subject is the fact, that twice as many persons go by the railway, as were +formerly carried in coaches running on the roads between the two +places--and yet, although the expense of travelling is reduced one-half, +and the works of the railway cost more than 800,000_l_., the proprietors +are in the receipt of a dividend of 9_l_. for a year on their 100_l_. +shares! Enough has been ascertained of the traffic in the districts +through which the London and Birmingham Railway will pass, to remove all +doubt as to an ample return for the necessary outlay.--_Metropolitan_. + + * * * * * + + + +THE GATHERER. + + +_A Dancing Archbishop_.--Dr. King, Archbishop of Dublin, having invited +several persons of distinction to dine with him, had, amongst a great +variety of dishes, a fine leg of mutton and caper sauce; but the doctor, +who was not fond of butter, and remarkable for preferring a trencher to a +plate, had some of the abovementioned pickle introduced dry for his use; +which, as he was mincing, he called aloud to the company to observe him; +"I here present you, my lords and gentlemen," said he, "with a sight that +may henceforward serve you to talk of as something curious, namely, that +you saw an Archbishop of Dublin, at fourscore and seven years of age, cut +capers upon a trencher." + +T.H. + + * * * * * + + +_Singular Parish_.--In the parish of East Twyford, near Harrow, in the +county of Middlesex, there is only one house, and the farmer who occupies +it is perpetual churchwarden of a church which has no incumbent, and in +which no duty is performed. The parish has been in this state ever since +the time of Queen Elizabeth. + +H.S.S. + + * * * * * + + +_Scandal_.--It is as well not to trust to one's gratitude _after_ dinner. +I have heard many a host libelled by his guests, with his Burgundy yet +reeking on their rascally lips.--_Lord Byron_. + + * * * * * + + +A lady with a well plumed head dress, being in deep conversation with a +naval officer, one of the company said, "it was strange to see so fine a +woman _tar'd_ and feathered." + + * * * * * + + +_A Scolding Wife_.--Dr. Casin having heard the famous Thomas Fuller repeat +some verses on a scolding wife, was so delighted with them, as to request +a copy. "There is no necessity for that," said Fuller, "as you have got +the original." + + * * * * * + + +_Bouts Rimes_ are words or syllables which rhyme, arranged in a particular +order, and are given to a poet with a subject, on which he must write +verses ending in the same rhymes, disposed in the same order. Menage gives +the following account of the origin of this ridiculous conceit. Dulot, (a +poet of the 17th century,) was one day complaining in a large company, +that 300 sonnets had been stolen from him. One of the company expressing +his astonishment at the number, "Oh," said he, "they are blank sonnets, or +rhymes (_bouts rimes_) of all the sonnets I may have occasion to write." +This ludicrous story produced such an effect, that it became a fashionable +amusement to compose blank sonnets, and in 1648, a quarto volume of _bouts +rimes_ was published. + + * * * * * + + +_Poisoned Arrows_ used in Guiana are not shot from a bow, but blown +through a tube. They are made of the hard substance of the cokarito tree, +and are about a foot long, and the size of a knitting-needle. One end is +sharply pointed, and dipped in the poison of worraia, the other is +adjusted to the cavity of the reed, from which it is to be blown by a roll +of cotton. The reed is several feet in length. A single breath carries the +arrow 30 or 40 yards. + + * * * * * + + +_Sterling Applause_.--Lord Bolingbroke was so pleased with Barton Booth's +performance of _Cato_, at Drury Lane Theatre, in 1712, that he presented +the actor with fifty guineas from the stage-box--an example which was +immediately followed by Bolingbroke's political opponents. + + * * * * * + + +_Claret_ has been accused of producing the gout, but without reason. +Persons who drench themselves with Madeira, Port, &c. and indulge in an +occasional debauch of Claret, may indeed be visited in that way; because a +transition from the strong brandied wines to the lighter, is always +followed by a derangement of the digestive organs. + + * * * * * + + +_Quarantine in America_.--Dr. Richard Bayley is the person to whom New +York is chiefly indebted for its quarantine laws. His death was, however, +by contagion. In August, 1801, Doctor Bayley, in the discharge of his duty +as health physician, enjoined the passengers and crew of an Irish emigrant +ship, afflicted with the ship fever, to go on shore to the rooms and tents +appointed for them, leaving their luggage behind. The next morning, on +going to the hospital, he found that both crew and passengers, well, sick, +and dying, were huddled together in one apartment, where they had passed +the night. He inconsiderately entered this room before it had been +properly ventilated, but remained scarcely a moment, being obliged to +retire by a deadly sickness at the stomach, and violent pain in the head, +with which he was suddenly seized. He returned home, retired to bed, and +in the afternoon of the seventh day following, he expired. + + * * * * * + + +_Shaving_ is said to have come into use during the reigns of Louis XIII. +and XIV. of France, both of whom ascended the throne without a beard. +Courtiers and citizens then began to shave, in order to look like the king, +and, as France soon took the lead in all matters of fashion on the +continent, shaving became general. It is at best a tedious operation. +Seume, a German author, says, in his journal, "To-day I threw my powder +apparatus out of the window, when will come the blessed day that I shall +send the shaving apparatus after it." + + * * * * * + + +_Book Morality_.--Dr. Beddoes wrote a history of Isaac Jenkins, which was +intended to impress useful moral lessons on the labouring classes in an +attractive manner. Above 40,000 copies of this work were sold in a short +time. + + * * * * * + + +_The Bedford Missal_ throws even the costly scrap-books of these times +into the shade. It was made for the celebrated John, Duke of Bedford, (one +of the younger sons of Henry IV.) and contains 59 large, and more than +1,000 small miniature paintings. + + * * * * * + + +_The Bedford Level_ was drained at an expense of L400,000. by the noble +family of Russell, Earls and Dukes of Bedford, and others; by which means +100,000 acres of good land have been brought into use. + + * * * * * + + + +POPULAR SCIENCE. + +With many Engravings, price 5s. + +ARCANA OF SCIENCE + +And Annual Register of the Useful Arts for 1832. Abridged from the +Transactions of Public Societies, and Scientific Journals, British and +Foreign, for the past year. This volume will contain all the Important +Facts in the year 1831--in the Mechanic Arts, Chemical Science, Zoology, +Botany, Mineralogy, Geology, Meteorology, Rural Economy, Gardening, +Domestic Economy, Useful and Elegant Arts, Miscellaneous Scientific +Information. + +"It is with great pleasure that we find the success of the former volumes +of this valuable record of whatever is new in science or interesting in +art, such as to encourage its publisher to make fresh exertions for public +favour, in the compilation of the year passed. Such a work is exceedingly +valuable, and may be considered in the light of a Cyclopaedia, to which +the most eminent of their time for talent and attainments are constantly +contributing."--_New Monthly Magazine. March_, 1832. + +"As heretofore, a very useful record of the improvements and novelties of +the year."--_Literary Gazette_. + +"The Arcana of Science and Art contains a vast deal of information of an +useful kind."--_Athenaeum_. + +Printed for JOHN LIMBIRD, 143, Strand; of whom may be had volumes (upon +the same plan) for 1828, price 4s. 6d, 1829--30--31, price 5s. each. + + * * * * * + + +_Printed and Published by J. LIMBIRD, 143, Strand, (near Somerset House,) +London; sold by ERNEST FLEISCHER, 626, New Market, Leipsic; C.G. BENNIS, +55, Rue Neuve, St. Augustin, Paris; and by all Newsmen and Booksellers._ + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, +and Instruction, by Various + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MIRROR OF LITERATURE *** + +***** This file should be named 11741.txt or 11741.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/1/7/4/11741/ + +Produced by Jonathan Ingram, Allen Siddle and PG Distributed Proofreaders + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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