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+ content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />
+
+ <title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Mirror of Literature, Issue ***.</title>
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+ .poem p.i4 {margin-left: 2em;}
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+
+<body>
+<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 11743 ***</div>
+
+ <hr class="full" />
+
+ <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. 19. No. 548.]</b></td>
+
+ <td align="center"><b>SATURDAY, MAY 26, 1832.</b></td>
+
+ <td align="right"><b>[PRICE 2d.</b></td>
+ </tr>
+ </table>
+ <hr class="full" />
+
+ <div class="figcenter"
+ style="width:100%;">
+ <a href="images/548-1.png"><img width="100%"
+ src="images/548-1.png"
+ alt="" /></a>
+
+ <h3>STAINES NEW BRIDGE.</h3>
+ </div><span class="pagenum"><a name="page321"
+ id="page321"></a>[pg 321]</span> This handsome structure has
+ lately been completed, and was opened on Easter Monday last,
+ April 24, by their Majesties and the Court passing over with
+ suitable ceremony. This was a gala day for Staines and its
+ vicinity; for, independently of the enthusiasm awakened by
+ the visit of the popular Sovereign, the completion of so
+ useful and ornamental a fabric must have been an occasion of
+ no ordinary interest to every inhabitant of the
+ district.<br />
+ <br />
+
+
+ <p>The <i>programme</i>, as the French would say, of the day's
+ <i>f&ecirc;te</i> has been so recently given in the "chronicles
+ of the times," that we need not repeat it. A few descriptive
+ particulars of the Bridge, from <i>The Times</i> Journal, may
+ be found to possess a more permanent value:&mdash;</p>
+
+ <blockquote>
+ <p>"It consists of three very flat segmental arches of
+ granite. The middle arch of 74 feet span, and the two side
+ arches of 66 feet each; besides two side arches of 10 feet
+ each for the towing-paths, and six brick arches of 20 feet
+ span each, two on the Surrey side, and four on the
+ Middlesex side, to allow the floods to pass off. The whole
+ is surmounted by a plain, bold cornice, and block parapet
+ of granite, with pedestal for the lamps, and a neat
+ toll-house. The approaches to the Bridge on either side
+ form gentle curves of easy ascent. The cost of the Bridge
+ and approaches has been about 41,000l. The appearance of
+ the whole is very light and elegant. This is owing chiefly
+ to the slight dimensions of the piers, which are smaller in
+ proportion to the span of the arches they support than
+ those of any other bridge in England; but this slight
+ appearance does not, we understand, detract in any degree
+ from their strength, or from the durability of the
+ superincumbent structure."</p>
+ </blockquote>
+
+ <p>From the same authority we gather this circumstantial
+ account of the Bridges erected at Staines from the year
+ 1262:</p>
+
+ <blockquote>
+ <p>"The first erection mentioned in the archives of
+ Staines, was a wooden bridge, said to have been erected in
+ the year 1262; it was constructed of piles of oak driven
+ into the bed of the river and covered with planks. We hear
+ of no new erection from that period down to the year 1794;
+ but from that year to the present, there have been not less
+ than four new bridges in succession, and
+ <span class="pagenum"><a name="page322"
+ id="page322"></a>[pg 322]</span> on nearly the same
+ site. In the year 1794 and 1795, a new bridge, of three
+ semicircular arches of stone, from the design of the
+ celebrated Paul Sandby, was erected, but, from some
+ defect in its construction, it lasted only five years,
+ when it was replaced by a very elegant bridge of one
+ arch, of 180 feet span, of cast iron, from the design of
+ Mr. Thomas Wilson, the architect of the celebrated
+ bridge over the river Weir, at Sunderland. The design
+ was attributed to the noted author of the <i>Rights of
+ Man</i>; but the arch designed by him was cast in the
+ year 1790, by Messrs. Walkers, at Rotherham, whence it
+ was brought to London, and erected at the bowling-green
+ of the Yorkshire Stingo public-house, where it was
+ exhibited to the public; Paine not being able to defray
+ the expense, the arch was taken down and carried back to
+ Rotherham; part of it was afterwards used in the
+ Sunderland bridge, and part, it is supposed, in the
+ Staines bridge. This last, like its immediate
+ predecessor, was not destined to last long, for it had
+ scarcely been opened one month, when it was found
+ necessary to close it to the public, the arch having
+ sunk in a very alarming degree. His late Majesty King
+ George the Third was said to have been among the last to
+ pass over it. In this emergency the late Mr. Rennie was
+ consulted, who pronounced the bridge altogether
+ dangerous, in consequence of the weakness of the
+ abutments. No alternative remained but to remove the
+ iron bridge entirely, and patch up the old wooden bridge
+ until a new one of wood was built. That bridge, which is
+ the present old bridge, continued to stand, with various
+ repairs and alterations, until the year 1828, when, in
+ consequence of the decay of the piles, and the continual
+ heavy expenses required to uphold it, the Commissioners
+ determined to build a new one of more durable materials.
+ Messrs. Rennie were therefore applied to for designs,
+ and a bill was brought into Parliament to authorize the
+ Commissioners to raise funds. The works were commenced
+ in the spring of 1829, and on the 14th of September
+ following the first stone was laid by their Royal
+ Highnesses the Duke and Duchess of Clarence (their
+ present Majesties). Since then, the works have been
+ carried on to their present completion under the
+ direction of Mr. G. Rennie and Mr. Brown, the
+ superintendents, and Messrs. Jolliffe and Banks, the
+ contractors."</p>
+ </blockquote>
+
+ <p>The Engraving is from a Sketch by our obliging Windsor
+ Correspondent: it was taken from the old bridge, whence the
+ spectator enjoys a delightful view of Windsor Castle, through
+ the centre arch of the new fabric.</p>
+
+ <p>By the way, we noticed the project of this new stone bridge,
+ in connexion with our Engraving of the new church at Staines,
+ in vol. xii. of <i>The Mirror</i>, August 30, 1828.</p>
+ <hr class="full" />
+
+ <h3>THE WRECK.</h3>
+
+ <h4><i>(For the Mirror.)</i></h4>
+
+ <div class="poem">
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>No mare, no more, o'er the dark blue sea,</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">Will the gallant vessel bound,</p>
+
+ <p>Fearless and proud as the warrior's plume</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">At the trumpet's startling sound;</p>
+
+ <p>No more will her banner assert its claim</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">To empire on the foam,</p>
+
+ <p>And the sailors cheer as the thunder rolls</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">From the guns of their wave-girt
+ home!</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>Her white sails gleam'd like the sunny dawn</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">On the brow of the sapphire sky,</p>
+
+ <p>And her thunder echoed along the cliffs,</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">Awaking the seamew's cry;</p>
+
+ <p>Oh! it was glorious to see her glide</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">Triumphantly over the sea,</p>
+
+ <p>With her blue flag fluttering in the wind,</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">The symbol of victory.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>But she lies forlorn in the breakers now,</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">Her stately masts are gone,</p>
+
+ <p>And cold are the hearts of the dauntless crew</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">That yielded their swords to none;</p>
+
+ <p>The gun is hush'd in her lofty sides,</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">And the flute on her silent deck;</p>
+
+ <p>Alas! that a queenly form like hers</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">Should ever have been a wreck!</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>Thus Hope's illusions droop away</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">From the heart which their beauty
+ won,</p>
+
+ <p>And leave it forlorn as the gallant ship,</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">Ere its summer of life is begun.</p>
+
+ <p>It is peopled with lovely images,</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">As o'er the sea it glides,</p>
+
+ <p>But wreck'd is its deep idolatry</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">On the dark and stormy tides.</p>
+
+ <p class="i2"><i>Deal.</i></p>
+ </div>
+
+ <p>G.R.C.</p>
+ </div>
+ <hr class="full" />
+
+ <h3>THE ARBALEST OF ROBIN HOOD.</h3>
+
+ <h4><i>(To the Editor.)</i></h4>
+
+ <p>In No. 538, of <i>The Mirror</i>, is described an elegant
+ Cross-bow, and a desire expressed for information where such
+ things are <i>now</i> to be seen. I have lived many years in
+ Yorkshire, and have seen several kinds of these bows at
+ <i>Kirklees Hall</i>, the seat of Sir George Armitage, a few
+ miles from Huddersfield. Amongst those bows I saw one, at least
+ six feet long; but some of them were not more than two or three
+ feet in length. There were also a variety of weapons of war,
+ with helmets, and some curious boots, which buttoned on the leg
+ from top to the bottom, and had wooden soles. They were then
+ kept in an attic on the top of the leads over the hall. Many
+ <span class="pagenum"><a name="page323"
+ id="page323"></a>[pg 323]</span> of these relics are said to
+ have belonged to the famous "Robin Hood," who lies buried in
+ the park; the remains of the ancient grave-stone having been
+ surrounded with a handsome iron railing, by the late Sir
+ George Armitage; in the wall is an old inscription on brass;
+ it is situated in a very gloomy place. Not far distant from
+ his grave are the remains of a Nunnery, and a burial-ground,
+ with tombs in it; but I could find no date, either in the
+ house or on these tombs. One of the tombs has this
+ inscription round its edge:</p>
+
+ <blockquote>
+ <p>"Sweet Jesus of Nazareth, show mercy to Elizabeth
+ Stainton, late Prioress of this place."</p>
+ </blockquote>
+
+ <p>If an intelligent person were to call at the Hall, he would
+ be able to gather much information of an authentic nature
+ respecting Robin Hood.<a id="footnotetag1"
+ name="footnotetag1"></a><a href="#footnote1"><sup>1</sup></a></p>
+
+ <h4>JOHN BATEMAN.</h4>
+ <hr class="full" />
+
+ <h2>SONGS, <i>Found in the Album of a Delia Cruscan
+ Poet.</i></h2>
+
+ <h4><i>(For the Mirror.)</i></h4>
+
+ <h3>THE HUMMING-BIRD.</h3>
+
+ <h4>By T. MOORE, ESQ.</h4>
+
+ <div class="poem">
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>Thou winged gem, whose starlike splendour</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">Gleams on the bosom of the rose,</p>
+
+ <p>I lore thy light when skies are tender,</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">And winds are wandering to repose.</p>
+
+ <p>The Grecian lute, the Moorish song,</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">And Crockford's home, with all that's in
+ it,</p>
+
+ <p>May challenge fame from many a throng,</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">But thou, <i>alone</i>, fair bird, canst
+ win it!</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>I've often watch'd thy plumage glancing</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">So evanescent in thy bower,</p>
+
+ <p>And heard thy silver voice entrancing</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">Soothe me, as music soothes the
+ flower.</p>
+
+ <p>Although diminutive as me,</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">Thy song is sweeter, who can doubt
+ it?</p>
+
+ <p>So, as I cannot sing like thee,</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">I'll break my lute, and live without
+ it.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>G.R.C.</p>
+ </div>
+ </div>
+
+ <h3>THE SKYLARK.</h3>
+
+ <h4>By L.E.L.</h4>
+
+ <div class="poem">
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>Thou minstrel of the sunny air,</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">Thy vocal fount is rich with song,</p>
+
+ <p>And fragrant breezes softly bear</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">Its silver melody along.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>I love to hear thy liquid note</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">When bees are humming on the rose,</p>
+
+ <p>And in their sapphire ocean float</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">The stars prophetic of repose.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>Thou feel'st the sunny influence</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">Like Memnon's fabled lyre of old,</p>
+
+ <p>And wanderest in the beam intense</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">Which turns the liquid air to gold.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>The spirit's bright imaginings</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">Ne'er soar'd to loftier spheres than
+ thee,</p>
+
+ <p>And if I had, thy fairy wings,</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">Afar from earthly haunts I'd flee.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>Insipid are the weekly themes</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">Of &mdash;&mdash;'s imbecile review,</p>
+
+ <p>Whose page with adulation teems,</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">And makes me "beautifully blue."</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>But cockney praise is ebbing fast,</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">And Sappho's lute has lost its power,</p>
+
+ <p>And surely my career is past</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">Like Summer's brightest, loveliest
+ flower.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>Arcades ambo, Moore and me</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">Are Delia Crusca's sweetest doves,</p>
+
+ <p>And ours too is the poetry</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">Which meditative beauty loves.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>Sweet bird, farewell! and be it thine</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">To thrill the blue air with thy song;</p>
+
+ <p>But fame will wreathe this brow of mine,</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">If I am right, and <i>Pope</i> is
+ wrong.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <p>G.R.C.</p>
+ </div>
+ <hr class="full" />
+
+ <h2>DOMESTIC LIFE IN AMERICA.</h2>
+
+ <h4><i>(In a Letter from a Correspondent at
+ Cincinnati.)</i></h4>
+
+ <p>This town is far superior to our late place of sojourn,
+ Pittsburgh, being spacious and clean, with handsome houses and
+ wood for fuel. Pittsburgh, on the contrary, is dirty and
+ confined, abounding in iron works burning coal, which gives
+ forth a denser smoke than English coal. The houses in this
+ place, when we visited it in 1818, were mostly of wood; these
+ have been in general removed on wheels drawn by oxen and
+ horses, and placed in the suburbs, whence they are now removing
+ once more. Here are four markets well supplied with the
+ necessaries, and even the luxuries, of life, including almost
+ everything you can think of, and many things which you have
+ never thought of. Apple butter, for instance, is one of the
+ latter, and is made by stewing apples in new cider, after it
+ has been boiled down to one-third of its bulk. It is sold at
+ 6-1/4 cts. per quart, and is very delicious. The fruits of this
+ country are abundant: apples are excellent, and in profusion;
+ peaches are plentiful in most seasons, but sometimes totally
+ fail; grapes grow wild and <i>tame</i>, i.e. cultivated or
+ imported; cherries are not very good, and dearer than at
+ Pittsburgh; pears, strawberries, and raspberries are not so
+ choice as with you; quinces are plentiful and fine; wild plums
+ perfume the whole house, like jessamine or mignionette, and are
+ excellent for pies and tarts. The persimon is a fruit to which
+ you are a stranger; it may be ranked with the plums, but has
+ four stones, and is not fit to eat till bitten by the frost,
+ when its austere and astringent taste disappears, and it
+ becomes nearly transparent, and as rich and sweet as
+ <span class="pagenum"><a name="page324"
+ id="page324"></a>[pg 324]</span> Guava jelly. The May-apple,
+ or Mandrake, a wild fruit, is a favourite with our young
+ folks; it grows on a single-steemed plant, usually one foot
+ high, and is about the size of a plum, but with seeds, and
+ in taste resembling a highly flavoured pear. The
+ custard-apple, or paw-paw, is my favourite, and my boys go
+ with me into the woods to gather them when ripe. In the
+ summer, water melons, musk melons, nutmeg melons, and
+ Cantaloupes may be seen in large heaps in the market, or in
+ carts or wagons, at 6-1/4 to 25 and 50 cts. each, some
+ weighing 40 lbs.</p>
+
+ <p>Egg-plants, which you have seen as curiosities, are here
+ brought to market; some of them of purple colour, are as large
+ as a child's carpet-ball: they are sliced and fried in butter,
+ and I am told have the flavour of fried oysters. Cucumbers are
+ unfortunately superabundant, and the free use of them induces a
+ variety of diseases which are attributed to the climate.
+ Squashes, cimolins, and cushas, are gourds which are mashed up
+ with butter like turnips; pumpkins of this country are very
+ sweet, and make delicious pies, or rather cheesecakes;
+ cranberries are brought from a distance, and pine-apples are
+ not very expensive, being brought up the river from
+ Bermuda.</p>
+
+ <p>Among the natural curiosities of the country, are the Stone
+ Mountain in Carolina, which may rank in antiquity with
+ Stonehenge. It is remarkable for a circular wall of stone of
+ great thickness, probably built by a people distinct from the
+ present race of Indians, who are quite incapable of erecting
+ any building except a wigwam, or a pile of loose stones over a
+ grave. Next is the Kentucky Cavern, or as it is called, on
+ account of its magnitude, the Mammoth Cave. I have an account
+ before me of its being explored by a party in 1826, who
+ penetrated into this gloomy, though spacious, hollow for
+ <i>fifteen miles</i>, and were prevented from proceeding from
+ extreme fatigue; they found the names of persons written at the
+ farthest part. There are numbers of rooms as they are called,
+ which are yet unexplored. In one of these, a few miles from the
+ entrance, there was discovered many years since, a female
+ figure sitting with a mat wrapped round her shoulders; she was
+ quite dried to a mummy, and has for many years been exhibited
+ in a caravan, through the United States.</p>
+
+ <p>The river Ohio is here a quarter of a mile wide, and, as
+ there is no bridge, the traffic into Kentucky is accommodated
+ with steam ferry boats. Newport and Covington opposite, are
+ pretty objects to look at from this side, but will not bear a
+ nearer inspection. <i>Big Bone Lick</i>, where abundance of
+ Mammoth bones have been discovered, is not far hence. Mr.
+ Bullock of the London Museum is here, and has at the Lick
+ discovered many rare specimens of bones, amongst which is a
+ mammoth's head, with evidence of its having been furnished with
+ a trunk, and of course having been an elephant of immense size.
+ He has also found hoofs of horses with their bones in a fossil
+ state, proving that the horse has been indigenous. The horses
+ in this town being a mixture from those of South America, where
+ they are wild&mdash;are of various colours. Some are brown and
+ white, like pointer dogs, others are spotted like Danish dogs,
+ and some with curled hair. I saw one which was white as far us
+ the fore-quarter, and the rest sorel.</p>
+
+ <p>An eye-witness has just related to me the following, which
+ lately occured in New Harmony:</p>
+
+ <blockquote>
+ <p>A snake about two feet long, was seen to enter the hole
+ inhabited by a crawfish,<a id="footnotetag2"
+ name="footnotetag2"></a><a href="#footnote2"><sup>2</sup></a>
+ from which he soon retreated, followed by the rightful
+ tenant, who stopped in defensive attitude at the mouth
+ of his habitation, raising his claws in defiance. The
+ snake turned quickly round, and seized the head of the
+ crawfish, as if to swallow him; but the crawfish soon
+ put an end to the conflict by clasping the snake's neck
+ with his claws, and severing the head completely from
+ his body. This may appear marvellous; but Audubon tells
+ a story of a rattle-snake chasing and over-taking a
+ squirrel, which folks in America doubt.</p>
+ </blockquote>
+ <hr class="full" />
+
+ <h2>Spirit of Discovery.</h2>
+ <hr class="short" />
+
+ <h3>POTTERY.<a id="footnotetag3"
+ name="footnotetag3"></a><a href="#footnote3"><sup>3</sup></a></h3>
+
+ <h4><i>(Continued from page 284.)</i></h4>
+
+ <h4><i>China.</i></h4>
+
+ <p>The name China, by which the ware that I am about to
+ describe is known in England, shows sufficiently the country
+ from which we have received it. The term porcelain, which is
+ applied to it on the continent of Europe, is Italian;
+ <i>porcellana</i> being in that language the name of those
+ univalve shells forming the genus <i>cypraea</i> of the
+ conchologist, which have a high arched back like that of the
+ hog (<i>porco</i>, Ital.), and are remarkable for the white,
+ smooth, vitreous glossiness of the surface about the mouth of
+ the shell, and <span class="pagenum"><a name="page325"
+ id="page325"></a>[pg 325]</span> sometimes, as in the common
+ cowry (<i>Cypraea moneta</i>), over the whole surface.</p>
+
+ <p>The introduction of the Chinese porcelain soon excited a
+ strong desire in the various countries of Europe to imitate it;
+ but as the establishment of experimental manufactories for this
+ purpose required the expenditure of considerable sums, and at a
+ risk beyond the means of private persons, it is chiefly to the
+ munificence of the sovereigns of Europe that the public are
+ indebted for the first steps made in this interesting art. In
+ Germany, chemists and mineralogists were set to work; the
+ latter to seek for the most appropriate raw materials, and the
+ former to purify and to combine them in the most advantageous
+ proportions. The French government adopted the very sensible
+ plan of instructing some of the Jesuit missionaries, who at
+ that time had penetrated to the court of China, and into most
+ of the provinces of that empire, to collect on the spot
+ specimens of the materials employed by the Chinese themselves,
+ together with the particulars of the process. The precise
+ result thus obtained is not known; for as a considerable
+ rivalry existed between the different royal manufactories of
+ this ware, the most valuable information would of course be
+ kept as secret as possible.</p>
+
+ <p>Of the European manufactories of porcelain, that established
+ at Miessen, near Dresden, by Augustus Elector of Saxony and
+ King of Poland, in the early part of the 17th century, was the
+ first that aspired to a competition with the Chinese. In
+ compactness of texture and infusibility it was reckoned perfect
+ a hundred years ago. It is not quite so white as some of the
+ French and English porcelains, but is inferior to none in its
+ painting, gilding, and other decorations.</p>
+
+ <p>The French royal manufactory at Sevr&egrave;s, near Paris,
+ has been for several years in a gradually advancing state, with
+ regard to the whiteness, compactness, and infusibility of the
+ body, the elegance of the forms, the brilliancy of the colours,
+ the elaborateness of the drawing, and the superb enrichments of
+ the gilding. The private manufactories of porcelain in France
+ imitate and approach more or less near to the royal
+ establishment.</p>
+
+ <p>At Berlin and at Vienna are royal porcelain manufactories in
+ high esteem, as well as in some of the smaller states of
+ Germany.</p>
+
+ <h4><i>British Porcelain.</i></h4>
+
+ <p>The first manufactories of porcelain in England were those
+ at Bow, and at Chelsea, near London. In these, however, nothing
+ but soft porcelain was made. This was a mixture of white clay
+ and fine white sand from Alum bay, in the Isle of Wight, to
+ which such a proportion of pounded glass was added as, without
+ causing the ware to soften so as to lose its form, would give
+ it when exposed to a full red heat a semi-transparency
+ resembling that of the fine porcelain of China. The Chelsea
+ ware, besides bearing a very imperfect similarity in body to
+ the Chinese, admitted only of a very fusible lead glaze; and in
+ the taste of its patterns, and in the style of their execution,
+ stood as low perhaps as any on the list. The china works at
+ Derby come, I believe, the next in date; then those of
+ Worcester, established in 1751: and the most modern are those
+ of Coalport, in Shropshire; of the neighbourhood of Newcastle,
+ in Staffordshire, and in other parts of that county.</p>
+
+ <p>The porcelain clay used at present in all the English works
+ is obtained in Cornwall, by pounding and washing over the gray
+ disintegrated granite which occurs in several parts of that
+ county: by this means the quartz and mica are got rid of, and
+ the clay resulting from the decomposition of the felspar is
+ procured in the form of a white, somewhat gritty powder. This
+ clay is not fusible by the highest heat of our furnaces, though
+ the felspar, from the decomposition of which it is derived,
+ forms a spongy milk-white glass, or enamel, at a low white
+ heat. But felspar, when decomposed by the percolation of water,
+ while it forms a constituent of granite, loses the potash,
+ which is one of its ingredients to the amount of about 15 per
+ cent, and with it the fusibility that this latter substance
+ imparts.</p>
+
+ <p>The siliceous ingredient is calcined flint; and in some of
+ the porcelain works, (particularly, I believe, those at
+ Worcester,) the soapstone from the Lizard-point, in Cornwall,
+ is employed. These are all the avowed materials; but there is
+ little doubt that the alkalies, or alkaline earths, either pure
+ or in combination, are also used, in order to dispose the other
+ ingredients to assume that state of semi-fusion characteristic
+ of porcelain.</p>
+
+ <p>(The principal processes are) the grinding and due mixture
+ of the ingredients, in order to obtain a mass sufficiently
+ plastic; the forming this mass on the wheel; the subsequent
+ drying of the ware; the first firing, by which it is brought to
+ the state of biscuit; the
+ <span class="pagenum"><a name="page326"
+ id="page326"></a>[pg 326]</span> application of the firmer
+ colours occasionally on the surface of the biscuit; the
+ dipping the biscuit in the glaze; the second firing, by
+ which the glaze is vitrified; the pencilling in of the more
+ tender colours on the surface of the glaze; and the third
+ and last firing that is given to the porcelain.</p>
+
+ <p>It is not for me to determine which of our English
+ porcelains is the best; probably, indeed, one will be found
+ superior in hardness, another in whiteness, a third in the
+ thinness and evenness of the glaze, a fourth in the form of the
+ articles, a fifth in the design, and a sixth in the colours. In
+ hardness and in fusibility, they are probably all inferior to
+ the Dresden and to the Sevr&egrave;s porcelain; for pieces in
+ biscuit and in white glaze, from both these manufactories, are
+ imported in considerable quantities, in order to be painted and
+ finished here. But it is equally certain, that the last ten
+ years have seen the commencement, and, in part, the completion,
+ of such improvements in this fabric, as will probably place the
+ English porcelains on an equality with the best of the
+ continental European ones.</p>
+
+ <p>Advantage has recently been taken of the semi-transparency
+ of porcelain biscuit to form it into plates, and to delineate
+ upon it some very beautiful copies of landscapes and other
+ drawings, by so adapting the various thicknesses of the plate
+ as to produce, when held between the eye and the light, the
+ effects of light and shadow in common drawings. The invention
+ originated in the ingenuity of our French neighbours.</p>
+
+ <h4>(To be continued.)</h4>
+ <hr class="full" />
+
+ <h2>Notes of a Reader</h2>
+
+ <h3>IMPROVEMENT OF LANCASHIRE.</h3>
+
+ <p>The west of England has considerably the advantage over the
+ eastern side of the island. One way or another nature did much
+ more for it. It is true, that the eastern side was civilized
+ much earlier; yet human ingenuity and industry have of late
+ years been much more successfully employed in turning the gifts
+ of nature to the best possible account. Ireland and America are
+ customers, for whom, though they were long in coming, it was
+ worth while to wait. After all, Lancashire is the most
+ remarkable and characteristic feature in the comparison. From
+ being among the most backward parts of England, this county has
+ <i>worked</i> its way into the front rank. The contrast between
+ its condition up to the middle of the last century, and the
+ astonishing spectacle which it exhibits at present, belongs to
+ the transformation which a hundred years create in a newly
+ settled country like America, far more than to the gradual
+ improvements and changes of an old English county.</p>
+
+ <p>It would be curious to analyze the concurrent causes, and
+ marshal the successive steps, by which Lancashire has
+ advanced;&mdash;not only succeeding in appropriating to itself
+ a leading interest in the creative inventions of Watt and
+ Arkwright, but connecting its name in honourable alliance with
+ literature and science. The very circumstances from which a
+ contrary presumption would originally have been drawn, have
+ (singularly enough) principally contributed to its
+ extraordinary progress. Lancashire owes the canals, by which
+ the commercial thoroughfare of that end of England has been
+ turned from the Humber to the Mersey, to the enterprise of a
+ <i>Peer</i>. It owes the docks, which have about them almost a
+ Roman presentiment of future greatness, to the spirit of a
+ <i>Corporation</i>. It owes the taste and accomplishments, by
+ which the character of its wealth has been raised above the
+ drudgery and fanaticism of money-getting, almost entirely to
+ the zeal of a few <i>Dissenters</i>. The name of Governor
+ Clinton is not so pre-eminently united with the canal policy of
+ America, as is the name of the Duke of Bridgewater with the
+ canals of England. He staked his last shilling on the chance of
+ thus cutting out an inland north-west passage to the Atlantic.
+ The corporation of Liverpool, by an enlightened application of
+ their vast resources, have accelerated, consolidated, and
+ secured the realization, of every expectation and contingency
+ which fortune threw in their way. They have hastened, not to
+ say, anticipated, events. There can be as little doubt of the
+ effect which the light radiating from the assemblage of
+ Priestley, Wakefield, Aikin, &amp;c. at Warrington; from the
+ presence of Percival, Henry, Ferriar, and Dalton, at
+ Manchester; and from that of Roscoe and Currie at Liverpool,
+ spread over their circle. The literary attainments and
+ cultivation of the manufacturers and merchants of Lancashire,
+ as a body, seem otherwise likely long to have lagged behind
+ their general powers of understanding, and their real station
+ in society.&mdash;<i>Edinburgh Review</i>.</p>
+ <hr class="short" />
+
+ <h3>ENNUI OF FASHION.</h3>
+
+ <p>It must be owned that five years form an awful lapse in
+ human life:&mdash;a lapse whose hours and minutes leave no
+ <span class="pagenum"><a name="page327"
+ id="page327"></a>[pg 327]</span> where a trace more sharp
+ and injurious than on the minds and countenances of
+ individuals involved in the buzzing, stinging gnatswarms of
+ fashionable life. Elsewhere, existence marches with a more
+ dignified step, and the scenes pictured among the records of
+ our memory assume a grander aspect; they lie in
+ masses,&mdash;their shadows are broader,&mdash;their lights
+ more brilliantly thrown out. But reminiscences of a life of
+ ton are as vexatious as they are frivolous. The season of
+ 1829 differs from that of 1830, only inasmuch as its
+ quadrilles are varied with galoppes as well as waltzes, and
+ danced at Lady A.'s and Lady B.'s,&mdash;instead of the
+ Duchess of D.'s, and Countess E.'s. The Duchess is
+ dead,&mdash;the Countess ruined;&mdash;but no
+ matter!&mdash;there are still plenty of balls to be had.
+ "Another and another still succeeds!" Since young ladies
+ <i>will</i> grow up to be presented, lady-mothers and aunts
+ <i>must</i> continue to project breakfasts, water parties,
+ and galas, whereby to throw them in the way of flirtation,
+ courtship, and marriage. Mischief, in her most smiling mask,
+ sits like the beautiful witch in Thalaba at an everlasting
+ spinning-wheel, weaving a mingled yarn of sin and sorrow for
+ the daughters of Fashion. Although the cauldron of Hecate
+ and her priestesses has vanished from the heath at Forres,
+ it bubbles in nightly incantations among the elm-trees of
+ Grosvenor Square; and Hopper and Hellway, Puckle and
+ Straddling, now croak forth their chorus of rejoicing where
+ golden lamps swing blazing over the &eacute;cart&eacute;
+ tables, and the soft strains of the Mazurka enervate the
+ atmosphere of the gorgeous temples of May Fair. Never yet
+ was there a woman <i>really</i> improved in attraction by
+ mingling with the motley throng of the <i>beau monde</i>.
+ She may learn to dress better, to step more gracefully; her
+ head may assume a more elegant turn, her conversation become
+ more polished, her air more distinguished; &mdash;but in
+ point of <i>attraction</i> she acquires nothing. Her
+ simplicity of mind departs;&mdash;her generous, confiding
+ impulses of character are lost;&mdash;she is no longer
+ inclined to interpret favourably of men and
+ things,&mdash;she listens without believing,&mdash;sees
+ without admiring; has suffered persecution without learning
+ mercy;&mdash;and been taught to mistrust the candour of
+ others by the forfeiture of her own. The freshness of her
+ disposition has vanished with the freshness of her
+ complexion; hard lines are perceptible in her very soul, and
+ crowsfeet contract her very fancy. No longer pure and fair
+ as the statue of alabaster, her beauty, like that of some
+ painted waxen effigy, is tawdry and meretricious. It is not
+ alone the rouge upon the cheek and the false tresses
+ adorning the forehead, which repel the ardour of admiration;
+ it is the artificiality of mind with which such efforts are
+ connected that breaks the spell of beauty.</p>
+
+ <p><i>From the Fair of May Fair.</i></p>
+ <hr class="short" />
+
+ <h3>BAMBOROUGH CASTLE</h3>
+
+ <p>Is situate on the romantic coast of Northumberland, "over
+ against" an obscure town of the same name. It stands upon a
+ basalt rock, of a triangular shape, high, rugged, and abrupt on
+ the land side; flanked by the German Ocean, and strong natural
+ rampires of sand, matted together with sea rushes on the east;
+ and only accessible to an enemy on the south-east, which is
+ guarded by a deep, dry ditch, and a series of towers in the
+ wall, on each side of the gateway. Nature has mantled the rock
+ with lichens of various rich tints: its beetling brow is 150
+ feet above the level of the sea, upon a stratum of mouldering
+ rock, apparently scorched with violent heat, and having beneath
+ it a close flinty sandstone. Its crown is girt with walls and
+ towers, which on the land side have been nearly all repaired.
+ The outer gateway stands between two fine old towers, with
+ time-worn heads; twelve paces within it is a second gate, which
+ is machicolated, and has a portcullis; and, within this, on the
+ left hand, on a lofty point of rock, is a very ancient round
+ tower of great strength; commanding a pass subject to every
+ annoyance from the besieged. This fort is believed to be of
+ Saxon origin. The keep stands on the area of the rock, having
+ an open space around it. It is square, and of that kind of
+ building which prevailed from the Conquest till about the time
+ of our second Henry. It had no chimney; but fires had been made
+ in the middle of a large room, which was lighted by a window
+ near its top, three feet square. All the other rooms were
+ lighted by slit or loop holes, six inches broad. The walls are
+ of small stones, from a quarry at Sunderland on the sea, three
+ miles distant: within them is a draw well, discovered in 1770,
+ in clearing the cellar from sand and rubbish; its depth is 145
+ feet, cut through solid rock, of which seventy-five feet are of
+ whinstone. The remains of a chapel were discovered here, under
+ a prodigious mass of land, in the year 1773; its architecture
+ was pure Saxon, and the ancient font being found, was preserved
+ in the keep. The chapel has been rebuilt on the old
+ foundations.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page328"
+ id="page328"></a>[pg 328]</span>
+
+ <div class="figcenter"
+ style="width:100%;">
+ <a href="images/548-2.png"><img width="100%"
+ src="images/548-2.png"
+ alt="" /></a>
+
+ <h3><i>(Bamborough Castle before the general
+ repairs.)</i></h3>
+ </div>
+
+ <p>The founder of the Castle is stated by Matthew of
+ Westminster to have been Ida, King of Northumberland. Sir
+ Walter Scott sings</p>
+
+ <div class="poem">
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>Thy tower, proud Bamborough, mark'd they</p>
+
+ <p class="i4">here,</p>
+
+ <p>King Ida's castle, huge and square,</p>
+
+ <p>From its tall rock look grimly down,</p>
+
+ <p>And on the swelling ocean frown.<a id="footnotetag4"
+ name="footnotetag4"></a><a href="#footnote4"><sup>4</sup></a></p>
+ </div>
+ </div>
+
+ <p>It was destroyed by the Danes in 993; but about the time of
+ the Conquest was in good repair. In 1095, it was in the
+ possession of Robert Mowbray, Earl of Northumberland, when it
+ was besieged, and, after much difficulty, taken by William II.
+ The castle lost the greatest part of its beauty in a siege
+ after the battle of Hexham. Camden tells us "from that time it
+ has suffered by time and winds, which throw up incredible
+ quantities of sand from the sea upon its walls, through the
+ windows which are open." Sir John Forster was governor of it in
+ Elizabeth's reign; and his grandson John obtained a grant of it
+ and the manor from James the First. His descendant, Thomas,
+ forfeited it in 1715; but his maternal uncle, Nathaniel, Lord
+ Crewe, bishop of Durham, purchased his estates, and bequeathed
+ them to charitable purposes in 1720. The sunken rocks and
+ shifting sands of this coast had long been a terror to the
+ mariners, but under his lordship's will, Dr. Sharp, then
+ archdeacon of Durham, fitted up the keep of the Castle, for the
+ reception of suffering seamen, and of property which might be
+ rescued from the fury of the ocean. Regulations were also
+ adopted, both to prevent accidents on the coast, and to
+ alleviate misfortunes when they had occurred. A nine pounder,
+ placed at the bottom of the great tower, gives signals to ships
+ in distress, and in case of a wreck, announces the same to the
+ Custom House officers and their servants, who hasten to prevent
+ the wreck being plundered. In addition to this, during a storm,
+ horsemen patrol the coast, and rewards are paid for the
+ earliest intelligence of vessels in distress. A flag is always
+ hoisted when any ship is seen in distress on the Fern Islands
+ or Staples; or a rocket thrown up at night, which gives notice
+ to the Holy Island fishermen, who can put off to the spot when
+ no boat from the main can get over the breakers. Life-boats
+ have likewise been added to the establishment. The vast
+ increase of the residuary rents of the Castle estates also
+ enables the trustees to support within its walls two
+ free-schools, a library, infirmary, thirty beds for shipwrecked
+ sailors, and a granary, whence poor persons are supplied with
+ provisions at the first price.<a id="footnotetag5"
+ name="footnotetag5"></a><a href="#footnote5"><sup>5</sup></a>
+ Altogether, the establishment of Bamborough merits the
+ epithet of "princely," which it has received from the
+ historians of the county. Its philanthropic endowment has
+ not been suffered to decay with the romance of olden time,
+ but the charitable intentions of the testator are fulfilled,
+ so as to maintain a lasting record of his active
+ benevolence. Such magnificence may be said to eclipse all
+ the glitter and gleam of chivalry, and make them appear but
+ as idle dreams.</p>
+
+ <p>A boundless view of the ocean presents itself from the
+ towers of Bamborough Castle, studded with small islands, having
+ the Coquet Island on the south, and the Holy Island on the
+ north.</p>
+ <hr class="full" />
+ <span class="pagenum"><a name="page329"
+ id="page329"></a>[pg 329]</span>
+
+ <h2>Manners &amp; Customs of all Nations.</h2>
+ <hr class="short" />
+
+ <h3>ORIGIN OF EPSOM RACES.</h3>
+
+ <p>In a pleasant little volume modestly entitled <i>Some
+ Particulars relating to the History of Epsom</i>, the following
+ facts are collected with much diligence. At the present season,
+ they may be acceptable to our readers.</p>
+
+ <p>"When these races first commenced, we have not been able
+ with certainty to trace. Few writers, who mention the district,
+ do more than simply state the fact, that horse races are
+ annually held at Epsom.</p>
+
+ <p>"Whether they were at first periodical or occasional, we
+ will not presume to determine, though the latter is, we think,
+ the most probable.</p>
+
+ <p>"Races, it is generally agreed, took their origin from, if
+ they did not give birth to, the Olympic games. The first
+ information we have of their existence in this country is in
+ the reign of Henry II. At that time, and for many ages
+ afterwards, the sport must have been merely a rude pastime,
+ perhaps as destitute of the science of the present system, as
+ of the vices, which are too generally engendered by it.</p>
+
+ <p>"There can be no doubt, that Epsom downs (or as they are
+ frequently, though erroneously written in old writings,
+ Banstead downs) early became the spot, upon which the lovers of
+ racing indulged their fancy. And, perhaps, the known partiality
+ of King James I., for this species of diversion, will justify
+ us in ascribing their commencement to the period when he
+ resided at the palace of Nonsuch.</p>
+
+ <p>"The following extract from Clarendon's History of the
+ Rebellion, will shew, that during the troubles of his
+ unfortunate successor, Charles I., races upon Epsom downs, were
+ viewed as no uncommon occurrence.&mdash;'Soon after the
+ meeting, which was held at Guildford, 18th May, 1648, to
+ address the two Houses of Parliament, that the King, their only
+ lawful sovereign, might be restored to his due honors, and
+ might come to his parliament for a personal treaty,
+ &amp;c.&mdash;a meeting of the royalists was held on Banstead
+ (Epsom) downs, under the pretence of a horse race, and six
+ hundred horses were collected and marched to Reigate.'</p>
+
+ <p>"King James had imbibed a predilection for horse races,
+ before he ascended the English throne; they were in high
+ estimation in Scotland during his minority, previously to
+ which, the English parliament seem to have turned their
+ attention to the subject.</p>
+
+ <p>"We find, that in the time of Henry VII. and his successors,
+ Henry VIII. and Elizabeth, several acts of parliament were made
+ to prevent the exportation of horses to Scotland, and other
+ parts.</p>
+
+ <p>"There is an entry in the Lord's Journal, June 15th,
+ 1540&mdash;'At length, the bill is read this day, for
+ encouraging the breed of horses, of a larger stature, and
+ despatched with unanimous consent, and without a dissenting
+ voice.'</p>
+
+ <p>"The great men of Elizabeth's reign, appear to have been
+ fully disposed to profit by the example and injunctions of her
+ father. Italian masters were invited over; the art of managing
+ horses became an universal accomplishment, among the nobility
+ and gentry of England; but most of the professors, both of
+ equitation and farriery, were foreigners.</p>
+
+ <p>"Horses were not yet kept exclusively for the purpose of
+ running races, but gentlemen matched their hunters or hacknies,
+ and usually rode the race themselves.</p>
+
+ <p>"The most fashionable trial, however, of the speed and
+ goodness of their horses, was hunting red herrings, or 'the
+ train scent,' as it was then called, from the body of some
+ animal, which had been previously drawn across hedge and ditch.
+ Here the scent was certain and strong, and the hounds would run
+ upon it to the end, with their utmost speed. The matched horses
+ followed these hounds, and to be in with them, was generally
+ accounted a very satisfactory proof of goodness.</p>
+
+ <p>"Markham, and that celebrated riding master, Michael Baret,
+ describe, also, another mode of running matches across the
+ country in those days denominated the wild goose chase; an
+ imitation of which has continued in occasional use, to the
+ present time, under the name of steeple hunting; that is to
+ say, two horsemen, drunk or sober, in or out of their wits, fix
+ upon a steeple or some other conspicuous distant object, to
+ which they make a straight cut over hedge, ditch, and gate. We
+ think our readers will do any thing but smile, at this rational
+ pastime for reasonable creatures.</p>
+
+ <p>"The wild goose chase, however, at last became more regular
+ and better conducted. It was prescribed, that after the horse
+ had run twelve score yards, he was to be followed wherever he
+ went by the others, within a certain distance agreed upon, as
+ twice or thrice his length. A horse being left behind
+ <span class="pagenum"><a name="page330"
+ id="page330"></a>[pg 330]</span> twelve score, or any
+ limited number of yards, was deemed beaten, and lost the
+ match.</p>
+
+ <p>"These rude and barbarous modes of horse-racing gave way, in
+ the reign of James I., to the more scientific, accurate, and
+ satisfactory trials, of the horses carrying stated weights,
+ over measured and even ground.</p>
+
+ <p>"That monarch, as has before been intimated, brought with
+ him from Scotland, a strong predilection for the turf, which
+ must have prevailed to a considerable degree in that country,
+ for we find, that during his reign there, and before his
+ accession to the crown of England, it was deemed necessary to
+ restrain, by an express law, the passion of the Scots for
+ horse-racing, and laying large bets on the events.</p>
+
+ <p>"The reign of James I. may be fairly stated, as the period
+ when horse-racing first became a general and national
+ amusement. The races appear to have been at that time conducted
+ nearly in the same style, as to essentials, as in the present
+ day.</p>
+
+ <p>"They were then called bell courses, the prize being a
+ silver bell; the winner was said to bear or carry the bell.</p>
+
+ <p>"Regular prizes were now run for in various parts of
+ England. The king and his court, frequently attended races at
+ Croydon and Enfield, in the vicinity of London.</p>
+
+ <p>"The first match, upon record, in this country, was one
+ against time, which occurred in the year 1604, when John
+ Lepton,<a id="footnotetag6"
+ name="footnotetag6"></a><a href="#footnote6"><sup>6</sup></a>
+ a groom, in the service of King James I., undertook to ride
+ five times between London and York, from Monday morning
+ until Saturday night, and actually performed the task within
+ five days.</p>
+
+ <p>"At this period, much attention was paid to the pedigrees of
+ horses, for the purpose of enhancing their reputation and
+ worth. The training discipline, in all its variety of regular
+ food, clothing, physic, airing, and gallops, was in full use;
+ and the weights that race horses had to carry were adjusted;
+ the most usual of which were ten stone.</p>
+
+ <p>"We find that, soon after the accession of Charles I., an
+ ordinance was issued, enjoining the substitution of bits or
+ curbs, instead of snaffles, which had probably been of late
+ introduction in the army. Not long afterwards, the king granted
+ a special licence to William Smith and others, to import into
+ this kingdom, horses, mares and geldings; further enjoining
+ them to provide coach horses of the height of fourteen hands
+ and above, and not less than three, nor exceeding seven years
+ of age.</p>
+
+ <p>"During the civil wars, amusements of the turf were
+ partially suspended, but not forgotten; for we find that Mr.
+ Place, stud-master to Cromwell, was proprietor of the famous
+ horse, White Turk, (the sire of Wormwood and Commoner) and of
+ several capital brood mares, one of which, a great favourite,
+ he concealed in a vault, during the search after Cromwell's
+ effects, at the time of the Restoration, from which
+ circumstance, she took the name of the Coffin Mare, and is
+ designated as such in various pedigrees.</p>
+
+ <p>"King Charles II., soon after his restoration,
+ re-established the races at Newmarket, which had been
+ instituted by James I. He divided them into regular meetings,
+ and substituted, both there and at other places, silver cups or
+ bowls, of the value of one hundred pounds, for the royal gift
+ of the ancient bells, which were in consequence generally
+ dropped, both in name and effect.</p>
+
+ <p>"William III., though not fond of the turf, paid much
+ attention to the breed of horses for martial service; and in
+ his reign some of the most celebrated stallions were
+ imported.</p>
+
+ <p>"George, Prince of Denmark, was a great amateur of
+ horse-racing. He obtained from his royal consort, Queen Anne,
+ grants of royal plates for several places, among which Epsom
+ is, however, not mentioned.</p>
+
+ <p>"King George I. is not handed down to us as a sporting
+ character; but towards the latter end of his reign, the change
+ of the royal plates into purses of hundred guineas each took
+ place.</p>
+
+ <p>"In the 13th year of the reign of King George II., an act,
+ cap. 19. was passed, 'to restrain and prevent the excessive
+ increase of horse races.'</p>
+
+ <p>"By this act, after reciting 'that the great number of horse
+ races for small plates, prizes, or sums of money had
+ contributed very much to the encouragement of idleness, to the
+ impoverishment of many of the meaner sort of the subjects of
+ this kingdom, and to the prejudice of the breed of strong and
+ useful horses;' it was enacted that no person should,
+ thenceforth, enter and start more than one horse, mare or
+ gelding, for one and the same plate, prize, or sum of money.
+ And that no plate, or prize of a less value than 50<i>l</i>.
+ should be run for, under the penalty of 200<i>l</i>.</p>
+
+ <p>"It was also by the same act further enacted, that at every
+ such race, for a plate or prize of the value of 50<i>l</i>. and
+ <span class="pagenum"><a name="page331"
+ id="page331"></a>[pg 331]</span> upwards, each horse, if
+ five years old, should carry ten stone; if six years old,
+ eleven stone; and if seven years old, twelve stone. And that
+ the owner of any horse, carrying less than the specified
+ weight, should forfeit his horse, and pay the penalty of
+ 200<i>l</i>."</p>
+
+ <h4>(<i>To be concluded in our next</i>.)</h4>
+ <hr class="full" />
+
+ <h2>THE SELECTOR; AND LITERARY NOTICES OF NEW WORKS.</h2>
+ <hr class="short" />
+
+ <h3>THE FAIR OF MAY FAIR.</h3>
+
+ <p>The volumes of sketches of fashionable life with this quaint
+ title will serve to amuse a few inveterate novel-readers; while
+ occasional pages may induce others to take up the thread of the
+ narrative. The flying follies of high life, or rather, we
+ think, of affected ton, are hit off with truth and vigour, and
+ there is a pleasantry in the writer's style which is an
+ acceptable relief to the dulness of common-place details. We
+ shall endeavour to detach a scene or two, one, as a specimen of
+ "the art of ingeniously tormenting," and the incipient
+ waywardness of a newly-married pair.</p>
+
+ <p>"From the first months of his domestication with his wife at
+ Wellwood Abbey, Sir Henry Wellwood had intended, had
+ <i>longed</i>, to commence his little system of tender
+ remonstrance; but the slightest insinuation of a difference of
+ opinion was sufficient to fan the embers of Henrietta's
+ distemperature into a conflagration. The blaze was not strong,
+ indeed; for the lady had always been accustomed to find a fit
+ of wilfulness, or of affected despondency, more available and
+ becoming than one of hasty anger. But she was tolerably expert
+ in those piquant flippancies of speech which harass the enemy
+ like a straggling fire; and could contrive, when it suited her
+ purpose, to make herself as disagreeable as if her face had not
+ been that of a cherub, or her voice seraphic.</p>
+
+ <p>"'A woman,' quoth La Bruy&egrave;re, 'must be charming
+ indeed, whose husband does not repent, ten times a day, that he
+ is a married man.' Sir Henry Wellwood would have scoffed at the
+ axiom. The 'idol of his soul' was still an idol; although, like
+ the votaries of old, he had managed to discover that it was not
+ wholly formed of precious metals; that its feet were of clay!
+ He still fancied himself the happiest of mortals; particularly
+ when Henrietta, in her best looks and spirits, was riding by
+ his side through the Wellwood plantations, listening to the
+ project of his intended improvements;&mdash;or seated in her
+ boudoir sketching designs and modelling plans for his two new
+ lodges. Sometimes after dinner she would busy herself with her
+ guitar, and insist on his attempting a second to her Italian
+ notturno; sometimes she persuaded him to lend her his arm
+ towards the village, to assist in executing that easy work of
+ benevolence, the deplenishment of her silken purse. At such,
+ moments she was indeed enchanting;&mdash;and the fascinated
+ Wellwood was quite willing to echo the chorus of Mrs.
+ Delafield's visiters, that he had 'drawn a prize.'</p>
+
+ <p>"But the sands of life are not formed exclusively of diamond
+ sparks. Flint and granite mingle in the contents of the
+ hour-glass; and Sir Henry often found himself required to
+ listen to fractious complaints of old Roddington's innovations,
+ of Lawford's negligence&mdash;of roses that would not blow at
+ the gardener's bidding,&mdash;of London booksellers, who would
+ not send down the new novels in proper time,&mdash;of old women
+ who refused to be cured of their rheumatism, and young ones who
+ declined becoming scholars at her platting school. His own
+ misdemeanours, too, were frequent and unpardonable. He had a
+ knack of carrying off the very volume she was reading,&mdash;of
+ losing <i>her</i> place, and leaving his own marked by leaving
+ the unfortunate book sprawling upon its face on the table, like
+ a drunkard on the ground. He often kept her waiting five
+ minutes for her ride, or twenty for dinner; would stop and
+ detain her, in their walks, while he corrected the practical
+ blunders of some superannuated hedger and ditcher; had a trick
+ of whipping off the thistle-tops while driving her in the
+ garden chair, to the imminent indignation of her ponies; was
+ sometimes seen to nod after dinner, when the morning's run had
+ been a good one; and had an opinion of his own in politics,
+ which precisely reversed those of Lady Mandeville and her
+ coterie.&mdash;In a word, he was often very 'tiresome!' and
+ whenever the fair Henrietta was excited into pronouncing that
+ sentence on his proceedings, it was a signal for ill-humour for
+ the remainder of the day; or rather till the spoiled child
+ would condescend to be coaxed into a more satisfactory mood of
+ mind."</p>
+
+ <p>But we are more struck with the appalling fidelity of the
+ following scene in a tale named <i>the Divorcee</i>. The
+ heroine, Amelia, is married in early life to a Mr.
+ <span class="pagenum"><a name="page332"
+ id="page332"></a>[pg 332]</span> Allanby, "a man with
+ 10,000<i>l</i>. per annum, and a grey pigtail:" the match
+ turns out a miserable one: Amelia's dishonour by Vavasor
+ Kendal, her divorce, and Mr. Allanby's death are told in a
+ few pages&mdash;the guilty pair, Vavasor and Amelia, flee to
+ Paris, and we are introduced to this faithful picture of
+ Parisian vice:&mdash;</p>
+
+ <p>"The infirmity of Amelia's health served at least to release
+ her from those forced efforts of gaiety which had recoiled so
+ heavily on her feelings. Her day for vivacity was
+ gone.&mdash;In an atmosphere whose buoyancy is exhausted, the
+ feather falls as heavily as the plummet.</p>
+
+ <p>"But instead of commiserating the languor and feebleness
+ extending from the physical to the moral existence of the
+ invalid, Vavasor only made her dulness an excuse for flying to
+ the relief of society more congenial with his own tendency to
+ vice and folly. Lady Emlyn who in London was the leader of a
+ coterie devoted to the excitements of high-play,&mdash;a
+ coterie that felt privileged to inveigh with horror against
+ 'gambling,' because its members ventured their thousands on
+ games where cunning tempers the fortuities of chance,&mdash;on
+ the manoeuvres of &eacute;cart&eacute; and whist instead of the
+ dare-all risks of hazard and rouge-et-noir,&mdash;had now
+ removed her card-table from Grosvenor-square to a splendid
+ hotel in the Rue Rivoli; where she had the honour of
+ assembling, twice a week, a larger proportion of the idle and
+ licentious of the exclusive caste, than could be found in any
+ other suite of drawing-rooms in civilized Europe. Her
+ <i>salon</i> was in fact crowded with busy ranks of those
+ swindlers of distinction who, in opposition to their brethren
+ of lower pretensions, (the chevaliers d'industrie), ought
+ surely to be termed the chevaliers de la paresse. Among these,
+ the brilliant air and lively effrontery of Captain Kendal
+ secured him a warm acceptance; and by frequenting the circle of
+ Lady Emlyn, he had not only the gratification of escaping from
+ the insipid mediocrity of the home his vices had created, but
+ acquired the power of indulging in others which were now still
+ dearer to his heart.</p>
+
+ <p>"Vavasor Kendal was an expert player. Like other frigid
+ egotists, his head and heart were always at leisure; and his
+ successes had been the means, on more than one occasion, of
+ extending his means of disgraceful enjoyment. At least,
+ however, his career lay on the verge of a precipice; for
+ playing at a stake beyond the limit of his fortune, a single
+ faltering step might at any hour precipitate him into an abyss
+ of shame and ruin. Amelia was often tempted to doubt whether
+ she had more cause to dread that intoxication of triumph, which
+ induced him to still further excesses, or the reverses tending
+ to aggravate the violence of temper to which she was an
+ habitual victim. The fluctuating fortunes of the
+ gamester,&mdash;his losses or gains,&mdash;were equally a
+ source of suffering to herself. But the Carnival was drawing to
+ a close; she soon began ardently to wish that his sister might
+ grow weary of the increasing dulness of the French capital, and
+ migrate among other swallows of the season, in search of new
+ pleasures.</p>
+
+ <p>"Long had she been in expectation of an announcement to this
+ effect, when one night,&mdash;a cold cheerless night in
+ March,&mdash;Vavasor exceeded even his ordinary period of
+ absence. The habitually dissolute of Paris rarely keep late
+ hours. Vice does not form with <i>them</i>, as with the English
+ <i>roue</i>, an occasional excess, but is consistent and
+ regular in its habits. Captain Kendal usually returned home
+ between two and three; and Amelia was accustomed to sit up, and
+ by her own services lighten the labours of their scanty
+ establishment. It was <i>she</i>, the invalid, who was careful
+ to keep up light and fire for the tyrant of the domestic
+ hearth.</p>
+
+ <p>"But on this occasion two o'clock came,&mdash;three, four,
+ five o'clock,&mdash;and no Vavasor. Hour after hour she
+ listened to the chime of the gaudy timepiece decorating their
+ shabby apartment; and while the night advanced, in all its
+ chilly, lonely, comfortless protraction, shivered as she added
+ new logs to the dying embers, and as she hoped or despaired of
+ his return, alternately replaced the veilleuse by candles, the
+ candles by a veilleuse. She had already assumed her
+ night-apparel; and alter wandering like an unquiet spirit from
+ her own apartment to the sitting-room and back again, a
+ thousand, thousand times,&mdash;after reclining her exhausted
+ frame and throbbing head against the door of the ante-room, in
+ the trust of catching the sound of his well-known step upon the
+ stairs, she threw herself down on the sofa for a moment's
+ respite. But in a few minutes she started up
+ again.&mdash;Surely that was <i>his</i> voice, which reached
+ her from some passenger in the street below, some passenger
+ humming an air from the new Opera, according to Vavasor's
+ custom, when returning flushed with the excitement of success?
+ Again and hurriedly did she prepare for his
+ <span class="pagenum"><a name="page333"
+ id="page333"></a>[pg 333]</span> reception,&mdash;again
+ place his chair by the fire, his slippers beside it; and
+ stand with a beating heart and suspended breath, to await
+ the entrance of the truant. But, no! it was <i>not</i> him.
+ The wanderer had hastened onwards to some happier home. The
+ street was quiet again. She would take a book and strive to
+ beguile the tediousness of suspense.</p>
+
+ <p>"Dreary indeed is that hour of the twenty-four which may be
+ said to afford the true division between night and day; when
+ even the latest watcher has retired to rest, while the earliest
+ artisans scarcely yet rouse themselves for the renewal of their
+ struggle with existence;&mdash;when even the studious, the
+ sorrowing, and the dissipated, close their over-wearied
+ eyes;&mdash;and when those who 'do lack, and suffer hunger,'
+ enjoy that Heaven-vouchsafed stupor affording the only interim
+ to their consciousness of want and woe. The winds whistle more
+ shrilly in the stillness of that lonely hour. Man and beast are
+ in their lair, and unearthly things alone seem
+ stirring;&mdash;the good genius glides with a holy and
+ hallowing influence through the tranquil dwelling of virtue;
+ the demon grins and gibbers in the deserted but reeking
+ chambers of the vicious. Even sorrow has phantoms of its own;
+ and when Amelia found herself a lonely watcher in the stillness
+ of night, the kind voice of old Allanby,&mdash;the voice that
+ was wont of yore to bid her speak her bosom's wish that it
+ might be granted,&mdash;often seemed creeping into the inmost
+ cell of her ear. She could fancy him close beside
+ her,&mdash;taunting her,&mdash;touching her,&mdash;till,
+ starting from her seat, she strove to shake off the hideous
+ delusion. Sometimes the soft cordial tones of her
+ mother,&mdash;her mother, who was in the grave,&mdash;seemed
+ again dispensing those lessons of virtue of which her own life
+ had afforded so pure an example: sometimes the playful caresses
+ of her boys seemed to grow warm upon her lips&mdash;around her
+ neck. Yes! she could hear them, see them:&mdash;little Charles,
+ who, in his very babyhood, had been accustomed to uplift his
+ tiny arm in championship of his own dear mother;&mdash;Digby,
+ the soft, tender, loving infant, whose every look was a smile,
+ whose every action an endearment!&mdash;And now they appeared
+ to pass before her as strangers;
+ changed&mdash;matured&mdash;enlightened;&mdash;without one word
+ of fondness&mdash;one gesture of recognition!</p>
+
+ <p>"From such meditations, how horrible to start up amid the
+ dreariness of night, nor find a human heart unto which to
+ appeal for comfort,&mdash;a human voice from which to claim
+ reply in annihilation of the spell that transfixed her mind.
+ The cold cheerless room, the flickering light, the desolation
+ that was around her, struck more heavily than ever on her
+ heart. 'Oh! that this were an omen!' she cried, with clasping
+ hands, as she listened to the howling of the wind upon the
+ lofty staircase leading to their remote apartments. Drawing
+ closer over her bosom the wrapper by which she attempted to
+ exclude the piercing night-air, Amelia smiled at the thought of
+ the chilliness of the grave,&mdash;of the grave, where the
+ heart beats not, and the fixed glassy eye is incapable of
+ tears.</p>
+
+ <p>"'I shall lie among the multitudes of a strange country,'
+ faltered she; 'there will be no one to point out with officious
+ finger to my sons, the dishonoured resting-place of their
+ mother,&mdash;their <i>divorced</i> mother! Vavasor will be
+ freed from his bondage&mdash;free to choose anew, and commence
+ H more auspicious career. But for me he might have been a
+ different being. It is <i>I</i> who have hardened his heart and
+ seared his mind. And oh! may Heaven in its mercy touch
+ them,&mdash;that he may deal gently with me during the last
+ short remnant of our union!'</p>
+
+ <p>"A harsh sound interrupted her contemplations;&mdash;the
+ grating of his key in the outer door,&mdash;of his step in the
+ ante-room. Mechanically she rose, and advanced to meet the
+ truant who had kept her watching,&mdash;who had so <i>often</i>
+ kept her watching,&mdash;so often been forgiven. A momentary
+ glimpse of his countenance convinced her that he was in no mood
+ even to wish for indulgence. His brow was black&mdash;his eyes
+ red and glaring. After a terrified pause, she tendered him her
+ assistance to unclasp his cloak; but with a deadly execration
+ he rejected the offer.</p>
+
+ <p>"'Are the servants up?' said he sullenly.</p>
+
+ <p>"'Not yet.'</p>
+
+ <p>"'So much the better! I must be off before they are on the
+ move.'</p>
+
+ <p>"'Off? Vavasor!&mdash;for the love of Heaven&mdash;'</p>
+
+ <p>"'Be still! Do not harass me with your nonsense. I was a
+ fool to come here at all; only it may be necessary for you to
+ know explicitly to what you may trust for the future.'</p>
+
+ <p>"Amelia sank stupefied into a chair.</p>
+
+ <p>"'In one word, I am a ruined man. To-night's losses have
+ made me as hopeless as I ought to have been long ago. I have
+ lost&mdash;but no matter!&mdash;I know I played like a fool.
+ What is to be expected from a miserable dog like
+ <span class="pagenum"><a name="page334"
+ id="page334"></a>[pg 334]</span> me, who has thrown away his
+ prospects, and is harassed with all sorts of cares and
+ annoyances?&mdash;No matter!&mdash;To-morrow the thing will
+ be blown; and before my creditors get wind of the business I
+ shall be half way to Brussels.'</p>
+
+ <p>"'To Brussels?' faltered Amelia.</p>
+
+ <p>"'Of course it is out of the question hampering myself with
+ companions of any kind at such a moment. Besides, my sister has
+ only afforded me the means of getting out of the scrape, on
+ condition that <i>you</i> return to England to your family. I
+ have no longer the power of maintaining you; but if you are
+ inclined to co-operate in the only plan that can save us both
+ from starving, Sophia will secure you an allowance of fifty or
+ sixty pounds a year.'</p>
+
+ <p>"Amelia was silent.</p>
+
+ <p>"If not, you must take your chance; for I can do nothing
+ further for you. For Heaven's sake don't treat me with a scene;
+ for I have only a few minutes to pack up my property! The
+ fiacre is waiting; there is not a moment to lose. Well, Amelia!
+ what do you say?&mdash;I want an answer. Do you, or do you not
+ choose to go to England?'</p>
+
+ <p>"Amelia made an affirmative movement;&mdash;she could not
+ utter a syllable. And Vavasor instantly passed into his own
+ room to make his preparations for immediate flight.&mdash;She
+ never knew in what manner he took his last leave of her. When
+ the servants proceeded to their occupations on the following
+ morning, they found her insensible on the ground; but when
+ restored to consciousness, the continued absence of her husband
+ and a note of five hundred franks which he had deposited in her
+ work-box for the purpose of enabling her to quit Paris, served
+ to prove that the dreadful impression on her mind was not a
+ mere delusion of the night. Alas! she was soon compelled to
+ admit that she had looked upon him for the last time."</p>
+ <hr class="full" />
+
+ <h3>THE CABINET ANNUAL REGISTER FOR 1831</h3>
+
+ <p>Is a well-arranged digest of the history of the past year,
+ in a more concise and compact form than such matters are
+ chronicled in that woolly work&mdash;the Annual Register. The
+ Parliamentary Summary is brief but satisfactory, and the
+ Occurrences are copious enough for the most gossipping reader.
+ The volume has been produced in truly good style, is, in all
+ respects, cheap, and deserves encouragement.</p>
+ <hr class="full" />
+
+ <h2>Retrospective Gleanings.</h2>
+ <hr class="short" />
+
+ <h3>ORIGIN OF THE HOUSE OF RUSSEL.</h3>
+
+ <p>"The Russel family (say Britton and Brayley,) may date the
+ era of their greatness to a violent storm, which happened about
+ the year 1500, on the coast of Dorset; a county which appears
+ to have been the birthplace of their ancestors, one of whom was
+ Constable of Corfe Castle, in the year 1221. Philip, Archduke
+ of Austria, son of the Emperor Maximilian, being on a voyage to
+ Spain, was obliged by the fury of a sudden tempest, to take
+ refuge in the harbour of Weymouth. He was received on shore,
+ and accommodated by Sir Thomas Trenchard, who invited his
+ relation, <i>Mr. John Russel</i>, to wait upon the Archduke.
+ Philip was so much pleased with the polite manners and
+ cultivated talents of Mr. Russel, who was conversant with both
+ the French and German languages, that on arriving at court, he
+ recommended him to the notice of Henry VII., who immediately
+ sent for him to his palace, where he remained in great favour
+ till the king's death. In the estimation of Henry VIII. he rose
+ still higher; by that monarch he was made Lord Warden of the
+ Stannaries, Lord Admiral of England and Ireland, Knight of the
+ Garter, and Lord Privy Seal, and on the 9th of March, 1538,
+ created Baron Russel, of Cheneys, in the county of Bucks, which
+ estate he afterwards acquired by marriage. At the Coronation of
+ Edward VI. he officiated as Lord High Steward, and two years
+ afterwards, in the year 1549, was created Earl of Bedford. He
+ died in 1554, and was buried at Cheneys, where many of his
+ descendants have also been interred," &amp;c. &amp;c.</p>
+
+ <p>"Henry VII. (says Pennant,) often resided at Baynard Castle,
+ and from hence made several of his solemn processions. Here, in
+ 1505, he lodged Philip of Austria,<a id="footnotetag7"
+ name="footnotetag7"></a><a href="#footnote7"><sup>7</sup></a>
+ the matrimonial King of Castille, tempest-driven into his
+ dominions, and showed him the pomp and glory of his
+ capital." P.T.W.</p>
+ <hr class="short" />
+
+ <h3>COVENTRY CHARITY.</h3>
+
+ <h4><i>(For the Mirror.)</i></h4>
+
+ <p>Bablake Hospital, in the city of Coventry, was originally
+ founded in 1506, by Thomas Bond, Mayor. Part of this hospital
+ furnishes a residence for a number of boys, who are educated
+ and <span class="pagenum"><a name="page335"
+ id="page335"></a>[pg 335]</span> clothed in blue, through
+ the <i>justice</i> and benevolence of Thomas Wheatley,
+ Mayor, in 1556, whose servant, sent to Spain by him to
+ purchase some barrels of steel gads, brought home through an
+ unaccountable mistake, a number of casks filled with ingots
+ of silver and cochineal, which were offered for sale in an
+ open fair, as the articles alluded to, and bought as such.
+ This worthy ironmonger and card-maker made every possible
+ effort to discover the person who sold them, but without
+ success. He then honourably converted the profits to this
+ charity, to which he added part of his own property.
+ P.T.W.</p>
+ <hr class="short" />
+
+ <h3>CURIOUS PARLIAMENT.</h3>
+
+ <h4><i>(For the Mirror.)</i></h4>
+
+ <p>Acton Burnel, is a village in Shropshire, about three miles
+ from Great Wenlock, where a Parliament was held in the reign of
+ Edward I., 1284. Many of the Welsh nobles who had taken up arms
+ were pardoned by this Parliament, and the famous act, entitled
+ <i>Statutum de Mercatoribus</i>, was passed here, by which
+ debtors in London, York, and Bristol, were obliged to appear
+ before the different Mayors, and agree upon a certain day of
+ payment, otherwise an execution was issued against their goods.
+ The Lords sat in the castle, and the Commons in a large barn,
+ the remains of which are still to be seen. P.T.W.</p>
+ <hr class="short" />
+
+ <h3>FOUR LEARNED SISTERS.</h3>
+
+ <h4><i>(For the Mirror.)</i></h4>
+
+ <p>Sir Anthony Cooke, who was preceptor to King Edward VI., and
+ great grandson to Sir Thomas Cooke, Lord Mayor of London, in
+ the year 1462, was particularly fortunate in his four
+ daughters, who were all eminent for their great literary
+ attainments.</p>
+
+ <p>Mildred, the eldest, married William Cecil, Lord Burleigh.
+ She was learned in the Greek tongue, and wrote a letter in that
+ language to the University of Cambridge.</p>
+
+ <p>Anne, the second, was the second wife of Sir Nicholas Bacon,
+ Lord Keeper, and mother of the great Lord St. Alban's. She was
+ greatly skilled in Greek, Latin, and Italian, and had the
+ honour of being appointed governess to King Edward VI.</p>
+
+ <p>Elizabeth, the third, was first the wife of Sir Thomas
+ Hobby, ambassador to France, and afterwards, of John, Lord
+ Russel, son and heir of Francis Russel, Earl of Bedford. Such
+ was her progress in the learned languages, that she gained the
+ applause of the most eminent scholars of the age, and for the
+ tombs of both her husbands, she wrote epitaphs in Greek, Latin,
+ and English.</p>
+
+ <p>Catherine, the fourth, who was the wife of Sir Henry
+ Killegrew, was famous for her knowledge in the Hebrew, Greek,
+ and Latin tongues, and her skill in poetry. She was buried in
+ the chancel of the church of St. Thomas Apostle, in Vintry
+ Ward, London, where there is an elegant monument erected to her
+ memory, with an inscription composed by herself. Sir Anthony
+ Cooke lived at Gidea Hall, near Romford, in Essex, and had the
+ honour of entertaining Queen Elizabeth here, in the year 1568.
+ Mary de Medicis, mother of Queen Henrietta Maria, was also
+ entertained in this mansion, the night before her arrival in
+ London. P.T.W.</p>
+ <hr class="short" />
+
+ <h3>PARISH REGISTERS OF ST. BRIDE'S.</h3>
+
+ <p>At the great fire of London, nearly all the churches and
+ records were consumed, wherefore scarcely any registers are to
+ be found in the city of an earlier date than the above period.
+ In searching the muniments preserved in St. Bride's Church,
+ Fleet-street, for a history of that parish, Mr. Elmes, the
+ architect, discovered a few days since, that, although the
+ church was destroyed, the records were left uninjured. He has
+ accordingly brought to light a series of vestry books from
+ 1653, embracing regular accounts and entries of the calamitous
+ fire, and the proceedings of the parish authorities during that
+ eventful period, till the re-opening of the church for public
+ worship; together with register books of baptisms, burials,
+ &amp;c. from 1587, nearly eighty years before the fire,
+ continued without interruption to the present day. One of them
+ is a complete record of every meeting of the Committee for
+ rebuilding the present splendid church, from its commencement
+ to its completion, containing many curious items relative to
+ contracts with the workmen, their prices, &amp;c.; meetings
+ with Sir Christopher Wren, Mr. Hooke, and other eminent
+ persons, and the arrangement entered into for accommodating the
+ parishioners with pews and seats after the completion of the
+ church. There are also adjudications of property, settlements
+ of boundaries, and many other interesting documents of that
+ eventful period.</p>
+
+ <p>From the <i>Globe</i> journal.&mdash;(Mr. Elmes
+ <span class="pagenum"><a name="page336"
+ id="page336"></a>[pg 336]</span> will be recollected as the
+ author of a valuable Life of Sir Christopher Wren, published
+ a few years since in quarto, and of several practical works
+ on architecture. We are happy to learn that a kindred
+ enthusiasm to that shown in this great biographical labour,
+ has led him to undertake the history of one of the proudest
+ monuments of Wren's genius&mdash;the church of St. Bride.
+ Mr. Elmes may therefore be considered peculiarly fortunate
+ in his discovery of these relics, and his work will be
+ looked for with additional curiosity.)</p>
+ <hr class="full" />
+
+ <h2>The Gatherer.</h2>
+ <hr class="short" />
+
+ <p><i>Oriental Apologue</i>.&mdash;A blind man having
+ contracted a violent passion for a certain female, married her,
+ contrary to the advice of all his friends, who told him that
+ she was exceedingly ugly. A celebrated physician at length
+ undertook to restore him to sight. The blind man, however,
+ refused his assistance. "If I should recover my sight," said
+ he, "I should be deprived of the love I have for my wife, which
+ alone renders me happy." "Man of God," replied the physician,
+ "tell me which is of most consequence to a rational being, the
+ attainment of happiness or the attainment of truth?" S.H.</p>
+
+ <p><i>Honour</i>.&mdash;William the Third having insisted on
+ Lord H&mdash;&mdash;n's giving him his <i>honour</i> not to
+ fight a man who had given him a box on the ear, his lordship
+ was obliged seemingly to comply; but as soon us he was out of
+ the king's presence he fought the man. The king was, at first,
+ highly incensed at his breaking his word with him, and asked
+ him how he came to do so, when he had just given him his
+ honour. "Sire," replied his lordship, "you were in the wrong to
+ take such a pledge, for at the time I gave it you, I had no
+ honour to give." S.H.</p>
+
+ <p><i>Doll's Eyes</i>.&mdash;Insignificant as may appear this
+ petty article of commerce, it is well known to keep in employ
+ several thousand hands, and goes to show the vast importance of
+ trifles to a country of decided commercialists. Mr. Osler, an
+ intelligent manufacturer of Birmingham, gave the following
+ statement before the Committee of the House of Commons, in
+ 1824. "Eighteen years ago, on my first journey to London, a
+ respectable looking man in the city asked me if I could supply
+ him with doll's eyes, and I was foolish enough to feel half
+ offended; I thought it derogatory to my new dignity as a
+ manufacturer, to make doll's eyes. He took me into a room quite
+ as wide, and twice the length of this, (one of the large rooms
+ for Committees in the House of Commons,) and we had just room
+ to walk between the stacks, from the floor to the ceiling, of
+ parts of dolls. He said these are only the legs and arms, the
+ trunks are below, but I saw enough to convince me that he
+ wanted a great many eyes; and as the article appeared quite in
+ my own line of business, I said I would take an order by way of
+ experiment, and he showed me several specimens. I copied the
+ order, and on returning to the Tavistock Hotel I found it
+ amounted to upwards of five hundred pounds.'" SWAINE.</p>
+
+ <p><i>Eggs</i>.&mdash;The duty paid on eggs imported at
+ Ramsgate within the last three months, exceeds the sum of
+ 2,000<i>l</i>.&mdash;<i>(Morning Herald.)</i> The rate of duty
+ is, as stated in our last, l0<i>d</i>. on every 120 eggs.</p>
+
+ <p><i>The Druids and the Mistletoe</i>&mdash;Pliny, in his
+ <i>Natural History</i>, tells us, "The Druids held nothing so
+ sacred as the mistletoe of the oak, as this is very scarce and
+ rarely to be found, when any of it is discovered, they go with
+ great pomp and ceremony on a certain day to gather it. When
+ they have got everything in readiness under the oak, both for
+ the sacrifice and the banquet, which they make on this great
+ festival, they begin by tying two white bulls to it by the
+ horns, then one of the Druids, clothed in white, mounts the
+ tree, and with a knife of gold, cuts the mistletoe, which is
+ received in a white sagum; this done, they proceed to their
+ sacrifices and feastings." This festival is said to have been
+ kept as near as the age of the moon permitted to the 10th of
+ March, which was their New Year's Day. The common mistletoe was
+ the golden bough of Virgil, and was Aenea's passport to the
+ infernal regions. P.T.W.</p>
+ <hr class="full" />
+
+ <blockquote class="footnote">
+ <a id="footnote1"
+ name="footnote1"></a><b>Footnote 1:</b>
+ <a href="#footnotetag1">(return)</a>
+
+ <p>We hope this note may meet the eye of some of our
+ Yorkshire correspondents.</p>
+ </blockquote><br />
+
+ <blockquote class="footnote">
+ <a id="footnote2"
+ name="footnote2"></a><b>Footnote 2:</b>
+ <a href="#footnotetag2">(return)</a>
+
+ <p>Is not this a species of land-crab?&mdash;ED. M.</p>
+ </blockquote><br />
+
+ <blockquote class="footnote">
+ <a id="footnote3"
+ name="footnote3"></a><b>Footnote 3:</b>
+ <a href="#footnotetag3">(return)</a>
+
+ <p>By Mr. A. Aikin, in Trans. Soc. Arts.</p>
+ </blockquote><br />
+
+ <blockquote class="footnote">
+ <a id="footnote4"
+ name="footnote4"></a><b>Footnote 4:</b>
+ <a href="#footnotetag4">(return)</a>
+
+ <p>Marmion.</p>
+ </blockquote><br />
+
+ <blockquote class="footnote">
+ <a id="footnote5"
+ name="footnote5"></a><b>Footnote 5:</b>
+ <a href="#footnotetag5">(return)</a>
+
+ <p>See <i>Mirror</i>, vol. xiii. p 415.&mdash;One of
+ the best features of the establishment is the
+ gratuitous circulation of the library for twenty miles
+ round; the books being lent to any householder of good
+ report residing within twenty miles of the castle.</p>
+ </blockquote><br />
+
+
+ <blockquote class="footnote">
+ <a id="footnote6"
+ name="footnote6"></a><b>Footnote 6:</b>
+ <a href="#footnotetag6">(return)</a>
+
+ <p>This should be John Lenton, and the year
+ 1603,&mdash;See <i>Mirror</i>, vol. xvii, p. 181.</p>
+ </blockquote><br />
+
+ <blockquote class="footnote">
+ <a id="footnote7"
+ name="footnote7"></a><b>Footnote 7:</b>
+ <a href="#footnotetag7">(return)</a>
+
+ <p>There is an old (full-length) engraving of this
+ personage, and I am in the possession of one.</p>
+ </blockquote><br />
+ <hr class="full" />
+
+ <h3>SPIRIT OF NEW BOOKS.</h3>
+
+ <p>With the Next Number, A SUPPLEMENT of UNIQUE EXTRACTS from
+ NEW BOOKS of the last Six Weeks: with TWO ENGRAVINGS
+ Illustrating Washington Irving's NEW SKETCH BOOK.</p>
+ <hr class="full" />
+
+ <p><i>Printed and published by J. LIMBIRD, 143, Strand, (near
+ Somerset House,) London; sold by ERNEST FLEISCHER, 620, New
+ Market, Leipsic; G.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 11743 ***</div>
+</body>
+</html>
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