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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and
+Instruction, No. 565, 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, No. 565
+       Vol. 20, No. 565., Saturday, September 8, 1832
+
+Author: Various
+
+Release Date: April 25, 2004 [EBook #12147]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MIRROR OF LITERATURE, NO. 565 ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Jonathan Ingram, Bill Walker and PG Distributed Proofreaders
+
+
+
+
+THE MIRROR OF LITERATURE, AMUSEMENT, AND INSTRUCTION.
+
+Vol. 20, No. 565.] SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 1832. [PRICE 2d.
+
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+[Illustration: PERSIAN BATH.]
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The luxurious indulgence of baths in the East is generally known
+to the reader of travels, so as to render acceptable the following
+details. They are extracted from Mr. Buckingham's Travels,[1] and bear
+all the graphic minuteness of his entertaining pen.
+
+    [1] Travels in Assyria, Media, and Persia. H. Colburn, 4to.,
+    1829.
+
+The Bath is one of the principal ones of Kermanshah, an important
+frontier town of Persia. "It was entered by a porch, extremely clean,
+and neatly ornamented by painting and other devices on its ceiling and
+walls. This remarkable contrast to the low, dark, and foul passages
+which generally lead to Turkish baths, was a presage, upon the very
+threshold, of greater comfort and accommodation within.
+
+"When we reached the undressing-room, this prepossession was still
+further strengthened. Here we found a square hall, well lighted
+from above, having on three of its sides elevated recesses for the
+visiters, and on the fourth, the passage from the outer porch to the
+hall, and from this to the inner bath. At the angles of these raised
+recesses, and dividing their lower roof, which they supported, from
+the higher one of the central square, were, four good marble pillars,
+with spirally fluted shafts, and moulded capitals, perfectly uniform
+in size and design, and producing the best effect. In the centre of
+the square space, which these marked out, and on a lower floor, was a
+large marble cistern of cold water; and at each end of this, on wooden
+stands, like those used in our arbours and breakfast rooms, were
+arranged coloured glass jars, with flowers of various kinds in them,
+well watered and perfectly fresh.
+
+"The walls of this outer hall were ornamented all around by designs of
+trees, birds, and beasts, in fanciful forms, executed in white upon a
+blue ground. We undressed here, and were led from hence into the inner
+bath, where all was still free from everything offensive, either to
+the sight or smell. This inner room was originally an oblong space
+of about fifty feet by twenty-five, but had been since made into two
+square divisions. The first, or outer one, was a plain paved hall,
+exactly like the undressing-room, except that it had no side recesses,
+but its floor was level, close to the walls. There were here also four
+pillars; and in the square space which they enclosed in the centre of
+the room, was a cistern of water as in the outer one. It was on the
+floor of this that the visiters lay, to be washed by the attendants;
+for there were no raised seats for this purpose as in Turkish baths,
+and the great octagonal one, with its cold fountain, the sides and
+tops of which are ornamented with mosaic work of marble in Turkey, was
+here replaced by the cistern described.
+
+"The second division to which this room led, consisted of three parts;
+the central one was a large and deep bath, filled with warm water,
+its bottom being level with the lower floor of the building, and the
+ascent to it being by three or four steep steps.
+
+"As few pleasures are entirely perfect, so here, with all its general
+apparent superiority to the baths of Turkey, this was inferior to them
+in the most essential points. The attendants seemed quite ignorant
+of the art of twisting the limbs, moulding the muscles, cracking the
+joints, opening the chest, and all that delicious train of operations
+in which the Turks are so skilful. The visitors were merely well
+though roughly scrubbed, and their impurities then rinsed off in the
+large cistern above, from which there was neither a running stream
+to carry off the foul water, nor cocks of hot and cold to renew and
+temper it at pleasure, as in Turkey.
+
+"In place of the luxurious moulding of the muscles, the use of the
+hair-bag, or glove, for removing the dirt, and the profusion of
+perfumed soap, with which the Turks end a course of treatment full
+of delight, the Persians are occupied in staining the beard and hair
+black, the nails of the toes and fingers of a deep red, and the whole
+of the feet and hands of a yellow colour, by different preparations of
+henna. This operation is the most unpleasant that can be imagined. The
+Persians do not shave the whole of the head, as is usual with most of
+the Turks and Arabs, but, taking of all the hair from the forehead,
+over the crown, and down the neck, for about a hand's breadth,
+they leave on each side two large bushy masses depending over their
+shoulders. This, then, with a very long and full beard, in which all
+the people here take pride, is plastered with a thick paste, of the
+consistence of hog's lard, and not less than two pounds weight
+of which is sometimes used on one person. It possesses a strongly
+astringent and penetrating quality, and requires great skill in the
+use of it, to avoid doing considerable mischief. As the eye-brows are
+plastered with it, as well as the rest of the hair, and as it softens
+by the heat of the room and of the body, it frequently steals into the
+eyes, and produces great pain.
+
+"When all is finished, and the visiter leaves the inner bath, he is
+furnished with two cloths only, one for the waist, and the other to
+throw loosely over the head and shoulders: he then goes into the outer
+room into a colder air, thus thinly clad, and without slippers or
+pattens; no bed is prepared for him, nor is he again attended to by
+any one, unless he demands a nargeel to smoke; but, most generally, he
+dresses himself in haste, and departs."
+
+
+ORIGIN OF PSALMODY.
+
+
+In D'Israeli's _Curiosities of Literature_, there is an amusing and
+instructive account of the _Origin of Psalm-Singing_. It appears
+that Psalms in verse were first written by that elegant French poet,
+Clement Marot, the favoured court bard of Francis I., who was termed
+by his _un-envious_ brother poets, "the poet of princes." They were
+published at Paris, and the volume contained fifty Psalms, written in
+various measures, and, which, from the beauty of their composition,
+(some specimens of which we have seen,) appear to be worthy of the
+muse of Marot. This "Holy Song Book," as he entitled it, was "humbly
+dedicated to the powerful King of France," and being considered by the
+volatile French people as an amusing novelty, it sold faster than
+any book of that period. In fact, the printers could not supply
+impressions fast enough for the demand; and, as the Psalms were
+considered in the light of ballads, they were set by the people to
+popular tunes, and were commonly _sung_ as ballads.
+
+This good reception of Marot's Psalms induced the celebrated Theodore
+Beza to continue the collection; and another volume was printed,
+of which 20,000 were immediately sold: this was a considerable
+circulation, when we consider the few readers that then existed, in
+comparison with the number of readers in the present age. These had
+the advantage over Marot's of being set to tunes of greater spirit.
+Beza, in his preface, says, that "these Psalms are admirably suited
+for the violin and other musical instruments;" and our readers will
+learn, not without surprise, that through the instrumentality of
+the gloomy Calvin, these compositions were set to most beautiful and
+simple airs. He wisely took advantage of popular feeling to spread his
+religious opinions, through the means of melody, and, in furtherance
+of this plan, he engaged the most celebrated composers of his time
+to furnish tunes to these Psalms. At first, the scheme was not
+discovered: for Catholics sang the Psalms as well as Hugonots; but,
+when Calvin appointed these Psalms, with their music, to be sung at
+his meetings, there was an end to the solace of the dreary hours
+of the poor Catholics. Marot himself was compelled to quit Geneva;
+Psalm-singing became an open declaration of Lutheranism; and "woe
+to the poor wight" who was caught in the _diabolical_ act of singing
+these "pernicious Psalms."
+
+The history of Psalm-singing in our own island can be comprised in
+very few words. When the enthusiasm of the French in favour of their
+Psalms was at its height, one Sternhold, undertook to be _our_
+Marot, and wrote a Book of Psalms, which captivated the hearts of
+the Puritans, by whom they were practised at their chapels in the
+Protectorate of Cromwell, but were more particularly set and sung in
+the reign of Elizabeth. Psalms, about this time, were sung at City
+and Lord Mayors' feasts, and turtle-eaters delighted to honour
+Psalm-singers. Soldiers used them as stimulants to exertion on their
+march, and even on parade; and there was scarcely a regiment but could
+boast of its Marot. About this time, too, it was customary for the
+inhabitants of houses which had windows facing the street, to regale
+the passenger with the "holy songs" of Sternhold.
+
+E.J.H.
+
+    [By way of an appropriate pendent to our Correspondent's
+    paper, we quote the following excellent passage on Psalmody,
+    by the Rev. W.S. Gilly, in his _Memoir of Felix Neff_.]
+
+The effect produced by the words, or by the music, or by the
+combination of the two, is such, that the cultivation of psalmody has
+ever been earnestly recommended by those who are anxious to excite
+true piety. Tradition, history, revelation, and experience, bear
+witness to the truth, that there is nothing to which the natural
+feelings of man respond more readily. Every nation, whose literary
+remains have come down to us, appears to have consecrated the first
+efforts of its muse to religion, or rather all the first compositions
+in verse seem to have grown out of devotional effusions. We know that
+the book of Job, and others, the most ancient of the Old Testament,
+contain rhythmical addresses to the Supreme Being. Many of the psalms
+were composed centuries before the time of king David, and it is not
+extravagant to imagine, that some of them may have been sung even to
+Jubal's lyre, and were handed down from patriarch to patriarch by oral
+tradition. Nor did the fancy of Milton take too bold a flight when
+it pleased itself with the idea that our first parents, taught by
+the carols of the birds in the garden of Eden, raised their voices in
+tuneful notes of praise to the Creator of all, when they walked forth
+in the cool of the day to meet their God before the fall. But this is
+certain, that one of our Lord's last acts of social worship on earth
+was to sing a hymn with his disciples. Few, therefore, can be slow to
+understand, that if Christ and his disciples broke forth in holy song,
+immediately after the solemnities of the Last Supper, and just before
+the Shepherd was smitten, and the sheep were scattered; and if Paul
+and Silas sung praises unto God in their prison-house, congregational
+worship may always be the better for such helps. Add to these
+examples, the apostolical exhortation to the merry hearted to sing
+psalms, and the apostolical descriptions of the choral strains which
+resound in the courts of heaven, and we cannot but feel certain, that
+the services of the Christian church were cheered from the earliest
+times by hymns and psalms. "Those Nazarenes sing hymns to Christ,"
+said Pliny, in contempt. We thank him for recording the fact. The
+words of the Te Deum were composed by a native of Gaul, (for the use
+probably of one of the churches on the Rhone, or of the Alps) about
+the third century; and at the same period, men, women, youths of both
+sexes, and even children joined in the psalmody of the sanctuaries,
+in such cordial and harmonious unison, that a father of the church has
+well compared the sound to the loud, but not discordant, noise of many
+waves beating against the sea shore.
+
+At the time of the Reformation, sacred music, which had begun to
+run wild, was brought back to its first principles. The melodies of
+religious worship were rendered more heart-touching, by being set to
+words in the vernacular tongues, which every body could understand.
+Luther's hymn, "Great God, what do I hear and see," led the way. Henry
+VIII. hated the German reformer, and all that he did, but he burned to
+rival him in every thing, and he gave a stimulus to the public taste,
+by composing words and music for the service of the English church.
+In France, soon after the middle of the sixteenth century, when it was
+doubtful whether the nation would become Protestant or remain Roman
+Catholic, the pathetic tunes and devotional stanzas of the reformers
+obtained so great an influence over the minds of men, that the
+music of the temples, as the Protestant sanctuaries were called,
+to distinguish them from the Roman Catholic churches, became the
+fashionable melodies of the day. This taste found its way even to
+the court, and to the great alarm of the Romish party, some of the
+sweetest and most stirring of the psalms, which had been translated
+into French metre by Clement Marot, were set to music by Lewis
+Guadimel, and were constantly in the mouths not only of the Protestant
+families of the provinces, but of the ornaments of the saloons of
+Paris, and of the palace of the Louvre. It is said to have been quite
+astonishing how much this pious and simple device found favour for
+the Protestant cause, and induced people, who had never read Scripture
+before, to search the holy volume out of which those treasures were
+drawn, which so charmed their ears and their imagination. It is still
+the practice in most of the mountain churches to make sacred music a
+part of family devotion, and many of the tunes which Guadimel composed
+with such success are still sung to the praise of God. I can bear
+witness to the forcible manner in which these strains, rising to
+heaven from the lips of parents, children and domestics, quicken
+piety, and stir up the best affections of the heart towards God and
+man. I have seen and felt the effect produced by them in the humble
+dwelling of the village pastor, where none but human voices swelled
+the notes; and in the chateau, where the harp and the organ have
+mingled their fine sounds with the well modulated tones of an
+accomplished family of sons and daughters. My thoughts, at the moment
+I am writing this, are at Chateau Blonay, but most of the voices,
+which I heard there, are now silent in death! I am thoroughly
+convinced that family worship, and congregational worship lose a great
+auxiliary to piety, when there is not the power or the inclination to
+join in psalmody.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+LINES
+
+
+_Written after reading the Memoir and Poems of Miss Lucretia
+Davidson._[2]
+
+  Ev'n till thy latest hour, Lucretia! thou
+  Didst cherish _that_ which but consum'd thy frame.
+  'Twas _then_ it shone the brightest on thy brow,
+  Like the last flickerings of an earthly flame--
+  Yes, thy brain harass'd by deep toil, became
+  With all its fire, a tenant of the tomb,
+  And dim is now thine eye, Belov'd of Fame!
+  Thy cheek is pale--thy lip without perfume--
+  And there thou liest--the child of Genius--and its doom.
+
+  Like the proud eagle soaring to the skies,
+  Intent "the topmost arch" of heaven to scale,
+  When heeding naught that would oppose its rise,
+  It breaks with fearless nerve the tempest-gale--
+  And spreads its wings like a majestic sail,
+  Full on the bosom of the raging blast,
+  Thy spirit soar'd--but ah! too like us frail,
+  When the same breeze which bore it from the dust
+  Wing'd home the fatal shaft that tore its bleeding breast.
+
+  Would I could sing thy fame with thine own lyre,
+  Then should I breathe a more deserving lay,
+  A lay which every spirit would inspire,
+  And melt each eye to tears of sympathy;
+  But others at thy shrine, their tributes pay.
+  Offspring of Beauty! child of native song!
+  And I, ev'n I, would venture to essay,
+  To raise my lauding voice amidst the throng
+  Of those who weep thy loss--and who shall weep it long!--N.C.
+
+    [2] See Memoir, and specimens of her Poetry, _Mirror_, vol.
+    xiv. p. 340.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+SPIRIT OF DISCOVERY.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+IMPROVED RAW SUGAR.
+
+
+    [We find the following information communicated to the
+    _Literary Gazette_, apparently by the parties connected with
+    the improvement.]
+
+Considerable interest has been excited in the market by the
+introduction of an improved native raw sugar, which portends very
+great advantages to all who are engaged in this so long unprofitable
+branch of colonial and commercial intercourse. It is pure raw sugar,
+obtained direct from the cane-juice, without any secondary process
+of decoloration or solution, and by which all necessity for any
+subsequent process of refining is entirely obviated. It is obtained
+in perfectly pure, transparent, granular crystals, being entirely free
+from any portion of uncrystallisable sugar or colouring matter, and
+is prepared by the improved process of effecting the last stages of
+concentration in vacuum, and at a temperature insufficient to produce
+any changes in its chemical composition; the mode of operation
+first proposed by the late Hon. Ed. Charles Howard, and subsequently
+introduced, with the most important advantages and complete success,
+into the principal sugar-refineries of Great Britain.
+
+By this improved and scientific process of manufacture, the
+application of which to the purpose of preparing raw sugar from the
+cane-juice has now first been proposed, the most singular advantages
+are secured to the planter, in an increased quantity of sugar, the
+product of his operation, and in saving from the immense quantity of
+deteriorated material, uncrystallisable sugar and molasses, which
+were products of the former mode of operation, from the intense and
+long-continued degree of heat employed in the processes. The time
+and labour of the operation are also greatly decreased; the apparatus
+possesses the power to make double the quantity in the same space of
+time as the old method, and this is ready for shipment in four days,
+in lieu of three weaks, as heretofore. The sugar likewise readily
+commands an advanced price in the market to the planter of ten or
+twelve shillings per cwt.
+
+This improved sugar readily ensures a preference for all purposes of
+manufacture, solution, or domestic economy. It is a purer sweet, and
+of a richer mellifluous taste than even the best refined; it is not
+apt to become ascescent in solution; and, from its superior quality,
+it well answers all purposes of the table. In the manufacture of rum
+from the molasses, which are separated during the first process of the
+operation, there is no danger of deterioration in the production of
+empyreuma, and a far purer spirit is obtained than that made from
+ordinary molasses.
+
+This improved process is now in complete and successful operation on
+eight estates in Demerara. The general introduction of the process
+is considered by the best practical judges to ensure certain means of
+revivifying the spoiled fortunes of the planters, and to open a new
+era in the prosperity of those portions of the British crown, of which
+this forms the principal staple commodity of support.
+
+[According to Dr. Moseley, the art of refining sugar, and what is
+called loaf sugar, is a modern European invention, the discovery of a
+Venetian, about the end of the fifteenth or beginning of the sixteenth
+century. Sugar candy is of much earlier date, for in Marin's _Storia
+del Commercio de Veneziani_, there is an account of a shipment made at
+Venice for England in 1319, of 100,000 lbs. of sugar, and 10,000
+lbs. of sugar candy. Refined, or loaf sugar is mentioned in a roll of
+provisions in the reign of Henry VIII.
+
+The process of refining sugar _in vacuo_ is the most useful
+application of "the fact that liquids are driven off, or made to boil
+at lower degrees of heat when the atmospheric pressure is lessened or
+removed."[3] The first part of the process is to dissolve impure sugar
+in water, and after clarifying the solution, to boil off or evaporate
+the water again, that the dry crystallized mass may remain. Formerly
+this evaporation was performed under the atmospheric pressure, and
+a heat of 218 deg. or 220 deg. was required to make the syrup boil; by which
+degree of heat, however, a portion of the sugar was discoloured and
+spoiled, and the whole produce was deteriorated. The valuable thought
+occurred to Mr. Howard, that the water might be dissipated by boiling
+the syrup in a vacuum or place from which air was _excluded_, and
+therefore at a low temperature. This was done accordingly; and the
+saving of sugar and the improvement of quality were such as to make
+the patent right, which secured the emoluments of the process to
+him and other parties, worth many thousand pounds a-year. The syrup,
+during this process, is not more heated than it would be in a vessel
+merely exposed to a summer sun.
+
+    [3] Arnott's Elements of Physics.
+
+Lord Brougham, in his Introduction to the _Library of Useful
+Knowledge_, characterizes this as a process, by which more money has
+been made in a shorter time, and with less risk and trouble, than was
+ever perhaps gained from an invention; and as "the fruit of a long
+course of experiments, in the progress of which known philosophical
+principles were constantly applied, and one or two new principles
+ascertained."[4]
+
+    [4] Objects, Advantages, and Pleasures of Science. In the
+    first edition, the inventer is erroneously stated to be Edward
+    Howard.
+
+The scene of this discovery was, in all probability, the Deepdene,
+near Dorking, the retreat of the late Mr. Thomas Hope, the author
+of _Anastasius_. Here the Hon. Mr. Howard, brother of the Duke of
+Norfolk, resided at the commencement of the last century, and is
+stated to have enjoyed that philosophical retirement which may be
+described as the happy haven of a truly great mind. He planted a
+portion of the grounds, the greater part of the estate being so
+admirably disposed by nature as almost to forbid the fashioning of
+men's hands. At Mr. Howard's death, the estate descended to the Duke
+of Norfolk, who sold the property, in 1791, to the late Sir William
+Burrell, whose lady wrote the following lines, which are on a tablet
+in the grounds:
+
+    "This votive Tablet is inscribed to the memory of the
+    Honourable Charles Howard, who built an oratory and laboratory
+    on this spot: he died at the Deepdene, 1714.
+
+  If worth, if learning, should with fame be crown'd,
+    If to superior talents, fame be due,
+  Let _Howard's_ virtues consecrate the ground
+    Where once the fairest flowers of science grew.
+
+  Within this calm retreat, th' illustrious sage
+    Was wont his grateful orisons to pay,
+  Here he perused the legendary page,
+    Here gave to chemistry the feeling day.
+
+  Cold to ambition, far from courts remov'd,
+    Though qualified to fill the statesman's part,
+  He studied nature in the paths he lov'd,
+    Peace in his thoughts, and virtue in his heart.
+
+  Soft may the breeze sigh through the ivy boughs
+    That shade this humble record of his worth;
+  Here may the robin undisturbed repose,
+    And fragrant flowers adorn the hallow'd earth.
+
+                                                January 1792."
+
+
+The tablet is of plain wood--black letters painted on a white ground.
+It is an unostentatious memorial, which has been respected amidst the
+extensive alteration and embellishment of the grounds by the late
+Mr. Hope. To our minds, neither of the treasures of art which are
+assembled within the splendid saloons of the adjoining mansion, or
+sculpture gallery, will outvie the interest of this humble tribute to
+the memory of departed genius.]
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+THE LANDERS VOYAGE AND DISCOVERIES ON THE NIGER.
+
+
+The travellers, in embarking on the Atlantic, had solved the greatest
+problem in African, and even in modern geography;--one which had
+exercised the ingenuity and conjecture of so many learned inquirers,
+and in the efforts to solve which so many brave and distinguished
+adventurers had perished. This discovery divested the Niger of that
+singular and mysterious character, which had been one chief cause of
+the interest that it had excited--when seen rolling its ample flood
+_from_ the sea towards vast unknown regions in the interior. The
+circuit by which it reaches the Atlantic assimilates its character
+to that of ordinary rivers, without any much more remarkable windings
+than are found in others of similar length. It displays, however, a
+magnitude considerably greater than had been suggested by any former
+observation.
+
+We can now trace very distinctly, the entire line of this great river.
+Its source, though not actually visited, seems ascertained by Laing
+to exist in the high country of Kissi, about 200 miles in the interior
+from Sierra Leone. Thence it rolls through Foota Jallo and Kankan,
+where Caillie describes himself to have found it already a rapid and
+considerable stream. At Bammakoo, having received the tributary from
+Sankari in Manding, which Park mistook for the main river, it begins
+its course over the fine plain of Bambarra, where it forms a noble
+stream; and in passing Sego, the capital, has been considered
+as equalling the Thames at Westminster. Thence it pursues a
+north-westerly course, and flowing through the lake Dibbie, reaches
+Timbuctoo. Its course from that city to Youri has not yet been
+delineated; but the fact that Park navigated down from one place to
+the other, fully establishes the continuity. During this reach the
+Niger makes a great change of direction from north-east to almost
+due south. From Youri to the sea, it was navigated by the present
+travellers, and was found following generally a southern direction,
+though making in one part a rapid bend to the east, whence it
+gradually returns. If we measure two distances, one from the source
+to Timbuctoo, and the other from that city to the sea, we shall have
+nearly 2,000 miles, which may be considered as the direct course;
+and the various windings must raise the whole line of the stream to
+upwards of 3,000 miles. For several hundred miles of its lower course,
+it forms a broad and magnificent expanse, resembling an inland sea.
+The Niger must after all yield very considerably to the Missouri and
+Orellana, those stupendous rivers of the new world. But it appears at
+least as great as any of those which water the old continents. There
+can rank with it only the Nile, and the Yangtse-kiang, or Great
+River of China. But the upper course of neither is yet very fully
+ascertained; and the Nile can compete only in length of course, not in
+the magnitude of its stream, or the fertility of the regions which it
+waters. There is one feature in which the Niger may defy competition
+from any river, either of the old or new world. This is in the
+grandeur of its Delta. Along the whole coast, from the river of
+Formosa or Benin to that of Old Calabar, about 300 miles in length,
+there open into the Atlantic its successive estuaries, which
+navigators have scarcely been able to number. Taking this coast as
+the base of the triangle or Delta, and its vertex at Kirree, about 170
+miles inland, where the Formosa branch separates, we have a space of
+upwards of 25,000 square miles, equal to the half of England. Had
+this Delta, like that of the Nile, been subject only to temporary
+inundations, leaving behind a layer of fertilizing slime, it would
+have formed the most fruitful region on earth, and might have been
+almost the granary of a continent. But, unfortunately, the Niger rolls
+down its waters in such excessive abundance, as to convert the whole
+into a huge and dreary swamp, covered with dense forests of mangrove,
+and other trees of spreading and luxuriant foliage. The equatorial
+sun, with its fiercest rays, cannot penetrate these dark recesses; it
+only exhales from them pestilential vapours, which render this coast
+the theatre of more fatal epidemic diseases than any other, even of
+Western Africa. That human industry will one day level these forests,
+drain these swamps, and cover this soil with luxuriant harvests, we
+may confidently anticipate; but many ages must probably elapse before
+man, in Africa, can achieve such a victory over nature.
+
+The Niger, besides its own ample stream, has a number of tributaries,
+equal perhaps in magnitude and importance to those of any other
+river on the globe; with the exception of the united streams of the
+Mississippi and Missouri. At no great distance above the point where
+the Delta commences, the Tshadda, nearly equal in magnitude to itself,
+enters it; after watering large and fruitful kingdoms, of which the
+names only, and of these but a very few, have reached us. On this
+river an extensive commerce and active navigation is said to prevail;
+the existence of which is further confirmed by the great importance
+attached to Funda, and other cities situated at or near the junction.
+It would have been deeply interesting, and have given a new importance
+to the river communications of Africa, could we have believed, what
+was positively asserted by very credible witnesses, that vessels
+by its channel sailed to and from the lake Tchad, and thus held
+intercourse with the kingdoms of Loggun and Bornou. It seems certain
+that the names Tshadda, Shary, and Tchad, are one and the same. But
+the identity of the two first as rivers is what we are precluded from
+all possibility of believing, by the circumstance that the Shary of
+Loggun and Bornou, which Major Denham saw and sailed upon, was found
+by him falling _into_ lake Tchad, while the Tshadda of Lander fell
+_into_ the Niger; consequently they are distinct streams, flowing in
+opposite directions. It is very probable indeed that their fountains
+may be in the same mountain chain, and at no great distance; and even
+that some of their branches may approach very near, so that merchants
+may, by an easy portage, convey commodities between them. Nay, it
+is not quite impossible that they may be united by some connecting
+channel, as the Amazons and the Oronooka are; but this seems scarcely
+probable.
+
+At no great distance above the Tshadda, enters the Coodonia, a smaller
+river, but which Lander had seen flowing through a very fertile and
+highly cultivated country. Considerably higher is the Cubbie, a large
+stream from the country and city of that name; and higher still the
+Quarrama, which has passed by Zirmie and Sackatoo. Between this point
+and Timbuctoo, we have no means of knowing whether any or what rivers
+fall into the Niger. The tributary which passes that city is of
+no great importance; but at the eastern boundary of Bambarra, Park
+describes the influx from the south of two great streams, the Maniana
+and Nimma; and it seems very doubtful if Caillie was not mistaken
+in supposing the latter to be a mere branch of the Niger. The higher
+tributaries, descending from the mountains, swell the stream, without
+themselves affording any important navigation.--_Edinburgh Review._
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+NOTES OF A READER.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+LAURENCEKIRK SNUFF-BOXES.
+
+    [Probably one of the most amusing articles in Mr. Macculloch's
+    bulky _Dictionary of Commerce_ of 1,150 pages, is the
+    following account of the manufacture of the celebrated
+    Laurencekirk snuff-boxes. It is right, however, to explain,
+    that Mr. Macculloch only mentions these boxes here for the
+    purpose of giving the following details, not to be met with in
+    any other publication.]
+
+These beautiful boxes were first manufactured at the village of
+Laurencekirk, in Kincardineshire, about forty years since. The
+original inventer was a cripple hardly possessed of the power of
+locomotion. In place of curtains, his bed (rather a curious workshop)
+was surrounded with benches and receptacles for tools, in the
+contrivance and use of which he discovered the utmost ingenuity. The
+inventer, instead of taking out a patent, confided his secret to a
+joiner in the same village, who in a few years amassed a considerable
+property; while the other died, as he had lived, in the greatest
+poverty. The great difficulty of the manufacture lies in the formation
+of the hinge, which in a genuine box is so delicately made as hardly
+to be visible. Peculiar, or, as they are called, secret tools are
+required in its formation; and though they must have been improved
+by time and experience, the mystery attached to their preparation is
+still so studiously kept up, that the workmen employed in one shop are
+rigorously debarred from having any communication with those employed
+in another.
+
+About the beginning of this century, an ingenious individual belonging
+to the village of Cumnock, in Ayrshire, of the name of Crawford,
+having seen one of the Laurencekirk snuff-boxes, succeeded, after
+various attempts, by the assistance of a watchmaker of the same
+village, who made the tools, in producing a similar box; and by his
+success, not only laid the foundation of his own fortune, but greatly
+enriched his native parish and province. For awhile, the Laurencekirk
+boxes were most in demand; but Mr. Crawford and his neighbours in
+Cumnock not only copied the art, but so improved and perfected it,
+that in a very few years, for every box made in the north there were,
+probably, twenty made in the south. In 1826, the Cumnock trade was
+divided amongst eight master manufacturers, who employed considerably
+more than 100 persons. The demand at that time equalled the supply,
+and it was calculated that the trade yielded from 7,000_l._ to
+8,000_l._ annually,--a large product for a manufacture seemingly
+so insignificant, and consisting almost exclusively of the wages of
+labour. Plane is the wood in common use, and the cost of the wood in
+an ordinary sized box does not exceed 1d.; the paints and varnish are
+rated at 2d.; and though something is lost by selecting timber of
+the finest colour, the whole expense of the raw material falls
+considerably short of 1/2 per cent. on the return it yields!
+
+Snuff-box, like pin making, admits of subdivision of labour; and
+in all workshops of any size three classes of persons are
+employed--painters, polishers, and joiners. At the period alluded to,
+an industrious joiner earned from 30s. to 40s. weekly, a painter from
+45s. to 3_l._, and a polisher considerably less than either. When
+Mr. Crawford first commenced business he obtained almost any price
+he chose to ask; and many instances occurred, in which ordinary sized
+snuff-boxes sold at 2_l._ 12s. 6d., and ladies' work-boxes at 25_l_.
+But as the trade increased, it became necessary to employ apprentices,
+who first became journeymen and then masters; and such have been the
+effects of improvement and competition, that articles such as are
+specified above, may now be obtained at the respective prices of _six_
+and _twenty-five shillings_. While the joiner's part of the art has
+remained pretty stationary, that of the painter has been gradually
+improving. By means of the _Pentagraph_, which is much employed, the
+largest engravings are reduced to the size most convenient for the
+workman, without injuring the prints in the slightest degree; and
+hence a snuff-box manufacturer, like a Dunfermline weaver, can work to
+order by exhibiting on wood his employer's coat of arms, or in short,
+any object he may fancy within the range of the pictorial art. Some of
+the painters display considerable talent, and as often as they choose
+to put forth their strength, produce box-lids, which are really worthy
+of being preserved as pictures. At first, nearly the whole subjects
+chosen as ornaments, were taken from Burns's poems; and there can be
+no doubt, that the "Cotter's Saturday Night," "Tam O'Shanter," "Willie
+brewed a peck o' maut," &c. &c., have penetrated in this form into
+every quarter of the habitable globe. Now, however, the artists of
+Cumnock take a wider range; the studios of Wilkie, and other artists,
+have been laid under contribution; landscapes are as often met with as
+figures; and there is scarcely a celebrated scene in the country that
+is not pictured forth more or less perfectly on the lid of a Cumnock
+snuff-box. A few years ago, the art in question was much affected by
+the long-continued depression of the weaving business; so much so,
+that many left it for some other employment. And some of those who
+emigrated, having made a good deal of money, instead of being cooped
+up in a workshop, are now thriving proprietors in Upper Canada. But
+after a brief interval the trade rallied; and though prices are low,
+it is now more flourishing than ever. In Cumnock the number of hands
+has increased considerably, and in Mauchline there is one workshop so
+extensive that it may almost be compared to a cotton mill or factory.
+In other quarters the trade is extending, such as Helensburgh near
+Greenock, Catrine, Maxwelltown, Dumfries, &c. The principal markets
+for the snuff-boxes are London, Liverpool, Glasgow, and Edinburgh.
+At one time large lots of boxes were exported to South America, and
+probably are so at present. Cumnock, in a word, in regard to its
+staple manufacture, is in that palmy state so well described by a
+modern writer:--"the condition most favourable to population is that
+of a laborious, frugal people ministering to the demands of opulent
+neighbours; because this situation, while it leaves them every
+advantage of luxury, exempts them from the evils which accompany its
+admission into a country. Of the different kinds of luxury, those are
+the most innocent which afford employment to the greatest number of
+artists and manufacturers; or those in which the price of the work
+bears the greatest proportion to that of the raw material." Some very
+wretched imitations of Cumnock boxes have been produced in different
+parts of England; but they can deceive no one who ever saw a genuine
+box. The hinge, as well as the finishing, is clumsy in the extreme.
+
+    [Mr. Macculloch acknowledges himself indebted for this
+    curious and instructive article to his esteemed friend "John
+    M'Diarmid, Esq. Editor of the _Dumfries Courier_, one of the
+    best provincial papers published in the empire."
+
+    By the way, what a colossal labour must have been the
+    preparation of the above Dictionary. How it reminds us of
+    the words of poor, patient Antony Wood: "What toyle hath been
+    taken, as no man thinketh, so no man believeth, but he that
+    hath made the trial." Yet it has often occurred to us that
+    the compiler, or editor, as he is complimentarily called, is
+    barely treated with proper respect in these days. What is
+    all knowledge but a continued accumulation and comparison of
+    facts, by "following the example of time?" Yet, all this is
+    not _original_; but we ask, in what does the intellectual
+    originality of the present day consist? does it add a spark to
+    the minds of men which they cannot find in the labours of past
+    ages? New books (we mean new _original_ works) are like dull,
+    pointless flints; the reader cannot scintillate, strike-fire,
+    or _steal_ from them; they are mere changes of words, often
+    at the sacrifice of sense to sound. A flashy novel
+    would, perhaps, secure the writer more celebrity than Mr.
+    Macculloch's _Dictionary_ will obtain for him, though his
+    reputation for talent and industry want not the false glory,
+    the common-place praise--the dullest outpourings--of a very
+    dull perception. Perhaps the whole series of the Waverley
+    Novels might have been written while this Dictionary was in
+    course of compilation.
+
+    We heartily wish that Mr. Macculloch's work may become as
+    popular as it deserves. It will then enjoy extensive fame. It
+    would be difficult, perhaps impossible, to acquaint the
+    reader with its mass of well-arranged materials; its laborious
+    abstracts, documents, and information upon every point
+    that bears upon the main subjects, commerce and commercial
+    navigation, practical, theoretical, and historical.
+    It deserves to be the library of every counting-house,
+    manufactory, and workshop in the empire; it is, indeed, a
+    delightful relief to mere figures, and we should think better
+    of the man whom we caught dipping into its pages by turns
+    with his book of accounts: for, with Addison, we have no noble
+    opinion of a man who is ever poring over his cash-book, and
+    deriving all his ideas of happiness from its balances.]
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+COMPARATIVE MORTALITY.
+
+
+A curious official paper has been circulated, ordered by the House of
+Commons, showing the comparative mortality in many large towns, &c.,
+of the kingdom, from 1813 up to the present year. Among the towns
+included in this comparative calculation of mortality are, Leeds
+(town), Bradford, Holbeck, Beeston, Wigan, Preston, Norwich,
+Bolton-le-Moors, London, Bury, (Lancashire), Essex, &c. The result of
+the investigation of mortality may be concisely stated as follows:--Of
+children born there die, in Leeds, 53 per cent. under 5 years of age,
+and 62 per cent. under 20 years of age; in Bradford, 47 per cent.
+under 5, and 59 per cent. under 20 years of age; in Beeston, 39 per
+cent. under 5, and 52 per cent. under 20 years of age; in Holbeck, 50
+per cent. under 5, and 62 per cent. under 20 years of age; in Norwich,
+42 per cent. under 5, and 50 per cent. under 20 years of age; in
+Bolton, 49 per cent. under 5, and 61 per cent. under 20 years of age;
+in Wigan, 48 per cent. under 5, and 59 per cent. under 20 years of
+age; in London, 38 per cent. under 5, and 46 per cent. under 20 years
+of age; in Rutland, 29 per cent. under 5, and 37-1/2 per cent. under
+20 years of age, &c. It further appears, that in Essex, Rutland, and
+the metropolis, persons live to an advanced age in a greater extent
+than others.--_Morning Herald._
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+LEE, KENT.
+
+
+The rural village of Lee is situate six miles south of London, on the
+south side of Blackheath, and on the road to Maidstone. It is a place
+of considerable antiquity; and was originally written _Legheart_, and
+in old Latin, _Laga_, i.e. a place which lies sheltered. "The manor
+was held of Edward the Confessor by Alwin. William the Conqueror gave
+it to his half-brother, Odo, bishop of Baieux, and Earl of Kent, of
+whom it was held by Walter de Donay." In the time of the Confessor, it
+was valued at 3_l._ and in Domesday at 100_s_. Its extent is somewhat
+more than 1,000 acres. Hasted enumerates the successive lords, among
+whom were Lord Rivers, who was beheaded at Banbury in 1649; and his
+son, Anthony, Earl Rivers, who was beheaded at Pomfret, in 1483. The
+manor was purchased by Sir Francis Baring, bart., in 1798.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+[Illustration: _Lee Church and Parsonage._]
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The picturesque vignette includes the church and parsonage. The Church
+is in what is called the pointed style, or rather in humble imitation
+of antiquity, for it is a recent structure built on the site of the
+walls of the old church, but with the addition of side-aisles. Nearly
+two centuries before the erection of the present church, the villagers
+reported the old building to be in a state too ruinous to admit of
+repair: how long did its stability gainsay their judgment, while they
+were laid asleep about the walls. The church was an appendage to the
+manor till the time of Charles I., who granted away the fee of the
+manor, but reserved the patronage of the church to the crown, where it
+continues to this time. It was valued l5 Edward I. at 10 marks; in
+the king's books it is at 3_l._ 11s. 8d.; and the yearly tenths at 7s.
+2_d_. The parsonage has much of the snug character of the glebe-house;
+it was rebuilt in 1636, by the rector, the Rev. Abraham Sherman.
+
+In the church are some monumental _brasses_ and a handsome tomb of
+marble and alabaster. One of the former is to the memory of Nicholas
+Ansley, or Annesley, Esq. who died in 1593; with the following
+inscription:--
+
+  When the Quene Elizabeth full five years had rain'd,
+  Then Nicholas Ansley, whos corps lyes here interred,
+  At fyve and twenty yeres of age was entertayned
+  Into her servis, where well himself he caried
+  In eche man's love till fifty and eight yeres ould,
+  Being Sergant of the Seller, death him contrould.
+
+Above is an upright figure (on a brass plate,) of the deceased, in
+armour, kneeling at a desk. The latter monument is to Brian Annesley,
+Esq. (son of Nicholas) gentleman pensioner to Queen Elizabeth. It
+consists of an elliptic arch supported by Corinthian columns, and
+ornamented with a Mosaic pattern studded with roses. Beneath lie the
+effigies of Annesley, in armour, and his wife, in a gown and ruff;
+their son, and three daughters.
+
+In the churchyard, among the tombs, is that of Dr. Halley, who
+succeeded Flamstead as Astronomer Royal at Greenwich, where he died
+in 1741-2: Halley published a treatise on Comets, when he was nineteen
+years old; and first applied the barometer to measure heights. Here
+also lie William Pate, whom Swift, in his Letters, calls the learned
+woollen-draper: Sir Samuel Fludyer, bart., the courtly lord mayor;
+Parsons, the comedian, with this quaint epitaph:--
+
+  Here Parsons lies, oft on life's busy stage
+    With nature, reader, hast thou seen him vie;
+  He science knew, knew manners, knew the age,
+    Respected knew to live, lamented die.
+
+Bliss, the Astronomer Royal, who died in 1762, is also buried here;
+Charnock, the author of _Biographia Navalis_, a _Life of Nelson_,
+&c.; the amiable Lord Dacre, who died in 1794; and Mary, his relict,
+1808.[5]
+
+    [5] Lady Dacre visited her dear lord's tomb daily for several
+    years; at the foot of the grave she was accustomed to kneel,
+    and utter a fervent prayer. We can just remember seeing this
+    devout lady on one of these pilgrimages. She usually rode
+    from her mansion in the neighbourhood to the churchyard, on a
+    favourite poney, and wore a large, flapping, drab beaver hat,
+    and a woollen habit, nearly trailing on the ground. At home
+    she evinced an eccentric affection for her deceased lord: his
+    chair was placed, as during his lifetime, at the dinner-table;
+    and its vacancy seemed to feed his lady's melancholy.
+
+Harris says that Samuel Purchas resided at Lee, and there wrote a
+great part of his collection of travels, or "Celebrated Pilgrimages
+and Relations of the World."
+
+Among the grateful recollection of Lee we must not omit the
+alms-house, chapel, and school-house founded by C. Boone, Esq. in
+1638.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.
+
+
+THE VICTIMS OF SUSCEPTIBILITY.
+
+
+_BY A MODERN PYTHAGOREAN._
+
+
+Fortune, it has been truly said, is blind, and the same thing may be
+alleged of nature; for while there are some to whom the latter goddess
+has denied the commonest gifts, either of person or intellect, she
+has bestowed the most splendid upon others, with a prodigality which
+astonishes and perplexes the world. A beautiful person, and genius
+almost superhuman, fell to the share of Milton; nor can it be doubted,
+that in these respects the blind goddess was equally kind to the bard
+of Avon, whose presence, even judging from the imperfect, and somewhat
+apocryphal likenesses handed down to us, was noble to behold, while
+his genius more resembled that of a superior nature than of a
+human being. The same remark applies to the beautiful, the divine
+Raphael,--nor less to Tasso, and various others, whom we might easily
+point out.
+
+It will perhaps be deemed presumptuous, after naming those illustrious
+characters--those "demigods of fame"--to allude to Augustus Merton,
+who, although he obtained the distinction of first wrangler at
+Brazennose, Oxford, and carried off a multitude of prizes from that
+seat of learning, may yet be thought an inadequate testimony of
+the fact with which we set out, more especially when placed in
+juxtaposition with the Miltons, the Shakespeares, the Raphaels, and
+the Tassos of the world. We discuss not this point. We claim for
+him no equality with these august names; and yet, with all such
+reservations, do we set him forward as no unmeet proof of the
+soundness of our assertion.
+
+Merton was gifted with fine genius, and with a person all but
+faultless. In stature he rose to six feet, and was slightly but
+elegantly formed; while his whole air bespoke at once the gentleman
+and scholar. Those who have seen his fine Spanish countenance, dark
+eyes, and rich clustering hair,--the whole communicating dignity,
+grace, and interest to his natural melancholy,--will not soon efface
+his imposing image from their remembrance. His talents were of a
+highly-diversified order. He was a first-rate Grecian and had he
+turned his attention exclusively to that language might have contested
+the palm with Porson himself; nor do those who are best qualified to
+judge hesitate to place him upon an equality with Burney, Young
+or Parr. He was also an excellent Latinist, and had a profound
+acquaintance with geometry, and the other branches of mathematical
+science. For knowledge of the various eastern tongues he was no
+unequal match for Lee, of Cambridge; while his acquirements in natural
+philosophy, political economy, and metaphysics, were such as
+would have fairly entitled him to prelect on these subjects in any
+university in Europe. Besides this, he had an exquisite poetical
+genius; and, in his very first contest, succeeded in carrying off the
+prize of poetry, to the utter discomfiture of many formidable rivals.
+
+But, with all these high acquirements, he was not a happy man. He had
+been baptized in the waters of melancholy; and a circumstance which
+occurred in the fifth year of his curriculum had a baleful and,
+ultimately, a fatal effect upon him, dethroning reason from its lofty
+seat, and plunging not him only, but another estimable individual,
+in the deepest distress. This circumstance, painful as it is, we
+must relate; and, on perusing it, the reader will see that the noble
+aspirations, the keen susceptibilities, of the mind do not always lead
+to happiness; for, alas! it was such an excess of susceptibility in
+his intellect which disturbed so sadly the current of his ideas, and
+made him an inmate of St. Luke's.
+
+The weather at the period we speak of was truly melancholy. It was
+in the gloomy month of November,--that month in which it is said
+the suicidal propensities of the English nation are most strongly
+in force. The air was either filled with dull, sluggish, unwholesome
+fogs, which hung upon it like a nightmare, or soaked in a constant
+drizzle of small, annoying, contemptible rain-drops, which, without
+possessing the energy and dignity of a shower, were infinitely more
+disagreeable, and found their way to the flesh in spite of all the
+protective armoury of great-coats, hessian cloaks, or umbrellas. It
+seemed as if a wet blanket were drawn between the sun and the earth.
+The atmosphere was always foggy, often perfectly wet, but never
+thoroughly dry. It wanted vitality; and every person that breathed it
+partook of its own damp, hypochondriac, inanimate character.
+
+It was in the morning of one of those days of fog, gloom, and _ennui_,
+that Augustus last sallied out to lounge about the streets of Oxford,
+as was his custom, before breakfast. There was a favourite spot in
+which he was wont to walk; it was upon the footpath of a very short
+street, about the middle of which stood the shop of Jonathan Hookey,
+a barber. This street (we forget its name) is not above fifty yards in
+length, and opens at each end into a cross street. Now, Merton's walk
+extended from one of those cross streets to the other, including, of
+course, the whole extent of the short street; he always walked on one
+side of this street, viz. on that opposite to the barber's shop. These
+particulars may seem trifling, but they are essential to the proper
+understanding of the story.
+
+While making these morning perambulations, he had always an air of
+deep thought, his arms were crossed, and he kept his eyes constantly
+fixed upon the ground, as if deeply engrossed in profound meditation.
+It boots not now to inquire on what subjects his thoughts were mostly
+employed, but it was unquestionably on themes of deep import, and
+concerned not himself only, but the interests of science, learning,
+and humanity at large. The morning in question was peculiarly dull and
+foggy; but whether it was this or something else, certain it is, that
+he felt himself more than usually overpowered. The air oppressed him
+like a leaden shroud, and the energies of his soul seemed for once on
+the point of sinking beneath the superincumbent burden.
+
+Turn we now to Jonathan Hookey, the barber. In person he differed much
+from Merton. His height did not exceed five feet, but, he made amends
+for it in breadth; for he was a man of a lusty habit, and sported a
+paunch which no London alderman or burgomaster of Amsterdam would look
+upon with contempt. Bald was his head, and his nose was not merely
+large but immense; but it is idle to grow eloquent upon noses. Has
+not Sterne exhausted the theme? have not we ourselves more than once
+expatiated upon it? Swakenbergius had a nose, so had Ovidius Naso;
+but to neither would Jonathan Hookey's strike its colours, and good
+crimson ones they were.
+
+Jonathan, despite his bald head, his diminutive stature, his ample
+pot-belly, and ampler nose, was a man of fine feelings. Nature was
+outraged when he became a barber. He most assuredly was never destined
+by her to shave beards, and manufacture perukes for heads more
+brainless, many of them, than his own blocks. He ought to have been a
+professor of metaphysics or logic in some famous university, such
+as Heidelburg, Gottingen, or Glasgow;--but why lament over cureless
+evils? it is sufficient to say he is a barber, and there is an end of
+the matter.
+
+We must now return to Merton. His solitary walks on the opposite side
+of the street had not even, from the first, escaped the scrutinizing
+eyes of Mr. Hookey. No: he saw in the tall, pale, elegant, dark-haired
+student the victim of deep sensibility. From seeing him, he wondered,
+from wondering he loved him, from loving he adored him: he knew
+at once he was no common man. Having perused Byron's _Manfred_, he
+conceived him to be such another as that strange character; or he
+might be a second Lara; or, more, he might be, nay he was, a glorious
+genius, full of high imaginings. Little do we know what bright
+thoughts passed through the mind of the enthusiastic Hookey. He cursed
+his profession, which debarred him from the fellowship of such a man:
+he cursed his nose, which stood between him and the object of his
+adoration.
+
+Day after day had Mr. Hookey noticed the accomplished, the
+highly-gifted Merton; but it was only upon this particular morning
+that the recognition was mutual. Merton, on turning his eyes by chance
+from the ground, looked to the opposite side of the street, and there
+beheld _a nose_. He then turned his eyes to the earth in his usual
+meditative mood; but, reflecting that a nose without an owner was
+rather a singular phenomenon, he looked a second time, and there,
+behind the nose, he saw a man; it was Mr. Hookey himself.
+
+This was the first time that the melancholy and intellectual student
+reciprocated upon Hookey the attention which Hookey had hitherto
+bestowed exclusively upon him. No more was the barber's "sweetness
+wasted upon the desert air," but fell on one who knew how to
+appreciate it to its fullest extent. Merton stood stock-still, and
+gazed upon him with mute admiration. He was positively fascinated. The
+nose operated upon him like the head of Medusa, and almost turned him
+to stone. And Mr. Hookey was fascinated too. Merton also had become
+Medusafied, and exercised a petrifactive influence upon the barber. He
+was nailed fast to the threshold of his own door, and gazed upon his
+fancied personification of Lara and Manfred with an indomitable and
+resistless perseverance, which utterly confounded himself; while
+Merton, nailed alike fast to the opposite footpath, stood staring at
+his antagonist, or rather at his nasal protuberance. This impressive
+scene continued for several minutes, when Merton, regaining the power
+of locomotion, slowly approached the barber, his arms all the while
+crossed, and his eyes intently fixed upon the nose. Nine slow and
+awful steps brought him face to face with Hookey. The barber's eyes
+were fixed intently upon _his--his_ eyes upon the barber's nose. The
+scene was extremely dreadful; and Mr. Hookey, after vainly trying to
+keep his ground, retreated into the shop, still facing Merton, who
+kept advancing upon him as he receded. Back, step by step, went
+Hookey; forward, step by step, came Merton; each all the while eyeing
+the other with equal astonishment. The barber continued retreating,
+the other following him,--first through the shop, then through the
+kitchen, then through the parlour--the three apartments leading into
+one another. At last he got to the remotest corner of the parlour, and
+could get no farther. Here he paused, and Merton paused also. Still
+they gazed on each other,--the barber in the corner overpowered with
+amazement, and the student standing before him hardly less surprised.
+At last Merton broke silence in the following awful words,--"GRACIOUS
+HEAVENS WHAT A NOSE!" So saying, he retreated as slowly as he entered,
+leaving Mr. Hookey utterly stupified and bewildered. The sentence went
+like iron into the barber's soul; he felt it in all its bitterness.
+
+It is almost unnecessary to say what an effect this scene had upon the
+highly-susceptible temperament of Merton. From that moment peace fled
+his mind. He went instantly home; but instead of devoting himself, as
+before, to those studies in which he delighted, and in which he was
+wont so highly to excel, he immured himself in his chamber, giving way
+to gloomy abstraction, and agonizing his spirit with painful and most
+distressing fancies. The great power of his imagination caused him,
+in a peculiar manner, to suffer from the remembrance of what he had
+witnessed; and, accordingly, his waking as well as his sleeping hours
+were haunted with visions of noses,--noses of stupendous size, which
+arose, like ocean islands, amid the gloomy tabernacle of his brain,
+and filled him with utter despair. At last, from bad to worse, he
+became the mere shadow of his former self, the wreck of what he
+was, and a picture of fallen and shattered genius. To drive away
+the hideous phantasmagorias that tortured him, as with the stings of
+demons, he had recourse to gin, and soon became a confirmed drunkard:
+the next stage was lunacy; and he was confined for fourteen months in
+Saint Luke's Hospital for the insane.
+
+The fate of the barber was equally deplorable. The awful words
+pronounced by Merton may be considered his death-knell. They rang ever
+after in his ears; and, in a few weeks, his head was turned, his
+shop shut up, and himself sent to Bedlam. "_Gracious heavens, what a
+nose!_" This dreadful sentence--more dreadful than the hand-writing on
+the wall to Belshazzar,--haunted him by day and by night. Reason was
+dethroned, and "moody madness, laughing wild," was the result. Such
+are the frightful consequences of _extreme susceptibility_, against
+which the youth of both sexes ought to be constantly on their guard.
+
+The worst remains to be told. These unhappy men were liberated from
+confinement about the same time, and both returned to Oxford. They
+seemed to have recovered their reasoning faculties, but the result
+showed that this was very far from being the case; for, happening to
+meet on the banks of the Cherwell, they attacked each other with
+such fury, that, like Brutus and Aruns, they were both killed on
+the spot,--the barber having been _burked_ in the encounter, and the
+student having died of a wound which he received in the throat by his
+antagonist's razor.--_Fraser's Magazine._
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+THE LAST OF THE FAMILY.
+
+
+  I bid thee welcome to my father's halls,
+    But fled for ever is their wonted mirth,
+  Death hath been busy in these fated walls,
+    Casting dark shadows o'er our house and hearth,
+  The brave--the beauteous from their home have past,
+  And I remain of that loved band the last.
+
+  Thou wilt not now my gallant brothers greet,
+    Hiding amidst the glades with hound and horn,
+  Nor my fair sisters, warbling ditties sweet,
+    While gathering wild flowers in the dewy morn;
+  Evening will come, but will not bring again,
+  The song--the tale--the dance--the festal train.
+
+  I can but bid thee to my lonely room,
+    Where in fond dreams I pass my blighted youth.
+  Musing on vanished loveliness and bloom,
+    Man's dauntless courage, woman's changeless truth,
+  And scenes of joyous glee, or tranquil rest,
+  Shared with the early-lost--the bright--the blest.
+
+  Yet chide me not--mine is no impious grief,
+    Meekly I pray for Heaven's supporting grace.
+  And soon, I feel, his hand will give relief,
+    And the last sad survivor of her race
+  Quit this lone mansion for the home above.
+  Where dwell her happy family of love!
+
+_Metropolitan._
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+CONVERSATIONS WITH LORD BYRON.
+
+
+_BY THE COUNTESS OF BLESSINGTON_.
+
+
+It is difficult to judge when Lord Byron is serious or not. He has
+a habit of mystifying, that might impose upon many; but that can be
+detected by examining his physiognomy; for a sort of mock gravity, now
+and then broken by a malicious smile, betrays when he is speaking for
+effect, and not giving utterance to his real sentiments. If he
+sees that he is detected, he appears angry for a moment, and then
+laughingly admits, that it amuses him to _hoax_ people, as he calls
+it, and that when each person, at some future day, will give their
+different statements of him, they will be so contradictory, that _all_
+will be doubted,--an idea that gratifies him exceedingly! The mobility
+of his nature is extraordinary, and makes him inconsistent in his
+actions as well as in his conversation.
+
+Byron spoke to-day in terms of high commendation of Hope's
+"Anastasius;" said that he wept bitterly over many pages of it, and
+for two reasons, first, that _he_ had not written it, and secondly,
+that _Hope_ had; for that it was necessary to like a man excessively
+to pardon his writing such a book--a book, as he said, excelling all
+recent productions, as much in wit and talent, as in true pathos. He
+added, that he would have given his two most approved poems to have
+been the author of "Anastasius."
+
+From "Anastasius" he wandered to the works of Mr. Galt, praised the
+"Annals of the Parish" very highly, as also "the Entail," which we had
+lent him, and some scenes of which he said had affected him very much.
+"The characters in Mr. Galt's novels have an identity," added Byron,
+"that reminds me of Wilkie's pictures."
+
+As a woman, I felt proud of the homage he paid to the genius of Mrs.
+Hemans, and as a passionate admirer of her poetry, I felt flattered,
+at finding that Lord Byron fully sympathized with my admiration. He
+has, or at least expresses a strong dislike to the Lake school of
+poets, never mentions them except in ridicule, and he and I nearly
+quarrelled to-day because I defended poor Keats.
+
+On looking out from the balcony this morning, I observed Byron's
+countenance change, and an expression of deep sadness steal over it.
+After a few minutes silence he pointed out to me a boat anchored to
+the right, as the one in which his friend Shelley went down, and he
+said the sight of it made him ill.--"You should have known Shelley
+(said Byron) to feel how much I must regret him. He was the most
+gentle, most amiable, and _least_ worldly-minded person I ever met;
+full of delicacy, disinterested beyond all other men, and possessing a
+degree of genius, joined to a simplicity, as rare as it is admirable.
+He had formed to himself a _beau ideal_ of all that is fine,
+high-minded, and noble, and he acted up to this ideal even to the
+very letter. He had a most brilliant imagination but a total want of
+worldly-wisdom. I have seen nothing like him, and never shall again,
+I am certain. I never can forget the night that his poor wife rushed
+into my room at Pisa, with a face pale as marble, and terror impressed
+on her brow, demanding, with all the tragic impetuosity of grief and
+alarm, where was her husband! Vain were all our efforts to calm her;
+a desperate sort of courage seemed to give her energy to confront the
+horrible truth that awaited her; it was the courage of despair; I have
+seen nothing in tragedy on the stage so powerful, or so affecting,
+as her appearance, and it often presents itself to my memory. I knew
+nothing then of the catastrophe, but the vividness of her terror
+communicated itself to me, and I feared the worst, which fears, were
+alas! too soon fearfully realized."
+
+Byron talked to-day of Leigh Hunt, regretted his ever having embarked
+in the "Liberal," and said that it had drawn a nest of hornets on him,
+but expressed a very good opinion of the talents and principle of Mr.
+Hunt, though, as he said, "our tastes are so opposite, that we are
+totally unsuited to each other. He admires the Lakers, I abhor them;
+in short, we are more formed to be friends at a distance, than near."
+I can perceive that he wishes Mr. Hunt and his family away. It appears
+to me that Byron is a person who, without reflection, would form
+engagements which, when condemned by his friends or advisers, he would
+gladly get out of without considering the means, or at least, without
+reflecting on the humiliation such a desertion must inflict on the
+persons he had associated with him. He gives me the idea of a
+man, who, feeling himself in such a dilemma, would become cold and
+ungracious to the parties with whom he so stood, before he had mental
+courage sufficient to abandon them. I may be wrong, but the whole of
+his manner of talking of Mr. Hunt gives me this impression, though he
+has not said what might be called an unkind word of him.
+
+Much as Byron has braved public opinion it is evident he has a great
+deference for those who stand high in it, and that he is shy
+in attaching himself publicly to persons who have even, however
+undeservedly, fallen under its censure. His expressed contempt and
+defiance of the world, reminds me of the bravadoes of children, who,
+afraid of darkness, make a noise to give themselves courage to support
+what they dread. It is very evident that he is partial to aristocratic
+friends, he dwells with complacency on the advantages of rank and
+station, and has more than once boasted that people of family are
+always to be recognised by a _certain air_, and the smallness and
+delicacy of their hands.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+NEW BOOKS.
+
+
+THE PRIVATE CORRESPONDENCE OF A WOMAN OF FASHION.
+
+
+    [This work is, to our thinking, what it professes to be, an
+    actual correspondence, and from the pen of a lady who, as her
+    motto states--"writes of countries and their societies as she
+    finds them, and as they strike her imagination." There is much
+    good sense in her letters, and less aristocratic affectation
+    than might be expected. The subjects are of the most
+    miscellaneous description. Her pen is what the small critics
+    call eminently graphic: in short, the work is one of the
+    pleasantest of the season. To be more explicit, it consists of
+    letters written between June, 1814, and December, 1816;
+    dated from South Lancing, (near Worthing), Rouen, Paris, and
+    Brussels; and the writer's _domicile_, Hampton Court. The most
+    interesting portion of the work is the gossip it contains on
+    the _state of things_ in the French capital, on the return
+    of Napoleon, in 1815, and in Brussels, before and after
+    the battle of Waterloo. Nevertheless, as the whole is
+    indiscribably discursive, so must be our quotations.]
+
+_Arundel Castle._--Arundel Castle did not gratify my expectations
+although the _coup d'oeil_, taking the structure _en masse_, is
+imposing, and it has an advantageous position on the banks of the
+river Arun. The Castle has undergone modern alterations in bad taste;
+the details are of that description of the ornamental gothic, which
+appear to me to throw severe criticism on the abilities of the
+architect; and, as a family residence, its interior is neither grand
+nor comfortable. From its commanding site and vicinity to the Roman
+villa, it was probably a Roman station previous to its becoming a
+Saxon residence. The walls and Norman gateway are fine. The massive
+keep, ponderous in stability, has the characteristic marks of the
+twelfth century, and is a noble ruin. It is called King Alfred's Keep;
+and with what hallowed feelings of reverence must a _locale_ ever
+be approached which bears the name of that illustrious monarch! The
+present occupants are an assemblage of German owls, of varied species;
+they look analagous with the venerable ruin.
+
+The castle contains a few curious portraits of the illustrious race of
+Howard, which have an interest also from the distinguished parts that
+family have played in English history. There is one of Henry Howard,
+Earl of Surrey, so famous for his talents in state affairs, and for
+his bravery in the field. He is represented standing under a noble
+gateway. The picture is moreover valuable as a work of art.[6]
+
+    [6] Surrey's accomplishments and political talents, and his
+    bravery in the battle-field, cast additional splendour over
+    the house of Howard; and his violent death, another stain on
+    the tyranny of Henry VIII.
+
+Some richly-wrought chalices[7] and censers, and other symbolic
+emblems of the Roman Catholic religion are there, but I imagine little
+prized by the present noble possessor; for at the age of twenty-seven,
+he became a convert to the Protestant faith. Whether conviction, or
+ambition to serve his country as a legislator were his motives, it is
+not for man to judge: but he is unlike his ancestor, Philip
+Howard, Earl of Arundel, who, braving the power of Queen Elizabeth,
+disregarded her favour, and almost merited the title of martyr from
+the persecutions she heaped upon him for having abjured the Protestant
+worship, although educated in it by his father, the attainted Duke of
+Norfolk, in despite of Mary and her Spanish consort, who was likewise
+his sponsor.
+
+    [7] Several of these splendid emblems of the Roman Catholic
+    faith the late duke gave to his worthy kinsman, the present
+    possessor of C----y Castle; and they decorate his house
+    in London, amidst some _chef d'oeuvres_ of the old Italian
+    masters, which his good taste selected in Italy.
+
+_The late Queen Caroline._--A servant entered in haste to induce me to
+go down to the sea-shore, and witness the embarkation of the P----ss
+of W----s. I immediately sallied forth, and found her r----l h----ss
+seated on the shingles, the _adopted boy_ at her feet; and on her left
+sat, with the skirts of his coat spread under his r----l mistress,
+to protect her from the stones, our old ally Sir W----m G----l. The
+frigate had arrived off Worthing some days previous, commanded by
+the handsome Captain K----g; but her r----l h----ss was deterred from
+embarking there by a numerous assemblage of John Bulls, their wives,
+and babes, who were so rude and impetuous, as to terrify and induce
+her to take refuge on a less populous shore. The lively and merry Lady
+C---- L----y, and the less pleasing Lady E---- F--s, with two foreign
+women, Major S--r, and the odious S----o, composed her suite. Her
+r----l h----ss was habited in light green cloth, embroidered in
+silver, a Prussian cap of green satin, with a splendid plume of
+green feathers: the crown of the cap was conical, giving her an air
+something resembling Mother Shipton. Terror and dismay were depicted
+on her countenance, with all the varieties of unhappy feelings--not a
+smile played over her features--her voice was tremulous, and her
+brow contracted into one deep furrow--she was highly rouged, and her
+eyebrows pencilled with a broad line of black chalk--never was any
+person's appearance less formed to inspire interest!
+
+Sir W----m forgot his usual indifferent manner on seeing me, and put
+on one of his comic expressions. In the impulse of the moment, I was
+on the point of addressing him, but fortunately recovered my presence
+_d'esprit_, and did not commit such a breach of etiquette, although
+there was such a total deficiency of r----l dignity in the group that
+I might almost have been excused. In half an hour the cutter put off
+from the frigate: Captain K--g came from W---- by land, and apologized
+for the delay. Her r----l h----ss replied in a tremulous voice "Never
+mind!" A small group of persons kept a respectful distance and a
+profound silence. One old man blessed her and wished her a
+safe return--when her footman burst into tears. The ocean raged
+tempestuous, as if in the spirit of anger, and the boat could not
+reach the shore. Her r----l h----ss was obliged to enter a pony cart,
+and her coachman drove it with difficulty through the billows. With
+some exertion Captain K--g and his lieutenant dragged her unwieldy
+form into the barge: the P----ss went first, Lady E. F----s followed,
+and then the _tin box_: our knight went last; he came up to me,
+squeezed my hand affectionately, whispered a saucy adieu, and jumped
+into the boat. Such was the embarkation of the P----ss of W----s, and
+so passed away the illustrious consort of the heir apparent of these
+realms.
+
+[WE SHALL RETURN TO THESE AMUSING VOLS.]
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+EGYPTIAN PYRAMIDS AND HINDOO TEMPLES COMPARED.
+
+
+The most common form of the Hindoo pagodas[8] is the pyramidal,
+of which one of the most remarkable is that of Chalembaram, on the
+Coromandel coast, about thirty-four geographical miles south of
+Pondicherry, and seven from the sea.
+
+    [8] The word pagoda is a corruption of _Bhagavati_, "holy
+    house," one of the several names by which the Hindoo temples
+    are known.
+
+The whole temple, with its attached buildings covers an area of
+1,332 feet by 936, (according to others 1,230 feet by 960,) and is
+surrounded with a brick wall[9] 30 feet high and 7 thick, round which
+there is another wall furnished with bastions. The four entrances are
+under as many pyramids, which, up to the top of the portal, 30 feet in
+height, are formed of free-stone, ornamented with sculptured figures.
+Above the portal, the pyramid is built of tiles or bricks, to the
+height of 150 feet, with a coat of cement upon it, which is covered
+with plates of copper, and ornaments of baked clay. On passing through
+the chief portico of the western propylaea, we see on the left an
+enormous hall with more than 1,000 pillars, which are above 36 feet
+high, and covered over with slabs of stone; this hall might have
+served as a gallery for the priests to walk about in, just like
+the hypostyle halls of the Egyptian temples. In the midst of these
+columns, and surrounded by them, is a temple called that of eternity.
+On the right or south side, we see the chief temple, with halls of
+several hundred pillars at the east and west end, also supporting a
+flat roof of stone. The pagoda itself rests on a basis 360 feet long
+and 260 broad, and rises to a surprising height. It is formed of
+blocks of stone 40 feet long, 4 feet wide, and 5 thick, which must
+have been brought, about 200[10] miles, as there are no stone quarries
+in the neighbourhood. The temple has a peristyle round it; and
+thirty-six of the pillars, which are placed in six rows, and form
+the portico, support a roof of smooth blocks. The columns are 30 feet
+high, and resemble the old Ionic pillar. The whole pyramid surpasses
+in size St. Paul's church in London, the latter being only 474[11]
+feet long and 207 wide. The roof of the pyramid has a copper casing
+covered with reliefs referring to mythical subjects; the gilding which
+was once on it is still visible. In the middle of the courtyard there
+is a great tank, surrounded with a gallery of pillars and also an
+enclosure round it of marble, well polished and ornamented with
+sculptures and arabesques. In the eastern part there is still another
+court surrounded with a wall, on the inside of which is a colonnade
+covered with large slabs of stone. Here also there is a pagoda, which
+is but little inferior in size to the larger one; but it contains only
+large dark chambers covered with sculptures, which have reference
+to the worship of certain deities, particularly Vishnu. The interior
+ornaments are in harmony with the whole; from the nave of one of
+the pyramids there hang, on the tops of four buttresses, festoons of
+chains, in length altogether 548 feet, made of stone. Each garland,
+consisting of twenty links, is made of one piece of stone 60
+feet long; the links themselves are monstrous rings 32 inches in
+circumference, and polished as smooth as glass. One chain is broken,
+and hangs down from the pillar. In the neighbourhood of the pagodas
+there are usually tanks and basins lined with cement, or buildings
+attached for the purpose of lodging pilgrims who come from a distance.
+It is, however, often the case that the adjoining buildings, as well
+as the external ornaments in general, are in bad taste, and the work
+of a later age than the pagoda itself.
+
+    [9] The outer wall is brick cased with stone: the inner is all
+    of stone. The four sides are turned respectively to the four
+    cardinal points,--Heeren, India, p. 74.
+
+    [10] Fifty meilen.
+
+    [11] These dimensions are not exact, even making allowance for
+    Berlin feet.
+
+The pyramidical entrances of the Indian pagodas are analogous to the
+Egyptian propyla, while the large pillared rooms which support a flat
+roof of stone, are found frequently in the temples of both countries.
+Among the numerous divisions of the excavations of Ellora, there is
+an upper story of the _Dasavatara_, or the temple of Vishnu's
+incarnations, the roof of which is supported by sixty-four square
+based pillars, eight in each row. This chamber is about 100 feet wide,
+and somewhat deeper, and as to general design may be compared with the
+excavated chambers of Egypt, which are supported by square columns.
+The massy materials, the dark chambers, and the walls covered with
+highly wrought sculptures; and the tanks near the temples, with their
+enclosure of stone, and the steps for the pilgrims, are also equally
+characteristic of a pagoda and an Egyptian temple. To this we may
+add the high thick wall, of a rectangular form, carried all round the
+sacred spot: it is, however, principally the massy structure of
+these surrounding walls which forms the point of comparison, as Greek
+temples also had a wall enclosing the sacred ground, and the temples
+and churches of all countries are as a general rule separated from
+unhallowed ground, if not by strong walls at least by some mark which
+determines the extent of the sacred precincts. Yet there is a further
+resemblance worth noticing between some of these Hindoo pagodas and
+the great temple of Phtha at Memphis. The Egyptian temple had four
+chief entrances, or propyla, turned to the four cardinal points of the
+compass; which is also the case with the pagoda of Chalembaram,
+with another at Siringam, and probably others also. The pagoda of
+Chalembaram, according to Indian tradition, is one of the oldest in
+their country, and this opinion is confirmed by the appearance of the
+principal temple contained within the walls; but other parts, such as
+the pyramidal entrances, the highly finished sculptures, and the chain
+festoons, must be the work of a later date. It seems probable then
+that this enormous religious edifice was the growth of many ages,
+each adding something to enlarge and perfect the work of former
+days.--_Lib. Ent. Knowledge._
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+    I look upon indolence as a sort of suicide; for the man is
+    efficiently destroyed, though the appetite of the brute may
+    survive.--_Lord Chesterfield._
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+THE GATHERER
+
+
+_A true Abernethian._--"An old country curate," says Zimmerman, "who
+had all his life resided upon a lofty mountain in the Canton of Berne,
+was one day presented with a moor-cock. A consultation took place in
+what manner it should be disposed of--at last it was agreed to bury it
+in the garden!"
+
+      _Epitaph on a notorious Liar_.
+
+  I always _lied_ and _lied_ till death,
+  But now I _lie_ for want of breath.
+
+_Castanets_ are small wooden rattles, made in the shape of two bowls
+or cups, fitted together, and tied by a string, and then fastened to
+the thumbs. The fingers being rapidly struck upon them, a tremulous
+sound is produced, which marks exactly the measure of the dance.
+Something similar to this was the _crotalon_ of the ancients, who also
+made use of small cymbals in their dances and festivals in honour of
+Bacchus. It is probable, however, that they had their origin in the
+East, and were brought by the Moors into Spain. Here too they received
+their name _castennalas_, from being commonly made of the wood of the
+chestnut, (_castano_) or from their colour. They are still common in
+Spain, and here and there in the South of France. In this country they
+are common in stage dances only.
+
+_Cannon_ were formerly dignified with great names. Twelve cast by
+Louis XII. were called after the twelve peers of France. Charles V.
+had twelve, which he called the Twelve Apostles. One at Bois-le-Duc
+is called the Devil; a sixty-pounder at Dover Castle, is named Queen
+Elizabeth's Pocket Pistol; an eighty-pounder at Berlin, is called
+the Thunderer; another at Malaga, the Terrible; two sixty-pounders at
+Bremen, the Messengers of Bad News.
+
+_Dripping Rock, in India._--Sansadhara or the dripping rock, is a
+singular phenomenon, situated at the head of a dell, through which a
+rapid stream runs, between two lines of hills towards the valley of
+the Dhoon. It is an overhanging rock, about 50 feet high, through
+which water pours from above, in innumerable little streams, like a
+perpetual shower of rain! The never-abating action of the water has
+worn the rock into many fantastic shapes; and, crusting round the
+moss and fibres of the roots of trees, has given to it almost the
+appearance of a spar cavern. In several places the water has worn
+little reservoirs for itself, which are always full. It is cool,
+clear, and pleasant to the taste.--_Captain Skinner_.
+
+_Catching Wild Ducks, &c. in India._--In the lower parts of Bengal,
+wild ducks, widgeon, and teal, are often taken by means of earthen
+pots. A number of these pots are floated amongst them in the lakes
+where they abound, to the sight of which they soon become reconciled,
+and approach them fearlessly. A man then goes into the water up to the
+chin, with one of these pots over his head, in the centre of which two
+small holes are made for him to see through; and when he gets into the
+midst of the birds, he pulls them by the legs under water, fastening
+them to a girdle round his waist.--T. GILL.
+
+_Hampden._--Lord Nugent, in his _Memorials of John Hampden_, relates
+the attack of Rupert's troops upon the village of Chinnor. A local
+tradition of the affair has been related to me by an old inhabitant.
+In the room of a house, until lately occupied as a boarding-school,
+two of Rupert's soldiers are said to have evinced great brutality. On
+entering the house, they demanded a flitch of bacon, hanging up in the
+room; one of them held up a child which he had taken from a cradle,
+and crossing a sword over it, threatened its immediate destruction if
+their demands were not instantly complied with. There appear to
+have been sharp hostilities in the vicinity of Chinnor, and more
+particularly on the hills, as military buttons, sword handles, &c. and
+other vestiges of war are frequently found there.--W.H.
+
+      _Parody on Scott's Lines "Breathes there the Man," &c._
+
+  Breathes there a cit, with taste so dead,
+  Who never to himself hath said,
+    "This haunch surpasses all the rest;"
+  Whose mouth hath ne'er within him burn'd,
+  Whene'er his footsteps he hath turn'd
+    From home, to Guildhall's civic feast?
+  If such there breathe, go mark him well--
+  For him no portly paunch can swell;
+  Large though his shop, his trade the same,
+  Boundless his wealth as wish can claim,
+  Despite his shop, his trade, his cash,
+  The wretch who knows not ven'son hash,
+  Living, shall forfeit civic fame,
+  And dying, shall descend with shame,
+  In double death, to Lethe's pools,
+  Despis'd by epicures and fools.   REX.
+
+_Alchemy and Printing._--Antimony, once celebrated in the laboratories
+of the alchemists, who hoped to discover in it the philosopher's
+stone, is now employed in the casting of types for printing.--There
+is much food for reflection in this curious fact in the history
+of science. How has this simple substance originated dreams of
+spell-bound ignorance, and realities of godlike intelligence. Nay,
+we are almost persuaded that the hopes of the alchemists were not
+altogether unfounded--that antimony is indeed what they hoped to
+find it--that the invention of printing was the finding of the
+philosopher's stone; and that we are at this moment enjoying
+ten-fold the advantages which the alchemists anticipated from their
+secret.--J.T.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+_Printed and published by J. LIMBIRD, 143, Strand, (near Somerset
+House,) London; sold by ERNEST FLEISCHER, 626, New Market, Leipsic;
+G.G. BENNIS, 55, Rue Neuve, St. Augustin, Paris; and by all Newsmen
+and Booksellers._
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Mirror of Literature, Amusement,
+and Instruction, No. 565, by Various
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MIRROR OF LITERATURE, NO. 565 ***
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