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| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 04:40:13 -0700 |
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| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 04:40:13 -0700 |
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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/12543-0.txt b/12543-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6637313 --- /dev/null +++ b/12543-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1565 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 12543 *** + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustration. + See 12543-h.htm or 12543-h.zip: + (http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/1/2/5/4/12543/12543-h/12543-h.htm) + or + (http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/1/2/5/4/12543/12543-h.zip) + + + + +THE MIRROR OF LITERATURE, AMUSEMENT, AND INSTRUCTION. + +VOL. 20, NO. 582.] SATURDAY, DECEMBER 22, 1832. [PRICE 2d. + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +[Illustration: THE YORK COLUMN, (from St. James's Park.)] + + + + +THE YORK COLUMN. + + +Five years have now elapsed since the improvements in St. James's Park +were commenced, by order of Government, for the gratification of the +people. We were early in our congratulation, as well as illustration, of +the prospective advantages of these plans for the public enjoyment, as +will be seen on reference to our tenth volume; and, with respect to the +re-disposal of St. James's Park, we believe the feeling of satisfaction +has been nearly universal. + +At the period to which we have just alluded, the removal of Carlton +House, (for it scarcely deserved the name of Palace,) had been decided +on. The walls were dismantled of their decorative finery, and their +demolition commenced; the grounds were, to use a somewhat grandiloquent +phrase, dis-afforested; and the upper end of "the sweet, shady side +of Pall Mall" marked out for public instead of Royal occupation. Thus, +within a century has risen and disappeared from this spot the splendid +abode and its appurtenances; for, it was in the year 1732 that Frederic, +Prince of Wales, first purchased the property from the Earl of +Burlington; though it was not until 1788 that the erection of Carlton +House was commenced for the late King, then Prince of Wales; so that the +existence of the Palace must be restricted within forty years--a term +reminding us of the duration of a pavilion, rather than of a kingly +mansion. + +Upon the precise site of the courtyard and part of Carlton House have +been erected two mansions, of splendid character, appropriated to the +United Service and Athenaeum Clubs: the first built from the designs of +Mr. Nash, and the latter from those of Mr. Decimus Burton. They front +Pall Mall West, or may be considered to terminate Waterloo Place. + +The site of Carlton House Gardens is now occupied by palatial houses, +which are disposed in two ranges, and front St. James's Park. The +substructure, containing the kitchens and domestic offices, forms a +terrace about 50 feet wide, adorned with pillars of the Paestum Doric +Order, surmounted with a balustrade. The superstructure consists of +three stories, ornamented with Corinthian columns. The houses at each +extremity have elevated attics. Only small portions of these superb +elevations are shown in the Engraving, with the Athenaeum Club House in +the distance. + +In the space between the two ranges, it was proposed to erect a +fountain, formed of the eight column's of the portico of Carlton House, +(which was in elaborate imitation of the Temple of Jupiter Stator, +at Rome,[1]) to which eight on the same model were to be added. The +balustraded terrace had been continued fronting the Park with a view to +this embellishment. It however occurred to some guardian of the public +weal, that the above space presented an eligible opportunity for a grand +public entrance from Pall Mall into the Park. The idea was mooted in +Parliament; but some difficulties arose, from the leases already granted +to the builders of the houses on the terrace, who had calculated on the +_exclusive_ appropriation of the latter. The anxiety of the public +for the improvement at length reached the present King; and it was the +first popular act of his patriotic reign to command a grand triumphal[2] +entrance to be formed, with all possible speed; the difficulties +being then easily removed. The necessary portion of the terrace was +accordingly removed, and the magnificent approach formed, as shown in +the Engraving. + +While these improvements were in progress, a monumental memorial had +been projected by the British Army to their late commander-in-chief, the +Duke of York; an expression of grateful sympathy which must be recorded +to the honour of truly British hearts. The funds for this tribute were +augmented by each individual of the above branch of the service +contributing one day's pay. The design was furnished by Mr. Benjamin +Wyatt, the architect of the superb mansion built for the Duke of York; +and, after the execution was somewhat advanced, it was resolved to set +up the tribute in the place it now occupies. + +The monument consists of a plain Doric column, surmounted with a +colossal statue of the Duke of York. The pedestal and shaft are of fine +granite. The plinth, or base of the pedestal, is 22 feet square, and the +pedestal 18 feet; the circumference of the shaft is 11 feet 6 inches, +decreasing to 10 feet 2 inches at the top; the abacus is 13 feet 6 +inches square. The interior of the column may be ascended by a winding +staircase of 169 steps, lit by narrow loop-holes. + +From the top stair a doorway opens to the exterior of the abacus, which +will be enclosed with a massive iron railing, so as to form a prospect +gallery. The iron-work is not yet completed; but, as we have enjoyed the +view from two sides of the square, we can vouch for its commanding a +fine _coup d'oeil_ of the whole metropolis, and certainly the +finest view of its most embellished quarter. From this spot alone can +the magnificence of Regent-street be duly appreciated, and above all the +skill of the architect in effecting the junction of the lines by the +classical introduction of the Quadrant. + +That part of the structure which is, strictly speaking, upon the abacus +of the column, has a domed roof, upon which will be placed the colossal +statue, executed in bronze, by Mr. Westmacott. The Duke is represented +in a flowing robe, with a sword in his right hand, and in the left, one +of the insignia of the Order of the Garter. The height of the figure +is 13 feet 6 inches. The total height of the column, exclusive of the +statue, is 124 feet. The masonry, (executed by Mr. Nowell, of Pimlico,) +deserves especial notice. Its neatness and finish are truly astonishing, +and the solidity and massiveness of the material appear calculated "for +all time." + +We should mention that the embellishment about the upper part of the +pedestal (as seen in the cut,) has not yet been placed on the original; +nor has the statue yet been raised to the summit of the column. + + [1] The above columns, with those of the handsome Ionic calonnade + which screened the Palace from Pall Mall, are, we believe, the + only remains of the building. + + [2] The entrance deserves this epithet on more than one account. + + * * * * * + + + + +MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. + + * * * * * + + +ANCIENT AND MODERN CHRISTMAS. + + +"Anciently there was in the king's house," says Stow, "wheresoever he +lodged, at the feast of Christmas, a 'Lord of Misrule, or Master of +Merry Disports;' and the like also was there in the house of every +nobleman of honour or good worship, whether spiritual or temporal. +Among these, the Mayor and Sheriffs of London had their several Lords of +Misrule, ever contending, without quarrel or offence, who should make +the rarest pastime to divert the beholders. These Lords began their +rule, or rather misrule, on All Hallow's-eve, and continued the same +until Candlemas-day, in which space there were fine and subtle +disguisings, masques, and mummeries, with playing at cards for counters, +nails, and points, in every house, more for pastime than for gain. +Against this feast, the parish churches and every man's house were +decked with holm, ivy, bay, and whatsoever the season of the year +afforded that was green; and the conduits and standards in the streets +were likewise garnished." + +W.G.C. + + +_Kent._ + +At Ramsgate they commence their Christmas festivities by the following +ceremony:--A party of the youthful portion of the community having +procured the head of a horse, it is affixed to a pole, about four feet +in length; a string is attached to the lower jaw, a horse-cloth is tied +round the extreme part of the head, beneath which one of the party is +concealed, who, by repeated pulling and loosening the string, causes +the jaw to rise and fall, and thus produces, by bringing the teeth in +contact, a snapping noise, as he moves along; the rest of the party +following in procession, grotesquely habited, and ringing hand-bells! +In this order they proceed from house to house, singing carols and +ringing their bells, and are generally remunerated for the amusement +they occasion by a largess of money, or beer and cake. This ceremony is +called "a hoodening." The figure which we have described is designated +"a hooden," or wooden horse. The ceremony prevails in many parts of +the Isle of Thanet, and may probably be traced as the relic of some +religious ceremony practised in the early ages by our Saxon ancestors. + + +_Norfolk._ + +The following account of a pageant which took place at Christmas, 1440, +is from the records of Norwich:--"John Hadman, a wealthy citizen, made +disport with his neighbours and friends, and was crowned King of +Christmas. He rode in state through the city, dressed forth in silks and +tinsel, and preceded by twelve persons habited as the twelve months of +the year, their costumes varying to represent the different seasons of +the year. Alter King Christmas followed Lent, clothed in white garments +trimmed with herring skins, on horseback, the horse being decorated with +trappings of oyster-shells, being indicative that sadness and a holy +time should follow Christmas revelling. In this way they rode through +the city, accompanied by numbers in various grotesque dresses, making +disport and merriment,--some clothed in armour, carrying staves, and +occasionally engaging in martial combat; others, dressed as devils, +chased the people, and sorely affrighted the women and children; others, +wearing skin-dresses, and counterfeiting bears, wolves, lions, and other +animals, and endeavouring to imitate the animals they represented, in +roaring and raving, alarming the cowardly and appalling the stoutest +hearts." + +_Dalmatia._ + +At Selenico, in Dalmatia, according to Fortis; they elect a king at +Christmas, whose reign lasts only a fortnight; but notwithstanding the +short duration of his authority, he enjoys several prerogatives of +sovereignty: such, for example, as that of keeping the keys of the town, +of having a distinguished place in the cathedral, and of deciding upon +all the difficulties or disputes which arise among those who compose his +court. The town is obliged to provide him with a house suitable to the +dignity of his elevated situation. When he leaves his house, he is +always compelled to wear a crown of wheat-ears, and he cannot appear +in public without a robe of purple or scarlet cloth, and surrounded +by a great number of officers. The governor, the bishops, and other +dignitaries, are obliged to give him a feast; and all who meet him must +salute him with respect. When the fortnight is at an end, the king quits +his palace, strips off his crown and purple, dismisses his court, and +returns to his hovel. For a length of time this pantomimical king was +chosen from amongst the nobles, but at present it has devolved on the +lowest of the people. + + * * * * * + + + + +NEW BOOKS. + + * * * * * + + +THE LITERARY SOUVENIR, FOR 1833, + + +[Is, in our estimation, a splendid failure. It lacks the variety which +the _Annual_ should possess for a family of readers; and its +sameness is, moreover, of the saddest character in the whole region of +romance. The stories are long, and lazily told; and they overflow with +the most lugubrious monotony. There is scarcely a relief throughout the +volume, from Wordsworth's "majestic sonnet" on Sir Walter Scott, to +Autumn Flowers, by Agnes Strickland; we travel from one end to the +other, and all is lead and leaden--dull, heavy, and sad, as old Burton +could wish; and full of moping melancholy, unenlivened by quaintness, or +humour of any cast. Not that we mean to condemn the pieces individually; +but, collectively, they are too much in the same vein: the Editor has +studied too closely his text-motto: + + "Fairy tale to lull the heir, + Goblin grim the maids to scare." + +It is all shade, without a gleam of sunshine, if we except two or three +of the most trifling of the papers. The best tale in the volume is the +Marsh Maiden, by Leigh Ritchie; next is the Jacobite Exile and his +Hound: Retrospections of Secundus Parnell, are an infliction upon the +reader; and these, with two _mediocre_ tales, and a sketch or two, +make up the prose contents. The poetry has greater merit, though almost +in one unvaried strain. Mr. Watts has contributed but one lyric, and +Mrs. Watts a stirring ballad of Spanish revenge; Mary Howitt has +contributed a fairy ballad, pretty enough; and the Sin of Earl Walter, a +tale of olden popish times in England, of some 60 or 70 verses. We quote +two specimens from the poetry:] + + +SONNET ON SIR WALTER SCOTT'S QUITTING ABBOTSFORD FOR NAPLES. + +_By William Wordsworth._ + + + A trouble, not of clouds, or weeping rain, + Nor of the setting sun's pathetic light + Engendered, hangs o'er Eildun's triple height: + Spirits of Power assembled there complain + For kindred Power departing from their sight; + While Tweed, best pleased in chanting a blithe strain, + Saddens his voice again and yet again. + Lift up your hearts, ye Mourners! for the might + Of the whole world's good wishes with him goes; + Blessings and prayers, in nobler retinue + Than sceptred king or laurelled conqueror knows, + Follow this wondrous Potentate. Be true + Ye winds of ocean and the midland sea, + Wafting your charge to soft Parthenope! + + +THE SKELETON DANCE. + +_After the German of Goethe._ + + + The warder looked out at the mid-hour of night, + Where the grave-hills all silently lay; + The moon-beams above gave so brilliant a light, + That the churchyard was clear as by day: + First one, then another, to open began; + Here came out a woman--there came out a man,-- + Each clad in a shroud long and white. + + And then for amusement--perchance it was cold-- + In a circle they seemed to advance; + The poor and the rich, and the young and the old,-- + But the grave-clothes impeded the dance: + And as no person thought about modesty there, + They flung off their garments, and stripped themselves bare, + And a shroud lay on each heap of mould. + + They kicked up their heels, and they rattled their bones, + And the horrible din that they made + Went clickety-clackety--just like the tones + Of a castanet noisily played. + And the warder he laughed as he witnessed the cheer, + And he heard the Betrayer speak soft in his ear, + "Go and steal away one of their shrouds." + + Swift as thought it was done--in an instant he fled + Behind the church portal to hide; + And brighter and brighter the moon-beam was shed, + As the dance they still shudderingly plied;-- + But at last they began to grow tired of their fun, + And they put on their shrouds, and slipped off, one by one, + Beneath, to the homes of the dead. + + But tapping at every grave-hill, there staid + One skeleton, tripping behind; + Though not by his comrades the trick had been played-- + Now its odour he snuffed in the wind: + He rushed to the door--but fell back with a shock; + For well for the wight of the bell and the clock, + The sign of the cross it displayed. + + But the shroud he must have--not a moment he stays; + Ere a man had begun but to think, + On the Gothic-work his fingers quickly he lays, + And climbs up its chain, link by link. + Now woe to the warder--for sure he must die-- + To see, like a long-legged spider, draw nigh + The skeleton's clattering form: + + And pale was his visage, and thick came his breath; + The garb, alas! why did he touch? + How sick grew his soul as the garment of death + The skeleton caught in his clutch-- + The moon disappeared, and the skies changed to dun, + And louder than thunder the church-bell tolled one-- + The spectre fell tumbling to bits! + + + +[and one of the prose tales, abridged:] + + +BEATRICE ADONY AND JULIUS ALVINZI. + + +There is not in all Germany a more pleasant station for a regiment of +horse than the city of Salzburgh, capital of the province of that name, +in the dominions of the House of Austria. Here, during the summer and +autumn of 1795, lay the third regiment of Hungarian hussars. This corps +had sustained a heavy loss during the campaign of the year previous in +Flanders, and was sent into garrison to be recruited and organized anew. +Count Zichy, who commanded it, was a noble of the highest rank, of +princely fortune, and of lavish expenditure; and being of a cheerful and +social turn of mind, he promoted all the amusements of the place, and +encouraged the gaiety of his officers. + +The scenery around is grand and alpine. The narrow defiles and +picturesque valleys are watered by mountain rivers; and, at an easy +distance from the city, is the lone lake of Berchtolsgaden, lying +beneath a lofty, inaccessible alp, of the most stern and majestic +aspect. Need it be told how sweet upon that placid lake sounded the +mellow horns of the Hungarian band; and may it not be left to fancy to +image out, how these parties, these scenes, and these sensations, gave +birth to some abiding, and to very many passing loves. + +Among the fair women of Salzburgh, the palm of beauty was yielded +readily by all to Beatrice Adony, the only daughter of a respected +statesman, long favoured at court, and then resident upon a private +estate in the neighbourhood. He had retired from public affairs a few +years before, when under deep affliction from the loss of a beloved +wife; and lived a life of fond parental devotion with this lovely +Beatrice, who was the image of her departed mother. He had directed +all her studies; and with such judgment, that he had imparted to her +character a masculine strength, which elevated her above all the common +dangers of that season of life when woman passes forth into society. + +The Count Zichy was a relation of Count Adony, and a constant and +welcome guest at his mansion; and Beatrice, therefore, attended many and +most of the entertainments which the Count and his officers gave to the +society of Salzburgh during their stay. As she smiled no encouragement +upon the attentions which the Count seemed at first disposed to pay her, +and as he was a cheerful, manly-hearted creature, and though made of +penetrable stuff, by no means a person to lose either appetite, society, +or life, for love, he bestowed his gallantries elsewhere. She liked him +for this all the better; and gave him, in return, that free-hearted, +sisterly friendship, which might be innocently suffered to grow out of +their connexion and intimacy. + +All the regular, conceited male coquettes were abashed and perplexed by +manners so natural, that they could make nothing of her; while those +more dangerous, but much to be blamed admirers, who stand apart with +sighs and gazes, were baffled and made sad by the silent dignity of eyes +serenely bright, that never looked upon their flattering worship with +one ray of favour. Such was Beatrice Adony; all the fair girls were fond +of her, and proud of her--because she was no one's rival. They looked on +her as a being of a higher order; one whose thoughts were chaste as the +unsunned Alps. She was admired by them, meditated upon--but never +envied. + +Most true it was, Beatrice was of another and a higher order. She was +"among them, not of them." She took part in those amusements which +belong to the customs of her country; and filled that place, and +performed those customs, which her station in society demanded, with +unaffected ease and grace. But while the trifles and pleasures of the +passing day were to her companions everything, they were to her little +and unsatisfying. For the last few years of her mother's life, whose +habits were meditative and devotional, she had daily listened to the +gracious lessons of divine truth, and the closet of Beatrice Adony was +hallowed by the Eye that seeth in secret, and that often saw her there +upon her knees. + +It was on a fine day, in the early spring of 1796, that orders reached +Salzburgh for the march of these Hungarian hussars. They were to +traverse the Tyrol, and to join the army of Italy. They were to march at +sunrise on the following morning; and Count Adony, collecting all the +acquaintances of the corps in the town and neighbourhood, gave the +Hungarian officers a farewell banquet and ball; preparations for which, +in anticipation of their early departure, Beatrice had already directed. + +Beatrice was the radiant queen of this fair festival; and it was strange +to think, that from the presence of such a being so many men were going +to part without one lover's pang. Amiable, affable, natural, and full of +grace, she presided over this little court of love--serene, unmoved, +herself. Yet any thoughtful and suspicious observer would have said, +that her heart was not quite at ease; for every now and then, as the +night wore on, her eyes gave less attention to those who spoke with her, +and her thoughts were evidently turning inwards with trouble. The supper +was over--the tastefully decorated table was deserted--and the guests +were again assembled in the ball-room. Fond partners that might never +dance with each other again, stood side by side--hand locked in +hand--and waited for the rising swell of the tender music, to which they +were to dance their last waltz. Beatrice stood up with her cousin Count +Zichy, and deadly pale she looked. The Count and all others thought she +had a headach, and would have had her sit down; but she persisted, with +a faint smile, in doing the last honours. + +Just at this very moment a manly young officer, whose dress denoted that +he had been on duty, and was ready again to mount and go forward, came +in to make a report to the colonel. + +As the first bars of the music were heard, he stood aside, his cap in +his hand, and looked on. Already, however, a young brother officer had +run from his partner's side, to renew to him, with all extravagance of +gratitude, his thanks for having, by an exchange of duty, enabled him to +enjoy a last, long parting with the girl he loved. The dance went +forward, and Julius Alvinzi leaned cheerfully upon his sabre. Suddenly +Count Zichy and his fair cousin broke out from the large circle, and +setting to him, he was led off to the waltz movement before he had time +to ungird his sword. This, however, even as he danced, he gracefully +effected; and afterwards for one tour of waltzing, Beatrice Adony was +the partner of Julius Alvinzi, quitting for the time her own. + +This is a custom, in Germany, so common, and seemed so natural and so +kind a courtesy to Julius, under the particular circumstances of his +late and short appearance at the ball, that neither himself, nor any one +in the room, attached to it any other character than that of a pretty +and gentle compliment. But if the ear of Julius had been quickened by +the faintest spark of sympathy, he might have heard the very heart of +Beatrice beat. + +"You are tired," said Julius, as the music suddenly ceased. + +"Rather so," she replied. + +He led her, faint, pale, and trembling, to a seat. Some colour returned +to her cheek as she sat down; and, with an open and cheerful air, she +put out her hand to him, and said, "Farewell, Captain Alvinzi; all +honour, and all happiness go with you." + +As he took her hand, he observed, for the first time, that pale-changing +of the cheek which is so eloquent of love; and, looking into her eyes, +he felt his heart sink with a sweeter emotion than he had ever known +before. + +Thus silently they parted; and Julius went out from her presence sad, +but happy. "Il est si doux aimer, et d'etre aimé." He felt that he was +beloved. In half an hour, the noble gateway at Salzburgh, cut through +the solid rock, rang to the loud echo of trampling hoofs; and Julius was +riding under it with an advanced guard, and a few troop-sergeants, to +prepare the quarters of the regiment, then mustering for their march. + +In all the camps of Europe, a finer youth, or a nobler spirit, could +no where have been found than Julius Alvinzi. Five years of military +service--three of which had been spent in the toils, the watchings, +and the combats of warfare--had accomplished and perfected him in all +points, as the zealous and enterprising leader of a squadron. Glory was +his idol--war his passion. His day-dreams over-leaped the long interval +of years which, of necessity, separated him from high command; and, as +he built up the castle of his future fame, many were the victories which +he won "in the name of God, and the Kaiser!" With this, the gallant +war-cry of Austria, he had already, in some few charges, led on his bold +and bitter Hungarians; and two or three dashing affairs of outposts--a, +daring and important reconnoissance, most skilfully conducted--and the +surprise and capture of a French picquet--had already given him an +established name for intelligence and enterprise. There was a manliness +about him superior to low, sensual enjoyment; and the imagery and +language of vulgar voluptuousness found no cell in a well-stored, +well-principled, and masculine mind, to receive or retain them. He was a +happy, handsome, hardy soldier; knowing his duly, loving it, and always +performing it with honour. Such was the man whom Beatrice Adony, with a +quick perception of true nobility of character, had silently observed +during the stay of the Hungarians at Salzburgh, and her love for him was +a secret-- + + The only jewel of her speechless thoughts. + +It was thus in the full lustihood of life, and in all the bloom of high +hope and promise, that in one of those severe actions, which took place +in the summer of 1796 on the plains of Mantua, Julius Alvinzi led his +brave squadron into battle. The brigade to which he belonged was brought +forward by the veteran Wurmser at a very anxious moment, and, by their +devoted courage, saved a column of Austrian infantry from being +enveloped and cut off by the French. The Hungarians charged with such +vigour and success, that they not only overthrew the body of horse +opposed to them, but they possessed themselves of a battery of +field-pieces which endeavoured to cover their retreat, and which +continued to vomit forth grape with a deadly fury till the horses' heads +of the leading squadron, under Alvinzi, reached the very muzzles of the +cannon. + +The Austrians were, however, compelled finally to retreat, that same +evening, from the ground which they had so resolutely contested:--the +movement was made in fine order, and they carried off all their wounded +in safety. Upon a crowded wagon lay Julius Alvinzi; living, indeed, but +a living wreck, and his recovery despaired of. He had been wounded in +six places, and lay motionless and insensible; his servant walking by +his side in silent trouble. As the remains of his regiment marched +slowly back upon Mantua, and passed the convoy of the wounded close to +the gates, you might have heard the name of Alvinzi singled out by the +men for more deep and particular lamentation. He had been their friend, +their pride, their example; and their eyes were turned upon the wagon on +which he lay with an expression of sadness too stern and severe for +tears. + +The news of this disastrous battle was communicated to Count Adony at +Salzburgh in a letter from his cousin the Count Zichy. Beatrice and her +father were sitting in his library after night-fall, each occupied with +a book, under the calm, soft light of a lamp which hung a little above +them, when this letter was brought in. He read it eagerly and rapidly to +himself; and then, with a grateful exclamation for the safety of Zichy, +and those officers with whom he was more especially acquainted, he again +read it aloud to Beatrice. It ran as follows:-- + +"MY DEAR AND HONOURED COUSIN, + +"We are all doing our best; but, I am sorry to say, we are losing +everything except our honour. Fortune is with these Frenchmen. Of six +hundred swords, with which I marched from Salzburgh ten weeks ago, only +two hundred and twenty remain to me. We lost, in the battle of yesterday, +nearly three hundred killed and wounded. I never saw our men fight +better: the enemy opposed to us were fairly beaten at the sword's point; +and we took a battery of twelve guns, which tried to cover their +discomfiture; but we conquered only to retire. I have not a word to say +against old Wurmser: he is a clear headed, tough-hearted veteran, but +these French generals are too young for him. I am quite well, but had a +narrow escape; two horses were killed under me, and a grape shot passed +through my cap. + +"Tell dear Beatrice, I have got that engraving of the Madonna del +Rosario of Domenichino which she wanted. I picked it up at Verona; +thanks to poor Alvinzi, by the way. Though you, neither of you, saw nor +knew much of this youth, you have so often heard me speak of his worth, +that you will be sorry for me when I tell you that I have lost him; and, +in him, my best and most zealous officer. He is covered with wounds, and +cannot live through the night;--the noble fellow was struck down within +a yard of the enemy's guns. Of others, whom you may remember, Kreiner, +Zetter, and Hartmann, are killed; and several are wounded: Kalmann and +Hettinger very severely.--You shall hear from me again soon; but matters +look very unpromising. + +"Your faithful and loving cousin, CASIMIR ZICHY." + +"Read the letter again, father," said Beatrice, with a tone such as he +had never heard from her before; "read it again," she cried, "pray read +it again!--'my best and most zealous officer,'--is it not so?--'covered +with wounds, and cannot live through the night,'--is it not so?--Father, +I loved this Alvinzi.--Ah! yes, I loved him well--now better than +ever;--but I knew it would be thus the very day on which I first saw +him:--read it again,--pray do?"--and, with a still-bewilderment of eye, +she took it from her trembling father, and read it slowly to herself. +"Give me this letter, father;" and she put it in her bosom: and there it +lay,--there it lay through a long and nervous illness, which mercifully +terminated in her death. + +For a long time she was enabled to govern and controul her feelings, and +was silent, and, to outward seeming, resigned. She often remarked to her +father, that she could, and did, say daily upon her knees, "Thy will be +done,"--but that tears always followed that sincere, but mournful, +exercise. However her frame at last gave way--she sunk into great +weakness of body, and her mind became affected. + +Her father watched her with unceasing solicitude throughout her +sufferings; but he was often driven from her chamber by the agony of his +emotions, as she read over the fatal letter, or sung, which she did +continually, that mournful song of Thecla. + + The world it is empty, the heart will die, + There's nothing to wish for beneath the sky: + Thou Holy One, call Thy child away-- + I've lived and loved; and that was to-day-- + Make ready my grave-clothes to-morrow. + + +Such was the early and melancholy close of a young life of the loveliest +promise. The severe and sudden horror struck hard upon her fine mind, +and drove it mournfully astray. Her heart was so broken that she could +not live on. But Julius Alvinzi did not then or so perish: for seventeen +weeks he lay upon a hospital bed in Mantua, helpless as an infant; +and finally recovered so much of health as gave him again the common +promise of life. He was afterwards sent to pass the long period of his +convalescence at Venice; but the Julius Alvinzi, who rode forth from +Salzburgh, was no longer to be recognised: crippled in his limbs--his +fine countenance disfigured by deep and unsightly scars--his complexion +pale--his hair turned grey with suffering. He had already stepped on +twenty years in as many weeks, and he was already, to the eye, a worn +and broken-down officer of veterans. He could not stir a pace without +crutches; and his hip had been so shattered and distorted that it was +painful to see him move. It was well that Beatrice was in her grave. No +doubt she would have exhibited the noble constancy of a pure, angelic, +and true love;--but she was spared that longer and heavier trial. + +Alvinzi, like a stricken deer, betook himself, with decayed hopes and an +aching bosom, to a retired valley near Burgersdorf, about ten miles from +Vienna. Here he took a small fishing cottage, near a lone and lovely +stream, which flowed across a few velvet meadows, amid deep dells +and still woods; and here he threw himself on the beautiful bosom of +nature as on that of a mother. Here, for the first time, he was made +acquainted, by a letter and a packet from the aged and desolate Adony, +of the melancholy end of the lovely Beatrice. The packet contained a +small cross which she had always worn, her miniature, and her psalter. + +The traveller who may now wander into the little valley, near +Burgersdorf, where Alvinzi dwelt, will find the cypress, planted upon +his grave the day after his funeral, only three years' growth; and if he +go and sit under the tree, beneath which Alvinzi reposed his withered +and broken frame for thirty summers, will perhaps agree with the +narrator of this mournful story, that mercy was mingled in his bitter +cup, and that + + Society is all but rude, + To that delicious solitude. + + +The peasants of that valley tell, with a superstitious awe, that Alvinzi +was wont to discourse for hours together with departed spirits; and +that they have stolen near his tree at sunset, and in the gloom of the +evening, and by moonlight, and have distinctly heard him talking with +some one whom he called "Beatrice." + +[The Embellishments of the _Souvenir_ are nearly on a par with +those of previous years, with a light sprinkling of originality in the +subjects.] + + * * * * * + + + + +FINE ARTS. + + * * * * * + +CROSSES.[3] + + +[Illustration: (_In Devonshire_,)] + +The subjoined are two specimens of rude workmanship, in comparison with +the ingenuity displayed in the Crosses already illustrated in our pages. +They are engraved from a drawing made by Mr. Britton, about thirty years +since. The first was in Devonshire, at the village of Alphington, about +one mile west of Exeter, on the side of the road leading from that city +to Plymouth. It represents the Calvary cross of heraldry, and consists +of a block of granite, which has been cut in an octagon shape, and fixed +in a large base. + +[Illustration: (_In Cornwall_,)] + +The second cross stood in Cornwall, on the wide waste of Caraton Down. +It consists of one block with a rounded head, bearing the couped cross. +This solitary pillar, evidently a Christian monument, is situate near a +Druidical temple called "the Hurlers." Crosses of this shape abound in +Cornwall. One has been found in Burian churchyard, and another in +Callington churchyard, bearing rude sculptures of the crucifixion; +others have been found in the county with holes perforated near the top, +and some with various ornaments on the shafts. + + + [3] We thank "an old Subscriber and a native of Holbeach" for his + testimony to the accuracy of our Engraving of Holbeach Cross, at + page 329 of the present volume. We shall feel further obliged to + him for the view of Holbeach Church. + + We may here remark that the Cross described at page 115, at + Wheston, is now in the courtyard of Wheston Hall. Probably our + Correspondent _E.T.B.A_. will oblige us with a drawing of that + interesting structure. + + + * * * * * + + + + +DOMESTIC HINTS. + + * * * * * + + +OLIVE OIL. + + +Few articles differ more in quality than olive oil; not that the +different kinds are produced from different fruit, but in the different +stages of the pressure of the olives. Thus, by means of gentle pressure, +the best or _virgin_ oil flows first; a second, and afterwards a +third quality of oil is obtained, by moistening the residuum, breaking +the kernels, &c. and increasing the pressure. When the fruit is not +sufficiently ripe, the recent oil has a bitterish taste; and when too +ripe it is fatty. After the oil has been drawn, it deposits a white, +fibrous, and albuminous matter; but when this deposition has taken +place, if it be put into clean flasks, it undergoes no further +alteration. The common oil cannot, however, be preserved in casks above +a year and a half or two years. The consumption of olive oil as food is +not surprising if we remember, that it is the lightest and most delicate +of all the fixed oils. + + * * * * * + + +CARDS. + + +Some misconception has arisen respecting the legality of _Second-hand +Cards_. It appears, however, that they may be sold by any person, if +sold without the wrapper of a licensed maker; and in packs containing +not more than 52 cards, including an ace of spades duly stamped, and +enclosed in a wrapper with the words "Second-hand Cards" printed or +written in distinct characters on the outside: penalty for selling +Second-hand Cards in any other manner, 20l. + + * * * * * + + +CINNAMON AND CASSIA. + + +Cassia bark resembles Cinnamon in appearance, smell, and taste, and is +very often substituted for it; but it may be readily distinguished: it +is thicker in substance, less quilled, breaks shorter, and is more +pungent. It should be chosen in thin pieces: the best being that which +approaches nearest to Cinnamon in flavour; but that which is small and +broken should be rejected. + + * * * * * + + +COLOURING CHEESE. + + +The fine, bright, red colour of some Gloucester cheese has been +fraudulently produced by red lead, which, we need scarcely observe, is a +violent poison. The ingredient now employed for this purpose, (to the +exclusion of every thing else) in Cheshire and Gloucestershire, is +annatto, a dye prepared from the seeds of a tree of South America. It is +perfectly harmless in the proportion in which it is used; an ounce of +genuine annatto being sufficient to colour a hundred weight of cheese. +It may, however, be questioned whether annatto is not sometimes +adulterated with red lead. + +Gouda cheese, the best made in Holland, is prized for its soundness, +which is referable to muriatic acid being used in curdling the milk +instead of rennet. This renders it pungent, and preserves it from +mites. Parmesan cheese, so called from Parma in Italy, where it is +manufactured, and highly prized, is merely a skim-milk cheese, which +owes its rich flavour to the fine herbage of the meadows along the +Po, where the cows feed. + + * * * * * + + +BASKET SALT. + + +The finer salt sold under this denomination is made by placing the +salt, after evaporation, in conical baskets, and passing through it a +saturated solution of salt, which dissolves, and carries off the muriate +of magnesia or lime. Pure salt should not become moist by exposure to +the air. + + * * * * * + + +PETIT-OR. + + +The imitation of gold sold with this taking name is nothing more than +the alloy formerly called Pinchbeck, and made by melting zinc, in a +certain proportion, with copper and brass, so as in colour to approach +that of gold. + + * * * * * + + + +THE PUBLIC JOURNALS. + + * * * * * + + +CHIPS OF TOM CRINGLE'S LOG. + + +[Our old friend Tom Cringle (of Blackwood,) occasionally spins or splits +his _Log_ too small. The incidents are weakened in the drawing out, +or exaggerated in the telling; but they are sometimes relieved by +brilliant descriptive touches, such as the following, introduced to set +off the fate of one of Tom's heroes at Santiago.] + +_The Butterfly, Chameleon, and Serpent._ + +Glancing bright in the sunshine, a most beautiful butterfly fluttered in +the air, in the very middle of the open window. When we first saw it, it +was flitting gaily and happily amongst the plants and flowers that were +blooming in the balcony, but it gradually became more and more slow on +the wing, and at last poised itself unusually steadily for an insect of +its class. Below it, on the window sill, near the wall, with head erect, +and its little basilisk eyes upturned towards the lovely fly, crouched +a chameleon lizard, its beautiful body, when I first looked at it, was +a bright sea-green. It moved into the sunshine, a little away from the +shade of the laurel bush, which grew on the side it first appeared on, +and suddenly the back became transparent amber, the legs and belly +continuing green. From its breast under the chin, it every now and then +shot out a semicircular film of a bright scarlet colour, like a leaf of +a tulip, stretched vertically, or the pectoral fin of a fish. + +This was evidently a decoy, and the poor fly was gradually drawn down +towards it, either under the impression of its being in reality a +flower, or impelled by some impulse which it could not resist. It +gradually fluttered nearer and more near, the reptile remaining all the +while steady as a stone, until it made a sudden spring, and in the next +moment the small meally wings were quivering on each side of the +chameleon's tiny jaws. While in the act of gorging its prey, a little +fork, like a wire, was projected from the opposite corner of the window; +presently a small round black snout, with a pair of little, fiery, +blasting eyes, appeared, and a thin, black neck, glancing in the sun. +The lizard saw it. I could fancy it trembled. Its body became of a dark +blue, then ashy pale; the imitation of the flower, the gaudy fin was +withdrawn, it appeared to shrink back as far as it could, but it was +nailed or fascinated to the window sill, for its feet did not move. +The head of the snake approached, with its long, forked tongue shooting +out, and shortening, and with a low hissing noise. By this time about +two feet of its body was visible, lying with its white belly on the +wooden beam, moving forward with a small horizontal wavy motion, the +head and six inches of the neck being a little raised. I shrunk back +from the serpent, but no one else seemed to have any dread of it; +indeed, I afterwards learned, that this kind being good mousers, and +otherwise quite harmless, were, if any thing, encouraged about houses in +the country. I looked again; its open mouth was now within an inch of +the lizard, which by this time seemed utterly paralyzed and motionless; +the next instant its head was drawn into the snake's mouth, and +gradually the whole body disappeared, as the reptile gorged it, and +I could perceive from the lump which gradually moved down the snake's +neck, that it had been sucked into its stomach. Involuntary I raised +my hand, when the whole suddenly disappeared. + +[One of Tom's _land-storms_ is still more graphic.] + +A heavy cloud that had been overhanging the small valley the whole +morning, had by this time spread out and covered the entire face of +nature like a sable pall; the birds of the air flew low, and seemed to +be perfectly gorged with the superabundance of flies, which were thickly +betaking themselves for shelter under the evergreen leaves of the +bushes. All the winged creation, great and small, were fast betaking +themselves to the shelter of the leaves and branches of the trees. The +cattle were speeding to the hollows under the impending rocks; negroes, +men, women, and children, were hurrying with their hoes on their +shoulders past the windows to their huts. Several large bloodhounds had +ventured into the hall, and were crouching with a low whine at our feet. +The large carrion crows were the only living things which seemed to +brave the approaching _chu-basco_, and were soaring high up in the +heavens, appearing to touch the black, agitated fringe of the lowering +thunder clouds. All other kinds of winged creatures, parrots, and +pigeons, and cranes, had vanished by this time under the thickest trees, +and into the deepest coverts, and the wild ducks were shooting past in +long lines, piercing the thick air with outstretched neck and clanging +wing. + +Suddenly the wind fell, and the sound of the waterfall increased, and +grew rough and loud, and the undefinable rushing noise that precedes a +heavy fall of rain in the tropics, the voice of the wilderness, moaned +through the high woods, until at length the clouds sank upon the valley +in boiling mists, rolling halfway down the surrounding hills; and the +water of the stream, whose scanty rill but an instant before hissed over +the precipice in a small, transparent ribbon of clear grass-green, +sprinkled with white foam, and then threaded its way round the large +rocks in its capacious channel, like a silver eel twisting through a +desert, now changed in a moment to a dark turgid chocolate colour; and +even as we stood and looked, lo! a column of water from the mountains, +pitched in thunder over the face of the precipice, making the earth +tremble, and driving up from the rugged face of the everlasting rocks in +smoke, and forcing the air into eddies and sudden blasts which tossed +the branches of the trees that overhung it, as they were dimly seen +through clouds of drizzle, as if they had been shaken by a tempest, +although there was not a breath stirring elsewhere out of heaven; while +little, wavering, spiral wreaths of mist rose up thick from the surface +of the boiling pool at the bottom of the cataract, like miniature +water-spouts, until they were dispersed by the agitation of the air +above. + +At length the swollen torrent rolled roaring down the narrow valley, +filling the whole water-course, about fifty yards wide, and advancing +with a solid front a fathom _high_--a fathom _deep_ does not +convey the idea--like a stream of lava, or as one may conceive of the +Red Sea, when, at the stretching forth of the hand of the prophet of the +Lord, its mighty waters rolled back and stood heaped up as a wall to the +host of Israel. + +The channel of the stream, which but a minute before I could have leaped +across, was the next instant filled and utterly impassable. + +And the rain now began pattering in large drops, like scattering shots +preceding an engagement, on the wooden shingles with which the house was +roofed, gradually increasing to a loud rushing noise, which, as the +rooms were not ceiled, prevented a word being heard. + +At length the weather cleared, and the shutters having been opened, and +with a suddenness which no one can comprehend who has not lived in these +climates, the sun now shone brightly on the flowers and garden plants +which grew in a range of pots on the balcony. + + * * * * * + + +THE DUCHESSE DE BERRI. + +(_From the New Monthly Magazine_.) + + +We have much pleasure in inserting these very curious anecdotes of an +unfortunate Princess, though they come to us from one devoted to her +cause, as well as sympathizing with her misfortunes. + +Few heroines of ancient days have displayed more courage, self-devotion, +and firmness, than has this high-souled and heroic woman. It is not +generally known in this country, that in an action in La Vendée, where +the partizans of the Duchess were opposed to the regular troops, she +headed her forces, and led the charges repeatedly. She had a horse shot +dead under her, and having been disarmed in the fall, seized the arms of +a fallen soldier next her, and again cheered on her followers. She was +eleven hours in action, and escaped unhurt, with the exception of some +contusions from the fall; and, when the battle was over, was seen +administering to the wants of those around her, dressing their wounds +with her own delicate hands; and whilst surrounded by the dead and +dying, she appeared wholly regardless of self, though overcome by a +fatigue and anxiety that few, even of the other sex, could have borne +so well. + +On another occasion, the Duchesse de Berri had, with much difficulty, +procured a horse, and was mounted behind a faithful but humble adherent, +pursuing her route to a distant quarter, when her guide was accosted by +a peasant with whom he conversed some time in the patois of the country. +On quitting the peasant, he observed to the Duchess, that the man was +charged with a secret mission to a place at some distance, and was so +fatigued that he feared he could not reach it. She instantly sprang from +her seat, called after the peasant, and insisted on his taking the +horse, declaring that she could reach her destination on foot. After +walking for many hours, she arrived at a mountain stream that was +swollen by the recent rain, and having learned that her enemies were in +pursuit of her, she determined to cross it. Her guide, assisted by her, +fastened a large branch of a tree to his person, and, being an expert +swimmer, told her to hold by it, and that he hoped to get her over. They +had advanced to the deepest part of the stream when the bough broke, and +her guide gave her up for lost, when, to his surprise and joy, he saw +her boldly clearing the water by his side, and they soon reached the +bank in safety. During her visits to Dieppe, the Duchess had acquired a +proficiency in swimming, and it has since frequently saved her in the +hour of need. Overpowered by fatigue and hunger, and chilled by the cold +of her dripping garments, this courageous woman felt that her physical +powers were no longer capable of obeying her wishes, and that further +exertion was impossible. Seeing a house at a distance, she declared her +intention of throwing herself on the generosity of its owner, when her +guide warned her of the danger of such a proceeding, as the owner of the +house was a Liberal, and violently opposed to her party. All his +representations were made in vain. She boldly entered the house, and, +addressing the master of it, exclaimed--"You see before you the unhappy +mother of your king; proscribed and pursued, half dead with fatigue, +cold, wet, and hungry, you will not refuse her a morsel of your bread, a +corner at your fire, and a bed to rest her weary limbs on." The master +of the house threw himself at her feet, and, with tears streaming from +his eyes, declared that his house, and all that was his, were at her +service; and for some days, while the pursuit after her was the hottest, +she remained unsuspected in this asylum, the politics of the master +placing him out of suspicion; and when she left it, she was followed by +the tears and prayers of the whole of the family and their dependents. + +This heroic woman, nurtured in courts, and accustomed to all the luxury +that such an exalted station as hers can give, has thought herself +fortunate, during many a night of the last year, when she could have the +shelter of the poorest hovel, with some brown bread and milk for food, +and has partaken, at the same humble board, the frugal repast of the +peasants who sheltered her. Her general attire has been the most common +dress, of a materiel called buse, made of worsted, and worn by the +poorest of the peasantry. A mantle of the same coarse stuff, with a +hood, completed her costume. + +When one of the friends, who had seen her the pride and ornament of the +gilded saloons in the Tuileries, expressed his grief at the dreadful +hardships to which she was exposed, she pointed to a furze bush on the +heath where they were conversing, and said--"I shall sleep on that spot +to-night; and many nights I have had no better shelter than were +afforded by a few wild shrubs or trees, and I never slept better at +Rosny. If my mantle was long enough to allow of its covering my feet +when I slept, I should have nothing to complain of, but then it might +impede my flight, so I must be content." + + * * * * * + + + + +THE NATURALIST. + + * * * * * + + +DEPTH OF THE SEA. + + +As to the bottom of the basin of the sea, it seems to have inequalities +similar to those which the surface of continents exhibits; if it were +dried up, it would present mountains, valleys, and plains. It is +inhabited almost throughout its whole extent by an immense quantity of +testaceous animals, or covered with sand and gravel. It was thus that +Donati found the bottom of the Adriatic sea; the bed of testaceous +animals there, according to him, is several hundred feet in thickness. +The celebrated diver Pescecola, whom the emperor Frederick II. employed +to descend the strait of Messina, saw there with horror, enormous polypi +attached to the rocks, the arms of which, being several yards long, were +more than sufficient to strangle a man. In a great many places, the +madrepores form a kind of petrified forest fixed at the bottom of the +sea, and frequently, too, this bottom plainly presents different layers +of rock and earth. + +The granite rises up in sharp-pointed masses. Near Marseilles, marble is +dug up from a submarine quarry. There are also bituminous springs, and +even springs of fresh water, that spout up from the depths of the ocean; +and in the Gulf of Spezia, a great spout or fountain of fresh water is +seen to rise like a liquid hill. Similar springs furnish the inhabitants +of the town of Aradus with their ordinary beverage. + +On the southern coast of Cuba, to the southwest of the port of Batabano, +in the bay of Xagua, at two or three miles from the land, springs of +fresh water gush up with such force in the midst of the salt, that small +boats cannot approach them with safety; the deeper you draw the water, +the fresher you find it. It has been observed, that in the neighbourhood +of steep coasts, the bottom of the sea also sinks down suddenly to a +considerable depth; whilst near a low coast, and one of gentle +declivity, it is only gradually that the sea deepens. There are some +places in the sea where no bottom has yet been found. But we must not +conclude that the sea is really bottomless; an idea, which, if not +absurd, is, at least, by no means conformable to the analogies of +natural science. The mountains of continents seem to correspond with +what are called the abysses of the sea; but now, the highest mountains +do not rise to 20,000 feet. It is true that they have wasted down and +lessened by the action of the elements; it may, therefore, be reasonably +concluded, that the sea is not beyond 30,000 feet in depth; but it is +impossible to find the bottom even at one-third of this depth, with our +little instruments. The greatest depth that has been tried to be +measured, is that found in the northern ocean by Lord Mulgrave; he +heaved a very heavy sounding lead, and gave out with it cable rope to +the length of 4,680 feet, without finding bottom.--_Blake's +Encyclopedia_. + + * * * * * + + + + +NOTES OF A READER. + + * * * * * + + +CHARACTER OF CROMWELL. + +(_From the Buccaneer.--By Mrs. S.C. Hall_.) + + +There are two things that to a marvellous degree bring people under +subjection--moral and corporeal fear. The most dissolute are held in +restraint by the influence of moral worth, and there are few who would +engage in a quarrel if they were certain that defeat or death would be +the consequence. Cromwell obtained, and we may add, maintained his +ascendancy over the people of England, by his earnest and continually +directed efforts towards these two important ends. His court was a +rare example of irreproachable conduct, from which all debauchery +and immorality were banished; while such was his deep and intimate +though mysterious acquaintance with every occurrence throughout the +commonwealth, its subjects had the certainty of knowing that, sooner or +later, whatever crimes they committed would of a surety reach the ear +of the protector. His natural abilities must always have been of the +highest order, though in the early part of his career he discovered +none of those extraordinary talents that afterwards gained him so +much applause, and worked so upon the affections of the hearers +and standers-by. His mind may be compared to one of those valuable +manuscripts that had long been rolled up and kept hidden from vulgar +eyes, but which exhibits some new proof of wisdom at each unfolding. It +has been well said by a philosopher, whose equal the world has not known +since his day, "that a place sheweth the man." Of a certainty Cromwell +had no sooner possessed the opportunity so to do, than he showed to the +whole world that he was destined to govern. "Some men achieve greatness, +some men are born to greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon +them." With Cromwell greatness was achieved. He was the architect of +his own fortunes, owing little to what is called "chance," less to +patronage, and still less to crime, if we except the one sad blot upon +the page of his own history, as connected with that of his country. +There appears in his character but a small portion of that which is +evil, blended with much that is undoubtedly good. Although his public +speeches were, for the most part, ambiguous--leaving others to pick out +his meaning--or more frequently still, having no meaning to pick out, +being words, words, words--strung of mouldy sentences, scriptural +phrases, foolish exclamations, and such-like: yet when necessary, he +showed that he could sufficiently command his style, delivering himself +with so much energy, pith, propriety, and strength of expression, that +it was commonly said of him under such circumstances, "every word he +spoke was a thing." But the strongest indication of his vast abilities +was, the extraordinary tact with which he entered into, dissected, and +scrutinized the nature of human kind. No man ever dived into the manners +and minds of those around him with greater penetration, or more rapidly +discovered their natural talents and tempers. If he chanced to hear +of a person fit for his purpose, whether as a minister, a soldier, an +artisan, a preacher, or a spy, no matter how previously obscure, he sent +for him forthwith, and employed him in the way in which he could be made +most useful, and answer best the purpose of his employer. Upon this most +admirable system (a system in which, unhappily, he has had but few +imitators among modern statesmen,) depended in a great degree his +success. His devotion has been sneered at; but it has never been proved +to have been insincere. With how much more show of justice may we +consider it to have been founded upon a solid and upright basis, when we +recollect that his whole outward deportment spoke its truth! Those who +decry him as a fanatic, ought to bethink themselves that religion was +the chivalry of the age in which he lived. Had Cromwell been born a few +centuries earlier, he would have headed the crusades, with as much +bravery, and far better results than our noble-hearted, but wrong-headed +Coeur de Lion. It was no great compliment that was passed on him by the +French minister, when he called the protector "the first captain of the +age." His courage and conduct in the field were undoubtedly admirable: +he had a dignity of soul which the greatest dangers and difficulties +rather animated than discouraged, and his discipline and government of +the army, in all respects, was the wonder of the world. It was no +diminution of this part of his character, that he was wary in his +conduct, and that, after he was declared protector, he wore a coat of +mail concealed beneath his dress. Less caution than he made use of, in +the place he held, and surrounded as he was by secret and open enemies, +would have deserved the name of negligence. As to his political +sincerity, which many think had nothing to do with his religious +opinions, he was, to the full, as honest as the first or second Charles. +Of a truth, that same sincerity, it would appear, is no kingly virtue! +Cromwell loved justice as he loved his own life, and wherever he was +compelled to be arbitrary, it was only where his authority was +controverted, which, as things then were, it was not only right to +establish for his own sake, but for the peace and security of the +country over whose proud destinies he had been called to govern. "The +dignity of the crown," to quote his own words, "was upon the account of +the nation, of which the king was only the representative head, and +therefore, the nation being still the same, he would have the same +respect paid to his ministers as if he had been a king." England ought +to write the name of Cromwell in letters of gold, when she remembers +that, within a space of four or five years, he avenged all the insults +that had been lavishly flung upon her by every country in Europe +throughout a long, disastrous, and most perplexing civil war. +Gloriously did he retrieve the credit that had been mouldering and +decaying during two weak and discreditable reigns of nearly fifty years' +continuance--gloriously did he establish and extend his country's +authority and influence in remote nations--gloriously acquire the real +mastery of the British Channel--gloriously send forth fleets that went +and conquered, and never sullied the union flag by an act of dishonour +or dissimulation. Not a single Briton, during the protectorate, but +could demand and receive either reparation or revenge for injury, +whether it came from France, from Spain, from any open foe or +treacherous ally; not an oppressed foreigner claimed his protection but +it was immediately and effectually granted. Were things to be compared +to this in the reign of either Charles? England may blush at the +remembrance of the insults she sustained during the reigns of the first +most amiable, yet most weak--of the second most admired, yet most +contemptible--of these legal kings. What must she think of the treatment +of the elector palatine, though he was son-in-law to king James? And let +her ask herself how the Duke of Rohan was assisted in the Protestant war +at Rochelle, notwithstanding the solemn engagement of king Charles under +his own hand! But we are treading too fearlessly upon ground on which, +in our humble capacity, we have scarcely the right to enter. Alas! alas! +the page of history is but a sad one; and the Stuarts and the Cromwells, +the roundheads and the cavaliers, the pennons and the drums, are but +part and parcel of the same dust--the dust we, who are made of dust +animated for a time by a living spirit, now tread upon! Their words, +that wrestled with the winds and mounted on the air, have left no trace +along that air whereon they sported:--the clouds in all their beauty cap +our isle with their magnificence, as in those by-gone days; the rivers +are as blue, the seas as salt; the flowers, those sweet things! remain +fresh within our fields, as when God called them into existence in +Paradise, and are bright as ever. But the change is over us, as it has +been over them: we, too, are passing. O England! what should this teach? +Even three things--wisdom, justice, and mercy. Wisdom to watch +ourselves, and then our rulers, so that we neither do nor suffer wrong; +justice to the memory of the mighty dead, whether born to thrones or +footstools; mercy, inasmuch as we shall deeply need it from our +successors. + + * * * * * + + +THE "WHY AND BECAUSE" OF CHRISTMAS. + + +[We can vouch for the abridgement and collation of the following facts, +connected with this joyous season of old. Probably a few of the notes +may have been discussed in the course of our twenty-volume career; but +to omit such notices on the present occasion, would be to drop a link in +the little chain:] + +Why is the evening before Christmas-day celebrated? + +Because Christmas-day, in the primitive Church, was always observed as +the Sabbath-day, and, like it, preceded by an eve, or vigil.--_Brand._ + +It was once believed, that if we were to go into a cow-house, at twelve +o'clock at night, all the cattle would be found kneeling. Many also +firmly believed that bees sung in their hives on Christmas-eve, to +welcome the approaching day. + +Why is Christmas-day so called? + +Because of its derivation from _Christi Missa_, the mass of Christ; +and thence the Roman Catholic Liturgy is termed their _Missal_, or +_Mass-book_. About the year 500 the observation of this day became +general in the Catholic Church. + +Why was the word _Yule_ formerly used to signify Christmas? + +Because of its derivation from the word _ol_, ale, which was much used +in the festivities and merry meetings of this period; and the _I_ in +_Iol, icol_. Cimb. as the _ze_ and _zi_ in _zehol, zeol, ziol_, Sax. are +premised only as intensives, to add a little to the signification, and +make it more emphatical. _Ol_, or _Ale_, did not only signify the liquor +then made use of, but gave denomination to the greatest festivals, as +that of _zehol_, or _Yule_, at Midwinter; and as is yet plainly to be +discovered in that custom of the Whitsun ale at the other great +festival. + +Why are certain initials affixed to crucifixes? + +Because of their signifying the titular tributes paid to the Saviour of +the world. Thus, I.N.R.I. are universally agreed to be the initials of +the Latin words _Jesus Nazarenus Rex Judaeorum_; i.e. Jesus of +Nazareth, King of the Jews, a title which Pilot wrote and affixed to the +cross.--See John, ch. xix. The initials I.H.C., appended to other +crosses, are said to imply, _Jesus Humanitatis Consolator_, Jesus +the Consoler of Mankind; and the I.H.S. imply _Jesus Hominum +Salvator_, Jesus the Saviour of Men. The first-mentioned initials +are, however, found on the most ancient crosses. + +Why is a certain song called a carol? + +Because of its derivation from _cantare_, to sing, and _rola_, +an interjection of joy.--_Bourne_. + +Bishop Taylor observes that the "Gloria in excelsis," the well-known +hymn sung by the angels to the shepherds at our Lord's nativity, was +the earliest Christmas carol. Bourne cites Durand to prove that +in the earlier ages of the churches, the bishops were accustomed, on +Christmas-day, to sing carols among their clergy. Fosbroke says--"It was +usual, in ancient feasts, to single out a person, and place him in the +midst, to sing a song to God." And Mr. Davies Gilbert, late President +of the Royal Society, in a volume which he has edited on the subject, +states, that till lately, in the West of England, on Christmas-eve, +about seven or eight o'clock in the evening, festivities were commenced, +and "the singing of carols begun, and continued late into the night. +On Christmas-day, these carols took the place of psalms in all the +churches, especially at afternoon service, the whole congregation +joining; and at the end it was usual for the parish-clerk to declare, +in a loud voice, his wishes for a merry Christmas and a happy new year +to all the parishioners." + +Mr. Hone observes, in his work on "Ancient Mysteries," that "the custom +of singing carols at Christmas prevails in Ireland to the present time. +In Scotland, where no church fasts have been kept since the days of John +Knox, the custom is unknown. In Wales it is still preserved to a greater +extent, perhaps, than in England: at a former period, the Welsh had +carols adapted to most of the ecclesiastical festivals, and the four +seasons of the year; but at this time they are limited to that of +Christmas. After the turn of midnight, on Christmas-eve, service is +performed in the churches, followed by singing carols to the harp. +Whilst the Christmas holidays continue, they are sung in like manner in +the houses; and there are carols especially adapted to be sung at the +doors of the houses by visitors before they enter. _Lffyr Carolan_, +or the Book of Carols, contains sixty-six for Christmas, and five summer +carols. _Blodengerdd Cymrii_, or the Anthology of Wales, contains +forty-eight Christmas carols, nine summer carols, three May carols, one +winter carol, one nightingale carol, and a carol to Cupid. On the +Continent, the custom of carolling at Christmas is almost universal. +During the last days of Advent, Calabrian minstrels enter Rome, and are +to be seen in every street, saluting the shrines of the Virgin mother +with their wild music, under the traditional notion of charming her +labour pains on the approaching Christmas." + +Why do the Christmas carols of the present day differ from the carols of +earlier times? + +Because the present carols were substituted, by those enemies of +innocent mirth, the Puritans, for the original carols, which were festal +chansons for enlivening the merriment of the Christmas celebrity; and +not such religious songs as are current at this day, with the common +people, under the same title. + +Dr. Johnson, in a note on _Hamlet_, tells us, that the pious +chansons, a kind of Christmas carol, containing some Scripture history, +thrown into loose rhymes, were sung about the streets by the common +people, when they went at that season to beg alms.--_Brand._ + +Why is laurel used with other evergreens to deck houses at Christmas? + +Because of its use among the ancient Romans, as the emblem of peace, +joy, and victory. In the Christian sense, it may be applied to the +victory gained over the powers of darkness by the coming of +Christ.--_Bourne._ + +Why is the mistletoe so called? + +Because its seeds are said to be dropped by the mistle-thrush, which +feeds on its berries. + +Why was the mistletoe held sacred by the Druids? + +Because they had an extraordinary reverence for the number _three_, +and not only the berries, but the leaves of the mistletoe, grow in +clusters of three united on one stalk. Its growing upon the oak, their +sacred tree, was doubtless another cause of its veneration. + +We read of a celebrated oak at Norwood near London, which bore +mistletoe, "which some people cut for the gain of selling it to the +apothecaries of London, leaving a branch of it to sprout out; but they +proved unfortunate after it, for one of them fell lame, and others lost +an eye. At length, in the year 1678, a certain man, notwithstanding he +was warned against it, upon the account of what the others had suffered, +adventured to cut the tree down, and he soon after broke his +leg."--_Camden_. + +Mr. Brand, however, thinks that mistletoe was never put up in churches +but by mistake or ignorance of the sextons: it being a heathenish and +profane plant, and therefore assigned to the kitchen. Mr. Brand made +many diligent inquiries after the truth of this point. He learnt at Bath +that it never came into churches there. An old Sexton at Teddington told +him that mistletoe was once put up in the church there, but was by the +clergyman immediately ordered to be taken away. + +Why was the boar's head formerly a prime dish at Christmas? + +Because fresh meats were then seldom eaten, and brawn was considered a +great delicacy. Holinshed says, that "in the year 1170, upon the day +of the young prince's coronation, King Henry I. served his sonne at +table as server, bringing up the boar's head with trumpets before it, +according to the manner." For this ceremony there was a special carol. +Dugdale also tells us, that "at the inns of court, during Christmas, the +usual dish at the first course at dinner was a large _bore's head_, +upon a silver platter, with minstralsaye." In one of the carols we read +that the boar's head is "the rarest dish in all the londe, and that it +has been provided in honour of the king of bliss." + + * * * * * + + +THE RIVER SCHELDT. + + +In all former times, and centuries before the labour of Napoleon had +added so immensely to its importance, the Scheldt had been the centre +of the most important preparations for the invasion of England, and the +spot on which military genius always fixed from whence to prepare a +descent on this island. An immense expedition, rendered futile by the +weakness and vacillation of the French monarch, was assembled in it in +the fourteenth century; and sixty thousand men on the shore of the +Scheldt awaited only the signal of Charles VI. to set sail for the shore +of Kent. The greatest naval victory ever gained by the English arms was +that at Sluys, 1340, when Philip of France lost 30,000 men and 230 +ships of war in an engagement off the Flemish coast with Edward III., +a triumph greater, though less noticed in history, than either that +of Cressy or Poictiers. When the great Duke of Parma was commissioned +by Philip II. of Spain to take steps for the invasion of England, he +assembled the forces of the Low Countries at Antwerp; and the Spanish +armada, had it proved successful, was to have wafted over that great +commander from the banks of the Scheldt to the opposite shore of Essex, +at the head of the veterans who had been trained in the Dutch war. In +an evil hour, Charles II., bought by French gold and seduced by French +mistresses, entered into alliance with Louis XIV. for the coercion of +Holland; the Lillies and the Leopards, the navies of France and England, +assembled together at Spithead, and made sail for the French coast, +while the armies of the Grande Monarque advanced across the Rhine into +the heart of the United Provinces; and the consequence was, such a +prodigious addition to the power of France, as it took all the blood and +treasure expended in the war of the Succession and all the victories of +Marlborough, to reduce to a scale at all commensurate with the +independence of the other European states. + + * * * * * + + + + +THE GATHERER. + + * * * * * + + +Fleurus is a village in France, in the department of the Sombre and +Meuse, where the Austrians and the French fought a battle in the year +1794, in which the former were defeated. This victory is ascribed to the +information obtained in consequence of reconnoitering the army of the +enemy by the elevation of a balloon. The balloon employed on this +occasion was called the _Entreprenent_; and it was under the +direction of M. Coutel, the captain of the aeronauts at Meudon, +accompanied by an adjutant and a general. He ascended twice in the same +day, to the height of 220 fathoms, for the purpose of observing the +position and manoeuvres of the enemy. He continued each time four hours +in the air, and corresponded with General Jourdan, who commanded the +French army, by means of pre-concerted signals. The enterprise was +discovered by the enemy; and a battery opened its fire against the +ascending aeronauts, but they soon gained an elevation which was beyond +the reach of their fire. This balloon was prepared under the direction +of the Aerostatic Institute, for the use of the army of the north; as +were also another, called _Céleste_, for the army of the Sombre and +Meuse; and the _Hercûle_ and _Intrepide_, for the army of the +Rhine and Moselle. Another, thirty feet in circumference, and weighing +160 lbs., was destined for the army of Italy. A new machine, invented by +M. Coutel, the director of the Aerostatic Institute, was designed to aid +the aeronauts in communicating intelligence, and denominated the +_Aerostatic Telegraph_. + +P.T.W. + + +_Muscular Strength_.--It is asserted by travellers, that a Turkish +porter will run along carrying a weight of 600 lbs. Milo, of Crotona, +is said to have lifted an ox, weighing upwards of 1,000 Ibs. Haller +mentions that he saw an instance of a man, whose finger being caught in +a chain at the bottom of a mine, by keeping it forcibly bent, supported +by that means the weight of his whole body, 150 lbs., till he was drawn +up to the surface, a height of 600 feet. Augustus II., king of Poland, +could with his fingers roll up a silver dish like a sheet of paper, +and twist the strongest horse-shoe asunder. An account is given in +the _Philosophical Transactions_, No. 310, of a lion who left the +impression of his teeth upon a solid piece of iron. The most prodigious +power of the muscles is exhibited by fish:--A whale moves with a +velocity through the dense medium of water that would carry him, if +he continued at the same rate, round the world in little more than a +fortnight; and a sword-fish has been known to strike his weapon quite +through the oak plank of a ship. + +W.G.C. + + +_Beauties of Chatsworth_.--Marshal Tallard, who was entertained a +few days at this place by the Duke of Devonshire, on leaving, made this +declaration--"When I return," said he, "into my own country, and reckon +up the days of my captivity, I shall leave out those which I spent at +Chatsworth." And Quin once said that he had nearly broken his neck in +coming to it, and he should break his heart on his return. + +SWAINE. + + +_Origin of the Discovery of Peru_.--Balboa, the famous Spanish +adventurer, in one of his expeditions, met with a young cazique, who +expressed his astonishment at the high value which was set upon the +gold, which the Spaniards were weighing and distributing. "Why do you +quarrel," said he, "about such a trifle? If you are so passionately fond +of gold as to abandon your own country, and to disturb the tranquillity +of distant nations, for its sake, I will conduct you to a region where +the metal, which seems to be the chief object of your admiration and +desire, is so common, that the meanest utensils are formed of it." +Transported with the intelligence, Balboa eagerly inquired where this +happy country lay, and how they might arrive at it. The cazique informed +them, that at the distance of six suns, or six days' journey to the +south, they would discover another ocean, near which this wealthy +kingdom was situated; but if they intended to attack it, they must +assemble forces far superior in number and strength to those which now +attended them.--This was the first information which the Spaniards +received concerning the great southern continent, known afterwards +by the name of Peru. + +P.T.W. + + +_Cholera Morbus._--Dr. James Johnson, in his interesting book +entitled, _Change of Air, or Pursuits of Health_, &c., says--"The +cholera morbus ought to be denominated the high-police of scavengers. +It has cleared away more filth, in Europe and England, than all the +municipal edicts that ever issued from the constituted authorities. +On this, and on some other accounts, it _will_ save more lives +than it _has_ destroyed." + + +_Patriotism._--When the Chancellor d'Auguesseau, who constantly +resisted the encroachments of Louis XIV. on the liberties of the people, +was sent for to Versailles by that monarch, he was thus encouraged by +his amiable wife: "Go," said she, "forget in the king's presence your +wife and your children,--sacrifice everything except your honour." + +SWAINE. + + +His late Majesty, when Prince of Wales, was looking out of a window with +Tom Sheridan, when the "Dart," with four grey horses passed by. "Is not +that a handsome coach, Tom?" observed the Prince. "Yes, your highness," +replied Tom, who was suffering under a headach from the champagne of the +previous night, and was rather in a sombre and meditative humour, "it +certainly is; but," continued he, pointing to a hearse going by at the +same time, "that's the coach _after all_." + + +_A Knowing Seaman._--A rough-hewn seaman being brought before a wise +justice for some misdemeanour, was by him ordered to be sent to prison, +and was refractory after he heard his doom, insomuch as he would not +stir a foot from the place where he stood, saying it was better to stand +where he was than go to a worse place.--_Bacon_. + +P.T.W. + + +_Expensive Fishing._--In 1609, the Dutch were compelled to pay a tribute +for fishing on our coast; in 1683, they paid 30,000l. for liberty to +fish. Welwood, in his answer to Grotius, says, "that the Scots obliged +the Dutch, by treaty, to keep eighty miles from shore in fishing, and to +pay a tribute at the port of Aberdeen, where a tower was erected for +that and other purposes; and the Dutch paid the tribute, even in the +memory of our forefathers." + +THOMAS GILL. + + * * * * * + +_Printed and published by J. LIMBIRD, 143, Strand, (near Somerset +House,) London; sold by G.G. BENNIS, 55, Rue Neuve, St. Augustin, Paris; +CHARLES JUGEL, Francfort; and by all Newsmen and Booksellers._ + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 12543 *** diff --git a/12543-h/12543-h.htm b/12543-h/12543-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0bd89b8 --- /dev/null +++ b/12543-h/12543-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,1738 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" +"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"> +<html> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" /> +<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction, Vol. 20, No. 582, Saturday, December 22, 1832, by Various</title> + <style type="text/css"> + <!-- + body {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + p {text-align: justify;} + blockquote {text-align: justify;} + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 {text-align: center;} + pre {font-size: 0.7em;} + hr {text-align: center; width: 50%;} + html>body hr {margin-right: 25%; margin-left: 25%; width: 50%;} + hr.full {width: 100%;} + html>body hr.full {margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 0%; width: 100%;} + .note, .footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} + span.pagenum {position: absolute; left: 1%; right: 91%; font-size: 8pt;} + .poem {margin-left:10%; margin-right:10%; margin-bottom: 1em; text-align: left;} + .poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} + .poem p {margin: 0; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem p.i2 {margin-left: 1em;} + .poem p.i4 {margin-left: 2em;} + .poem p.i6 {margin-left: 3em;} + .poem p.i8 {margin-left: 4em;} + .figure {padding: 1em; margin: 0; text-align: center; font-size: 0.8em; margin: auto;} + .figure img {border: none;} + .figure p + a:link {color:blue; + text-decoration:none} + link {color:blue; + text-decoration:none} + a:visited {color:blue; + text-decoration:none} + a:hover {color:red} + --> + </style> +</head> +<body> +<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 12543 ***</div> +<h1>The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and +Instruction, Vol. 20, No. 582, Saturday, December 22, 1832, by Various</h1> +<br /> +<br /> +<center><b>E-text prepared by Jonathan Ingram, David Garcia,<br /> + and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team</b></center> +<br /> +<br /> + <hr class="full" /> + <span class="pagenum"><a id="page417" name="page417"></a>[pg 417]</span> + <h1>THE MIRROR<br /> + OF<br /> + LITERATURE, AMUSEMENT, AND INSTRUCTION.</h1> + <hr class="full" /> + <table width="100%" summary="Banner"> + <tr> + <td align="left"><b>VOL. XX, NO. 582.]</b></td> + <td align="center"><b>SATURDAY, DECEMBER 22, 1832.</b></td> + <td align="right"><b>[PRICE 2d.</b></td> + </tr> + </table> + <hr class="full" /> +<div class="figure" style="width: 100%;"> +<a href="images/582-1.png"><img width="100%" src="images/582-1.png" +alt="The York Column, (from St.James's Park.)" /></a> +<center>THE YORK COLUMN, (<i>FROM ST. JAMES'S PARK.</i>)</center> +</div> +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page418" name="page418"></a>[pg 418]</span> +</p> +<h2> + THE YORK COLUMN. +</h2> +<p> +Five years have now elapsed since the improvements in St. James's Park +were commenced, by order of Government, for the gratification of the +people. We were early in our congratulation, as well as illustration, of +the prospective advantages of these plans for the public enjoyment, as +will be seen on reference to our tenth volume; and, with respect to the +re-disposal of St. James's Park, we believe the feeling of satisfaction +has been nearly universal. +</p> +<p> +At the period to which we have just alluded, the removal of Carlton +House, (for it scarcely deserved the name of Palace,) had been decided +on. The walls were dismantled of their decorative finery, and their +demolition commenced; the grounds were, to use a somewhat grandiloquent +phrase, dis-afforested; and the upper end of "the sweet, shady side +of Pall Mall" marked out for public instead of Royal occupation. Thus, +within a century has risen and disappeared from this spot the splendid +abode and its appurtenances; for, it was in the year 1732 that Frederic, +Prince of Wales, first purchased the property from the Earl of +Burlington; though it was not until 1788 that the erection of Carlton +House was commenced for the late King, then Prince of Wales; so that the +existence of the Palace must be restricted within forty years—a term +reminding us of the duration of a pavilion, rather than of a kingly +mansion. +</p> +<p> +Upon the precise site of the courtyard and part of Carlton House have +been erected two mansions, of splendid character, appropriated to the +United Service and Athenaeum Clubs: the first built from the designs of +Mr. Nash, and the latter from those of Mr. Decimus Burton. They front +Pall Mall West, or may be considered to terminate Waterloo Place. +</p> +<p> +The site of Carlton House Gardens is now occupied by palatial houses, +which are disposed in two ranges, and front St. James's Park. The +substructure, containing the kitchens and domestic offices, forms a +terrace about 50 feet wide, adorned with pillars of the Paestum Doric +Order, surmounted with a balustrade. The superstructure consists of +three stories, ornamented with Corinthian columns. The houses at each +extremity have elevated attics. Only small portions of these superb +elevations are shown in the Engraving, with the Athenaeum Club House in +the distance. +</p> +<p> +In the space between the two ranges, it was proposed to erect a +fountain, formed of the eight column's of the portico of Carlton House, +(which was in elaborate imitation of the Temple of Jupiter Stator, +at Rome,<a id="footnotetag1" name="footnotetag1"></a><a href="#footnote1"><sup>1</sup></a>) to which eight on the same model were to be added. The +balustraded terrace had been continued fronting the Park with a view to +this embellishment. It however occurred to some guardian of the public +weal, that the above space presented an eligible opportunity for a grand +public entrance from Pall Mall into the Park. The idea was mooted in +Parliament; but some difficulties arose, from the leases already granted +to the builders of the houses on the terrace, who had calculated on the +<i>exclusive</i> appropriation of the latter. The anxiety of the public +for the improvement at length reached the present King; and it was the +first popular act of his patriotic reign to command a grand triumphal<a id="footnotetag2" name="footnotetag2"></a><a href="#footnote2"><sup>2</sup></a> +entrance to be formed, with all possible speed; the difficulties +being then easily removed. The necessary portion of the terrace was +accordingly removed, and the magnificent approach formed, as shown in +the Engraving. +</p> +<p> +While these improvements were in progress, a monumental memorial had +been projected by the British Army to their late commander-in-chief, the +Duke of York; an expression of grateful sympathy which must be recorded +to the honour of truly British hearts. The funds for this tribute were +augmented by each individual of the above branch of the service +contributing one day's pay. The design was furnished by Mr. Benjamin +Wyatt, the architect of the superb mansion built for the Duke of York; +and, after the execution was somewhat advanced, it was resolved to set +up the tribute in the place it now occupies. +</p> +<p> +The monument consists of a plain Doric column, surmounted with a +colossal statue of the Duke of York. The pedestal and shaft are of fine +granite. The plinth, or base of the pedestal, is 22 feet square, and the +pedestal 18 feet; the circumference of the shaft is 11 feet 6 inches, +decreasing to 10 feet 2 inches at the top; the abacus is 13 feet 6 +inches square. The interior of the column may be ascended by a winding +staircase of 169 steps, lit by narrow loop-holes. +</p> +<p> +From the top stair a doorway opens to the exterior of the abacus, which +will be enclosed with a massive iron railing, so as to form a prospect +gallery. The iron-work is not yet completed; but, as we have enjoyed the +view from two sides of the square, we can vouch for its commanding a +fine <i>coup d'oeil</i> of the whole metropolis, and certainly the +finest view of its most embellished quarter. From this spot alone can +the magnificence of Regent-street be duly appreciated, and above all the +skill of the architect in effecting the junction of the lines by the +classical introduction of the Quadrant. +</p> +<p> +That part of the structure which is, strictly speaking, upon the abacus +of the column, has a domed roof, upon which will be placed the colossal +statue, executed in bronze, by +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page419" name="page419"></a>[pg 419]</span> +Mr. Westmacott. The Duke is represented +in a flowing robe, with a sword in his right hand, and in the left, one +of the insignia of the Order of the Garter. The height of the figure +is 13 feet 6 inches. The total height of the column, exclusive of the +statue, is 124 feet. The masonry, (executed by Mr. Nowell, of Pimlico,) +deserves especial notice. Its neatness and finish are truly astonishing, +and the solidity and massiveness of the material appear calculated "for +all time." +</p> +<p> +We should mention that the embellishment about the upper part of the +pedestal (as seen in the cut,) has not yet been placed on the original; +nor has the statue yet been raised to the summit of the column. +</p> +<hr class="full" /> +<h2> + MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. +</h2> +<hr /> +<h3> + ANCIENT AND MODERN CHRISTMAS. +</h3> +<p> +"Anciently there was in the king's house," says Stow, "wheresoever he +lodged, at the feast of Christmas, a 'Lord of Misrule, or Master of +Merry Disports;' and the like also was there in the house of every +nobleman of honour or good worship, whether spiritual or temporal. +Among these, the Mayor and Sheriffs of London had their several Lords of +Misrule, ever contending, without quarrel or offence, who should make +the rarest pastime to divert the beholders. These Lords began their +rule, or rather misrule, on All Hallow's-eve, and continued the same +until Candlemas-day, in which space there were fine and subtle +disguisings, masques, and mummeries, with playing at cards for counters, +nails, and points, in every house, more for pastime than for gain. +Against this feast, the parish churches and every man's house were +decked with holm, ivy, bay, and whatsoever the season of the year +afforded that was green; and the conduits and standards in the streets +were likewise garnished." +</p> +<h4> +W.G.C. +</h4> +<hr /> +<center> +<i>Kent.</i> +</center> +<p> +At Ramsgate they commence their Christmas festivities by the following +ceremony:—A party of the youthful portion of the community having +procured the head of a horse, it is affixed to a pole, about four feet +in length; a string is attached to the lower jaw, a horse-cloth is tied +round the extreme part of the head, beneath which one of the party is +concealed, who, by repeated pulling and loosening the string, causes +the jaw to rise and fall, and thus produces, by bringing the teeth in +contact, a snapping noise, as he moves along; the rest of the party +following in procession, grotesquely habited, and ringing hand-bells! +In this order they proceed from house to house, singing carols and +ringing their bells, and are generally remunerated for the amusement +they occasion by a largess of money, or beer and cake. This ceremony is +called "a hoodening." The figure which we have described is designated +"a hooden," or wooden horse. The ceremony prevails in many parts of +the Isle of Thanet, and may probably be traced as the relic of some +religious ceremony practised in the early ages by our Saxon ancestors. +</p> +<center> +<i>Norfolk.</i> +</center> +<p> +The following account of a pageant which took place at Christmas, 1440, +is from the records of Norwich:—"John Hadman, a wealthy citizen, made +disport with his neighbours and friends, and was crowned King of +Christmas. He rode in state through the city, dressed forth in silks and +tinsel, and preceded by twelve persons habited as the twelve months of +the year, their costumes varying to represent the different seasons of +the year. Alter King Christmas followed Lent, clothed in white garments +trimmed with herring skins, on horseback, the horse being decorated with +trappings of oyster-shells, being indicative that sadness and a holy +time should follow Christmas revelling. In this way they rode through +the city, accompanied by numbers in various grotesque dresses, making +disport and merriment,—some clothed in armour, carrying staves, and +occasionally engaging in martial combat; others, dressed as devils, +chased the people, and sorely affrighted the women and children; others, +wearing skin-dresses, and counterfeiting bears, wolves, lions, and other +animals, and endeavouring to imitate the animals they represented, in +roaring and raving, alarming the cowardly and appalling the stoutest +hearts." +</p> +<center> +<i>Dalmatia.</i> +</center> +<p> +At Selenico, in Dalmatia, according to Fortis; they elect a king at +Christmas, whose reign lasts only a fortnight; but notwithstanding the +short duration of his authority, he enjoys several prerogatives of +sovereignty: such, for example, as that of keeping the keys of the town, +of having a distinguished place in the cathedral, and of deciding upon +all the difficulties or disputes which arise among those who compose his +court. The town is obliged to provide him with a house suitable to the +dignity of his elevated situation. When he leaves his house, he is +always compelled to wear a crown of wheat-ears, and he cannot appear +in public without a robe of purple or scarlet cloth, and surrounded +by a great number of officers. The governor, the bishops, and other +dignitaries, are obliged to give him a feast; and all who meet him must +salute him with respect. When the fortnight is at an end, the king quits +his palace, strips off his crown and purple, dismisses his court, and +returns to his hovel. For a length of time this pantomimical king was +chosen from amongst the nobles, but at present it has devolved on the +lowest of the people. +</p> +<hr /> +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page420" name="page420"></a>[pg 420]</span> +</p> +<h2> + NEW BOOKS. +</h2> +<hr /> +<h3> + THE LITERARY SOUVENIR, FOR 1833, +</h3> +<p> +[Is, in our estimation, a splendid failure. It lacks the variety which +the <i>Annual</i> should possess for a family of readers; and its +sameness is, moreover, of the saddest character in the whole region of +romance. The stories are long, and lazily told; and they overflow with +the most lugubrious monotony. There is scarcely a relief throughout the +volume, from Wordsworth's "majestic sonnet" on Sir Walter Scott, to +Autumn Flowers, by Agnes Strickland; we travel from one end to the +other, and all is lead and leaden—dull, heavy, and sad, as old Burton +could wish; and full of moping melancholy, unenlivened by quaintness, or +humour of any cast. Not that we mean to condemn the pieces individually; +but, collectively, they are too much in the same vein: the Editor has +studied too closely his text-motto: +</p> +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> + <p> "Fairy tale to lull the heir,</p> + <p> Goblin grim the maids to scare."</p> +</div></div> +<p> +It is all shade, without a gleam of sunshine, if we except two or three +of the most trifling of the papers. The best tale in the volume is the +Marsh Maiden, by Leigh Ritchie; next is the Jacobite Exile and his +Hound: Retrospections of Secundus Parnell, are an infliction upon the +reader; and these, with two <i>mediocre</i> tales, and a sketch or two, +make up the prose contents. The poetry has greater merit, though almost +in one unvaried strain. Mr. Watts has contributed but one lyric, and +Mrs. Watts a stirring ballad of Spanish revenge; Mary Howitt has +contributed a fairy ballad, pretty enough; and the Sin of Earl Walter, a +tale of olden popish times in England, of some 60 or 70 verses. We quote +two specimens from the poetry:] +</p> +<h3> + SONNET ON SIR WALTER SCOTT'S QUITTING ABBOTSFORD FOR NAPLES. +</h3> +<center> +<i>By William Wordsworth.</i> +</center> +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> + <p> A trouble, not of clouds, or weeping rain,</p> + <p> Nor of the setting sun's pathetic light</p> + <p> Engendered, hangs o'er Eildun's triple height:</p> + <p> Spirits of Power assembled there complain</p> + <p> For kindred Power departing from their sight;</p> + <p> While Tweed, best pleased in chanting a blithe strain,</p> + <p> Saddens his voice again and yet again.</p> + <p> Lift up your hearts, ye Mourners! for the might</p> + <p> Of the whole world's good wishes with him goes;</p> + <p> Blessings and prayers, in nobler retinue</p> + <p> Than sceptred king or laurelled conqueror knows,</p> + <p> Follow this wondrous Potentate. Be true</p> + <p> Ye winds of ocean and the midland sea,</p> + <p> Wafting your charge to soft Parthenope!</p> +</div></div> +<h3> + THE SKELETON DANCE. +</h3> +<center> +<i>After the German of Goethe.</i> +</center> +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> + <p> The warder looked out at the mid-hour of night,</p> +<p class="i2"> Where the grave-hills all silently lay;</p> + <p> The moon-beams above gave so brilliant a light,</p> +<p class="i2"> That the churchyard was clear as by day:</p> + <p> First one, then another, to open began;</p> + <p> Here came out a woman—there came out a man,—</p> + <p> Each clad in a shroud long and white.</p> +</div><div class="stanza"> + <p> And then for amusement—perchance it was cold—</p> +<p class="i2"> In a circle they seemed to advance;</p> + <p> The poor and the rich, and the young and the old,—</p> +<p class="i2"> But the grave-clothes impeded the dance:</p> + <p> And as no person thought about modesty there,</p> + <p> They flung off their garments, and stripped themselves bare,</p> +<p class="i2"> And a shroud lay on each heap of mould.</p> +</div><div class="stanza"> + <p> They kicked up their heels, and they rattled their bones,</p> +<p class="i2"> And the horrible din that they made</p> + <p> Went clickety-clackety—just like the tones</p> +<p class="i2"> Of a castanet noisily played.</p> + <p> And the warder he laughed as he witnessed the cheer,</p> + <p> And he heard the Betrayer speak soft in his ear,</p> +<p class="i2"> "Go and steal away one of their shrouds."</p> +</div><div class="stanza"> + <p> Swift as thought it was done—in an instant he fled</p> +<p class="i2"> Behind the church portal to hide;</p> + <p> And brighter and brighter the moon-beam was shed,</p> +<p class="i2"> As the dance they still shudderingly plied;—</p> + <p> But at last they began to grow tired of their fun,</p> + <p> And they put on their shrouds, and slipped off, one by one,</p> +<p class="i2"> Beneath, to the homes of the dead.</p> +</div><div class="stanza"> + <p> But tapping at every grave-hill, there staid</p> +<p class="i2"> One skeleton, tripping behind;</p> + <p> Though not by his comrades the trick had been played—</p> +<p class="i2"> Now its odour he snuffed in the wind:</p> + <p> He rushed to the door—but fell back with a shock;</p> + <p> For well for the wight of the bell and the clock,</p> +<p class="i2"> The sign of the cross it displayed.</p> +</div><div class="stanza"> + <p> But the shroud he must have—not a moment he stays;</p> +<p class="i2"> Ere a man had begun but to think,</p> + <p> On the Gothic-work his fingers quickly he lays,</p> +<p class="i2"> And climbs up its chain, link by link.</p> + <p> Now woe to the warder—for sure he must die—</p> + <p> To see, like a long-legged spider, draw nigh</p> +<p class="i2"> The skeleton's clattering form:</p> +</div><div class="stanza"> + <p> And pale was his visage, and thick came his breath;</p> +<p class="i2"> The garb, alas! why did he touch?</p> + <p> How sick grew his soul as the garment of death</p> +<p class="i2"> The skeleton caught in his clutch—</p> + <p> The moon disappeared, and the skies changed to dun,</p> + <p> And louder than thunder the church-bell tolled one—</p> +<p class="i2"> The spectre fell tumbling to bits!</p> +</div></div> +<p> +[and one of the prose tales, abridged:] +</p> +<h3> + BEATRICE ADONY AND JULIUS ALVINZI. +</h3> +<p> +There is not in all Germany a more pleasant station for a regiment of +horse than the city of Salzburgh, capital of the province of that name, +in the dominions of the House of Austria. Here, during the summer and +autumn of 1795, lay the third regiment of Hungarian hussars. This corps +had sustained a heavy loss during the campaign of the year previous in +Flanders, and was sent into garrison to be recruited and organized anew. +Count Zichy, who commanded it, was a noble of the highest rank, of +princely fortune, and of lavish expenditure; and being of a cheerful and +social turn of mind, he promoted all the amusements of the place, and +encouraged the gaiety of his officers. +</p> +<p> +The scenery around is grand and alpine. The narrow defiles and +picturesque valleys are watered by mountain rivers; and, at an easy +distance from the city, is the lone lake of Berchtolsgaden, lying +beneath a lofty, +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page421" name="page421"></a>[pg 421]</span> +inaccessible alp, of the most stern and majestic +aspect. Need it be told how sweet upon that placid lake sounded the +mellow horns of the Hungarian band; and may it not be left to fancy to +image out, how these parties, these scenes, and these sensations, gave +birth to some abiding, and to very many passing loves. +</p> +<p> +Among the fair women of Salzburgh, the palm of beauty was yielded +readily by all to Beatrice Adony, the only daughter of a respected +statesman, long favoured at court, and then resident upon a private +estate in the neighbourhood. He had retired from public affairs a few +years before, when under deep affliction from the loss of a beloved +wife; and lived a life of fond parental devotion with this lovely +Beatrice, who was the image of her departed mother. He had directed +all her studies; and with such judgment, that he had imparted to her +character a masculine strength, which elevated her above all the common +dangers of that season of life when woman passes forth into society. +</p> +<p> +The Count Zichy was a relation of Count Adony, and a constant and +welcome guest at his mansion; and Beatrice, therefore, attended many and +most of the entertainments which the Count and his officers gave to the +society of Salzburgh during their stay. As she smiled no encouragement +upon the attentions which the Count seemed at first disposed to pay her, +and as he was a cheerful, manly-hearted creature, and though made of +penetrable stuff, by no means a person to lose either appetite, society, +or life, for love, he bestowed his gallantries elsewhere. She liked him +for this all the better; and gave him, in return, that free-hearted, +sisterly friendship, which might be innocently suffered to grow out of +their connexion and intimacy. +</p> +<p> +All the regular, conceited male coquettes were abashed and perplexed by +manners so natural, that they could make nothing of her; while those +more dangerous, but much to be blamed admirers, who stand apart with +sighs and gazes, were baffled and made sad by the silent dignity of eyes +serenely bright, that never looked upon their flattering worship with +one ray of favour. Such was Beatrice Adony; all the fair girls were fond +of her, and proud of her—because she was no one's rival. They looked on +her as a being of a higher order; one whose thoughts were chaste as the +unsunned Alps. She was admired by them, meditated upon—but never +envied. +</p> +<p> +Most true it was, Beatrice was of another and a higher order. She was +"among them, not of them." She took part in those amusements which +belong to the customs of her country; and filled that place, and +performed those customs, which her station in society demanded, with +unaffected ease and grace. But while the trifles and pleasures of the +passing day were to her companions everything, they were to her little +and unsatisfying. For the last few years of her mother's life, whose +habits were meditative and devotional, she had daily listened to the +gracious lessons of divine truth, and the closet of Beatrice Adony was +hallowed by the Eye that seeth in secret, and that often saw her there +upon her knees. +</p> +<p> +It was on a fine day, in the early spring of 1796, that orders reached +Salzburgh for the march of these Hungarian hussars. They were to +traverse the Tyrol, and to join the army of Italy. They were to march at +sunrise on the following morning; and Count Adony, collecting all the +acquaintances of the corps in the town and neighbourhood, gave the +Hungarian officers a farewell banquet and ball; preparations for which, +in anticipation of their early departure, Beatrice had already directed. +</p> +<p> +Beatrice was the radiant queen of this fair festival; and it was strange +to think, that from the presence of such a being so many men were going +to part without one lover's pang. Amiable, affable, natural, and full of +grace, she presided over this little court of love—serene, unmoved, +herself. Yet any thoughtful and suspicious observer would have said, +that her heart was not quite at ease; for every now and then, as the +night wore on, her eyes gave less attention to those who spoke with her, +and her thoughts were evidently turning inwards with trouble. The supper +was over—the tastefully decorated table was deserted—and the guests +were again assembled in the ball-room. Fond partners that might never +dance with each other again, stood side by side—hand locked in +hand—and waited for the rising swell of the tender music, to which they +were to dance their last waltz. Beatrice stood up with her cousin Count +Zichy, and deadly pale she looked. The Count and all others thought she +had a headach, and would have had her sit down; but she persisted, with +a faint smile, in doing the last honours. +</p> +<p> +Just at this very moment a manly young officer, whose dress denoted that +he had been on duty, and was ready again to mount and go forward, came +in to make a report to the colonel. +</p> +<p> +As the first bars of the music were heard, he stood aside, his cap in +his hand, and looked on. Already, however, a young brother officer had +run from his partner's side, to renew to him, with all extravagance of +gratitude, his thanks for having, by an exchange of duty, enabled him to +enjoy a last, long parting with the girl he loved. The dance went +forward, and Julius Alvinzi leaned cheerfully upon his sabre. Suddenly +Count Zichy and his fair cousin broke out from the large circle, and +setting to him, he was led off to the waltz movement before he had time +to ungird his sword. This, however, even as he danced, he gracefully +effected; and afterwards for one tour of waltzing, Beatrice Adony was +the partner of Julius Alvinzi, quitting for the time her own. +</p> +<p> +This is a custom, in Germany, so common, +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page422" name="page422"></a>[pg 422]</span> +and seemed so natural and so +kind a courtesy to Julius, under the particular circumstances of his +late and short appearance at the ball, that neither himself, nor any one +in the room, attached to it any other character than that of a pretty +and gentle compliment. But if the ear of Julius had been quickened by +the faintest spark of sympathy, he might have heard the very heart of +Beatrice beat. +</p> +<p> +"You are tired," said Julius, as the music suddenly ceased. +</p> +<p> +"Rather so," she replied. +</p> +<p> +He led her, faint, pale, and trembling, to a seat. Some colour returned +to her cheek as she sat down; and, with an open and cheerful air, she +put out her hand to him, and said, "Farewell, Captain Alvinzi; all +honour, and all happiness go with you." +</p> +<p> +As he took her hand, he observed, for the first time, that pale-changing +of the cheek which is so eloquent of love; and, looking into her eyes, +he felt his heart sink with a sweeter emotion than he had ever known +before. +</p> +<p> +Thus silently they parted; and Julius went out from her presence sad, +but happy. "Il est si doux aimer, et d'etre aimé." He felt that he was +beloved. In half an hour, the noble gateway at Salzburgh, cut through +the solid rock, rang to the loud echo of trampling hoofs; and Julius was +riding under it with an advanced guard, and a few troop-sergeants, to +prepare the quarters of the regiment, then mustering for their march. +</p> +<p> +In all the camps of Europe, a finer youth, or a nobler spirit, could +no where have been found than Julius Alvinzi. Five years of military +service—three of which had been spent in the toils, the watchings, +and the combats of warfare—had accomplished and perfected him in all +points, as the zealous and enterprising leader of a squadron. Glory was +his idol—war his passion. His day-dreams over-leaped the long interval +of years which, of necessity, separated him from high command; and, as +he built up the castle of his future fame, many were the victories which +he won "in the name of God, and the Kaiser!" With this, the gallant +war-cry of Austria, he had already, in some few charges, led on his bold +and bitter Hungarians; and two or three dashing affairs of outposts—a, +daring and important reconnoissance, most skilfully conducted—and the +surprise and capture of a French picquet—had already given him an +established name for intelligence and enterprise. There was a manliness +about him superior to low, sensual enjoyment; and the imagery and +language of vulgar voluptuousness found no cell in a well-stored, +well-principled, and masculine mind, to receive or retain them. He was a +happy, handsome, hardy soldier; knowing his duly, loving it, and always +performing it with honour. Such was the man whom Beatrice Adony, with a +quick perception of true nobility of character, had silently observed +during the stay of the Hungarians at Salzburgh, and her love for him was +a secret— +</p> +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> + <p> The only jewel of her speechless thoughts.</p> +</div></div> +<p> +It was thus in the full lustihood of life, and in all the bloom of high +hope and promise, that in one of those severe actions, which took place +in the summer of 1796 on the plains of Mantua, Julius Alvinzi led his +brave squadron into battle. The brigade to which he belonged was brought +forward by the veteran Wurmser at a very anxious moment, and, by their +devoted courage, saved a column of Austrian infantry from being +enveloped and cut off by the French. The Hungarians charged with such +vigour and success, that they not only overthrew the body of horse +opposed to them, but they possessed themselves of a battery of +field-pieces which endeavoured to cover their retreat, and which +continued to vomit forth grape with a deadly fury till the horses' heads +of the leading squadron, under Alvinzi, reached the very muzzles of the +cannon. +</p> +<p> +The Austrians were, however, compelled finally to retreat, that same +evening, from the ground which they had so resolutely contested:—the +movement was made in fine order, and they carried off all their wounded +in safety. Upon a crowded wagon lay Julius Alvinzi; living, indeed, but +a living wreck, and his recovery despaired of. He had been wounded in +six places, and lay motionless and insensible; his servant walking by +his side in silent trouble. As the remains of his regiment marched +slowly back upon Mantua, and passed the convoy of the wounded close to +the gates, you might have heard the name of Alvinzi singled out by the +men for more deep and particular lamentation. He had been their friend, +their pride, their example; and their eyes were turned upon the wagon on +which he lay with an expression of sadness too stern and severe for +tears. +</p> +<p> +The news of this disastrous battle was communicated to Count Adony at +Salzburgh in a letter from his cousin the Count Zichy. Beatrice and her +father were sitting in his library after night-fall, each occupied with +a book, under the calm, soft light of a lamp which hung a little above +them, when this letter was brought in. He read it eagerly and rapidly to +himself; and then, with a grateful exclamation for the safety of Zichy, +and those officers with whom he was more especially acquainted, he again +read it aloud to Beatrice. It ran as follows:— +</p> +<p> +"MY DEAR AND HONOURED COUSIN, +</p> +<p> +"We are all doing our best; but, I am sorry to say, we are losing +everything except our honour. Fortune is with these Frenchmen. Of six +hundred swords, with which I marched from Salzburgh ten weeks ago, only +two hundred and twenty remain to me. We lost, in +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page423" name="page423"></a>[pg 423]</span> +the battle of yesterday, +nearly three hundred killed and wounded. I never saw our men fight +better: the enemy opposed to us were fairly beaten at the sword's point; +and we took a battery of twelve guns, which tried to cover their +discomfiture; but we conquered only to retire. I have not a word to say +against old Wurmser: he is a clear headed, tough-hearted veteran, but +these French generals are too young for him. I am quite well, but had a +narrow escape; two horses were killed under me, and a grape shot passed +through my cap. +</p> +<p> +"Tell dear Beatrice, I have got that engraving of the Madonna del +Rosario of Domenichino which she wanted. I picked it up at Verona; +thanks to poor Alvinzi, by the way. Though you, neither of you, saw nor +knew much of this youth, you have so often heard me speak of his worth, +that you will be sorry for me when I tell you that I have lost him; and, +in him, my best and most zealous officer. He is covered with wounds, and +cannot live through the night;—the noble fellow was struck down within +a yard of the enemy's guns. Of others, whom you may remember, Kreiner, +Zetter, and Hartmann, are killed; and several are wounded: Kalmann and +Hettinger very severely.—You shall hear from me again soon; but matters +look very unpromising. +</p> +<p> +"Your faithful and loving cousin, +<br /> +CASIMIR ZICHY." +</p> +<p> +"Read the letter again, father," said Beatrice, with a tone such as he +had never heard from her before; "read it again," she cried, "pray read +it again!—'my best and most zealous officer,'—is it not so?—'covered +with wounds, and cannot live through the night,'—is it not so?—Father, +I loved this Alvinzi.—Ah! yes, I loved him well—now better than +ever;—but I knew it would be thus the very day on which I first saw +him:—read it again,—pray do?"—and, with a still-bewilderment of eye, +she took it from her trembling father, and read it slowly to herself. +"Give me this letter, father;" and she put it in her bosom: and there it +lay,—there it lay through a long and nervous illness, which mercifully +terminated in her death. +</p> +<p> +For a long time she was enabled to govern and controul her feelings, and +was silent, and, to outward seeming, resigned. She often remarked to her +father, that she could, and did, say daily upon her knees, "Thy will be +done,"—but that tears always followed that sincere, but mournful, +exercise. However her frame at last gave way—she sunk into great +weakness of body, and her mind became affected. +</p> +<p> +Her father watched her with unceasing solicitude throughout her +sufferings; but he was often driven from her chamber by the agony of his +emotions, as she read over the fatal letter, or sung, which she did +continually, that mournful song of Thecla. +</p> +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> + <p> The world it is empty, the heart will die,</p> + <p> There's nothing to wish for beneath the sky:</p> + <p> Thou Holy One, call Thy child away—</p> + <p> I've lived and loved; and that was to-day—</p> +<p class="i2"> Make ready my grave-clothes to-morrow.</p> +</div></div> +<p> +Such was the early and melancholy close of a young life of the loveliest +promise. The severe and sudden horror struck hard upon her fine mind, +and drove it mournfully astray. Her heart was so broken that she could +not live on. But Julius Alvinzi did not then or so perish: for seventeen +weeks he lay upon a hospital bed in Mantua, helpless as an infant; +and finally recovered so much of health as gave him again the common +promise of life. He was afterwards sent to pass the long period of his +convalescence at Venice; but the Julius Alvinzi, who rode forth from +Salzburgh, was no longer to be recognised: crippled in his limbs—his +fine countenance disfigured by deep and unsightly scars—his complexion +pale—his hair turned grey with suffering. He had already stepped on +twenty years in as many weeks, and he was already, to the eye, a worn +and broken-down officer of veterans. He could not stir a pace without +crutches; and his hip had been so shattered and distorted that it was +painful to see him move. It was well that Beatrice was in her grave. No +doubt she would have exhibited the noble constancy of a pure, angelic, +and true love;—but she was spared that longer and heavier trial. +</p> +<p> +Alvinzi, like a stricken deer, betook himself, with decayed hopes and an +aching bosom, to a retired valley near Burgersdorf, about ten miles from +Vienna. Here he took a small fishing cottage, near a lone and lovely +stream, which flowed across a few velvet meadows, amid deep dells +and still woods; and here he threw himself on the beautiful bosom of +nature as on that of a mother. Here, for the first time, he was made +acquainted, by a letter and a packet from the aged and desolate Adony, +of the melancholy end of the lovely Beatrice. The packet contained a +small cross which she had always worn, her miniature, and her psalter. +</p> +<p> +The traveller who may now wander into the little valley, near +Burgersdorf, where Alvinzi dwelt, will find the cypress, planted upon +his grave the day after his funeral, only three years' growth; and if he +go and sit under the tree, beneath which Alvinzi reposed his withered +and broken frame for thirty summers, will perhaps agree with the +narrator of this mournful story, that mercy was mingled in his bitter +cup, and that +</p> +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> + <p> Society is all but rude,</p> + <p> To that delicious solitude.</p> +</div></div> +<p> +The peasants of that valley tell, with a superstitious awe, that Alvinzi +was wont to discourse for hours together with departed spirits; and that +they have stolen near his tree at sunset, and in the gloom of the +evening, and by moonlight, and have distinctly heard +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page424" name="page424"></a>[pg 424]</span> +him talking with +some one whom he called "Beatrice." +</p> +<p> +[The Embellishments of the <i>Souvenir</i> are nearly on a par with +those of previous years, with a light sprinkling of originality in the +subjects.] +</p> +<hr class="full" /> +<h2> + FINE ARTS. +</h2> +<hr /> +<h3> +CROSSES.<a id="footnotetag3" name="footnotetag3"></a><a href="#footnote3"><sup>3</sup></a> +</h3> +<div class="figure" style="width: 50%; float: left;"> +<a href="images/582-2.png"><img width="100%" src="images/582-2.png" +alt="(In Devonshire)" /></a> +(<i>In Devonshire</i>) +</div> +<p> +The subjoined are two specimens of rude workmanship, in comparison with +the ingenuity displayed in the Crosses already illustrated in our pages. +They are engraved from a drawing made by Mr. Britton, about thirty years +since. The first was in Devonshire, at the village of Alphington, about +one mile west of Exeter, on the side of the road leading from that city +to Plymouth. It represents the Calvary cross of heraldry, and consists +of a block of granite, which has been cut in an octagon shape, and fixed +in a large base. +</p> +<div class="figure" style="width: 50%; float: right; clear: left;"> +<a href="images/582-3.png"><img width="100%" src="images/582-3.png" +alt="(In Cornwall)" /></a> +(<i>In Cornwall</i>) +</div> +<p> +The second cross stood in Cornwall, on the wide waste of Caraton Down. +It consists of one block with a rounded head, bearing the couped cross. +This solitary pillar, evidently a Christian monument, is situate near a +Druidical temple called "the Hurlers." Crosses of this shape abound in +Cornwall. One has been found in Burian churchyard, and another in +Callington churchyard, bearing rude sculptures of the crucifixion; +others have been found in the county with holes perforated near the top, +and some with various ornaments on the shafts. +</p> +<hr class="full" style="clear: both;" /> +<h2> + DOMESTIC HINTS. +</h2> +<hr /> +<h3> + OLIVE OIL. +</h3> +<p> +Few articles differ more in quality than olive oil; not that the +different kinds are produced from different fruit, but in the different +stages of the pressure of the olives. Thus, by means of gentle pressure, +the best or <i>virgin</i> oil flows first; a second, and afterwards a +third quality of oil is obtained, by moistening the residuum, breaking +the kernels, &c. and increasing the pressure. When the fruit is not +sufficiently ripe, the recent oil has a bitterish taste; and when too +ripe it is fatty. After the oil has been drawn, it deposits a white, +fibrous, and albuminous matter; but when this deposition has taken +place, if it be put into clean flasks, +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page425" name="page425"></a>[pg 425]</span> +it undergoes no further +alteration. The common oil cannot, however, be preserved in casks above +a year and a half or two years. The consumption of olive oil as food is +not surprising if we remember, that it is the lightest and most delicate +of all the fixed oils. +</p> +<hr /> +<h3> + CARDS. +</h3> +<p> +Some misconception has arisen respecting the legality of <i>Second-hand +Cards</i>. It appears, however, that they may be sold by any person, if +sold without the wrapper of a licensed maker; and in packs containing +not more than 52 cards, including an ace of spades duly stamped, and +enclosed in a wrapper with the words "Second-hand Cards" printed or +written in distinct characters on the outside: penalty for selling +Second-hand Cards in any other manner, 20<i>l.</i> +</p> +<hr /> +<h3> + CINNAMON AND CASSIA. +</h3> +<p> +Cassia bark resembles Cinnamon in appearance, smell, and taste, and is +very often substituted for it; but it may be readily distinguished: it +is thicker in substance, less quilled, breaks shorter, and is more +pungent. It should be chosen in thin pieces: the best being that which +approaches nearest to Cinnamon in flavour; but that which is small and +broken should be rejected. +</p> +<hr /> +<h3> + COLOURING CHEESE. +</h3> +<p> +The fine, bright, red colour of some Gloucester cheese has been +fraudulently produced by red lead, which, we need scarcely observe, is a +violent poison. The ingredient now employed for this purpose, (to the +exclusion of every thing else) in Cheshire and Gloucestershire, is +annatto, a dye prepared from the seeds of a tree of South America. It is +perfectly harmless in the proportion in which it is used; an ounce of +genuine annatto being sufficient to colour a hundred weight of cheese. +It may, however, be questioned whether annatto is not sometimes +adulterated with red lead. +</p> +<p> +Gouda cheese, the best made in Holland, is prized for its soundness, +which is referable to muriatic acid being used in curdling the milk +instead of rennet. This renders it pungent, and preserves it from +mites. Parmesan cheese, so called from Parma in Italy, where it is +manufactured, and highly prized, is merely a skim-milk cheese, which +owes its rich flavour to the fine herbage of the meadows along the +Po, where the cows feed. +</p> +<hr /> +<h3> + BASKET SALT. +</h3> +<p> +The finer salt sold under this denomination is made by placing the +salt, after evaporation, in conical baskets, and passing through it a +saturated solution of salt, which dissolves, and carries off the muriate +of magnesia or lime. Pure salt should not become moist by exposure to +the air. +</p> +<hr /> +<h3> + PETIT-OR. +</h3> +<p> +The imitation of gold sold with this taking name is nothing more than +the alloy formerly called Pinchbeck, and made by melting zinc, in a +certain proportion, with copper and brass, so as in colour to approach +that of gold. +</p> +<hr class="full" /> +<h2> + THE PUBLIC JOURNALS. +</h2> +<hr /> +<h3> + CHIPS OF TOM CRINGLE'S LOG. +</h3> +<p> +[Our old friend Tom Cringle (of Blackwood,) occasionally spins or splits +his <i>Log</i> too small. The incidents are weakened in the drawing out, +or exaggerated in the telling; but they are sometimes relieved by +brilliant descriptive touches, such as the following, introduced to set +off the fate of one of Tom's heroes at Santiago.] +</p> +<center> +<i>The Butterfly, Chameleon, and Serpent.</i> +</center> +<p> +Glancing bright in the sunshine, a most beautiful butterfly fluttered in +the air, in the very middle of the open window. When we first saw it, it +was flitting gaily and happily amongst the plants and flowers that were +blooming in the balcony, but it gradually became more and more slow on +the wing, and at last poised itself unusually steadily for an insect of +its class. Below it, on the window sill, near the wall, with head erect, +and its little basilisk eyes upturned towards the lovely fly, crouched +a chameleon lizard, its beautiful body, when I first looked at it, was +a bright sea-green. It moved into the sunshine, a little away from the +shade of the laurel bush, which grew on the side it first appeared on, +and suddenly the back became transparent amber, the legs and belly +continuing green. From its breast under the chin, it every now and then +shot out a semicircular film of a bright scarlet colour, like a leaf of +a tulip, stretched vertically, or the pectoral fin of a fish. +</p> +<p> +This was evidently a decoy, and the poor fly was gradually drawn down +towards it, either under the impression of its being in reality a +flower, or impelled by some impulse which it could not resist. It +gradually fluttered nearer and more near, the reptile remaining all the +while steady as a stone, until it made a sudden spring, and in the next +moment the small meally wings were quivering on each side of the +chameleon's tiny jaws. While in the act of gorging its prey, a little +fork, like a wire, was projected from the opposite corner of the window; +presently a small round black snout, with a pair of little, fiery, +blasting eyes, appeared, and a thin, black neck, glancing in the sun. +The lizard saw it. I could fancy it trembled. Its body became of a dark +blue, then ashy pale; the imitation of the flower, the gaudy fin was +withdrawn, it appeared to shrink back as far as it could, but it was +nailed or fascinated to +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page426" name="page426"></a>[pg 426]</span> +the window sill, for its feet did not move. +The head of the snake approached, with its long, forked tongue shooting +out, and shortening, and with a low hissing noise. By this time about +two feet of its body was visible, lying with its white belly on the +wooden beam, moving forward with a small horizontal wavy motion, the +head and six inches of the neck being a little raised. I shrunk back +from the serpent, but no one else seemed to have any dread of it; +indeed, I afterwards learned, that this kind being good mousers, and +otherwise quite harmless, were, if any thing, encouraged about houses in +the country. I looked again; its open mouth was now within an inch of +the lizard, which by this time seemed utterly paralyzed and motionless; +the next instant its head was drawn into the snake's mouth, and +gradually the whole body disappeared, as the reptile gorged it, and +I could perceive from the lump which gradually moved down the snake's +neck, that it had been sucked into its stomach. Involuntary I raised +my hand, when the whole suddenly disappeared. +</p> +<p> +[One of Tom's <i>land-storms</i> is still more graphic.] +</p> +<p> +A heavy cloud that had been overhanging the small valley the whole +morning, had by this time spread out and covered the entire face of +nature like a sable pall; the birds of the air flew low, and seemed to +be perfectly gorged with the superabundance of flies, which were thickly +betaking themselves for shelter under the evergreen leaves of the +bushes. All the winged creation, great and small, were fast betaking +themselves to the shelter of the leaves and branches of the trees. The +cattle were speeding to the hollows under the impending rocks; negroes, +men, women, and children, were hurrying with their hoes on their +shoulders past the windows to their huts. Several large bloodhounds had +ventured into the hall, and were crouching with a low whine at our feet. +The large carrion crows were the only living things which seemed to +brave the approaching <i>chu-basco</i>, and were soaring high up in the +heavens, appearing to touch the black, agitated fringe of the lowering +thunder clouds. All other kinds of winged creatures, parrots, and +pigeons, and cranes, had vanished by this time under the thickest trees, +and into the deepest coverts, and the wild ducks were shooting past in +long lines, piercing the thick air with outstretched neck and clanging +wing. +</p> +<p> +Suddenly the wind fell, and the sound of the waterfall increased, and +grew rough and loud, and the undefinable rushing noise that precedes a +heavy fall of rain in the tropics, the voice of the wilderness, moaned +through the high woods, until at length the clouds sank upon the valley +in boiling mists, rolling halfway down the surrounding hills; and the +water of the stream, whose scanty rill but an instant before hissed over +the precipice in a small, transparent ribbon of clear grass-green, +sprinkled with white foam, and then threaded its way round the large +rocks in its capacious channel, like a silver eel twisting through a +desert, now changed in a moment to a dark turgid chocolate colour; and +even as we stood and looked, lo! a column of water from the mountains, +pitched in thunder over the face of the precipice, making the earth +tremble, and driving up from the rugged face of the everlasting rocks in +smoke, and forcing the air into eddies and sudden blasts which tossed +the branches of the trees that overhung it, as they were dimly seen +through clouds of drizzle, as if they had been shaken by a tempest, +although there was not a breath stirring elsewhere out of heaven; while +little, wavering, spiral wreaths of mist rose up thick from the surface +of the boiling pool at the bottom of the cataract, like miniature +water-spouts, until they were dispersed by the agitation of the air +above. +</p> +<p> +At length the swollen torrent rolled roaring down the narrow valley, +filling the whole water-course, about fifty yards wide, and advancing +with a solid front a fathom <i>high</i>—a fathom <i>deep</i> does not +convey the idea—like a stream of lava, or as one may conceive of the +Red Sea, when, at the stretching forth of the hand of the prophet of the +Lord, its mighty waters rolled back and stood heaped up as a wall to the +host of Israel. +</p> +<p> +The channel of the stream, which but a minute before I could have leaped +across, was the next instant filled and utterly impassable. +</p> +<p> +And the rain now began pattering in large drops, like scattering shots +preceding an engagement, on the wooden shingles with which the house was +roofed, gradually increasing to a loud rushing noise, which, as the +rooms were not ceiled, prevented a word being heard. +</p> +<p> +At length the weather cleared, and the shutters having been opened, and +with a suddenness which no one can comprehend who has not lived in these +climates, the sun now shone brightly on the flowers and garden plants +which grew in a range of pots on the balcony. +</p> +<hr /> +<h3> + THE DUCHESSE DE BERRI. +</h3> +<center> +(<i>From the New Monthly Magazine</i>.) +</center> +<p> +We have much pleasure in inserting these very curious anecdotes of an +unfortunate Princess, though they come to us from one devoted to her +cause, as well as sympathizing with her misfortunes. +</p> +<p> +Few heroines of ancient days have displayed more courage, self-devotion, +and firmness, than has this high-souled and heroic woman. It is not +generally known in this +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page427" name="page427"></a>[pg 427]</span> +country, that in an action in La Vendée, where +the partizans of the Duchess were opposed to the regular troops, she +headed her forces, and led the charges repeatedly. She had a horse shot +dead under her, and having been disarmed in the fall, seized the arms of +a fallen soldier next her, and again cheered on her followers. She was +eleven hours in action, and escaped unhurt, with the exception of some +contusions from the fall; and, when the battle was over, was seen +administering to the wants of those around her, dressing their wounds +with her own delicate hands; and whilst surrounded by the dead and +dying, she appeared wholly regardless of self, though overcome by a +fatigue and anxiety that few, even of the other sex, could have borne +so well. +</p> +<p> +On another occasion, the Duchesse de Berri had, with much difficulty, +procured a horse, and was mounted behind a faithful but humble adherent, +pursuing her route to a distant quarter, when her guide was accosted by +a peasant with whom he conversed some time in the patois of the country. +On quitting the peasant, he observed to the Duchess, that the man was +charged with a secret mission to a place at some distance, and was so +fatigued that he feared he could not reach it. She instantly sprang from +her seat, called after the peasant, and insisted on his taking the +horse, declaring that she could reach her destination on foot. After +walking for many hours, she arrived at a mountain stream that was +swollen by the recent rain, and having learned that her enemies were in +pursuit of her, she determined to cross it. Her guide, assisted by her, +fastened a large branch of a tree to his person, and, being an expert +swimmer, told her to hold by it, and that he hoped to get her over. They +had advanced to the deepest part of the stream when the bough broke, and +her guide gave her up for lost, when, to his surprise and joy, he saw +her boldly clearing the water by his side, and they soon reached the +bank in safety. During her visits to Dieppe, the Duchess had acquired a +proficiency in swimming, and it has since frequently saved her in the +hour of need. Overpowered by fatigue and hunger, and chilled by the cold +of her dripping garments, this courageous woman felt that her physical +powers were no longer capable of obeying her wishes, and that further +exertion was impossible. Seeing a house at a distance, she declared her +intention of throwing herself on the generosity of its owner, when her +guide warned her of the danger of such a proceeding, as the owner of the +house was a Liberal, and violently opposed to her party. All his +representations were made in vain. She boldly entered the house, and, +addressing the master of it, exclaimed—"You see before you the unhappy +mother of your king; proscribed and pursued, half dead with fatigue, +cold, wet, and hungry, you will not refuse her a morsel of your bread, a +corner at your fire, and a bed to rest her weary limbs on." The master +of the house threw himself at her feet, and, with tears streaming from +his eyes, declared that his house, and all that was his, were at her +service; and for some days, while the pursuit after her was the hottest, +she remained unsuspected in this asylum, the politics of the master +placing him out of suspicion; and when she left it, she was followed by +the tears and prayers of the whole of the family and their dependents. +</p> +<p> +This heroic woman, nurtured in courts, and accustomed to all the luxury +that such an exalted station as hers can give, has thought herself +fortunate, during many a night of the last year, when she could have the +shelter of the poorest hovel, with some brown bread and milk for food, +and has partaken, at the same humble board, the frugal repast of the +peasants who sheltered her. Her general attire has been the most common +dress, of a materiel called buse, made of worsted, and worn by the +poorest of the peasantry. A mantle of the same coarse stuff, with a +hood, completed her costume. +</p> +<p> +When one of the friends, who had seen her the pride and ornament of the +gilded saloons in the Tuileries, expressed his grief at the dreadful +hardships to which she was exposed, she pointed to a furze bush on the +heath where they were conversing, and said—"I shall sleep on that spot +to-night; and many nights I have had no better shelter than were +afforded by a few wild shrubs or trees, and I never slept better at +Rosny. If my mantle was long enough to allow of its covering my feet +when I slept, I should have nothing to complain of, but then it might +impede my flight, so I must be content." +</p> +<hr class="full" /> +<h2> + THE NATURALIST. +</h2> +<hr /> +<h3> + DEPTH OF THE SEA. +</h3> +<p> +As to the bottom of the basin of the sea, it seems to have inequalities +similar to those which the surface of continents exhibits; if it were +dried up, it would present mountains, valleys, and plains. It is +inhabited almost throughout its whole extent by an immense quantity of +testaceous animals, or covered with sand and gravel. It was thus that +Donati found the bottom of the Adriatic sea; the bed of testaceous +animals there, according to him, is several hundred feet in thickness. +The celebrated diver Pescecola, whom the emperor Frederick II. employed +to descend the strait of Messina, saw there with horror, enormous polypi +attached to the rocks, the arms of which, being several yards long, were +more than sufficient to strangle a man. In a great many places, the +madrepores form a kind of petrified forest fixed at the bottom +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page428" name="page428"></a>[pg 428]</span> +of the +sea, and frequently, too, this bottom plainly presents different layers +of rock and earth. +</p> +<p> +The granite rises up in sharp-pointed masses. Near Marseilles, marble is +dug up from a submarine quarry. There are also bituminous springs, and +even springs of fresh water, that spout up from the depths of the ocean; +and in the Gulf of Spezia, a great spout or fountain of fresh water is +seen to rise like a liquid hill. Similar springs furnish the inhabitants +of the town of Aradus with their ordinary beverage. +</p> +<p> +On the southern coast of Cuba, to the southwest of the port of Batabano, +in the bay of Xagua, at two or three miles from the land, springs of +fresh water gush up with such force in the midst of the salt, that small +boats cannot approach them with safety; the deeper you draw the water, +the fresher you find it. It has been observed, that in the neighbourhood +of steep coasts, the bottom of the sea also sinks down suddenly to a +considerable depth; whilst near a low coast, and one of gentle +declivity, it is only gradually that the sea deepens. There are some +places in the sea where no bottom has yet been found. But we must not +conclude that the sea is really bottomless; an idea, which, if not +absurd, is, at least, by no means conformable to the analogies of +natural science. The mountains of continents seem to correspond with +what are called the abysses of the sea; but now, the highest mountains +do not rise to 20,000 feet. It is true that they have wasted down and +lessened by the action of the elements; it may, therefore, be reasonably +concluded, that the sea is not beyond 30,000 feet in depth; but it is +impossible to find the bottom even at one-third of this depth, with our +little instruments. The greatest depth that has been tried to be +measured, is that found in the northern ocean by Lord Mulgrave; he +heaved a very heavy sounding lead, and gave out with it cable rope to +the length of 4,680 feet, without finding bottom.—<i>Blake's +Encyclopedia</i>. +</p> +<hr class="full" /> +<h2> + NOTES OF A READER. +</h2> +<hr /> +<h3> + CHARACTER OF CROMWELL. +</h3> +<center> +(<i>From the Buccaneer.—By Mrs. S.C. Hall</i>.) +</center> +<p> +There are two things that to a marvellous degree bring people under +subjection—moral and corporeal fear. The most dissolute are held in +restraint by the influence of moral worth, and there are few who would +engage in a quarrel if they were certain that defeat or death would be +the consequence. Cromwell obtained, and we may add, maintained his +ascendancy over the people of England, by his earnest and continually +directed efforts towards these two important ends. His court was a +rare example of irreproachable conduct, from which all debauchery +and immorality were banished; while such was his deep and intimate +though mysterious acquaintance with every occurrence throughout the +commonwealth, its subjects had the certainty of knowing that, sooner or +later, whatever crimes they committed would of a surety reach the ear +of the protector. His natural abilities must always have been of the +highest order, though in the early part of his career he discovered +none of those extraordinary talents that afterwards gained him so +much applause, and worked so upon the affections of the hearers +and standers-by. His mind may be compared to one of those valuable +manuscripts that had long been rolled up and kept hidden from vulgar +eyes, but which exhibits some new proof of wisdom at each unfolding. It +has been well said by a philosopher, whose equal the world has not known +since his day, "that a place sheweth the man." Of a certainty Cromwell +had no sooner possessed the opportunity so to do, than he showed to the +whole world that he was destined to govern. "Some men achieve greatness, +some men are born to greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon +them." With Cromwell greatness was achieved. He was the architect of +his own fortunes, owing little to what is called "chance," less to +patronage, and still less to crime, if we except the one sad blot upon +the page of his own history, as connected with that of his country. +There appears in his character but a small portion of that which is +evil, blended with much that is undoubtedly good. Although his public +speeches were, for the most part, ambiguous—leaving others to pick out +his meaning—or more frequently still, having no meaning to pick out, +being words, words, words—strung of mouldy sentences, scriptural +phrases, foolish exclamations, and such-like: yet when necessary, he +showed that he could sufficiently command his style, delivering himself +with so much energy, pith, propriety, and strength of expression, that +it was commonly said of him under such circumstances, "every word he +spoke was a thing." But the strongest indication of his vast abilities +was, the extraordinary tact with which he entered into, dissected, and +scrutinized the nature of human kind. No man ever dived into the manners +and minds of those around him with greater penetration, or more rapidly +discovered their natural talents and tempers. If he chanced to hear +of a person fit for his purpose, whether as a minister, a soldier, an +artisan, a preacher, or a spy, no matter how previously obscure, he sent +for him forthwith, and employed him in the way in which he could be made +most useful, and answer best the purpose of his employer. Upon this most +admirable system (a system in which, unhappily, he has had but few +imitators among modern statesmen,) depended in a great degree his +success. His +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page429" name="page429"></a>[pg 429]</span> +devotion has been sneered at; but it has never been proved +to have been insincere. With how much more show of justice may we +consider it to have been founded upon a solid and upright basis, when we +recollect that his whole outward deportment spoke its truth! Those who +decry him as a fanatic, ought to bethink themselves that religion was +the chivalry of the age in which he lived. Had Cromwell been born a few +centuries earlier, he would have headed the crusades, with as much +bravery, and far better results than our noble-hearted, but wrong-headed +Coeur de Lion. It was no great compliment that was passed on him by the +French minister, when he called the protector "the first captain of the +age." His courage and conduct in the field were undoubtedly admirable: +he had a dignity of soul which the greatest dangers and difficulties +rather animated than discouraged, and his discipline and government of +the army, in all respects, was the wonder of the world. It was no +diminution of this part of his character, that he was wary in his +conduct, and that, after he was declared protector, he wore a coat of +mail concealed beneath his dress. Less caution than he made use of, in +the place he held, and surrounded as he was by secret and open enemies, +would have deserved the name of negligence. As to his political +sincerity, which many think had nothing to do with his religious +opinions, he was, to the full, as honest as the first or second Charles. +Of a truth, that same sincerity, it would appear, is no kingly virtue! +Cromwell loved justice as he loved his own life, and wherever he was +compelled to be arbitrary, it was only where his authority was +controverted, which, as things then were, it was not only right to +establish for his own sake, but for the peace and security of the +country over whose proud destinies he had been called to govern. "The +dignity of the crown," to quote his own words, "was upon the account of +the nation, of which the king was only the representative head, and +therefore, the nation being still the same, he would have the same +respect paid to his ministers as if he had been a king." England ought +to write the name of Cromwell in letters of gold, when she remembers +that, within a space of four or five years, he avenged all the insults +that had been lavishly flung upon her by every country in Europe +throughout a long, disastrous, and most perplexing civil war. +Gloriously did he retrieve the credit that had been mouldering and +decaying during two weak and discreditable reigns of nearly fifty years' +continuance—gloriously did he establish and extend his country's +authority and influence in remote nations—gloriously acquire the real +mastery of the British Channel—gloriously send forth fleets that went +and conquered, and never sullied the union flag by an act of dishonour +or dissimulation. Not a single Briton, during the protectorate, but +could demand and receive either reparation or revenge for injury, +whether it came from France, from Spain, from any open foe or +treacherous ally; not an oppressed foreigner claimed his protection but +it was immediately and effectually granted. Were things to be compared +to this in the reign of either Charles? England may blush at the +remembrance of the insults she sustained during the reigns of the first +most amiable, yet most weak—of the second most admired, yet most +contemptible—of these legal kings. What must she think of the treatment +of the elector palatine, though he was son-in-law to king James? And let +her ask herself how the Duke of Rohan was assisted in the Protestant war +at Rochelle, notwithstanding the solemn engagement of king Charles under +his own hand! But we are treading too fearlessly upon ground on which, +in our humble capacity, we have scarcely the right to enter. Alas! alas! +the page of history is but a sad one; and the Stuarts and the Cromwells, +the roundheads and the cavaliers, the pennons and the drums, are but +part and parcel of the same dust—the dust we, who are made of dust +animated for a time by a living spirit, now tread upon! Their words, +that wrestled with the winds and mounted on the air, have left no trace +along that air whereon they sported:—the clouds in all their beauty cap +our isle with their magnificence, as in those by-gone days; the rivers +are as blue, the seas as salt; the flowers, those sweet things! remain +fresh within our fields, as when God called them into existence in +Paradise, and are bright as ever. But the change is over us, as it has +been over them: we, too, are passing. O England! what should this teach? +Even three things—wisdom, justice, and mercy. Wisdom to watch +ourselves, and then our rulers, so that we neither do nor suffer wrong; +justice to the memory of the mighty dead, whether born to thrones or +footstools; mercy, inasmuch as we shall deeply need it from our +successors. +</p> +<hr /> +<h3> + THE "WHY AND BECAUSE" OF CHRISTMAS. +</h3> +<p> +[We can vouch for the abridgement and collation of the following facts, +connected with this joyous season of old. Probably a few of the notes +may have been discussed in the course of our twenty-volume career; but +to omit such notices on the present occasion, would be to drop a link in +the little chain:] +</p> +<p> +Why is the evening before Christmas-day celebrated? +</p> +<p> +Because Christmas-day, in the primitive Church, was always observed as +the Sabbath-day, and, like it, preceded by an eve, or vigil.—<i>Brand.</i> +</p> +<p> +It was once believed, that if we were to go into a cow-house, at twelve +o'clock at night, +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page430" name="page430"></a>[pg 430]</span> +all the cattle would be found kneeling. Many also firmly +believed that bees sung in their hives on Christmas-eve, to welcome the +approaching day. +</p> +<p> +Why is Christmas-day so called? +</p> +<p> +Because of its derivation from <i>Christi Missa</i>, the mass of Christ; +and thence the Roman Catholic Liturgy is termed their <i>Missal</i>, or +<i>Mass-book</i>. About the year 500 the observation of this day became +general in the Catholic Church. +</p> +<p> +Why was the word <i>Yule</i> formerly used to signify Christmas? +</p> +<p> +Because of its derivation from the word <i>ol</i>, ale, which was much +used in the festivities and merry meetings of this period; and the +<i>I</i> in <i>Iol, icol</i>. Cimb. as the <i>ze</i> and <i>zi</i> in +<i>zehol, zeol, ziol</i>, Sax. are premised only as intensives, to add a +little to the signification, and make it more emphatical. <i>Ol</i>, or +<i>Ale</i>, did not only signify the liquor then made use of, but gave +denomination to the greatest festivals, as that of <i>zehol</i>, or +<i>Yule</i>, at Midwinter; and as is yet plainly to be discovered in +that custom of the Whitsun ale at the other great festival. +</p> +<p> +Why are certain initials affixed to crucifixes? +</p> +<p> +Because of their signifying the titular tributes paid to the Saviour of +the world. Thus, I.N.R.I. are universally agreed to be the initials of +the Latin words <i>Jesus Nazarenus Rex Judaeorum</i>; i.e. Jesus of +Nazareth, King of the Jews, a title which Pilot wrote and affixed to the +cross.—See John, ch. xix. The initials I.H.C., appended to other +crosses, are said to imply, <i>Jesus Humanitatis Consolator</i>, Jesus +the Consoler of Mankind; and the I.H.S. imply <i>Jesus Hominum +Salvator</i>, Jesus the Saviour of Men. The first-mentioned initials +are, however, found on the most ancient crosses. +</p> +<p> +Why is a certain song called a carol? +</p> +<p> +Because of its derivation from <i>cantare</i>, to sing, and <i>rola</i>, +an interjection of joy.—<i>Bourne</i>. +</p> +<p> +Bishop Taylor observes that the "Gloria in excelsis," the well-known +hymn sung by the angels to the shepherds at our Lord's nativity, was +the earliest Christmas carol. Bourne cites Durand to prove that +in the earlier ages of the churches, the bishops were accustomed, on +Christmas-day, to sing carols among their clergy. Fosbroke says—"It was +usual, in ancient feasts, to single out a person, and place him in the +midst, to sing a song to God." And Mr. Davies Gilbert, late President +of the Royal Society, in a volume which he has edited on the subject, +states, that till lately, in the West of England, on Christmas-eve, +about seven or eight o'clock in the evening, festivities were commenced, +and "the singing of carols begun, and continued late into the night. +On Christmas-day, these carols took the place of psalms in all the +churches, especially at afternoon service, the whole congregation +joining; and at the end it was usual for the parish-clerk to declare, +in a loud voice, his wishes for a merry Christmas and a happy new year +to all the parishioners." +</p> +<p> +Mr. Hone observes, in his work on "Ancient Mysteries," that "the custom +of singing carols at Christmas prevails in Ireland to the present time. +In Scotland, where no church fasts have been kept since the days of John +Knox, the custom is unknown. In Wales it is still preserved to a greater +extent, perhaps, than in England: at a former period, the Welsh had +carols adapted to most of the ecclesiastical festivals, and the four +seasons of the year; but at this time they are limited to that of +Christmas. After the turn of midnight, on Christmas-eve, service is +performed in the churches, followed by singing carols to the harp. +Whilst the Christmas holidays continue, they are sung in like manner in +the houses; and there are carols especially adapted to be sung at the +doors of the houses by visitors before they enter. <i>Lffyr Carolan</i>, +or the Book of Carols, contains sixty-six for Christmas, and five summer +carols. <i>Blodengerdd Cymrii</i>, or the Anthology of Wales, contains +forty-eight Christmas carols, nine summer carols, three May carols, one +winter carol, one nightingale carol, and a carol to Cupid. On the +Continent, the custom of carolling at Christmas is almost universal. +During the last days of Advent, Calabrian minstrels enter Rome, and are +to be seen in every street, saluting the shrines of the Virgin mother +with their wild music, under the traditional notion of charming her +labour pains on the approaching Christmas." +</p> +<p> +Why do the Christmas carols of the present day differ from the carols of +earlier times? +</p> +<p> +Because the present carols were substituted, by those enemies of +innocent mirth, the Puritans, for the original carols, which were festal +chansons for enlivening the merriment of the Christmas celebrity; and +not such religious songs as are current at this day, with the common +people, under the same title. +</p> +<p> +Dr. Johnson, in a note on <i>Hamlet</i>, tells us, that the pious +chansons, a kind of Christmas carol, containing some Scripture history, +thrown into loose rhymes, were sung about the streets by the common +people, when they went at that season to beg alms.—<i>Brand.</i> +</p> +<p> +Why is laurel used with other evergreens to deck houses at Christmas? +</p> +<p> +Because of its use among the ancient Romans, as the emblem of peace, +joy, and victory. In the Christian sense, it may be applied to the +victory gained over the powers of darkness by the coming of +Christ.—<i>Bourne.</i> +</p> +<p> +Why is the mistletoe so called? +</p> +<p> +Because its seeds are said to be dropped by the mistle-thrush, which +feeds on its berries. +</p> +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page431" name="page431"></a>[pg 431]</span> +</p> +<p> +Why was the mistletoe held sacred by the Druids? +</p> +<p> +Because they had an extraordinary reverence for the number <i>three</i>, +and not only the berries, but the leaves of the mistletoe, grow in +clusters of three united on one stalk. Its growing upon the oak, their +sacred tree, was doubtless another cause of its veneration. +</p> +<p> +We read of a celebrated oak at Norwood near London, which bore +mistletoe, "which some people cut for the gain of selling it to the +apothecaries of London, leaving a branch of it to sprout out; but they +proved unfortunate after it, for one of them fell lame, and others lost +an eye. At length, in the year 1678, a certain man, notwithstanding he +was warned against it, upon the account of what the others had suffered, +adventured to cut the tree down, and he soon after broke his +leg."—<i>Camden</i>. +</p> +<p> +Mr. Brand, however, thinks that mistletoe was never put up in churches +but by mistake or ignorance of the sextons: it being a heathenish and +profane plant, and therefore assigned to the kitchen. Mr. Brand made +many diligent inquiries after the truth of this point. He learnt at Bath +that it never came into churches there. An old Sexton at Teddington told +him that mistletoe was once put up in the church there, but was by the +clergyman immediately ordered to be taken away. +</p> +<p> +Why was the boar's head formerly a prime dish at Christmas? +</p> +<p> +Because fresh meats were then seldom eaten, and brawn was considered a +great delicacy. Holinshed says, that "in the year 1170, upon the day +of the young prince's coronation, King Henry I. served his sonne at +table as server, bringing up the boar's head with trumpets before it, +according to the manner." For this ceremony there was a special carol. +Dugdale also tells us, that "at the inns of court, during Christmas, the +usual dish at the first course at dinner was a large <i>bore's head</i>, +upon a silver platter, with minstralsaye." In one of the carols we read +that the boar's head is "the rarest dish in all the londe, and that it +has been provided in honour of the king of bliss." +</p> +<hr /> +<h3> + THE RIVER SCHELDT. +</h3> +<p> +In all former times, and centuries before the labour of Napoleon had +added so immensely to its importance, the Scheldt had been the centre +of the most important preparations for the invasion of England, and the +spot on which military genius always fixed from whence to prepare a +descent on this island. An immense expedition, rendered futile by the +weakness and vacillation of the French monarch, was assembled in it in +the fourteenth century; and sixty thousand men on the shore of the +Scheldt awaited only the signal of Charles VI. to set sail for the shore +of Kent. The greatest naval victory ever gained by the English arms was +that at Sluys, 1340, when Philip of France lost 30,000 men and 230 +ships of war in an engagement off the Flemish coast with Edward III., +a triumph greater, though less noticed in history, than either that +of Cressy or Poictiers. When the great Duke of Parma was commissioned +by Philip II. of Spain to take steps for the invasion of England, he +assembled the forces of the Low Countries at Antwerp; and the Spanish +armada, had it proved successful, was to have wafted over that great +commander from the banks of the Scheldt to the opposite shore of Essex, +at the head of the veterans who had been trained in the Dutch war. In +an evil hour, Charles II., bought by French gold and seduced by French +mistresses, entered into alliance with Louis XIV. for the coercion of +Holland; the Lillies and the Leopards, the navies of France and England, +assembled together at Spithead, and made sail for the French coast, +while the armies of the Grande Monarque advanced across the Rhine into +the heart of the United Provinces; and the consequence was, such a +prodigious addition to the power of France, as it took all the blood and +treasure expended in the war of the Succession and all the victories of +Marlborough, to reduce to a scale at all commensurate with the +independence of the other European states. +</p> +<hr class="full" /> +<h2> + THE GATHERER. +</h2> +<hr /> +<p> +Fleurus is a village in France, in the department of the Sombre and +Meuse, where the Austrians and the French fought a battle in the year +1794, in which the former were defeated. This victory is ascribed to the +information obtained in consequence of reconnoitering the army of the +enemy by the elevation of a balloon. The balloon employed on this +occasion was called the <i>Entreprenent</i>; and it was under the +direction of M. Coutel, the captain of the aeronauts at Meudon, +accompanied by an adjutant and a general. He ascended twice in the same +day, to the height of 220 fathoms, for the purpose of observing the +position and manoeuvres of the enemy. He continued each time four hours +in the air, and corresponded with General Jourdan, who commanded the +French army, by means of pre-concerted signals. The enterprise was +discovered by the enemy; and a battery opened its fire against the +ascending aeronauts, but they soon gained an elevation which was beyond +the reach of their fire. This balloon was prepared under the direction +of the Aerostatic Institute, for the use of the army of the north; as +were also another, called <i>Céleste</i>, for the army of the Sombre and +Meuse; and the <i>Hercûle</i> and <i>Intrepide</i>, for the army of the +Rhine and +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page432" name="page432"></a>[pg 432]</span> +Moselle. Another, thirty feet in circumference, and weighing +160 lbs., was destined for the army of Italy. A new machine, invented by +M. Coutel, the director of the Aerostatic Institute, was designed to aid +the aeronauts in communicating intelligence, and denominated the +<i>Aerostatic Telegraph</i>. +</p> +<h4> +P.T.W. +</h4> +<hr /> +<p> +<i>Muscular Strength</i>.—It is asserted by travellers, that a Turkish +porter will run along carrying a weight of 600 lbs. Milo, of Crotona, +is said to have lifted an ox, weighing upwards of 1,000 Ibs. Haller +mentions that he saw an instance of a man, whose finger being caught in +a chain at the bottom of a mine, by keeping it forcibly bent, supported +by that means the weight of his whole body, 150 lbs., till he was drawn +up to the surface, a height of 600 feet. Augustus II., king of Poland, +could with his fingers roll up a silver dish like a sheet of paper, +and twist the strongest horse-shoe asunder. An account is given in +the <i>Philosophical Transactions</i>, No. 310, of a lion who left the +impression of his teeth upon a solid piece of iron. The most prodigious +power of the muscles is exhibited by fish:—A whale moves with a +velocity through the dense medium of water that would carry him, if +he continued at the same rate, round the world in little more than a +fortnight; and a sword-fish has been known to strike his weapon quite +through the oak plank of a ship. +</p> +<h4> +W.G.C. +</h4> +<hr /> +<p> +<i>Beauties of Chatsworth</i>.—Marshal Tallard, who was entertained a +few days at this place by the Duke of Devonshire, on leaving, made this +declaration—"When I return," said he, "into my own country, and reckon +up the days of my captivity, I shall leave out those which I spent at +Chatsworth." And Quin once said that he had nearly broken his neck in +coming to it, and he should break his heart on his return. +</p> +<h4> +SWAINE. +</h4> +<hr /> +<p> +<i>Origin of the Discovery of Peru</i>.—Balboa, the famous Spanish +adventurer, in one of his expeditions, met with a young cazique, who +expressed his astonishment at the high value which was set upon the +gold, which the Spaniards were weighing and distributing. "Why do you +quarrel," said he, "about such a trifle? If you are so passionately fond +of gold as to abandon your own country, and to disturb the tranquillity +of distant nations, for its sake, I will conduct you to a region where +the metal, which seems to be the chief object of your admiration and +desire, is so common, that the meanest utensils are formed of it." +Transported with the intelligence, Balboa eagerly inquired where this +happy country lay, and how they might arrive at it. The cazique informed +them, that at the distance of six suns, or six days' journey to the +south, they would discover another ocean, near which this wealthy +kingdom was situated; but if they intended to attack it, they must +assemble forces far superior in number and strength to those which now +attended them.—This was the first information which the Spaniards +received concerning the great southern continent, known afterwards +by the name of Peru. +</p> +<h4> +P.T.W. +</h4> +<hr /> +<p> +<i>Cholera Morbus.</i>—Dr. James Johnson, in his interesting book +entitled, <i>Change of Air, or Pursuits of Health</i>, &c., says—"The +cholera morbus ought to be denominated the high-police of scavengers. +It has cleared away more filth, in Europe and England, than all the +municipal edicts that ever issued from the constituted authorities. +On this, and on some other accounts, it <i>will</i> save more lives +than it <i>has</i> destroyed." +</p> +<hr /> +<p> +<i>Patriotism.</i>—When the Chancellor d'Auguesseau, who constantly +resisted the encroachments of Louis XIV. on the liberties of the people, +was sent for to Versailles by that monarch, he was thus encouraged by +his amiable wife: "Go," said she, "forget in the king's presence your +wife and your children,—sacrifice everything except your honour." +</p> +<h4> +SWAINE. +</h4> +<hr /> +<p> +His late Majesty, when Prince of Wales, was looking out of a window with +Tom Sheridan, when the "Dart," with four grey horses passed by. "Is not +that a handsome coach, Tom?" observed the Prince. "Yes, your highness," +replied Tom, who was suffering under a headach from the champagne of the +previous night, and was rather in a sombre and meditative humour, "it +certainly is; but," continued he, pointing to a hearse going by at the +same time, "that's the coach <i>after all</i>." +</p> +<hr /> +<p> +<i>A Knowing Seaman.</i>—A rough-hewn seaman being brought before a wise +justice for some misdemeanour, was by him ordered to be sent to prison, +and was refractory after he heard his doom, insomuch as he would not +stir a foot from the place where he stood, saying it was better to stand +where he was than go to a worse place.—<i>Bacon</i>. +</p> +<h4> +P.T.W. +</h4> +<hr /> +<p> +<i>Expensive Fishing.</i>—In 1609, the Dutch were compelled to pay a +tribute for fishing on our coast; in 1683, they paid 30,000<i>l.</i> for +liberty to fish. Welwood, in his answer to Grotius, says, "that the +Scots obliged the Dutch, by treaty, to keep eighty miles from shore in +fishing, and to pay a tribute at the port of Aberdeen, where a tower was +erected for that and other purposes; and the Dutch paid the tribute, +even in the memory of our forefathers." +</p> +<h4> +THOMAS GILL. +</h4> +<hr class="full" /> +<blockquote class="footnote"> +<a id="footnote1" name="footnote1"></a> +<b>Footnote 1</b>: +<a href="#footnotetag1">(return)</a> +<p> +The above columns, with those of the handsome Ionic calonnade +which screened the Palace from Pall Mall, are, we believe, the +only remains of the building. +</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"> +<a id="footnote2" name="footnote2"></a> +<b>Footnote 2</b>: +<a href="#footnotetag2">(return)</a> +<p> +The entrance deserves this epithet on more than one account. +</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"> +<a id="footnote3" name="footnote3"></a> +<b>Footnote 3</b>: +<a href="#footnotetag3">(return)</a> +<p> +We thank "an old Subscriber and a native of Holbeach" for his +testimony to the accuracy of our Engraving of Holbeach Cross, at +page 329 of the present volume. We shall feel further obliged to +him for the view of Holbeach Church. +</p> +<p> +We may here remark that the Cross described at page 115, at +Wheston, is now in the courtyard of Wheston Hall. Probably our +Correspondent <i>E.T.B.A</i>. will oblige us with a drawing of that +interesting structure. +</p> +</blockquote> +<hr class="full" /> +<p> +<i>Printed and published by J. LIMBIRD, 143, Strand, (near Somerset +House,) London; sold by G.G. BENNIS, 55, Rue Neuve, St. Augustin, Paris; +CHARLES JUGEL, Francfort; and by all Newsmen and Booksellers.</i> +</p> +<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 12543 ***</div> +</body> +</html> diff --git a/12543-h/images/582-1.png b/12543-h/images/582-1.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..a3c50ad --- /dev/null +++ b/12543-h/images/582-1.png diff --git a/12543-h/images/582-2.png b/12543-h/images/582-2.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..163f5ef --- /dev/null +++ b/12543-h/images/582-2.png diff --git a/12543-h/images/582-3.png b/12543-h/images/582-3.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..69db78d --- /dev/null +++ b/12543-h/images/582-3.png diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..08cd1c0 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #12543 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/12543) diff --git a/old/12543-8.txt b/old/12543-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1840eea --- /dev/null +++ b/old/12543-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1995 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and +Instruction, Vol. 20, No. 582, Saturday, December 22, 1832, 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, Vol. 20, No. +582, Saturday, December 22, 1832 + +Author: Various + +Release Date: June 7, 2004 [eBook #12543] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: iso-8859-1 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MIRROR OF LITERATURE, +AMUSEMENT, AND INSTRUCTION, VOL. 20, NO. 582, SATURDAY, DECEMBER 22, +1832*** + + +E-text prepared by Jonathan Ingram, David Garcia, and the Project +Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustration. + See 12543-h.htm or 12543-h.zip: + (http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/1/2/5/4/12543/12543-h/12543-h.htm) + or + (http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/1/2/5/4/12543/12543-h.zip) + + + + +THE MIRROR OF LITERATURE, AMUSEMENT, AND INSTRUCTION. + +VOL. 20, NO. 582.] SATURDAY, DECEMBER 22, 1832. [PRICE 2d. + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +[Illustration: THE YORK COLUMN, (from St. James's Park.)] + + + + +THE YORK COLUMN. + + +Five years have now elapsed since the improvements in St. James's Park +were commenced, by order of Government, for the gratification of the +people. We were early in our congratulation, as well as illustration, of +the prospective advantages of these plans for the public enjoyment, as +will be seen on reference to our tenth volume; and, with respect to the +re-disposal of St. James's Park, we believe the feeling of satisfaction +has been nearly universal. + +At the period to which we have just alluded, the removal of Carlton +House, (for it scarcely deserved the name of Palace,) had been decided +on. The walls were dismantled of their decorative finery, and their +demolition commenced; the grounds were, to use a somewhat grandiloquent +phrase, dis-afforested; and the upper end of "the sweet, shady side +of Pall Mall" marked out for public instead of Royal occupation. Thus, +within a century has risen and disappeared from this spot the splendid +abode and its appurtenances; for, it was in the year 1732 that Frederic, +Prince of Wales, first purchased the property from the Earl of +Burlington; though it was not until 1788 that the erection of Carlton +House was commenced for the late King, then Prince of Wales; so that the +existence of the Palace must be restricted within forty years--a term +reminding us of the duration of a pavilion, rather than of a kingly +mansion. + +Upon the precise site of the courtyard and part of Carlton House have +been erected two mansions, of splendid character, appropriated to the +United Service and Athenaeum Clubs: the first built from the designs of +Mr. Nash, and the latter from those of Mr. Decimus Burton. They front +Pall Mall West, or may be considered to terminate Waterloo Place. + +The site of Carlton House Gardens is now occupied by palatial houses, +which are disposed in two ranges, and front St. James's Park. The +substructure, containing the kitchens and domestic offices, forms a +terrace about 50 feet wide, adorned with pillars of the Paestum Doric +Order, surmounted with a balustrade. The superstructure consists of +three stories, ornamented with Corinthian columns. The houses at each +extremity have elevated attics. Only small portions of these superb +elevations are shown in the Engraving, with the Athenaeum Club House in +the distance. + +In the space between the two ranges, it was proposed to erect a +fountain, formed of the eight column's of the portico of Carlton House, +(which was in elaborate imitation of the Temple of Jupiter Stator, +at Rome,[1]) to which eight on the same model were to be added. The +balustraded terrace had been continued fronting the Park with a view to +this embellishment. It however occurred to some guardian of the public +weal, that the above space presented an eligible opportunity for a grand +public entrance from Pall Mall into the Park. The idea was mooted in +Parliament; but some difficulties arose, from the leases already granted +to the builders of the houses on the terrace, who had calculated on the +_exclusive_ appropriation of the latter. The anxiety of the public +for the improvement at length reached the present King; and it was the +first popular act of his patriotic reign to command a grand triumphal[2] +entrance to be formed, with all possible speed; the difficulties +being then easily removed. The necessary portion of the terrace was +accordingly removed, and the magnificent approach formed, as shown in +the Engraving. + +While these improvements were in progress, a monumental memorial had +been projected by the British Army to their late commander-in-chief, the +Duke of York; an expression of grateful sympathy which must be recorded +to the honour of truly British hearts. The funds for this tribute were +augmented by each individual of the above branch of the service +contributing one day's pay. The design was furnished by Mr. Benjamin +Wyatt, the architect of the superb mansion built for the Duke of York; +and, after the execution was somewhat advanced, it was resolved to set +up the tribute in the place it now occupies. + +The monument consists of a plain Doric column, surmounted with a +colossal statue of the Duke of York. The pedestal and shaft are of fine +granite. The plinth, or base of the pedestal, is 22 feet square, and the +pedestal 18 feet; the circumference of the shaft is 11 feet 6 inches, +decreasing to 10 feet 2 inches at the top; the abacus is 13 feet 6 +inches square. The interior of the column may be ascended by a winding +staircase of 169 steps, lit by narrow loop-holes. + +From the top stair a doorway opens to the exterior of the abacus, which +will be enclosed with a massive iron railing, so as to form a prospect +gallery. The iron-work is not yet completed; but, as we have enjoyed the +view from two sides of the square, we can vouch for its commanding a +fine _coup d'oeil_ of the whole metropolis, and certainly the +finest view of its most embellished quarter. From this spot alone can +the magnificence of Regent-street be duly appreciated, and above all the +skill of the architect in effecting the junction of the lines by the +classical introduction of the Quadrant. + +That part of the structure which is, strictly speaking, upon the abacus +of the column, has a domed roof, upon which will be placed the colossal +statue, executed in bronze, by Mr. Westmacott. The Duke is represented +in a flowing robe, with a sword in his right hand, and in the left, one +of the insignia of the Order of the Garter. The height of the figure +is 13 feet 6 inches. The total height of the column, exclusive of the +statue, is 124 feet. The masonry, (executed by Mr. Nowell, of Pimlico,) +deserves especial notice. Its neatness and finish are truly astonishing, +and the solidity and massiveness of the material appear calculated "for +all time." + +We should mention that the embellishment about the upper part of the +pedestal (as seen in the cut,) has not yet been placed on the original; +nor has the statue yet been raised to the summit of the column. + + [1] The above columns, with those of the handsome Ionic calonnade + which screened the Palace from Pall Mall, are, we believe, the + only remains of the building. + + [2] The entrance deserves this epithet on more than one account. + + * * * * * + + + + +MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. + + * * * * * + + +ANCIENT AND MODERN CHRISTMAS. + + +"Anciently there was in the king's house," says Stow, "wheresoever he +lodged, at the feast of Christmas, a 'Lord of Misrule, or Master of +Merry Disports;' and the like also was there in the house of every +nobleman of honour or good worship, whether spiritual or temporal. +Among these, the Mayor and Sheriffs of London had their several Lords of +Misrule, ever contending, without quarrel or offence, who should make +the rarest pastime to divert the beholders. These Lords began their +rule, or rather misrule, on All Hallow's-eve, and continued the same +until Candlemas-day, in which space there were fine and subtle +disguisings, masques, and mummeries, with playing at cards for counters, +nails, and points, in every house, more for pastime than for gain. +Against this feast, the parish churches and every man's house were +decked with holm, ivy, bay, and whatsoever the season of the year +afforded that was green; and the conduits and standards in the streets +were likewise garnished." + +W.G.C. + + +_Kent._ + +At Ramsgate they commence their Christmas festivities by the following +ceremony:--A party of the youthful portion of the community having +procured the head of a horse, it is affixed to a pole, about four feet +in length; a string is attached to the lower jaw, a horse-cloth is tied +round the extreme part of the head, beneath which one of the party is +concealed, who, by repeated pulling and loosening the string, causes +the jaw to rise and fall, and thus produces, by bringing the teeth in +contact, a snapping noise, as he moves along; the rest of the party +following in procession, grotesquely habited, and ringing hand-bells! +In this order they proceed from house to house, singing carols and +ringing their bells, and are generally remunerated for the amusement +they occasion by a largess of money, or beer and cake. This ceremony is +called "a hoodening." The figure which we have described is designated +"a hooden," or wooden horse. The ceremony prevails in many parts of +the Isle of Thanet, and may probably be traced as the relic of some +religious ceremony practised in the early ages by our Saxon ancestors. + + +_Norfolk._ + +The following account of a pageant which took place at Christmas, 1440, +is from the records of Norwich:--"John Hadman, a wealthy citizen, made +disport with his neighbours and friends, and was crowned King of +Christmas. He rode in state through the city, dressed forth in silks and +tinsel, and preceded by twelve persons habited as the twelve months of +the year, their costumes varying to represent the different seasons of +the year. Alter King Christmas followed Lent, clothed in white garments +trimmed with herring skins, on horseback, the horse being decorated with +trappings of oyster-shells, being indicative that sadness and a holy +time should follow Christmas revelling. In this way they rode through +the city, accompanied by numbers in various grotesque dresses, making +disport and merriment,--some clothed in armour, carrying staves, and +occasionally engaging in martial combat; others, dressed as devils, +chased the people, and sorely affrighted the women and children; others, +wearing skin-dresses, and counterfeiting bears, wolves, lions, and other +animals, and endeavouring to imitate the animals they represented, in +roaring and raving, alarming the cowardly and appalling the stoutest +hearts." + +_Dalmatia._ + +At Selenico, in Dalmatia, according to Fortis; they elect a king at +Christmas, whose reign lasts only a fortnight; but notwithstanding the +short duration of his authority, he enjoys several prerogatives of +sovereignty: such, for example, as that of keeping the keys of the town, +of having a distinguished place in the cathedral, and of deciding upon +all the difficulties or disputes which arise among those who compose his +court. The town is obliged to provide him with a house suitable to the +dignity of his elevated situation. When he leaves his house, he is +always compelled to wear a crown of wheat-ears, and he cannot appear +in public without a robe of purple or scarlet cloth, and surrounded +by a great number of officers. The governor, the bishops, and other +dignitaries, are obliged to give him a feast; and all who meet him must +salute him with respect. When the fortnight is at an end, the king quits +his palace, strips off his crown and purple, dismisses his court, and +returns to his hovel. For a length of time this pantomimical king was +chosen from amongst the nobles, but at present it has devolved on the +lowest of the people. + + * * * * * + + + + +NEW BOOKS. + + * * * * * + + +THE LITERARY SOUVENIR, FOR 1833, + + +[Is, in our estimation, a splendid failure. It lacks the variety which +the _Annual_ should possess for a family of readers; and its +sameness is, moreover, of the saddest character in the whole region of +romance. The stories are long, and lazily told; and they overflow with +the most lugubrious monotony. There is scarcely a relief throughout the +volume, from Wordsworth's "majestic sonnet" on Sir Walter Scott, to +Autumn Flowers, by Agnes Strickland; we travel from one end to the +other, and all is lead and leaden--dull, heavy, and sad, as old Burton +could wish; and full of moping melancholy, unenlivened by quaintness, or +humour of any cast. Not that we mean to condemn the pieces individually; +but, collectively, they are too much in the same vein: the Editor has +studied too closely his text-motto: + + "Fairy tale to lull the heir, + Goblin grim the maids to scare." + +It is all shade, without a gleam of sunshine, if we except two or three +of the most trifling of the papers. The best tale in the volume is the +Marsh Maiden, by Leigh Ritchie; next is the Jacobite Exile and his +Hound: Retrospections of Secundus Parnell, are an infliction upon the +reader; and these, with two _mediocre_ tales, and a sketch or two, +make up the prose contents. The poetry has greater merit, though almost +in one unvaried strain. Mr. Watts has contributed but one lyric, and +Mrs. Watts a stirring ballad of Spanish revenge; Mary Howitt has +contributed a fairy ballad, pretty enough; and the Sin of Earl Walter, a +tale of olden popish times in England, of some 60 or 70 verses. We quote +two specimens from the poetry:] + + +SONNET ON SIR WALTER SCOTT'S QUITTING ABBOTSFORD FOR NAPLES. + +_By William Wordsworth._ + + + A trouble, not of clouds, or weeping rain, + Nor of the setting sun's pathetic light + Engendered, hangs o'er Eildun's triple height: + Spirits of Power assembled there complain + For kindred Power departing from their sight; + While Tweed, best pleased in chanting a blithe strain, + Saddens his voice again and yet again. + Lift up your hearts, ye Mourners! for the might + Of the whole world's good wishes with him goes; + Blessings and prayers, in nobler retinue + Than sceptred king or laurelled conqueror knows, + Follow this wondrous Potentate. Be true + Ye winds of ocean and the midland sea, + Wafting your charge to soft Parthenope! + + +THE SKELETON DANCE. + +_After the German of Goethe._ + + + The warder looked out at the mid-hour of night, + Where the grave-hills all silently lay; + The moon-beams above gave so brilliant a light, + That the churchyard was clear as by day: + First one, then another, to open began; + Here came out a woman--there came out a man,-- + Each clad in a shroud long and white. + + And then for amusement--perchance it was cold-- + In a circle they seemed to advance; + The poor and the rich, and the young and the old,-- + But the grave-clothes impeded the dance: + And as no person thought about modesty there, + They flung off their garments, and stripped themselves bare, + And a shroud lay on each heap of mould. + + They kicked up their heels, and they rattled their bones, + And the horrible din that they made + Went clickety-clackety--just like the tones + Of a castanet noisily played. + And the warder he laughed as he witnessed the cheer, + And he heard the Betrayer speak soft in his ear, + "Go and steal away one of their shrouds." + + Swift as thought it was done--in an instant he fled + Behind the church portal to hide; + And brighter and brighter the moon-beam was shed, + As the dance they still shudderingly plied;-- + But at last they began to grow tired of their fun, + And they put on their shrouds, and slipped off, one by one, + Beneath, to the homes of the dead. + + But tapping at every grave-hill, there staid + One skeleton, tripping behind; + Though not by his comrades the trick had been played-- + Now its odour he snuffed in the wind: + He rushed to the door--but fell back with a shock; + For well for the wight of the bell and the clock, + The sign of the cross it displayed. + + But the shroud he must have--not a moment he stays; + Ere a man had begun but to think, + On the Gothic-work his fingers quickly he lays, + And climbs up its chain, link by link. + Now woe to the warder--for sure he must die-- + To see, like a long-legged spider, draw nigh + The skeleton's clattering form: + + And pale was his visage, and thick came his breath; + The garb, alas! why did he touch? + How sick grew his soul as the garment of death + The skeleton caught in his clutch-- + The moon disappeared, and the skies changed to dun, + And louder than thunder the church-bell tolled one-- + The spectre fell tumbling to bits! + + + +[and one of the prose tales, abridged:] + + +BEATRICE ADONY AND JULIUS ALVINZI. + + +There is not in all Germany a more pleasant station for a regiment of +horse than the city of Salzburgh, capital of the province of that name, +in the dominions of the House of Austria. Here, during the summer and +autumn of 1795, lay the third regiment of Hungarian hussars. This corps +had sustained a heavy loss during the campaign of the year previous in +Flanders, and was sent into garrison to be recruited and organized anew. +Count Zichy, who commanded it, was a noble of the highest rank, of +princely fortune, and of lavish expenditure; and being of a cheerful and +social turn of mind, he promoted all the amusements of the place, and +encouraged the gaiety of his officers. + +The scenery around is grand and alpine. The narrow defiles and +picturesque valleys are watered by mountain rivers; and, at an easy +distance from the city, is the lone lake of Berchtolsgaden, lying +beneath a lofty, inaccessible alp, of the most stern and majestic +aspect. Need it be told how sweet upon that placid lake sounded the +mellow horns of the Hungarian band; and may it not be left to fancy to +image out, how these parties, these scenes, and these sensations, gave +birth to some abiding, and to very many passing loves. + +Among the fair women of Salzburgh, the palm of beauty was yielded +readily by all to Beatrice Adony, the only daughter of a respected +statesman, long favoured at court, and then resident upon a private +estate in the neighbourhood. He had retired from public affairs a few +years before, when under deep affliction from the loss of a beloved +wife; and lived a life of fond parental devotion with this lovely +Beatrice, who was the image of her departed mother. He had directed +all her studies; and with such judgment, that he had imparted to her +character a masculine strength, which elevated her above all the common +dangers of that season of life when woman passes forth into society. + +The Count Zichy was a relation of Count Adony, and a constant and +welcome guest at his mansion; and Beatrice, therefore, attended many and +most of the entertainments which the Count and his officers gave to the +society of Salzburgh during their stay. As she smiled no encouragement +upon the attentions which the Count seemed at first disposed to pay her, +and as he was a cheerful, manly-hearted creature, and though made of +penetrable stuff, by no means a person to lose either appetite, society, +or life, for love, he bestowed his gallantries elsewhere. She liked him +for this all the better; and gave him, in return, that free-hearted, +sisterly friendship, which might be innocently suffered to grow out of +their connexion and intimacy. + +All the regular, conceited male coquettes were abashed and perplexed by +manners so natural, that they could make nothing of her; while those +more dangerous, but much to be blamed admirers, who stand apart with +sighs and gazes, were baffled and made sad by the silent dignity of eyes +serenely bright, that never looked upon their flattering worship with +one ray of favour. Such was Beatrice Adony; all the fair girls were fond +of her, and proud of her--because she was no one's rival. They looked on +her as a being of a higher order; one whose thoughts were chaste as the +unsunned Alps. She was admired by them, meditated upon--but never +envied. + +Most true it was, Beatrice was of another and a higher order. She was +"among them, not of them." She took part in those amusements which +belong to the customs of her country; and filled that place, and +performed those customs, which her station in society demanded, with +unaffected ease and grace. But while the trifles and pleasures of the +passing day were to her companions everything, they were to her little +and unsatisfying. For the last few years of her mother's life, whose +habits were meditative and devotional, she had daily listened to the +gracious lessons of divine truth, and the closet of Beatrice Adony was +hallowed by the Eye that seeth in secret, and that often saw her there +upon her knees. + +It was on a fine day, in the early spring of 1796, that orders reached +Salzburgh for the march of these Hungarian hussars. They were to +traverse the Tyrol, and to join the army of Italy. They were to march at +sunrise on the following morning; and Count Adony, collecting all the +acquaintances of the corps in the town and neighbourhood, gave the +Hungarian officers a farewell banquet and ball; preparations for which, +in anticipation of their early departure, Beatrice had already directed. + +Beatrice was the radiant queen of this fair festival; and it was strange +to think, that from the presence of such a being so many men were going +to part without one lover's pang. Amiable, affable, natural, and full of +grace, she presided over this little court of love--serene, unmoved, +herself. Yet any thoughtful and suspicious observer would have said, +that her heart was not quite at ease; for every now and then, as the +night wore on, her eyes gave less attention to those who spoke with her, +and her thoughts were evidently turning inwards with trouble. The supper +was over--the tastefully decorated table was deserted--and the guests +were again assembled in the ball-room. Fond partners that might never +dance with each other again, stood side by side--hand locked in +hand--and waited for the rising swell of the tender music, to which they +were to dance their last waltz. Beatrice stood up with her cousin Count +Zichy, and deadly pale she looked. The Count and all others thought she +had a headach, and would have had her sit down; but she persisted, with +a faint smile, in doing the last honours. + +Just at this very moment a manly young officer, whose dress denoted that +he had been on duty, and was ready again to mount and go forward, came +in to make a report to the colonel. + +As the first bars of the music were heard, he stood aside, his cap in +his hand, and looked on. Already, however, a young brother officer had +run from his partner's side, to renew to him, with all extravagance of +gratitude, his thanks for having, by an exchange of duty, enabled him to +enjoy a last, long parting with the girl he loved. The dance went +forward, and Julius Alvinzi leaned cheerfully upon his sabre. Suddenly +Count Zichy and his fair cousin broke out from the large circle, and +setting to him, he was led off to the waltz movement before he had time +to ungird his sword. This, however, even as he danced, he gracefully +effected; and afterwards for one tour of waltzing, Beatrice Adony was +the partner of Julius Alvinzi, quitting for the time her own. + +This is a custom, in Germany, so common, and seemed so natural and so +kind a courtesy to Julius, under the particular circumstances of his +late and short appearance at the ball, that neither himself, nor any one +in the room, attached to it any other character than that of a pretty +and gentle compliment. But if the ear of Julius had been quickened by +the faintest spark of sympathy, he might have heard the very heart of +Beatrice beat. + +"You are tired," said Julius, as the music suddenly ceased. + +"Rather so," she replied. + +He led her, faint, pale, and trembling, to a seat. Some colour returned +to her cheek as she sat down; and, with an open and cheerful air, she +put out her hand to him, and said, "Farewell, Captain Alvinzi; all +honour, and all happiness go with you." + +As he took her hand, he observed, for the first time, that pale-changing +of the cheek which is so eloquent of love; and, looking into her eyes, +he felt his heart sink with a sweeter emotion than he had ever known +before. + +Thus silently they parted; and Julius went out from her presence sad, +but happy. "Il est si doux aimer, et d'etre aimé." He felt that he was +beloved. In half an hour, the noble gateway at Salzburgh, cut through +the solid rock, rang to the loud echo of trampling hoofs; and Julius was +riding under it with an advanced guard, and a few troop-sergeants, to +prepare the quarters of the regiment, then mustering for their march. + +In all the camps of Europe, a finer youth, or a nobler spirit, could +no where have been found than Julius Alvinzi. Five years of military +service--three of which had been spent in the toils, the watchings, +and the combats of warfare--had accomplished and perfected him in all +points, as the zealous and enterprising leader of a squadron. Glory was +his idol--war his passion. His day-dreams over-leaped the long interval +of years which, of necessity, separated him from high command; and, as +he built up the castle of his future fame, many were the victories which +he won "in the name of God, and the Kaiser!" With this, the gallant +war-cry of Austria, he had already, in some few charges, led on his bold +and bitter Hungarians; and two or three dashing affairs of outposts--a, +daring and important reconnoissance, most skilfully conducted--and the +surprise and capture of a French picquet--had already given him an +established name for intelligence and enterprise. There was a manliness +about him superior to low, sensual enjoyment; and the imagery and +language of vulgar voluptuousness found no cell in a well-stored, +well-principled, and masculine mind, to receive or retain them. He was a +happy, handsome, hardy soldier; knowing his duly, loving it, and always +performing it with honour. Such was the man whom Beatrice Adony, with a +quick perception of true nobility of character, had silently observed +during the stay of the Hungarians at Salzburgh, and her love for him was +a secret-- + + The only jewel of her speechless thoughts. + +It was thus in the full lustihood of life, and in all the bloom of high +hope and promise, that in one of those severe actions, which took place +in the summer of 1796 on the plains of Mantua, Julius Alvinzi led his +brave squadron into battle. The brigade to which he belonged was brought +forward by the veteran Wurmser at a very anxious moment, and, by their +devoted courage, saved a column of Austrian infantry from being +enveloped and cut off by the French. The Hungarians charged with such +vigour and success, that they not only overthrew the body of horse +opposed to them, but they possessed themselves of a battery of +field-pieces which endeavoured to cover their retreat, and which +continued to vomit forth grape with a deadly fury till the horses' heads +of the leading squadron, under Alvinzi, reached the very muzzles of the +cannon. + +The Austrians were, however, compelled finally to retreat, that same +evening, from the ground which they had so resolutely contested:--the +movement was made in fine order, and they carried off all their wounded +in safety. Upon a crowded wagon lay Julius Alvinzi; living, indeed, but +a living wreck, and his recovery despaired of. He had been wounded in +six places, and lay motionless and insensible; his servant walking by +his side in silent trouble. As the remains of his regiment marched +slowly back upon Mantua, and passed the convoy of the wounded close to +the gates, you might have heard the name of Alvinzi singled out by the +men for more deep and particular lamentation. He had been their friend, +their pride, their example; and their eyes were turned upon the wagon on +which he lay with an expression of sadness too stern and severe for +tears. + +The news of this disastrous battle was communicated to Count Adony at +Salzburgh in a letter from his cousin the Count Zichy. Beatrice and her +father were sitting in his library after night-fall, each occupied with +a book, under the calm, soft light of a lamp which hung a little above +them, when this letter was brought in. He read it eagerly and rapidly to +himself; and then, with a grateful exclamation for the safety of Zichy, +and those officers with whom he was more especially acquainted, he again +read it aloud to Beatrice. It ran as follows:-- + +"MY DEAR AND HONOURED COUSIN, + +"We are all doing our best; but, I am sorry to say, we are losing +everything except our honour. Fortune is with these Frenchmen. Of six +hundred swords, with which I marched from Salzburgh ten weeks ago, only +two hundred and twenty remain to me. We lost, in the battle of yesterday, +nearly three hundred killed and wounded. I never saw our men fight +better: the enemy opposed to us were fairly beaten at the sword's point; +and we took a battery of twelve guns, which tried to cover their +discomfiture; but we conquered only to retire. I have not a word to say +against old Wurmser: he is a clear headed, tough-hearted veteran, but +these French generals are too young for him. I am quite well, but had a +narrow escape; two horses were killed under me, and a grape shot passed +through my cap. + +"Tell dear Beatrice, I have got that engraving of the Madonna del +Rosario of Domenichino which she wanted. I picked it up at Verona; +thanks to poor Alvinzi, by the way. Though you, neither of you, saw nor +knew much of this youth, you have so often heard me speak of his worth, +that you will be sorry for me when I tell you that I have lost him; and, +in him, my best and most zealous officer. He is covered with wounds, and +cannot live through the night;--the noble fellow was struck down within +a yard of the enemy's guns. Of others, whom you may remember, Kreiner, +Zetter, and Hartmann, are killed; and several are wounded: Kalmann and +Hettinger very severely.--You shall hear from me again soon; but matters +look very unpromising. + +"Your faithful and loving cousin, CASIMIR ZICHY." + +"Read the letter again, father," said Beatrice, with a tone such as he +had never heard from her before; "read it again," she cried, "pray read +it again!--'my best and most zealous officer,'--is it not so?--'covered +with wounds, and cannot live through the night,'--is it not so?--Father, +I loved this Alvinzi.--Ah! yes, I loved him well--now better than +ever;--but I knew it would be thus the very day on which I first saw +him:--read it again,--pray do?"--and, with a still-bewilderment of eye, +she took it from her trembling father, and read it slowly to herself. +"Give me this letter, father;" and she put it in her bosom: and there it +lay,--there it lay through a long and nervous illness, which mercifully +terminated in her death. + +For a long time she was enabled to govern and controul her feelings, and +was silent, and, to outward seeming, resigned. She often remarked to her +father, that she could, and did, say daily upon her knees, "Thy will be +done,"--but that tears always followed that sincere, but mournful, +exercise. However her frame at last gave way--she sunk into great +weakness of body, and her mind became affected. + +Her father watched her with unceasing solicitude throughout her +sufferings; but he was often driven from her chamber by the agony of his +emotions, as she read over the fatal letter, or sung, which she did +continually, that mournful song of Thecla. + + The world it is empty, the heart will die, + There's nothing to wish for beneath the sky: + Thou Holy One, call Thy child away-- + I've lived and loved; and that was to-day-- + Make ready my grave-clothes to-morrow. + + +Such was the early and melancholy close of a young life of the loveliest +promise. The severe and sudden horror struck hard upon her fine mind, +and drove it mournfully astray. Her heart was so broken that she could +not live on. But Julius Alvinzi did not then or so perish: for seventeen +weeks he lay upon a hospital bed in Mantua, helpless as an infant; +and finally recovered so much of health as gave him again the common +promise of life. He was afterwards sent to pass the long period of his +convalescence at Venice; but the Julius Alvinzi, who rode forth from +Salzburgh, was no longer to be recognised: crippled in his limbs--his +fine countenance disfigured by deep and unsightly scars--his complexion +pale--his hair turned grey with suffering. He had already stepped on +twenty years in as many weeks, and he was already, to the eye, a worn +and broken-down officer of veterans. He could not stir a pace without +crutches; and his hip had been so shattered and distorted that it was +painful to see him move. It was well that Beatrice was in her grave. No +doubt she would have exhibited the noble constancy of a pure, angelic, +and true love;--but she was spared that longer and heavier trial. + +Alvinzi, like a stricken deer, betook himself, with decayed hopes and an +aching bosom, to a retired valley near Burgersdorf, about ten miles from +Vienna. Here he took a small fishing cottage, near a lone and lovely +stream, which flowed across a few velvet meadows, amid deep dells +and still woods; and here he threw himself on the beautiful bosom of +nature as on that of a mother. Here, for the first time, he was made +acquainted, by a letter and a packet from the aged and desolate Adony, +of the melancholy end of the lovely Beatrice. The packet contained a +small cross which she had always worn, her miniature, and her psalter. + +The traveller who may now wander into the little valley, near +Burgersdorf, where Alvinzi dwelt, will find the cypress, planted upon +his grave the day after his funeral, only three years' growth; and if he +go and sit under the tree, beneath which Alvinzi reposed his withered +and broken frame for thirty summers, will perhaps agree with the +narrator of this mournful story, that mercy was mingled in his bitter +cup, and that + + Society is all but rude, + To that delicious solitude. + + +The peasants of that valley tell, with a superstitious awe, that Alvinzi +was wont to discourse for hours together with departed spirits; and +that they have stolen near his tree at sunset, and in the gloom of the +evening, and by moonlight, and have distinctly heard him talking with +some one whom he called "Beatrice." + +[The Embellishments of the _Souvenir_ are nearly on a par with +those of previous years, with a light sprinkling of originality in the +subjects.] + + * * * * * + + + + +FINE ARTS. + + * * * * * + +CROSSES.[3] + + +[Illustration: (_In Devonshire_,)] + +The subjoined are two specimens of rude workmanship, in comparison with +the ingenuity displayed in the Crosses already illustrated in our pages. +They are engraved from a drawing made by Mr. Britton, about thirty years +since. The first was in Devonshire, at the village of Alphington, about +one mile west of Exeter, on the side of the road leading from that city +to Plymouth. It represents the Calvary cross of heraldry, and consists +of a block of granite, which has been cut in an octagon shape, and fixed +in a large base. + +[Illustration: (_In Cornwall_,)] + +The second cross stood in Cornwall, on the wide waste of Caraton Down. +It consists of one block with a rounded head, bearing the couped cross. +This solitary pillar, evidently a Christian monument, is situate near a +Druidical temple called "the Hurlers." Crosses of this shape abound in +Cornwall. One has been found in Burian churchyard, and another in +Callington churchyard, bearing rude sculptures of the crucifixion; +others have been found in the county with holes perforated near the top, +and some with various ornaments on the shafts. + + + [3] We thank "an old Subscriber and a native of Holbeach" for his + testimony to the accuracy of our Engraving of Holbeach Cross, at + page 329 of the present volume. We shall feel further obliged to + him for the view of Holbeach Church. + + We may here remark that the Cross described at page 115, at + Wheston, is now in the courtyard of Wheston Hall. Probably our + Correspondent _E.T.B.A_. will oblige us with a drawing of that + interesting structure. + + + * * * * * + + + + +DOMESTIC HINTS. + + * * * * * + + +OLIVE OIL. + + +Few articles differ more in quality than olive oil; not that the +different kinds are produced from different fruit, but in the different +stages of the pressure of the olives. Thus, by means of gentle pressure, +the best or _virgin_ oil flows first; a second, and afterwards a +third quality of oil is obtained, by moistening the residuum, breaking +the kernels, &c. and increasing the pressure. When the fruit is not +sufficiently ripe, the recent oil has a bitterish taste; and when too +ripe it is fatty. After the oil has been drawn, it deposits a white, +fibrous, and albuminous matter; but when this deposition has taken +place, if it be put into clean flasks, it undergoes no further +alteration. The common oil cannot, however, be preserved in casks above +a year and a half or two years. The consumption of olive oil as food is +not surprising if we remember, that it is the lightest and most delicate +of all the fixed oils. + + * * * * * + + +CARDS. + + +Some misconception has arisen respecting the legality of _Second-hand +Cards_. It appears, however, that they may be sold by any person, if +sold without the wrapper of a licensed maker; and in packs containing +not more than 52 cards, including an ace of spades duly stamped, and +enclosed in a wrapper with the words "Second-hand Cards" printed or +written in distinct characters on the outside: penalty for selling +Second-hand Cards in any other manner, 20l. + + * * * * * + + +CINNAMON AND CASSIA. + + +Cassia bark resembles Cinnamon in appearance, smell, and taste, and is +very often substituted for it; but it may be readily distinguished: it +is thicker in substance, less quilled, breaks shorter, and is more +pungent. It should be chosen in thin pieces: the best being that which +approaches nearest to Cinnamon in flavour; but that which is small and +broken should be rejected. + + * * * * * + + +COLOURING CHEESE. + + +The fine, bright, red colour of some Gloucester cheese has been +fraudulently produced by red lead, which, we need scarcely observe, is a +violent poison. The ingredient now employed for this purpose, (to the +exclusion of every thing else) in Cheshire and Gloucestershire, is +annatto, a dye prepared from the seeds of a tree of South America. It is +perfectly harmless in the proportion in which it is used; an ounce of +genuine annatto being sufficient to colour a hundred weight of cheese. +It may, however, be questioned whether annatto is not sometimes +adulterated with red lead. + +Gouda cheese, the best made in Holland, is prized for its soundness, +which is referable to muriatic acid being used in curdling the milk +instead of rennet. This renders it pungent, and preserves it from +mites. Parmesan cheese, so called from Parma in Italy, where it is +manufactured, and highly prized, is merely a skim-milk cheese, which +owes its rich flavour to the fine herbage of the meadows along the +Po, where the cows feed. + + * * * * * + + +BASKET SALT. + + +The finer salt sold under this denomination is made by placing the +salt, after evaporation, in conical baskets, and passing through it a +saturated solution of salt, which dissolves, and carries off the muriate +of magnesia or lime. Pure salt should not become moist by exposure to +the air. + + * * * * * + + +PETIT-OR. + + +The imitation of gold sold with this taking name is nothing more than +the alloy formerly called Pinchbeck, and made by melting zinc, in a +certain proportion, with copper and brass, so as in colour to approach +that of gold. + + * * * * * + + + +THE PUBLIC JOURNALS. + + * * * * * + + +CHIPS OF TOM CRINGLE'S LOG. + + +[Our old friend Tom Cringle (of Blackwood,) occasionally spins or splits +his _Log_ too small. The incidents are weakened in the drawing out, +or exaggerated in the telling; but they are sometimes relieved by +brilliant descriptive touches, such as the following, introduced to set +off the fate of one of Tom's heroes at Santiago.] + +_The Butterfly, Chameleon, and Serpent._ + +Glancing bright in the sunshine, a most beautiful butterfly fluttered in +the air, in the very middle of the open window. When we first saw it, it +was flitting gaily and happily amongst the plants and flowers that were +blooming in the balcony, but it gradually became more and more slow on +the wing, and at last poised itself unusually steadily for an insect of +its class. Below it, on the window sill, near the wall, with head erect, +and its little basilisk eyes upturned towards the lovely fly, crouched +a chameleon lizard, its beautiful body, when I first looked at it, was +a bright sea-green. It moved into the sunshine, a little away from the +shade of the laurel bush, which grew on the side it first appeared on, +and suddenly the back became transparent amber, the legs and belly +continuing green. From its breast under the chin, it every now and then +shot out a semicircular film of a bright scarlet colour, like a leaf of +a tulip, stretched vertically, or the pectoral fin of a fish. + +This was evidently a decoy, and the poor fly was gradually drawn down +towards it, either under the impression of its being in reality a +flower, or impelled by some impulse which it could not resist. It +gradually fluttered nearer and more near, the reptile remaining all the +while steady as a stone, until it made a sudden spring, and in the next +moment the small meally wings were quivering on each side of the +chameleon's tiny jaws. While in the act of gorging its prey, a little +fork, like a wire, was projected from the opposite corner of the window; +presently a small round black snout, with a pair of little, fiery, +blasting eyes, appeared, and a thin, black neck, glancing in the sun. +The lizard saw it. I could fancy it trembled. Its body became of a dark +blue, then ashy pale; the imitation of the flower, the gaudy fin was +withdrawn, it appeared to shrink back as far as it could, but it was +nailed or fascinated to the window sill, for its feet did not move. +The head of the snake approached, with its long, forked tongue shooting +out, and shortening, and with a low hissing noise. By this time about +two feet of its body was visible, lying with its white belly on the +wooden beam, moving forward with a small horizontal wavy motion, the +head and six inches of the neck being a little raised. I shrunk back +from the serpent, but no one else seemed to have any dread of it; +indeed, I afterwards learned, that this kind being good mousers, and +otherwise quite harmless, were, if any thing, encouraged about houses in +the country. I looked again; its open mouth was now within an inch of +the lizard, which by this time seemed utterly paralyzed and motionless; +the next instant its head was drawn into the snake's mouth, and +gradually the whole body disappeared, as the reptile gorged it, and +I could perceive from the lump which gradually moved down the snake's +neck, that it had been sucked into its stomach. Involuntary I raised +my hand, when the whole suddenly disappeared. + +[One of Tom's _land-storms_ is still more graphic.] + +A heavy cloud that had been overhanging the small valley the whole +morning, had by this time spread out and covered the entire face of +nature like a sable pall; the birds of the air flew low, and seemed to +be perfectly gorged with the superabundance of flies, which were thickly +betaking themselves for shelter under the evergreen leaves of the +bushes. All the winged creation, great and small, were fast betaking +themselves to the shelter of the leaves and branches of the trees. The +cattle were speeding to the hollows under the impending rocks; negroes, +men, women, and children, were hurrying with their hoes on their +shoulders past the windows to their huts. Several large bloodhounds had +ventured into the hall, and were crouching with a low whine at our feet. +The large carrion crows were the only living things which seemed to +brave the approaching _chu-basco_, and were soaring high up in the +heavens, appearing to touch the black, agitated fringe of the lowering +thunder clouds. All other kinds of winged creatures, parrots, and +pigeons, and cranes, had vanished by this time under the thickest trees, +and into the deepest coverts, and the wild ducks were shooting past in +long lines, piercing the thick air with outstretched neck and clanging +wing. + +Suddenly the wind fell, and the sound of the waterfall increased, and +grew rough and loud, and the undefinable rushing noise that precedes a +heavy fall of rain in the tropics, the voice of the wilderness, moaned +through the high woods, until at length the clouds sank upon the valley +in boiling mists, rolling halfway down the surrounding hills; and the +water of the stream, whose scanty rill but an instant before hissed over +the precipice in a small, transparent ribbon of clear grass-green, +sprinkled with white foam, and then threaded its way round the large +rocks in its capacious channel, like a silver eel twisting through a +desert, now changed in a moment to a dark turgid chocolate colour; and +even as we stood and looked, lo! a column of water from the mountains, +pitched in thunder over the face of the precipice, making the earth +tremble, and driving up from the rugged face of the everlasting rocks in +smoke, and forcing the air into eddies and sudden blasts which tossed +the branches of the trees that overhung it, as they were dimly seen +through clouds of drizzle, as if they had been shaken by a tempest, +although there was not a breath stirring elsewhere out of heaven; while +little, wavering, spiral wreaths of mist rose up thick from the surface +of the boiling pool at the bottom of the cataract, like miniature +water-spouts, until they were dispersed by the agitation of the air +above. + +At length the swollen torrent rolled roaring down the narrow valley, +filling the whole water-course, about fifty yards wide, and advancing +with a solid front a fathom _high_--a fathom _deep_ does not +convey the idea--like a stream of lava, or as one may conceive of the +Red Sea, when, at the stretching forth of the hand of the prophet of the +Lord, its mighty waters rolled back and stood heaped up as a wall to the +host of Israel. + +The channel of the stream, which but a minute before I could have leaped +across, was the next instant filled and utterly impassable. + +And the rain now began pattering in large drops, like scattering shots +preceding an engagement, on the wooden shingles with which the house was +roofed, gradually increasing to a loud rushing noise, which, as the +rooms were not ceiled, prevented a word being heard. + +At length the weather cleared, and the shutters having been opened, and +with a suddenness which no one can comprehend who has not lived in these +climates, the sun now shone brightly on the flowers and garden plants +which grew in a range of pots on the balcony. + + * * * * * + + +THE DUCHESSE DE BERRI. + +(_From the New Monthly Magazine_.) + + +We have much pleasure in inserting these very curious anecdotes of an +unfortunate Princess, though they come to us from one devoted to her +cause, as well as sympathizing with her misfortunes. + +Few heroines of ancient days have displayed more courage, self-devotion, +and firmness, than has this high-souled and heroic woman. It is not +generally known in this country, that in an action in La Vendée, where +the partizans of the Duchess were opposed to the regular troops, she +headed her forces, and led the charges repeatedly. She had a horse shot +dead under her, and having been disarmed in the fall, seized the arms of +a fallen soldier next her, and again cheered on her followers. She was +eleven hours in action, and escaped unhurt, with the exception of some +contusions from the fall; and, when the battle was over, was seen +administering to the wants of those around her, dressing their wounds +with her own delicate hands; and whilst surrounded by the dead and +dying, she appeared wholly regardless of self, though overcome by a +fatigue and anxiety that few, even of the other sex, could have borne +so well. + +On another occasion, the Duchesse de Berri had, with much difficulty, +procured a horse, and was mounted behind a faithful but humble adherent, +pursuing her route to a distant quarter, when her guide was accosted by +a peasant with whom he conversed some time in the patois of the country. +On quitting the peasant, he observed to the Duchess, that the man was +charged with a secret mission to a place at some distance, and was so +fatigued that he feared he could not reach it. She instantly sprang from +her seat, called after the peasant, and insisted on his taking the +horse, declaring that she could reach her destination on foot. After +walking for many hours, she arrived at a mountain stream that was +swollen by the recent rain, and having learned that her enemies were in +pursuit of her, she determined to cross it. Her guide, assisted by her, +fastened a large branch of a tree to his person, and, being an expert +swimmer, told her to hold by it, and that he hoped to get her over. They +had advanced to the deepest part of the stream when the bough broke, and +her guide gave her up for lost, when, to his surprise and joy, he saw +her boldly clearing the water by his side, and they soon reached the +bank in safety. During her visits to Dieppe, the Duchess had acquired a +proficiency in swimming, and it has since frequently saved her in the +hour of need. Overpowered by fatigue and hunger, and chilled by the cold +of her dripping garments, this courageous woman felt that her physical +powers were no longer capable of obeying her wishes, and that further +exertion was impossible. Seeing a house at a distance, she declared her +intention of throwing herself on the generosity of its owner, when her +guide warned her of the danger of such a proceeding, as the owner of the +house was a Liberal, and violently opposed to her party. All his +representations were made in vain. She boldly entered the house, and, +addressing the master of it, exclaimed--"You see before you the unhappy +mother of your king; proscribed and pursued, half dead with fatigue, +cold, wet, and hungry, you will not refuse her a morsel of your bread, a +corner at your fire, and a bed to rest her weary limbs on." The master +of the house threw himself at her feet, and, with tears streaming from +his eyes, declared that his house, and all that was his, were at her +service; and for some days, while the pursuit after her was the hottest, +she remained unsuspected in this asylum, the politics of the master +placing him out of suspicion; and when she left it, she was followed by +the tears and prayers of the whole of the family and their dependents. + +This heroic woman, nurtured in courts, and accustomed to all the luxury +that such an exalted station as hers can give, has thought herself +fortunate, during many a night of the last year, when she could have the +shelter of the poorest hovel, with some brown bread and milk for food, +and has partaken, at the same humble board, the frugal repast of the +peasants who sheltered her. Her general attire has been the most common +dress, of a materiel called buse, made of worsted, and worn by the +poorest of the peasantry. A mantle of the same coarse stuff, with a +hood, completed her costume. + +When one of the friends, who had seen her the pride and ornament of the +gilded saloons in the Tuileries, expressed his grief at the dreadful +hardships to which she was exposed, she pointed to a furze bush on the +heath where they were conversing, and said--"I shall sleep on that spot +to-night; and many nights I have had no better shelter than were +afforded by a few wild shrubs or trees, and I never slept better at +Rosny. If my mantle was long enough to allow of its covering my feet +when I slept, I should have nothing to complain of, but then it might +impede my flight, so I must be content." + + * * * * * + + + + +THE NATURALIST. + + * * * * * + + +DEPTH OF THE SEA. + + +As to the bottom of the basin of the sea, it seems to have inequalities +similar to those which the surface of continents exhibits; if it were +dried up, it would present mountains, valleys, and plains. It is +inhabited almost throughout its whole extent by an immense quantity of +testaceous animals, or covered with sand and gravel. It was thus that +Donati found the bottom of the Adriatic sea; the bed of testaceous +animals there, according to him, is several hundred feet in thickness. +The celebrated diver Pescecola, whom the emperor Frederick II. employed +to descend the strait of Messina, saw there with horror, enormous polypi +attached to the rocks, the arms of which, being several yards long, were +more than sufficient to strangle a man. In a great many places, the +madrepores form a kind of petrified forest fixed at the bottom of the +sea, and frequently, too, this bottom plainly presents different layers +of rock and earth. + +The granite rises up in sharp-pointed masses. Near Marseilles, marble is +dug up from a submarine quarry. There are also bituminous springs, and +even springs of fresh water, that spout up from the depths of the ocean; +and in the Gulf of Spezia, a great spout or fountain of fresh water is +seen to rise like a liquid hill. Similar springs furnish the inhabitants +of the town of Aradus with their ordinary beverage. + +On the southern coast of Cuba, to the southwest of the port of Batabano, +in the bay of Xagua, at two or three miles from the land, springs of +fresh water gush up with such force in the midst of the salt, that small +boats cannot approach them with safety; the deeper you draw the water, +the fresher you find it. It has been observed, that in the neighbourhood +of steep coasts, the bottom of the sea also sinks down suddenly to a +considerable depth; whilst near a low coast, and one of gentle +declivity, it is only gradually that the sea deepens. There are some +places in the sea where no bottom has yet been found. But we must not +conclude that the sea is really bottomless; an idea, which, if not +absurd, is, at least, by no means conformable to the analogies of +natural science. The mountains of continents seem to correspond with +what are called the abysses of the sea; but now, the highest mountains +do not rise to 20,000 feet. It is true that they have wasted down and +lessened by the action of the elements; it may, therefore, be reasonably +concluded, that the sea is not beyond 30,000 feet in depth; but it is +impossible to find the bottom even at one-third of this depth, with our +little instruments. The greatest depth that has been tried to be +measured, is that found in the northern ocean by Lord Mulgrave; he +heaved a very heavy sounding lead, and gave out with it cable rope to +the length of 4,680 feet, without finding bottom.--_Blake's +Encyclopedia_. + + * * * * * + + + + +NOTES OF A READER. + + * * * * * + + +CHARACTER OF CROMWELL. + +(_From the Buccaneer.--By Mrs. S.C. Hall_.) + + +There are two things that to a marvellous degree bring people under +subjection--moral and corporeal fear. The most dissolute are held in +restraint by the influence of moral worth, and there are few who would +engage in a quarrel if they were certain that defeat or death would be +the consequence. Cromwell obtained, and we may add, maintained his +ascendancy over the people of England, by his earnest and continually +directed efforts towards these two important ends. His court was a +rare example of irreproachable conduct, from which all debauchery +and immorality were banished; while such was his deep and intimate +though mysterious acquaintance with every occurrence throughout the +commonwealth, its subjects had the certainty of knowing that, sooner or +later, whatever crimes they committed would of a surety reach the ear +of the protector. His natural abilities must always have been of the +highest order, though in the early part of his career he discovered +none of those extraordinary talents that afterwards gained him so +much applause, and worked so upon the affections of the hearers +and standers-by. His mind may be compared to one of those valuable +manuscripts that had long been rolled up and kept hidden from vulgar +eyes, but which exhibits some new proof of wisdom at each unfolding. It +has been well said by a philosopher, whose equal the world has not known +since his day, "that a place sheweth the man." Of a certainty Cromwell +had no sooner possessed the opportunity so to do, than he showed to the +whole world that he was destined to govern. "Some men achieve greatness, +some men are born to greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon +them." With Cromwell greatness was achieved. He was the architect of +his own fortunes, owing little to what is called "chance," less to +patronage, and still less to crime, if we except the one sad blot upon +the page of his own history, as connected with that of his country. +There appears in his character but a small portion of that which is +evil, blended with much that is undoubtedly good. Although his public +speeches were, for the most part, ambiguous--leaving others to pick out +his meaning--or more frequently still, having no meaning to pick out, +being words, words, words--strung of mouldy sentences, scriptural +phrases, foolish exclamations, and such-like: yet when necessary, he +showed that he could sufficiently command his style, delivering himself +with so much energy, pith, propriety, and strength of expression, that +it was commonly said of him under such circumstances, "every word he +spoke was a thing." But the strongest indication of his vast abilities +was, the extraordinary tact with which he entered into, dissected, and +scrutinized the nature of human kind. No man ever dived into the manners +and minds of those around him with greater penetration, or more rapidly +discovered their natural talents and tempers. If he chanced to hear +of a person fit for his purpose, whether as a minister, a soldier, an +artisan, a preacher, or a spy, no matter how previously obscure, he sent +for him forthwith, and employed him in the way in which he could be made +most useful, and answer best the purpose of his employer. Upon this most +admirable system (a system in which, unhappily, he has had but few +imitators among modern statesmen,) depended in a great degree his +success. His devotion has been sneered at; but it has never been proved +to have been insincere. With how much more show of justice may we +consider it to have been founded upon a solid and upright basis, when we +recollect that his whole outward deportment spoke its truth! Those who +decry him as a fanatic, ought to bethink themselves that religion was +the chivalry of the age in which he lived. Had Cromwell been born a few +centuries earlier, he would have headed the crusades, with as much +bravery, and far better results than our noble-hearted, but wrong-headed +Coeur de Lion. It was no great compliment that was passed on him by the +French minister, when he called the protector "the first captain of the +age." His courage and conduct in the field were undoubtedly admirable: +he had a dignity of soul which the greatest dangers and difficulties +rather animated than discouraged, and his discipline and government of +the army, in all respects, was the wonder of the world. It was no +diminution of this part of his character, that he was wary in his +conduct, and that, after he was declared protector, he wore a coat of +mail concealed beneath his dress. Less caution than he made use of, in +the place he held, and surrounded as he was by secret and open enemies, +would have deserved the name of negligence. As to his political +sincerity, which many think had nothing to do with his religious +opinions, he was, to the full, as honest as the first or second Charles. +Of a truth, that same sincerity, it would appear, is no kingly virtue! +Cromwell loved justice as he loved his own life, and wherever he was +compelled to be arbitrary, it was only where his authority was +controverted, which, as things then were, it was not only right to +establish for his own sake, but for the peace and security of the +country over whose proud destinies he had been called to govern. "The +dignity of the crown," to quote his own words, "was upon the account of +the nation, of which the king was only the representative head, and +therefore, the nation being still the same, he would have the same +respect paid to his ministers as if he had been a king." England ought +to write the name of Cromwell in letters of gold, when she remembers +that, within a space of four or five years, he avenged all the insults +that had been lavishly flung upon her by every country in Europe +throughout a long, disastrous, and most perplexing civil war. +Gloriously did he retrieve the credit that had been mouldering and +decaying during two weak and discreditable reigns of nearly fifty years' +continuance--gloriously did he establish and extend his country's +authority and influence in remote nations--gloriously acquire the real +mastery of the British Channel--gloriously send forth fleets that went +and conquered, and never sullied the union flag by an act of dishonour +or dissimulation. Not a single Briton, during the protectorate, but +could demand and receive either reparation or revenge for injury, +whether it came from France, from Spain, from any open foe or +treacherous ally; not an oppressed foreigner claimed his protection but +it was immediately and effectually granted. Were things to be compared +to this in the reign of either Charles? England may blush at the +remembrance of the insults she sustained during the reigns of the first +most amiable, yet most weak--of the second most admired, yet most +contemptible--of these legal kings. What must she think of the treatment +of the elector palatine, though he was son-in-law to king James? And let +her ask herself how the Duke of Rohan was assisted in the Protestant war +at Rochelle, notwithstanding the solemn engagement of king Charles under +his own hand! But we are treading too fearlessly upon ground on which, +in our humble capacity, we have scarcely the right to enter. Alas! alas! +the page of history is but a sad one; and the Stuarts and the Cromwells, +the roundheads and the cavaliers, the pennons and the drums, are but +part and parcel of the same dust--the dust we, who are made of dust +animated for a time by a living spirit, now tread upon! Their words, +that wrestled with the winds and mounted on the air, have left no trace +along that air whereon they sported:--the clouds in all their beauty cap +our isle with their magnificence, as in those by-gone days; the rivers +are as blue, the seas as salt; the flowers, those sweet things! remain +fresh within our fields, as when God called them into existence in +Paradise, and are bright as ever. But the change is over us, as it has +been over them: we, too, are passing. O England! what should this teach? +Even three things--wisdom, justice, and mercy. Wisdom to watch +ourselves, and then our rulers, so that we neither do nor suffer wrong; +justice to the memory of the mighty dead, whether born to thrones or +footstools; mercy, inasmuch as we shall deeply need it from our +successors. + + * * * * * + + +THE "WHY AND BECAUSE" OF CHRISTMAS. + + +[We can vouch for the abridgement and collation of the following facts, +connected with this joyous season of old. Probably a few of the notes +may have been discussed in the course of our twenty-volume career; but +to omit such notices on the present occasion, would be to drop a link in +the little chain:] + +Why is the evening before Christmas-day celebrated? + +Because Christmas-day, in the primitive Church, was always observed as +the Sabbath-day, and, like it, preceded by an eve, or vigil.--_Brand._ + +It was once believed, that if we were to go into a cow-house, at twelve +o'clock at night, all the cattle would be found kneeling. Many also +firmly believed that bees sung in their hives on Christmas-eve, to +welcome the approaching day. + +Why is Christmas-day so called? + +Because of its derivation from _Christi Missa_, the mass of Christ; +and thence the Roman Catholic Liturgy is termed their _Missal_, or +_Mass-book_. About the year 500 the observation of this day became +general in the Catholic Church. + +Why was the word _Yule_ formerly used to signify Christmas? + +Because of its derivation from the word _ol_, ale, which was much used +in the festivities and merry meetings of this period; and the _I_ in +_Iol, icol_. Cimb. as the _ze_ and _zi_ in _zehol, zeol, ziol_, Sax. are +premised only as intensives, to add a little to the signification, and +make it more emphatical. _Ol_, or _Ale_, did not only signify the liquor +then made use of, but gave denomination to the greatest festivals, as +that of _zehol_, or _Yule_, at Midwinter; and as is yet plainly to be +discovered in that custom of the Whitsun ale at the other great +festival. + +Why are certain initials affixed to crucifixes? + +Because of their signifying the titular tributes paid to the Saviour of +the world. Thus, I.N.R.I. are universally agreed to be the initials of +the Latin words _Jesus Nazarenus Rex Judaeorum_; i.e. Jesus of +Nazareth, King of the Jews, a title which Pilot wrote and affixed to the +cross.--See John, ch. xix. The initials I.H.C., appended to other +crosses, are said to imply, _Jesus Humanitatis Consolator_, Jesus +the Consoler of Mankind; and the I.H.S. imply _Jesus Hominum +Salvator_, Jesus the Saviour of Men. The first-mentioned initials +are, however, found on the most ancient crosses. + +Why is a certain song called a carol? + +Because of its derivation from _cantare_, to sing, and _rola_, +an interjection of joy.--_Bourne_. + +Bishop Taylor observes that the "Gloria in excelsis," the well-known +hymn sung by the angels to the shepherds at our Lord's nativity, was +the earliest Christmas carol. Bourne cites Durand to prove that +in the earlier ages of the churches, the bishops were accustomed, on +Christmas-day, to sing carols among their clergy. Fosbroke says--"It was +usual, in ancient feasts, to single out a person, and place him in the +midst, to sing a song to God." And Mr. Davies Gilbert, late President +of the Royal Society, in a volume which he has edited on the subject, +states, that till lately, in the West of England, on Christmas-eve, +about seven or eight o'clock in the evening, festivities were commenced, +and "the singing of carols begun, and continued late into the night. +On Christmas-day, these carols took the place of psalms in all the +churches, especially at afternoon service, the whole congregation +joining; and at the end it was usual for the parish-clerk to declare, +in a loud voice, his wishes for a merry Christmas and a happy new year +to all the parishioners." + +Mr. Hone observes, in his work on "Ancient Mysteries," that "the custom +of singing carols at Christmas prevails in Ireland to the present time. +In Scotland, where no church fasts have been kept since the days of John +Knox, the custom is unknown. In Wales it is still preserved to a greater +extent, perhaps, than in England: at a former period, the Welsh had +carols adapted to most of the ecclesiastical festivals, and the four +seasons of the year; but at this time they are limited to that of +Christmas. After the turn of midnight, on Christmas-eve, service is +performed in the churches, followed by singing carols to the harp. +Whilst the Christmas holidays continue, they are sung in like manner in +the houses; and there are carols especially adapted to be sung at the +doors of the houses by visitors before they enter. _Lffyr Carolan_, +or the Book of Carols, contains sixty-six for Christmas, and five summer +carols. _Blodengerdd Cymrii_, or the Anthology of Wales, contains +forty-eight Christmas carols, nine summer carols, three May carols, one +winter carol, one nightingale carol, and a carol to Cupid. On the +Continent, the custom of carolling at Christmas is almost universal. +During the last days of Advent, Calabrian minstrels enter Rome, and are +to be seen in every street, saluting the shrines of the Virgin mother +with their wild music, under the traditional notion of charming her +labour pains on the approaching Christmas." + +Why do the Christmas carols of the present day differ from the carols of +earlier times? + +Because the present carols were substituted, by those enemies of +innocent mirth, the Puritans, for the original carols, which were festal +chansons for enlivening the merriment of the Christmas celebrity; and +not such religious songs as are current at this day, with the common +people, under the same title. + +Dr. Johnson, in a note on _Hamlet_, tells us, that the pious +chansons, a kind of Christmas carol, containing some Scripture history, +thrown into loose rhymes, were sung about the streets by the common +people, when they went at that season to beg alms.--_Brand._ + +Why is laurel used with other evergreens to deck houses at Christmas? + +Because of its use among the ancient Romans, as the emblem of peace, +joy, and victory. In the Christian sense, it may be applied to the +victory gained over the powers of darkness by the coming of +Christ.--_Bourne._ + +Why is the mistletoe so called? + +Because its seeds are said to be dropped by the mistle-thrush, which +feeds on its berries. + +Why was the mistletoe held sacred by the Druids? + +Because they had an extraordinary reverence for the number _three_, +and not only the berries, but the leaves of the mistletoe, grow in +clusters of three united on one stalk. Its growing upon the oak, their +sacred tree, was doubtless another cause of its veneration. + +We read of a celebrated oak at Norwood near London, which bore +mistletoe, "which some people cut for the gain of selling it to the +apothecaries of London, leaving a branch of it to sprout out; but they +proved unfortunate after it, for one of them fell lame, and others lost +an eye. At length, in the year 1678, a certain man, notwithstanding he +was warned against it, upon the account of what the others had suffered, +adventured to cut the tree down, and he soon after broke his +leg."--_Camden_. + +Mr. Brand, however, thinks that mistletoe was never put up in churches +but by mistake or ignorance of the sextons: it being a heathenish and +profane plant, and therefore assigned to the kitchen. Mr. Brand made +many diligent inquiries after the truth of this point. He learnt at Bath +that it never came into churches there. An old Sexton at Teddington told +him that mistletoe was once put up in the church there, but was by the +clergyman immediately ordered to be taken away. + +Why was the boar's head formerly a prime dish at Christmas? + +Because fresh meats were then seldom eaten, and brawn was considered a +great delicacy. Holinshed says, that "in the year 1170, upon the day +of the young prince's coronation, King Henry I. served his sonne at +table as server, bringing up the boar's head with trumpets before it, +according to the manner." For this ceremony there was a special carol. +Dugdale also tells us, that "at the inns of court, during Christmas, the +usual dish at the first course at dinner was a large _bore's head_, +upon a silver platter, with minstralsaye." In one of the carols we read +that the boar's head is "the rarest dish in all the londe, and that it +has been provided in honour of the king of bliss." + + * * * * * + + +THE RIVER SCHELDT. + + +In all former times, and centuries before the labour of Napoleon had +added so immensely to its importance, the Scheldt had been the centre +of the most important preparations for the invasion of England, and the +spot on which military genius always fixed from whence to prepare a +descent on this island. An immense expedition, rendered futile by the +weakness and vacillation of the French monarch, was assembled in it in +the fourteenth century; and sixty thousand men on the shore of the +Scheldt awaited only the signal of Charles VI. to set sail for the shore +of Kent. The greatest naval victory ever gained by the English arms was +that at Sluys, 1340, when Philip of France lost 30,000 men and 230 +ships of war in an engagement off the Flemish coast with Edward III., +a triumph greater, though less noticed in history, than either that +of Cressy or Poictiers. When the great Duke of Parma was commissioned +by Philip II. of Spain to take steps for the invasion of England, he +assembled the forces of the Low Countries at Antwerp; and the Spanish +armada, had it proved successful, was to have wafted over that great +commander from the banks of the Scheldt to the opposite shore of Essex, +at the head of the veterans who had been trained in the Dutch war. In +an evil hour, Charles II., bought by French gold and seduced by French +mistresses, entered into alliance with Louis XIV. for the coercion of +Holland; the Lillies and the Leopards, the navies of France and England, +assembled together at Spithead, and made sail for the French coast, +while the armies of the Grande Monarque advanced across the Rhine into +the heart of the United Provinces; and the consequence was, such a +prodigious addition to the power of France, as it took all the blood and +treasure expended in the war of the Succession and all the victories of +Marlborough, to reduce to a scale at all commensurate with the +independence of the other European states. + + * * * * * + + + + +THE GATHERER. + + * * * * * + + +Fleurus is a village in France, in the department of the Sombre and +Meuse, where the Austrians and the French fought a battle in the year +1794, in which the former were defeated. This victory is ascribed to the +information obtained in consequence of reconnoitering the army of the +enemy by the elevation of a balloon. The balloon employed on this +occasion was called the _Entreprenent_; and it was under the +direction of M. Coutel, the captain of the aeronauts at Meudon, +accompanied by an adjutant and a general. He ascended twice in the same +day, to the height of 220 fathoms, for the purpose of observing the +position and manoeuvres of the enemy. He continued each time four hours +in the air, and corresponded with General Jourdan, who commanded the +French army, by means of pre-concerted signals. The enterprise was +discovered by the enemy; and a battery opened its fire against the +ascending aeronauts, but they soon gained an elevation which was beyond +the reach of their fire. This balloon was prepared under the direction +of the Aerostatic Institute, for the use of the army of the north; as +were also another, called _Céleste_, for the army of the Sombre and +Meuse; and the _Hercûle_ and _Intrepide_, for the army of the +Rhine and Moselle. Another, thirty feet in circumference, and weighing +160 lbs., was destined for the army of Italy. A new machine, invented by +M. Coutel, the director of the Aerostatic Institute, was designed to aid +the aeronauts in communicating intelligence, and denominated the +_Aerostatic Telegraph_. + +P.T.W. + + +_Muscular Strength_.--It is asserted by travellers, that a Turkish +porter will run along carrying a weight of 600 lbs. Milo, of Crotona, +is said to have lifted an ox, weighing upwards of 1,000 Ibs. Haller +mentions that he saw an instance of a man, whose finger being caught in +a chain at the bottom of a mine, by keeping it forcibly bent, supported +by that means the weight of his whole body, 150 lbs., till he was drawn +up to the surface, a height of 600 feet. Augustus II., king of Poland, +could with his fingers roll up a silver dish like a sheet of paper, +and twist the strongest horse-shoe asunder. An account is given in +the _Philosophical Transactions_, No. 310, of a lion who left the +impression of his teeth upon a solid piece of iron. The most prodigious +power of the muscles is exhibited by fish:--A whale moves with a +velocity through the dense medium of water that would carry him, if +he continued at the same rate, round the world in little more than a +fortnight; and a sword-fish has been known to strike his weapon quite +through the oak plank of a ship. + +W.G.C. + + +_Beauties of Chatsworth_.--Marshal Tallard, who was entertained a +few days at this place by the Duke of Devonshire, on leaving, made this +declaration--"When I return," said he, "into my own country, and reckon +up the days of my captivity, I shall leave out those which I spent at +Chatsworth." And Quin once said that he had nearly broken his neck in +coming to it, and he should break his heart on his return. + +SWAINE. + + +_Origin of the Discovery of Peru_.--Balboa, the famous Spanish +adventurer, in one of his expeditions, met with a young cazique, who +expressed his astonishment at the high value which was set upon the +gold, which the Spaniards were weighing and distributing. "Why do you +quarrel," said he, "about such a trifle? If you are so passionately fond +of gold as to abandon your own country, and to disturb the tranquillity +of distant nations, for its sake, I will conduct you to a region where +the metal, which seems to be the chief object of your admiration and +desire, is so common, that the meanest utensils are formed of it." +Transported with the intelligence, Balboa eagerly inquired where this +happy country lay, and how they might arrive at it. The cazique informed +them, that at the distance of six suns, or six days' journey to the +south, they would discover another ocean, near which this wealthy +kingdom was situated; but if they intended to attack it, they must +assemble forces far superior in number and strength to those which now +attended them.--This was the first information which the Spaniards +received concerning the great southern continent, known afterwards +by the name of Peru. + +P.T.W. + + +_Cholera Morbus._--Dr. James Johnson, in his interesting book +entitled, _Change of Air, or Pursuits of Health_, &c., says--"The +cholera morbus ought to be denominated the high-police of scavengers. +It has cleared away more filth, in Europe and England, than all the +municipal edicts that ever issued from the constituted authorities. +On this, and on some other accounts, it _will_ save more lives +than it _has_ destroyed." + + +_Patriotism._--When the Chancellor d'Auguesseau, who constantly +resisted the encroachments of Louis XIV. on the liberties of the people, +was sent for to Versailles by that monarch, he was thus encouraged by +his amiable wife: "Go," said she, "forget in the king's presence your +wife and your children,--sacrifice everything except your honour." + +SWAINE. + + +His late Majesty, when Prince of Wales, was looking out of a window with +Tom Sheridan, when the "Dart," with four grey horses passed by. "Is not +that a handsome coach, Tom?" observed the Prince. "Yes, your highness," +replied Tom, who was suffering under a headach from the champagne of the +previous night, and was rather in a sombre and meditative humour, "it +certainly is; but," continued he, pointing to a hearse going by at the +same time, "that's the coach _after all_." + + +_A Knowing Seaman._--A rough-hewn seaman being brought before a wise +justice for some misdemeanour, was by him ordered to be sent to prison, +and was refractory after he heard his doom, insomuch as he would not +stir a foot from the place where he stood, saying it was better to stand +where he was than go to a worse place.--_Bacon_. + +P.T.W. + + +_Expensive Fishing._--In 1609, the Dutch were compelled to pay a tribute +for fishing on our coast; in 1683, they paid 30,000l. for liberty to +fish. Welwood, in his answer to Grotius, says, "that the Scots obliged +the Dutch, by treaty, to keep eighty miles from shore in fishing, and to +pay a tribute at the port of Aberdeen, where a tower was erected for +that and other purposes; and the Dutch paid the tribute, even in the +memory of our forefathers." + +THOMAS GILL. + + * * * * * + +_Printed and published by J. LIMBIRD, 143, Strand, (near Somerset +House,) London; sold by G.G. BENNIS, 55, Rue Neuve, St. Augustin, Paris; +CHARLES JUGEL, Francfort; and by all Newsmen and Booksellers._ + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MIRROR OF LITERATURE, AMUSEMENT, +AND INSTRUCTION, VOL. 20, NO. 582, SATURDAY, DECEMBER 22, 1832*** + + +******* This file should be named 12543-8.txt or 12543-8.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/1/2/5/4/12543 + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at <a href = "https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre> +<p>Title: The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction, Vol. 20, No. 582, Saturday, December 22, 1832</p> +<p>Author: Various</p> +<p>Release Date: June 7, 2004 [eBook #12543]</p> +<p>Language: English</p> +<p>Character set encoding: iso-8859-1</p> +<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MIRROR OF LITERATURE, AMUSEMENT, AND INSTRUCTION, VOL. 20, NO. 582, SATURDAY, DECEMBER 22, 1832***</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<center><b>E-text prepared by Jonathan Ingram, David Garcia,<br /> + and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team</b></center> +<br /> +<br /> + <hr class="full" /> + <span class="pagenum"><a id="page417" name="page417"></a>[pg 417]</span> + <h1>THE MIRROR<br /> + OF<br /> + LITERATURE, AMUSEMENT, AND INSTRUCTION.</h1> + <hr class="full" /> + <table width="100%" summary="Banner"> + <tr> + <td align="left"><b>VOL. XX, NO. 582.]</b></td> + <td align="center"><b>SATURDAY, DECEMBER 22, 1832.</b></td> + <td align="right"><b>[PRICE 2d.</b></td> + </tr> + </table> + <hr class="full" /> +<div class="figure" style="width: 100%;"> +<a href="images/582-1.png"><img width="100%" src="images/582-1.png" +alt="The York Column, (from St.James's Park.)" /></a> +<center>THE YORK COLUMN, (<i>FROM ST. JAMES'S PARK.</i>)</center> +</div> +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page418" name="page418"></a>[pg 418]</span> +</p> +<h2> + THE YORK COLUMN. +</h2> +<p> +Five years have now elapsed since the improvements in St. James's Park +were commenced, by order of Government, for the gratification of the +people. We were early in our congratulation, as well as illustration, of +the prospective advantages of these plans for the public enjoyment, as +will be seen on reference to our tenth volume; and, with respect to the +re-disposal of St. James's Park, we believe the feeling of satisfaction +has been nearly universal. +</p> +<p> +At the period to which we have just alluded, the removal of Carlton +House, (for it scarcely deserved the name of Palace,) had been decided +on. The walls were dismantled of their decorative finery, and their +demolition commenced; the grounds were, to use a somewhat grandiloquent +phrase, dis-afforested; and the upper end of "the sweet, shady side +of Pall Mall" marked out for public instead of Royal occupation. Thus, +within a century has risen and disappeared from this spot the splendid +abode and its appurtenances; for, it was in the year 1732 that Frederic, +Prince of Wales, first purchased the property from the Earl of +Burlington; though it was not until 1788 that the erection of Carlton +House was commenced for the late King, then Prince of Wales; so that the +existence of the Palace must be restricted within forty years—a term +reminding us of the duration of a pavilion, rather than of a kingly +mansion. +</p> +<p> +Upon the precise site of the courtyard and part of Carlton House have +been erected two mansions, of splendid character, appropriated to the +United Service and Athenaeum Clubs: the first built from the designs of +Mr. Nash, and the latter from those of Mr. Decimus Burton. They front +Pall Mall West, or may be considered to terminate Waterloo Place. +</p> +<p> +The site of Carlton House Gardens is now occupied by palatial houses, +which are disposed in two ranges, and front St. James's Park. The +substructure, containing the kitchens and domestic offices, forms a +terrace about 50 feet wide, adorned with pillars of the Paestum Doric +Order, surmounted with a balustrade. The superstructure consists of +three stories, ornamented with Corinthian columns. The houses at each +extremity have elevated attics. Only small portions of these superb +elevations are shown in the Engraving, with the Athenaeum Club House in +the distance. +</p> +<p> +In the space between the two ranges, it was proposed to erect a +fountain, formed of the eight column's of the portico of Carlton House, +(which was in elaborate imitation of the Temple of Jupiter Stator, +at Rome,<a id="footnotetag1" name="footnotetag1"></a><a href="#footnote1"><sup>1</sup></a>) to which eight on the same model were to be added. The +balustraded terrace had been continued fronting the Park with a view to +this embellishment. It however occurred to some guardian of the public +weal, that the above space presented an eligible opportunity for a grand +public entrance from Pall Mall into the Park. The idea was mooted in +Parliament; but some difficulties arose, from the leases already granted +to the builders of the houses on the terrace, who had calculated on the +<i>exclusive</i> appropriation of the latter. The anxiety of the public +for the improvement at length reached the present King; and it was the +first popular act of his patriotic reign to command a grand triumphal<a id="footnotetag2" name="footnotetag2"></a><a href="#footnote2"><sup>2</sup></a> +entrance to be formed, with all possible speed; the difficulties +being then easily removed. The necessary portion of the terrace was +accordingly removed, and the magnificent approach formed, as shown in +the Engraving. +</p> +<p> +While these improvements were in progress, a monumental memorial had +been projected by the British Army to their late commander-in-chief, the +Duke of York; an expression of grateful sympathy which must be recorded +to the honour of truly British hearts. The funds for this tribute were +augmented by each individual of the above branch of the service +contributing one day's pay. The design was furnished by Mr. Benjamin +Wyatt, the architect of the superb mansion built for the Duke of York; +and, after the execution was somewhat advanced, it was resolved to set +up the tribute in the place it now occupies. +</p> +<p> +The monument consists of a plain Doric column, surmounted with a +colossal statue of the Duke of York. The pedestal and shaft are of fine +granite. The plinth, or base of the pedestal, is 22 feet square, and the +pedestal 18 feet; the circumference of the shaft is 11 feet 6 inches, +decreasing to 10 feet 2 inches at the top; the abacus is 13 feet 6 +inches square. The interior of the column may be ascended by a winding +staircase of 169 steps, lit by narrow loop-holes. +</p> +<p> +From the top stair a doorway opens to the exterior of the abacus, which +will be enclosed with a massive iron railing, so as to form a prospect +gallery. The iron-work is not yet completed; but, as we have enjoyed the +view from two sides of the square, we can vouch for its commanding a +fine <i>coup d'oeil</i> of the whole metropolis, and certainly the +finest view of its most embellished quarter. From this spot alone can +the magnificence of Regent-street be duly appreciated, and above all the +skill of the architect in effecting the junction of the lines by the +classical introduction of the Quadrant. +</p> +<p> +That part of the structure which is, strictly speaking, upon the abacus +of the column, has a domed roof, upon which will be placed the colossal +statue, executed in bronze, by +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page419" name="page419"></a>[pg 419]</span> +Mr. Westmacott. The Duke is represented +in a flowing robe, with a sword in his right hand, and in the left, one +of the insignia of the Order of the Garter. The height of the figure +is 13 feet 6 inches. The total height of the column, exclusive of the +statue, is 124 feet. The masonry, (executed by Mr. Nowell, of Pimlico,) +deserves especial notice. Its neatness and finish are truly astonishing, +and the solidity and massiveness of the material appear calculated "for +all time." +</p> +<p> +We should mention that the embellishment about the upper part of the +pedestal (as seen in the cut,) has not yet been placed on the original; +nor has the statue yet been raised to the summit of the column. +</p> +<hr class="full" /> +<h2> + MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. +</h2> +<hr /> +<h3> + ANCIENT AND MODERN CHRISTMAS. +</h3> +<p> +"Anciently there was in the king's house," says Stow, "wheresoever he +lodged, at the feast of Christmas, a 'Lord of Misrule, or Master of +Merry Disports;' and the like also was there in the house of every +nobleman of honour or good worship, whether spiritual or temporal. +Among these, the Mayor and Sheriffs of London had their several Lords of +Misrule, ever contending, without quarrel or offence, who should make +the rarest pastime to divert the beholders. These Lords began their +rule, or rather misrule, on All Hallow's-eve, and continued the same +until Candlemas-day, in which space there were fine and subtle +disguisings, masques, and mummeries, with playing at cards for counters, +nails, and points, in every house, more for pastime than for gain. +Against this feast, the parish churches and every man's house were +decked with holm, ivy, bay, and whatsoever the season of the year +afforded that was green; and the conduits and standards in the streets +were likewise garnished." +</p> +<h4> +W.G.C. +</h4> +<hr /> +<center> +<i>Kent.</i> +</center> +<p> +At Ramsgate they commence their Christmas festivities by the following +ceremony:—A party of the youthful portion of the community having +procured the head of a horse, it is affixed to a pole, about four feet +in length; a string is attached to the lower jaw, a horse-cloth is tied +round the extreme part of the head, beneath which one of the party is +concealed, who, by repeated pulling and loosening the string, causes +the jaw to rise and fall, and thus produces, by bringing the teeth in +contact, a snapping noise, as he moves along; the rest of the party +following in procession, grotesquely habited, and ringing hand-bells! +In this order they proceed from house to house, singing carols and +ringing their bells, and are generally remunerated for the amusement +they occasion by a largess of money, or beer and cake. This ceremony is +called "a hoodening." The figure which we have described is designated +"a hooden," or wooden horse. The ceremony prevails in many parts of +the Isle of Thanet, and may probably be traced as the relic of some +religious ceremony practised in the early ages by our Saxon ancestors. +</p> +<center> +<i>Norfolk.</i> +</center> +<p> +The following account of a pageant which took place at Christmas, 1440, +is from the records of Norwich:—"John Hadman, a wealthy citizen, made +disport with his neighbours and friends, and was crowned King of +Christmas. He rode in state through the city, dressed forth in silks and +tinsel, and preceded by twelve persons habited as the twelve months of +the year, their costumes varying to represent the different seasons of +the year. Alter King Christmas followed Lent, clothed in white garments +trimmed with herring skins, on horseback, the horse being decorated with +trappings of oyster-shells, being indicative that sadness and a holy +time should follow Christmas revelling. In this way they rode through +the city, accompanied by numbers in various grotesque dresses, making +disport and merriment,—some clothed in armour, carrying staves, and +occasionally engaging in martial combat; others, dressed as devils, +chased the people, and sorely affrighted the women and children; others, +wearing skin-dresses, and counterfeiting bears, wolves, lions, and other +animals, and endeavouring to imitate the animals they represented, in +roaring and raving, alarming the cowardly and appalling the stoutest +hearts." +</p> +<center> +<i>Dalmatia.</i> +</center> +<p> +At Selenico, in Dalmatia, according to Fortis; they elect a king at +Christmas, whose reign lasts only a fortnight; but notwithstanding the +short duration of his authority, he enjoys several prerogatives of +sovereignty: such, for example, as that of keeping the keys of the town, +of having a distinguished place in the cathedral, and of deciding upon +all the difficulties or disputes which arise among those who compose his +court. The town is obliged to provide him with a house suitable to the +dignity of his elevated situation. When he leaves his house, he is +always compelled to wear a crown of wheat-ears, and he cannot appear +in public without a robe of purple or scarlet cloth, and surrounded +by a great number of officers. The governor, the bishops, and other +dignitaries, are obliged to give him a feast; and all who meet him must +salute him with respect. When the fortnight is at an end, the king quits +his palace, strips off his crown and purple, dismisses his court, and +returns to his hovel. For a length of time this pantomimical king was +chosen from amongst the nobles, but at present it has devolved on the +lowest of the people. +</p> +<hr /> +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page420" name="page420"></a>[pg 420]</span> +</p> +<h2> + NEW BOOKS. +</h2> +<hr /> +<h3> + THE LITERARY SOUVENIR, FOR 1833, +</h3> +<p> +[Is, in our estimation, a splendid failure. It lacks the variety which +the <i>Annual</i> should possess for a family of readers; and its +sameness is, moreover, of the saddest character in the whole region of +romance. The stories are long, and lazily told; and they overflow with +the most lugubrious monotony. There is scarcely a relief throughout the +volume, from Wordsworth's "majestic sonnet" on Sir Walter Scott, to +Autumn Flowers, by Agnes Strickland; we travel from one end to the +other, and all is lead and leaden—dull, heavy, and sad, as old Burton +could wish; and full of moping melancholy, unenlivened by quaintness, or +humour of any cast. Not that we mean to condemn the pieces individually; +but, collectively, they are too much in the same vein: the Editor has +studied too closely his text-motto: +</p> +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> + <p> "Fairy tale to lull the heir,</p> + <p> Goblin grim the maids to scare."</p> +</div></div> +<p> +It is all shade, without a gleam of sunshine, if we except two or three +of the most trifling of the papers. The best tale in the volume is the +Marsh Maiden, by Leigh Ritchie; next is the Jacobite Exile and his +Hound: Retrospections of Secundus Parnell, are an infliction upon the +reader; and these, with two <i>mediocre</i> tales, and a sketch or two, +make up the prose contents. The poetry has greater merit, though almost +in one unvaried strain. Mr. Watts has contributed but one lyric, and +Mrs. Watts a stirring ballad of Spanish revenge; Mary Howitt has +contributed a fairy ballad, pretty enough; and the Sin of Earl Walter, a +tale of olden popish times in England, of some 60 or 70 verses. We quote +two specimens from the poetry:] +</p> +<h3> + SONNET ON SIR WALTER SCOTT'S QUITTING ABBOTSFORD FOR NAPLES. +</h3> +<center> +<i>By William Wordsworth.</i> +</center> +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> + <p> A trouble, not of clouds, or weeping rain,</p> + <p> Nor of the setting sun's pathetic light</p> + <p> Engendered, hangs o'er Eildun's triple height:</p> + <p> Spirits of Power assembled there complain</p> + <p> For kindred Power departing from their sight;</p> + <p> While Tweed, best pleased in chanting a blithe strain,</p> + <p> Saddens his voice again and yet again.</p> + <p> Lift up your hearts, ye Mourners! for the might</p> + <p> Of the whole world's good wishes with him goes;</p> + <p> Blessings and prayers, in nobler retinue</p> + <p> Than sceptred king or laurelled conqueror knows,</p> + <p> Follow this wondrous Potentate. Be true</p> + <p> Ye winds of ocean and the midland sea,</p> + <p> Wafting your charge to soft Parthenope!</p> +</div></div> +<h3> + THE SKELETON DANCE. +</h3> +<center> +<i>After the German of Goethe.</i> +</center> +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> + <p> The warder looked out at the mid-hour of night,</p> +<p class="i2"> Where the grave-hills all silently lay;</p> + <p> The moon-beams above gave so brilliant a light,</p> +<p class="i2"> That the churchyard was clear as by day:</p> + <p> First one, then another, to open began;</p> + <p> Here came out a woman—there came out a man,—</p> + <p> Each clad in a shroud long and white.</p> +</div><div class="stanza"> + <p> And then for amusement—perchance it was cold—</p> +<p class="i2"> In a circle they seemed to advance;</p> + <p> The poor and the rich, and the young and the old,—</p> +<p class="i2"> But the grave-clothes impeded the dance:</p> + <p> And as no person thought about modesty there,</p> + <p> They flung off their garments, and stripped themselves bare,</p> +<p class="i2"> And a shroud lay on each heap of mould.</p> +</div><div class="stanza"> + <p> They kicked up their heels, and they rattled their bones,</p> +<p class="i2"> And the horrible din that they made</p> + <p> Went clickety-clackety—just like the tones</p> +<p class="i2"> Of a castanet noisily played.</p> + <p> And the warder he laughed as he witnessed the cheer,</p> + <p> And he heard the Betrayer speak soft in his ear,</p> +<p class="i2"> "Go and steal away one of their shrouds."</p> +</div><div class="stanza"> + <p> Swift as thought it was done—in an instant he fled</p> +<p class="i2"> Behind the church portal to hide;</p> + <p> And brighter and brighter the moon-beam was shed,</p> +<p class="i2"> As the dance they still shudderingly plied;—</p> + <p> But at last they began to grow tired of their fun,</p> + <p> And they put on their shrouds, and slipped off, one by one,</p> +<p class="i2"> Beneath, to the homes of the dead.</p> +</div><div class="stanza"> + <p> But tapping at every grave-hill, there staid</p> +<p class="i2"> One skeleton, tripping behind;</p> + <p> Though not by his comrades the trick had been played—</p> +<p class="i2"> Now its odour he snuffed in the wind:</p> + <p> He rushed to the door—but fell back with a shock;</p> + <p> For well for the wight of the bell and the clock,</p> +<p class="i2"> The sign of the cross it displayed.</p> +</div><div class="stanza"> + <p> But the shroud he must have—not a moment he stays;</p> +<p class="i2"> Ere a man had begun but to think,</p> + <p> On the Gothic-work his fingers quickly he lays,</p> +<p class="i2"> And climbs up its chain, link by link.</p> + <p> Now woe to the warder—for sure he must die—</p> + <p> To see, like a long-legged spider, draw nigh</p> +<p class="i2"> The skeleton's clattering form:</p> +</div><div class="stanza"> + <p> And pale was his visage, and thick came his breath;</p> +<p class="i2"> The garb, alas! why did he touch?</p> + <p> How sick grew his soul as the garment of death</p> +<p class="i2"> The skeleton caught in his clutch—</p> + <p> The moon disappeared, and the skies changed to dun,</p> + <p> And louder than thunder the church-bell tolled one—</p> +<p class="i2"> The spectre fell tumbling to bits!</p> +</div></div> +<p> +[and one of the prose tales, abridged:] +</p> +<h3> + BEATRICE ADONY AND JULIUS ALVINZI. +</h3> +<p> +There is not in all Germany a more pleasant station for a regiment of +horse than the city of Salzburgh, capital of the province of that name, +in the dominions of the House of Austria. Here, during the summer and +autumn of 1795, lay the third regiment of Hungarian hussars. This corps +had sustained a heavy loss during the campaign of the year previous in +Flanders, and was sent into garrison to be recruited and organized anew. +Count Zichy, who commanded it, was a noble of the highest rank, of +princely fortune, and of lavish expenditure; and being of a cheerful and +social turn of mind, he promoted all the amusements of the place, and +encouraged the gaiety of his officers. +</p> +<p> +The scenery around is grand and alpine. The narrow defiles and +picturesque valleys are watered by mountain rivers; and, at an easy +distance from the city, is the lone lake of Berchtolsgaden, lying +beneath a lofty, +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page421" name="page421"></a>[pg 421]</span> +inaccessible alp, of the most stern and majestic +aspect. Need it be told how sweet upon that placid lake sounded the +mellow horns of the Hungarian band; and may it not be left to fancy to +image out, how these parties, these scenes, and these sensations, gave +birth to some abiding, and to very many passing loves. +</p> +<p> +Among the fair women of Salzburgh, the palm of beauty was yielded +readily by all to Beatrice Adony, the only daughter of a respected +statesman, long favoured at court, and then resident upon a private +estate in the neighbourhood. He had retired from public affairs a few +years before, when under deep affliction from the loss of a beloved +wife; and lived a life of fond parental devotion with this lovely +Beatrice, who was the image of her departed mother. He had directed +all her studies; and with such judgment, that he had imparted to her +character a masculine strength, which elevated her above all the common +dangers of that season of life when woman passes forth into society. +</p> +<p> +The Count Zichy was a relation of Count Adony, and a constant and +welcome guest at his mansion; and Beatrice, therefore, attended many and +most of the entertainments which the Count and his officers gave to the +society of Salzburgh during their stay. As she smiled no encouragement +upon the attentions which the Count seemed at first disposed to pay her, +and as he was a cheerful, manly-hearted creature, and though made of +penetrable stuff, by no means a person to lose either appetite, society, +or life, for love, he bestowed his gallantries elsewhere. She liked him +for this all the better; and gave him, in return, that free-hearted, +sisterly friendship, which might be innocently suffered to grow out of +their connexion and intimacy. +</p> +<p> +All the regular, conceited male coquettes were abashed and perplexed by +manners so natural, that they could make nothing of her; while those +more dangerous, but much to be blamed admirers, who stand apart with +sighs and gazes, were baffled and made sad by the silent dignity of eyes +serenely bright, that never looked upon their flattering worship with +one ray of favour. Such was Beatrice Adony; all the fair girls were fond +of her, and proud of her—because she was no one's rival. They looked on +her as a being of a higher order; one whose thoughts were chaste as the +unsunned Alps. She was admired by them, meditated upon—but never +envied. +</p> +<p> +Most true it was, Beatrice was of another and a higher order. She was +"among them, not of them." She took part in those amusements which +belong to the customs of her country; and filled that place, and +performed those customs, which her station in society demanded, with +unaffected ease and grace. But while the trifles and pleasures of the +passing day were to her companions everything, they were to her little +and unsatisfying. For the last few years of her mother's life, whose +habits were meditative and devotional, she had daily listened to the +gracious lessons of divine truth, and the closet of Beatrice Adony was +hallowed by the Eye that seeth in secret, and that often saw her there +upon her knees. +</p> +<p> +It was on a fine day, in the early spring of 1796, that orders reached +Salzburgh for the march of these Hungarian hussars. They were to +traverse the Tyrol, and to join the army of Italy. They were to march at +sunrise on the following morning; and Count Adony, collecting all the +acquaintances of the corps in the town and neighbourhood, gave the +Hungarian officers a farewell banquet and ball; preparations for which, +in anticipation of their early departure, Beatrice had already directed. +</p> +<p> +Beatrice was the radiant queen of this fair festival; and it was strange +to think, that from the presence of such a being so many men were going +to part without one lover's pang. Amiable, affable, natural, and full of +grace, she presided over this little court of love—serene, unmoved, +herself. Yet any thoughtful and suspicious observer would have said, +that her heart was not quite at ease; for every now and then, as the +night wore on, her eyes gave less attention to those who spoke with her, +and her thoughts were evidently turning inwards with trouble. The supper +was over—the tastefully decorated table was deserted—and the guests +were again assembled in the ball-room. Fond partners that might never +dance with each other again, stood side by side—hand locked in +hand—and waited for the rising swell of the tender music, to which they +were to dance their last waltz. Beatrice stood up with her cousin Count +Zichy, and deadly pale she looked. The Count and all others thought she +had a headach, and would have had her sit down; but she persisted, with +a faint smile, in doing the last honours. +</p> +<p> +Just at this very moment a manly young officer, whose dress denoted that +he had been on duty, and was ready again to mount and go forward, came +in to make a report to the colonel. +</p> +<p> +As the first bars of the music were heard, he stood aside, his cap in +his hand, and looked on. Already, however, a young brother officer had +run from his partner's side, to renew to him, with all extravagance of +gratitude, his thanks for having, by an exchange of duty, enabled him to +enjoy a last, long parting with the girl he loved. The dance went +forward, and Julius Alvinzi leaned cheerfully upon his sabre. Suddenly +Count Zichy and his fair cousin broke out from the large circle, and +setting to him, he was led off to the waltz movement before he had time +to ungird his sword. This, however, even as he danced, he gracefully +effected; and afterwards for one tour of waltzing, Beatrice Adony was +the partner of Julius Alvinzi, quitting for the time her own. +</p> +<p> +This is a custom, in Germany, so common, +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page422" name="page422"></a>[pg 422]</span> +and seemed so natural and so +kind a courtesy to Julius, under the particular circumstances of his +late and short appearance at the ball, that neither himself, nor any one +in the room, attached to it any other character than that of a pretty +and gentle compliment. But if the ear of Julius had been quickened by +the faintest spark of sympathy, he might have heard the very heart of +Beatrice beat. +</p> +<p> +"You are tired," said Julius, as the music suddenly ceased. +</p> +<p> +"Rather so," she replied. +</p> +<p> +He led her, faint, pale, and trembling, to a seat. Some colour returned +to her cheek as she sat down; and, with an open and cheerful air, she +put out her hand to him, and said, "Farewell, Captain Alvinzi; all +honour, and all happiness go with you." +</p> +<p> +As he took her hand, he observed, for the first time, that pale-changing +of the cheek which is so eloquent of love; and, looking into her eyes, +he felt his heart sink with a sweeter emotion than he had ever known +before. +</p> +<p> +Thus silently they parted; and Julius went out from her presence sad, +but happy. "Il est si doux aimer, et d'etre aimé." He felt that he was +beloved. In half an hour, the noble gateway at Salzburgh, cut through +the solid rock, rang to the loud echo of trampling hoofs; and Julius was +riding under it with an advanced guard, and a few troop-sergeants, to +prepare the quarters of the regiment, then mustering for their march. +</p> +<p> +In all the camps of Europe, a finer youth, or a nobler spirit, could +no where have been found than Julius Alvinzi. Five years of military +service—three of which had been spent in the toils, the watchings, +and the combats of warfare—had accomplished and perfected him in all +points, as the zealous and enterprising leader of a squadron. Glory was +his idol—war his passion. His day-dreams over-leaped the long interval +of years which, of necessity, separated him from high command; and, as +he built up the castle of his future fame, many were the victories which +he won "in the name of God, and the Kaiser!" With this, the gallant +war-cry of Austria, he had already, in some few charges, led on his bold +and bitter Hungarians; and two or three dashing affairs of outposts—a, +daring and important reconnoissance, most skilfully conducted—and the +surprise and capture of a French picquet—had already given him an +established name for intelligence and enterprise. There was a manliness +about him superior to low, sensual enjoyment; and the imagery and +language of vulgar voluptuousness found no cell in a well-stored, +well-principled, and masculine mind, to receive or retain them. He was a +happy, handsome, hardy soldier; knowing his duly, loving it, and always +performing it with honour. Such was the man whom Beatrice Adony, with a +quick perception of true nobility of character, had silently observed +during the stay of the Hungarians at Salzburgh, and her love for him was +a secret— +</p> +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> + <p> The only jewel of her speechless thoughts.</p> +</div></div> +<p> +It was thus in the full lustihood of life, and in all the bloom of high +hope and promise, that in one of those severe actions, which took place +in the summer of 1796 on the plains of Mantua, Julius Alvinzi led his +brave squadron into battle. The brigade to which he belonged was brought +forward by the veteran Wurmser at a very anxious moment, and, by their +devoted courage, saved a column of Austrian infantry from being +enveloped and cut off by the French. The Hungarians charged with such +vigour and success, that they not only overthrew the body of horse +opposed to them, but they possessed themselves of a battery of +field-pieces which endeavoured to cover their retreat, and which +continued to vomit forth grape with a deadly fury till the horses' heads +of the leading squadron, under Alvinzi, reached the very muzzles of the +cannon. +</p> +<p> +The Austrians were, however, compelled finally to retreat, that same +evening, from the ground which they had so resolutely contested:—the +movement was made in fine order, and they carried off all their wounded +in safety. Upon a crowded wagon lay Julius Alvinzi; living, indeed, but +a living wreck, and his recovery despaired of. He had been wounded in +six places, and lay motionless and insensible; his servant walking by +his side in silent trouble. As the remains of his regiment marched +slowly back upon Mantua, and passed the convoy of the wounded close to +the gates, you might have heard the name of Alvinzi singled out by the +men for more deep and particular lamentation. He had been their friend, +their pride, their example; and their eyes were turned upon the wagon on +which he lay with an expression of sadness too stern and severe for +tears. +</p> +<p> +The news of this disastrous battle was communicated to Count Adony at +Salzburgh in a letter from his cousin the Count Zichy. Beatrice and her +father were sitting in his library after night-fall, each occupied with +a book, under the calm, soft light of a lamp which hung a little above +them, when this letter was brought in. He read it eagerly and rapidly to +himself; and then, with a grateful exclamation for the safety of Zichy, +and those officers with whom he was more especially acquainted, he again +read it aloud to Beatrice. It ran as follows:— +</p> +<p> +"MY DEAR AND HONOURED COUSIN, +</p> +<p> +"We are all doing our best; but, I am sorry to say, we are losing +everything except our honour. Fortune is with these Frenchmen. Of six +hundred swords, with which I marched from Salzburgh ten weeks ago, only +two hundred and twenty remain to me. We lost, in +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page423" name="page423"></a>[pg 423]</span> +the battle of yesterday, +nearly three hundred killed and wounded. I never saw our men fight +better: the enemy opposed to us were fairly beaten at the sword's point; +and we took a battery of twelve guns, which tried to cover their +discomfiture; but we conquered only to retire. I have not a word to say +against old Wurmser: he is a clear headed, tough-hearted veteran, but +these French generals are too young for him. I am quite well, but had a +narrow escape; two horses were killed under me, and a grape shot passed +through my cap. +</p> +<p> +"Tell dear Beatrice, I have got that engraving of the Madonna del +Rosario of Domenichino which she wanted. I picked it up at Verona; +thanks to poor Alvinzi, by the way. Though you, neither of you, saw nor +knew much of this youth, you have so often heard me speak of his worth, +that you will be sorry for me when I tell you that I have lost him; and, +in him, my best and most zealous officer. He is covered with wounds, and +cannot live through the night;—the noble fellow was struck down within +a yard of the enemy's guns. Of others, whom you may remember, Kreiner, +Zetter, and Hartmann, are killed; and several are wounded: Kalmann and +Hettinger very severely.—You shall hear from me again soon; but matters +look very unpromising. +</p> +<p> +"Your faithful and loving cousin, +<br /> +CASIMIR ZICHY." +</p> +<p> +"Read the letter again, father," said Beatrice, with a tone such as he +had never heard from her before; "read it again," she cried, "pray read +it again!—'my best and most zealous officer,'—is it not so?—'covered +with wounds, and cannot live through the night,'—is it not so?—Father, +I loved this Alvinzi.—Ah! yes, I loved him well—now better than +ever;—but I knew it would be thus the very day on which I first saw +him:—read it again,—pray do?"—and, with a still-bewilderment of eye, +she took it from her trembling father, and read it slowly to herself. +"Give me this letter, father;" and she put it in her bosom: and there it +lay,—there it lay through a long and nervous illness, which mercifully +terminated in her death. +</p> +<p> +For a long time she was enabled to govern and controul her feelings, and +was silent, and, to outward seeming, resigned. She often remarked to her +father, that she could, and did, say daily upon her knees, "Thy will be +done,"—but that tears always followed that sincere, but mournful, +exercise. However her frame at last gave way—she sunk into great +weakness of body, and her mind became affected. +</p> +<p> +Her father watched her with unceasing solicitude throughout her +sufferings; but he was often driven from her chamber by the agony of his +emotions, as she read over the fatal letter, or sung, which she did +continually, that mournful song of Thecla. +</p> +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> + <p> The world it is empty, the heart will die,</p> + <p> There's nothing to wish for beneath the sky:</p> + <p> Thou Holy One, call Thy child away—</p> + <p> I've lived and loved; and that was to-day—</p> +<p class="i2"> Make ready my grave-clothes to-morrow.</p> +</div></div> +<p> +Such was the early and melancholy close of a young life of the loveliest +promise. The severe and sudden horror struck hard upon her fine mind, +and drove it mournfully astray. Her heart was so broken that she could +not live on. But Julius Alvinzi did not then or so perish: for seventeen +weeks he lay upon a hospital bed in Mantua, helpless as an infant; +and finally recovered so much of health as gave him again the common +promise of life. He was afterwards sent to pass the long period of his +convalescence at Venice; but the Julius Alvinzi, who rode forth from +Salzburgh, was no longer to be recognised: crippled in his limbs—his +fine countenance disfigured by deep and unsightly scars—his complexion +pale—his hair turned grey with suffering. He had already stepped on +twenty years in as many weeks, and he was already, to the eye, a worn +and broken-down officer of veterans. He could not stir a pace without +crutches; and his hip had been so shattered and distorted that it was +painful to see him move. It was well that Beatrice was in her grave. No +doubt she would have exhibited the noble constancy of a pure, angelic, +and true love;—but she was spared that longer and heavier trial. +</p> +<p> +Alvinzi, like a stricken deer, betook himself, with decayed hopes and an +aching bosom, to a retired valley near Burgersdorf, about ten miles from +Vienna. Here he took a small fishing cottage, near a lone and lovely +stream, which flowed across a few velvet meadows, amid deep dells +and still woods; and here he threw himself on the beautiful bosom of +nature as on that of a mother. Here, for the first time, he was made +acquainted, by a letter and a packet from the aged and desolate Adony, +of the melancholy end of the lovely Beatrice. The packet contained a +small cross which she had always worn, her miniature, and her psalter. +</p> +<p> +The traveller who may now wander into the little valley, near +Burgersdorf, where Alvinzi dwelt, will find the cypress, planted upon +his grave the day after his funeral, only three years' growth; and if he +go and sit under the tree, beneath which Alvinzi reposed his withered +and broken frame for thirty summers, will perhaps agree with the +narrator of this mournful story, that mercy was mingled in his bitter +cup, and that +</p> +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> + <p> Society is all but rude,</p> + <p> To that delicious solitude.</p> +</div></div> +<p> +The peasants of that valley tell, with a superstitious awe, that Alvinzi +was wont to discourse for hours together with departed spirits; and that +they have stolen near his tree at sunset, and in the gloom of the +evening, and by moonlight, and have distinctly heard +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page424" name="page424"></a>[pg 424]</span> +him talking with +some one whom he called "Beatrice." +</p> +<p> +[The Embellishments of the <i>Souvenir</i> are nearly on a par with +those of previous years, with a light sprinkling of originality in the +subjects.] +</p> +<hr class="full" /> +<h2> + FINE ARTS. +</h2> +<hr /> +<h3> +CROSSES.<a id="footnotetag3" name="footnotetag3"></a><a href="#footnote3"><sup>3</sup></a> +</h3> +<div class="figure" style="width: 50%; float: left;"> +<a href="images/582-2.png"><img width="100%" src="images/582-2.png" +alt="(In Devonshire)" /></a> +(<i>In Devonshire</i>) +</div> +<p> +The subjoined are two specimens of rude workmanship, in comparison with +the ingenuity displayed in the Crosses already illustrated in our pages. +They are engraved from a drawing made by Mr. Britton, about thirty years +since. The first was in Devonshire, at the village of Alphington, about +one mile west of Exeter, on the side of the road leading from that city +to Plymouth. It represents the Calvary cross of heraldry, and consists +of a block of granite, which has been cut in an octagon shape, and fixed +in a large base. +</p> +<div class="figure" style="width: 50%; float: right; clear: left;"> +<a href="images/582-3.png"><img width="100%" src="images/582-3.png" +alt="(In Cornwall)" /></a> +(<i>In Cornwall</i>) +</div> +<p> +The second cross stood in Cornwall, on the wide waste of Caraton Down. +It consists of one block with a rounded head, bearing the couped cross. +This solitary pillar, evidently a Christian monument, is situate near a +Druidical temple called "the Hurlers." Crosses of this shape abound in +Cornwall. One has been found in Burian churchyard, and another in +Callington churchyard, bearing rude sculptures of the crucifixion; +others have been found in the county with holes perforated near the top, +and some with various ornaments on the shafts. +</p> +<hr class="full" style="clear: both;" /> +<h2> + DOMESTIC HINTS. +</h2> +<hr /> +<h3> + OLIVE OIL. +</h3> +<p> +Few articles differ more in quality than olive oil; not that the +different kinds are produced from different fruit, but in the different +stages of the pressure of the olives. Thus, by means of gentle pressure, +the best or <i>virgin</i> oil flows first; a second, and afterwards a +third quality of oil is obtained, by moistening the residuum, breaking +the kernels, &c. and increasing the pressure. When the fruit is not +sufficiently ripe, the recent oil has a bitterish taste; and when too +ripe it is fatty. After the oil has been drawn, it deposits a white, +fibrous, and albuminous matter; but when this deposition has taken +place, if it be put into clean flasks, +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page425" name="page425"></a>[pg 425]</span> +it undergoes no further +alteration. The common oil cannot, however, be preserved in casks above +a year and a half or two years. The consumption of olive oil as food is +not surprising if we remember, that it is the lightest and most delicate +of all the fixed oils. +</p> +<hr /> +<h3> + CARDS. +</h3> +<p> +Some misconception has arisen respecting the legality of <i>Second-hand +Cards</i>. It appears, however, that they may be sold by any person, if +sold without the wrapper of a licensed maker; and in packs containing +not more than 52 cards, including an ace of spades duly stamped, and +enclosed in a wrapper with the words "Second-hand Cards" printed or +written in distinct characters on the outside: penalty for selling +Second-hand Cards in any other manner, 20<i>l.</i> +</p> +<hr /> +<h3> + CINNAMON AND CASSIA. +</h3> +<p> +Cassia bark resembles Cinnamon in appearance, smell, and taste, and is +very often substituted for it; but it may be readily distinguished: it +is thicker in substance, less quilled, breaks shorter, and is more +pungent. It should be chosen in thin pieces: the best being that which +approaches nearest to Cinnamon in flavour; but that which is small and +broken should be rejected. +</p> +<hr /> +<h3> + COLOURING CHEESE. +</h3> +<p> +The fine, bright, red colour of some Gloucester cheese has been +fraudulently produced by red lead, which, we need scarcely observe, is a +violent poison. The ingredient now employed for this purpose, (to the +exclusion of every thing else) in Cheshire and Gloucestershire, is +annatto, a dye prepared from the seeds of a tree of South America. It is +perfectly harmless in the proportion in which it is used; an ounce of +genuine annatto being sufficient to colour a hundred weight of cheese. +It may, however, be questioned whether annatto is not sometimes +adulterated with red lead. +</p> +<p> +Gouda cheese, the best made in Holland, is prized for its soundness, +which is referable to muriatic acid being used in curdling the milk +instead of rennet. This renders it pungent, and preserves it from +mites. Parmesan cheese, so called from Parma in Italy, where it is +manufactured, and highly prized, is merely a skim-milk cheese, which +owes its rich flavour to the fine herbage of the meadows along the +Po, where the cows feed. +</p> +<hr /> +<h3> + BASKET SALT. +</h3> +<p> +The finer salt sold under this denomination is made by placing the +salt, after evaporation, in conical baskets, and passing through it a +saturated solution of salt, which dissolves, and carries off the muriate +of magnesia or lime. Pure salt should not become moist by exposure to +the air. +</p> +<hr /> +<h3> + PETIT-OR. +</h3> +<p> +The imitation of gold sold with this taking name is nothing more than +the alloy formerly called Pinchbeck, and made by melting zinc, in a +certain proportion, with copper and brass, so as in colour to approach +that of gold. +</p> +<hr class="full" /> +<h2> + THE PUBLIC JOURNALS. +</h2> +<hr /> +<h3> + CHIPS OF TOM CRINGLE'S LOG. +</h3> +<p> +[Our old friend Tom Cringle (of Blackwood,) occasionally spins or splits +his <i>Log</i> too small. The incidents are weakened in the drawing out, +or exaggerated in the telling; but they are sometimes relieved by +brilliant descriptive touches, such as the following, introduced to set +off the fate of one of Tom's heroes at Santiago.] +</p> +<center> +<i>The Butterfly, Chameleon, and Serpent.</i> +</center> +<p> +Glancing bright in the sunshine, a most beautiful butterfly fluttered in +the air, in the very middle of the open window. When we first saw it, it +was flitting gaily and happily amongst the plants and flowers that were +blooming in the balcony, but it gradually became more and more slow on +the wing, and at last poised itself unusually steadily for an insect of +its class. Below it, on the window sill, near the wall, with head erect, +and its little basilisk eyes upturned towards the lovely fly, crouched +a chameleon lizard, its beautiful body, when I first looked at it, was +a bright sea-green. It moved into the sunshine, a little away from the +shade of the laurel bush, which grew on the side it first appeared on, +and suddenly the back became transparent amber, the legs and belly +continuing green. From its breast under the chin, it every now and then +shot out a semicircular film of a bright scarlet colour, like a leaf of +a tulip, stretched vertically, or the pectoral fin of a fish. +</p> +<p> +This was evidently a decoy, and the poor fly was gradually drawn down +towards it, either under the impression of its being in reality a +flower, or impelled by some impulse which it could not resist. It +gradually fluttered nearer and more near, the reptile remaining all the +while steady as a stone, until it made a sudden spring, and in the next +moment the small meally wings were quivering on each side of the +chameleon's tiny jaws. While in the act of gorging its prey, a little +fork, like a wire, was projected from the opposite corner of the window; +presently a small round black snout, with a pair of little, fiery, +blasting eyes, appeared, and a thin, black neck, glancing in the sun. +The lizard saw it. I could fancy it trembled. Its body became of a dark +blue, then ashy pale; the imitation of the flower, the gaudy fin was +withdrawn, it appeared to shrink back as far as it could, but it was +nailed or fascinated to +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page426" name="page426"></a>[pg 426]</span> +the window sill, for its feet did not move. +The head of the snake approached, with its long, forked tongue shooting +out, and shortening, and with a low hissing noise. By this time about +two feet of its body was visible, lying with its white belly on the +wooden beam, moving forward with a small horizontal wavy motion, the +head and six inches of the neck being a little raised. I shrunk back +from the serpent, but no one else seemed to have any dread of it; +indeed, I afterwards learned, that this kind being good mousers, and +otherwise quite harmless, were, if any thing, encouraged about houses in +the country. I looked again; its open mouth was now within an inch of +the lizard, which by this time seemed utterly paralyzed and motionless; +the next instant its head was drawn into the snake's mouth, and +gradually the whole body disappeared, as the reptile gorged it, and +I could perceive from the lump which gradually moved down the snake's +neck, that it had been sucked into its stomach. Involuntary I raised +my hand, when the whole suddenly disappeared. +</p> +<p> +[One of Tom's <i>land-storms</i> is still more graphic.] +</p> +<p> +A heavy cloud that had been overhanging the small valley the whole +morning, had by this time spread out and covered the entire face of +nature like a sable pall; the birds of the air flew low, and seemed to +be perfectly gorged with the superabundance of flies, which were thickly +betaking themselves for shelter under the evergreen leaves of the +bushes. All the winged creation, great and small, were fast betaking +themselves to the shelter of the leaves and branches of the trees. The +cattle were speeding to the hollows under the impending rocks; negroes, +men, women, and children, were hurrying with their hoes on their +shoulders past the windows to their huts. Several large bloodhounds had +ventured into the hall, and were crouching with a low whine at our feet. +The large carrion crows were the only living things which seemed to +brave the approaching <i>chu-basco</i>, and were soaring high up in the +heavens, appearing to touch the black, agitated fringe of the lowering +thunder clouds. All other kinds of winged creatures, parrots, and +pigeons, and cranes, had vanished by this time under the thickest trees, +and into the deepest coverts, and the wild ducks were shooting past in +long lines, piercing the thick air with outstretched neck and clanging +wing. +</p> +<p> +Suddenly the wind fell, and the sound of the waterfall increased, and +grew rough and loud, and the undefinable rushing noise that precedes a +heavy fall of rain in the tropics, the voice of the wilderness, moaned +through the high woods, until at length the clouds sank upon the valley +in boiling mists, rolling halfway down the surrounding hills; and the +water of the stream, whose scanty rill but an instant before hissed over +the precipice in a small, transparent ribbon of clear grass-green, +sprinkled with white foam, and then threaded its way round the large +rocks in its capacious channel, like a silver eel twisting through a +desert, now changed in a moment to a dark turgid chocolate colour; and +even as we stood and looked, lo! a column of water from the mountains, +pitched in thunder over the face of the precipice, making the earth +tremble, and driving up from the rugged face of the everlasting rocks in +smoke, and forcing the air into eddies and sudden blasts which tossed +the branches of the trees that overhung it, as they were dimly seen +through clouds of drizzle, as if they had been shaken by a tempest, +although there was not a breath stirring elsewhere out of heaven; while +little, wavering, spiral wreaths of mist rose up thick from the surface +of the boiling pool at the bottom of the cataract, like miniature +water-spouts, until they were dispersed by the agitation of the air +above. +</p> +<p> +At length the swollen torrent rolled roaring down the narrow valley, +filling the whole water-course, about fifty yards wide, and advancing +with a solid front a fathom <i>high</i>—a fathom <i>deep</i> does not +convey the idea—like a stream of lava, or as one may conceive of the +Red Sea, when, at the stretching forth of the hand of the prophet of the +Lord, its mighty waters rolled back and stood heaped up as a wall to the +host of Israel. +</p> +<p> +The channel of the stream, which but a minute before I could have leaped +across, was the next instant filled and utterly impassable. +</p> +<p> +And the rain now began pattering in large drops, like scattering shots +preceding an engagement, on the wooden shingles with which the house was +roofed, gradually increasing to a loud rushing noise, which, as the +rooms were not ceiled, prevented a word being heard. +</p> +<p> +At length the weather cleared, and the shutters having been opened, and +with a suddenness which no one can comprehend who has not lived in these +climates, the sun now shone brightly on the flowers and garden plants +which grew in a range of pots on the balcony. +</p> +<hr /> +<h3> + THE DUCHESSE DE BERRI. +</h3> +<center> +(<i>From the New Monthly Magazine</i>.) +</center> +<p> +We have much pleasure in inserting these very curious anecdotes of an +unfortunate Princess, though they come to us from one devoted to her +cause, as well as sympathizing with her misfortunes. +</p> +<p> +Few heroines of ancient days have displayed more courage, self-devotion, +and firmness, than has this high-souled and heroic woman. It is not +generally known in this +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page427" name="page427"></a>[pg 427]</span> +country, that in an action in La Vendée, where +the partizans of the Duchess were opposed to the regular troops, she +headed her forces, and led the charges repeatedly. She had a horse shot +dead under her, and having been disarmed in the fall, seized the arms of +a fallen soldier next her, and again cheered on her followers. She was +eleven hours in action, and escaped unhurt, with the exception of some +contusions from the fall; and, when the battle was over, was seen +administering to the wants of those around her, dressing their wounds +with her own delicate hands; and whilst surrounded by the dead and +dying, she appeared wholly regardless of self, though overcome by a +fatigue and anxiety that few, even of the other sex, could have borne +so well. +</p> +<p> +On another occasion, the Duchesse de Berri had, with much difficulty, +procured a horse, and was mounted behind a faithful but humble adherent, +pursuing her route to a distant quarter, when her guide was accosted by +a peasant with whom he conversed some time in the patois of the country. +On quitting the peasant, he observed to the Duchess, that the man was +charged with a secret mission to a place at some distance, and was so +fatigued that he feared he could not reach it. She instantly sprang from +her seat, called after the peasant, and insisted on his taking the +horse, declaring that she could reach her destination on foot. After +walking for many hours, she arrived at a mountain stream that was +swollen by the recent rain, and having learned that her enemies were in +pursuit of her, she determined to cross it. Her guide, assisted by her, +fastened a large branch of a tree to his person, and, being an expert +swimmer, told her to hold by it, and that he hoped to get her over. They +had advanced to the deepest part of the stream when the bough broke, and +her guide gave her up for lost, when, to his surprise and joy, he saw +her boldly clearing the water by his side, and they soon reached the +bank in safety. During her visits to Dieppe, the Duchess had acquired a +proficiency in swimming, and it has since frequently saved her in the +hour of need. Overpowered by fatigue and hunger, and chilled by the cold +of her dripping garments, this courageous woman felt that her physical +powers were no longer capable of obeying her wishes, and that further +exertion was impossible. Seeing a house at a distance, she declared her +intention of throwing herself on the generosity of its owner, when her +guide warned her of the danger of such a proceeding, as the owner of the +house was a Liberal, and violently opposed to her party. All his +representations were made in vain. She boldly entered the house, and, +addressing the master of it, exclaimed—"You see before you the unhappy +mother of your king; proscribed and pursued, half dead with fatigue, +cold, wet, and hungry, you will not refuse her a morsel of your bread, a +corner at your fire, and a bed to rest her weary limbs on." The master +of the house threw himself at her feet, and, with tears streaming from +his eyes, declared that his house, and all that was his, were at her +service; and for some days, while the pursuit after her was the hottest, +she remained unsuspected in this asylum, the politics of the master +placing him out of suspicion; and when she left it, she was followed by +the tears and prayers of the whole of the family and their dependents. +</p> +<p> +This heroic woman, nurtured in courts, and accustomed to all the luxury +that such an exalted station as hers can give, has thought herself +fortunate, during many a night of the last year, when she could have the +shelter of the poorest hovel, with some brown bread and milk for food, +and has partaken, at the same humble board, the frugal repast of the +peasants who sheltered her. Her general attire has been the most common +dress, of a materiel called buse, made of worsted, and worn by the +poorest of the peasantry. A mantle of the same coarse stuff, with a +hood, completed her costume. +</p> +<p> +When one of the friends, who had seen her the pride and ornament of the +gilded saloons in the Tuileries, expressed his grief at the dreadful +hardships to which she was exposed, she pointed to a furze bush on the +heath where they were conversing, and said—"I shall sleep on that spot +to-night; and many nights I have had no better shelter than were +afforded by a few wild shrubs or trees, and I never slept better at +Rosny. If my mantle was long enough to allow of its covering my feet +when I slept, I should have nothing to complain of, but then it might +impede my flight, so I must be content." +</p> +<hr class="full" /> +<h2> + THE NATURALIST. +</h2> +<hr /> +<h3> + DEPTH OF THE SEA. +</h3> +<p> +As to the bottom of the basin of the sea, it seems to have inequalities +similar to those which the surface of continents exhibits; if it were +dried up, it would present mountains, valleys, and plains. It is +inhabited almost throughout its whole extent by an immense quantity of +testaceous animals, or covered with sand and gravel. It was thus that +Donati found the bottom of the Adriatic sea; the bed of testaceous +animals there, according to him, is several hundred feet in thickness. +The celebrated diver Pescecola, whom the emperor Frederick II. employed +to descend the strait of Messina, saw there with horror, enormous polypi +attached to the rocks, the arms of which, being several yards long, were +more than sufficient to strangle a man. In a great many places, the +madrepores form a kind of petrified forest fixed at the bottom +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page428" name="page428"></a>[pg 428]</span> +of the +sea, and frequently, too, this bottom plainly presents different layers +of rock and earth. +</p> +<p> +The granite rises up in sharp-pointed masses. Near Marseilles, marble is +dug up from a submarine quarry. There are also bituminous springs, and +even springs of fresh water, that spout up from the depths of the ocean; +and in the Gulf of Spezia, a great spout or fountain of fresh water is +seen to rise like a liquid hill. Similar springs furnish the inhabitants +of the town of Aradus with their ordinary beverage. +</p> +<p> +On the southern coast of Cuba, to the southwest of the port of Batabano, +in the bay of Xagua, at two or three miles from the land, springs of +fresh water gush up with such force in the midst of the salt, that small +boats cannot approach them with safety; the deeper you draw the water, +the fresher you find it. It has been observed, that in the neighbourhood +of steep coasts, the bottom of the sea also sinks down suddenly to a +considerable depth; whilst near a low coast, and one of gentle +declivity, it is only gradually that the sea deepens. There are some +places in the sea where no bottom has yet been found. But we must not +conclude that the sea is really bottomless; an idea, which, if not +absurd, is, at least, by no means conformable to the analogies of +natural science. The mountains of continents seem to correspond with +what are called the abysses of the sea; but now, the highest mountains +do not rise to 20,000 feet. It is true that they have wasted down and +lessened by the action of the elements; it may, therefore, be reasonably +concluded, that the sea is not beyond 30,000 feet in depth; but it is +impossible to find the bottom even at one-third of this depth, with our +little instruments. The greatest depth that has been tried to be +measured, is that found in the northern ocean by Lord Mulgrave; he +heaved a very heavy sounding lead, and gave out with it cable rope to +the length of 4,680 feet, without finding bottom.—<i>Blake's +Encyclopedia</i>. +</p> +<hr class="full" /> +<h2> + NOTES OF A READER. +</h2> +<hr /> +<h3> + CHARACTER OF CROMWELL. +</h3> +<center> +(<i>From the Buccaneer.—By Mrs. S.C. Hall</i>.) +</center> +<p> +There are two things that to a marvellous degree bring people under +subjection—moral and corporeal fear. The most dissolute are held in +restraint by the influence of moral worth, and there are few who would +engage in a quarrel if they were certain that defeat or death would be +the consequence. Cromwell obtained, and we may add, maintained his +ascendancy over the people of England, by his earnest and continually +directed efforts towards these two important ends. His court was a +rare example of irreproachable conduct, from which all debauchery +and immorality were banished; while such was his deep and intimate +though mysterious acquaintance with every occurrence throughout the +commonwealth, its subjects had the certainty of knowing that, sooner or +later, whatever crimes they committed would of a surety reach the ear +of the protector. His natural abilities must always have been of the +highest order, though in the early part of his career he discovered +none of those extraordinary talents that afterwards gained him so +much applause, and worked so upon the affections of the hearers +and standers-by. His mind may be compared to one of those valuable +manuscripts that had long been rolled up and kept hidden from vulgar +eyes, but which exhibits some new proof of wisdom at each unfolding. It +has been well said by a philosopher, whose equal the world has not known +since his day, "that a place sheweth the man." Of a certainty Cromwell +had no sooner possessed the opportunity so to do, than he showed to the +whole world that he was destined to govern. "Some men achieve greatness, +some men are born to greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon +them." With Cromwell greatness was achieved. He was the architect of +his own fortunes, owing little to what is called "chance," less to +patronage, and still less to crime, if we except the one sad blot upon +the page of his own history, as connected with that of his country. +There appears in his character but a small portion of that which is +evil, blended with much that is undoubtedly good. Although his public +speeches were, for the most part, ambiguous—leaving others to pick out +his meaning—or more frequently still, having no meaning to pick out, +being words, words, words—strung of mouldy sentences, scriptural +phrases, foolish exclamations, and such-like: yet when necessary, he +showed that he could sufficiently command his style, delivering himself +with so much energy, pith, propriety, and strength of expression, that +it was commonly said of him under such circumstances, "every word he +spoke was a thing." But the strongest indication of his vast abilities +was, the extraordinary tact with which he entered into, dissected, and +scrutinized the nature of human kind. No man ever dived into the manners +and minds of those around him with greater penetration, or more rapidly +discovered their natural talents and tempers. If he chanced to hear +of a person fit for his purpose, whether as a minister, a soldier, an +artisan, a preacher, or a spy, no matter how previously obscure, he sent +for him forthwith, and employed him in the way in which he could be made +most useful, and answer best the purpose of his employer. Upon this most +admirable system (a system in which, unhappily, he has had but few +imitators among modern statesmen,) depended in a great degree his +success. His +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page429" name="page429"></a>[pg 429]</span> +devotion has been sneered at; but it has never been proved +to have been insincere. With how much more show of justice may we +consider it to have been founded upon a solid and upright basis, when we +recollect that his whole outward deportment spoke its truth! Those who +decry him as a fanatic, ought to bethink themselves that religion was +the chivalry of the age in which he lived. Had Cromwell been born a few +centuries earlier, he would have headed the crusades, with as much +bravery, and far better results than our noble-hearted, but wrong-headed +Coeur de Lion. It was no great compliment that was passed on him by the +French minister, when he called the protector "the first captain of the +age." His courage and conduct in the field were undoubtedly admirable: +he had a dignity of soul which the greatest dangers and difficulties +rather animated than discouraged, and his discipline and government of +the army, in all respects, was the wonder of the world. It was no +diminution of this part of his character, that he was wary in his +conduct, and that, after he was declared protector, he wore a coat of +mail concealed beneath his dress. Less caution than he made use of, in +the place he held, and surrounded as he was by secret and open enemies, +would have deserved the name of negligence. As to his political +sincerity, which many think had nothing to do with his religious +opinions, he was, to the full, as honest as the first or second Charles. +Of a truth, that same sincerity, it would appear, is no kingly virtue! +Cromwell loved justice as he loved his own life, and wherever he was +compelled to be arbitrary, it was only where his authority was +controverted, which, as things then were, it was not only right to +establish for his own sake, but for the peace and security of the +country over whose proud destinies he had been called to govern. "The +dignity of the crown," to quote his own words, "was upon the account of +the nation, of which the king was only the representative head, and +therefore, the nation being still the same, he would have the same +respect paid to his ministers as if he had been a king." England ought +to write the name of Cromwell in letters of gold, when she remembers +that, within a space of four or five years, he avenged all the insults +that had been lavishly flung upon her by every country in Europe +throughout a long, disastrous, and most perplexing civil war. +Gloriously did he retrieve the credit that had been mouldering and +decaying during two weak and discreditable reigns of nearly fifty years' +continuance—gloriously did he establish and extend his country's +authority and influence in remote nations—gloriously acquire the real +mastery of the British Channel—gloriously send forth fleets that went +and conquered, and never sullied the union flag by an act of dishonour +or dissimulation. Not a single Briton, during the protectorate, but +could demand and receive either reparation or revenge for injury, +whether it came from France, from Spain, from any open foe or +treacherous ally; not an oppressed foreigner claimed his protection but +it was immediately and effectually granted. Were things to be compared +to this in the reign of either Charles? England may blush at the +remembrance of the insults she sustained during the reigns of the first +most amiable, yet most weak—of the second most admired, yet most +contemptible—of these legal kings. What must she think of the treatment +of the elector palatine, though he was son-in-law to king James? And let +her ask herself how the Duke of Rohan was assisted in the Protestant war +at Rochelle, notwithstanding the solemn engagement of king Charles under +his own hand! But we are treading too fearlessly upon ground on which, +in our humble capacity, we have scarcely the right to enter. Alas! alas! +the page of history is but a sad one; and the Stuarts and the Cromwells, +the roundheads and the cavaliers, the pennons and the drums, are but +part and parcel of the same dust—the dust we, who are made of dust +animated for a time by a living spirit, now tread upon! Their words, +that wrestled with the winds and mounted on the air, have left no trace +along that air whereon they sported:—the clouds in all their beauty cap +our isle with their magnificence, as in those by-gone days; the rivers +are as blue, the seas as salt; the flowers, those sweet things! remain +fresh within our fields, as when God called them into existence in +Paradise, and are bright as ever. But the change is over us, as it has +been over them: we, too, are passing. O England! what should this teach? +Even three things—wisdom, justice, and mercy. Wisdom to watch +ourselves, and then our rulers, so that we neither do nor suffer wrong; +justice to the memory of the mighty dead, whether born to thrones or +footstools; mercy, inasmuch as we shall deeply need it from our +successors. +</p> +<hr /> +<h3> + THE "WHY AND BECAUSE" OF CHRISTMAS. +</h3> +<p> +[We can vouch for the abridgement and collation of the following facts, +connected with this joyous season of old. Probably a few of the notes +may have been discussed in the course of our twenty-volume career; but +to omit such notices on the present occasion, would be to drop a link in +the little chain:] +</p> +<p> +Why is the evening before Christmas-day celebrated? +</p> +<p> +Because Christmas-day, in the primitive Church, was always observed as +the Sabbath-day, and, like it, preceded by an eve, or vigil.—<i>Brand.</i> +</p> +<p> +It was once believed, that if we were to go into a cow-house, at twelve +o'clock at night, +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page430" name="page430"></a>[pg 430]</span> +all the cattle would be found kneeling. Many also firmly +believed that bees sung in their hives on Christmas-eve, to welcome the +approaching day. +</p> +<p> +Why is Christmas-day so called? +</p> +<p> +Because of its derivation from <i>Christi Missa</i>, the mass of Christ; +and thence the Roman Catholic Liturgy is termed their <i>Missal</i>, or +<i>Mass-book</i>. About the year 500 the observation of this day became +general in the Catholic Church. +</p> +<p> +Why was the word <i>Yule</i> formerly used to signify Christmas? +</p> +<p> +Because of its derivation from the word <i>ol</i>, ale, which was much +used in the festivities and merry meetings of this period; and the +<i>I</i> in <i>Iol, icol</i>. Cimb. as the <i>ze</i> and <i>zi</i> in +<i>zehol, zeol, ziol</i>, Sax. are premised only as intensives, to add a +little to the signification, and make it more emphatical. <i>Ol</i>, or +<i>Ale</i>, did not only signify the liquor then made use of, but gave +denomination to the greatest festivals, as that of <i>zehol</i>, or +<i>Yule</i>, at Midwinter; and as is yet plainly to be discovered in +that custom of the Whitsun ale at the other great festival. +</p> +<p> +Why are certain initials affixed to crucifixes? +</p> +<p> +Because of their signifying the titular tributes paid to the Saviour of +the world. Thus, I.N.R.I. are universally agreed to be the initials of +the Latin words <i>Jesus Nazarenus Rex Judaeorum</i>; i.e. Jesus of +Nazareth, King of the Jews, a title which Pilot wrote and affixed to the +cross.—See John, ch. xix. The initials I.H.C., appended to other +crosses, are said to imply, <i>Jesus Humanitatis Consolator</i>, Jesus +the Consoler of Mankind; and the I.H.S. imply <i>Jesus Hominum +Salvator</i>, Jesus the Saviour of Men. The first-mentioned initials +are, however, found on the most ancient crosses. +</p> +<p> +Why is a certain song called a carol? +</p> +<p> +Because of its derivation from <i>cantare</i>, to sing, and <i>rola</i>, +an interjection of joy.—<i>Bourne</i>. +</p> +<p> +Bishop Taylor observes that the "Gloria in excelsis," the well-known +hymn sung by the angels to the shepherds at our Lord's nativity, was +the earliest Christmas carol. Bourne cites Durand to prove that +in the earlier ages of the churches, the bishops were accustomed, on +Christmas-day, to sing carols among their clergy. Fosbroke says—"It was +usual, in ancient feasts, to single out a person, and place him in the +midst, to sing a song to God." And Mr. Davies Gilbert, late President +of the Royal Society, in a volume which he has edited on the subject, +states, that till lately, in the West of England, on Christmas-eve, +about seven or eight o'clock in the evening, festivities were commenced, +and "the singing of carols begun, and continued late into the night. +On Christmas-day, these carols took the place of psalms in all the +churches, especially at afternoon service, the whole congregation +joining; and at the end it was usual for the parish-clerk to declare, +in a loud voice, his wishes for a merry Christmas and a happy new year +to all the parishioners." +</p> +<p> +Mr. Hone observes, in his work on "Ancient Mysteries," that "the custom +of singing carols at Christmas prevails in Ireland to the present time. +In Scotland, where no church fasts have been kept since the days of John +Knox, the custom is unknown. In Wales it is still preserved to a greater +extent, perhaps, than in England: at a former period, the Welsh had +carols adapted to most of the ecclesiastical festivals, and the four +seasons of the year; but at this time they are limited to that of +Christmas. After the turn of midnight, on Christmas-eve, service is +performed in the churches, followed by singing carols to the harp. +Whilst the Christmas holidays continue, they are sung in like manner in +the houses; and there are carols especially adapted to be sung at the +doors of the houses by visitors before they enter. <i>Lffyr Carolan</i>, +or the Book of Carols, contains sixty-six for Christmas, and five summer +carols. <i>Blodengerdd Cymrii</i>, or the Anthology of Wales, contains +forty-eight Christmas carols, nine summer carols, three May carols, one +winter carol, one nightingale carol, and a carol to Cupid. On the +Continent, the custom of carolling at Christmas is almost universal. +During the last days of Advent, Calabrian minstrels enter Rome, and are +to be seen in every street, saluting the shrines of the Virgin mother +with their wild music, under the traditional notion of charming her +labour pains on the approaching Christmas." +</p> +<p> +Why do the Christmas carols of the present day differ from the carols of +earlier times? +</p> +<p> +Because the present carols were substituted, by those enemies of +innocent mirth, the Puritans, for the original carols, which were festal +chansons for enlivening the merriment of the Christmas celebrity; and +not such religious songs as are current at this day, with the common +people, under the same title. +</p> +<p> +Dr. Johnson, in a note on <i>Hamlet</i>, tells us, that the pious +chansons, a kind of Christmas carol, containing some Scripture history, +thrown into loose rhymes, were sung about the streets by the common +people, when they went at that season to beg alms.—<i>Brand.</i> +</p> +<p> +Why is laurel used with other evergreens to deck houses at Christmas? +</p> +<p> +Because of its use among the ancient Romans, as the emblem of peace, +joy, and victory. In the Christian sense, it may be applied to the +victory gained over the powers of darkness by the coming of +Christ.—<i>Bourne.</i> +</p> +<p> +Why is the mistletoe so called? +</p> +<p> +Because its seeds are said to be dropped by the mistle-thrush, which +feeds on its berries. +</p> +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page431" name="page431"></a>[pg 431]</span> +</p> +<p> +Why was the mistletoe held sacred by the Druids? +</p> +<p> +Because they had an extraordinary reverence for the number <i>three</i>, +and not only the berries, but the leaves of the mistletoe, grow in +clusters of three united on one stalk. Its growing upon the oak, their +sacred tree, was doubtless another cause of its veneration. +</p> +<p> +We read of a celebrated oak at Norwood near London, which bore +mistletoe, "which some people cut for the gain of selling it to the +apothecaries of London, leaving a branch of it to sprout out; but they +proved unfortunate after it, for one of them fell lame, and others lost +an eye. At length, in the year 1678, a certain man, notwithstanding he +was warned against it, upon the account of what the others had suffered, +adventured to cut the tree down, and he soon after broke his +leg."—<i>Camden</i>. +</p> +<p> +Mr. Brand, however, thinks that mistletoe was never put up in churches +but by mistake or ignorance of the sextons: it being a heathenish and +profane plant, and therefore assigned to the kitchen. Mr. Brand made +many diligent inquiries after the truth of this point. He learnt at Bath +that it never came into churches there. An old Sexton at Teddington told +him that mistletoe was once put up in the church there, but was by the +clergyman immediately ordered to be taken away. +</p> +<p> +Why was the boar's head formerly a prime dish at Christmas? +</p> +<p> +Because fresh meats were then seldom eaten, and brawn was considered a +great delicacy. Holinshed says, that "in the year 1170, upon the day +of the young prince's coronation, King Henry I. served his sonne at +table as server, bringing up the boar's head with trumpets before it, +according to the manner." For this ceremony there was a special carol. +Dugdale also tells us, that "at the inns of court, during Christmas, the +usual dish at the first course at dinner was a large <i>bore's head</i>, +upon a silver platter, with minstralsaye." In one of the carols we read +that the boar's head is "the rarest dish in all the londe, and that it +has been provided in honour of the king of bliss." +</p> +<hr /> +<h3> + THE RIVER SCHELDT. +</h3> +<p> +In all former times, and centuries before the labour of Napoleon had +added so immensely to its importance, the Scheldt had been the centre +of the most important preparations for the invasion of England, and the +spot on which military genius always fixed from whence to prepare a +descent on this island. An immense expedition, rendered futile by the +weakness and vacillation of the French monarch, was assembled in it in +the fourteenth century; and sixty thousand men on the shore of the +Scheldt awaited only the signal of Charles VI. to set sail for the shore +of Kent. The greatest naval victory ever gained by the English arms was +that at Sluys, 1340, when Philip of France lost 30,000 men and 230 +ships of war in an engagement off the Flemish coast with Edward III., +a triumph greater, though less noticed in history, than either that +of Cressy or Poictiers. When the great Duke of Parma was commissioned +by Philip II. of Spain to take steps for the invasion of England, he +assembled the forces of the Low Countries at Antwerp; and the Spanish +armada, had it proved successful, was to have wafted over that great +commander from the banks of the Scheldt to the opposite shore of Essex, +at the head of the veterans who had been trained in the Dutch war. In +an evil hour, Charles II., bought by French gold and seduced by French +mistresses, entered into alliance with Louis XIV. for the coercion of +Holland; the Lillies and the Leopards, the navies of France and England, +assembled together at Spithead, and made sail for the French coast, +while the armies of the Grande Monarque advanced across the Rhine into +the heart of the United Provinces; and the consequence was, such a +prodigious addition to the power of France, as it took all the blood and +treasure expended in the war of the Succession and all the victories of +Marlborough, to reduce to a scale at all commensurate with the +independence of the other European states. +</p> +<hr class="full" /> +<h2> + THE GATHERER. +</h2> +<hr /> +<p> +Fleurus is a village in France, in the department of the Sombre and +Meuse, where the Austrians and the French fought a battle in the year +1794, in which the former were defeated. This victory is ascribed to the +information obtained in consequence of reconnoitering the army of the +enemy by the elevation of a balloon. The balloon employed on this +occasion was called the <i>Entreprenent</i>; and it was under the +direction of M. Coutel, the captain of the aeronauts at Meudon, +accompanied by an adjutant and a general. He ascended twice in the same +day, to the height of 220 fathoms, for the purpose of observing the +position and manoeuvres of the enemy. He continued each time four hours +in the air, and corresponded with General Jourdan, who commanded the +French army, by means of pre-concerted signals. The enterprise was +discovered by the enemy; and a battery opened its fire against the +ascending aeronauts, but they soon gained an elevation which was beyond +the reach of their fire. This balloon was prepared under the direction +of the Aerostatic Institute, for the use of the army of the north; as +were also another, called <i>Céleste</i>, for the army of the Sombre and +Meuse; and the <i>Hercûle</i> and <i>Intrepide</i>, for the army of the +Rhine and +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page432" name="page432"></a>[pg 432]</span> +Moselle. Another, thirty feet in circumference, and weighing +160 lbs., was destined for the army of Italy. A new machine, invented by +M. Coutel, the director of the Aerostatic Institute, was designed to aid +the aeronauts in communicating intelligence, and denominated the +<i>Aerostatic Telegraph</i>. +</p> +<h4> +P.T.W. +</h4> +<hr /> +<p> +<i>Muscular Strength</i>.—It is asserted by travellers, that a Turkish +porter will run along carrying a weight of 600 lbs. Milo, of Crotona, +is said to have lifted an ox, weighing upwards of 1,000 Ibs. Haller +mentions that he saw an instance of a man, whose finger being caught in +a chain at the bottom of a mine, by keeping it forcibly bent, supported +by that means the weight of his whole body, 150 lbs., till he was drawn +up to the surface, a height of 600 feet. Augustus II., king of Poland, +could with his fingers roll up a silver dish like a sheet of paper, +and twist the strongest horse-shoe asunder. An account is given in +the <i>Philosophical Transactions</i>, No. 310, of a lion who left the +impression of his teeth upon a solid piece of iron. The most prodigious +power of the muscles is exhibited by fish:—A whale moves with a +velocity through the dense medium of water that would carry him, if +he continued at the same rate, round the world in little more than a +fortnight; and a sword-fish has been known to strike his weapon quite +through the oak plank of a ship. +</p> +<h4> +W.G.C. +</h4> +<hr /> +<p> +<i>Beauties of Chatsworth</i>.—Marshal Tallard, who was entertained a +few days at this place by the Duke of Devonshire, on leaving, made this +declaration—"When I return," said he, "into my own country, and reckon +up the days of my captivity, I shall leave out those which I spent at +Chatsworth." And Quin once said that he had nearly broken his neck in +coming to it, and he should break his heart on his return. +</p> +<h4> +SWAINE. +</h4> +<hr /> +<p> +<i>Origin of the Discovery of Peru</i>.—Balboa, the famous Spanish +adventurer, in one of his expeditions, met with a young cazique, who +expressed his astonishment at the high value which was set upon the +gold, which the Spaniards were weighing and distributing. "Why do you +quarrel," said he, "about such a trifle? If you are so passionately fond +of gold as to abandon your own country, and to disturb the tranquillity +of distant nations, for its sake, I will conduct you to a region where +the metal, which seems to be the chief object of your admiration and +desire, is so common, that the meanest utensils are formed of it." +Transported with the intelligence, Balboa eagerly inquired where this +happy country lay, and how they might arrive at it. The cazique informed +them, that at the distance of six suns, or six days' journey to the +south, they would discover another ocean, near which this wealthy +kingdom was situated; but if they intended to attack it, they must +assemble forces far superior in number and strength to those which now +attended them.—This was the first information which the Spaniards +received concerning the great southern continent, known afterwards +by the name of Peru. +</p> +<h4> +P.T.W. +</h4> +<hr /> +<p> +<i>Cholera Morbus.</i>—Dr. James Johnson, in his interesting book +entitled, <i>Change of Air, or Pursuits of Health</i>, &c., says—"The +cholera morbus ought to be denominated the high-police of scavengers. +It has cleared away more filth, in Europe and England, than all the +municipal edicts that ever issued from the constituted authorities. +On this, and on some other accounts, it <i>will</i> save more lives +than it <i>has</i> destroyed." +</p> +<hr /> +<p> +<i>Patriotism.</i>—When the Chancellor d'Auguesseau, who constantly +resisted the encroachments of Louis XIV. on the liberties of the people, +was sent for to Versailles by that monarch, he was thus encouraged by +his amiable wife: "Go," said she, "forget in the king's presence your +wife and your children,—sacrifice everything except your honour." +</p> +<h4> +SWAINE. +</h4> +<hr /> +<p> +His late Majesty, when Prince of Wales, was looking out of a window with +Tom Sheridan, when the "Dart," with four grey horses passed by. "Is not +that a handsome coach, Tom?" observed the Prince. "Yes, your highness," +replied Tom, who was suffering under a headach from the champagne of the +previous night, and was rather in a sombre and meditative humour, "it +certainly is; but," continued he, pointing to a hearse going by at the +same time, "that's the coach <i>after all</i>." +</p> +<hr /> +<p> +<i>A Knowing Seaman.</i>—A rough-hewn seaman being brought before a wise +justice for some misdemeanour, was by him ordered to be sent to prison, +and was refractory after he heard his doom, insomuch as he would not +stir a foot from the place where he stood, saying it was better to stand +where he was than go to a worse place.—<i>Bacon</i>. +</p> +<h4> +P.T.W. +</h4> +<hr /> +<p> +<i>Expensive Fishing.</i>—In 1609, the Dutch were compelled to pay a +tribute for fishing on our coast; in 1683, they paid 30,000<i>l.</i> for +liberty to fish. Welwood, in his answer to Grotius, says, "that the +Scots obliged the Dutch, by treaty, to keep eighty miles from shore in +fishing, and to pay a tribute at the port of Aberdeen, where a tower was +erected for that and other purposes; and the Dutch paid the tribute, +even in the memory of our forefathers." +</p> +<h4> +THOMAS GILL. +</h4> +<hr class="full" /> +<blockquote class="footnote"> +<a id="footnote1" name="footnote1"></a> +<b>Footnote 1</b>: +<a href="#footnotetag1">(return)</a> +<p> +The above columns, with those of the handsome Ionic calonnade +which screened the Palace from Pall Mall, are, we believe, the +only remains of the building. +</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"> +<a id="footnote2" name="footnote2"></a> +<b>Footnote 2</b>: +<a href="#footnotetag2">(return)</a> +<p> +The entrance deserves this epithet on more than one account. +</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"> +<a id="footnote3" name="footnote3"></a> +<b>Footnote 3</b>: +<a href="#footnotetag3">(return)</a> +<p> +We thank "an old Subscriber and a native of Holbeach" for his +testimony to the accuracy of our Engraving of Holbeach Cross, at +page 329 of the present volume. We shall feel further obliged to +him for the view of Holbeach Church. +</p> +<p> +We may here remark that the Cross described at page 115, at +Wheston, is now in the courtyard of Wheston Hall. Probably our +Correspondent <i>E.T.B.A</i>. will oblige us with a drawing of that +interesting structure. +</p> +</blockquote> +<hr class="full" /> +<p> +<i>Printed and published by J. LIMBIRD, 143, Strand, (near Somerset +House,) London; sold by G.G. BENNIS, 55, Rue Neuve, St. Augustin, Paris; +CHARLES JUGEL, Francfort; and by all Newsmen and Booksellers.</i> +</p> +<hr class="full" /> +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MIRROR OF LITERATURE, AMUSEMENT, AND INSTRUCTION, VOL. 20, NO. 582, SATURDAY, DECEMBER 22, 1832***</p> +<p>******* This file should be named 12543-h.txt or 12543-h.zip *******</p> +<p>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:<br /> +<a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/1/2/5/4/12543">https://www.gutenberg.org/1/2/5/4/12543</a></p> +<p>Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed.</p> + +<p>Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction, Vol. 20, No. +582, Saturday, December 22, 1832 + +Author: Various + +Release Date: June 7, 2004 [eBook #12543] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: US-ASCII + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MIRROR OF LITERATURE, +AMUSEMENT, AND INSTRUCTION, VOL. 20, NO. 582, SATURDAY, DECEMBER 22, +1832*** + + +E-text prepared by Jonathan Ingram, David Garcia, and the Project +Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustration. + See 12543-h.htm or 12543-h.zip: + (http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/1/2/5/4/12543/12543-h/12543-h.htm) + or + (http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/1/2/5/4/12543/12543-h.zip) + + + + +THE MIRROR OF LITERATURE, AMUSEMENT, AND INSTRUCTION. + +VOL. 20, NO. 582.] SATURDAY, DECEMBER 22, 1832. [PRICE 2d. + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +[Illustration: THE YORK COLUMN, (from St. James's Park.)] + + + + +THE YORK COLUMN. + + +Five years have now elapsed since the improvements in St. James's Park +were commenced, by order of Government, for the gratification of the +people. We were early in our congratulation, as well as illustration, of +the prospective advantages of these plans for the public enjoyment, as +will be seen on reference to our tenth volume; and, with respect to the +re-disposal of St. James's Park, we believe the feeling of satisfaction +has been nearly universal. + +At the period to which we have just alluded, the removal of Carlton +House, (for it scarcely deserved the name of Palace,) had been decided +on. The walls were dismantled of their decorative finery, and their +demolition commenced; the grounds were, to use a somewhat grandiloquent +phrase, dis-afforested; and the upper end of "the sweet, shady side +of Pall Mall" marked out for public instead of Royal occupation. Thus, +within a century has risen and disappeared from this spot the splendid +abode and its appurtenances; for, it was in the year 1732 that Frederic, +Prince of Wales, first purchased the property from the Earl of +Burlington; though it was not until 1788 that the erection of Carlton +House was commenced for the late King, then Prince of Wales; so that the +existence of the Palace must be restricted within forty years--a term +reminding us of the duration of a pavilion, rather than of a kingly +mansion. + +Upon the precise site of the courtyard and part of Carlton House have +been erected two mansions, of splendid character, appropriated to the +United Service and Athenaeum Clubs: the first built from the designs of +Mr. Nash, and the latter from those of Mr. Decimus Burton. They front +Pall Mall West, or may be considered to terminate Waterloo Place. + +The site of Carlton House Gardens is now occupied by palatial houses, +which are disposed in two ranges, and front St. James's Park. The +substructure, containing the kitchens and domestic offices, forms a +terrace about 50 feet wide, adorned with pillars of the Paestum Doric +Order, surmounted with a balustrade. The superstructure consists of +three stories, ornamented with Corinthian columns. The houses at each +extremity have elevated attics. Only small portions of these superb +elevations are shown in the Engraving, with the Athenaeum Club House in +the distance. + +In the space between the two ranges, it was proposed to erect a +fountain, formed of the eight column's of the portico of Carlton House, +(which was in elaborate imitation of the Temple of Jupiter Stator, +at Rome,[1]) to which eight on the same model were to be added. The +balustraded terrace had been continued fronting the Park with a view to +this embellishment. It however occurred to some guardian of the public +weal, that the above space presented an eligible opportunity for a grand +public entrance from Pall Mall into the Park. The idea was mooted in +Parliament; but some difficulties arose, from the leases already granted +to the builders of the houses on the terrace, who had calculated on the +_exclusive_ appropriation of the latter. The anxiety of the public +for the improvement at length reached the present King; and it was the +first popular act of his patriotic reign to command a grand triumphal[2] +entrance to be formed, with all possible speed; the difficulties +being then easily removed. The necessary portion of the terrace was +accordingly removed, and the magnificent approach formed, as shown in +the Engraving. + +While these improvements were in progress, a monumental memorial had +been projected by the British Army to their late commander-in-chief, the +Duke of York; an expression of grateful sympathy which must be recorded +to the honour of truly British hearts. The funds for this tribute were +augmented by each individual of the above branch of the service +contributing one day's pay. The design was furnished by Mr. Benjamin +Wyatt, the architect of the superb mansion built for the Duke of York; +and, after the execution was somewhat advanced, it was resolved to set +up the tribute in the place it now occupies. + +The monument consists of a plain Doric column, surmounted with a +colossal statue of the Duke of York. The pedestal and shaft are of fine +granite. The plinth, or base of the pedestal, is 22 feet square, and the +pedestal 18 feet; the circumference of the shaft is 11 feet 6 inches, +decreasing to 10 feet 2 inches at the top; the abacus is 13 feet 6 +inches square. The interior of the column may be ascended by a winding +staircase of 169 steps, lit by narrow loop-holes. + +From the top stair a doorway opens to the exterior of the abacus, which +will be enclosed with a massive iron railing, so as to form a prospect +gallery. The iron-work is not yet completed; but, as we have enjoyed the +view from two sides of the square, we can vouch for its commanding a +fine _coup d'oeil_ of the whole metropolis, and certainly the +finest view of its most embellished quarter. From this spot alone can +the magnificence of Regent-street be duly appreciated, and above all the +skill of the architect in effecting the junction of the lines by the +classical introduction of the Quadrant. + +That part of the structure which is, strictly speaking, upon the abacus +of the column, has a domed roof, upon which will be placed the colossal +statue, executed in bronze, by Mr. Westmacott. The Duke is represented +in a flowing robe, with a sword in his right hand, and in the left, one +of the insignia of the Order of the Garter. The height of the figure +is 13 feet 6 inches. The total height of the column, exclusive of the +statue, is 124 feet. The masonry, (executed by Mr. Nowell, of Pimlico,) +deserves especial notice. Its neatness and finish are truly astonishing, +and the solidity and massiveness of the material appear calculated "for +all time." + +We should mention that the embellishment about the upper part of the +pedestal (as seen in the cut,) has not yet been placed on the original; +nor has the statue yet been raised to the summit of the column. + + [1] The above columns, with those of the handsome Ionic calonnade + which screened the Palace from Pall Mall, are, we believe, the + only remains of the building. + + [2] The entrance deserves this epithet on more than one account. + + * * * * * + + + + +MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. + + * * * * * + + +ANCIENT AND MODERN CHRISTMAS. + + +"Anciently there was in the king's house," says Stow, "wheresoever he +lodged, at the feast of Christmas, a 'Lord of Misrule, or Master of +Merry Disports;' and the like also was there in the house of every +nobleman of honour or good worship, whether spiritual or temporal. +Among these, the Mayor and Sheriffs of London had their several Lords of +Misrule, ever contending, without quarrel or offence, who should make +the rarest pastime to divert the beholders. These Lords began their +rule, or rather misrule, on All Hallow's-eve, and continued the same +until Candlemas-day, in which space there were fine and subtle +disguisings, masques, and mummeries, with playing at cards for counters, +nails, and points, in every house, more for pastime than for gain. +Against this feast, the parish churches and every man's house were +decked with holm, ivy, bay, and whatsoever the season of the year +afforded that was green; and the conduits and standards in the streets +were likewise garnished." + +W.G.C. + + +_Kent._ + +At Ramsgate they commence their Christmas festivities by the following +ceremony:--A party of the youthful portion of the community having +procured the head of a horse, it is affixed to a pole, about four feet +in length; a string is attached to the lower jaw, a horse-cloth is tied +round the extreme part of the head, beneath which one of the party is +concealed, who, by repeated pulling and loosening the string, causes +the jaw to rise and fall, and thus produces, by bringing the teeth in +contact, a snapping noise, as he moves along; the rest of the party +following in procession, grotesquely habited, and ringing hand-bells! +In this order they proceed from house to house, singing carols and +ringing their bells, and are generally remunerated for the amusement +they occasion by a largess of money, or beer and cake. This ceremony is +called "a hoodening." The figure which we have described is designated +"a hooden," or wooden horse. The ceremony prevails in many parts of +the Isle of Thanet, and may probably be traced as the relic of some +religious ceremony practised in the early ages by our Saxon ancestors. + + +_Norfolk._ + +The following account of a pageant which took place at Christmas, 1440, +is from the records of Norwich:--"John Hadman, a wealthy citizen, made +disport with his neighbours and friends, and was crowned King of +Christmas. He rode in state through the city, dressed forth in silks and +tinsel, and preceded by twelve persons habited as the twelve months of +the year, their costumes varying to represent the different seasons of +the year. Alter King Christmas followed Lent, clothed in white garments +trimmed with herring skins, on horseback, the horse being decorated with +trappings of oyster-shells, being indicative that sadness and a holy +time should follow Christmas revelling. In this way they rode through +the city, accompanied by numbers in various grotesque dresses, making +disport and merriment,--some clothed in armour, carrying staves, and +occasionally engaging in martial combat; others, dressed as devils, +chased the people, and sorely affrighted the women and children; others, +wearing skin-dresses, and counterfeiting bears, wolves, lions, and other +animals, and endeavouring to imitate the animals they represented, in +roaring and raving, alarming the cowardly and appalling the stoutest +hearts." + +_Dalmatia._ + +At Selenico, in Dalmatia, according to Fortis; they elect a king at +Christmas, whose reign lasts only a fortnight; but notwithstanding the +short duration of his authority, he enjoys several prerogatives of +sovereignty: such, for example, as that of keeping the keys of the town, +of having a distinguished place in the cathedral, and of deciding upon +all the difficulties or disputes which arise among those who compose his +court. The town is obliged to provide him with a house suitable to the +dignity of his elevated situation. When he leaves his house, he is +always compelled to wear a crown of wheat-ears, and he cannot appear +in public without a robe of purple or scarlet cloth, and surrounded +by a great number of officers. The governor, the bishops, and other +dignitaries, are obliged to give him a feast; and all who meet him must +salute him with respect. When the fortnight is at an end, the king quits +his palace, strips off his crown and purple, dismisses his court, and +returns to his hovel. For a length of time this pantomimical king was +chosen from amongst the nobles, but at present it has devolved on the +lowest of the people. + + * * * * * + + + + +NEW BOOKS. + + * * * * * + + +THE LITERARY SOUVENIR, FOR 1833, + + +[Is, in our estimation, a splendid failure. It lacks the variety which +the _Annual_ should possess for a family of readers; and its +sameness is, moreover, of the saddest character in the whole region of +romance. The stories are long, and lazily told; and they overflow with +the most lugubrious monotony. There is scarcely a relief throughout the +volume, from Wordsworth's "majestic sonnet" on Sir Walter Scott, to +Autumn Flowers, by Agnes Strickland; we travel from one end to the +other, and all is lead and leaden--dull, heavy, and sad, as old Burton +could wish; and full of moping melancholy, unenlivened by quaintness, or +humour of any cast. Not that we mean to condemn the pieces individually; +but, collectively, they are too much in the same vein: the Editor has +studied too closely his text-motto: + + "Fairy tale to lull the heir, + Goblin grim the maids to scare." + +It is all shade, without a gleam of sunshine, if we except two or three +of the most trifling of the papers. The best tale in the volume is the +Marsh Maiden, by Leigh Ritchie; next is the Jacobite Exile and his +Hound: Retrospections of Secundus Parnell, are an infliction upon the +reader; and these, with two _mediocre_ tales, and a sketch or two, +make up the prose contents. The poetry has greater merit, though almost +in one unvaried strain. Mr. Watts has contributed but one lyric, and +Mrs. Watts a stirring ballad of Spanish revenge; Mary Howitt has +contributed a fairy ballad, pretty enough; and the Sin of Earl Walter, a +tale of olden popish times in England, of some 60 or 70 verses. We quote +two specimens from the poetry:] + + +SONNET ON SIR WALTER SCOTT'S QUITTING ABBOTSFORD FOR NAPLES. + +_By William Wordsworth._ + + + A trouble, not of clouds, or weeping rain, + Nor of the setting sun's pathetic light + Engendered, hangs o'er Eildun's triple height: + Spirits of Power assembled there complain + For kindred Power departing from their sight; + While Tweed, best pleased in chanting a blithe strain, + Saddens his voice again and yet again. + Lift up your hearts, ye Mourners! for the might + Of the whole world's good wishes with him goes; + Blessings and prayers, in nobler retinue + Than sceptred king or laurelled conqueror knows, + Follow this wondrous Potentate. Be true + Ye winds of ocean and the midland sea, + Wafting your charge to soft Parthenope! + + +THE SKELETON DANCE. + +_After the German of Goethe._ + + + The warder looked out at the mid-hour of night, + Where the grave-hills all silently lay; + The moon-beams above gave so brilliant a light, + That the churchyard was clear as by day: + First one, then another, to open began; + Here came out a woman--there came out a man,-- + Each clad in a shroud long and white. + + And then for amusement--perchance it was cold-- + In a circle they seemed to advance; + The poor and the rich, and the young and the old,-- + But the grave-clothes impeded the dance: + And as no person thought about modesty there, + They flung off their garments, and stripped themselves bare, + And a shroud lay on each heap of mould. + + They kicked up their heels, and they rattled their bones, + And the horrible din that they made + Went clickety-clackety--just like the tones + Of a castanet noisily played. + And the warder he laughed as he witnessed the cheer, + And he heard the Betrayer speak soft in his ear, + "Go and steal away one of their shrouds." + + Swift as thought it was done--in an instant he fled + Behind the church portal to hide; + And brighter and brighter the moon-beam was shed, + As the dance they still shudderingly plied;-- + But at last they began to grow tired of their fun, + And they put on their shrouds, and slipped off, one by one, + Beneath, to the homes of the dead. + + But tapping at every grave-hill, there staid + One skeleton, tripping behind; + Though not by his comrades the trick had been played-- + Now its odour he snuffed in the wind: + He rushed to the door--but fell back with a shock; + For well for the wight of the bell and the clock, + The sign of the cross it displayed. + + But the shroud he must have--not a moment he stays; + Ere a man had begun but to think, + On the Gothic-work his fingers quickly he lays, + And climbs up its chain, link by link. + Now woe to the warder--for sure he must die-- + To see, like a long-legged spider, draw nigh + The skeleton's clattering form: + + And pale was his visage, and thick came his breath; + The garb, alas! why did he touch? + How sick grew his soul as the garment of death + The skeleton caught in his clutch-- + The moon disappeared, and the skies changed to dun, + And louder than thunder the church-bell tolled one-- + The spectre fell tumbling to bits! + + + +[and one of the prose tales, abridged:] + + +BEATRICE ADONY AND JULIUS ALVINZI. + + +There is not in all Germany a more pleasant station for a regiment of +horse than the city of Salzburgh, capital of the province of that name, +in the dominions of the House of Austria. Here, during the summer and +autumn of 1795, lay the third regiment of Hungarian hussars. This corps +had sustained a heavy loss during the campaign of the year previous in +Flanders, and was sent into garrison to be recruited and organized anew. +Count Zichy, who commanded it, was a noble of the highest rank, of +princely fortune, and of lavish expenditure; and being of a cheerful and +social turn of mind, he promoted all the amusements of the place, and +encouraged the gaiety of his officers. + +The scenery around is grand and alpine. The narrow defiles and +picturesque valleys are watered by mountain rivers; and, at an easy +distance from the city, is the lone lake of Berchtolsgaden, lying +beneath a lofty, inaccessible alp, of the most stern and majestic +aspect. Need it be told how sweet upon that placid lake sounded the +mellow horns of the Hungarian band; and may it not be left to fancy to +image out, how these parties, these scenes, and these sensations, gave +birth to some abiding, and to very many passing loves. + +Among the fair women of Salzburgh, the palm of beauty was yielded +readily by all to Beatrice Adony, the only daughter of a respected +statesman, long favoured at court, and then resident upon a private +estate in the neighbourhood. He had retired from public affairs a few +years before, when under deep affliction from the loss of a beloved +wife; and lived a life of fond parental devotion with this lovely +Beatrice, who was the image of her departed mother. He had directed +all her studies; and with such judgment, that he had imparted to her +character a masculine strength, which elevated her above all the common +dangers of that season of life when woman passes forth into society. + +The Count Zichy was a relation of Count Adony, and a constant and +welcome guest at his mansion; and Beatrice, therefore, attended many and +most of the entertainments which the Count and his officers gave to the +society of Salzburgh during their stay. As she smiled no encouragement +upon the attentions which the Count seemed at first disposed to pay her, +and as he was a cheerful, manly-hearted creature, and though made of +penetrable stuff, by no means a person to lose either appetite, society, +or life, for love, he bestowed his gallantries elsewhere. She liked him +for this all the better; and gave him, in return, that free-hearted, +sisterly friendship, which might be innocently suffered to grow out of +their connexion and intimacy. + +All the regular, conceited male coquettes were abashed and perplexed by +manners so natural, that they could make nothing of her; while those +more dangerous, but much to be blamed admirers, who stand apart with +sighs and gazes, were baffled and made sad by the silent dignity of eyes +serenely bright, that never looked upon their flattering worship with +one ray of favour. Such was Beatrice Adony; all the fair girls were fond +of her, and proud of her--because she was no one's rival. They looked on +her as a being of a higher order; one whose thoughts were chaste as the +unsunned Alps. She was admired by them, meditated upon--but never +envied. + +Most true it was, Beatrice was of another and a higher order. She was +"among them, not of them." She took part in those amusements which +belong to the customs of her country; and filled that place, and +performed those customs, which her station in society demanded, with +unaffected ease and grace. But while the trifles and pleasures of the +passing day were to her companions everything, they were to her little +and unsatisfying. For the last few years of her mother's life, whose +habits were meditative and devotional, she had daily listened to the +gracious lessons of divine truth, and the closet of Beatrice Adony was +hallowed by the Eye that seeth in secret, and that often saw her there +upon her knees. + +It was on a fine day, in the early spring of 1796, that orders reached +Salzburgh for the march of these Hungarian hussars. They were to +traverse the Tyrol, and to join the army of Italy. They were to march at +sunrise on the following morning; and Count Adony, collecting all the +acquaintances of the corps in the town and neighbourhood, gave the +Hungarian officers a farewell banquet and ball; preparations for which, +in anticipation of their early departure, Beatrice had already directed. + +Beatrice was the radiant queen of this fair festival; and it was strange +to think, that from the presence of such a being so many men were going +to part without one lover's pang. Amiable, affable, natural, and full of +grace, she presided over this little court of love--serene, unmoved, +herself. Yet any thoughtful and suspicious observer would have said, +that her heart was not quite at ease; for every now and then, as the +night wore on, her eyes gave less attention to those who spoke with her, +and her thoughts were evidently turning inwards with trouble. The supper +was over--the tastefully decorated table was deserted--and the guests +were again assembled in the ball-room. Fond partners that might never +dance with each other again, stood side by side--hand locked in +hand--and waited for the rising swell of the tender music, to which they +were to dance their last waltz. Beatrice stood up with her cousin Count +Zichy, and deadly pale she looked. The Count and all others thought she +had a headach, and would have had her sit down; but she persisted, with +a faint smile, in doing the last honours. + +Just at this very moment a manly young officer, whose dress denoted that +he had been on duty, and was ready again to mount and go forward, came +in to make a report to the colonel. + +As the first bars of the music were heard, he stood aside, his cap in +his hand, and looked on. Already, however, a young brother officer had +run from his partner's side, to renew to him, with all extravagance of +gratitude, his thanks for having, by an exchange of duty, enabled him to +enjoy a last, long parting with the girl he loved. The dance went +forward, and Julius Alvinzi leaned cheerfully upon his sabre. Suddenly +Count Zichy and his fair cousin broke out from the large circle, and +setting to him, he was led off to the waltz movement before he had time +to ungird his sword. This, however, even as he danced, he gracefully +effected; and afterwards for one tour of waltzing, Beatrice Adony was +the partner of Julius Alvinzi, quitting for the time her own. + +This is a custom, in Germany, so common, and seemed so natural and so +kind a courtesy to Julius, under the particular circumstances of his +late and short appearance at the ball, that neither himself, nor any one +in the room, attached to it any other character than that of a pretty +and gentle compliment. But if the ear of Julius had been quickened by +the faintest spark of sympathy, he might have heard the very heart of +Beatrice beat. + +"You are tired," said Julius, as the music suddenly ceased. + +"Rather so," she replied. + +He led her, faint, pale, and trembling, to a seat. Some colour returned +to her cheek as she sat down; and, with an open and cheerful air, she +put out her hand to him, and said, "Farewell, Captain Alvinzi; all +honour, and all happiness go with you." + +As he took her hand, he observed, for the first time, that pale-changing +of the cheek which is so eloquent of love; and, looking into her eyes, +he felt his heart sink with a sweeter emotion than he had ever known +before. + +Thus silently they parted; and Julius went out from her presence sad, +but happy. "Il est si doux aimer, et d'etre aime." He felt that he was +beloved. In half an hour, the noble gateway at Salzburgh, cut through +the solid rock, rang to the loud echo of trampling hoofs; and Julius was +riding under it with an advanced guard, and a few troop-sergeants, to +prepare the quarters of the regiment, then mustering for their march. + +In all the camps of Europe, a finer youth, or a nobler spirit, could +no where have been found than Julius Alvinzi. Five years of military +service--three of which had been spent in the toils, the watchings, +and the combats of warfare--had accomplished and perfected him in all +points, as the zealous and enterprising leader of a squadron. Glory was +his idol--war his passion. His day-dreams over-leaped the long interval +of years which, of necessity, separated him from high command; and, as +he built up the castle of his future fame, many were the victories which +he won "in the name of God, and the Kaiser!" With this, the gallant +war-cry of Austria, he had already, in some few charges, led on his bold +and bitter Hungarians; and two or three dashing affairs of outposts--a, +daring and important reconnoissance, most skilfully conducted--and the +surprise and capture of a French picquet--had already given him an +established name for intelligence and enterprise. There was a manliness +about him superior to low, sensual enjoyment; and the imagery and +language of vulgar voluptuousness found no cell in a well-stored, +well-principled, and masculine mind, to receive or retain them. He was a +happy, handsome, hardy soldier; knowing his duly, loving it, and always +performing it with honour. Such was the man whom Beatrice Adony, with a +quick perception of true nobility of character, had silently observed +during the stay of the Hungarians at Salzburgh, and her love for him was +a secret-- + + The only jewel of her speechless thoughts. + +It was thus in the full lustihood of life, and in all the bloom of high +hope and promise, that in one of those severe actions, which took place +in the summer of 1796 on the plains of Mantua, Julius Alvinzi led his +brave squadron into battle. The brigade to which he belonged was brought +forward by the veteran Wurmser at a very anxious moment, and, by their +devoted courage, saved a column of Austrian infantry from being +enveloped and cut off by the French. The Hungarians charged with such +vigour and success, that they not only overthrew the body of horse +opposed to them, but they possessed themselves of a battery of +field-pieces which endeavoured to cover their retreat, and which +continued to vomit forth grape with a deadly fury till the horses' heads +of the leading squadron, under Alvinzi, reached the very muzzles of the +cannon. + +The Austrians were, however, compelled finally to retreat, that same +evening, from the ground which they had so resolutely contested:--the +movement was made in fine order, and they carried off all their wounded +in safety. Upon a crowded wagon lay Julius Alvinzi; living, indeed, but +a living wreck, and his recovery despaired of. He had been wounded in +six places, and lay motionless and insensible; his servant walking by +his side in silent trouble. As the remains of his regiment marched +slowly back upon Mantua, and passed the convoy of the wounded close to +the gates, you might have heard the name of Alvinzi singled out by the +men for more deep and particular lamentation. He had been their friend, +their pride, their example; and their eyes were turned upon the wagon on +which he lay with an expression of sadness too stern and severe for +tears. + +The news of this disastrous battle was communicated to Count Adony at +Salzburgh in a letter from his cousin the Count Zichy. Beatrice and her +father were sitting in his library after night-fall, each occupied with +a book, under the calm, soft light of a lamp which hung a little above +them, when this letter was brought in. He read it eagerly and rapidly to +himself; and then, with a grateful exclamation for the safety of Zichy, +and those officers with whom he was more especially acquainted, he again +read it aloud to Beatrice. It ran as follows:-- + +"MY DEAR AND HONOURED COUSIN, + +"We are all doing our best; but, I am sorry to say, we are losing +everything except our honour. Fortune is with these Frenchmen. Of six +hundred swords, with which I marched from Salzburgh ten weeks ago, only +two hundred and twenty remain to me. We lost, in the battle of yesterday, +nearly three hundred killed and wounded. I never saw our men fight +better: the enemy opposed to us were fairly beaten at the sword's point; +and we took a battery of twelve guns, which tried to cover their +discomfiture; but we conquered only to retire. I have not a word to say +against old Wurmser: he is a clear headed, tough-hearted veteran, but +these French generals are too young for him. I am quite well, but had a +narrow escape; two horses were killed under me, and a grape shot passed +through my cap. + +"Tell dear Beatrice, I have got that engraving of the Madonna del +Rosario of Domenichino which she wanted. I picked it up at Verona; +thanks to poor Alvinzi, by the way. Though you, neither of you, saw nor +knew much of this youth, you have so often heard me speak of his worth, +that you will be sorry for me when I tell you that I have lost him; and, +in him, my best and most zealous officer. He is covered with wounds, and +cannot live through the night;--the noble fellow was struck down within +a yard of the enemy's guns. Of others, whom you may remember, Kreiner, +Zetter, and Hartmann, are killed; and several are wounded: Kalmann and +Hettinger very severely.--You shall hear from me again soon; but matters +look very unpromising. + +"Your faithful and loving cousin, CASIMIR ZICHY." + +"Read the letter again, father," said Beatrice, with a tone such as he +had never heard from her before; "read it again," she cried, "pray read +it again!--'my best and most zealous officer,'--is it not so?--'covered +with wounds, and cannot live through the night,'--is it not so?--Father, +I loved this Alvinzi.--Ah! yes, I loved him well--now better than +ever;--but I knew it would be thus the very day on which I first saw +him:--read it again,--pray do?"--and, with a still-bewilderment of eye, +she took it from her trembling father, and read it slowly to herself. +"Give me this letter, father;" and she put it in her bosom: and there it +lay,--there it lay through a long and nervous illness, which mercifully +terminated in her death. + +For a long time she was enabled to govern and controul her feelings, and +was silent, and, to outward seeming, resigned. She often remarked to her +father, that she could, and did, say daily upon her knees, "Thy will be +done,"--but that tears always followed that sincere, but mournful, +exercise. However her frame at last gave way--she sunk into great +weakness of body, and her mind became affected. + +Her father watched her with unceasing solicitude throughout her +sufferings; but he was often driven from her chamber by the agony of his +emotions, as she read over the fatal letter, or sung, which she did +continually, that mournful song of Thecla. + + The world it is empty, the heart will die, + There's nothing to wish for beneath the sky: + Thou Holy One, call Thy child away-- + I've lived and loved; and that was to-day-- + Make ready my grave-clothes to-morrow. + + +Such was the early and melancholy close of a young life of the loveliest +promise. The severe and sudden horror struck hard upon her fine mind, +and drove it mournfully astray. Her heart was so broken that she could +not live on. But Julius Alvinzi did not then or so perish: for seventeen +weeks he lay upon a hospital bed in Mantua, helpless as an infant; +and finally recovered so much of health as gave him again the common +promise of life. He was afterwards sent to pass the long period of his +convalescence at Venice; but the Julius Alvinzi, who rode forth from +Salzburgh, was no longer to be recognised: crippled in his limbs--his +fine countenance disfigured by deep and unsightly scars--his complexion +pale--his hair turned grey with suffering. He had already stepped on +twenty years in as many weeks, and he was already, to the eye, a worn +and broken-down officer of veterans. He could not stir a pace without +crutches; and his hip had been so shattered and distorted that it was +painful to see him move. It was well that Beatrice was in her grave. No +doubt she would have exhibited the noble constancy of a pure, angelic, +and true love;--but she was spared that longer and heavier trial. + +Alvinzi, like a stricken deer, betook himself, with decayed hopes and an +aching bosom, to a retired valley near Burgersdorf, about ten miles from +Vienna. Here he took a small fishing cottage, near a lone and lovely +stream, which flowed across a few velvet meadows, amid deep dells +and still woods; and here he threw himself on the beautiful bosom of +nature as on that of a mother. Here, for the first time, he was made +acquainted, by a letter and a packet from the aged and desolate Adony, +of the melancholy end of the lovely Beatrice. The packet contained a +small cross which she had always worn, her miniature, and her psalter. + +The traveller who may now wander into the little valley, near +Burgersdorf, where Alvinzi dwelt, will find the cypress, planted upon +his grave the day after his funeral, only three years' growth; and if he +go and sit under the tree, beneath which Alvinzi reposed his withered +and broken frame for thirty summers, will perhaps agree with the +narrator of this mournful story, that mercy was mingled in his bitter +cup, and that + + Society is all but rude, + To that delicious solitude. + + +The peasants of that valley tell, with a superstitious awe, that Alvinzi +was wont to discourse for hours together with departed spirits; and +that they have stolen near his tree at sunset, and in the gloom of the +evening, and by moonlight, and have distinctly heard him talking with +some one whom he called "Beatrice." + +[The Embellishments of the _Souvenir_ are nearly on a par with +those of previous years, with a light sprinkling of originality in the +subjects.] + + * * * * * + + + + +FINE ARTS. + + * * * * * + +CROSSES.[3] + + +[Illustration: (_In Devonshire_,)] + +The subjoined are two specimens of rude workmanship, in comparison with +the ingenuity displayed in the Crosses already illustrated in our pages. +They are engraved from a drawing made by Mr. Britton, about thirty years +since. The first was in Devonshire, at the village of Alphington, about +one mile west of Exeter, on the side of the road leading from that city +to Plymouth. It represents the Calvary cross of heraldry, and consists +of a block of granite, which has been cut in an octagon shape, and fixed +in a large base. + +[Illustration: (_In Cornwall_,)] + +The second cross stood in Cornwall, on the wide waste of Caraton Down. +It consists of one block with a rounded head, bearing the couped cross. +This solitary pillar, evidently a Christian monument, is situate near a +Druidical temple called "the Hurlers." Crosses of this shape abound in +Cornwall. One has been found in Burian churchyard, and another in +Callington churchyard, bearing rude sculptures of the crucifixion; +others have been found in the county with holes perforated near the top, +and some with various ornaments on the shafts. + + + [3] We thank "an old Subscriber and a native of Holbeach" for his + testimony to the accuracy of our Engraving of Holbeach Cross, at + page 329 of the present volume. We shall feel further obliged to + him for the view of Holbeach Church. + + We may here remark that the Cross described at page 115, at + Wheston, is now in the courtyard of Wheston Hall. Probably our + Correspondent _E.T.B.A_. will oblige us with a drawing of that + interesting structure. + + + * * * * * + + + + +DOMESTIC HINTS. + + * * * * * + + +OLIVE OIL. + + +Few articles differ more in quality than olive oil; not that the +different kinds are produced from different fruit, but in the different +stages of the pressure of the olives. Thus, by means of gentle pressure, +the best or _virgin_ oil flows first; a second, and afterwards a +third quality of oil is obtained, by moistening the residuum, breaking +the kernels, &c. and increasing the pressure. When the fruit is not +sufficiently ripe, the recent oil has a bitterish taste; and when too +ripe it is fatty. After the oil has been drawn, it deposits a white, +fibrous, and albuminous matter; but when this deposition has taken +place, if it be put into clean flasks, it undergoes no further +alteration. The common oil cannot, however, be preserved in casks above +a year and a half or two years. The consumption of olive oil as food is +not surprising if we remember, that it is the lightest and most delicate +of all the fixed oils. + + * * * * * + + +CARDS. + + +Some misconception has arisen respecting the legality of _Second-hand +Cards_. It appears, however, that they may be sold by any person, if +sold without the wrapper of a licensed maker; and in packs containing +not more than 52 cards, including an ace of spades duly stamped, and +enclosed in a wrapper with the words "Second-hand Cards" printed or +written in distinct characters on the outside: penalty for selling +Second-hand Cards in any other manner, 20l. + + * * * * * + + +CINNAMON AND CASSIA. + + +Cassia bark resembles Cinnamon in appearance, smell, and taste, and is +very often substituted for it; but it may be readily distinguished: it +is thicker in substance, less quilled, breaks shorter, and is more +pungent. It should be chosen in thin pieces: the best being that which +approaches nearest to Cinnamon in flavour; but that which is small and +broken should be rejected. + + * * * * * + + +COLOURING CHEESE. + + +The fine, bright, red colour of some Gloucester cheese has been +fraudulently produced by red lead, which, we need scarcely observe, is a +violent poison. The ingredient now employed for this purpose, (to the +exclusion of every thing else) in Cheshire and Gloucestershire, is +annatto, a dye prepared from the seeds of a tree of South America. It is +perfectly harmless in the proportion in which it is used; an ounce of +genuine annatto being sufficient to colour a hundred weight of cheese. +It may, however, be questioned whether annatto is not sometimes +adulterated with red lead. + +Gouda cheese, the best made in Holland, is prized for its soundness, +which is referable to muriatic acid being used in curdling the milk +instead of rennet. This renders it pungent, and preserves it from +mites. Parmesan cheese, so called from Parma in Italy, where it is +manufactured, and highly prized, is merely a skim-milk cheese, which +owes its rich flavour to the fine herbage of the meadows along the +Po, where the cows feed. + + * * * * * + + +BASKET SALT. + + +The finer salt sold under this denomination is made by placing the +salt, after evaporation, in conical baskets, and passing through it a +saturated solution of salt, which dissolves, and carries off the muriate +of magnesia or lime. Pure salt should not become moist by exposure to +the air. + + * * * * * + + +PETIT-OR. + + +The imitation of gold sold with this taking name is nothing more than +the alloy formerly called Pinchbeck, and made by melting zinc, in a +certain proportion, with copper and brass, so as in colour to approach +that of gold. + + * * * * * + + + +THE PUBLIC JOURNALS. + + * * * * * + + +CHIPS OF TOM CRINGLE'S LOG. + + +[Our old friend Tom Cringle (of Blackwood,) occasionally spins or splits +his _Log_ too small. The incidents are weakened in the drawing out, +or exaggerated in the telling; but they are sometimes relieved by +brilliant descriptive touches, such as the following, introduced to set +off the fate of one of Tom's heroes at Santiago.] + +_The Butterfly, Chameleon, and Serpent._ + +Glancing bright in the sunshine, a most beautiful butterfly fluttered in +the air, in the very middle of the open window. When we first saw it, it +was flitting gaily and happily amongst the plants and flowers that were +blooming in the balcony, but it gradually became more and more slow on +the wing, and at last poised itself unusually steadily for an insect of +its class. Below it, on the window sill, near the wall, with head erect, +and its little basilisk eyes upturned towards the lovely fly, crouched +a chameleon lizard, its beautiful body, when I first looked at it, was +a bright sea-green. It moved into the sunshine, a little away from the +shade of the laurel bush, which grew on the side it first appeared on, +and suddenly the back became transparent amber, the legs and belly +continuing green. From its breast under the chin, it every now and then +shot out a semicircular film of a bright scarlet colour, like a leaf of +a tulip, stretched vertically, or the pectoral fin of a fish. + +This was evidently a decoy, and the poor fly was gradually drawn down +towards it, either under the impression of its being in reality a +flower, or impelled by some impulse which it could not resist. It +gradually fluttered nearer and more near, the reptile remaining all the +while steady as a stone, until it made a sudden spring, and in the next +moment the small meally wings were quivering on each side of the +chameleon's tiny jaws. While in the act of gorging its prey, a little +fork, like a wire, was projected from the opposite corner of the window; +presently a small round black snout, with a pair of little, fiery, +blasting eyes, appeared, and a thin, black neck, glancing in the sun. +The lizard saw it. I could fancy it trembled. Its body became of a dark +blue, then ashy pale; the imitation of the flower, the gaudy fin was +withdrawn, it appeared to shrink back as far as it could, but it was +nailed or fascinated to the window sill, for its feet did not move. +The head of the snake approached, with its long, forked tongue shooting +out, and shortening, and with a low hissing noise. By this time about +two feet of its body was visible, lying with its white belly on the +wooden beam, moving forward with a small horizontal wavy motion, the +head and six inches of the neck being a little raised. I shrunk back +from the serpent, but no one else seemed to have any dread of it; +indeed, I afterwards learned, that this kind being good mousers, and +otherwise quite harmless, were, if any thing, encouraged about houses in +the country. I looked again; its open mouth was now within an inch of +the lizard, which by this time seemed utterly paralyzed and motionless; +the next instant its head was drawn into the snake's mouth, and +gradually the whole body disappeared, as the reptile gorged it, and +I could perceive from the lump which gradually moved down the snake's +neck, that it had been sucked into its stomach. Involuntary I raised +my hand, when the whole suddenly disappeared. + +[One of Tom's _land-storms_ is still more graphic.] + +A heavy cloud that had been overhanging the small valley the whole +morning, had by this time spread out and covered the entire face of +nature like a sable pall; the birds of the air flew low, and seemed to +be perfectly gorged with the superabundance of flies, which were thickly +betaking themselves for shelter under the evergreen leaves of the +bushes. All the winged creation, great and small, were fast betaking +themselves to the shelter of the leaves and branches of the trees. The +cattle were speeding to the hollows under the impending rocks; negroes, +men, women, and children, were hurrying with their hoes on their +shoulders past the windows to their huts. Several large bloodhounds had +ventured into the hall, and were crouching with a low whine at our feet. +The large carrion crows were the only living things which seemed to +brave the approaching _chu-basco_, and were soaring high up in the +heavens, appearing to touch the black, agitated fringe of the lowering +thunder clouds. All other kinds of winged creatures, parrots, and +pigeons, and cranes, had vanished by this time under the thickest trees, +and into the deepest coverts, and the wild ducks were shooting past in +long lines, piercing the thick air with outstretched neck and clanging +wing. + +Suddenly the wind fell, and the sound of the waterfall increased, and +grew rough and loud, and the undefinable rushing noise that precedes a +heavy fall of rain in the tropics, the voice of the wilderness, moaned +through the high woods, until at length the clouds sank upon the valley +in boiling mists, rolling halfway down the surrounding hills; and the +water of the stream, whose scanty rill but an instant before hissed over +the precipice in a small, transparent ribbon of clear grass-green, +sprinkled with white foam, and then threaded its way round the large +rocks in its capacious channel, like a silver eel twisting through a +desert, now changed in a moment to a dark turgid chocolate colour; and +even as we stood and looked, lo! a column of water from the mountains, +pitched in thunder over the face of the precipice, making the earth +tremble, and driving up from the rugged face of the everlasting rocks in +smoke, and forcing the air into eddies and sudden blasts which tossed +the branches of the trees that overhung it, as they were dimly seen +through clouds of drizzle, as if they had been shaken by a tempest, +although there was not a breath stirring elsewhere out of heaven; while +little, wavering, spiral wreaths of mist rose up thick from the surface +of the boiling pool at the bottom of the cataract, like miniature +water-spouts, until they were dispersed by the agitation of the air +above. + +At length the swollen torrent rolled roaring down the narrow valley, +filling the whole water-course, about fifty yards wide, and advancing +with a solid front a fathom _high_--a fathom _deep_ does not +convey the idea--like a stream of lava, or as one may conceive of the +Red Sea, when, at the stretching forth of the hand of the prophet of the +Lord, its mighty waters rolled back and stood heaped up as a wall to the +host of Israel. + +The channel of the stream, which but a minute before I could have leaped +across, was the next instant filled and utterly impassable. + +And the rain now began pattering in large drops, like scattering shots +preceding an engagement, on the wooden shingles with which the house was +roofed, gradually increasing to a loud rushing noise, which, as the +rooms were not ceiled, prevented a word being heard. + +At length the weather cleared, and the shutters having been opened, and +with a suddenness which no one can comprehend who has not lived in these +climates, the sun now shone brightly on the flowers and garden plants +which grew in a range of pots on the balcony. + + * * * * * + + +THE DUCHESSE DE BERRI. + +(_From the New Monthly Magazine_.) + + +We have much pleasure in inserting these very curious anecdotes of an +unfortunate Princess, though they come to us from one devoted to her +cause, as well as sympathizing with her misfortunes. + +Few heroines of ancient days have displayed more courage, self-devotion, +and firmness, than has this high-souled and heroic woman. It is not +generally known in this country, that in an action in La Vendee, where +the partizans of the Duchess were opposed to the regular troops, she +headed her forces, and led the charges repeatedly. She had a horse shot +dead under her, and having been disarmed in the fall, seized the arms of +a fallen soldier next her, and again cheered on her followers. She was +eleven hours in action, and escaped unhurt, with the exception of some +contusions from the fall; and, when the battle was over, was seen +administering to the wants of those around her, dressing their wounds +with her own delicate hands; and whilst surrounded by the dead and +dying, she appeared wholly regardless of self, though overcome by a +fatigue and anxiety that few, even of the other sex, could have borne +so well. + +On another occasion, the Duchesse de Berri had, with much difficulty, +procured a horse, and was mounted behind a faithful but humble adherent, +pursuing her route to a distant quarter, when her guide was accosted by +a peasant with whom he conversed some time in the patois of the country. +On quitting the peasant, he observed to the Duchess, that the man was +charged with a secret mission to a place at some distance, and was so +fatigued that he feared he could not reach it. She instantly sprang from +her seat, called after the peasant, and insisted on his taking the +horse, declaring that she could reach her destination on foot. After +walking for many hours, she arrived at a mountain stream that was +swollen by the recent rain, and having learned that her enemies were in +pursuit of her, she determined to cross it. Her guide, assisted by her, +fastened a large branch of a tree to his person, and, being an expert +swimmer, told her to hold by it, and that he hoped to get her over. They +had advanced to the deepest part of the stream when the bough broke, and +her guide gave her up for lost, when, to his surprise and joy, he saw +her boldly clearing the water by his side, and they soon reached the +bank in safety. During her visits to Dieppe, the Duchess had acquired a +proficiency in swimming, and it has since frequently saved her in the +hour of need. Overpowered by fatigue and hunger, and chilled by the cold +of her dripping garments, this courageous woman felt that her physical +powers were no longer capable of obeying her wishes, and that further +exertion was impossible. Seeing a house at a distance, she declared her +intention of throwing herself on the generosity of its owner, when her +guide warned her of the danger of such a proceeding, as the owner of the +house was a Liberal, and violently opposed to her party. All his +representations were made in vain. She boldly entered the house, and, +addressing the master of it, exclaimed--"You see before you the unhappy +mother of your king; proscribed and pursued, half dead with fatigue, +cold, wet, and hungry, you will not refuse her a morsel of your bread, a +corner at your fire, and a bed to rest her weary limbs on." The master +of the house threw himself at her feet, and, with tears streaming from +his eyes, declared that his house, and all that was his, were at her +service; and for some days, while the pursuit after her was the hottest, +she remained unsuspected in this asylum, the politics of the master +placing him out of suspicion; and when she left it, she was followed by +the tears and prayers of the whole of the family and their dependents. + +This heroic woman, nurtured in courts, and accustomed to all the luxury +that such an exalted station as hers can give, has thought herself +fortunate, during many a night of the last year, when she could have the +shelter of the poorest hovel, with some brown bread and milk for food, +and has partaken, at the same humble board, the frugal repast of the +peasants who sheltered her. Her general attire has been the most common +dress, of a materiel called buse, made of worsted, and worn by the +poorest of the peasantry. A mantle of the same coarse stuff, with a +hood, completed her costume. + +When one of the friends, who had seen her the pride and ornament of the +gilded saloons in the Tuileries, expressed his grief at the dreadful +hardships to which she was exposed, she pointed to a furze bush on the +heath where they were conversing, and said--"I shall sleep on that spot +to-night; and many nights I have had no better shelter than were +afforded by a few wild shrubs or trees, and I never slept better at +Rosny. If my mantle was long enough to allow of its covering my feet +when I slept, I should have nothing to complain of, but then it might +impede my flight, so I must be content." + + * * * * * + + + + +THE NATURALIST. + + * * * * * + + +DEPTH OF THE SEA. + + +As to the bottom of the basin of the sea, it seems to have inequalities +similar to those which the surface of continents exhibits; if it were +dried up, it would present mountains, valleys, and plains. It is +inhabited almost throughout its whole extent by an immense quantity of +testaceous animals, or covered with sand and gravel. It was thus that +Donati found the bottom of the Adriatic sea; the bed of testaceous +animals there, according to him, is several hundred feet in thickness. +The celebrated diver Pescecola, whom the emperor Frederick II. employed +to descend the strait of Messina, saw there with horror, enormous polypi +attached to the rocks, the arms of which, being several yards long, were +more than sufficient to strangle a man. In a great many places, the +madrepores form a kind of petrified forest fixed at the bottom of the +sea, and frequently, too, this bottom plainly presents different layers +of rock and earth. + +The granite rises up in sharp-pointed masses. Near Marseilles, marble is +dug up from a submarine quarry. There are also bituminous springs, and +even springs of fresh water, that spout up from the depths of the ocean; +and in the Gulf of Spezia, a great spout or fountain of fresh water is +seen to rise like a liquid hill. Similar springs furnish the inhabitants +of the town of Aradus with their ordinary beverage. + +On the southern coast of Cuba, to the southwest of the port of Batabano, +in the bay of Xagua, at two or three miles from the land, springs of +fresh water gush up with such force in the midst of the salt, that small +boats cannot approach them with safety; the deeper you draw the water, +the fresher you find it. It has been observed, that in the neighbourhood +of steep coasts, the bottom of the sea also sinks down suddenly to a +considerable depth; whilst near a low coast, and one of gentle +declivity, it is only gradually that the sea deepens. There are some +places in the sea where no bottom has yet been found. But we must not +conclude that the sea is really bottomless; an idea, which, if not +absurd, is, at least, by no means conformable to the analogies of +natural science. The mountains of continents seem to correspond with +what are called the abysses of the sea; but now, the highest mountains +do not rise to 20,000 feet. It is true that they have wasted down and +lessened by the action of the elements; it may, therefore, be reasonably +concluded, that the sea is not beyond 30,000 feet in depth; but it is +impossible to find the bottom even at one-third of this depth, with our +little instruments. The greatest depth that has been tried to be +measured, is that found in the northern ocean by Lord Mulgrave; he +heaved a very heavy sounding lead, and gave out with it cable rope to +the length of 4,680 feet, without finding bottom.--_Blake's +Encyclopedia_. + + * * * * * + + + + +NOTES OF A READER. + + * * * * * + + +CHARACTER OF CROMWELL. + +(_From the Buccaneer.--By Mrs. S.C. Hall_.) + + +There are two things that to a marvellous degree bring people under +subjection--moral and corporeal fear. The most dissolute are held in +restraint by the influence of moral worth, and there are few who would +engage in a quarrel if they were certain that defeat or death would be +the consequence. Cromwell obtained, and we may add, maintained his +ascendancy over the people of England, by his earnest and continually +directed efforts towards these two important ends. His court was a +rare example of irreproachable conduct, from which all debauchery +and immorality were banished; while such was his deep and intimate +though mysterious acquaintance with every occurrence throughout the +commonwealth, its subjects had the certainty of knowing that, sooner or +later, whatever crimes they committed would of a surety reach the ear +of the protector. His natural abilities must always have been of the +highest order, though in the early part of his career he discovered +none of those extraordinary talents that afterwards gained him so +much applause, and worked so upon the affections of the hearers +and standers-by. His mind may be compared to one of those valuable +manuscripts that had long been rolled up and kept hidden from vulgar +eyes, but which exhibits some new proof of wisdom at each unfolding. It +has been well said by a philosopher, whose equal the world has not known +since his day, "that a place sheweth the man." Of a certainty Cromwell +had no sooner possessed the opportunity so to do, than he showed to the +whole world that he was destined to govern. "Some men achieve greatness, +some men are born to greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon +them." With Cromwell greatness was achieved. He was the architect of +his own fortunes, owing little to what is called "chance," less to +patronage, and still less to crime, if we except the one sad blot upon +the page of his own history, as connected with that of his country. +There appears in his character but a small portion of that which is +evil, blended with much that is undoubtedly good. Although his public +speeches were, for the most part, ambiguous--leaving others to pick out +his meaning--or more frequently still, having no meaning to pick out, +being words, words, words--strung of mouldy sentences, scriptural +phrases, foolish exclamations, and such-like: yet when necessary, he +showed that he could sufficiently command his style, delivering himself +with so much energy, pith, propriety, and strength of expression, that +it was commonly said of him under such circumstances, "every word he +spoke was a thing." But the strongest indication of his vast abilities +was, the extraordinary tact with which he entered into, dissected, and +scrutinized the nature of human kind. No man ever dived into the manners +and minds of those around him with greater penetration, or more rapidly +discovered their natural talents and tempers. If he chanced to hear +of a person fit for his purpose, whether as a minister, a soldier, an +artisan, a preacher, or a spy, no matter how previously obscure, he sent +for him forthwith, and employed him in the way in which he could be made +most useful, and answer best the purpose of his employer. Upon this most +admirable system (a system in which, unhappily, he has had but few +imitators among modern statesmen,) depended in a great degree his +success. His devotion has been sneered at; but it has never been proved +to have been insincere. With how much more show of justice may we +consider it to have been founded upon a solid and upright basis, when we +recollect that his whole outward deportment spoke its truth! Those who +decry him as a fanatic, ought to bethink themselves that religion was +the chivalry of the age in which he lived. Had Cromwell been born a few +centuries earlier, he would have headed the crusades, with as much +bravery, and far better results than our noble-hearted, but wrong-headed +Coeur de Lion. It was no great compliment that was passed on him by the +French minister, when he called the protector "the first captain of the +age." His courage and conduct in the field were undoubtedly admirable: +he had a dignity of soul which the greatest dangers and difficulties +rather animated than discouraged, and his discipline and government of +the army, in all respects, was the wonder of the world. It was no +diminution of this part of his character, that he was wary in his +conduct, and that, after he was declared protector, he wore a coat of +mail concealed beneath his dress. Less caution than he made use of, in +the place he held, and surrounded as he was by secret and open enemies, +would have deserved the name of negligence. As to his political +sincerity, which many think had nothing to do with his religious +opinions, he was, to the full, as honest as the first or second Charles. +Of a truth, that same sincerity, it would appear, is no kingly virtue! +Cromwell loved justice as he loved his own life, and wherever he was +compelled to be arbitrary, it was only where his authority was +controverted, which, as things then were, it was not only right to +establish for his own sake, but for the peace and security of the +country over whose proud destinies he had been called to govern. "The +dignity of the crown," to quote his own words, "was upon the account of +the nation, of which the king was only the representative head, and +therefore, the nation being still the same, he would have the same +respect paid to his ministers as if he had been a king." England ought +to write the name of Cromwell in letters of gold, when she remembers +that, within a space of four or five years, he avenged all the insults +that had been lavishly flung upon her by every country in Europe +throughout a long, disastrous, and most perplexing civil war. +Gloriously did he retrieve the credit that had been mouldering and +decaying during two weak and discreditable reigns of nearly fifty years' +continuance--gloriously did he establish and extend his country's +authority and influence in remote nations--gloriously acquire the real +mastery of the British Channel--gloriously send forth fleets that went +and conquered, and never sullied the union flag by an act of dishonour +or dissimulation. Not a single Briton, during the protectorate, but +could demand and receive either reparation or revenge for injury, +whether it came from France, from Spain, from any open foe or +treacherous ally; not an oppressed foreigner claimed his protection but +it was immediately and effectually granted. Were things to be compared +to this in the reign of either Charles? England may blush at the +remembrance of the insults she sustained during the reigns of the first +most amiable, yet most weak--of the second most admired, yet most +contemptible--of these legal kings. What must she think of the treatment +of the elector palatine, though he was son-in-law to king James? And let +her ask herself how the Duke of Rohan was assisted in the Protestant war +at Rochelle, notwithstanding the solemn engagement of king Charles under +his own hand! But we are treading too fearlessly upon ground on which, +in our humble capacity, we have scarcely the right to enter. Alas! alas! +the page of history is but a sad one; and the Stuarts and the Cromwells, +the roundheads and the cavaliers, the pennons and the drums, are but +part and parcel of the same dust--the dust we, who are made of dust +animated for a time by a living spirit, now tread upon! Their words, +that wrestled with the winds and mounted on the air, have left no trace +along that air whereon they sported:--the clouds in all their beauty cap +our isle with their magnificence, as in those by-gone days; the rivers +are as blue, the seas as salt; the flowers, those sweet things! remain +fresh within our fields, as when God called them into existence in +Paradise, and are bright as ever. But the change is over us, as it has +been over them: we, too, are passing. O England! what should this teach? +Even three things--wisdom, justice, and mercy. Wisdom to watch +ourselves, and then our rulers, so that we neither do nor suffer wrong; +justice to the memory of the mighty dead, whether born to thrones or +footstools; mercy, inasmuch as we shall deeply need it from our +successors. + + * * * * * + + +THE "WHY AND BECAUSE" OF CHRISTMAS. + + +[We can vouch for the abridgement and collation of the following facts, +connected with this joyous season of old. Probably a few of the notes +may have been discussed in the course of our twenty-volume career; but +to omit such notices on the present occasion, would be to drop a link in +the little chain:] + +Why is the evening before Christmas-day celebrated? + +Because Christmas-day, in the primitive Church, was always observed as +the Sabbath-day, and, like it, preceded by an eve, or vigil.--_Brand._ + +It was once believed, that if we were to go into a cow-house, at twelve +o'clock at night, all the cattle would be found kneeling. Many also +firmly believed that bees sung in their hives on Christmas-eve, to +welcome the approaching day. + +Why is Christmas-day so called? + +Because of its derivation from _Christi Missa_, the mass of Christ; +and thence the Roman Catholic Liturgy is termed their _Missal_, or +_Mass-book_. About the year 500 the observation of this day became +general in the Catholic Church. + +Why was the word _Yule_ formerly used to signify Christmas? + +Because of its derivation from the word _ol_, ale, which was much used +in the festivities and merry meetings of this period; and the _I_ in +_Iol, icol_. Cimb. as the _ze_ and _zi_ in _zehol, zeol, ziol_, Sax. are +premised only as intensives, to add a little to the signification, and +make it more emphatical. _Ol_, or _Ale_, did not only signify the liquor +then made use of, but gave denomination to the greatest festivals, as +that of _zehol_, or _Yule_, at Midwinter; and as is yet plainly to be +discovered in that custom of the Whitsun ale at the other great +festival. + +Why are certain initials affixed to crucifixes? + +Because of their signifying the titular tributes paid to the Saviour of +the world. Thus, I.N.R.I. are universally agreed to be the initials of +the Latin words _Jesus Nazarenus Rex Judaeorum_; i.e. Jesus of +Nazareth, King of the Jews, a title which Pilot wrote and affixed to the +cross.--See John, ch. xix. The initials I.H.C., appended to other +crosses, are said to imply, _Jesus Humanitatis Consolator_, Jesus +the Consoler of Mankind; and the I.H.S. imply _Jesus Hominum +Salvator_, Jesus the Saviour of Men. The first-mentioned initials +are, however, found on the most ancient crosses. + +Why is a certain song called a carol? + +Because of its derivation from _cantare_, to sing, and _rola_, +an interjection of joy.--_Bourne_. + +Bishop Taylor observes that the "Gloria in excelsis," the well-known +hymn sung by the angels to the shepherds at our Lord's nativity, was +the earliest Christmas carol. Bourne cites Durand to prove that +in the earlier ages of the churches, the bishops were accustomed, on +Christmas-day, to sing carols among their clergy. Fosbroke says--"It was +usual, in ancient feasts, to single out a person, and place him in the +midst, to sing a song to God." And Mr. Davies Gilbert, late President +of the Royal Society, in a volume which he has edited on the subject, +states, that till lately, in the West of England, on Christmas-eve, +about seven or eight o'clock in the evening, festivities were commenced, +and "the singing of carols begun, and continued late into the night. +On Christmas-day, these carols took the place of psalms in all the +churches, especially at afternoon service, the whole congregation +joining; and at the end it was usual for the parish-clerk to declare, +in a loud voice, his wishes for a merry Christmas and a happy new year +to all the parishioners." + +Mr. Hone observes, in his work on "Ancient Mysteries," that "the custom +of singing carols at Christmas prevails in Ireland to the present time. +In Scotland, where no church fasts have been kept since the days of John +Knox, the custom is unknown. In Wales it is still preserved to a greater +extent, perhaps, than in England: at a former period, the Welsh had +carols adapted to most of the ecclesiastical festivals, and the four +seasons of the year; but at this time they are limited to that of +Christmas. After the turn of midnight, on Christmas-eve, service is +performed in the churches, followed by singing carols to the harp. +Whilst the Christmas holidays continue, they are sung in like manner in +the houses; and there are carols especially adapted to be sung at the +doors of the houses by visitors before they enter. _Lffyr Carolan_, +or the Book of Carols, contains sixty-six for Christmas, and five summer +carols. _Blodengerdd Cymrii_, or the Anthology of Wales, contains +forty-eight Christmas carols, nine summer carols, three May carols, one +winter carol, one nightingale carol, and a carol to Cupid. On the +Continent, the custom of carolling at Christmas is almost universal. +During the last days of Advent, Calabrian minstrels enter Rome, and are +to be seen in every street, saluting the shrines of the Virgin mother +with their wild music, under the traditional notion of charming her +labour pains on the approaching Christmas." + +Why do the Christmas carols of the present day differ from the carols of +earlier times? + +Because the present carols were substituted, by those enemies of +innocent mirth, the Puritans, for the original carols, which were festal +chansons for enlivening the merriment of the Christmas celebrity; and +not such religious songs as are current at this day, with the common +people, under the same title. + +Dr. Johnson, in a note on _Hamlet_, tells us, that the pious +chansons, a kind of Christmas carol, containing some Scripture history, +thrown into loose rhymes, were sung about the streets by the common +people, when they went at that season to beg alms.--_Brand._ + +Why is laurel used with other evergreens to deck houses at Christmas? + +Because of its use among the ancient Romans, as the emblem of peace, +joy, and victory. In the Christian sense, it may be applied to the +victory gained over the powers of darkness by the coming of +Christ.--_Bourne._ + +Why is the mistletoe so called? + +Because its seeds are said to be dropped by the mistle-thrush, which +feeds on its berries. + +Why was the mistletoe held sacred by the Druids? + +Because they had an extraordinary reverence for the number _three_, +and not only the berries, but the leaves of the mistletoe, grow in +clusters of three united on one stalk. Its growing upon the oak, their +sacred tree, was doubtless another cause of its veneration. + +We read of a celebrated oak at Norwood near London, which bore +mistletoe, "which some people cut for the gain of selling it to the +apothecaries of London, leaving a branch of it to sprout out; but they +proved unfortunate after it, for one of them fell lame, and others lost +an eye. At length, in the year 1678, a certain man, notwithstanding he +was warned against it, upon the account of what the others had suffered, +adventured to cut the tree down, and he soon after broke his +leg."--_Camden_. + +Mr. Brand, however, thinks that mistletoe was never put up in churches +but by mistake or ignorance of the sextons: it being a heathenish and +profane plant, and therefore assigned to the kitchen. Mr. Brand made +many diligent inquiries after the truth of this point. He learnt at Bath +that it never came into churches there. An old Sexton at Teddington told +him that mistletoe was once put up in the church there, but was by the +clergyman immediately ordered to be taken away. + +Why was the boar's head formerly a prime dish at Christmas? + +Because fresh meats were then seldom eaten, and brawn was considered a +great delicacy. Holinshed says, that "in the year 1170, upon the day +of the young prince's coronation, King Henry I. served his sonne at +table as server, bringing up the boar's head with trumpets before it, +according to the manner." For this ceremony there was a special carol. +Dugdale also tells us, that "at the inns of court, during Christmas, the +usual dish at the first course at dinner was a large _bore's head_, +upon a silver platter, with minstralsaye." In one of the carols we read +that the boar's head is "the rarest dish in all the londe, and that it +has been provided in honour of the king of bliss." + + * * * * * + + +THE RIVER SCHELDT. + + +In all former times, and centuries before the labour of Napoleon had +added so immensely to its importance, the Scheldt had been the centre +of the most important preparations for the invasion of England, and the +spot on which military genius always fixed from whence to prepare a +descent on this island. An immense expedition, rendered futile by the +weakness and vacillation of the French monarch, was assembled in it in +the fourteenth century; and sixty thousand men on the shore of the +Scheldt awaited only the signal of Charles VI. to set sail for the shore +of Kent. The greatest naval victory ever gained by the English arms was +that at Sluys, 1340, when Philip of France lost 30,000 men and 230 +ships of war in an engagement off the Flemish coast with Edward III., +a triumph greater, though less noticed in history, than either that +of Cressy or Poictiers. When the great Duke of Parma was commissioned +by Philip II. of Spain to take steps for the invasion of England, he +assembled the forces of the Low Countries at Antwerp; and the Spanish +armada, had it proved successful, was to have wafted over that great +commander from the banks of the Scheldt to the opposite shore of Essex, +at the head of the veterans who had been trained in the Dutch war. In +an evil hour, Charles II., bought by French gold and seduced by French +mistresses, entered into alliance with Louis XIV. for the coercion of +Holland; the Lillies and the Leopards, the navies of France and England, +assembled together at Spithead, and made sail for the French coast, +while the armies of the Grande Monarque advanced across the Rhine into +the heart of the United Provinces; and the consequence was, such a +prodigious addition to the power of France, as it took all the blood and +treasure expended in the war of the Succession and all the victories of +Marlborough, to reduce to a scale at all commensurate with the +independence of the other European states. + + * * * * * + + + + +THE GATHERER. + + * * * * * + + +Fleurus is a village in France, in the department of the Sombre and +Meuse, where the Austrians and the French fought a battle in the year +1794, in which the former were defeated. This victory is ascribed to the +information obtained in consequence of reconnoitering the army of the +enemy by the elevation of a balloon. The balloon employed on this +occasion was called the _Entreprenent_; and it was under the +direction of M. Coutel, the captain of the aeronauts at Meudon, +accompanied by an adjutant and a general. He ascended twice in the same +day, to the height of 220 fathoms, for the purpose of observing the +position and manoeuvres of the enemy. He continued each time four hours +in the air, and corresponded with General Jourdan, who commanded the +French army, by means of pre-concerted signals. The enterprise was +discovered by the enemy; and a battery opened its fire against the +ascending aeronauts, but they soon gained an elevation which was beyond +the reach of their fire. This balloon was prepared under the direction +of the Aerostatic Institute, for the use of the army of the north; as +were also another, called _Celeste_, for the army of the Sombre and +Meuse; and the _Hercule_ and _Intrepide_, for the army of the +Rhine and Moselle. Another, thirty feet in circumference, and weighing +160 lbs., was destined for the army of Italy. A new machine, invented by +M. Coutel, the director of the Aerostatic Institute, was designed to aid +the aeronauts in communicating intelligence, and denominated the +_Aerostatic Telegraph_. + +P.T.W. + + +_Muscular Strength_.--It is asserted by travellers, that a Turkish +porter will run along carrying a weight of 600 lbs. Milo, of Crotona, +is said to have lifted an ox, weighing upwards of 1,000 Ibs. Haller +mentions that he saw an instance of a man, whose finger being caught in +a chain at the bottom of a mine, by keeping it forcibly bent, supported +by that means the weight of his whole body, 150 lbs., till he was drawn +up to the surface, a height of 600 feet. Augustus II., king of Poland, +could with his fingers roll up a silver dish like a sheet of paper, +and twist the strongest horse-shoe asunder. An account is given in +the _Philosophical Transactions_, No. 310, of a lion who left the +impression of his teeth upon a solid piece of iron. The most prodigious +power of the muscles is exhibited by fish:--A whale moves with a +velocity through the dense medium of water that would carry him, if +he continued at the same rate, round the world in little more than a +fortnight; and a sword-fish has been known to strike his weapon quite +through the oak plank of a ship. + +W.G.C. + + +_Beauties of Chatsworth_.--Marshal Tallard, who was entertained a +few days at this place by the Duke of Devonshire, on leaving, made this +declaration--"When I return," said he, "into my own country, and reckon +up the days of my captivity, I shall leave out those which I spent at +Chatsworth." And Quin once said that he had nearly broken his neck in +coming to it, and he should break his heart on his return. + +SWAINE. + + +_Origin of the Discovery of Peru_.--Balboa, the famous Spanish +adventurer, in one of his expeditions, met with a young cazique, who +expressed his astonishment at the high value which was set upon the +gold, which the Spaniards were weighing and distributing. "Why do you +quarrel," said he, "about such a trifle? If you are so passionately fond +of gold as to abandon your own country, and to disturb the tranquillity +of distant nations, for its sake, I will conduct you to a region where +the metal, which seems to be the chief object of your admiration and +desire, is so common, that the meanest utensils are formed of it." +Transported with the intelligence, Balboa eagerly inquired where this +happy country lay, and how they might arrive at it. The cazique informed +them, that at the distance of six suns, or six days' journey to the +south, they would discover another ocean, near which this wealthy +kingdom was situated; but if they intended to attack it, they must +assemble forces far superior in number and strength to those which now +attended them.--This was the first information which the Spaniards +received concerning the great southern continent, known afterwards +by the name of Peru. + +P.T.W. + + +_Cholera Morbus._--Dr. James Johnson, in his interesting book +entitled, _Change of Air, or Pursuits of Health_, &c., says--"The +cholera morbus ought to be denominated the high-police of scavengers. +It has cleared away more filth, in Europe and England, than all the +municipal edicts that ever issued from the constituted authorities. +On this, and on some other accounts, it _will_ save more lives +than it _has_ destroyed." + + +_Patriotism._--When the Chancellor d'Auguesseau, who constantly +resisted the encroachments of Louis XIV. on the liberties of the people, +was sent for to Versailles by that monarch, he was thus encouraged by +his amiable wife: "Go," said she, "forget in the king's presence your +wife and your children,--sacrifice everything except your honour." + +SWAINE. + + +His late Majesty, when Prince of Wales, was looking out of a window with +Tom Sheridan, when the "Dart," with four grey horses passed by. "Is not +that a handsome coach, Tom?" observed the Prince. "Yes, your highness," +replied Tom, who was suffering under a headach from the champagne of the +previous night, and was rather in a sombre and meditative humour, "it +certainly is; but," continued he, pointing to a hearse going by at the +same time, "that's the coach _after all_." + + +_A Knowing Seaman._--A rough-hewn seaman being brought before a wise +justice for some misdemeanour, was by him ordered to be sent to prison, +and was refractory after he heard his doom, insomuch as he would not +stir a foot from the place where he stood, saying it was better to stand +where he was than go to a worse place.--_Bacon_. + +P.T.W. + + +_Expensive Fishing._--In 1609, the Dutch were compelled to pay a tribute +for fishing on our coast; in 1683, they paid 30,000l. for liberty to +fish. Welwood, in his answer to Grotius, says, "that the Scots obliged +the Dutch, by treaty, to keep eighty miles from shore in fishing, and to +pay a tribute at the port of Aberdeen, where a tower was erected for +that and other purposes; and the Dutch paid the tribute, even in the +memory of our forefathers." + +THOMAS GILL. + + * * * * * + +_Printed and published by J. LIMBIRD, 143, Strand, (near Somerset +House,) London; sold by G.G. BENNIS, 55, Rue Neuve, St. Augustin, Paris; +CHARLES JUGEL, Francfort; and by all Newsmen and Booksellers._ + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MIRROR OF LITERATURE, AMUSEMENT, +AND INSTRUCTION, VOL. 20, NO. 582, SATURDAY, DECEMBER 22, 1832*** + + +******* This file should be named 12543.txt or 12543.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/1/2/5/4/12543 + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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