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| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 04:40:14 -0700 |
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| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 04:40:14 -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/12550-0.txt b/12550-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..663024e --- /dev/null +++ b/12550-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1399 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 12550 *** + +THE MIRROR OF LITERATURE, AMUSEMENT, AND INSTRUCTION. + +VOL. XIX. No. 540.] SATURDAY, MARCH 31, 1832. [PRICE 2d. + + + + * * * * * + + + +BANKSIDE.--OLD THEATRES. + +[Illustration: BANKSIDE IN 1648.] + +[Illustration: BULL AND BEAR-BAITING THEATRES.] + +[Illustration: BEAR-BAITING--ROSE--GLOBE.] + +The ancient topography of the southern bank of the Thames (or _Bankside_) +between London and Blackfriars bridges is peculiarly interesting to the +lover of dramatic lore, as well as to the inquirer into the sports and +pastimes of our ancestors. It appears to have been the _Arcadia_ of the +olden metropolis, if such a term be applicable to a place notorious for +the indulgence of brutal sports. + +The Cut in the adjoining column represents Bankside in 1648, from which it +appears to have been then in part waste and unenclosed. "It was land +belonging to the crown, and on various parts of it stood the Globe Theatre, +the Bear Garden, and other places of public show; here were also the Pike +Gardens, some time called the Queen's Pike Gardens, with ponds for the +preservation of fresh-water fish, which were said to be kept for the +supply of the royal table, under the inspection of an officer, called the +king's purveyor of pike, who had here a house for his residence."[1] On +the Bankside, prior to the above date, were also the ancient Bordello, or +Stews, which, according to Pennant, were distinguished by their respective +signs painted against the walls, one of which, in particular, was the +Cardinal's Hat; and a small court, now or till lately called _Cardinal's +Hat Court_, still exists on the Bankside, and probably shows the precise +site of the mansion of depravity. In like manner we find on Bankside, +_Pike Garden_, _Globe Alley_, and in the vicinity a public-house with the +sign of the _Globe_. On Bankside also stood an ancient Hall and Palace of +the Bishops of Winchester, stated to have been built by William Gifford, +Bishop of Winchester, about the year 1107, on a piece of ground belonging +to the Prior of Bermondsey, to whom was paid a yearly acknowledgment. The +great court, at one time belonging to this palace, is still known by the +name of _Winchester Square_, and in the adjacent street was, some time +since, an abutment of one of the gates. Near this Palace, on the south, at +one time stood the Episcopal Palace of the Bishops of Rochester; which is +supposed to have bequeathed its name to _Rochester Street_. The whole of +the _Bank_ shown in the Cut is now densely populated, and scarcely a pole +of green sward is left to denote its ancient state. On the opposite or +Middlesex bank may be distinguished the celebrated Castle Baynard. + +The second Cut represents the BULL and BEAR-BAITING THEATRES, as they +appeared in their first state, A.D. 1560. This spot was called Paris +Garden, and the two theatres are said to have been the first that were +formed near London. In these, according to Stow, were scaffolds for the +spectators to stand upon, an indulgence for which they paid in the +following manner: "Those who go to Paris Garden, the Bell Savage, or +Theatre, to behold bear-baiting, enterludes, or fence-play, must not +account of any pleasant spectacle unless they first pay one penny at the +gate, another at the entrie of the scaffold, and a third for quiet +standing." One Sunday afternoon, in the year 1582, the scaffold, being +overcharged with spectators, fell down during the performance, and a great +number of persons were killed or maimed by the accident, which the +puritans of the time failed not to attribute to a Divine judgment. These +theatres were patronized by royalty: for we read that Queen Elizabeth, on +the 26th of May, 1599, went by water with the French ambassadors to Paris +Garden, where they saw a baiting of bulls and bears. Indeed, Southwark +seems to have long been of sporting notoriety, for, in the Humorous Lovers, +printed in 1617, one of the characters says, "I'll set up my bills, that +the gamesters of London, Horsly-down, _Southwark_, and Newmarket, may come +in and bait him (the bear,) here before the ladies, &c."[2] + +The third Cut includes the GLOBE, ROSE, and BEAR-BAITING THEATRES, as they +appeared about the year 1612. Of the Globe we have been furnished with the +following account by a zealous correspondent, _G.W._: + +The Globe Theatre stood on a plot of ground, now occupied by four houses, +contiguous to the present Globe Alley, Maiden Lane, Southwark. This +theatre was of considerable size. It is not certain when it was built. +Hentzner, the German traveller, who gives an amusing description of London +in the time of Queen Elizabeth, alludes to it as existing in 1598, but it +was probably not built long before 1596. It was an hexagonal, wooden +building, partly open to the weather, and partly thatched with reeds, on +which, as well as other theatres, a pole was erected, to which a flag was +affixed. These flags were probably displayed only during the hours of +performance; and it should seem from one of the old comedies that they +were taken down in Lent, in which time, during the early part of King +James's reign, plays were not allowed to be represented, though at a +subsequent period this prohibition was dispensed with by paying a fee to +the Master of the Revels. + +It was called the Globe from its sign, which was a figure of Hercules, or +Atlas, supporting a globe, under which was written, _Totus mundus agit +histrionem_, (All the world acts a play):--and not as many have +conjectured, that the Globe though hexagonal at the outside, was a rotunda +within, and that it might have derived its name from its circular form. + +This theatre was burnt down June 29, 1613, but it was rebuilt with greater +splendour in the following year. The Cut represents the original theatre. +The account of this accident is given by Sir Henry Wotton, in a letter +dated July 2, 1613.[3] "Now to let matters of state sleepe, I will +entertain you at the present with what happened this week at the Banks +side. The King's players had a new play called All is True, representing +some principal pieces of the reign of Henry the Eighth, which set forth +with many extraordinary circumstances of pomp and majesty even to the +matting of the stage; the knights of the order with their Georges and +Garter, the guards with their embroidered coats, and the like: sufficient +in truth within awhile to make greatness very familiar, if not ridiculous. +Now King Henry making a Masque at the Cardinal Wolsey's house, and certain +cannons being shot off at his entry, some of the paper or other stuff, +wherewith one of them was stopped, did light on the thatch, where being +thought at first but idle smoak, and their eyes more attentive to the show, +it kindled inwardly, and ran round like a train, consuming within less +than an hour the whole house to the very ground. This was the fatal period +of that virtuous fabrick, wherein yet nothing did perish but _wood_ and +_straw_, and a few forsaken cloaks; only one man had his breeches set on +fire, that would perhaps have broyled him, if he had not by the benefit of +a provident wit, put it out with a bottle of ale." + +From a letter of Mr. John Chamberlaine to Sir Ralph Winwood, dated July 8, +1613, in which this accident is likewise mentioned, we learn that the +theatre had only two doors.[4] "The burning of the Globe or playhouse on +the Bankside on St. Peter's day cannot escape you; which fell out by a +peal of chambers, (that I know not upon what occasion were to be used in +the play,) the tampin or stopple of one of them lighting in the thatch +that covered the house, burn'd it down to the ground in less than two +hours, with a dwelling-house adjoyning; and it was a great marvaile and a +fair grace of God that the people had so little harm, having but _two +narrow doors_ to get out." + +In 1613, was entered in the Stationers' books, "A doleful ballad of the +General Conflagration of the famous Theatre called the Globe." + +Taylor, the water poet, commemorates the event in the following lines: + + "As gold is better that in fire's tried, + So is the Bankside Globe, that late was burn'd; + For where before it had a thatched hide, + Now to a stately theatre 'tis turn'd; + Which is an emblem that great things are won; + By those that dare through greatest dangers run." + +It is also alluded to in some verses by Ben Jonson, entitled, "An +Execration upon Vulcan," from which it appears that Ben Jonson was in the +theatre when it was burnt. + +This theatre was open in summer and the performances took place by +daylight; the King's company usually began to play in the month of May. +The exhibitions appear to have been calculated for the lower class of +people, and to have been more frequent than those at the Blackfriars, till +1604 or 5, when it became less fashionable and frequented. Being +contiguous to the Bear Garden, it is probable that those who resorted +there went to the theatre, when the bear-baiting sports were over, and +such persons were not likely to form a very refined audience. + +We have no description of the interior of the Globe, but that it was +somewhat similar to our modern theatres, with an open space in the roof: +or perhaps it more resembled an inn-yard, where, in the beginning of Queen +Elizabeth's reign, many of our ancient dramatic pieces were performed. The +galleries in both were arranged on three sides of the building; the small +rooms under the lowest, answered to our present boxes and were called +rooms; the yard bears a sufficient resemblance to the pit, as at present +in use, and where the common people stood to see the exhibition; from +which circumstance they are called by Shakspeare "the _groundlings_," and +by Ben Jonson, "the _understanding_ gentlemen of the _ground_." The stage +was erected in the area, with its back to the gateway where the admission +money was taken. The price of admission into the best _rooms_, or boxes, +was in Shakspeare's time, a shilling, though afterwards it appears to have +risen to two shillings and half-a-crown. The galleries, or scaffolds, as +they were sometimes called, and that part of the house which in private +theatres was named the pit, seem to have been the same price, which was +sixpence, while in some meaner playhouses it was only a penny, and in +others two-pence. + +We learn from Sir Henry Hebert, that 20_l_. was the greatest receipt for +one day's performance; by that we may calculate upon the house having +contained about 700 persons, at the prices before stated; that is to say, +100 for the boxes, and the rest in the other parts of the house. + +Part of the site of this theatre is now occupied by the brewery of Messrs. +Barclay and Perkins; and in the _History of St. Saviour's_, already quoted, +we read that "the passage which led to the Globe Tavern, of which the +playhouse formed a part, was, till within these few years, known by the +name of Globe Alley, and upon its site now stands a large store-house for +porter." + +The _Rose_ or smaller theatre, was erected in the year 1592, and is stated +to have cost £103. 2_s_. 7_d_.--a sum which would scarcely pay half the +expenses of a modern patent theatre for a single night! + +These theatres appear to have been cited as nuisances by the parish +officers of St. Saviour's, in which they stood; for in July, 1597-8, a +resolution was agreed to by a vestry of the parish, "that a petition shall +be made to the bodye of the Councell, (Privy Council,) concerning the +play-houses in this parish; wherein all the enormities shall be showed +that come thereby to the parish, and that in respect thereof they may be +dismissed, and put down from playing: and that four, or two of the +Churchwardens, &c. shall present the cause with a collector of the +Boroughside, and another of the Bankside." The presentation of this +petition did not produce the desired effect; for some time afterwards the +play-houses not having been put down, the Churchwardens of St. Saviour's, +as appears from an entry in their Parish Register, endeavoured to obtain +tithes and poor-rates from the owners and managers of the theatres on the +Bankside.[5] This corresponds with the state of the English theatre, at +this period, at the height of its glory and reputation. Dramatic authors +of the first excellence, and eminent actors equally abounded; every year +produced a number of new plays; nay, so great was the passion for show or +representation, that it was the fashion for the nobility to celebrate +their weddings, birthdays, and other occasions of rejoicing, with masques +and interludes; the king, queen, and court frequently performing in those +represented in the royal palaces, and all the nobility being actors in +their old private houses. Alas! + + What's gone and what's past help + Should be past grief. + +Dryden sung + + Support the stage, + Which so declines that shortly we may see + Players and plays reduced to second infancy! + +--What would he sing in these times! + +Among the numerous memoranda of the topography of this interesting +district, we find that the well-known iron foundry of Messrs. Bradley, now +occupies the site of a Bear-garden. The Falcon public-house adjoining the +foundry of that name, was once the most considerable inn in the county of +Surrey, the adjoining foundry being anciently a part of it: and it is said +that very near the Falcon was once a mill for the grinding of corn, for +the Priory of St. Mary Overy. + +To conclude. The accompanying Cuts are copied from one of a series of +prints illustrative of the antiquities of the metropolis, published by +Messrs. Boydell, in the year 1818. + + + [1] Hist. and Antiq. St. Saviour, Southwark, 1795. + + [2] The first we read of Bear-baiting in England, was in the + reign of King John, at Ashby-de-la-Zouch, where "thyss + straynge passtyme was introduced by some Italyans for his + highness' amusement, wherewith he and his court were highly + delighted." + + [3] Reliq. Wotton, p. 425. Edit. 1685 + + [4] Winwood's Memorials, vol. iii. p. 469. + + [5] Annals of the Stage. By J.P. Collyer, Esq. F.S.A. Vol. I. + + * * * * * + + + + +LACONICS. + +(_For the Mirror_.) + +Amongst men of the world comfort merely signifies a great consideration +for themselves, and a perfect indifference about others. + +Every one who gives way to thought, must, of necessity, become wiser every +day; for either the ideas that present themselves to his mind will confirm +his yet rickety theories, or observation will teach him that his previous +views of things were ill-founded. + +Party spirit is like gambling--a vast number of persons trouble themselves +about what in the end can be beneficial only to a few. + +It is as difficult to win over an enthusiast by force of reasoning, as to +persuade a lover of his mistress's faults; or to convince a man who is at +law of the badness of his cause. + +Knowledge of the world is regarded as an useful, if not an elegant, +accomplishment, but this advantage, like every other good, is mixed with +some alloy: the acute observer of men and manners cannot but be disgusted +with the scenes that take place around him, and his knowledge may at last +have the effect of souring his own disposition. + +Talents, without the accompaniment of religion, are but fatal presents: +they not only add strength to the vices of the individual, but what is +worse they render them more conspicuous to the world. + +It is strange that the eye of man should have that magic power we have all +felt that it possesses. We can contemplate other bright and beautiful +objects without withdrawing our gaze; and what is there in the formation +of an eye that should create in us any uneasiness? It is the consciousness +that the eye is the index of the mind--that when a man fixes his eye on us +we are the subject of his thoughts, and that a being gifted with a soul +like ourselves is employing its energies and setting its machinery at work +about ourselves. It is this conviction that makes us modestly, and almost +involuntarily, shrink from such an inspection. + +To put ourselves in a passion, in consequence of the misconduct of others, +is unquestionably very weak behaviour, but it has also something generous +about it; for we are clearly annoying and punishing ourselves, when the +offenders only ought to have been the sufferers. + +Meanness and conceit are frequently combined in the same character: for he +who to obtain transient applause can be indifferent to truth and his own +dignity, will be as little scrupulous about them if, by subserviency, he +can improve his condition in the world. + +The most trivial circumstances are able to put an end to our +gratifications; they are like beds of roses, where it is very unlikely all +the leaves should be smooth, and even one that is doubled suffices to make +us uncomfortable. + +Garrulous men are commonly conceited, and they will be found (with very +few exceptions) to be superficial as well. They who are in a hurry to tell +what they do know, will be equally inclined, from the impulse of +prevailing habit, to tell what they do not know. + +F. + + * * * * * + +LEGAL RHYMES. + +(_For the Mirror._) + +According to Goguet, "the first laws of any people were composed in verses, +which they sang;" and why should it not be so when Apollo was one of the +first of legislators? and under his auspices they were published to the +sound of the harp. Pittacus, one of the seven sages of Greece, formed a +code of laws in verse, that they might be the easier remembered. The +ancient laws of Spain also were chanted in verse, and the custom was +preserved a long time among many nations. Mio. Psellus, who lived in the +reign of Constantine Ducas, published a synopsis of the law, in verse, and +in 1701, Gumaro, a civilian of Naples, taught the dry and intricate system +of civil law, in a _novel._ Coke's Reports have been "done into verse" by +an anonymous author; and Cowper, the poet, tells us, that a relation of +his who had studied the law, "a gentleman of sprightly parts," began to +versify Coke's Institutes; he gives the following specimen of the +performance: + + "Tenant in fee + Simple is he, + And need neither quake nor quiver, + Who hath his lands, + Free from demands, + To him and his heirs for ever." + +Records, charters, and wills, and many other legal documents, have been +written in verse. The following grant was made by Edward the Confessor to +Randolf Peperking: + + "Iche Edward konyng (_king_) + Have given of my forest the keping, + Of the Hundred of Cholmer and Daucing, + To Randolph Peperking and to his kindling, (_heirs_) + With heart and hynd, doe and bock, (_buck_) + Hare and fox, cat and brock, (_badger_) + Wild fowell and his flock, + Partridge, fesant hen, and fesant cock, + With green and wyld stob and stock, + To kepen and to yemen (_hold_) by all his might, + Both by day and eke by night: + And hounds for to holde, + Gode and swift and bolde, + Four greyhounds and six beaches, (_hound bitches_) + For hare and fox, and wild cats, + And thereof Iche made him my booke, + Witness the Bishop Wolston, + And book ycleped many on, + And Sweyne of Essex, our brother, + And token him many other, + And our steward Hamelyn, + That bysought me for him." + +The Dunmow matrimonial flitch of bacon is a well known custom; the oath is +in verse, and as follows: + + "You shall swear by the custom of your confession, + That you never made any nuptial transgression, + Since you were married to your wife, + By household brawls, or contentious strife, + Or otherwise, in bed or at board, + Offended each other in deed or in word-- + Or since the parish clerk said Amen, + Wish'd yourselves unmarried again; + Or in a twelvemonth and a day, + Repented not in thought, any way, + But continued true, and in desire, + As when you join'd hands in holy quire. + If to these conditions, without all fear, + Of your own accord you will freely swear, + A gammon of bacon you shall receive, + And beare it hence with love and good leave, + For this is our custom at Dunmow well known, + Though the sport be ours, the bacon's your own." + +For the custom of riding the black ram, and the penal rhyme thereto +attached, we refer the reader to the _Spectator,_ No. 614. + +The following rhyming wills have been proved in the Prerogative Court of +Canterbury: + + "The fifth of May, + Being airy and gay + And to hip not inclined, + But of vigorous mind, + And my body in health. + I'll dispose of my wealth, + And all I'm to leave + On this side the grave, + To some one or other, + And I think to my brother; + Because I foresaw + That my brethren in law, + If I did not take care, + Would come in for their share, + Which I nowise intended, + 'Till their manners are mended, + And of that God knows there's no sign. + I do therefore enjoin, + And do strictly command, + Of which witness my hand, + That naught I have got + Be brought into hotchpot: + But I give and devise, + As much as in me lies, + To the son of my mother, + My own dear brother. + And to have and to hold + All my silver and gold, + As th' affectionate pledges + Of his brother, JOHN HEDGES." + +In the next, the items are more curious and particular: + + "What I am going to bequeath + When this frail part submits to death-- + But still I hope the spark divine, + With its congenial stars shall shine, + My good executors fulfill, + And pay ye fairly my last will, + With first and second codicil. + And first I give to dear Lord Hinton, + At Twyford school now, not at Winton, + One hundred guineas and a ring, + Or some such memorandum thing, + And truly much I should have blunder'd, + Had I not given another hundred + To dear Earl Paulett's second son, + Who dearly loves a little fun. + Unto my nephew, Stephen Langdon, + Of whom none says he e'er has wrong done, + The civil laws he loves to hash, + I give two hundred pounds in cash. + One hundred pounds to my niece, Tudor, + (With luring eyes one Clark did view her,) + And to her children just among 'em, + A hundred more--and not to wrong 'em, + In equal shares I freely give it, + Not doubting but they will receive it. + To Betsy Mudford and Mary Lee, + If they with Mrs. Mudford be, + Because they round the year did dwell + In Davies-street, and serv'd full well. + The first ten pounds, the other twenty, + And girls, I hope that will content ye. + In seventeen hundred and sixty-nine, + This with my hand I write and sign, + The sixteenth day of fair October, + In merry mood, but sound and sober. + Past my threescore and fifteenth year, + With spirits gay and conscience clear-- + Joyous and frolicksome, though old, + And like this day, serene, but cold; + To foes well wishing, and to friends most kind, + In perfect charity with all mankind. + For what remains I must desire, + To use the words of Matthew Prior. + Let this my will be well obey'd, + And farewell all, I'm not afraid, + For what avails a struggling sigh. + When soon, or later, all must die? + M. DARLEY." + +Joshua West, who was known in his sphere "as the poet of the Six Clerks' +Office," made his will in rhyme; it is dated 13th December, 1804: + + "Perhaps I die not worth a groat, + But should I die worth somewhat more, + Then I give that, and my best coat, + And all my manuscripts in store, + To those who will the goodness have + To cause my poor remains to rest, + Within a decent shell and grave, + This is the will of JOSHUA WEST." + +In 1654, Henry Phillips published the "Purchasers' Pattern," in which he +gives advice to purchasers of estates of inheritance, in verse. + +There is also a long article in verse, "On the Distribution of Intestates' +Effects: it begins-- + + "By the laws of the land, + It is settled and planned, + That intestates' effects shall be spread, + At the end of the year, + When the debts are all clear, + 'Mong the kindred as here may be read." + +Before the conclusion, the author says, + + "To the rest that succeed, + We need not proceed, + Enough has already been penn'd, + And now it's high time, + For our doggrel rhyme + To come, lest it err, to an end." + +This hint I shall apply to myself, lest my article become as dry and +uninteresting as my subject, and conclude with a declaration in which I +heartily concur: + + "Fee simple, and a simple fee, + And all the fees in tail, + Are nothing when compared to thee, + Thou best of fees--female." + +W.A.R. + + * * * * * + + + + +FINE ARTS + +THE NINTH EXHIBITION OF THE SOCIETY OF BRITISH ARTISTS. + + +We are happy to learn that the "British Artists" continue to flourish. +Their association, we believe, originated in the inefficiency of similar +Institutions. They started in a spirit of generous rivalry, and, above all +things, with the view to aid aspiring merit. It could, however, scarcely +be called rivalry to any other Institution, and to this line of conduct we +attribute much of the success of the Society of British Artists. As the +Secretary states in an Address to the Public, prefixed to this year's +Catalogue, "they have never opposed, either directly or indirectly, any +existing Institution for the promotion of the Fine Arts, but have +uniformly sought to go hand in hand with whatever tended to their general +advancement." It appears likewise, that works in Painting, Sculpture, +Architecture, and Engraving, to the amount of £18,000. and upwards, have +been sold from the walls of the Exhibition, since the formation of the +Society, and numerous commissions given in consequence of the talent thus +displayed; and that all future donations will be devoted towards +completing the purchase of the galleries occupied by the Society, in +Suffolk-street. + +The full attendance at the private view on Friday, accorded with these +gratifying statements. Suffolk-street and Pall Mall East were crowded with +the carriages of visiters, and in the rooms was an abundant sprinkling of +nobility, patrons of art, men of letters, and some note of purchases at +the keeper's table. There are upwards of 800 Pictures, and about 100 +specimens of Sculpture and Engraving. The crowded state of the rooms +during the hour that we were there, allowed us only to note a few works. + +1. _Cardinal Weld_; a well painted portrait, by James Ramsey, of the +benevolent owner of Lulworth Castle. The features are dignified and finely +intellectual. We could, too, associate their expression with the +philanthropic act of the Cardinal's affording an asylum to fallen royalty. + +13. _Ruins_. D. Roberts. A delightful composition, from these exquisite +lines by Mrs. Hemans: + + "There have been bright and glorious pageants here, + Where now grey stones and moss-grown columns lie-- + There have been words, which earth grew pale to hear, + Breath'd from the cavern's misty chambers nigh: + There have been voices through the sunny sky, + And the pine woods, their choral hymn-notes sending, + And reeds and lyres, their Dorian melody, + With incense clouds around the temple blending, + And throngs, with laurel boughs, before the altar bending." + +27. _A Philosopher_. H. Wyatt. Admirably coloured: the flesh tints and +deep expression of the features will not escape notice. + +52. _The Town of Menagio, on the Lake of Como_. T.C. Hofland. A scene of +beautiful repose in the artist's best style. + +57. _Portrait of Mrs. Davenport_ in the character of the Nurse in "Romeo +and Juliet." James Holmes. Almost speakingly characteristic. You may +imagine the actress drawling out, "awear--y," and her attitude admirably +accords with "Fie, how my bones ache." + +114. _The Baptism_. G. Harvey, S.A. Foremost among the attractions of the +Exhibition, though of a serious turn. The quotation will best describe the +subject: + + "Here, upon a semicircular ledge of rocks, over a narrow chasm, down + which the tiny stream played in a murmuring waterfall, and divided into + two equal parts, sat the congregation, devoutly listening to their + minister, who stood before them on what might well be called a small + natural pulpit of living stone.... Divine service was closed, and a + row of maidens, all clothed in purest white, arranged themselves at + the foot of the pulpit, with the infants about to be baptized. + + "The fathers of the infants, just as if they had been in their own + Kirk, had been sitting there during worship, and now stood up before + the minister.... Some of the younger ones in that semicircle kept + gazing down into the pool, in which the whole scene was reflected; + and now and then, in spite of the grave looks or admonishing whispers + of their elders, letting a pebble fall into the water, that they + might judge of its depth from the length of time that elapsed before + the clear air-bells lay sparkling on the agitated surface."--Vide + "_Lights and Shadows of Scottish Life_." + + +155. _His Most Gracious Majesty William the Fourth_. H.E. Dawe. The King +in his state robes: the likeness is excellent. + +156. _The Grecian Choirs at the Temple of Apollo_. A sweet composition by +W. Linton, from Petrarch; "representing the passage of the Choirs across +the narrow strait between Delos and Rhenia, by a bridge magnificently +decorated with gold and garlands, rich stuffs and tapestry," the splendour +of which is enhanced by the brightness of a summer's morning. + +162. "_In peace love tunes the Shepherd's reed_," a pretty composition +from this line by Scott, painted by Mrs. John Hakewill. A rustic boy and +girl are seated beneath a woody bank: the intent expression of the boy +playing the pipe and of the listening girl are really delightful. + +195. _Edinburgh Castle from the Grass Market_. D. Roberts. A fine picture +of the associated sublimities of nature and art. + +208. _The Ettrick Shepherd in his Forest Plaid_. J.W. Gordon. Correct in +likeness, but strangely shadowed. + +224. _Coronation of William IV_. The first picture of a series to +represent the procession to the Abbey on the day of the Coronation of his +present Majesty, containing the portraits of distinguished personages who +attended on that occasion.--Painted for his Majesty, by R.B. Davis. This +picture occupies comparatively as much length on the walls as its +description would in our columns: it is some yards long, and perhaps four +feet in height. It is but hastily painted. The framework is excellent, and +well appointed for St. James's, Windsor, or Buckingham Palace. We hope the +_picture_ will be liked there as well as the frame. + +244. _Elizabeth relieving the Exile_, by Miss A. Beaumont, is an +interesting picture, from the well-remembered incident in the _Exiles of +Siberia._ + +296. _Interior of a Gaming-house_. H. Pidding. We take this to represent +one of the _salons_ of Frescati's, or other Parisian gaming-house, where +females are admitted to participate in the game, and witness the madness +and folly of the stronger sex. The party are chiefly about a _rouge et +noir_ table, and are in the highest stage of recklessness. One of them, a +female, has flung herself from the lure across a chair, apparently in the +last stage of wretchedness and despair. The excitement of the players is +powerfully wrought up and contrasted with the _sang froid_ of the +_croupier_, who seems to treat all the world as a ball. Other persons are +seeking fresh excitement at the hands of a liveried waiter. But we must +leave the rest, which it would take a column or two to describe, +especially as to our mind, a gaming-house furnishes an epitome of all the +bad passions that rankle in the human breast. + +301. _The Reform Question_. Thomas Clater. A pleasanter scene than the +preceding picture. A village blacksmith is reading the newspaper, by a +candle held by a boy, to a listening neighbour. The puzzling of the reader, +the vacant stare of the candle-holder, and the intent expression of the +absorbed listener, are excellent. Perhaps the light of the candle is +objectionable. + +311. _Love in the Dairy_. H.H. Hobday. A ticklish village amour: a young +fellow importuning a buxom dairy-maid, and apparently on the verge of +conquest; in the distant door-way stands a mar-loving, wrinkled old woman, +whose crabbed face ought not to be trusted in a dairy. + +466. _The Lord Chancellor_, seated in a chair, in his official robes, by +J. Lonsdale. The likeness is excellent, as are the robes, wig, ruffles, &c. +but the great seal and mace are even dingier than the orignals. We could +have spared the books thrown on the floor, though the paper register in +one of them almost _comes out_. + +We reserve a few pictures for another visit. The Portraits, as might be +expected, are numerous. The King's supporters are two ex-sheriffs: by the +way, how many good turns does _office_ yield to art; there is nothing like +a portrait to perpetuate your brief authority. Works of imagination are +scarce, especially as empainting the ideas of poets and passion-writers +has become fashionable. + + * * * * * + + + + +NOTES OF A READER. + + +THE VEGETABLE WORLD. + +We pencil a few passages, at random, from Part 14 of _Knowledge for the +People_--(Botany, concluded.) + +_Why does snow, when in contact with leaves and stems, melt more speedily +than when lodged upon dead substances?_ + +Because of the internal heat of the plants, heat being a production of the +vegetable as well as animal body, though in a much lower degree in the +former than the latter. Mr. Hunter appears to have detected this heat by a +thermometer applied in frosty weather to the internal parts of vegetables +newly opened. It is evident that a certain appropriate portion of heat is +a necessary stimulus to the constitution of every plant, without which its +living principle is destroyed.--_Smith_. + +_Why is fructification so important to plants?_ + +Because it continues them by seeds, and, according to Sir James Smith, +"all other modes of propagation are but the extension of an individual, +and, sooner or later, terminate in its total extinction." Dr. Drummond is +of a contrary opinion, and quotes the following fact:--"In South America +there is a species of bamboo which forms forests in the marshes of many +leagues in extent, and yet Mutis, who botanized for nearly twenty +years in the parts where it grows, was never able to detect the +fructifications."--_Humboldt_. + +The produce of vegetable seeds in a hundred-fold degree is common, and +many trees and shrubs bring forth their fruit by thousands. A single plant +of the poppy will produce above 30,000 seeds; and, of tobacco, above +40,000; and Buffon remarks, that from the seeds of a single elm-tree, one +hundred thousand young elms may be raised from the product of one year. +Some ferns, it is said, produce their seeds by millions. + +_Why should seeds be uniformly kept dry before sown?_ + +Because the least damp will cause an attempt at vegetation, when the seeds +necessarily die, as the process cannot, as they are situated, go on. + +_Why, in summer, is continued watering required to newly sown seeds?_ + +Because, if the soil is only moistened at the time of sowing, it induces +the projection of the radicle, or first root, which, in very parching +weather, and in clayey cutting soil, withers away, and the crop is +consequently lost, for want of a continued supply of moisture. + +_Why is selection important for procuring abundance of genuine seeds?_ + +Because we may then choose the most vigorous plants, which naturally prove +of greater fecundity. Thus, in 1823, Mr. Shirreff marked one vigorous +wheat plant, near the centre of a field, which produced him 2,473 grains. +These were dibbled in the autumn of the same year, the produce sown +broadcast the second and third years, and the fourth harvest produced +forty quarters of sound grain. A fine purple-topped Swedish turnip +produced 100,296 grains, which was seed enough for five imperial acres, +and thus, in three years, one turnip would produce seed enough for Great +Britain for a year.--_Quarterly Journal of Agriculture._ + +_Why are winds the great agents by which seeds are diffused?_ + +Because seeds are, as it were, provided with various wings for seizing on +the breeze. The thistle and dandelion are familiar examples of this mode +of dissemination. "How little," Sir J.E. Smith observes, "are children +aware, as they blow away the seeds of dandelion, or stick burs in sport +upon each other's clothes, that they are fulfilling one of the great ends +of nature." Dr. Woodward calculates, that one seed of the common spear +thistle will produce "at the first crop, twenty-four thousand, and +consequently five hundred and twenty-six millions of seeds, at the second." + +Some plants discharge their seeds. Thus, a certain fungus has the property +of ejecting its seeds with great force and rapidity, and with a loud +cracking noise, and yet it is no bigger than a pin's head! + +_Why is a milky fluid found in the cocoa-nut?_ + +Because in this case, as well as in a few others, all the fluids destined +to nourish the embryo of the fruit does not harden, whence a greater or +less quantity of this kind of mild emulsion is contained within the kernel. + +_Why are certain eatable roots unfit for the table when the plants have +flowered?_ + +Because the mucus or proper juice in the tubular cells being appropriated +for perfecting the flower stem, the flower, and the fruit, is absorbed as +the fructification of the stem advances; and, as these are perfected, the +cells are emptied, and their sides become ligneous. + +_Why is the Jerusalem Artichoke so called?_ + +Because of its corruption from its Italian name, _Girasole Articiocco_, +sunflower artichoke, as the plant was first brought from Peru to Italy, +and thence propagated throughout Europe.--_Smith._ + + * * * * * + + +AMERICAN MANNERS. + +We suspect certain pages of Mrs. Trollope's _Domestic Manners of the +Americans_ to be highly coloured, but they are cleverly written, and will +be read with considerable interest. + +_A Backwoodsman._ + +"We visited one farm, which interested us particularly from its wild and +lonely situation, and from the entire dependence of the inhabitants upon +their own resources. It was a partial clearing in the very heart of the +forest. The house was built on the side of a hill, so steep that a high +ladder was necessary to enter the front door, while the back one opened +against the hill-side; at the foot of this sudden eminence ran a clear +stream, whose bed had been deepened into a little reservoir, just opposite +the house. A noble field of Indian corn stretched away into the forest on +one side, and a few half-cleared acres, with a shed or two upon them, +occupied the other, giving accommodation to cows, horses, pigs, and +chickens innumerable. Immediately before the house was a small potato +garden, with a few peach and apple trees. The house was built of logs, and +consisted of two rooms, besides a little shanty or lean-to, that was used +as a kitchen. Both rooms were comfortably furnished with good beds, +drawers, &c. The farmer's wife, and a young woman who looked like her +sister, were spinning, and three little children were playing about. The +woman told me that they spun and wove all the cotton and woollen garments +of the family, and knit all the stockings; her husband, though not a +shoe-maker by trade, made all the shoes. She manufactured all the soap and +candles they used, and prepared her sugar from the sugar-trees on their +farm. All she wanted with money, she said, was to buy coffee, tea, and +whiskey, and she could 'get enough any day by sending a batch of butter +and chicken to market.' They used no wheat, nor sold any of their corn, +which, though it appeared a very large quantity, was not more than they +required to make their bread and cakes of various kinds, and to feed all +their live stock during the winter. She did not look in health, and said +they had all had ague in 'the fall' but she seemed contented, and proud of +her independence; though it was in somewhat a mournful accent that she +said, ''Tis strange to us to see company: I expect the sun may rise and +set a hundred times before I shall see another _human_ that does not +belong to the family.' + +"These people were indeed, independent--Robinson Crusoe was hardly more +so, and they eat and drink abundantly; but yet it seemed to me that there +was something awful and almost unnatural in their loneliness. No village +bell ever summoned them to prayer, where they might meet the friendly +greeting of their fellow-men. When they die, no spot sacred by ancient +reverence will receive their bones--Religion will not breathe her sweet +and solemn farewell upon their grave; the husband or the father will dig +the pit that is to hold them, beneath the nearest tree; he will himself +deposit them within it, and the wind that whispers through the boughs will +be their only requiem. But then they pay neither taxes nor tithes, are +never expected to pull off a hat or to make a curtsey, and will live and +die without hearing or uttering the dreadful words, 'God save the king.'" + +_A Presbyterian Church in Cincinnati._ + +"It was in the middle of summer, but the service we were recommended to +attend did not begin till it was dark. The church was well lighted, and +crowded almost to suffocation. On entering, we found three priests +standing side by side, in a sort of tribune, placed where the altar +usually is, handsomely fitted up with crimson curtains, and elevated about +as high as our pulpits. We took our places in a pew close to the rail +which surrounded it. + +"The priest who stood in the middle was praying; the prayer was +extravagantly vehement, and offensively familiar in expression; when this +ended a hymn was sung, and then another priest took the centre place and +preached. The sermon had considerable eloquence, but of a frightful kind. +The preacher described, with ghastly minuteness, the last feeble fainting +moments of human life, and then the gradual progress of decay after death, +which he followed through every process up to the loathsome stage of +decomposition. Suddenly changing his tone, which had been that of sober, +accurate description, into the shrill voice of horror, he bent forward his +head, as if to gaze on some object beneath the pulpit, and made known to +us what he saw in the pit that seemed to open before him. The device was +certainly a happy one for giving effect to his description of hell. No +image that fire, flame, brimstone, molten lead, or red-hot pincers could +supply, with flesh, nerves, and sinews quivering under them, was omitted. +The perspiration ran in streams from the face of the preacher; his eyes +rolled, his lips were covered with foam, and every feature had the deep +expression of horror it would have borne, had he, in truth, been gazing at +the scene he described. The acting was excellent. At length he gave a +languishing look to his supporters on each side, as if to express his +feeble state, and then sat down, and wiped the drops of agony from his +brow. + +"The other two priests arose, and began to sing a hymn. It was some +seconds before the congregation could join as usual; every upturned face +looked pale and horror-struck. When the singing ended, another took the +centre place, and began in a sort of coaxing, affectionate tone, to ask +the congregation if what their dear brother had spoken had reached their +hearts? Whether they would avoid the hell he had made them see? 'Come, +then!' he continued, stretching out his arms towards them, 'come to us, +and tell us so, and we will make you see Jesus, the dear gentle Jesus, who +shall save you from it. But you must come to him! You must not be ashamed +to come to him! This night you shall tell him that you are not ashamed of +him; we will make way for you; we will clear the bench for anxious sinners +to sit upon. Come, then! come to the anxious bench, and we will show you +Jesus! Come! Come! Come!' + +"Again a hymn was sung, and while it continued, one of the three was +employed in clearing one or two long benches that went across the rail, +sending the people back to the lower part of the church. The singing +ceased, and again the people were invited, and exhorted not to be ashamed +of Jesus, but to put themselves upon 'the anxious benches,' and lay their +heads on his bosom. 'Once more we will sing,' he concluded, 'that we may +give you time.' And again they sung a hymn. + +"And now in every part of the church a movement was perceptible, slight at +first, but by degrees becoming more decided. Young girls arose, and sat +down, and rose again; and then the pews opened, and several came tottering +out, their hands clasped, their heads hanging on their bosoms, and every +limb trembling, and still the hymn went on; but as the poor creatures +approached the rail their sobs and groans became audible. They seated +themselves on the 'anxious benches;' the hymn ceased, and two of the three +priests walked down from the tribune, and going, one to the right, and the +other to the left, began whispering to the poor tremblers seated there. +These whispers were inaudible to us, but the sobs and groans increased to +a frightful excess. Young creatures, with features pale and distorted, +fell on their knees on the pavement, and soon sunk forward on their faces; +the most violent cries and shrieks followed, while from time to time a +voice was heard in convulsive accents, exclaiming, 'Oh Lord!' 'Oh Lord +Jesus!' 'Help me, Jesus!' and the like. Meanwhile the two priests +continued to walk among them; they repeatedly mounted on the benches, and +trumpet-mouthed proclaimed to the whole congregation 'the tidings of +salvation;' and then from every corner of the building arose in reply, +short sharp cries of 'Amen!' 'Glory!' 'Amen!' while the prostrate +penitents continued to receive whispered comfortings, and from time to +time a mystic caress. More than once I saw a young neck encircled by a +reverend arm. Violent hysterics and convulsions seized many of them, and +when the tumult was at the highest, the priest who remained above, again +gave out a hymn as if to drown it. It was a frightful sight to behold +innocent young creatures, in the gay morning of existence, thus seized +upon, horror-struck, and rendered feeble and enervated for ever. One young +girl, apparently not more than fourteen, was supported in the arms of +another, some years older; her face was pale as death; her eyes wide open, +and perfectly devoid of meaning; her chin and bosom wet with slaver; she +had every appearance of idiotism. I saw a priest approach her, he took her +delicate hand, 'Jesus is with her! Bless the Lord!' he said, and passed on. +Did the men of America value their women as men ought to value their wives +and daughters, would such scenes be permitted among them? + +"It is hardly necessary to say that all who obeyed the call to place +themselves on the 'anxious benches' were women, and by far the greater +number very young women. The congregration was in general, extremely well +dressed, and the smartest and most fashionable ladies of the town were +there; during the whole revival the churches and meeting-houses were every +day crowded with well-dressed people." + +"It is thus the ladies of Cincinnati amuse themselves; to attend the +theatre is forbidden; to play cards is unlawful; but they work hard in +their families and must have some relaxation. For myself, I confess that I +think the coarsest comedy ever written would be a less detestable +exhibition for the eyes of youth and innocence than such a scene." + + * * * * * + + + +SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS. + + +THE COFFIN-MAKER. + +The paper in the _New Monthly Magazine_, under this title, occupies a +sheet or sixteen pages, and is stated to be from the pen of the Hon. Mrs. +Norton. It is written in an almost breathless, and purposely hurried, +style, and the narrative of feelings and incidents flows with such +rapidity, that the reader is carried onward, _nolens volens, vi et verbis_ +through the adventures. The writer is the son of a carpenter: his father +dies; unable to obtain any other employment, he obtains that of a +coffin-maker. His aversion to the trade, and the state of his feelings is +thus naturally described: + +"The first few weeks of my employment passed pleasantly enough; my master +was satisfied with me, and on Sunday evenings I was able occasionally to +enjoy a walk. But my spirits soon became less buoyant, and even my health +began to suffer; I entirely lost the florid look which was my poor mother's +admiration; my very step grew slower, and there were Sundays when I +declined the evening walk, which had been my only recreation, merely +because the happy laugh and continued jests of (my friend) Henry Richards +annoyed and distressed me while contrasted with my own heaviness of heart. +Evening after evening, sometimes through a whole dismal night, I worked at +my melancholy employment; and as my master was poor, and employed no other +journey-man, I worked most commonly alone. Frequently as the heavy hammer +descended, breaking at regular intervals the peaceful silence of night, I +recalled some scene of sorrow and agony that I had witnessed in the day; +and as the echo of some shriek or stifled moan struck in fancy on my ear, +I would pause to wipe the dew from my brow and curse the trade of a +coffin-maker. Every day some fresh cause appeared to arise for loathing my +occupation; whilst all were alike strangers to me in the town where my +master lived, I worked cheerfully and wrote merrily home; but now that I +began to know every one, to be acquainted with the number of members which +composed different families, to hear of their sicknesses and misfortunes; +now that link after link bound me as it were by a spell, to feel for those +round me, and to belong to them, my cheerfulness was over. The mother +turned her eyes from me with a shuddering sigh, and gazed on the dear +circle of little ones as if she sought to penetrate futurity and guess +which of the young things, now rosy in health, was to follow her long lost +and still lamented one. The doting father pressed the arm of his pale +consumptive girl nearer to his heart, as he passed me: friends who were +yet sorrowing for their bereavement, gave up the attempt at cheerfulness, +and relapsed into melancholy silence at my approach. If I attempted (as I +often did at first) to converse gaily with such of the townspeople as were +of my master's rank in life, I was checked by a bitter smile, or a sudden +sigh, which told me that while _I_ was giving way to levity, the thoughts +of my hearers had wandered back to the heavy hours when their houses were +last darkened by the shadow of death. I carried about with me an unceasing +curse; an imaginary barrier separated me from my fellow men. I felt like +an executioner, from whose bloody touch men shrink, not so much from +loathing of the _man_, who is but the instrument of death, as from horror +at the image of that death itself--death, sudden, appalling, and +inevitable. Like him, I brought the presence of death too vividly before +them; like him, I was connected with the infliction of a doom I had no +power to avert. Men withheld from me their affection, refused me their +sympathy, as if I were not like themselves. My very mortality seemed less +obvious to their imaginations when contrasted with the hundreds for whom +my hand prepared the last narrow dwelling-house, which was to shroud for +ever their altered faces from sorrowful eyes. Where _I_ came, _there_ came +heaviness of heart, mournfulness, and weeping. Laughter was hushed at my +approach; conversation ceased; darkness and silence fell around my +steps--the darkness and the silence of _death_. Gradually I became awake +to my situation. I no longer attempted to hold free converse with my +fellow men. I suffered the gloom of their hearts to overshadow mine. My +step crept slowly and stealthily into their dwellings; my voice lowered +itself to sadness and monotony; I pressed no hand in token of +companionship; no hand pressed mine, except when wrung with agony, some +wretch, whose burden was more than he could bear restrained me for a few +moments of maddened and convulsive grief, from putting the last finishing +stroke to my work, and held me back to gaze yet again on features which I +was about to cover from his sight. It is well that God, in his +unsearchable wisdom, hath made death loathsome to us. It is well that an +undefined and instinctive shrinking within us, makes what we have loved +for long years, in a few hours + + "That lifeless thing, the living fear." + +It is well that the soul hath scarcely quitted the body ere the work of +corruption is begun. For if, even thus, mortality clings to the remnants +of mortality, with 'love stronger than death;' if, as I have seen it, warm +and living lips are pressed to features where the gradually sinking eye +and hollow cheek speak horribly of departed life; what would it be if the +winged soul left its tenement of clay, to be resolved only into a marble +death; to remain cold, beautiful, and imperishable; every day to greet our +eyes; every night to be watered with our tears? The bonds which hold men +together would be broken; the future would lose its interest in our minds; +we should remain sinfully mourning the idols of departed love, whose +presence forbade oblivion of their loveliness; and a thin and scattered +population would wander through the world as through the valley of the +shadow of death! How often have I been interrupted when about to nail down +a coffin, by the agonized entreaties of some wretch to whom the +discoloured clay bore yet the trace of beauty, and the darkened lid seemed +only closed in slumber! How often have I said, 'Surely _that_ heart will +break with its woe!' and yet, in a little while, the bowed spirit rose +again, the eye sparkled, and the lip smiled, _because the dead were +covered from their sight_; and that which is present to man's senses is +destined to affect him far more powerfully than the dreams of his +imagination or memory. How often, too, have I seen the reverse of the +picture I have just drawn; when the pale unconscious corse has lain +abandoned in its loveliness, and grudging hands have scantily dealt out a +portion of their superfluity, to obtain the last rites for one who so +lately moved, spoke, smiled, and walked amongst them! And I have felt, +even then, that there were those to whom that neglected being had been far +more precious than heaps of gold, and I have mourned for them who perished +among strangers. One horrible scene has chased another from my mind +through a succession of years; and some of those which, perhaps, deeply +affected me at the time, are, by the mercy of Heaven, forgotten. But +enough remains to enable me to give a faint outline of the causes which +have changed me from what I was, to the gloomy joyless being I am at +length become. There is one scene indelibly impressed upon my memory." + +A scene of domestic tragedy follows, which is wrought up with great effect: + +"I was summoned late at night to the house of a respectable merchant, who +had been reduced, in a great measure, by the wilful extravagance of his +only son, from comparative wealth to ruin and distress. I was met by the +widow, on whose worn and weary face the calm of despair had settled. She +spoke to me for a few moments, and begged me to use dispatch and caution +in the exercise of my calling:--'for indeed,' said she, 'I have watched my +living son with a sorrow that has almost made me forget grief for the +departed. For five days and five nights I have watched, and his bloodshot +eye has not closed, no, not for a moment, from its horrible task of gazing +on the dead face of the father that cursed him. He sleeps now, if sleep it +can be called, that is rather the torpor of exhaustion; but his rest is +taken on that father's death-bed. Oh! young man, feel for me! Do your task +in such a manner, that my wretched boy may not awake till it is over, and +the blessing of the widow be on you for ever!' To this strange prayer I +could only offer a solemn assurance that I would do my utmost to obey her; +and with slow creeping steps we ascended the narrow stairs which led to +the chamber of death. It was a dark, wretched-looking, ill-furnished room, +and a drizzling November rain pattered unceasingly at the latticed window, +which was shaken from time to time by the fitful gusts of a moaning wind. +A damp chillness pervaded the atmosphere, and rotted the falling paper +from the walls; and, as I looked towards the hearth, (for there was no +grate,) I felt painfully convinced that the old man had died without the +common comforts his situation imperiously demanded. The white-washed sides +of the narrow fire-place were encrusted with a green damp, and the +chimney-vent was stuffed with straw and fragments of old carpet, to +prevent the cold wind from whistling through the aperture. The common +expression, 'He has seen better days,' never so forcibly occurred to me as +at that moment. He _had_ seen better days: he had toiled cheerfully +through the day, and sat down to a comfortable evening meal. The wine-cup +had gone round; and the voice of laughter had been heard at his table for +many a year, and yet here he had crept to die like a beggar! I looked at +the flock bed, and felt my heart grow sick within me. The corpse of a man, +apparently about sixty, lay stretched upon it, and on his hollow and +emaciated features the hand of death had printed the ravages of many days. +The veins had ceased to give even the appearance of life to the +discoloured skin; the eyelids were deep sunken, and the whole countenance +was (and none but those accustomed to gaze on the face of the dead can +understand me) utterly expressionless. But if a sight like this was +sickening and horrible, what shall I say of the miserable being to whom a +temporary oblivion was giving strength for renewed agony? He had +apparently been sitting at the foot of the corpse, and, as the torpor of +heavy slumber stole over him, had sunk forward, his hand still retaining +the hand of the dead man. His face was hid; but his figure, and the thick +curls of dark hair, bespoke early youth. I judged him at most, to be +two-and-twenty. I began my task of measuring the body, and few can tell +the shudder which thrilled my frame as the carpenter's rule passed those +locked hands--the vain effort of the living still to claim kindred with +the dead! It was over, and I stole from the room, cautiously and silently +as I entered. Once, and only once, I turned to gaze at the melancholy +group. There lay the corpse, stiff and unconscious; there sat the son, in +an unconsciousness yet more terrible, since it could not last. There, pale +and tearless, stood the wife of him, who, in his dying hour, cursed her +child and his. How little she dreamed of such a scene when her meek lips +first replied to his vows of affection! How little she dreamed of such a +scene when she first led that father to the cradle of his sleeping boy! +when they bent together with smiles of affection, to watch his quiet +slumber, and catch the gentle breathing of his parted lips! I had scarcely +reached the landing-place before the wretched woman's hand was laid +lightly on my arm to arrest my progress. Her noiseless step had followed +me without my being aware of it. 'How soon will your work be done?' said +she, in a suffocated voice. 'To-morrow I could be here again,' answered I. +'To-morrow! and what am I to do, if my boy wakes before that time?' and +her voice became louder and hoarse with fear. 'He will go mad, I am sure +he will; his brain will not hold against these horrors. Oh! that God would +hear me!--that God would hear me! and let that slumber sit on his senses +till the sight of the father that cursed him is no longer present to us! +Heaven be merciful to me!' and with the last words she clasped her hands +convulsively, and gazed upwards. I had known opiates administered to +sufferers whose grief for their bereavement almost amounted to madness. I +mentioned this hesitatingly to the widow, and she eagerly caught at it. +'Yes! that would do,' exclaimed she; 'that would do, if I could but get +him past that horrible moment! But stay; I dare not leave him alone as he +is, even for a little while:--what will become of me!' I offered to +procure the medicine for her, and soon returned with it. I gave it into +her hands, and her vehement expressions of thankfulness wrung my heart. I +had attempted to move the pity of the apothecary at whose shop I obtained +the drug, by an account of the scene I had witnessed, in order to induce +him to pay a visit to the house of mourning; but in vain. To him, who had +_not_ witnessed it, it was nothing but a tale of every-day distress. All +that long night I worked at the merchant's coffin, and the dim grey light +of the wintry morning found me still toiling on. Often, during the hours +passed thus heavily, that picture of wretchedness rose before me. Again I +saw the leaning and exhausted form of the young man, buried in slumber, on +his father's death-bed: again my carpenter's rule almost touched the +clasped hands of the dead and the living, and a cold shudder mingled with +the chill of the dawning day, and froze my blood." + +"As I passed up one of the streets which led to the merchant's lodgings, +my head bending under the weight of the coffin I was carrying, at every +step I took, the air seemed to grow more thick around me, and at length, +overcome by weariness, both of body and mind, I stopped, loosed the straps +which steadied my melancholy burden, and placing it in an upright position +against the wall, wiped the dew from my forehead, and (shall I confess it?) +the tears from my eyes. I was endeavouring to combat the depression of my +feelings by the reflection that I was the support and comfort of my poor +old mother's life, when my attention was roused by the evident compassion +of a young lady, who, after passing me with a hesitating step, withdrew +her arm from that of her more elderly companion, and pausing for an +instant, put a shilling into my hand, saying, 'You look very weary, my +poor man; pray get something to drink with that.' A more lovely +countenance (if by lovely be meant that which engages love) was never +moulded by nature; the sweetness and compassion of her pale face and soft +innocent eyes; the kindness of her gentle voice, made an impression on my +memory too strong to be effaced. _I saw her once again!_ I reached the +merchant's lodgings and my knock was answered as on the former occasion, +by the widow herself. She sighed heavily as she saw me, and after one or +two attempts to speak, informed me that her son was awake, but that it was +impossible for her to administer the opiate, as he refused to let the +smallest nourishment pass his lips; but that he was quite quiet, indeed +had never spoken since he woke, except to ask her how she felt; and she +thought I might proceed without fear of his interruption. I entered +accordingly, followed by a lad, son to the landlady who kept the lodgings, +and with his assistance I proceeded to lift the corpse, and lay it in the +coffin. The widow's son remained motionless, and, as it were, stupified +during this operation: but the moment he saw me prepare the lid of the +coffin so as to be screwed down, he started up with the energy and +gestures of a madman. His glazed eyes seemed bursting from their sockets, +and his upper lip, leaving his teeth bare, gave his mouth the appearance +of a horrible and convulsive smile. He seized my arm with his whole +strength; and, as I felt his grasp, and saw him struggling for words, I +expected to hear curses and execrations, or the wild howl of an infuriated +madman. I was mistaken. The wail of a sickly child, who dreads its +mother's departure, was the only sound to which I could compare that +wretched man's voice. He held me with a force almost supernatural; but +his tongue uttered supplications in a feeble monotonous tone, and with the +most humble and beseeching manner. 'Leave him,' exclaimed he, 'leave him a +little while longer. He will forgive me; I know he will. He spoke that +horrible word to rouse my conscience. But I heard him and came back to him. +I would have toiled and bled for him; he knows that well. Hush! hush! I +cannot hear his voice for my mother's sobs; but I know he will forgive me. +Oh! father, do not refuse! I am humble--I am penitent. Father, I have +sinned against Heaven and before thee--father, I have sinned! Oh! mother, +he is cursing me again. He is lifting his hand to curse me--his right hand. +Look, mother, look! Save me, O God! my father curses me on his dying bed! +Save me, oh!----' The unfinished word resolved itself into a low hollow +groan, and he fell back insensible. I would have assisted him, but his +mother waved me back. 'Better so, better so,' she repeated hurriedly; 'it +is the mercy of God which has caused this--do you do your duty, and I will +do mine,' and she continued to kneel and support the head of her son, +while we fastened and secured down the coffin. At length all was finished, +and then and not till then we carried the wretched youth from the chamber +of death, to one as dark, as gloomy, and as scantily furnished, but having +a wood fire burning in the grate, and a bed with ragged curtains at one +end of it. And here, in comparative comfort, the landlady allowed him to +be placed, even though she saw little chance of her lodgers being able to +pay for the change. Into the glass of water held to his parched lips, as +he recovered his senses, I poured a sufficient quantity of the opiate to +produce slumber, and had the satisfaction of hearing his mother fervently +thank God, as still half unconscious, he swallowed the draught. I thought +he would not have survived the shock he had received; but I was mistaken. +The merchant was buried and forgotten; the son lived, and we met again in +a far, far different scene." + + * * * * * + + + +THE GATHERER. + + +NOBLES OF JOHANNA. + +We had long been aware that the potentates of the _Guinea coast_ not only +assume English titles, but wear under, or in place of, diadems, the +cast-off wigs of our Lord Chancellors--but we were not prepared for what +follows in the latitude of the Mozambique Channel, as related by Captain +Basil Hall. + +"We proceeded to our guide's house, where he introduced us, not indeed to +his wives, for all these ladies were stowed away behind a screen of mats, +but to some of the males of his family, and, amongst others, to a queer +copper-coloured gentleman, who styled himself, in his communications with +us, 'the Duke of Devonshire,' and begged very hard to be allowed the +honour of having our linen to wash. His Grace was a little dumpy fellow, +who stooped considerably, wore neither shoes nor stockings, and exhibited +so little of a nose, that when you caught his countenance in profile, the +facial line, as the physiognomists call it, suffered no interruption when +drawn from the brow to the lips. The poor Duke little knew the cause of +the laughter which his occupation, title, and the contrast of looks, +excited in those of our party who had seen his grace's noble namesake in +the opposite hemisphere." + +"Most of the natives of Johanna, even the negro slaves, talk a little +English; but the best examples of such acquirements were found, where they +ought to be, amongst the grandees of the island. The following is a fair +specimen of the conversation of the dukes and earls at the capital of the +Comoros.--'How do you do, sir? Very glad see you. D--n your eyes! Johanna +man like English very much. God d--n! That very good? Eh? Devilish hot, +sir! What news? Hope your ship stay too long while, very. D--n my eye! +Very fine day.' After which, in a sort of whisper, accompanied by a most +insinuating smile, his lordship, or his grace, as the rank of the party +might be, would add:--'You want orange? You want goat? Cheap! I got good, +very. You send me you clothes; I wash with my own hand--clean! fine! very! +I got every thing, plenty, great, much! God d--n!' And then, as if to +clench the favourable opinion which these eloquent appeals had made, the +speaker was sure to produce a handful of certificates from mates of +Indiamen, masters of Yankee brigs, and middies of men-of-war; some written +in solemn earnest, some quizzically, but all declaring his lordship, the +bearer, to be a pretty good washerman, but the sort of person not to be +trusted far out of sight, as he would certainly walk off with your +clothes-bag if he could safely do so."--_Autobiography, Second Series_. + + * * * * * + +_Bed of Leaves_.--In some countries the leaves of the beech tree are +collected in autumn, before they have been injured by the frost, and are +used instead of feathers for beds; and mattresses formed of them are said +to be preferable to those either of straw or chaff. + + * * * * * + +_Pure Style_.--Cardinal Bembo was so rigorous with regard to purity of +style, that he is said to have had forty different partitions, through +which his writings, as he polished them by degrees, successively passed; +nor did he publish them till they had sustained these forty examinations. +How would the cardinal have acted with the editorship of a daily newspaper. + + * * * * * + +_To lie at the Pool of Bethesda_ is used proverbially in Germany, in +speaking of the theological candidates who are waiting for a benefice. + + * * * * * + +_Court Pun_.--The witty Marquess de Bièvre was asked by Louis XV. for a +pun. "Give me a subject, sire,'" said B. "Make it on myself," said Louis. +"Sire, the king is not a subject," was the pleasant reply. + + * * * * * + +_History_.--The first page of Thucydides is, in my opinion, the +commencement of real history. All preceding narrations are so intermixed +with fable, that philosophers ought to abandon them in a great measure, to +the embellishment of the poet and orator.--_Hume_. + + * * * * * + +_Old Squibs_.--Richard Bentley and Charles Boyle (Earl of Orrery,) had a +warm dispute relative to the genuineness of the Greek Epistles of Phalaris, +an edition of which was published by the latter. Bentley was victorious, +though he was kept in hot water with the critics and wits of the age. Dr. +Garth assailed him thus: + + So diamonds owe a lustre to their foil, + And to a _Bentley_ 'tis we owe a _Boyle_. + +Conyers Middleton was a sad thorn in Bentley's side, from the latter +having called the former, when a young student in the university, +_fiddling_ Conyers, because he played on the violin. A punning caricature +represented B. about to be thrust into the brazen bull of Phalaris, and +exclaiming, "I had rather be _roasted_ than _Boyled_." + + * * * * * + +_Hip, Hip, Hurra!_--During the stirring times of the Crusades, the +chivalry of Europe was excited to arms by the inflammatory appeals of the +well-known Peter the Hermit. While preaching the Crusade, this furious +zealot was accustomed to exhibit a banner emblazoned with the following +letters, H.E.P., the initials of the Latin words, _"Hierosolyma Est +Perdita_," Jerusalem is destroyed. The people in some of the countries +which he visited, not being acquainted with the Latin, read and pronounced +the inscription as if one word--HEP. The followers of the Hermit were +accustomed, whenever an unfortunate Jew appeared in the streets, to raise +the cry, "Hep, hep, hurra," to hunt him down, and flash upon the +defenceless Israelite their maiden swords, before they essayed their +temper with the scimetar of the Saracen.--_Tatler_. + + * * * * * + +_Wool-gathering_.--A very patriotic landlord, Squire Henry, of Straffan, +county of Kildare, had hit on an expedient to benefit the wool-growers in +general, and his numerous tenantry in particular. Knowing that market +value is in the direct ratio of demand and scarcity, he annually buried +the wool shorn from _his own_ sheep, lest it might interfere with the +profitable sale of his tenants' fleeces. But, alas! this generous system +of self-sacrifice did not "work well." The result was--though Squire Henry +never suspected the existence of such turpitude in the human heart--the +ungrateful tenantry dug up by night what he buried by day, wool never rose +in price, and they never were able to pay up their arrears of +rent.--_Fraser's Magazine_. + + * * * * * + +One day, a physician alighted from his carriage, and entering the shop of +a medical bookseller, inquired of its sleek-faced master, "whether he had +a copy of Heberden's _Commentaries_?" "No, sir," replied the man of +letters, "but we have Caesar's _Commentaries_, and they are by far the +best."--_Metropolitan_. + + * * * * * + +_Mortality in the reign of William IV_.--Since the accession of King +William not less, we are told, than _twenty-four_ generals and +_twenty-six_ admirals, have found their way into Westminster Abbey, or +elsewhere. Considering that his majesty continues to receive the most +friendly assurances from all foreign powers, this attack upon the army and +navy list is rather prodigious. Napoleon himself could scarcely have made +greater gaps in the United Service Club in the time. To be sure they were +not all Nelsons and Marlboroughs, or we should have marked them as they +dropped off; whereas one can hardly name, five of the fifty great warriors. +--_Ibid_. + + * * * * * + +_Origin of Black Monday_.--Black Monday--Easter Monday, in the year 1359, +when hail stones killed both men and horses in the army of our King Edward +the Third, in France. He was on his march, within two leagues of Chartres, +when there happened a storm of piercing wind, that swelled to a tempest of +rain, lightning, and hail stones, so prodigious, as instantly to kill +6,000 of his horses, and 1,000 of his best troops. P.T.W. + + * * * * * + +*** MR. HAYDON'S Exhibition in our next. + + * * * * * + + +_Printed and Published by J. LIMBIRD, 143, Strand, (near Somerset House,) +London; sold by ERNEST FLEISCHER, 626, New Market, Leipsic; G.G. BENNIS, +55, Rue Neuve, St. Augustin, Paris; and by all Newsmen and Booksellers_. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, +and Instruction, by Various + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 12550 *** diff --git a/12550-h/12550-h.htm b/12550-h/12550-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1618889 --- /dev/null +++ b/12550-h/12550-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,1787 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> +<head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" /> + + <title>The Mirror of Literature, Volume XIX. No. 540.</title> + + <style type="text/css"> + <!-- + body {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + p {text-align: justify;} + blockquote {text-align: justify;} + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 {text-align: center;} + pre {font-size: 0.7em;} + + hr {text-align: center; width: 50%;} + html>body hr {margin-right: 25%; margin-left: 25%; width: 50%;} + hr.full {width: 100%;} + html>body hr.full {margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 0%; width: 100%;} + hr.short {text-align: center; width: 20%;} + html>body hr.short {margin-right: 40%; margin-left: 40%; width: 20%;} + + .note, .footnote + {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} + + span.pagenum + {position: absolute; left: 1%; right: 91%; font-size: 8pt;} + + .poem + {margin-left:10%; margin-right:10%; margin-bottom: 1em; text-align: left;} + .poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} + .poem p {margin: 0; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem p.i2 {margin-left: 1em;} + .poem p.i4 {margin-left: 2em;} + .poem p.i6 {margin-left: 3em;} + .poem p.i8 {margin-left: 4em;} + .poem p.i10 {margin-left: 5em;} + .poem p.i14 {margin-left: 9em;} + + .figure + {padding: 1em; margin: 0; text-align: center; font-size: 0.8em; margin: auto;} + .figure img + {border: none;} + .figure p + + .side { float:right; + font-size: 75%; + width: 25%; + padding-left:10px; + border-left: dashed thin; + margin-left: 10px; + text-align: left; + text-indent: 0; + font-weight: bold; + font-style: italic;} + --> + </style> +</head> +<body> +<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 12550 ***</div> + + <hr class="full" /> + +<span class="pagenum"> + <a id="page193" + name="page193"> + </a>[pg 193] +</span> + + <h1>THE MIRROR<br /> + OF<br /> + LITERATURE, AMUSEMENT, AND INSTRUCTION.</h1> + <hr class="full" /> + + <table width="100%" summary="Volume, Number, and Date"> + <tr> + <td align="left"><b>Vol. XIX. No. 540.]</b></td> + <td align="center"><b>SATURDAY, MARCH 31, 1832.</b></td> + <td align="right"><b>[PRICE 2d.</b></td> + </tr> + </table> + <hr class="full" /> + + +<h2>BANKSIDE.—OLD THEATRES.</h2> + +<div class="figure" style="width:100%;"><a href="images/540-001.png"> +<img width = "100%" src="images/540-001.png" alt="BANKSIDE IN 1648." /></a></div> + +<div class="figure" style="width:100%;"><a href="images/540-002.png"> +<img width = "100%" src="images/540-002.png" alt="BULL AND BEAR-BAITING THEATRES." /></a></div> + +<div class="figure" style="width:100%;"><a href="images/540-003.png"> +<img width = "100%" src="images/540-003.png" alt="BEAR-BAITING—ROSE—GLOBE." /></a></div> + +<p> +The ancient topography of the southern bank of the Thames (or <i>Bankside</i>) +between London and Blackfriars bridges is peculiarly interesting to the +lover of dramatic lore, as well as to the inquirer into the sports and +pastimes of our ancestors. It appears to have been the <i>Arcadia</i> of the +olden metropolis, if such a term be applicable to a place notorious for +the indulgence of brutal sports. +</p> +<p> +The Cut in the adjoining column represents Bankside in 1648, from which it +appears to have been then in part waste and unenclosed. "It was land +belonging to the crown, and on various parts of it stood the Globe Theatre, +the Bear Garden, and other places of public +<span class="pagenum"> + <a id="page194" + name="page194"> + </a>[pg 194] +</span> +show; here were also the Pike +Gardens, some time called the Queen's Pike Gardens, with ponds for the +preservation of fresh-water fish, which were said to be kept for the +supply of the royal table, under the inspection of an officer, called the +king's purveyor of pike, who had here a house for his residence." +<a id="footnotetag1" + name="footnotetag1"></a> +<sup><a href="#footnote1">1</a></sup> On +the Bankside, prior to the above date, were also the ancient Bordello, or +Stews, which, according to Pennant, were distinguished by their respective +signs painted against the walls, one of which, in particular, was the +Cardinal's Hat; and a small court, now or till lately called <i>Cardinal's +Hat Court</i>, still exists on the Bankside, and probably shows the precise +site of the mansion of depravity. In like manner we find on Bankside, +<i>Pike Garden</i>, <i>Globe Alley</i>, and in the vicinity a public-house with the +sign of the <i>Globe</i>. On Bankside also stood an ancient Hall and Palace of +the Bishops of Winchester, stated to have been built by William Gifford, +Bishop of Winchester, about the year 1107, on a piece of ground belonging +to the Prior of Bermondsey, to whom was paid a yearly acknowledgment. The +great court, at one time belonging to this palace, is still known by the +name of <i>Winchester Square</i>, and in the adjacent street was, some time +since, an abutment of one of the gates. Near this Palace, on the south, at +one time stood the Episcopal Palace of the Bishops of Rochester; which is +supposed to have bequeathed its name to <i>Rochester Street</i>. The whole of +the <i>Bank</i> shown in the Cut is now densely populated, and scarcely a pole +of green sward is left to denote its ancient state. On the opposite or +Middlesex bank may be distinguished the celebrated Castle Baynard. +</p> +<p> +The second Cut represents the BULL and BEAR-BAITING THEATRES, as they +appeared in their first state, A.D. 1560. This spot was called Paris +Garden, and the two theatres are said to have been the first that were +formed near London. In these, according to Stow, were scaffolds for the +spectators to stand upon, an indulgence for which they paid in the +following manner: "Those who go to Paris Garden, the Bell Savage, or +Theatre, to behold bear-baiting, enterludes, or fence-play, must not +account of any pleasant spectacle unless they first pay one penny at the +gate, another at the entrie of the scaffold, and a third for quiet +standing." One Sunday afternoon, in the year 1582, the scaffold, being +overcharged with spectators, fell down during the performance, and a great +number of persons were killed or maimed by the accident, which the +puritans of the time failed not to attribute to a Divine judgment. These +theatres were patronized by royalty: for we read that Queen Elizabeth, on +the 26th of May, 1599, went by water with the French ambassadors to Paris +Garden, where they saw a baiting of bulls and bears. Indeed, Southwark +seems to have long been of sporting notoriety, for, in the Humorous Lovers, +printed in 1617, one of the characters says, "I'll set up my bills, that +the gamesters of London, Horsly-down, <i>Southwark</i>, and Newmarket, may come +in and bait him (the bear,) here before the ladies, &c." +<a id="footnotetag2" + name="footnotetag2"></a> +<sup><a href="#footnote2">2</a></sup> +</p> +<p> +The third Cut includes the GLOBE, ROSE, and BEAR-BAITING THEATRES, as they +appeared about the year 1612. Of the Globe we have been furnished with the +following account by a zealous correspondent, <i>G.W.</i>: +</p> +<p> +The Globe Theatre stood on a plot of ground, now occupied by four houses, +contiguous to the present Globe Alley, Maiden Lane, Southwark. This +theatre was of considerable size. It is not certain when it was built. +Hentzner, the German traveller, who gives an amusing description of London +in the time of Queen Elizabeth, alludes to it as existing in 1598, but it +was probably not built long before 1596. It was an hexagonal, wooden +building, partly open to the weather, and partly thatched with reeds, on +which, as well as other theatres, a pole was erected, to which a flag was +affixed. These flags were probably displayed only during the hours of +performance; and it should seem from one of the old comedies that they +were taken down in Lent, in which time, during the early part of King +James's reign, plays were not allowed to be represented, though at a +subsequent period this prohibition was dispensed with by paying a fee to +the Master of the Revels. +</p> +<p> +It was called the Globe from its sign, which was a figure of Hercules, or +Atlas, supporting a globe, under which was written, <i>Totus mundus agit +histrionem</i>, (All the world acts a play):—and not as many have +conjectured, that the Globe though hexagonal at the outside, was a rotunda +within, and that it might have derived its name from its circular form. +</p> +<p> +This theatre was burnt down June 29, 1613, +<span class="pagenum"> + <a id="page195" + name="page195"> + </a>[pg 195] +</span> + but it was rebuilt with greater +splendour in the following year. The Cut represents the original theatre. +The account of this accident is given by Sir Henry Wotton, in a letter +dated July 2, 1613.<a id="footnotetag3" + name="footnotetag3"></a> +<sup><a href="#footnote3">3</a></sup> "Now to let matters of state sleepe, I will +entertain you at the present with what happened this week at the Banks +side. The King's players had a new play called All is True, representing +some principal pieces of the reign of Henry the Eighth, which set forth +with many extraordinary circumstances of pomp and majesty even to the +matting of the stage; the knights of the order with their Georges and +Garter, the guards with their embroidered coats, and the like: sufficient +in truth within awhile to make greatness very familiar, if not ridiculous. +Now King Henry making a Masque at the Cardinal Wolsey's house, and certain +cannons being shot off at his entry, some of the paper or other stuff, +wherewith one of them was stopped, did light on the thatch, where being +thought at first but idle smoak, and their eyes more attentive to the show, +it kindled inwardly, and ran round like a train, consuming within less +than an hour the whole house to the very ground. This was the fatal period +of that virtuous fabrick, wherein yet nothing did perish but <i>wood</i> and +<i>straw</i>, and a few forsaken cloaks; only one man had his breeches set on +fire, that would perhaps have broyled him, if he had not by the benefit of +a provident wit, put it out with a bottle of ale." +</p> +<p> +From a letter of Mr. John Chamberlaine to Sir Ralph Winwood, dated July 8, +1613, in which this accident is likewise mentioned, we learn that the +theatre had only two doors.<a id="footnotetag4" + name="footnotetag4"></a> +<sup><a href="#footnote4">4</a></sup> "The burning of the Globe or playhouse on +the Bankside on St. Peter's day cannot escape you; which fell out by a +peal of chambers, (that I know not upon what occasion were to be used in +the play,) the tampin or stopple of one of them lighting in the thatch +that covered the house, burn'd it down to the ground in less than two +hours, with a dwelling-house adjoyning; and it was a great marvaile and a +fair grace of God that the people had so little harm, having but <i>two +narrow doors</i> to get out." +</p> +<p> +In 1613, was entered in the Stationers' books, "A doleful ballad of the +General Conflagration of the famous Theatre called the Globe." +</p> +<p> +Taylor, the water poet, commemorates the event in the following lines: +</p> +<div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>"As gold is better that in fire's tried,</p> + <p class="i2"> So is the Bankside Globe, that late was burn'd;</p> + <p>For where before it had a thatched hide,</p> + <p class="i2">Now to a stately theatre 'tis turn'd;</p> + <p>Which is an emblem that great things are won;</p> + <p class="i2">By those that dare through greatest dangers run."</p> + </div> +</div> +<p> +It is also alluded to in some verses by Ben Jonson, entitled, "An +Execration upon Vulcan," from which it appears that Ben Jonson was in the +theatre when it was burnt. +</p> +<p> +This theatre was open in summer and the performances took place by +daylight; the King's company usually began to play in the month of May. +The exhibitions appear to have been calculated for the lower class of +people, and to have been more frequent than those at the Blackfriars, till +1604 or 5, when it became less fashionable and frequented. Being +contiguous to the Bear Garden, it is probable that those who resorted +there went to the theatre, when the bear-baiting sports were over, and +such persons were not likely to form a very refined audience. +</p> +<p> +We have no description of the interior of the Globe, but that it was +somewhat similar to our modern theatres, with an open space in the roof: +or perhaps it more resembled an inn-yard, where, in the beginning of Queen +Elizabeth's reign, many of our ancient dramatic pieces were performed. The +galleries in both were arranged on three sides of the building; the small +rooms under the lowest, answered to our present boxes and were called +rooms; the yard bears a sufficient resemblance to the pit, as at present +in use, and where the common people stood to see the exhibition; from +which circumstance they are called by Shakspeare "the <i>groundlings</i>," and +by Ben Jonson, "the <i>understanding</i> gentlemen of the <i>ground</i>." The stage +was erected in the area, with its back to the gateway where the admission +money was taken. The price of admission into the best <i>rooms</i>, or boxes, +was in Shakspeare's time, a shilling, though afterwards it appears to have +risen to two shillings and half-a-crown. The galleries, or scaffolds, as +they were sometimes called, and that part of the house which in private +theatres was named the pit, seem to have been the same price, which was +sixpence, while in some meaner playhouses it was only a penny, and in +others two-pence. +</p> +<p> +We learn from Sir Henry Hebert, that 20<i>l</i>. was the greatest receipt for +one day's performance; by that we may calculate upon the house having +contained about +<span class="pagenum"> + <a id="page196" + name="page196"> + </a>[pg 196] +</span> +700 persons, at the prices before stated; that is to say, +100 for the boxes, and the rest in the other parts of the house. +</p> +<p> +Part of the site of this theatre is now occupied by the brewery of Messrs. +Barclay and Perkins; and in the <i>History of St. Saviour's</i>, already quoted, +we read that "the passage which led to the Globe Tavern, of which the +playhouse formed a part, was, till within these few years, known by the +name of Globe Alley, and upon its site now stands a large store-house for +porter." +</p> +<p> +The <i>Rose</i> or smaller theatre, was erected in the year 1592, and is stated +to have cost £103. 2<i>s</i>. 7<i>d</i>.—a sum which would scarcely pay half the +expenses of a modern patent theatre for a single night! +</p> +<p> +These theatres appear to have been cited as nuisances by the parish +officers of St. Saviour's, in which they stood; for in July, 1597-8, a +resolution was agreed to by a vestry of the parish, "that a petition shall +be made to the bodye of the Councell, (Privy Council,) concerning the +play-houses in this parish; wherein all the enormities shall be showed +that come thereby to the parish, and that in respect thereof they may be +dismissed, and put down from playing: and that four, or two of the +Churchwardens, &c. shall present the cause with a collector of the +Boroughside, and another of the Bankside." The presentation of this +petition did not produce the desired effect; for some time afterwards the +play-houses not having been put down, the Churchwardens of St. Saviour's, +as appears from an entry in their Parish Register, endeavoured to obtain +tithes and poor-rates from the owners and managers of the theatres on the +Bankside.<a id="footnotetag5" + name="footnotetag5"></a> +<sup><a href="#footnote5">5</a></sup> This corresponds with the state of the English theatre, at +this period, at the height of its glory and reputation. Dramatic authors +of the first excellence, and eminent actors equally abounded; every year +produced a number of new plays; nay, so great was the passion for show or +representation, that it was the fashion for the nobility to celebrate +their weddings, birthdays, and other occasions of rejoicing, with masques +and interludes; the king, queen, and court frequently performing in those +represented in the royal palaces, and all the nobility being actors in +their old private houses. Alas! +</p> +<div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>What's gone and what's past help</p> + <p>Should be past grief.</p> + </div> +</div> +<p> +Dryden sung +</p> +<div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="i8">Support the stage,</p> + <p>Which so declines that shortly we may see</p> + <p>Players and plays reduced to second infancy!</p> + </div> +</div> +<p> +—What would he sing in these times! +</p> +<p> +Among the numerous memoranda of the topography of this interesting +district, we find that the well-known iron foundry of Messrs. Bradley, now +occupies the site of a Bear-garden. The Falcon public-house adjoining the +foundry of that name, was once the most considerable inn in the county of +Surrey, the adjoining foundry being anciently a part of it: and it is said +that very near the Falcon was once a mill for the grinding of corn, for +the Priory of St. Mary Overy. +</p> +<p> +To conclude. The accompanying Cuts are copied from one of a series of +prints illustrative of the antiquities of the metropolis, published by +Messrs. Boydell, in the year 1818. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<h3>LACONICS.</h3> + +<h4><i>(For the Mirror.)</i></h4> +<p> +Amongst men of the world comfort merely signifies a great consideration +for themselves, and a perfect indifference about others. +</p> +<p> +Every one who gives way to thought, must, of necessity, become wiser every +day; for either the ideas that present themselves to his mind will confirm +his yet rickety theories, or observation will teach him that his previous +views of things were ill-founded. +</p> +<p> +Party spirit is like gambling—a vast number of persons trouble themselves +about what in the end can be beneficial only to a few. +</p> +<p> +It is as difficult to win over an enthusiast by force of reasoning, as to +persuade a lover of his mistress's faults; or to convince a man who is at +law of the badness of his cause. +</p> +<p> +Knowledge of the world is regarded as an useful, if not an elegant, +accomplishment, but this advantage, like every other good, is mixed with +some alloy: the acute observer of men and manners cannot but be disgusted +with the scenes that take place around him, and his knowledge may at last +have the effect of souring his own disposition. +</p> +<p> +Talents, without the accompaniment of religion, are but fatal presents: +they not only add strength to the vices of the individual, but what is +worse they render them more conspicuous to the world. +</p> +<p> +It is strange that the eye of man should have that magic power we have all +felt +<span class="pagenum"> + <a id="page197" + name="page197"> + </a>[pg 197] +</span> +that it possesses. We can contemplate other bright and beautiful +objects without withdrawing our gaze; and what is there in the formation +of an eye that should create in us any uneasiness? It is the consciousness +that the eye is the index of the mind—that when a man fixes his eye on us +we are the subject of his thoughts, and that a being gifted with a soul +like ourselves is employing its energies and setting its machinery at work +about ourselves. It is this conviction that makes us modestly, and almost +involuntarily, shrink from such an inspection. +</p> +<p> +To put ourselves in a passion, in consequence of the misconduct of others, +is unquestionably very weak behaviour, but it has also something generous +about it; for we are clearly annoying and punishing ourselves, when the +offenders only ought to have been the sufferers. +</p> +<p> +Meanness and conceit are frequently combined in the same character: for he +who to obtain transient applause can be indifferent to truth and his own +dignity, will be as little scrupulous about them if, by subserviency, he +can improve his condition in the world. +</p> +<p> +The most trivial circumstances are able to put an end to our +gratifications; they are like beds of roses, where it is very unlikely all +the leaves should be smooth, and even one that is doubled suffices to make +us uncomfortable. +</p> +<p> +Garrulous men are commonly conceited, and they will be found (with very +few exceptions) to be superficial as well. They who are in a hurry to tell +what they do know, will be equally inclined, from the impulse of +prevailing habit, to tell what they do not know. +</p> +<p> +F. +</p> +<hr /> + +<h3>LEGAL RHYMES.</h3> + +<h4><i>(For the Mirror.)</i></h4> +<p> +According to Goguet, "the first laws of any people were composed in verses, +which they sang;" and why should it not be so when Apollo was one of the +first of legislators? and under his auspices they were published to the +sound of the harp. Pittacus, one of the seven sages of Greece, formed a +code of laws in verse, that they might be the easier remembered. The +ancient laws of Spain also were chanted in verse, and the custom was +preserved a long time among many nations. Mio. Psellus, who lived in the +reign of Constantine Ducas, published a synopsis of the law, in verse, and +in 1701, Gumaro, a civilian of Naples, taught the dry and intricate system +of civil law, in a <i>novel.</i> Coke's Reports have been "done into verse" by +an anonymous author; and Cowper, the poet, tells us, that a relation of +his who had studied the law, "a gentleman of sprightly parts," began to +versify Coke's Institutes; he gives the following specimen of the +performance: +</p> +<div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="i4">"Tenant in fee</p> + <p class="i4">Simple is he,</p> + <p>And need neither quake nor quiver,</p> + <p class="i4">Who hath his lands,</p> + <p class="i4">Free from demands,</p> + <p>To him and his heirs for ever."</p> + </div> +</div> +<p> +Records, charters, and wills, and many other legal documents, have been +written in verse. The following grant was made by Edward the Confessor to +Randolf Peperking: +</p> +<div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>"Iche Edward konyng (<i>king</i>)</p> + <p>Have given of my forest the keping,</p> + <p>Of the Hundred of Cholmer and Daucing,</p> + <p>To Randolph Peperking and to his kindling, (<i>heirs</i>)</p> + <p>With heart and hynd, doe and bock, (<i>buck</i>)</p> + <p>Hare and fox, cat and brock, (<i>badger</i>)</p> + <p>Wild fowell and his flock,</p> + <p>Partridge, fesant hen, and fesant cock,</p> + <p>With green and wyld stob and stock,</p> + <p>To kepen and to yemen (<i>hold</i>) by all his might,</p> + <p>Both by day and eke by night:</p> + <p>And hounds for to holde,</p> + <p>Gode and swift and bolde,</p> + <p>Four greyhounds and six beaches, (<i>hound bitches</i>)</p> + <p>For hare and fox, and wild cats,</p> + <p>And thereof Iche made him my booke,</p> + <p>Witness the Bishop Wolston,</p> + <p>And book ycleped many on,</p> + <p>And Sweyne of Essex, our brother,</p> + <p>And token him many other,</p> + <p>And our steward Hamelyn,</p> + <p>That bysought me for him."</p> + </div> +</div> +<p> +The Dunmow matrimonial flitch of bacon is a well known custom; the oath is +in verse, and as follows: +</p> +<div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>"You shall swear by the custom of your confession,</p> + <p>That you never made any nuptial transgression,</p> + <p>Since you were married to your wife,</p> + <p>By household brawls, or contentious strife,</p> + <p>Or otherwise, in bed or at board,</p> + <p>Offended each other in deed or in word—</p> + <p>Or since the parish clerk said Amen,</p> + <p>Wish'd yourselves unmarried again;</p> + <p>Or in a twelvemonth and a day,</p> + <p>Repented not in thought, any way,</p> + <p>But continued true, and in desire,</p> + <p>As when you join'd hands in holy quire.</p> + <p>If to these conditions, without all fear,</p> + <p>Of your own accord you will freely swear,</p> + <p>A gammon of bacon you shall receive,</p> + <p>And beare it hence with love and good leave,</p> + <p>For this is our custom at Dunmow well known,</p> + <p>Though the sport be ours, the bacon's your own."</p> + </div> +</div> +<p> +For the custom of riding the black ram, and the penal rhyme thereto +attached, we refer the reader to the <i>Spectator,</i> No. 614. +</p> +<p> +The following rhyming wills have been proved in the Prerogative Court of +Canterbury: +</p> +<div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>"The fifth of May,</p> + <p>Being airy and gay</p> +<span class="pagenum"> + <a id="page198" + name="page198"> + </a>[pg 198] +</span> + <p>And to hip not inclined,</p> + <p>But of vigorous mind,</p> + <p>And my body in health.</p> + <p>I'll dispose of my wealth,</p> + <p>And all I'm to leave</p> + <p>On this side the grave,</p> + <p>To some one or other,</p> + <p>And I think to my brother;</p> + <p>Because I foresaw</p> + <p>That my brethren in law,</p> + <p>If I did not take care,</p> + <p>Would come in for their share,</p> + <p>Which I nowise intended,</p> + <p>'Till their manners are mended,</p> + <p>And of that God knows there's no sign.</p> + <p>I do therefore enjoin,</p> + <p>And do strictly command,</p> + <p>Of which witness my hand,</p> + <p>That naught I have got</p> + <p>Be brought into hotchpot:</p> + <p>But I give and devise,</p> + <p>As much as in me lies,</p> + <p>To the son of my mother,</p> + <p>My own dear brother.</p> + <p>And to have and to hold</p> + <p>All my silver and gold,</p> + <p>As th' affectionate pledges</p> + <p>Of his brother, JOHN HEDGES."</p> + </div> +</div> +<p> +In the next, the items are more curious and particular: +</p> +<div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>"What I am going to bequeath</p> + <p>When this frail part submits to death—</p> + <p>But still I hope the spark divine,</p> + <p>With its congenial stars shall shine,</p> + <p>My good executors fulfill,</p> + <p>And pay ye fairly my last will,</p> + <p>With first and second codicil.</p> + <p>And first I give to dear Lord Hinton,</p> + <p>At Twyford school now, not at Winton,</p> + <p>One hundred guineas and a ring,</p> + <p>Or some such memorandum thing,</p> + <p>And truly much I should have blunder'd,</p> + <p>Had I not given another hundred</p> + <p>To dear Earl Paulett's second son,</p> + <p>Who dearly loves a little fun.</p> + <p>Unto my nephew, Stephen Langdon,</p> + <p>Of whom none says he e'er has wrong done,</p> + <p>The civil laws he loves to hash,</p> + <p>I give two hundred pounds in cash.</p> + <p>One hundred pounds to my niece, Tudor,</p> + <p>(With luring eyes one Clark did view her,)</p> + <p>And to her children just among 'em,</p> + <p>A hundred more—and not to wrong 'em,</p> + <p>In equal shares I freely give it,</p> + <p>Not doubting but they will receive it.</p> + <p>To Betsy Mudford and Mary Lee,</p> + <p>If they with Mrs. Mudford be,</p> + <p>Because they round the year did dwell</p> + <p>In Davies-street, and serv'd full well.</p> + <p>The first ten pounds, the other twenty,</p> + <p>And girls, I hope that will content ye.</p> + <p>In seventeen hundred and sixty-nine,</p> + <p>This with my hand I write and sign,</p> + <p>The sixteenth day of fair October,</p> + <p>In merry mood, but sound and sober.</p> + <p>Past my threescore and fifteenth year,</p> + <p>With spirits gay and conscience clear—</p> + <p>Joyous and frolicksome, though old,</p> + <p>And like this day, serene, but cold;</p> + <p>To foes well wishing, and to friends most kind,</p> + <p>In perfect charity with all mankind.</p> + <p>For what remains I must desire,</p> + <p>To use the words of Matthew Prior.</p> + <p>Let this my will be well obey'd,</p> + <p>And farewell all, I'm not afraid,</p> + <p>For what avails a struggling sigh.</p> + <p>When soon, or later, all must die?</p> + <p class="i4">M. DARLEY."</p> + </div> +</div> +<p> +Joshua West, who was known in his sphere "as the poet of the Six Clerks' +Office," made his will in rhyme; it is dated 13th December, 1804: +</p> +<div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>"Perhaps I die not worth a groat,</p> + <p class="i2">But should I die worth somewhat more,</p> + <p>Then I give that, and my best coat,</p> + <p class="i2">And all my manuscripts in store,</p> + <p>To those who will the goodness have</p> + <p class="i2">To cause my poor remains to rest,</p> + <p>Within a decent shell and grave,</p> + <p class="i2">This is the will of JOSHUA WEST."</p> + </div> +</div> +<p> +In 1654, Henry Phillips published the "Purchasers' Pattern," in which he +gives advice to purchasers of estates of inheritance, in verse. +</p> +<p> +There is also a long article in verse, "On the Distribution of Intestates' +Effects: it begins— +</p> +<div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="i2">"By the laws of the land,</p> + <p class="i2">It is settled and planned,</p> + <p>That intestates' effects shall be spread,</p> + <p class="i2">At the end of the year,</p> + <p class="i2">When the debts are all clear,</p> + <p>'Mong the kindred as here may be read."</p> + </div> +</div> +<p> +Before the conclusion, the author says, +</p> +<div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="i2">"To the rest that succeed,</p> + <p class="i2">We need not proceed,</p> + <p>Enough has already been penn'd,</p> + <p class="i2">And now it's high time,</p> + <p class="i2">For our doggrel rhyme</p> + <p>To come, lest it err, to an end."</p> + </div> +</div> +<p> +This hint I shall apply to myself, lest my article become as dry and +uninteresting as my subject, and conclude with a declaration in which I +heartily concur: +</p> +<div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="i2">"Fee simple, and a simple fee,</p> + <p class="i2">And all the fees in tail,</p> + <p>Are nothing when compared to thee,</p> + <p class="i2">Thou best of fees—female."</p> + </div> +</div> +<p> +W.A.R. +</p> + +<hr class="full" /> + + +<h2>FINE ARTS</h2> +<hr /> +<h3>THE NINTH EXHIBITION OF THE SOCIETY OF BRITISH ARTISTS.</h3> + +<p> +We are happy to learn that the "British Artists" continue to flourish. +Their association, we believe, originated in the inefficiency of similar +Institutions. They started in a spirit of generous rivalry, and, above all +things, with the view to aid aspiring merit. It could, however, scarcely +be called rivalry to any other Institution, and to this line of conduct we +attribute much of the success of the Society of British Artists. As the +Secretary states in an Address to the Public, prefixed to this year's +Catalogue, "they have never opposed, either directly or indirectly, any +existing Institution for the promotion of the Fine Arts, but have +uniformly sought to go hand in hand with whatever tended to their general +advancement." It appears likewise, that works in Painting, Sculpture, +Architecture, and Engraving, to the amount of £18,000. and upwards, have +been sold from the walls of the Exhibition, since the formation of the +Society, and +<span class="pagenum"> + <a id="page199" + name="page199"> + </a>[pg 199] +</span> +numerous commissions given in consequence of the talent thus +displayed; and that all future donations will be devoted towards +completing the purchase of the galleries occupied by the Society, in +Suffolk-street. +</p> +<p> +The full attendance at the private view on Friday, accorded with these +gratifying statements. Suffolk-street and Pall Mall East were crowded with +the carriages of visiters, and in the rooms was an abundant sprinkling of +nobility, patrons of art, men of letters, and some note of purchases at +the keeper's table. There are upwards of 800 Pictures, and about 100 +specimens of Sculpture and Engraving. The crowded state of the rooms +during the hour that we were there, allowed us only to note a few works. +</p> +<p> +1. <i>Cardinal Weld</i>; a well painted portrait, by James Ramsey, of the +benevolent owner of Lulworth Castle. The features are dignified and finely +intellectual. We could, too, associate their expression with the +philanthropic act of the Cardinal's affording an asylum to fallen royalty. +</p> +<p> +13. <i>Ruins</i>. D. Roberts. A delightful composition, from these exquisite +lines by Mrs. Hemans: +</p> +<div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="i2">""There have been bright and glorious pageants here,</p> + <p class="i2">"Where now grey stones and moss-grown columns lie—</p> + <p>There have been words, which earth grew pale to hear,</p> + <p class="i2">"Breath'd from the cavern's misty chambers nigh:</p> + <p class="i2">"There have been voices through the sunny sky,</p> + <p>And the pine woods, their choral hymn-notes sending,</p> + <p class="i2">"And reeds and lyres, their Dorian melody,</p> + <p>With incense clouds around the temple blending,</p> + <p class="i2">"And throngs, with laurel boughs, before the altar bending."</p> + </div> +</div> +<p> +27. <i>A Philosopher</i>. H. Wyatt. Admirably coloured: the flesh tints and +deep expression of the features will not escape notice. +</p> +<p> +52. <i>The Town of Menagio, on the Lake of Como</i>. T.C. Hofland. A scene of +beautiful repose in the artist's best style. +</p> +<p> +57. <i>Portrait of Mrs. Davenport</i> in the character of the Nurse in "Romeo +and Juliet." James Holmes. Almost speakingly characteristic. You may +imagine the actress drawling out, "awear—y," and her attitude admirably +accords with "Fie, how my bones ache." +</p> +<p> +114. <i>The Baptism</i>. G. Harvey, S.A. Foremost among the attractions of the +Exhibition, though of a serious turn. The quotation will best describe the +subject: +</p> +<blockquote class="note"> +<p> + "Here, upon a semicircular ledge of rocks, over a narrow chasm, down + which the tiny stream played in a murmuring waterfall, and divided into + two equal parts, sat the congregation, devoutly listening to their + minister, who stood before them on what might well be called a small + natural pulpit of living stone.... Divine service was closed, and a row + of maidens, all clothed in purest white, arranged themselves at the foot + of the pulpit, with the infants about to be baptized. +</p> +<p> + "The fathers of the infants, just as if they had been in their own Kirk, + had been sitting there during worship, and now stood up before the + minister.... Some of the younger ones in that semicircle kept gazing + down into the pool, in which the whole scene was reflected; and now and + then, in spite of the grave looks or admonishing whispers of their + elders, letting a pebble fall into the water, that they might judge of + its depth from the length of time that elapsed before the clear + air-bells lay sparkling on the agitated surface."—Vide "<i>Lights and + Shadows of Scottish Life</i>." +</p> +</blockquote> +<p> +155. <i>His Most Gracious Majesty William the Fourth</i>. H.E. Dawe. The King +in his state robes: the likeness is excellent. +</p> +<p> +156. <i>The Grecian Choirs at the Temple of Apollo</i>. A sweet composition by +W. Linton, from Petrarch; "representing the passage of the Choirs across +the narrow strait between Delos and Rhenia, by a bridge magnificently +decorated with gold and garlands, rich stuffs and tapestry," the splendour +of which is enhanced by the brightness of a summer's morning. +</p> +<p> +162. "<i>In peace love tunes the Shepherd's reed</i>," a pretty composition +from this line by Scott, painted by Mrs. John Hakewill. A rustic boy and +girl are seated beneath a woody bank: the intent expression of the boy +playing the pipe and of the listening girl are really delightful. +</p> +<p> +195. <i>Edinburgh Castle from the Grass Market</i>. D. Roberts. A fine picture +of the associated sublimities of nature and art. +</p> +<p> +208. <i>The Ettrick Shepherd in his Forest Plaid</i>. J.W. Gordon. Correct in +likeness, but strangely shadowed. +</p> +<p> +224. <i>Coronation of William IV</i>. The first picture of a series to +represent the procession to the Abbey on the day of the Coronation of his +present Majesty, containing the portraits of distinguished personages who +attended on that occasion.—Painted for his Majesty, by R.B. Davis. This +picture occupies comparatively as much length on the walls as its +description would in our columns: it is some yards long, and perhaps four +feet in height. It is but hastily painted. The framework is excellent, and +well appointed for St. James's, Windsor, or Buckingham Palace. We hope the +<i>picture</i> will be liked there as well as the frame. +</p> +<p> +<span class="pagenum"> + <a id="page200" + name="page200"> + </a>[pg 200] +</span> +244. <i>Elizabeth relieving the Exile</i>, by Miss A. Beaumont, is an +interesting picture, from the well-remembered incident in the <i>Exiles of +Siberia.</i> +</p> +<p> +296. <i>Interior of a Gaming-house</i>. H. Pidding. We take this to represent +one of the <i>salons</i> of Frescati's, or other Parisian gaming-house, where +females are admitted to participate in the game, and witness the madness +and folly of the stronger sex. The party are chiefly about a <i>rouge et +noir</i> table, and are in the highest stage of recklessness. One of them, a +female, has flung herself from the lure across a chair, apparently in the +last stage of wretchedness and despair. The excitement of the players is +powerfully wrought up and contrasted with the <i>sang froid</i> of the +<i>croupier</i>, who seems to treat all the world as a ball. Other persons are +seeking fresh excitement at the hands of a liveried waiter. But we must +leave the rest, which it would take a column or two to describe, +especially as to our mind, a gaming-house furnishes an epitome of all the +bad passions that rankle in the human breast. +</p> +<p> +301. <i>The Reform Question</i>. Thomas Clater. A pleasanter scene than the +preceding picture. A village blacksmith is reading the newspaper, by a +candle held by a boy, to a listening neighbour. The puzzling of the reader, +the vacant stare of the candle-holder, and the intent expression of the +absorbed listener, are excellent. Perhaps the light of the candle is +objectionable. +</p> +<p> +311. <i>Love in the Dairy</i>. H.H. Hobday. A ticklish village amour: a young +fellow importuning a buxom dairy-maid, and apparently on the verge of +conquest; in the distant door-way stands a mar-loving, wrinkled old woman, +whose crabbed face ought not to be trusted in a dairy. +</p> +<p> +466. <i>The Lord Chancellor</i>, seated in a chair, in his official robes, by +J. Lonsdale. The likeness is excellent, as are the robes, wig, ruffles, &c. +but the great seal and mace are even dingier than the orignals. We could +have spared the books thrown on the floor, though the paper register in +one of them almost <i>comes out</i>. +</p> +<p> +We reserve a few pictures for another visit. The Portraits, as might be +expected, are numerous. The King's supporters are two ex-sheriffs: by the +way, how many good turns does <i>office</i> yield to art; there is nothing like +a portrait to perpetuate your brief authority. Works of imagination are +scarce, especially as empainting the ideas of poets and passion-writers +has become fashionable. +</p> + +<hr class="full" /> + + +<h2>NOTES OF A READER.</h2> + +<hr /> + +<h3>THE VEGETABLE WORLD.</h3> +<p> +We pencil a few passages, at random, from Part 14 of <i>Knowledge for the +People</i>—(Botany, concluded.) +</p> +<p> +<i>Why does snow, when in contact with leaves and stems, melt more speedily +than when lodged upon dead substances?</i> +</p> +<p> +Because of the internal heat of the plants, heat being a production of the +vegetable as well as animal body, though in a much lower degree in the +former than the latter. Mr. Hunter appears to have detected this heat by a +thermometer applied in frosty weather to the internal parts of vegetables +newly opened. It is evident that a certain appropriate portion of heat is +a necessary stimulus to the constitution of every plant, without which its +living principle is destroyed.—<i>Smith</i>. +</p> +<p> +<span class="pagenum"> + <a id="page201" + name="page201"> + </a>[pg 201] +</span> +<i>Why is fructification so important to plants?</i> +</p> +<p> +Because it continues them by seeds, and, according to Sir James Smith, +"all other modes of propagation are but the extension of an individual, +and, sooner or later, terminate in its total extinction." Dr. Drummond is +of a contrary opinion, and quotes the following fact:—"In South America +there is a species of bamboo which forms forests in the marshes of many +leagues in extent, and yet Mutis, who botanized for nearly twenty years in +the parts where it grows, was never able to detect the +fructifications."—<i>Humboldt</i>. +</p> +<p> +The produce of vegetable seeds in a hundred-fold degree is common, and +many trees and shrubs bring forth their fruit by thousands. A single plant +of the poppy will produce above 30,000 seeds; and, of tobacco, above +40,000; and Buffon remarks, that from the seeds of a single elm-tree, one +hundred thousand young elms may be raised from the product of one year. +Some ferns, it is said, produce their seeds by millions. +</p> +<p> +<i>Why should seeds be uniformly kept dry before sown?</i> +</p> +<p> +Because the least damp will cause an attempt at vegetation, when the seeds +necessarily die, as the process cannot, as they are situated, go on. +</p> +<p> +<i>Why, in summer, is continued watering required to newly sown seeds?</i> +</p> +<p> +Because, if the soil is only moistened at the time of sowing, it induces +the projection of the radicle, or first root, which, in very parching +weather, and in clayey cutting soil, withers away, and the crop is +consequently lost, for want of a continued supply of moisture. +</p> +<p> +<i>Why is selection important for procuring abundance of genuine seeds?</i> +</p> +<p> +Because we may then choose the most vigorous plants, which naturally prove +of greater fecundity. Thus, in 1823, Mr. Shirreff marked one vigorous +wheat plant, near the centre of a field, which produced him 2,473 grains. +These were dibbled in the autumn of the same year, the produce sown +broadcast the second and third years, and the fourth harvest produced +forty quarters of sound grain. A fine purple-topped Swedish turnip +produced 100,296 grains, which was seed enough for five imperial acres, +and thus, in three years, one turnip would produce seed enough for Great +Britain for a year.—<i>Quarterly Journal of Agriculture.</i> +</p> +<p> +<i>Why are winds the great agents by which seeds are diffused?</i> +</p> +<p> +Because seeds are, as it were, provided with various wings for seizing on +the breeze. The thistle and dandelion are familiar examples of this mode +of dissemination. "How little," Sir J.E. Smith observes, "are children +aware, as they blow away the seeds of dandelion, or stick burs in sport +upon each other's clothes, that they are fulfilling one of the great ends +of nature." Dr. Woodward calculates, that one seed of the common spear +thistle will produce "at the first crop, twenty-four thousand, and +consequently five hundred and twenty-six millions of seeds, at the second." +</p> +<p> +Some plants discharge their seeds. Thus, a certain fungus has the property +of ejecting its seeds with great force and rapidity, and with a loud +cracking noise, and yet it is no bigger than a pin's head! +</p> +<p> +<i>Why is a milky fluid found in the cocoa-nut?</i> +</p> +<p> +Because in this case, as well as in a few others, all the fluids destined +to nourish the embryo of the fruit does not harden, whence a greater or +less quantity of this kind of mild emulsion is contained within the kernel. +</p> +<p> +<i>Why are certain eatable roots unfit for the table when the plants have +flowered?</i> +</p> +<p> +Because the mucus or proper juice in the tubular cells being appropriated +for perfecting the flower stem, the flower, and the fruit, is absorbed as +the fructification of the stem advances; and, as these are perfected, the +cells are emptied, and their sides become ligneous. +</p> +<p> +<i>Why is the Jerusalem Artichoke so called?</i> +</p> +<p> +Because of its corruption from its Italian name, <i>Girasole Articiocco</i>, +sunflower artichoke, as the plant was first brought from Peru to Italy, +and thence propagated throughout Europe.—<i>Smith.</i> +</p> + +<hr /> + + +<h3>AMERICAN MANNERS.</h3> + +<p> +We suspect certain pages of Mrs. Trollope's <i>Domestic Manners of the +Americans</i> to be highly coloured, but they are cleverly written, and will +be read with considerable interest. +</p> +<p> +<i>A Backwoodsman.</i> +</p> +<p> +"We visited one farm, which interested us particularly from its wild and +lonely situation, and from the entire dependence of the inhabitants upon +their own resources. It was a partial clearing in the very heart of the +forest. The house was built on the side of a hill, so steep that a high +ladder was necessary to enter the front door, while the back one opened +against the hill-side; at the foot of this sudden eminence ran a clear +stream, whose bed had been deepened into a little reservoir, just opposite +the house. A noble field of Indian corn stretched away into the forest on +one side, and a few half-cleared acres, with a shed or two upon them, +occupied the other, giving accommodation to cows, horses, pigs, and +chickens innumerable. Immediately before the house was a small potato +garden, with a few peach and apple trees. The house was built of logs, and +consisted of two rooms, besides a little shanty or lean-to, that was used +as a kitchen. Both rooms were comfortably furnished with good beds, +drawers, &c. The farmer's wife, and a young woman who looked like her +sister, were spinning, and three little children were playing about. The +woman told me that they spun and wove all the cotton and woollen garments +of the family, and knit all the stockings; her husband, though not a +shoe-maker by trade, made all the shoes. She manufactured all the soap and +candles they used, and prepared her sugar from the sugar-trees on their +farm. All she wanted with money, she said, was to buy coffee, tea, and +whiskey, and she could 'get enough any day by sending a batch of butter +and chicken to market.' They used no wheat, nor sold any of their corn, +which, though it appeared a very large quantity, was not more than they +required to make their bread and cakes of various kinds, and to feed all +their live stock during the winter. She did not look in health, and said +they had all had ague in 'the fall' but she seemed contented, and proud of +her independence; though it was in somewhat a mournful accent that she +said, ''Tis strange to us to see company: I expect the sun may rise and +set a hundred times before I shall see another <i>human</i> that does not +belong to the family.' +</p> +<p> +<span class="pagenum"> + <a id="page202" + name="page202"> + </a>[pg 202] +</span> +"These people were indeed, independent—Robinson Crusoe was hardly more +so, and they eat and drink abundantly; but yet it seemed to me that there +was something awful and almost unnatural in their loneliness. No village +bell ever summoned them to prayer, where they might meet the friendly +greeting of their fellow-men. When they die, no spot sacred by ancient +reverence will receive their bones—Religion will not breathe her sweet +and solemn farewell upon their grave; the husband or the father will dig +the pit that is to hold them, beneath the nearest tree; he will himself +deposit them within it, and the wind that whispers through the boughs will +be their only requiem. But then they pay neither taxes nor tithes, are +never expected to pull off a hat or to make a curtsey, and will live and +die without hearing or uttering the dreadful words, 'God save the king.'" +</p> +<p> +<i>A Presbyterian Church in Cincinnati.</i> +</p> +<p> +"It was in the middle of summer, but the service we were recommended to +attend did not begin till it was dark. The church was well lighted, and +crowded almost to suffocation. On entering, we found three priests +standing side by side, in a sort of tribune, placed where the altar +usually is, handsomely fitted up with crimson curtains, and elevated about +as high as our pulpits. We took our places in a pew close to the rail +which surrounded it. +</p> +<p> +"The priest who stood in the middle was praying; the prayer was +extravagantly vehement, and offensively familiar in expression; when this +ended a hymn was sung, and then another priest took the centre place and +preached. The sermon had considerable eloquence, but of a frightful kind. +The preacher described, with ghastly minuteness, the last feeble fainting +moments of human life, and then the gradual progress of decay after death, +which he followed through every process up to the loathsome stage of +decomposition. Suddenly changing his tone, which had been that of sober, +accurate description, into the shrill voice of horror, he bent forward his +head, as if to gaze on some object beneath the pulpit, and made known to +us what he saw in the pit that seemed to open before him. The device was +certainly a happy one for giving effect to his description of hell. No +image that fire, flame, brimstone, molten lead, or red-hot pincers could +supply, with flesh, nerves, and sinews quivering under them, was omitted. +The perspiration ran in streams from the face of the preacher; his eyes +rolled, his lips were covered with foam, and every feature had the deep +expression of horror it would have borne, had he, in truth, been gazing at +the scene he described. The acting was excellent. At length he gave a +languishing look to his supporters on each side, as if to express his +feeble state, and then sat down, and wiped the drops of agony from his +brow. +</p> +<p> +"The other two priests arose, and began to sing a hymn. It was some +seconds before the congregation could join as usual; every upturned face +looked pale and horror-struck. When the singing ended, another took the +centre place, and began in a sort of coaxing, affectionate tone, to ask +the congregation if what their dear brother had spoken had reached their +hearts? Whether they would avoid the hell he had made them see? 'Come, +then!' he continued, stretching out his arms towards them, 'come to us, +and tell us so, and we will make you see Jesus, the dear gentle Jesus, who +shall save you from it. But you must come to him! You must not be ashamed +to come to him! This night you shall tell him that you are not ashamed of +him; we will make way for you; we will clear the bench for anxious sinners +to sit upon. Come, then! come to the anxious bench, and we will show you +Jesus! Come! Come! Come!' +</p> +<p> +"Again a hymn was sung, and while it continued, one of the three was +employed in clearing one or two long benches that went across the rail, +sending the people back to the lower part of the church. The singing +ceased, and again the people were invited, and exhorted not to be ashamed +of Jesus, but to put themselves upon 'the anxious benches,' and lay their +heads on his bosom. 'Once more we will sing,' he concluded, 'that we may +give you time.' And again they sung a hymn. +</p> +<p> +"And now in every part of the church a movement was perceptible, slight at +first, but by degrees becoming more decided. Young girls arose, and sat +down, and rose again; and then the pews opened, and several came tottering +out, their hands clasped, their heads hanging on their bosoms, and every +limb trembling, and still the hymn went on; but as the poor creatures +approached the rail their sobs and groans became audible. They +<span class="pagenum"> + <a id="page203" + name="page203"> + </a>[pg 203] +</span> +seated +themselves on the 'anxious benches;' the hymn ceased, and two of the three +priests walked down from the tribune, and going, one to the right, and the +other to the left, began whispering to the poor tremblers seated there. +These whispers were inaudible to us, but the sobs and groans increased to +a frightful excess. Young creatures, with features pale and distorted, +fell on their knees on the pavement, and soon sunk forward on their faces; +the most violent cries and shrieks followed, while from time to time a +voice was heard in convulsive accents, exclaiming, 'Oh Lord!' 'Oh Lord +Jesus!' 'Help me, Jesus!' and the like. Meanwhile the two priests +continued to walk among them; they repeatedly mounted on the benches, and +trumpet-mouthed proclaimed to the whole congregation 'the tidings of +salvation;' and then from every corner of the building arose in reply, +short sharp cries of 'Amen!' 'Glory!' 'Amen!' while the prostrate +penitents continued to receive whispered comfortings, and from time to +time a mystic caress. More than once I saw a young neck encircled by a +reverend arm. Violent hysterics and convulsions seized many of them, and +when the tumult was at the highest, the priest who remained above, again +gave out a hymn as if to drown it. It was a frightful sight to behold +innocent young creatures, in the gay morning of existence, thus seized +upon, horror-struck, and rendered feeble and enervated for ever. One young +girl, apparently not more than fourteen, was supported in the arms of +another, some years older; her face was pale as death; her eyes wide open, +and perfectly devoid of meaning; her chin and bosom wet with slaver; she +had every appearance of idiotism. I saw a priest approach her, he took her +delicate hand, 'Jesus is with her! Bless the Lord!' he said, and passed on. +Did the men of America value their women as men ought to value their wives +and daughters, would such scenes be permitted among them? +</p> +<p> +"It is hardly necessary to say that all who obeyed the call to place +themselves on the 'anxious benches' were women, and by far the greater +number very young women. The congregration was in general, extremely well +dressed, and the smartest and most fashionable ladies of the town were +there; during the whole revival the churches and meeting-houses were every +day crowded with well-dressed people." +</p> +<p> +"It is thus the ladies of Cincinnati amuse themselves; to attend the +theatre is forbidden; to play cards is unlawful; but they work hard in +their families and must have some relaxation. For myself, I confess that I +think the coarsest comedy ever written would be a less detestable +exhibition for the eyes of youth and innocence than such a scene." +</p> + +<hr class="full" /> + +<h2>SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.</h2> +<hr /> + +<h3>THE COFFIN-MAKER.</h3> +<p> +The paper in the <i>New Monthly Magazine</i>, under this title, occupies a +sheet or sixteen pages, and is stated to be from the pen of the Hon. Mrs. +Norton. It is written in an almost breathless, and purposely hurried, +style, and the narrative of feelings and incidents flows with such +rapidity, that the reader is carried onward, <i>nolens volens, vi et verbis</i> +through the adventures. The writer is the son of a carpenter: his father +dies; unable to obtain any other employment, he obtains that of a +coffin-maker. His aversion to the trade, and the state of his feelings is +thus naturally described: +</p> +<p> +"The first few weeks of my employment passed pleasantly enough; my master +was satisfied with me, and on Sunday evenings I was able occasionally to +enjoy a walk. But my spirits soon became less buoyant, and even my health +began to suffer; I entirely lost the florid look which was my poor mother's +admiration; my very step grew slower, and there were Sundays when I +declined the evening walk, which had been my only recreation, merely +because the happy laugh and continued jests of (my friend) Henry Richards +annoyed and distressed me while contrasted with my own heaviness of heart. +Evening after evening, sometimes through a whole dismal night, I worked at +my melancholy employment; and as my master was poor, and employed no other +journey-man, I worked most commonly alone. Frequently as the heavy hammer +descended, breaking at regular intervals the peaceful silence of night, I +recalled some scene of sorrow and agony that I had witnessed in the day; +and as the echo of some shriek or stifled moan struck in fancy on my ear, +I would pause to wipe the dew from my brow and curse the trade of a +coffin-maker. Every day some fresh cause appeared to arise for loathing my +occupation; whilst all were alike strangers to me in the town where my +master lived, I worked cheerfully and wrote merrily home; but now that I +began to know every one, to be acquainted with the number of members which +composed different families, to hear of their sicknesses and misfortunes; +now that link after link bound me as it +<span class="pagenum"> + <a id="page204" + name="page204"> + </a>[pg 204] +</span> +were by a spell, to feel for those +round me, and to belong to them, my cheerfulness was over. The mother +turned her eyes from me with a shuddering sigh, and gazed on the dear +circle of little ones as if she sought to penetrate futurity and guess +which of the young things, now rosy in health, was to follow her long lost +and still lamented one. The doting father pressed the arm of his pale +consumptive girl nearer to his heart, as he passed me: friends who were +yet sorrowing for their bereavement, gave up the attempt at cheerfulness, +and relapsed into melancholy silence at my approach. If I attempted (as I +often did at first) to converse gaily with such of the townspeople as were +of my master's rank in life, I was checked by a bitter smile, or a sudden +sigh, which told me that while <i>I</i> was giving way to levity, the thoughts +of my hearers had wandered back to the heavy hours when their houses were +last darkened by the shadow of death. I carried about with me an unceasing +curse; an imaginary barrier separated me from my fellow men. I felt like +an executioner, from whose bloody touch men shrink, not so much from +loathing of the <i>man</i>, who is but the instrument of death, as from horror +at the image of that death itself—death, sudden, appalling, and +inevitable. Like him, I brought the presence of death too vividly before +them; like him, I was connected with the infliction of a doom I had no +power to avert. Men withheld from me their affection, refused me their +sympathy, as if I were not like themselves. My very mortality seemed less +obvious to their imaginations when contrasted with the hundreds for whom +my hand prepared the last narrow dwelling-house, which was to shroud for +ever their altered faces from sorrowful eyes. Where <i>I</i> came, <i>there</i> came +heaviness of heart, mournfulness, and weeping. Laughter was hushed at my +approach; conversation ceased; darkness and silence fell around my +steps—the darkness and the silence of <i>death</i>. Gradually I became awake +to my situation. I no longer attempted to hold free converse with my +fellow men. I suffered the gloom of their hearts to overshadow mine. My +step crept slowly and stealthily into their dwellings; my voice lowered +itself to sadness and monotony; I pressed no hand in token of +companionship; no hand pressed mine, except when wrung with agony, some +wretch, whose burden was more than he could bear restrained me for a few +moments of maddened and convulsive grief, from putting the last finishing +stroke to my work, and held me back to gaze yet again on features which I +was about to cover from his sight. It is well that God, in his +unsearchable wisdom, hath made death loathsome to us. It is well that an +undefined and instinctive shrinking within us, makes what we have loved +for long years, in a few hours +</p> +<div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>"That lifeless thing, the living fear."</p> + </div> +</div> +<p> +It is well that the soul hath scarcely quitted the body ere the work of +corruption is begun. For if, even thus, mortality clings to the remnants +of mortality, with 'love stronger than death;' if, as I have seen it, warm +and living lips are pressed to features where the gradually sinking eye +and hollow cheek speak horribly of departed life; what would it be if the +winged soul left its tenement of clay, to be resolved only into a marble +death; to remain cold, beautiful, and imperishable; every day to greet our +eyes; every night to be watered with our tears? The bonds which hold men +together would be broken; the future would lose its interest in our minds; +we should remain sinfully mourning the idols of departed love, whose +presence forbade oblivion of their loveliness; and a thin and scattered +population would wander through the world as through the valley of the +shadow of death! How often have I been interrupted when about to nail down +a coffin, by the agonized entreaties of some wretch to whom the +discoloured clay bore yet the trace of beauty, and the darkened lid seemed +only closed in slumber! How often have I said, 'Surely <i>that</i> heart will +break with its woe!' and yet, in a little while, the bowed spirit rose +again, the eye sparkled, and the lip smiled, <i>because the dead were +covered from their sight</i>; and that which is present to man's senses is +destined to affect him far more powerfully than the dreams of his +imagination or memory. How often, too, have I seen the reverse of the +picture I have just drawn; when the pale unconscious corse has lain +abandoned in its loveliness, and grudging hands have scantily dealt out a +portion of their superfluity, to obtain the last rites for one who so +lately moved, spoke, smiled, and walked amongst them! And I have felt, +even then, that there were those to whom that neglected being had been far +more precious than heaps of gold, and I have mourned for them who perished +among strangers. One horrible scene has chased another from my mind +through a succession of years; and some of those +<span class="pagenum"> + <a id="page205" + name="page205"> + </a>[pg 205] +</span> + which, perhaps, deeply +affected me at the time, are, by the mercy of Heaven, forgotten. But +enough remains to enable me to give a faint outline of the causes which +have changed me from what I was, to the gloomy joyless being I am at +length become. There is one scene indelibly impressed upon my memory." +</p> +<p> +A scene of domestic tragedy follows, which is wrought up with great effect: +</p> +<p> +"I was summoned late at night to the house of a respectable merchant, who +had been reduced, in a great measure, by the wilful extravagance of his +only son, from comparative wealth to ruin and distress. I was met by the +widow, on whose worn and weary face the calm of despair had settled. She +spoke to me for a few moments, and begged me to use dispatch and caution +in the exercise of my calling:—'for indeed,' said she, 'I have watched my +living son with a sorrow that has almost made me forget grief for the +departed. For five days and five nights I have watched, and his bloodshot +eye has not closed, no, not for a moment, from its horrible task of gazing +on the dead face of the father that cursed him. He sleeps now, if sleep it +can be called, that is rather the torpor of exhaustion; but his rest is +taken on that father's death-bed. Oh! young man, feel for me! Do your task +in such a manner, that my wretched boy may not awake till it is over, and +the blessing of the widow be on you for ever!' To this strange prayer I +could only offer a solemn assurance that I would do my utmost to obey her; +and with slow creeping steps we ascended the narrow stairs which led to +the chamber of death. It was a dark, wretched-looking, ill-furnished room, +and a drizzling November rain pattered unceasingly at the latticed window, +which was shaken from time to time by the fitful gusts of a moaning wind. +A damp chillness pervaded the atmosphere, and rotted the falling paper +from the walls; and, as I looked towards the hearth, (for there was no +grate,) I felt painfully convinced that the old man had died without the +common comforts his situation imperiously demanded. The white-washed sides +of the narrow fire-place were encrusted with a green damp, and the +chimney-vent was stuffed with straw and fragments of old carpet, to +prevent the cold wind from whistling through the aperture. The common +expression, 'He has seen better days,' never so forcibly occurred to me as +at that moment. He <i>had</i> seen better days: he had toiled cheerfully +through the day, and sat down to a comfortable evening meal. The wine-cup +had gone round; and the voice of laughter had been heard at his table for +many a year, and yet here he had crept to die like a beggar! I looked at +the flock bed, and felt my heart grow sick within me. The corpse of a man, +apparently about sixty, lay stretched upon it, and on his hollow and +emaciated features the hand of death had printed the ravages of many days. +The veins had ceased to give even the appearance of life to the +discoloured skin; the eyelids were deep sunken, and the whole countenance +was (and none but those accustomed to gaze on the face of the dead can +understand me) utterly expressionless. But if a sight like this was +sickening and horrible, what shall I say of the miserable being to whom a +temporary oblivion was giving strength for renewed agony? He had +apparently been sitting at the foot of the corpse, and, as the torpor of +heavy slumber stole over him, had sunk forward, his hand still retaining +the hand of the dead man. His face was hid; but his figure, and the thick +curls of dark hair, bespoke early youth. I judged him at most, to be +two-and-twenty. I began my task of measuring the body, and few can tell +the shudder which thrilled my frame as the carpenter's rule passed those +locked hands—the vain effort of the living still to claim kindred with +the dead! It was over, and I stole from the room, cautiously and silently +as I entered. Once, and only once, I turned to gaze at the melancholy +group. There lay the corpse, stiff and unconscious; there sat the son, in +an unconsciousness yet more terrible, since it could not last. There, pale +and tearless, stood the wife of him, who, in his dying hour, cursed her +child and his. How little she dreamed of such a scene when her meek lips +first replied to his vows of affection! How little she dreamed of such a +scene when she first led that father to the cradle of his sleeping boy! +when they bent together with smiles of affection, to watch his quiet +slumber, and catch the gentle breathing of his parted lips! I had scarcely +reached the landing-place before the wretched woman's hand was laid +lightly on my arm to arrest my progress. Her noiseless step had followed +me without my being aware of it. 'How soon will your work be done?' said +she, in a suffocated voice. 'To-morrow I could be here again,' answered I. +'To-morrow! and what am I to do, if my boy wakes before that time?' and +her voice became +<span class="pagenum"> + <a id="page206" + name="page206"> + </a>[pg 206] +</span> +louder and hoarse with fear. 'He will go mad, I am sure +he will; his brain will not hold against these horrors. Oh! that God would +hear me!—that God would hear me! and let that slumber sit on his senses +till the sight of the father that cursed him is no longer present to us! +Heaven be merciful to me!' and with the last words she clasped her hands +convulsively, and gazed upwards. I had known opiates administered to +sufferers whose grief for their bereavement almost amounted to madness. I +mentioned this hesitatingly to the widow, and she eagerly caught at it. +'Yes! that would do,' exclaimed she; 'that would do, if I could but get +him past that horrible moment! But stay; I dare not leave him alone as he +is, even for a little while:—what will become of me!' I offered to +procure the medicine for her, and soon returned with it. I gave it into +her hands, and her vehement expressions of thankfulness wrung my heart. I +had attempted to move the pity of the apothecary at whose shop I obtained +the drug, by an account of the scene I had witnessed, in order to induce +him to pay a visit to the house of mourning; but in vain. To him, who had +<i>not</i> witnessed it, it was nothing but a tale of every-day distress. All +that long night I worked at the merchant's coffin, and the dim grey light +of the wintry morning found me still toiling on. Often, during the hours +passed thus heavily, that picture of wretchedness rose before me. Again I +saw the leaning and exhausted form of the young man, buried in slumber, on +his father's death-bed: again my carpenter's rule almost touched the +clasped hands of the dead and the living, and a cold shudder mingled with +the chill of the dawning day, and froze my blood." +</p> +<p> +"As I passed up one of the streets which led to the merchant's lodgings, +my head bending under the weight of the coffin I was carrying, at every +step I took, the air seemed to grow more thick around me, and at length, +overcome by weariness, both of body and mind, I stopped, loosed the straps +which steadied my melancholy burden, and placing it in an upright position +against the wall, wiped the dew from my forehead, and (shall I confess it?) +the tears from my eyes. I was endeavouring to combat the depression of my +feelings by the reflection that I was the support and comfort of my poor +old mother's life, when my attention was roused by the evident compassion +of a young lady, who, after passing me with a hesitating step, withdrew +her arm from that of her more elderly companion, and pausing for an +instant, put a shilling into my hand, saying, 'You look very weary, my +poor man; pray get something to drink with that.' A more lovely +countenance (if by lovely be meant that which engages love) was never +moulded by nature; the sweetness and compassion of her pale face and soft +innocent eyes; the kindness of her gentle voice, made an impression on my +memory too strong to be effaced. <i>I saw her once again!</i> I reached the +merchant's lodgings and my knock was answered as on the former occasion, +by the widow herself. She sighed heavily as she saw me, and after one or +two attempts to speak, informed me that her son was awake, but that it was +impossible for her to administer the opiate, as he refused to let the +smallest nourishment pass his lips; but that he was quite quiet, indeed +had never spoken since he woke, except to ask her how she felt; and she +thought I might proceed without fear of his interruption. I entered +accordingly, followed by a lad, son to the landlady who kept the lodgings, +and with his assistance I proceeded to lift the corpse, and lay it in the +coffin. The widow's son remained motionless, and, as it were, stupified +during this operation: but the moment he saw me prepare the lid of the +coffin so as to be screwed down, he started up with the energy and +gestures of a madman. His glazed eyes seemed bursting from their sockets, +and his upper lip, leaving his teeth bare, gave his mouth the appearance +of a horrible and convulsive smile. He seized my arm with his whole +strength; and, as I felt his grasp, and saw him struggling for words, I +expected to hear curses and execrations, or the wild howl of an infuriated +madman. I was mistaken. The wail of a sickly child, who dreads its +mother's departure, was the only sound to which I could compare that +wretched man's voice. He held me with a force almost supernatural; but +his tongue uttered supplications in a feeble monotonous tone, and with the +most humble and beseeching manner. 'Leave him,' exclaimed he, 'leave him a +little while longer. He will forgive me; I know he will. He spoke that +horrible word to rouse my conscience. But I heard him and came back to him. +I would have toiled and bled for him; he knows that well. Hush! hush! I +cannot hear his voice for my mother's sobs; but I know he will forgive me. +Oh! father, do not refuse! I am humble—I am penitent. Father, I have +sinned against Heaven +<span class="pagenum"> + <a id="page207" + name="page207"> + </a>[pg 207] +</span> +and before thee—father, I have sinned! Oh! mother, +he is cursing me again. He is lifting his hand to curse me—his right hand. +Look, mother, look! Save me, O God! my father curses me on his dying bed! +Save me, oh!——' The unfinished word resolved itself into a low hollow +groan, and he fell back insensible. I would have assisted him, but his +mother waved me back. 'Better so, better so,' she repeated hurriedly; 'it +is the mercy of God which has caused this—do you do your duty, and I will +do mine,' and she continued to kneel and support the head of her son, +while we fastened and secured down the coffin. At length all was finished, +and then and not till then we carried the wretched youth from the chamber +of death, to one as dark, as gloomy, and as scantily furnished, but having +a wood fire burning in the grate, and a bed with ragged curtains at one +end of it. And here, in comparative comfort, the landlady allowed him to +be placed, even though she saw little chance of her lodgers being able to +pay for the change. Into the glass of water held to his parched lips, as +he recovered his senses, I poured a sufficient quantity of the opiate to +produce slumber, and had the satisfaction of hearing his mother fervently +thank God, as still half unconscious, he swallowed the draught. I thought +he would not have survived the shock he had received; but I was mistaken. +The merchant was buried and forgotten; the son lived, and we met again in +a far, far different scene." +</p> + + <hr class="full" /> + +<h2>THE GATHERER.</h2> + +<hr /> + +<h3>NOBLES OF JOHANNA.</h3> +<p> +We had long been aware that the potentates of the <i>Guinea coast</i> not only +assume English titles, but wear under, or in place of, diadems, the +cast-off wigs of our Lord Chancellors—but we were not prepared for what +follows in the latitude of the Mozambique Channel, as related by Captain +Basil Hall. +</p> +<p> +"We proceeded to our guide's house, where he introduced us, not indeed to +his wives, for all these ladies were stowed away behind a screen of mats, +but to some of the males of his family, and, amongst others, to a queer +copper-coloured gentleman, who styled himself, in his communications with +us, 'the Duke of Devonshire,' and begged very hard to be allowed the +honour of having our linen to wash. His Grace was a little dumpy fellow, +who stooped considerably, wore neither shoes nor stockings, and exhibited +so little of a nose, that when you caught his countenance in profile, the +facial line, as the physiognomists call it, suffered no interruption when +drawn from the brow to the lips. The poor Duke little knew the cause of +the laughter which his occupation, title, and the contrast of looks, +excited in those of our party who had seen his grace's noble namesake in +the opposite hemisphere." +</p> +<p> +"Most of the natives of Johanna, even the negro slaves, talk a little +English; but the best examples of such acquirements were found, where they +ought to be, amongst the grandees of the island. The following is a fair +specimen of the conversation of the dukes and earls at the capital of the +Comoros.—'How do you do, sir? Very glad see you. D—n your eyes! Johanna +man like English very much. God d—n! That very good? Eh? Devilish hot, +sir! What news? Hope your ship stay too long while, very. D—n my eye! +Very fine day.' After which, in a sort of whisper, accompanied by a most +insinuating smile, his lordship, or his grace, as the rank of the party +might be, would add:—'You want orange? You want goat? Cheap! I got good, +very. You send me you clothes; I wash with my own hand—clean! fine! very! +I got every thing, plenty, great, much! God d—n!' And then, as if to +clench the favourable opinion which these eloquent appeals had made, the +speaker was sure to produce a handful of certificates from mates of +Indiamen, masters of Yankee brigs, and middies of men-of-war; some written +in solemn earnest, some quizzically, but all declaring his lordship, the +bearer, to be a pretty good washerman, but the sort of person not to be +trusted far out of sight, as he would certainly walk off with your +clothes-bag if he could safely do so."—<i>Autobiography, Second Series</i>. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<p> +<i>Bed of Leaves</i>.—In some countries the leaves of the beech tree are +collected in autumn, before they have been injured by the frost, and are +used instead of feathers for beds; and mattresses formed of them are said +to be preferable to those either of straw or chaff. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<p> +<i>Pure Style</i>.—Cardinal Bembo was so rigorous with regard to purity of +style, that he is said to have had forty different partitions, through +which his writings, as he polished them by degrees, successively passed; +nor did he publish them till they had sustained these forty examinations. +How would the cardinal have +<span class="pagenum"> + <a id="page208" + name="page208"> + </a>[pg 208] +</span> + acted with the editorship of a daily newspaper. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<p> +<i>To lie at the Pool of Bethesda</i> is used proverbially in Germany, in +speaking of the theological candidates who are waiting for a benefice. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<p> +<i>Court Pun</i>.—The witty Marquess de Bièvre was asked by Louis XV. for a +pun. "Give me a subject, sire,'" said B. "Make it on myself," said Louis. +"Sire, the king is not a subject," was the pleasant reply. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<p> +<i>History</i>.—The first page of Thucydides is, in my opinion, the +commencement of real history. All preceding narrations are so intermixed +with fable, that philosophers ought to abandon them in a great measure, to +the embellishment of the poet and orator.—<i>Hume</i>. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<p> +<i>Old Squibs</i>.—Richard Bentley and Charles Boyle (Earl of Orrery,) had a +warm dispute relative to the genuineness of the Greek Epistles of Phalaris, +an edition of which was published by the latter. Bentley was victorious, +though he was kept in hot water with the critics and wits of the age. Dr. +Garth assailed him thus: +</p> +<div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>So diamonds owe a lustre to their foil,</p> + <p>And to a <i>Bentley</i> 'tis we owe a <i>Boyle</i>.</p> + </div> +</div> +<p> +Conyers Middleton was a sad thorn in Bentley's side, from the latter +having called the former, when a young student in the university, +<i>fiddling</i> Conyers, because he played on the violin. A punning caricature +represented B. about to be thrust into the brazen bull of Phalaris, and +exclaiming, "I had rather be <i>roasted</i> than <i>Boyled</i>." +</p> + +<hr /> + +<p> +<i>Hip, Hip, Hurra!</i>—During the stirring times of the Crusades, the +chivalry of Europe was excited to arms by the inflammatory appeals of the +well-known Peter the Hermit. While preaching the Crusade, this furious +zealot was accustomed to exhibit a banner emblazoned with the following +letters, H.E.P., the initials of the Latin words, <i>"Hierosolyma Est +Perdita</i>," Jerusalem is destroyed. The people in some of the countries +which he visited, not being acquainted with the Latin, read and pronounced +the inscription as if one word—HEP. The followers of the Hermit were +accustomed, whenever an unfortunate Jew appeared in the streets, to raise +the cry, "Hep, hep, hurra," to hunt him down, and flash upon the +defenceless Israelite their maiden swords, before they essayed their +temper with the scimetar of the Saracen.—<i>Tatler</i>. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<p> +<i>Wool-gathering</i>.—A very patriotic landlord, Squire Henry, of Straffan, +county of Kildare, had hit on an expedient to benefit the wool-growers in +general, and his numerous tenantry in particular. Knowing that market +value is in the direct ratio of demand and scarcity, he annually buried +the wool shorn from <i>his own</i> sheep, lest it might interfere with the +profitable sale of his tenants' fleeces. But, alas! this generous system +of self-sacrifice did not "work well." The result was—though Squire Henry +never suspected the existence of such turpitude in the human heart—the +ungrateful tenantry dug up by night what he buried by day, wool never rose +in price, and they never were able to pay up their arrears of +rent.—<i>Fraser's Magazine</i>. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<p> +One day, a physician alighted from his carriage, and entering the shop of +a medical bookseller, inquired of its sleek-faced master, "whether he had +a copy of Heberden's <i>Commentaries</i>?" "No, sir," replied the man of +letters, "but we have Caesar's <i>Commentaries</i>, and they are by far the +best."—<i>Metropolitan</i>. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<p> +<i>Mortality in the reign of William IV</i>.—Since the accession of King +William not less, we are told, than <i>twenty-four</i> generals and +<i>twenty-six</i> admirals, have found their way into Westminster Abbey, or +elsewhere. Considering that his majesty continues to receive the most +friendly assurances from all foreign powers, this attack upon the army and +navy list is rather prodigious. Napoleon himself could scarcely have made +greater gaps in the United Service Club in the time. To be sure they were +not all Nelsons and Marlboroughs, or we should have marked them as they +dropped off; whereas one can hardly name, five of the fifty great warriors. +—<i>Ibid</i>. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<p> +<i>Origin of Black Monday</i>.—Black Monday—Easter Monday, in the year 1359, +when hail stones killed both men and horses in the army of our King Edward +the Third, in France. He was on his march, within two leagues of Chartres, +when there happened a storm of piercing wind, that swelled to a tempest of +rain, lightning, and hail stones, so prodigious, as instantly to kill +6,000 of his horses, and 1,000 of his best troops. P.T.W. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<p> +*** MR. HAYDON'S Exhibition in our next. +</p> + + +<hr class="full" /> + +<blockquote class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote1" name="footnote1"> + </a><b>Footnote 1</b>: + <a href="#footnotetag1"> + (return) + </a> + <p> + Hist. and Antiq. St. Saviour, Southwark, 1795. + </p> +</blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote2" name="footnote2"> + </a><b>Footnote 2</b>: + <a href="#footnotetag2"> + (return) + </a> + <p> + The first we read of Bear-baiting in England, was in the reign of King + John, at Ashby-de-la-Zouch, where "thyss straynge passtyme was + introduced by some Italyans for his highness' amusement, wherewith he + and his court were highly delighted." + </p> +</blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote3" name="footnote3"> + </a><b>Footnote 3</b>: + <a href="#footnotetag3"> + (return) + </a> + <p> + Reliq. Wotton, p. 425. Edit. 1685 + </p> +</blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote4" name="footnote4"> + </a><b>Footnote 4</b>: + <a href="#footnotetag4"> + (return) + </a> + <p> + Winwood's Memorials, vol. iii. p. 469. + </p> +</blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote5" name="footnote5"> + </a><b>Footnote 5</b>: + <a href="#footnotetag5"> + (return) + </a> + <p> + Annals of the Stage. By J.P. Collyer, Esq. F.S.A. Vol. I. + </p> +</blockquote> + +<hr class="full" /> +<p> +<i>Printed and Published by J. LIMBIRD, 143, Strand, (near Somerset House,) +London; sold by ERNEST FLEISCHER, 626, New Market, Leipsic; G.G. BENNIS, +55, Rue Neuve, St. Augustin, Paris; and by all Newsmen and Booksellers</i>. +</p> +<hr class="full" /> + +<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 12550 ***</div> +</body> +</html> diff --git a/12550-h/images/540-001.png b/12550-h/images/540-001.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..bf1b077 --- /dev/null +++ b/12550-h/images/540-001.png diff --git a/12550-h/images/540-002.png b/12550-h/images/540-002.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..1154ef4 --- /dev/null +++ b/12550-h/images/540-002.png diff --git a/12550-h/images/540-003.png b/12550-h/images/540-003.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..bfea343 --- /dev/null +++ b/12550-h/images/540-003.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..7b021c9 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #12550 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/12550) diff --git a/old/12550-8.txt b/old/12550-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6145ceb --- /dev/null +++ b/old/12550-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1823 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and +Instruction, by Various + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction + Vol. XIX. No. 540, Saturday, March 31, 1832 + +Author: Various + +Release Date: June 8, 2004 [EBook #12550] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MIRROR OF LITERATURE, NO. 540 *** + + + + +Produced by Jonathan Ingram, Allen Siddle and PG Distributed Proofreaders + + + + + + + + +THE MIRROR OF LITERATURE, AMUSEMENT, AND INSTRUCTION. + +VOL. XIX. No. 540.] SATURDAY, MARCH 31, 1832. [PRICE 2d. + + + + * * * * * + + + +BANKSIDE.--OLD THEATRES. + +[Illustration: BANKSIDE IN 1648.] + +[Illustration: BULL AND BEAR-BAITING THEATRES.] + +[Illustration: BEAR-BAITING--ROSE--GLOBE.] + +The ancient topography of the southern bank of the Thames (or _Bankside_) +between London and Blackfriars bridges is peculiarly interesting to the +lover of dramatic lore, as well as to the inquirer into the sports and +pastimes of our ancestors. It appears to have been the _Arcadia_ of the +olden metropolis, if such a term be applicable to a place notorious for +the indulgence of brutal sports. + +The Cut in the adjoining column represents Bankside in 1648, from which it +appears to have been then in part waste and unenclosed. "It was land +belonging to the crown, and on various parts of it stood the Globe Theatre, +the Bear Garden, and other places of public show; here were also the Pike +Gardens, some time called the Queen's Pike Gardens, with ponds for the +preservation of fresh-water fish, which were said to be kept for the +supply of the royal table, under the inspection of an officer, called the +king's purveyor of pike, who had here a house for his residence."[1] On +the Bankside, prior to the above date, were also the ancient Bordello, or +Stews, which, according to Pennant, were distinguished by their respective +signs painted against the walls, one of which, in particular, was the +Cardinal's Hat; and a small court, now or till lately called _Cardinal's +Hat Court_, still exists on the Bankside, and probably shows the precise +site of the mansion of depravity. In like manner we find on Bankside, +_Pike Garden_, _Globe Alley_, and in the vicinity a public-house with the +sign of the _Globe_. On Bankside also stood an ancient Hall and Palace of +the Bishops of Winchester, stated to have been built by William Gifford, +Bishop of Winchester, about the year 1107, on a piece of ground belonging +to the Prior of Bermondsey, to whom was paid a yearly acknowledgment. The +great court, at one time belonging to this palace, is still known by the +name of _Winchester Square_, and in the adjacent street was, some time +since, an abutment of one of the gates. Near this Palace, on the south, at +one time stood the Episcopal Palace of the Bishops of Rochester; which is +supposed to have bequeathed its name to _Rochester Street_. The whole of +the _Bank_ shown in the Cut is now densely populated, and scarcely a pole +of green sward is left to denote its ancient state. On the opposite or +Middlesex bank may be distinguished the celebrated Castle Baynard. + +The second Cut represents the BULL and BEAR-BAITING THEATRES, as they +appeared in their first state, A.D. 1560. This spot was called Paris +Garden, and the two theatres are said to have been the first that were +formed near London. In these, according to Stow, were scaffolds for the +spectators to stand upon, an indulgence for which they paid in the +following manner: "Those who go to Paris Garden, the Bell Savage, or +Theatre, to behold bear-baiting, enterludes, or fence-play, must not +account of any pleasant spectacle unless they first pay one penny at the +gate, another at the entrie of the scaffold, and a third for quiet +standing." One Sunday afternoon, in the year 1582, the scaffold, being +overcharged with spectators, fell down during the performance, and a great +number of persons were killed or maimed by the accident, which the +puritans of the time failed not to attribute to a Divine judgment. These +theatres were patronized by royalty: for we read that Queen Elizabeth, on +the 26th of May, 1599, went by water with the French ambassadors to Paris +Garden, where they saw a baiting of bulls and bears. Indeed, Southwark +seems to have long been of sporting notoriety, for, in the Humorous Lovers, +printed in 1617, one of the characters says, "I'll set up my bills, that +the gamesters of London, Horsly-down, _Southwark_, and Newmarket, may come +in and bait him (the bear,) here before the ladies, &c."[2] + +The third Cut includes the GLOBE, ROSE, and BEAR-BAITING THEATRES, as they +appeared about the year 1612. Of the Globe we have been furnished with the +following account by a zealous correspondent, _G.W._: + +The Globe Theatre stood on a plot of ground, now occupied by four houses, +contiguous to the present Globe Alley, Maiden Lane, Southwark. This +theatre was of considerable size. It is not certain when it was built. +Hentzner, the German traveller, who gives an amusing description of London +in the time of Queen Elizabeth, alludes to it as existing in 1598, but it +was probably not built long before 1596. It was an hexagonal, wooden +building, partly open to the weather, and partly thatched with reeds, on +which, as well as other theatres, a pole was erected, to which a flag was +affixed. These flags were probably displayed only during the hours of +performance; and it should seem from one of the old comedies that they +were taken down in Lent, in which time, during the early part of King +James's reign, plays were not allowed to be represented, though at a +subsequent period this prohibition was dispensed with by paying a fee to +the Master of the Revels. + +It was called the Globe from its sign, which was a figure of Hercules, or +Atlas, supporting a globe, under which was written, _Totus mundus agit +histrionem_, (All the world acts a play):--and not as many have +conjectured, that the Globe though hexagonal at the outside, was a rotunda +within, and that it might have derived its name from its circular form. + +This theatre was burnt down June 29, 1613, but it was rebuilt with greater +splendour in the following year. The Cut represents the original theatre. +The account of this accident is given by Sir Henry Wotton, in a letter +dated July 2, 1613.[3] "Now to let matters of state sleepe, I will +entertain you at the present with what happened this week at the Banks +side. The King's players had a new play called All is True, representing +some principal pieces of the reign of Henry the Eighth, which set forth +with many extraordinary circumstances of pomp and majesty even to the +matting of the stage; the knights of the order with their Georges and +Garter, the guards with their embroidered coats, and the like: sufficient +in truth within awhile to make greatness very familiar, if not ridiculous. +Now King Henry making a Masque at the Cardinal Wolsey's house, and certain +cannons being shot off at his entry, some of the paper or other stuff, +wherewith one of them was stopped, did light on the thatch, where being +thought at first but idle smoak, and their eyes more attentive to the show, +it kindled inwardly, and ran round like a train, consuming within less +than an hour the whole house to the very ground. This was the fatal period +of that virtuous fabrick, wherein yet nothing did perish but _wood_ and +_straw_, and a few forsaken cloaks; only one man had his breeches set on +fire, that would perhaps have broyled him, if he had not by the benefit of +a provident wit, put it out with a bottle of ale." + +From a letter of Mr. John Chamberlaine to Sir Ralph Winwood, dated July 8, +1613, in which this accident is likewise mentioned, we learn that the +theatre had only two doors.[4] "The burning of the Globe or playhouse on +the Bankside on St. Peter's day cannot escape you; which fell out by a +peal of chambers, (that I know not upon what occasion were to be used in +the play,) the tampin or stopple of one of them lighting in the thatch +that covered the house, burn'd it down to the ground in less than two +hours, with a dwelling-house adjoyning; and it was a great marvaile and a +fair grace of God that the people had so little harm, having but _two +narrow doors_ to get out." + +In 1613, was entered in the Stationers' books, "A doleful ballad of the +General Conflagration of the famous Theatre called the Globe." + +Taylor, the water poet, commemorates the event in the following lines: + + "As gold is better that in fire's tried, + So is the Bankside Globe, that late was burn'd; + For where before it had a thatched hide, + Now to a stately theatre 'tis turn'd; + Which is an emblem that great things are won; + By those that dare through greatest dangers run." + +It is also alluded to in some verses by Ben Jonson, entitled, "An +Execration upon Vulcan," from which it appears that Ben Jonson was in the +theatre when it was burnt. + +This theatre was open in summer and the performances took place by +daylight; the King's company usually began to play in the month of May. +The exhibitions appear to have been calculated for the lower class of +people, and to have been more frequent than those at the Blackfriars, till +1604 or 5, when it became less fashionable and frequented. Being +contiguous to the Bear Garden, it is probable that those who resorted +there went to the theatre, when the bear-baiting sports were over, and +such persons were not likely to form a very refined audience. + +We have no description of the interior of the Globe, but that it was +somewhat similar to our modern theatres, with an open space in the roof: +or perhaps it more resembled an inn-yard, where, in the beginning of Queen +Elizabeth's reign, many of our ancient dramatic pieces were performed. The +galleries in both were arranged on three sides of the building; the small +rooms under the lowest, answered to our present boxes and were called +rooms; the yard bears a sufficient resemblance to the pit, as at present +in use, and where the common people stood to see the exhibition; from +which circumstance they are called by Shakspeare "the _groundlings_," and +by Ben Jonson, "the _understanding_ gentlemen of the _ground_." The stage +was erected in the area, with its back to the gateway where the admission +money was taken. The price of admission into the best _rooms_, or boxes, +was in Shakspeare's time, a shilling, though afterwards it appears to have +risen to two shillings and half-a-crown. The galleries, or scaffolds, as +they were sometimes called, and that part of the house which in private +theatres was named the pit, seem to have been the same price, which was +sixpence, while in some meaner playhouses it was only a penny, and in +others two-pence. + +We learn from Sir Henry Hebert, that 20_l_. was the greatest receipt for +one day's performance; by that we may calculate upon the house having +contained about 700 persons, at the prices before stated; that is to say, +100 for the boxes, and the rest in the other parts of the house. + +Part of the site of this theatre is now occupied by the brewery of Messrs. +Barclay and Perkins; and in the _History of St. Saviour's_, already quoted, +we read that "the passage which led to the Globe Tavern, of which the +playhouse formed a part, was, till within these few years, known by the +name of Globe Alley, and upon its site now stands a large store-house for +porter." + +The _Rose_ or smaller theatre, was erected in the year 1592, and is stated +to have cost £103. 2_s_. 7_d_.--a sum which would scarcely pay half the +expenses of a modern patent theatre for a single night! + +These theatres appear to have been cited as nuisances by the parish +officers of St. Saviour's, in which they stood; for in July, 1597-8, a +resolution was agreed to by a vestry of the parish, "that a petition shall +be made to the bodye of the Councell, (Privy Council,) concerning the +play-houses in this parish; wherein all the enormities shall be showed +that come thereby to the parish, and that in respect thereof they may be +dismissed, and put down from playing: and that four, or two of the +Churchwardens, &c. shall present the cause with a collector of the +Boroughside, and another of the Bankside." The presentation of this +petition did not produce the desired effect; for some time afterwards the +play-houses not having been put down, the Churchwardens of St. Saviour's, +as appears from an entry in their Parish Register, endeavoured to obtain +tithes and poor-rates from the owners and managers of the theatres on the +Bankside.[5] This corresponds with the state of the English theatre, at +this period, at the height of its glory and reputation. Dramatic authors +of the first excellence, and eminent actors equally abounded; every year +produced a number of new plays; nay, so great was the passion for show or +representation, that it was the fashion for the nobility to celebrate +their weddings, birthdays, and other occasions of rejoicing, with masques +and interludes; the king, queen, and court frequently performing in those +represented in the royal palaces, and all the nobility being actors in +their old private houses. Alas! + + What's gone and what's past help + Should be past grief. + +Dryden sung + + Support the stage, + Which so declines that shortly we may see + Players and plays reduced to second infancy! + +--What would he sing in these times! + +Among the numerous memoranda of the topography of this interesting +district, we find that the well-known iron foundry of Messrs. Bradley, now +occupies the site of a Bear-garden. The Falcon public-house adjoining the +foundry of that name, was once the most considerable inn in the county of +Surrey, the adjoining foundry being anciently a part of it: and it is said +that very near the Falcon was once a mill for the grinding of corn, for +the Priory of St. Mary Overy. + +To conclude. The accompanying Cuts are copied from one of a series of +prints illustrative of the antiquities of the metropolis, published by +Messrs. Boydell, in the year 1818. + + + [1] Hist. and Antiq. St. Saviour, Southwark, 1795. + + [2] The first we read of Bear-baiting in England, was in the + reign of King John, at Ashby-de-la-Zouch, where "thyss + straynge passtyme was introduced by some Italyans for his + highness' amusement, wherewith he and his court were highly + delighted." + + [3] Reliq. Wotton, p. 425. Edit. 1685 + + [4] Winwood's Memorials, vol. iii. p. 469. + + [5] Annals of the Stage. By J.P. Collyer, Esq. F.S.A. Vol. I. + + * * * * * + + + + +LACONICS. + +(_For the Mirror_.) + +Amongst men of the world comfort merely signifies a great consideration +for themselves, and a perfect indifference about others. + +Every one who gives way to thought, must, of necessity, become wiser every +day; for either the ideas that present themselves to his mind will confirm +his yet rickety theories, or observation will teach him that his previous +views of things were ill-founded. + +Party spirit is like gambling--a vast number of persons trouble themselves +about what in the end can be beneficial only to a few. + +It is as difficult to win over an enthusiast by force of reasoning, as to +persuade a lover of his mistress's faults; or to convince a man who is at +law of the badness of his cause. + +Knowledge of the world is regarded as an useful, if not an elegant, +accomplishment, but this advantage, like every other good, is mixed with +some alloy: the acute observer of men and manners cannot but be disgusted +with the scenes that take place around him, and his knowledge may at last +have the effect of souring his own disposition. + +Talents, without the accompaniment of religion, are but fatal presents: +they not only add strength to the vices of the individual, but what is +worse they render them more conspicuous to the world. + +It is strange that the eye of man should have that magic power we have all +felt that it possesses. We can contemplate other bright and beautiful +objects without withdrawing our gaze; and what is there in the formation +of an eye that should create in us any uneasiness? It is the consciousness +that the eye is the index of the mind--that when a man fixes his eye on us +we are the subject of his thoughts, and that a being gifted with a soul +like ourselves is employing its energies and setting its machinery at work +about ourselves. It is this conviction that makes us modestly, and almost +involuntarily, shrink from such an inspection. + +To put ourselves in a passion, in consequence of the misconduct of others, +is unquestionably very weak behaviour, but it has also something generous +about it; for we are clearly annoying and punishing ourselves, when the +offenders only ought to have been the sufferers. + +Meanness and conceit are frequently combined in the same character: for he +who to obtain transient applause can be indifferent to truth and his own +dignity, will be as little scrupulous about them if, by subserviency, he +can improve his condition in the world. + +The most trivial circumstances are able to put an end to our +gratifications; they are like beds of roses, where it is very unlikely all +the leaves should be smooth, and even one that is doubled suffices to make +us uncomfortable. + +Garrulous men are commonly conceited, and they will be found (with very +few exceptions) to be superficial as well. They who are in a hurry to tell +what they do know, will be equally inclined, from the impulse of +prevailing habit, to tell what they do not know. + +F. + + * * * * * + +LEGAL RHYMES. + +(_For the Mirror._) + +According to Goguet, "the first laws of any people were composed in verses, +which they sang;" and why should it not be so when Apollo was one of the +first of legislators? and under his auspices they were published to the +sound of the harp. Pittacus, one of the seven sages of Greece, formed a +code of laws in verse, that they might be the easier remembered. The +ancient laws of Spain also were chanted in verse, and the custom was +preserved a long time among many nations. Mio. Psellus, who lived in the +reign of Constantine Ducas, published a synopsis of the law, in verse, and +in 1701, Gumaro, a civilian of Naples, taught the dry and intricate system +of civil law, in a _novel._ Coke's Reports have been "done into verse" by +an anonymous author; and Cowper, the poet, tells us, that a relation of +his who had studied the law, "a gentleman of sprightly parts," began to +versify Coke's Institutes; he gives the following specimen of the +performance: + + "Tenant in fee + Simple is he, + And need neither quake nor quiver, + Who hath his lands, + Free from demands, + To him and his heirs for ever." + +Records, charters, and wills, and many other legal documents, have been +written in verse. The following grant was made by Edward the Confessor to +Randolf Peperking: + + "Iche Edward konyng (_king_) + Have given of my forest the keping, + Of the Hundred of Cholmer and Daucing, + To Randolph Peperking and to his kindling, (_heirs_) + With heart and hynd, doe and bock, (_buck_) + Hare and fox, cat and brock, (_badger_) + Wild fowell and his flock, + Partridge, fesant hen, and fesant cock, + With green and wyld stob and stock, + To kepen and to yemen (_hold_) by all his might, + Both by day and eke by night: + And hounds for to holde, + Gode and swift and bolde, + Four greyhounds and six beaches, (_hound bitches_) + For hare and fox, and wild cats, + And thereof Iche made him my booke, + Witness the Bishop Wolston, + And book ycleped many on, + And Sweyne of Essex, our brother, + And token him many other, + And our steward Hamelyn, + That bysought me for him." + +The Dunmow matrimonial flitch of bacon is a well known custom; the oath is +in verse, and as follows: + + "You shall swear by the custom of your confession, + That you never made any nuptial transgression, + Since you were married to your wife, + By household brawls, or contentious strife, + Or otherwise, in bed or at board, + Offended each other in deed or in word-- + Or since the parish clerk said Amen, + Wish'd yourselves unmarried again; + Or in a twelvemonth and a day, + Repented not in thought, any way, + But continued true, and in desire, + As when you join'd hands in holy quire. + If to these conditions, without all fear, + Of your own accord you will freely swear, + A gammon of bacon you shall receive, + And beare it hence with love and good leave, + For this is our custom at Dunmow well known, + Though the sport be ours, the bacon's your own." + +For the custom of riding the black ram, and the penal rhyme thereto +attached, we refer the reader to the _Spectator,_ No. 614. + +The following rhyming wills have been proved in the Prerogative Court of +Canterbury: + + "The fifth of May, + Being airy and gay + And to hip not inclined, + But of vigorous mind, + And my body in health. + I'll dispose of my wealth, + And all I'm to leave + On this side the grave, + To some one or other, + And I think to my brother; + Because I foresaw + That my brethren in law, + If I did not take care, + Would come in for their share, + Which I nowise intended, + 'Till their manners are mended, + And of that God knows there's no sign. + I do therefore enjoin, + And do strictly command, + Of which witness my hand, + That naught I have got + Be brought into hotchpot: + But I give and devise, + As much as in me lies, + To the son of my mother, + My own dear brother. + And to have and to hold + All my silver and gold, + As th' affectionate pledges + Of his brother, JOHN HEDGES." + +In the next, the items are more curious and particular: + + "What I am going to bequeath + When this frail part submits to death-- + But still I hope the spark divine, + With its congenial stars shall shine, + My good executors fulfill, + And pay ye fairly my last will, + With first and second codicil. + And first I give to dear Lord Hinton, + At Twyford school now, not at Winton, + One hundred guineas and a ring, + Or some such memorandum thing, + And truly much I should have blunder'd, + Had I not given another hundred + To dear Earl Paulett's second son, + Who dearly loves a little fun. + Unto my nephew, Stephen Langdon, + Of whom none says he e'er has wrong done, + The civil laws he loves to hash, + I give two hundred pounds in cash. + One hundred pounds to my niece, Tudor, + (With luring eyes one Clark did view her,) + And to her children just among 'em, + A hundred more--and not to wrong 'em, + In equal shares I freely give it, + Not doubting but they will receive it. + To Betsy Mudford and Mary Lee, + If they with Mrs. Mudford be, + Because they round the year did dwell + In Davies-street, and serv'd full well. + The first ten pounds, the other twenty, + And girls, I hope that will content ye. + In seventeen hundred and sixty-nine, + This with my hand I write and sign, + The sixteenth day of fair October, + In merry mood, but sound and sober. + Past my threescore and fifteenth year, + With spirits gay and conscience clear-- + Joyous and frolicksome, though old, + And like this day, serene, but cold; + To foes well wishing, and to friends most kind, + In perfect charity with all mankind. + For what remains I must desire, + To use the words of Matthew Prior. + Let this my will be well obey'd, + And farewell all, I'm not afraid, + For what avails a struggling sigh. + When soon, or later, all must die? + M. DARLEY." + +Joshua West, who was known in his sphere "as the poet of the Six Clerks' +Office," made his will in rhyme; it is dated 13th December, 1804: + + "Perhaps I die not worth a groat, + But should I die worth somewhat more, + Then I give that, and my best coat, + And all my manuscripts in store, + To those who will the goodness have + To cause my poor remains to rest, + Within a decent shell and grave, + This is the will of JOSHUA WEST." + +In 1654, Henry Phillips published the "Purchasers' Pattern," in which he +gives advice to purchasers of estates of inheritance, in verse. + +There is also a long article in verse, "On the Distribution of Intestates' +Effects: it begins-- + + "By the laws of the land, + It is settled and planned, + That intestates' effects shall be spread, + At the end of the year, + When the debts are all clear, + 'Mong the kindred as here may be read." + +Before the conclusion, the author says, + + "To the rest that succeed, + We need not proceed, + Enough has already been penn'd, + And now it's high time, + For our doggrel rhyme + To come, lest it err, to an end." + +This hint I shall apply to myself, lest my article become as dry and +uninteresting as my subject, and conclude with a declaration in which I +heartily concur: + + "Fee simple, and a simple fee, + And all the fees in tail, + Are nothing when compared to thee, + Thou best of fees--female." + +W.A.R. + + * * * * * + + + + +FINE ARTS + +THE NINTH EXHIBITION OF THE SOCIETY OF BRITISH ARTISTS. + + +We are happy to learn that the "British Artists" continue to flourish. +Their association, we believe, originated in the inefficiency of similar +Institutions. They started in a spirit of generous rivalry, and, above all +things, with the view to aid aspiring merit. It could, however, scarcely +be called rivalry to any other Institution, and to this line of conduct we +attribute much of the success of the Society of British Artists. As the +Secretary states in an Address to the Public, prefixed to this year's +Catalogue, "they have never opposed, either directly or indirectly, any +existing Institution for the promotion of the Fine Arts, but have +uniformly sought to go hand in hand with whatever tended to their general +advancement." It appears likewise, that works in Painting, Sculpture, +Architecture, and Engraving, to the amount of £18,000. and upwards, have +been sold from the walls of the Exhibition, since the formation of the +Society, and numerous commissions given in consequence of the talent thus +displayed; and that all future donations will be devoted towards +completing the purchase of the galleries occupied by the Society, in +Suffolk-street. + +The full attendance at the private view on Friday, accorded with these +gratifying statements. Suffolk-street and Pall Mall East were crowded with +the carriages of visiters, and in the rooms was an abundant sprinkling of +nobility, patrons of art, men of letters, and some note of purchases at +the keeper's table. There are upwards of 800 Pictures, and about 100 +specimens of Sculpture and Engraving. The crowded state of the rooms +during the hour that we were there, allowed us only to note a few works. + +1. _Cardinal Weld_; a well painted portrait, by James Ramsey, of the +benevolent owner of Lulworth Castle. The features are dignified and finely +intellectual. We could, too, associate their expression with the +philanthropic act of the Cardinal's affording an asylum to fallen royalty. + +13. _Ruins_. D. Roberts. A delightful composition, from these exquisite +lines by Mrs. Hemans: + + "There have been bright and glorious pageants here, + Where now grey stones and moss-grown columns lie-- + There have been words, which earth grew pale to hear, + Breath'd from the cavern's misty chambers nigh: + There have been voices through the sunny sky, + And the pine woods, their choral hymn-notes sending, + And reeds and lyres, their Dorian melody, + With incense clouds around the temple blending, + And throngs, with laurel boughs, before the altar bending." + +27. _A Philosopher_. H. Wyatt. Admirably coloured: the flesh tints and +deep expression of the features will not escape notice. + +52. _The Town of Menagio, on the Lake of Como_. T.C. Hofland. A scene of +beautiful repose in the artist's best style. + +57. _Portrait of Mrs. Davenport_ in the character of the Nurse in "Romeo +and Juliet." James Holmes. Almost speakingly characteristic. You may +imagine the actress drawling out, "awear--y," and her attitude admirably +accords with "Fie, how my bones ache." + +114. _The Baptism_. G. Harvey, S.A. Foremost among the attractions of the +Exhibition, though of a serious turn. The quotation will best describe the +subject: + + "Here, upon a semicircular ledge of rocks, over a narrow chasm, down + which the tiny stream played in a murmuring waterfall, and divided into + two equal parts, sat the congregation, devoutly listening to their + minister, who stood before them on what might well be called a small + natural pulpit of living stone.... Divine service was closed, and a + row of maidens, all clothed in purest white, arranged themselves at + the foot of the pulpit, with the infants about to be baptized. + + "The fathers of the infants, just as if they had been in their own + Kirk, had been sitting there during worship, and now stood up before + the minister.... Some of the younger ones in that semicircle kept + gazing down into the pool, in which the whole scene was reflected; + and now and then, in spite of the grave looks or admonishing whispers + of their elders, letting a pebble fall into the water, that they + might judge of its depth from the length of time that elapsed before + the clear air-bells lay sparkling on the agitated surface."--Vide + "_Lights and Shadows of Scottish Life_." + + +155. _His Most Gracious Majesty William the Fourth_. H.E. Dawe. The King +in his state robes: the likeness is excellent. + +156. _The Grecian Choirs at the Temple of Apollo_. A sweet composition by +W. Linton, from Petrarch; "representing the passage of the Choirs across +the narrow strait between Delos and Rhenia, by a bridge magnificently +decorated with gold and garlands, rich stuffs and tapestry," the splendour +of which is enhanced by the brightness of a summer's morning. + +162. "_In peace love tunes the Shepherd's reed_," a pretty composition +from this line by Scott, painted by Mrs. John Hakewill. A rustic boy and +girl are seated beneath a woody bank: the intent expression of the boy +playing the pipe and of the listening girl are really delightful. + +195. _Edinburgh Castle from the Grass Market_. D. Roberts. A fine picture +of the associated sublimities of nature and art. + +208. _The Ettrick Shepherd in his Forest Plaid_. J.W. Gordon. Correct in +likeness, but strangely shadowed. + +224. _Coronation of William IV_. The first picture of a series to +represent the procession to the Abbey on the day of the Coronation of his +present Majesty, containing the portraits of distinguished personages who +attended on that occasion.--Painted for his Majesty, by R.B. Davis. This +picture occupies comparatively as much length on the walls as its +description would in our columns: it is some yards long, and perhaps four +feet in height. It is but hastily painted. The framework is excellent, and +well appointed for St. James's, Windsor, or Buckingham Palace. We hope the +_picture_ will be liked there as well as the frame. + +244. _Elizabeth relieving the Exile_, by Miss A. Beaumont, is an +interesting picture, from the well-remembered incident in the _Exiles of +Siberia._ + +296. _Interior of a Gaming-house_. H. Pidding. We take this to represent +one of the _salons_ of Frescati's, or other Parisian gaming-house, where +females are admitted to participate in the game, and witness the madness +and folly of the stronger sex. The party are chiefly about a _rouge et +noir_ table, and are in the highest stage of recklessness. One of them, a +female, has flung herself from the lure across a chair, apparently in the +last stage of wretchedness and despair. The excitement of the players is +powerfully wrought up and contrasted with the _sang froid_ of the +_croupier_, who seems to treat all the world as a ball. Other persons are +seeking fresh excitement at the hands of a liveried waiter. But we must +leave the rest, which it would take a column or two to describe, +especially as to our mind, a gaming-house furnishes an epitome of all the +bad passions that rankle in the human breast. + +301. _The Reform Question_. Thomas Clater. A pleasanter scene than the +preceding picture. A village blacksmith is reading the newspaper, by a +candle held by a boy, to a listening neighbour. The puzzling of the reader, +the vacant stare of the candle-holder, and the intent expression of the +absorbed listener, are excellent. Perhaps the light of the candle is +objectionable. + +311. _Love in the Dairy_. H.H. Hobday. A ticklish village amour: a young +fellow importuning a buxom dairy-maid, and apparently on the verge of +conquest; in the distant door-way stands a mar-loving, wrinkled old woman, +whose crabbed face ought not to be trusted in a dairy. + +466. _The Lord Chancellor_, seated in a chair, in his official robes, by +J. Lonsdale. The likeness is excellent, as are the robes, wig, ruffles, &c. +but the great seal and mace are even dingier than the orignals. We could +have spared the books thrown on the floor, though the paper register in +one of them almost _comes out_. + +We reserve a few pictures for another visit. The Portraits, as might be +expected, are numerous. The King's supporters are two ex-sheriffs: by the +way, how many good turns does _office_ yield to art; there is nothing like +a portrait to perpetuate your brief authority. Works of imagination are +scarce, especially as empainting the ideas of poets and passion-writers +has become fashionable. + + * * * * * + + + + +NOTES OF A READER. + + +THE VEGETABLE WORLD. + +We pencil a few passages, at random, from Part 14 of _Knowledge for the +People_--(Botany, concluded.) + +_Why does snow, when in contact with leaves and stems, melt more speedily +than when lodged upon dead substances?_ + +Because of the internal heat of the plants, heat being a production of the +vegetable as well as animal body, though in a much lower degree in the +former than the latter. Mr. Hunter appears to have detected this heat by a +thermometer applied in frosty weather to the internal parts of vegetables +newly opened. It is evident that a certain appropriate portion of heat is +a necessary stimulus to the constitution of every plant, without which its +living principle is destroyed.--_Smith_. + +_Why is fructification so important to plants?_ + +Because it continues them by seeds, and, according to Sir James Smith, +"all other modes of propagation are but the extension of an individual, +and, sooner or later, terminate in its total extinction." Dr. Drummond is +of a contrary opinion, and quotes the following fact:--"In South America +there is a species of bamboo which forms forests in the marshes of many +leagues in extent, and yet Mutis, who botanized for nearly twenty +years in the parts where it grows, was never able to detect the +fructifications."--_Humboldt_. + +The produce of vegetable seeds in a hundred-fold degree is common, and +many trees and shrubs bring forth their fruit by thousands. A single plant +of the poppy will produce above 30,000 seeds; and, of tobacco, above +40,000; and Buffon remarks, that from the seeds of a single elm-tree, one +hundred thousand young elms may be raised from the product of one year. +Some ferns, it is said, produce their seeds by millions. + +_Why should seeds be uniformly kept dry before sown?_ + +Because the least damp will cause an attempt at vegetation, when the seeds +necessarily die, as the process cannot, as they are situated, go on. + +_Why, in summer, is continued watering required to newly sown seeds?_ + +Because, if the soil is only moistened at the time of sowing, it induces +the projection of the radicle, or first root, which, in very parching +weather, and in clayey cutting soil, withers away, and the crop is +consequently lost, for want of a continued supply of moisture. + +_Why is selection important for procuring abundance of genuine seeds?_ + +Because we may then choose the most vigorous plants, which naturally prove +of greater fecundity. Thus, in 1823, Mr. Shirreff marked one vigorous +wheat plant, near the centre of a field, which produced him 2,473 grains. +These were dibbled in the autumn of the same year, the produce sown +broadcast the second and third years, and the fourth harvest produced +forty quarters of sound grain. A fine purple-topped Swedish turnip +produced 100,296 grains, which was seed enough for five imperial acres, +and thus, in three years, one turnip would produce seed enough for Great +Britain for a year.--_Quarterly Journal of Agriculture._ + +_Why are winds the great agents by which seeds are diffused?_ + +Because seeds are, as it were, provided with various wings for seizing on +the breeze. The thistle and dandelion are familiar examples of this mode +of dissemination. "How little," Sir J.E. Smith observes, "are children +aware, as they blow away the seeds of dandelion, or stick burs in sport +upon each other's clothes, that they are fulfilling one of the great ends +of nature." Dr. Woodward calculates, that one seed of the common spear +thistle will produce "at the first crop, twenty-four thousand, and +consequently five hundred and twenty-six millions of seeds, at the second." + +Some plants discharge their seeds. Thus, a certain fungus has the property +of ejecting its seeds with great force and rapidity, and with a loud +cracking noise, and yet it is no bigger than a pin's head! + +_Why is a milky fluid found in the cocoa-nut?_ + +Because in this case, as well as in a few others, all the fluids destined +to nourish the embryo of the fruit does not harden, whence a greater or +less quantity of this kind of mild emulsion is contained within the kernel. + +_Why are certain eatable roots unfit for the table when the plants have +flowered?_ + +Because the mucus or proper juice in the tubular cells being appropriated +for perfecting the flower stem, the flower, and the fruit, is absorbed as +the fructification of the stem advances; and, as these are perfected, the +cells are emptied, and their sides become ligneous. + +_Why is the Jerusalem Artichoke so called?_ + +Because of its corruption from its Italian name, _Girasole Articiocco_, +sunflower artichoke, as the plant was first brought from Peru to Italy, +and thence propagated throughout Europe.--_Smith._ + + * * * * * + + +AMERICAN MANNERS. + +We suspect certain pages of Mrs. Trollope's _Domestic Manners of the +Americans_ to be highly coloured, but they are cleverly written, and will +be read with considerable interest. + +_A Backwoodsman._ + +"We visited one farm, which interested us particularly from its wild and +lonely situation, and from the entire dependence of the inhabitants upon +their own resources. It was a partial clearing in the very heart of the +forest. The house was built on the side of a hill, so steep that a high +ladder was necessary to enter the front door, while the back one opened +against the hill-side; at the foot of this sudden eminence ran a clear +stream, whose bed had been deepened into a little reservoir, just opposite +the house. A noble field of Indian corn stretched away into the forest on +one side, and a few half-cleared acres, with a shed or two upon them, +occupied the other, giving accommodation to cows, horses, pigs, and +chickens innumerable. Immediately before the house was a small potato +garden, with a few peach and apple trees. The house was built of logs, and +consisted of two rooms, besides a little shanty or lean-to, that was used +as a kitchen. Both rooms were comfortably furnished with good beds, +drawers, &c. The farmer's wife, and a young woman who looked like her +sister, were spinning, and three little children were playing about. The +woman told me that they spun and wove all the cotton and woollen garments +of the family, and knit all the stockings; her husband, though not a +shoe-maker by trade, made all the shoes. She manufactured all the soap and +candles they used, and prepared her sugar from the sugar-trees on their +farm. All she wanted with money, she said, was to buy coffee, tea, and +whiskey, and she could 'get enough any day by sending a batch of butter +and chicken to market.' They used no wheat, nor sold any of their corn, +which, though it appeared a very large quantity, was not more than they +required to make their bread and cakes of various kinds, and to feed all +their live stock during the winter. She did not look in health, and said +they had all had ague in 'the fall' but she seemed contented, and proud of +her independence; though it was in somewhat a mournful accent that she +said, ''Tis strange to us to see company: I expect the sun may rise and +set a hundred times before I shall see another _human_ that does not +belong to the family.' + +"These people were indeed, independent--Robinson Crusoe was hardly more +so, and they eat and drink abundantly; but yet it seemed to me that there +was something awful and almost unnatural in their loneliness. No village +bell ever summoned them to prayer, where they might meet the friendly +greeting of their fellow-men. When they die, no spot sacred by ancient +reverence will receive their bones--Religion will not breathe her sweet +and solemn farewell upon their grave; the husband or the father will dig +the pit that is to hold them, beneath the nearest tree; he will himself +deposit them within it, and the wind that whispers through the boughs will +be their only requiem. But then they pay neither taxes nor tithes, are +never expected to pull off a hat or to make a curtsey, and will live and +die without hearing or uttering the dreadful words, 'God save the king.'" + +_A Presbyterian Church in Cincinnati._ + +"It was in the middle of summer, but the service we were recommended to +attend did not begin till it was dark. The church was well lighted, and +crowded almost to suffocation. On entering, we found three priests +standing side by side, in a sort of tribune, placed where the altar +usually is, handsomely fitted up with crimson curtains, and elevated about +as high as our pulpits. We took our places in a pew close to the rail +which surrounded it. + +"The priest who stood in the middle was praying; the prayer was +extravagantly vehement, and offensively familiar in expression; when this +ended a hymn was sung, and then another priest took the centre place and +preached. The sermon had considerable eloquence, but of a frightful kind. +The preacher described, with ghastly minuteness, the last feeble fainting +moments of human life, and then the gradual progress of decay after death, +which he followed through every process up to the loathsome stage of +decomposition. Suddenly changing his tone, which had been that of sober, +accurate description, into the shrill voice of horror, he bent forward his +head, as if to gaze on some object beneath the pulpit, and made known to +us what he saw in the pit that seemed to open before him. The device was +certainly a happy one for giving effect to his description of hell. No +image that fire, flame, brimstone, molten lead, or red-hot pincers could +supply, with flesh, nerves, and sinews quivering under them, was omitted. +The perspiration ran in streams from the face of the preacher; his eyes +rolled, his lips were covered with foam, and every feature had the deep +expression of horror it would have borne, had he, in truth, been gazing at +the scene he described. The acting was excellent. At length he gave a +languishing look to his supporters on each side, as if to express his +feeble state, and then sat down, and wiped the drops of agony from his +brow. + +"The other two priests arose, and began to sing a hymn. It was some +seconds before the congregation could join as usual; every upturned face +looked pale and horror-struck. When the singing ended, another took the +centre place, and began in a sort of coaxing, affectionate tone, to ask +the congregation if what their dear brother had spoken had reached their +hearts? Whether they would avoid the hell he had made them see? 'Come, +then!' he continued, stretching out his arms towards them, 'come to us, +and tell us so, and we will make you see Jesus, the dear gentle Jesus, who +shall save you from it. But you must come to him! You must not be ashamed +to come to him! This night you shall tell him that you are not ashamed of +him; we will make way for you; we will clear the bench for anxious sinners +to sit upon. Come, then! come to the anxious bench, and we will show you +Jesus! Come! Come! Come!' + +"Again a hymn was sung, and while it continued, one of the three was +employed in clearing one or two long benches that went across the rail, +sending the people back to the lower part of the church. The singing +ceased, and again the people were invited, and exhorted not to be ashamed +of Jesus, but to put themselves upon 'the anxious benches,' and lay their +heads on his bosom. 'Once more we will sing,' he concluded, 'that we may +give you time.' And again they sung a hymn. + +"And now in every part of the church a movement was perceptible, slight at +first, but by degrees becoming more decided. Young girls arose, and sat +down, and rose again; and then the pews opened, and several came tottering +out, their hands clasped, their heads hanging on their bosoms, and every +limb trembling, and still the hymn went on; but as the poor creatures +approached the rail their sobs and groans became audible. They seated +themselves on the 'anxious benches;' the hymn ceased, and two of the three +priests walked down from the tribune, and going, one to the right, and the +other to the left, began whispering to the poor tremblers seated there. +These whispers were inaudible to us, but the sobs and groans increased to +a frightful excess. Young creatures, with features pale and distorted, +fell on their knees on the pavement, and soon sunk forward on their faces; +the most violent cries and shrieks followed, while from time to time a +voice was heard in convulsive accents, exclaiming, 'Oh Lord!' 'Oh Lord +Jesus!' 'Help me, Jesus!' and the like. Meanwhile the two priests +continued to walk among them; they repeatedly mounted on the benches, and +trumpet-mouthed proclaimed to the whole congregation 'the tidings of +salvation;' and then from every corner of the building arose in reply, +short sharp cries of 'Amen!' 'Glory!' 'Amen!' while the prostrate +penitents continued to receive whispered comfortings, and from time to +time a mystic caress. More than once I saw a young neck encircled by a +reverend arm. Violent hysterics and convulsions seized many of them, and +when the tumult was at the highest, the priest who remained above, again +gave out a hymn as if to drown it. It was a frightful sight to behold +innocent young creatures, in the gay morning of existence, thus seized +upon, horror-struck, and rendered feeble and enervated for ever. One young +girl, apparently not more than fourteen, was supported in the arms of +another, some years older; her face was pale as death; her eyes wide open, +and perfectly devoid of meaning; her chin and bosom wet with slaver; she +had every appearance of idiotism. I saw a priest approach her, he took her +delicate hand, 'Jesus is with her! Bless the Lord!' he said, and passed on. +Did the men of America value their women as men ought to value their wives +and daughters, would such scenes be permitted among them? + +"It is hardly necessary to say that all who obeyed the call to place +themselves on the 'anxious benches' were women, and by far the greater +number very young women. The congregration was in general, extremely well +dressed, and the smartest and most fashionable ladies of the town were +there; during the whole revival the churches and meeting-houses were every +day crowded with well-dressed people." + +"It is thus the ladies of Cincinnati amuse themselves; to attend the +theatre is forbidden; to play cards is unlawful; but they work hard in +their families and must have some relaxation. For myself, I confess that I +think the coarsest comedy ever written would be a less detestable +exhibition for the eyes of youth and innocence than such a scene." + + * * * * * + + + +SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS. + + +THE COFFIN-MAKER. + +The paper in the _New Monthly Magazine_, under this title, occupies a +sheet or sixteen pages, and is stated to be from the pen of the Hon. Mrs. +Norton. It is written in an almost breathless, and purposely hurried, +style, and the narrative of feelings and incidents flows with such +rapidity, that the reader is carried onward, _nolens volens, vi et verbis_ +through the adventures. The writer is the son of a carpenter: his father +dies; unable to obtain any other employment, he obtains that of a +coffin-maker. His aversion to the trade, and the state of his feelings is +thus naturally described: + +"The first few weeks of my employment passed pleasantly enough; my master +was satisfied with me, and on Sunday evenings I was able occasionally to +enjoy a walk. But my spirits soon became less buoyant, and even my health +began to suffer; I entirely lost the florid look which was my poor mother's +admiration; my very step grew slower, and there were Sundays when I +declined the evening walk, which had been my only recreation, merely +because the happy laugh and continued jests of (my friend) Henry Richards +annoyed and distressed me while contrasted with my own heaviness of heart. +Evening after evening, sometimes through a whole dismal night, I worked at +my melancholy employment; and as my master was poor, and employed no other +journey-man, I worked most commonly alone. Frequently as the heavy hammer +descended, breaking at regular intervals the peaceful silence of night, I +recalled some scene of sorrow and agony that I had witnessed in the day; +and as the echo of some shriek or stifled moan struck in fancy on my ear, +I would pause to wipe the dew from my brow and curse the trade of a +coffin-maker. Every day some fresh cause appeared to arise for loathing my +occupation; whilst all were alike strangers to me in the town where my +master lived, I worked cheerfully and wrote merrily home; but now that I +began to know every one, to be acquainted with the number of members which +composed different families, to hear of their sicknesses and misfortunes; +now that link after link bound me as it were by a spell, to feel for those +round me, and to belong to them, my cheerfulness was over. The mother +turned her eyes from me with a shuddering sigh, and gazed on the dear +circle of little ones as if she sought to penetrate futurity and guess +which of the young things, now rosy in health, was to follow her long lost +and still lamented one. The doting father pressed the arm of his pale +consumptive girl nearer to his heart, as he passed me: friends who were +yet sorrowing for their bereavement, gave up the attempt at cheerfulness, +and relapsed into melancholy silence at my approach. If I attempted (as I +often did at first) to converse gaily with such of the townspeople as were +of my master's rank in life, I was checked by a bitter smile, or a sudden +sigh, which told me that while _I_ was giving way to levity, the thoughts +of my hearers had wandered back to the heavy hours when their houses were +last darkened by the shadow of death. I carried about with me an unceasing +curse; an imaginary barrier separated me from my fellow men. I felt like +an executioner, from whose bloody touch men shrink, not so much from +loathing of the _man_, who is but the instrument of death, as from horror +at the image of that death itself--death, sudden, appalling, and +inevitable. Like him, I brought the presence of death too vividly before +them; like him, I was connected with the infliction of a doom I had no +power to avert. Men withheld from me their affection, refused me their +sympathy, as if I were not like themselves. My very mortality seemed less +obvious to their imaginations when contrasted with the hundreds for whom +my hand prepared the last narrow dwelling-house, which was to shroud for +ever their altered faces from sorrowful eyes. Where _I_ came, _there_ came +heaviness of heart, mournfulness, and weeping. Laughter was hushed at my +approach; conversation ceased; darkness and silence fell around my +steps--the darkness and the silence of _death_. Gradually I became awake +to my situation. I no longer attempted to hold free converse with my +fellow men. I suffered the gloom of their hearts to overshadow mine. My +step crept slowly and stealthily into their dwellings; my voice lowered +itself to sadness and monotony; I pressed no hand in token of +companionship; no hand pressed mine, except when wrung with agony, some +wretch, whose burden was more than he could bear restrained me for a few +moments of maddened and convulsive grief, from putting the last finishing +stroke to my work, and held me back to gaze yet again on features which I +was about to cover from his sight. It is well that God, in his +unsearchable wisdom, hath made death loathsome to us. It is well that an +undefined and instinctive shrinking within us, makes what we have loved +for long years, in a few hours + + "That lifeless thing, the living fear." + +It is well that the soul hath scarcely quitted the body ere the work of +corruption is begun. For if, even thus, mortality clings to the remnants +of mortality, with 'love stronger than death;' if, as I have seen it, warm +and living lips are pressed to features where the gradually sinking eye +and hollow cheek speak horribly of departed life; what would it be if the +winged soul left its tenement of clay, to be resolved only into a marble +death; to remain cold, beautiful, and imperishable; every day to greet our +eyes; every night to be watered with our tears? The bonds which hold men +together would be broken; the future would lose its interest in our minds; +we should remain sinfully mourning the idols of departed love, whose +presence forbade oblivion of their loveliness; and a thin and scattered +population would wander through the world as through the valley of the +shadow of death! How often have I been interrupted when about to nail down +a coffin, by the agonized entreaties of some wretch to whom the +discoloured clay bore yet the trace of beauty, and the darkened lid seemed +only closed in slumber! How often have I said, 'Surely _that_ heart will +break with its woe!' and yet, in a little while, the bowed spirit rose +again, the eye sparkled, and the lip smiled, _because the dead were +covered from their sight_; and that which is present to man's senses is +destined to affect him far more powerfully than the dreams of his +imagination or memory. How often, too, have I seen the reverse of the +picture I have just drawn; when the pale unconscious corse has lain +abandoned in its loveliness, and grudging hands have scantily dealt out a +portion of their superfluity, to obtain the last rites for one who so +lately moved, spoke, smiled, and walked amongst them! And I have felt, +even then, that there were those to whom that neglected being had been far +more precious than heaps of gold, and I have mourned for them who perished +among strangers. One horrible scene has chased another from my mind +through a succession of years; and some of those which, perhaps, deeply +affected me at the time, are, by the mercy of Heaven, forgotten. But +enough remains to enable me to give a faint outline of the causes which +have changed me from what I was, to the gloomy joyless being I am at +length become. There is one scene indelibly impressed upon my memory." + +A scene of domestic tragedy follows, which is wrought up with great effect: + +"I was summoned late at night to the house of a respectable merchant, who +had been reduced, in a great measure, by the wilful extravagance of his +only son, from comparative wealth to ruin and distress. I was met by the +widow, on whose worn and weary face the calm of despair had settled. She +spoke to me for a few moments, and begged me to use dispatch and caution +in the exercise of my calling:--'for indeed,' said she, 'I have watched my +living son with a sorrow that has almost made me forget grief for the +departed. For five days and five nights I have watched, and his bloodshot +eye has not closed, no, not for a moment, from its horrible task of gazing +on the dead face of the father that cursed him. He sleeps now, if sleep it +can be called, that is rather the torpor of exhaustion; but his rest is +taken on that father's death-bed. Oh! young man, feel for me! Do your task +in such a manner, that my wretched boy may not awake till it is over, and +the blessing of the widow be on you for ever!' To this strange prayer I +could only offer a solemn assurance that I would do my utmost to obey her; +and with slow creeping steps we ascended the narrow stairs which led to +the chamber of death. It was a dark, wretched-looking, ill-furnished room, +and a drizzling November rain pattered unceasingly at the latticed window, +which was shaken from time to time by the fitful gusts of a moaning wind. +A damp chillness pervaded the atmosphere, and rotted the falling paper +from the walls; and, as I looked towards the hearth, (for there was no +grate,) I felt painfully convinced that the old man had died without the +common comforts his situation imperiously demanded. The white-washed sides +of the narrow fire-place were encrusted with a green damp, and the +chimney-vent was stuffed with straw and fragments of old carpet, to +prevent the cold wind from whistling through the aperture. The common +expression, 'He has seen better days,' never so forcibly occurred to me as +at that moment. He _had_ seen better days: he had toiled cheerfully +through the day, and sat down to a comfortable evening meal. The wine-cup +had gone round; and the voice of laughter had been heard at his table for +many a year, and yet here he had crept to die like a beggar! I looked at +the flock bed, and felt my heart grow sick within me. The corpse of a man, +apparently about sixty, lay stretched upon it, and on his hollow and +emaciated features the hand of death had printed the ravages of many days. +The veins had ceased to give even the appearance of life to the +discoloured skin; the eyelids were deep sunken, and the whole countenance +was (and none but those accustomed to gaze on the face of the dead can +understand me) utterly expressionless. But if a sight like this was +sickening and horrible, what shall I say of the miserable being to whom a +temporary oblivion was giving strength for renewed agony? He had +apparently been sitting at the foot of the corpse, and, as the torpor of +heavy slumber stole over him, had sunk forward, his hand still retaining +the hand of the dead man. His face was hid; but his figure, and the thick +curls of dark hair, bespoke early youth. I judged him at most, to be +two-and-twenty. I began my task of measuring the body, and few can tell +the shudder which thrilled my frame as the carpenter's rule passed those +locked hands--the vain effort of the living still to claim kindred with +the dead! It was over, and I stole from the room, cautiously and silently +as I entered. Once, and only once, I turned to gaze at the melancholy +group. There lay the corpse, stiff and unconscious; there sat the son, in +an unconsciousness yet more terrible, since it could not last. There, pale +and tearless, stood the wife of him, who, in his dying hour, cursed her +child and his. How little she dreamed of such a scene when her meek lips +first replied to his vows of affection! How little she dreamed of such a +scene when she first led that father to the cradle of his sleeping boy! +when they bent together with smiles of affection, to watch his quiet +slumber, and catch the gentle breathing of his parted lips! I had scarcely +reached the landing-place before the wretched woman's hand was laid +lightly on my arm to arrest my progress. Her noiseless step had followed +me without my being aware of it. 'How soon will your work be done?' said +she, in a suffocated voice. 'To-morrow I could be here again,' answered I. +'To-morrow! and what am I to do, if my boy wakes before that time?' and +her voice became louder and hoarse with fear. 'He will go mad, I am sure +he will; his brain will not hold against these horrors. Oh! that God would +hear me!--that God would hear me! and let that slumber sit on his senses +till the sight of the father that cursed him is no longer present to us! +Heaven be merciful to me!' and with the last words she clasped her hands +convulsively, and gazed upwards. I had known opiates administered to +sufferers whose grief for their bereavement almost amounted to madness. I +mentioned this hesitatingly to the widow, and she eagerly caught at it. +'Yes! that would do,' exclaimed she; 'that would do, if I could but get +him past that horrible moment! But stay; I dare not leave him alone as he +is, even for a little while:--what will become of me!' I offered to +procure the medicine for her, and soon returned with it. I gave it into +her hands, and her vehement expressions of thankfulness wrung my heart. I +had attempted to move the pity of the apothecary at whose shop I obtained +the drug, by an account of the scene I had witnessed, in order to induce +him to pay a visit to the house of mourning; but in vain. To him, who had +_not_ witnessed it, it was nothing but a tale of every-day distress. All +that long night I worked at the merchant's coffin, and the dim grey light +of the wintry morning found me still toiling on. Often, during the hours +passed thus heavily, that picture of wretchedness rose before me. Again I +saw the leaning and exhausted form of the young man, buried in slumber, on +his father's death-bed: again my carpenter's rule almost touched the +clasped hands of the dead and the living, and a cold shudder mingled with +the chill of the dawning day, and froze my blood." + +"As I passed up one of the streets which led to the merchant's lodgings, +my head bending under the weight of the coffin I was carrying, at every +step I took, the air seemed to grow more thick around me, and at length, +overcome by weariness, both of body and mind, I stopped, loosed the straps +which steadied my melancholy burden, and placing it in an upright position +against the wall, wiped the dew from my forehead, and (shall I confess it?) +the tears from my eyes. I was endeavouring to combat the depression of my +feelings by the reflection that I was the support and comfort of my poor +old mother's life, when my attention was roused by the evident compassion +of a young lady, who, after passing me with a hesitating step, withdrew +her arm from that of her more elderly companion, and pausing for an +instant, put a shilling into my hand, saying, 'You look very weary, my +poor man; pray get something to drink with that.' A more lovely +countenance (if by lovely be meant that which engages love) was never +moulded by nature; the sweetness and compassion of her pale face and soft +innocent eyes; the kindness of her gentle voice, made an impression on my +memory too strong to be effaced. _I saw her once again!_ I reached the +merchant's lodgings and my knock was answered as on the former occasion, +by the widow herself. She sighed heavily as she saw me, and after one or +two attempts to speak, informed me that her son was awake, but that it was +impossible for her to administer the opiate, as he refused to let the +smallest nourishment pass his lips; but that he was quite quiet, indeed +had never spoken since he woke, except to ask her how she felt; and she +thought I might proceed without fear of his interruption. I entered +accordingly, followed by a lad, son to the landlady who kept the lodgings, +and with his assistance I proceeded to lift the corpse, and lay it in the +coffin. The widow's son remained motionless, and, as it were, stupified +during this operation: but the moment he saw me prepare the lid of the +coffin so as to be screwed down, he started up with the energy and +gestures of a madman. His glazed eyes seemed bursting from their sockets, +and his upper lip, leaving his teeth bare, gave his mouth the appearance +of a horrible and convulsive smile. He seized my arm with his whole +strength; and, as I felt his grasp, and saw him struggling for words, I +expected to hear curses and execrations, or the wild howl of an infuriated +madman. I was mistaken. The wail of a sickly child, who dreads its +mother's departure, was the only sound to which I could compare that +wretched man's voice. He held me with a force almost supernatural; but +his tongue uttered supplications in a feeble monotonous tone, and with the +most humble and beseeching manner. 'Leave him,' exclaimed he, 'leave him a +little while longer. He will forgive me; I know he will. He spoke that +horrible word to rouse my conscience. But I heard him and came back to him. +I would have toiled and bled for him; he knows that well. Hush! hush! I +cannot hear his voice for my mother's sobs; but I know he will forgive me. +Oh! father, do not refuse! I am humble--I am penitent. Father, I have +sinned against Heaven and before thee--father, I have sinned! Oh! mother, +he is cursing me again. He is lifting his hand to curse me--his right hand. +Look, mother, look! Save me, O God! my father curses me on his dying bed! +Save me, oh!----' The unfinished word resolved itself into a low hollow +groan, and he fell back insensible. I would have assisted him, but his +mother waved me back. 'Better so, better so,' she repeated hurriedly; 'it +is the mercy of God which has caused this--do you do your duty, and I will +do mine,' and she continued to kneel and support the head of her son, +while we fastened and secured down the coffin. At length all was finished, +and then and not till then we carried the wretched youth from the chamber +of death, to one as dark, as gloomy, and as scantily furnished, but having +a wood fire burning in the grate, and a bed with ragged curtains at one +end of it. And here, in comparative comfort, the landlady allowed him to +be placed, even though she saw little chance of her lodgers being able to +pay for the change. Into the glass of water held to his parched lips, as +he recovered his senses, I poured a sufficient quantity of the opiate to +produce slumber, and had the satisfaction of hearing his mother fervently +thank God, as still half unconscious, he swallowed the draught. I thought +he would not have survived the shock he had received; but I was mistaken. +The merchant was buried and forgotten; the son lived, and we met again in +a far, far different scene." + + * * * * * + + + +THE GATHERER. + + +NOBLES OF JOHANNA. + +We had long been aware that the potentates of the _Guinea coast_ not only +assume English titles, but wear under, or in place of, diadems, the +cast-off wigs of our Lord Chancellors--but we were not prepared for what +follows in the latitude of the Mozambique Channel, as related by Captain +Basil Hall. + +"We proceeded to our guide's house, where he introduced us, not indeed to +his wives, for all these ladies were stowed away behind a screen of mats, +but to some of the males of his family, and, amongst others, to a queer +copper-coloured gentleman, who styled himself, in his communications with +us, 'the Duke of Devonshire,' and begged very hard to be allowed the +honour of having our linen to wash. His Grace was a little dumpy fellow, +who stooped considerably, wore neither shoes nor stockings, and exhibited +so little of a nose, that when you caught his countenance in profile, the +facial line, as the physiognomists call it, suffered no interruption when +drawn from the brow to the lips. The poor Duke little knew the cause of +the laughter which his occupation, title, and the contrast of looks, +excited in those of our party who had seen his grace's noble namesake in +the opposite hemisphere." + +"Most of the natives of Johanna, even the negro slaves, talk a little +English; but the best examples of such acquirements were found, where they +ought to be, amongst the grandees of the island. The following is a fair +specimen of the conversation of the dukes and earls at the capital of the +Comoros.--'How do you do, sir? Very glad see you. D--n your eyes! Johanna +man like English very much. God d--n! That very good? Eh? Devilish hot, +sir! What news? Hope your ship stay too long while, very. D--n my eye! +Very fine day.' After which, in a sort of whisper, accompanied by a most +insinuating smile, his lordship, or his grace, as the rank of the party +might be, would add:--'You want orange? You want goat? Cheap! I got good, +very. You send me you clothes; I wash with my own hand--clean! fine! very! +I got every thing, plenty, great, much! God d--n!' And then, as if to +clench the favourable opinion which these eloquent appeals had made, the +speaker was sure to produce a handful of certificates from mates of +Indiamen, masters of Yankee brigs, and middies of men-of-war; some written +in solemn earnest, some quizzically, but all declaring his lordship, the +bearer, to be a pretty good washerman, but the sort of person not to be +trusted far out of sight, as he would certainly walk off with your +clothes-bag if he could safely do so."--_Autobiography, Second Series_. + + * * * * * + +_Bed of Leaves_.--In some countries the leaves of the beech tree are +collected in autumn, before they have been injured by the frost, and are +used instead of feathers for beds; and mattresses formed of them are said +to be preferable to those either of straw or chaff. + + * * * * * + +_Pure Style_.--Cardinal Bembo was so rigorous with regard to purity of +style, that he is said to have had forty different partitions, through +which his writings, as he polished them by degrees, successively passed; +nor did he publish them till they had sustained these forty examinations. +How would the cardinal have acted with the editorship of a daily newspaper. + + * * * * * + +_To lie at the Pool of Bethesda_ is used proverbially in Germany, in +speaking of the theological candidates who are waiting for a benefice. + + * * * * * + +_Court Pun_.--The witty Marquess de Bièvre was asked by Louis XV. for a +pun. "Give me a subject, sire,'" said B. "Make it on myself," said Louis. +"Sire, the king is not a subject," was the pleasant reply. + + * * * * * + +_History_.--The first page of Thucydides is, in my opinion, the +commencement of real history. All preceding narrations are so intermixed +with fable, that philosophers ought to abandon them in a great measure, to +the embellishment of the poet and orator.--_Hume_. + + * * * * * + +_Old Squibs_.--Richard Bentley and Charles Boyle (Earl of Orrery,) had a +warm dispute relative to the genuineness of the Greek Epistles of Phalaris, +an edition of which was published by the latter. Bentley was victorious, +though he was kept in hot water with the critics and wits of the age. Dr. +Garth assailed him thus: + + So diamonds owe a lustre to their foil, + And to a _Bentley_ 'tis we owe a _Boyle_. + +Conyers Middleton was a sad thorn in Bentley's side, from the latter +having called the former, when a young student in the university, +_fiddling_ Conyers, because he played on the violin. A punning caricature +represented B. about to be thrust into the brazen bull of Phalaris, and +exclaiming, "I had rather be _roasted_ than _Boyled_." + + * * * * * + +_Hip, Hip, Hurra!_--During the stirring times of the Crusades, the +chivalry of Europe was excited to arms by the inflammatory appeals of the +well-known Peter the Hermit. While preaching the Crusade, this furious +zealot was accustomed to exhibit a banner emblazoned with the following +letters, H.E.P., the initials of the Latin words, _"Hierosolyma Est +Perdita_," Jerusalem is destroyed. The people in some of the countries +which he visited, not being acquainted with the Latin, read and pronounced +the inscription as if one word--HEP. The followers of the Hermit were +accustomed, whenever an unfortunate Jew appeared in the streets, to raise +the cry, "Hep, hep, hurra," to hunt him down, and flash upon the +defenceless Israelite their maiden swords, before they essayed their +temper with the scimetar of the Saracen.--_Tatler_. + + * * * * * + +_Wool-gathering_.--A very patriotic landlord, Squire Henry, of Straffan, +county of Kildare, had hit on an expedient to benefit the wool-growers in +general, and his numerous tenantry in particular. Knowing that market +value is in the direct ratio of demand and scarcity, he annually buried +the wool shorn from _his own_ sheep, lest it might interfere with the +profitable sale of his tenants' fleeces. But, alas! this generous system +of self-sacrifice did not "work well." The result was--though Squire Henry +never suspected the existence of such turpitude in the human heart--the +ungrateful tenantry dug up by night what he buried by day, wool never rose +in price, and they never were able to pay up their arrears of +rent.--_Fraser's Magazine_. + + * * * * * + +One day, a physician alighted from his carriage, and entering the shop of +a medical bookseller, inquired of its sleek-faced master, "whether he had +a copy of Heberden's _Commentaries_?" "No, sir," replied the man of +letters, "but we have Caesar's _Commentaries_, and they are by far the +best."--_Metropolitan_. + + * * * * * + +_Mortality in the reign of William IV_.--Since the accession of King +William not less, we are told, than _twenty-four_ generals and +_twenty-six_ admirals, have found their way into Westminster Abbey, or +elsewhere. Considering that his majesty continues to receive the most +friendly assurances from all foreign powers, this attack upon the army and +navy list is rather prodigious. Napoleon himself could scarcely have made +greater gaps in the United Service Club in the time. To be sure they were +not all Nelsons and Marlboroughs, or we should have marked them as they +dropped off; whereas one can hardly name, five of the fifty great warriors. +--_Ibid_. + + * * * * * + +_Origin of Black Monday_.--Black Monday--Easter Monday, in the year 1359, +when hail stones killed both men and horses in the army of our King Edward +the Third, in France. He was on his march, within two leagues of Chartres, +when there happened a storm of piercing wind, that swelled to a tempest of +rain, lightning, and hail stones, so prodigious, as instantly to kill +6,000 of his horses, and 1,000 of his best troops. P.T.W. + + * * * * * + +*** MR. HAYDON'S Exhibition in our next. + + * * * * * + + +_Printed and Published by J. LIMBIRD, 143, Strand, (near Somerset House,) +London; sold by ERNEST FLEISCHER, 626, New Market, Leipsic; G.G. BENNIS, +55, Rue Neuve, St. Augustin, Paris; and by all Newsmen and Booksellers_. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, +and Instruction, by Various + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MIRROR OF LITERATURE, NO. 540 *** + +***** This file should be named 12550-8.txt or 12550-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/2/5/5/12550/ + +Produced by Jonathan Ingram, Allen Siddle and PG Distributed Proofreaders + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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No. 540.</title> + + <style type="text/css"> + <!-- + body {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + p {text-align: justify;} + blockquote {text-align: justify;} + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 {text-align: center;} + pre {font-size: 0.7em;} + + hr {text-align: center; width: 50%;} + html>body hr {margin-right: 25%; margin-left: 25%; width: 50%;} + hr.full {width: 100%;} + html>body hr.full {margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 0%; width: 100%;} + hr.short {text-align: center; width: 20%;} + html>body hr.short {margin-right: 40%; margin-left: 40%; width: 20%;} + + .note, .footnote + {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} + + span.pagenum + {position: absolute; left: 1%; right: 91%; font-size: 8pt;} + + .poem + {margin-left:10%; margin-right:10%; margin-bottom: 1em; text-align: left;} + .poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} + .poem p {margin: 0; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem p.i2 {margin-left: 1em;} + .poem p.i4 {margin-left: 2em;} + .poem p.i6 {margin-left: 3em;} + .poem p.i8 {margin-left: 4em;} + .poem p.i10 {margin-left: 5em;} + .poem p.i14 {margin-left: 9em;} + + .figure + {padding: 1em; margin: 0; text-align: center; font-size: 0.8em; margin: auto;} + .figure img + {border: none;} + .figure p + + .side { float:right; + font-size: 75%; + width: 25%; + padding-left:10px; + border-left: dashed thin; + margin-left: 10px; + text-align: left; + text-indent: 0; + font-weight: bold; + font-style: italic;} + --> + </style> +</head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and +Instruction, by Various + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction + Vol. XIX. No. 540, Saturday, March 31, 1832 + +Author: Various + +Release Date: June 8, 2004 [EBook #12550] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MIRROR OF LITERATURE, NO. 540 *** + + + + +Produced by Jonathan Ingram, Allen Siddle and PG Distributed Proofreaders + + + + + +</pre> + + <hr class="full" /> + +<span class="pagenum"> + <a id="page193" + name="page193"> + </a>[pg 193] +</span> + + <h1>THE MIRROR<br /> + OF<br /> + LITERATURE, AMUSEMENT, AND INSTRUCTION.</h1> + <hr class="full" /> + + <table width="100%" summary="Volume, Number, and Date"> + <tr> + <td align="left"><b>Vol. XIX. No. 540.]</b></td> + <td align="center"><b>SATURDAY, MARCH 31, 1832.</b></td> + <td align="right"><b>[PRICE 2d.</b></td> + </tr> + </table> + <hr class="full" /> + + +<h2>BANKSIDE.—OLD THEATRES.</h2> + +<div class="figure" style="width:100%;"><a href="images/540-001.png"> +<img width = "100%" src="images/540-001.png" alt="BANKSIDE IN 1648." /></a></div> + +<div class="figure" style="width:100%;"><a href="images/540-002.png"> +<img width = "100%" src="images/540-002.png" alt="BULL AND BEAR-BAITING THEATRES." /></a></div> + +<div class="figure" style="width:100%;"><a href="images/540-003.png"> +<img width = "100%" src="images/540-003.png" alt="BEAR-BAITING—ROSE—GLOBE." /></a></div> + +<p> +The ancient topography of the southern bank of the Thames (or <i>Bankside</i>) +between London and Blackfriars bridges is peculiarly interesting to the +lover of dramatic lore, as well as to the inquirer into the sports and +pastimes of our ancestors. It appears to have been the <i>Arcadia</i> of the +olden metropolis, if such a term be applicable to a place notorious for +the indulgence of brutal sports. +</p> +<p> +The Cut in the adjoining column represents Bankside in 1648, from which it +appears to have been then in part waste and unenclosed. "It was land +belonging to the crown, and on various parts of it stood the Globe Theatre, +the Bear Garden, and other places of public +<span class="pagenum"> + <a id="page194" + name="page194"> + </a>[pg 194] +</span> +show; here were also the Pike +Gardens, some time called the Queen's Pike Gardens, with ponds for the +preservation of fresh-water fish, which were said to be kept for the +supply of the royal table, under the inspection of an officer, called the +king's purveyor of pike, who had here a house for his residence." +<a id="footnotetag1" + name="footnotetag1"></a> +<sup><a href="#footnote1">1</a></sup> On +the Bankside, prior to the above date, were also the ancient Bordello, or +Stews, which, according to Pennant, were distinguished by their respective +signs painted against the walls, one of which, in particular, was the +Cardinal's Hat; and a small court, now or till lately called <i>Cardinal's +Hat Court</i>, still exists on the Bankside, and probably shows the precise +site of the mansion of depravity. In like manner we find on Bankside, +<i>Pike Garden</i>, <i>Globe Alley</i>, and in the vicinity a public-house with the +sign of the <i>Globe</i>. On Bankside also stood an ancient Hall and Palace of +the Bishops of Winchester, stated to have been built by William Gifford, +Bishop of Winchester, about the year 1107, on a piece of ground belonging +to the Prior of Bermondsey, to whom was paid a yearly acknowledgment. The +great court, at one time belonging to this palace, is still known by the +name of <i>Winchester Square</i>, and in the adjacent street was, some time +since, an abutment of one of the gates. Near this Palace, on the south, at +one time stood the Episcopal Palace of the Bishops of Rochester; which is +supposed to have bequeathed its name to <i>Rochester Street</i>. The whole of +the <i>Bank</i> shown in the Cut is now densely populated, and scarcely a pole +of green sward is left to denote its ancient state. On the opposite or +Middlesex bank may be distinguished the celebrated Castle Baynard. +</p> +<p> +The second Cut represents the BULL and BEAR-BAITING THEATRES, as they +appeared in their first state, A.D. 1560. This spot was called Paris +Garden, and the two theatres are said to have been the first that were +formed near London. In these, according to Stow, were scaffolds for the +spectators to stand upon, an indulgence for which they paid in the +following manner: "Those who go to Paris Garden, the Bell Savage, or +Theatre, to behold bear-baiting, enterludes, or fence-play, must not +account of any pleasant spectacle unless they first pay one penny at the +gate, another at the entrie of the scaffold, and a third for quiet +standing." One Sunday afternoon, in the year 1582, the scaffold, being +overcharged with spectators, fell down during the performance, and a great +number of persons were killed or maimed by the accident, which the +puritans of the time failed not to attribute to a Divine judgment. These +theatres were patronized by royalty: for we read that Queen Elizabeth, on +the 26th of May, 1599, went by water with the French ambassadors to Paris +Garden, where they saw a baiting of bulls and bears. Indeed, Southwark +seems to have long been of sporting notoriety, for, in the Humorous Lovers, +printed in 1617, one of the characters says, "I'll set up my bills, that +the gamesters of London, Horsly-down, <i>Southwark</i>, and Newmarket, may come +in and bait him (the bear,) here before the ladies, &c." +<a id="footnotetag2" + name="footnotetag2"></a> +<sup><a href="#footnote2">2</a></sup> +</p> +<p> +The third Cut includes the GLOBE, ROSE, and BEAR-BAITING THEATRES, as they +appeared about the year 1612. Of the Globe we have been furnished with the +following account by a zealous correspondent, <i>G.W.</i>: +</p> +<p> +The Globe Theatre stood on a plot of ground, now occupied by four houses, +contiguous to the present Globe Alley, Maiden Lane, Southwark. This +theatre was of considerable size. It is not certain when it was built. +Hentzner, the German traveller, who gives an amusing description of London +in the time of Queen Elizabeth, alludes to it as existing in 1598, but it +was probably not built long before 1596. It was an hexagonal, wooden +building, partly open to the weather, and partly thatched with reeds, on +which, as well as other theatres, a pole was erected, to which a flag was +affixed. These flags were probably displayed only during the hours of +performance; and it should seem from one of the old comedies that they +were taken down in Lent, in which time, during the early part of King +James's reign, plays were not allowed to be represented, though at a +subsequent period this prohibition was dispensed with by paying a fee to +the Master of the Revels. +</p> +<p> +It was called the Globe from its sign, which was a figure of Hercules, or +Atlas, supporting a globe, under which was written, <i>Totus mundus agit +histrionem</i>, (All the world acts a play):—and not as many have +conjectured, that the Globe though hexagonal at the outside, was a rotunda +within, and that it might have derived its name from its circular form. +</p> +<p> +This theatre was burnt down June 29, 1613, +<span class="pagenum"> + <a id="page195" + name="page195"> + </a>[pg 195] +</span> + but it was rebuilt with greater +splendour in the following year. The Cut represents the original theatre. +The account of this accident is given by Sir Henry Wotton, in a letter +dated July 2, 1613.<a id="footnotetag3" + name="footnotetag3"></a> +<sup><a href="#footnote3">3</a></sup> "Now to let matters of state sleepe, I will +entertain you at the present with what happened this week at the Banks +side. The King's players had a new play called All is True, representing +some principal pieces of the reign of Henry the Eighth, which set forth +with many extraordinary circumstances of pomp and majesty even to the +matting of the stage; the knights of the order with their Georges and +Garter, the guards with their embroidered coats, and the like: sufficient +in truth within awhile to make greatness very familiar, if not ridiculous. +Now King Henry making a Masque at the Cardinal Wolsey's house, and certain +cannons being shot off at his entry, some of the paper or other stuff, +wherewith one of them was stopped, did light on the thatch, where being +thought at first but idle smoak, and their eyes more attentive to the show, +it kindled inwardly, and ran round like a train, consuming within less +than an hour the whole house to the very ground. This was the fatal period +of that virtuous fabrick, wherein yet nothing did perish but <i>wood</i> and +<i>straw</i>, and a few forsaken cloaks; only one man had his breeches set on +fire, that would perhaps have broyled him, if he had not by the benefit of +a provident wit, put it out with a bottle of ale." +</p> +<p> +From a letter of Mr. John Chamberlaine to Sir Ralph Winwood, dated July 8, +1613, in which this accident is likewise mentioned, we learn that the +theatre had only two doors.<a id="footnotetag4" + name="footnotetag4"></a> +<sup><a href="#footnote4">4</a></sup> "The burning of the Globe or playhouse on +the Bankside on St. Peter's day cannot escape you; which fell out by a +peal of chambers, (that I know not upon what occasion were to be used in +the play,) the tampin or stopple of one of them lighting in the thatch +that covered the house, burn'd it down to the ground in less than two +hours, with a dwelling-house adjoyning; and it was a great marvaile and a +fair grace of God that the people had so little harm, having but <i>two +narrow doors</i> to get out." +</p> +<p> +In 1613, was entered in the Stationers' books, "A doleful ballad of the +General Conflagration of the famous Theatre called the Globe." +</p> +<p> +Taylor, the water poet, commemorates the event in the following lines: +</p> +<div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>"As gold is better that in fire's tried,</p> + <p class="i2"> So is the Bankside Globe, that late was burn'd;</p> + <p>For where before it had a thatched hide,</p> + <p class="i2">Now to a stately theatre 'tis turn'd;</p> + <p>Which is an emblem that great things are won;</p> + <p class="i2">By those that dare through greatest dangers run."</p> + </div> +</div> +<p> +It is also alluded to in some verses by Ben Jonson, entitled, "An +Execration upon Vulcan," from which it appears that Ben Jonson was in the +theatre when it was burnt. +</p> +<p> +This theatre was open in summer and the performances took place by +daylight; the King's company usually began to play in the month of May. +The exhibitions appear to have been calculated for the lower class of +people, and to have been more frequent than those at the Blackfriars, till +1604 or 5, when it became less fashionable and frequented. Being +contiguous to the Bear Garden, it is probable that those who resorted +there went to the theatre, when the bear-baiting sports were over, and +such persons were not likely to form a very refined audience. +</p> +<p> +We have no description of the interior of the Globe, but that it was +somewhat similar to our modern theatres, with an open space in the roof: +or perhaps it more resembled an inn-yard, where, in the beginning of Queen +Elizabeth's reign, many of our ancient dramatic pieces were performed. The +galleries in both were arranged on three sides of the building; the small +rooms under the lowest, answered to our present boxes and were called +rooms; the yard bears a sufficient resemblance to the pit, as at present +in use, and where the common people stood to see the exhibition; from +which circumstance they are called by Shakspeare "the <i>groundlings</i>," and +by Ben Jonson, "the <i>understanding</i> gentlemen of the <i>ground</i>." The stage +was erected in the area, with its back to the gateway where the admission +money was taken. The price of admission into the best <i>rooms</i>, or boxes, +was in Shakspeare's time, a shilling, though afterwards it appears to have +risen to two shillings and half-a-crown. The galleries, or scaffolds, as +they were sometimes called, and that part of the house which in private +theatres was named the pit, seem to have been the same price, which was +sixpence, while in some meaner playhouses it was only a penny, and in +others two-pence. +</p> +<p> +We learn from Sir Henry Hebert, that 20<i>l</i>. was the greatest receipt for +one day's performance; by that we may calculate upon the house having +contained about +<span class="pagenum"> + <a id="page196" + name="page196"> + </a>[pg 196] +</span> +700 persons, at the prices before stated; that is to say, +100 for the boxes, and the rest in the other parts of the house. +</p> +<p> +Part of the site of this theatre is now occupied by the brewery of Messrs. +Barclay and Perkins; and in the <i>History of St. Saviour's</i>, already quoted, +we read that "the passage which led to the Globe Tavern, of which the +playhouse formed a part, was, till within these few years, known by the +name of Globe Alley, and upon its site now stands a large store-house for +porter." +</p> +<p> +The <i>Rose</i> or smaller theatre, was erected in the year 1592, and is stated +to have cost £103. 2<i>s</i>. 7<i>d</i>.—a sum which would scarcely pay half the +expenses of a modern patent theatre for a single night! +</p> +<p> +These theatres appear to have been cited as nuisances by the parish +officers of St. Saviour's, in which they stood; for in July, 1597-8, a +resolution was agreed to by a vestry of the parish, "that a petition shall +be made to the bodye of the Councell, (Privy Council,) concerning the +play-houses in this parish; wherein all the enormities shall be showed +that come thereby to the parish, and that in respect thereof they may be +dismissed, and put down from playing: and that four, or two of the +Churchwardens, &c. shall present the cause with a collector of the +Boroughside, and another of the Bankside." The presentation of this +petition did not produce the desired effect; for some time afterwards the +play-houses not having been put down, the Churchwardens of St. Saviour's, +as appears from an entry in their Parish Register, endeavoured to obtain +tithes and poor-rates from the owners and managers of the theatres on the +Bankside.<a id="footnotetag5" + name="footnotetag5"></a> +<sup><a href="#footnote5">5</a></sup> This corresponds with the state of the English theatre, at +this period, at the height of its glory and reputation. Dramatic authors +of the first excellence, and eminent actors equally abounded; every year +produced a number of new plays; nay, so great was the passion for show or +representation, that it was the fashion for the nobility to celebrate +their weddings, birthdays, and other occasions of rejoicing, with masques +and interludes; the king, queen, and court frequently performing in those +represented in the royal palaces, and all the nobility being actors in +their old private houses. Alas! +</p> +<div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>What's gone and what's past help</p> + <p>Should be past grief.</p> + </div> +</div> +<p> +Dryden sung +</p> +<div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="i8">Support the stage,</p> + <p>Which so declines that shortly we may see</p> + <p>Players and plays reduced to second infancy!</p> + </div> +</div> +<p> +—What would he sing in these times! +</p> +<p> +Among the numerous memoranda of the topography of this interesting +district, we find that the well-known iron foundry of Messrs. Bradley, now +occupies the site of a Bear-garden. The Falcon public-house adjoining the +foundry of that name, was once the most considerable inn in the county of +Surrey, the adjoining foundry being anciently a part of it: and it is said +that very near the Falcon was once a mill for the grinding of corn, for +the Priory of St. Mary Overy. +</p> +<p> +To conclude. The accompanying Cuts are copied from one of a series of +prints illustrative of the antiquities of the metropolis, published by +Messrs. Boydell, in the year 1818. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<h3>LACONICS.</h3> + +<h4><i>(For the Mirror.)</i></h4> +<p> +Amongst men of the world comfort merely signifies a great consideration +for themselves, and a perfect indifference about others. +</p> +<p> +Every one who gives way to thought, must, of necessity, become wiser every +day; for either the ideas that present themselves to his mind will confirm +his yet rickety theories, or observation will teach him that his previous +views of things were ill-founded. +</p> +<p> +Party spirit is like gambling—a vast number of persons trouble themselves +about what in the end can be beneficial only to a few. +</p> +<p> +It is as difficult to win over an enthusiast by force of reasoning, as to +persuade a lover of his mistress's faults; or to convince a man who is at +law of the badness of his cause. +</p> +<p> +Knowledge of the world is regarded as an useful, if not an elegant, +accomplishment, but this advantage, like every other good, is mixed with +some alloy: the acute observer of men and manners cannot but be disgusted +with the scenes that take place around him, and his knowledge may at last +have the effect of souring his own disposition. +</p> +<p> +Talents, without the accompaniment of religion, are but fatal presents: +they not only add strength to the vices of the individual, but what is +worse they render them more conspicuous to the world. +</p> +<p> +It is strange that the eye of man should have that magic power we have all +felt +<span class="pagenum"> + <a id="page197" + name="page197"> + </a>[pg 197] +</span> +that it possesses. We can contemplate other bright and beautiful +objects without withdrawing our gaze; and what is there in the formation +of an eye that should create in us any uneasiness? It is the consciousness +that the eye is the index of the mind—that when a man fixes his eye on us +we are the subject of his thoughts, and that a being gifted with a soul +like ourselves is employing its energies and setting its machinery at work +about ourselves. It is this conviction that makes us modestly, and almost +involuntarily, shrink from such an inspection. +</p> +<p> +To put ourselves in a passion, in consequence of the misconduct of others, +is unquestionably very weak behaviour, but it has also something generous +about it; for we are clearly annoying and punishing ourselves, when the +offenders only ought to have been the sufferers. +</p> +<p> +Meanness and conceit are frequently combined in the same character: for he +who to obtain transient applause can be indifferent to truth and his own +dignity, will be as little scrupulous about them if, by subserviency, he +can improve his condition in the world. +</p> +<p> +The most trivial circumstances are able to put an end to our +gratifications; they are like beds of roses, where it is very unlikely all +the leaves should be smooth, and even one that is doubled suffices to make +us uncomfortable. +</p> +<p> +Garrulous men are commonly conceited, and they will be found (with very +few exceptions) to be superficial as well. They who are in a hurry to tell +what they do know, will be equally inclined, from the impulse of +prevailing habit, to tell what they do not know. +</p> +<p> +F. +</p> +<hr /> + +<h3>LEGAL RHYMES.</h3> + +<h4><i>(For the Mirror.)</i></h4> +<p> +According to Goguet, "the first laws of any people were composed in verses, +which they sang;" and why should it not be so when Apollo was one of the +first of legislators? and under his auspices they were published to the +sound of the harp. Pittacus, one of the seven sages of Greece, formed a +code of laws in verse, that they might be the easier remembered. The +ancient laws of Spain also were chanted in verse, and the custom was +preserved a long time among many nations. Mio. Psellus, who lived in the +reign of Constantine Ducas, published a synopsis of the law, in verse, and +in 1701, Gumaro, a civilian of Naples, taught the dry and intricate system +of civil law, in a <i>novel.</i> Coke's Reports have been "done into verse" by +an anonymous author; and Cowper, the poet, tells us, that a relation of +his who had studied the law, "a gentleman of sprightly parts," began to +versify Coke's Institutes; he gives the following specimen of the +performance: +</p> +<div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="i4">"Tenant in fee</p> + <p class="i4">Simple is he,</p> + <p>And need neither quake nor quiver,</p> + <p class="i4">Who hath his lands,</p> + <p class="i4">Free from demands,</p> + <p>To him and his heirs for ever."</p> + </div> +</div> +<p> +Records, charters, and wills, and many other legal documents, have been +written in verse. The following grant was made by Edward the Confessor to +Randolf Peperking: +</p> +<div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>"Iche Edward konyng (<i>king</i>)</p> + <p>Have given of my forest the keping,</p> + <p>Of the Hundred of Cholmer and Daucing,</p> + <p>To Randolph Peperking and to his kindling, (<i>heirs</i>)</p> + <p>With heart and hynd, doe and bock, (<i>buck</i>)</p> + <p>Hare and fox, cat and brock, (<i>badger</i>)</p> + <p>Wild fowell and his flock,</p> + <p>Partridge, fesant hen, and fesant cock,</p> + <p>With green and wyld stob and stock,</p> + <p>To kepen and to yemen (<i>hold</i>) by all his might,</p> + <p>Both by day and eke by night:</p> + <p>And hounds for to holde,</p> + <p>Gode and swift and bolde,</p> + <p>Four greyhounds and six beaches, (<i>hound bitches</i>)</p> + <p>For hare and fox, and wild cats,</p> + <p>And thereof Iche made him my booke,</p> + <p>Witness the Bishop Wolston,</p> + <p>And book ycleped many on,</p> + <p>And Sweyne of Essex, our brother,</p> + <p>And token him many other,</p> + <p>And our steward Hamelyn,</p> + <p>That bysought me for him."</p> + </div> +</div> +<p> +The Dunmow matrimonial flitch of bacon is a well known custom; the oath is +in verse, and as follows: +</p> +<div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>"You shall swear by the custom of your confession,</p> + <p>That you never made any nuptial transgression,</p> + <p>Since you were married to your wife,</p> + <p>By household brawls, or contentious strife,</p> + <p>Or otherwise, in bed or at board,</p> + <p>Offended each other in deed or in word—</p> + <p>Or since the parish clerk said Amen,</p> + <p>Wish'd yourselves unmarried again;</p> + <p>Or in a twelvemonth and a day,</p> + <p>Repented not in thought, any way,</p> + <p>But continued true, and in desire,</p> + <p>As when you join'd hands in holy quire.</p> + <p>If to these conditions, without all fear,</p> + <p>Of your own accord you will freely swear,</p> + <p>A gammon of bacon you shall receive,</p> + <p>And beare it hence with love and good leave,</p> + <p>For this is our custom at Dunmow well known,</p> + <p>Though the sport be ours, the bacon's your own."</p> + </div> +</div> +<p> +For the custom of riding the black ram, and the penal rhyme thereto +attached, we refer the reader to the <i>Spectator,</i> No. 614. +</p> +<p> +The following rhyming wills have been proved in the Prerogative Court of +Canterbury: +</p> +<div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>"The fifth of May,</p> + <p>Being airy and gay</p> +<span class="pagenum"> + <a id="page198" + name="page198"> + </a>[pg 198] +</span> + <p>And to hip not inclined,</p> + <p>But of vigorous mind,</p> + <p>And my body in health.</p> + <p>I'll dispose of my wealth,</p> + <p>And all I'm to leave</p> + <p>On this side the grave,</p> + <p>To some one or other,</p> + <p>And I think to my brother;</p> + <p>Because I foresaw</p> + <p>That my brethren in law,</p> + <p>If I did not take care,</p> + <p>Would come in for their share,</p> + <p>Which I nowise intended,</p> + <p>'Till their manners are mended,</p> + <p>And of that God knows there's no sign.</p> + <p>I do therefore enjoin,</p> + <p>And do strictly command,</p> + <p>Of which witness my hand,</p> + <p>That naught I have got</p> + <p>Be brought into hotchpot:</p> + <p>But I give and devise,</p> + <p>As much as in me lies,</p> + <p>To the son of my mother,</p> + <p>My own dear brother.</p> + <p>And to have and to hold</p> + <p>All my silver and gold,</p> + <p>As th' affectionate pledges</p> + <p>Of his brother, JOHN HEDGES."</p> + </div> +</div> +<p> +In the next, the items are more curious and particular: +</p> +<div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>"What I am going to bequeath</p> + <p>When this frail part submits to death—</p> + <p>But still I hope the spark divine,</p> + <p>With its congenial stars shall shine,</p> + <p>My good executors fulfill,</p> + <p>And pay ye fairly my last will,</p> + <p>With first and second codicil.</p> + <p>And first I give to dear Lord Hinton,</p> + <p>At Twyford school now, not at Winton,</p> + <p>One hundred guineas and a ring,</p> + <p>Or some such memorandum thing,</p> + <p>And truly much I should have blunder'd,</p> + <p>Had I not given another hundred</p> + <p>To dear Earl Paulett's second son,</p> + <p>Who dearly loves a little fun.</p> + <p>Unto my nephew, Stephen Langdon,</p> + <p>Of whom none says he e'er has wrong done,</p> + <p>The civil laws he loves to hash,</p> + <p>I give two hundred pounds in cash.</p> + <p>One hundred pounds to my niece, Tudor,</p> + <p>(With luring eyes one Clark did view her,)</p> + <p>And to her children just among 'em,</p> + <p>A hundred more—and not to wrong 'em,</p> + <p>In equal shares I freely give it,</p> + <p>Not doubting but they will receive it.</p> + <p>To Betsy Mudford and Mary Lee,</p> + <p>If they with Mrs. Mudford be,</p> + <p>Because they round the year did dwell</p> + <p>In Davies-street, and serv'd full well.</p> + <p>The first ten pounds, the other twenty,</p> + <p>And girls, I hope that will content ye.</p> + <p>In seventeen hundred and sixty-nine,</p> + <p>This with my hand I write and sign,</p> + <p>The sixteenth day of fair October,</p> + <p>In merry mood, but sound and sober.</p> + <p>Past my threescore and fifteenth year,</p> + <p>With spirits gay and conscience clear—</p> + <p>Joyous and frolicksome, though old,</p> + <p>And like this day, serene, but cold;</p> + <p>To foes well wishing, and to friends most kind,</p> + <p>In perfect charity with all mankind.</p> + <p>For what remains I must desire,</p> + <p>To use the words of Matthew Prior.</p> + <p>Let this my will be well obey'd,</p> + <p>And farewell all, I'm not afraid,</p> + <p>For what avails a struggling sigh.</p> + <p>When soon, or later, all must die?</p> + <p class="i4">M. DARLEY."</p> + </div> +</div> +<p> +Joshua West, who was known in his sphere "as the poet of the Six Clerks' +Office," made his will in rhyme; it is dated 13th December, 1804: +</p> +<div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>"Perhaps I die not worth a groat,</p> + <p class="i2">But should I die worth somewhat more,</p> + <p>Then I give that, and my best coat,</p> + <p class="i2">And all my manuscripts in store,</p> + <p>To those who will the goodness have</p> + <p class="i2">To cause my poor remains to rest,</p> + <p>Within a decent shell and grave,</p> + <p class="i2">This is the will of JOSHUA WEST."</p> + </div> +</div> +<p> +In 1654, Henry Phillips published the "Purchasers' Pattern," in which he +gives advice to purchasers of estates of inheritance, in verse. +</p> +<p> +There is also a long article in verse, "On the Distribution of Intestates' +Effects: it begins— +</p> +<div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="i2">"By the laws of the land,</p> + <p class="i2">It is settled and planned,</p> + <p>That intestates' effects shall be spread,</p> + <p class="i2">At the end of the year,</p> + <p class="i2">When the debts are all clear,</p> + <p>'Mong the kindred as here may be read."</p> + </div> +</div> +<p> +Before the conclusion, the author says, +</p> +<div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="i2">"To the rest that succeed,</p> + <p class="i2">We need not proceed,</p> + <p>Enough has already been penn'd,</p> + <p class="i2">And now it's high time,</p> + <p class="i2">For our doggrel rhyme</p> + <p>To come, lest it err, to an end."</p> + </div> +</div> +<p> +This hint I shall apply to myself, lest my article become as dry and +uninteresting as my subject, and conclude with a declaration in which I +heartily concur: +</p> +<div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="i2">"Fee simple, and a simple fee,</p> + <p class="i2">And all the fees in tail,</p> + <p>Are nothing when compared to thee,</p> + <p class="i2">Thou best of fees—female."</p> + </div> +</div> +<p> +W.A.R. +</p> + +<hr class="full" /> + + +<h2>FINE ARTS</h2> +<hr /> +<h3>THE NINTH EXHIBITION OF THE SOCIETY OF BRITISH ARTISTS.</h3> + +<p> +We are happy to learn that the "British Artists" continue to flourish. +Their association, we believe, originated in the inefficiency of similar +Institutions. They started in a spirit of generous rivalry, and, above all +things, with the view to aid aspiring merit. It could, however, scarcely +be called rivalry to any other Institution, and to this line of conduct we +attribute much of the success of the Society of British Artists. As the +Secretary states in an Address to the Public, prefixed to this year's +Catalogue, "they have never opposed, either directly or indirectly, any +existing Institution for the promotion of the Fine Arts, but have +uniformly sought to go hand in hand with whatever tended to their general +advancement." It appears likewise, that works in Painting, Sculpture, +Architecture, and Engraving, to the amount of £18,000. and upwards, have +been sold from the walls of the Exhibition, since the formation of the +Society, and +<span class="pagenum"> + <a id="page199" + name="page199"> + </a>[pg 199] +</span> +numerous commissions given in consequence of the talent thus +displayed; and that all future donations will be devoted towards +completing the purchase of the galleries occupied by the Society, in +Suffolk-street. +</p> +<p> +The full attendance at the private view on Friday, accorded with these +gratifying statements. Suffolk-street and Pall Mall East were crowded with +the carriages of visiters, and in the rooms was an abundant sprinkling of +nobility, patrons of art, men of letters, and some note of purchases at +the keeper's table. There are upwards of 800 Pictures, and about 100 +specimens of Sculpture and Engraving. The crowded state of the rooms +during the hour that we were there, allowed us only to note a few works. +</p> +<p> +1. <i>Cardinal Weld</i>; a well painted portrait, by James Ramsey, of the +benevolent owner of Lulworth Castle. The features are dignified and finely +intellectual. We could, too, associate their expression with the +philanthropic act of the Cardinal's affording an asylum to fallen royalty. +</p> +<p> +13. <i>Ruins</i>. D. Roberts. A delightful composition, from these exquisite +lines by Mrs. Hemans: +</p> +<div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="i2">""There have been bright and glorious pageants here,</p> + <p class="i2">"Where now grey stones and moss-grown columns lie—</p> + <p>There have been words, which earth grew pale to hear,</p> + <p class="i2">"Breath'd from the cavern's misty chambers nigh:</p> + <p class="i2">"There have been voices through the sunny sky,</p> + <p>And the pine woods, their choral hymn-notes sending,</p> + <p class="i2">"And reeds and lyres, their Dorian melody,</p> + <p>With incense clouds around the temple blending,</p> + <p class="i2">"And throngs, with laurel boughs, before the altar bending."</p> + </div> +</div> +<p> +27. <i>A Philosopher</i>. H. Wyatt. Admirably coloured: the flesh tints and +deep expression of the features will not escape notice. +</p> +<p> +52. <i>The Town of Menagio, on the Lake of Como</i>. T.C. Hofland. A scene of +beautiful repose in the artist's best style. +</p> +<p> +57. <i>Portrait of Mrs. Davenport</i> in the character of the Nurse in "Romeo +and Juliet." James Holmes. Almost speakingly characteristic. You may +imagine the actress drawling out, "awear—y," and her attitude admirably +accords with "Fie, how my bones ache." +</p> +<p> +114. <i>The Baptism</i>. G. Harvey, S.A. Foremost among the attractions of the +Exhibition, though of a serious turn. The quotation will best describe the +subject: +</p> +<blockquote class="note"> +<p> + "Here, upon a semicircular ledge of rocks, over a narrow chasm, down + which the tiny stream played in a murmuring waterfall, and divided into + two equal parts, sat the congregation, devoutly listening to their + minister, who stood before them on what might well be called a small + natural pulpit of living stone.... Divine service was closed, and a row + of maidens, all clothed in purest white, arranged themselves at the foot + of the pulpit, with the infants about to be baptized. +</p> +<p> + "The fathers of the infants, just as if they had been in their own Kirk, + had been sitting there during worship, and now stood up before the + minister.... Some of the younger ones in that semicircle kept gazing + down into the pool, in which the whole scene was reflected; and now and + then, in spite of the grave looks or admonishing whispers of their + elders, letting a pebble fall into the water, that they might judge of + its depth from the length of time that elapsed before the clear + air-bells lay sparkling on the agitated surface."—Vide "<i>Lights and + Shadows of Scottish Life</i>." +</p> +</blockquote> +<p> +155. <i>His Most Gracious Majesty William the Fourth</i>. H.E. Dawe. The King +in his state robes: the likeness is excellent. +</p> +<p> +156. <i>The Grecian Choirs at the Temple of Apollo</i>. A sweet composition by +W. Linton, from Petrarch; "representing the passage of the Choirs across +the narrow strait between Delos and Rhenia, by a bridge magnificently +decorated with gold and garlands, rich stuffs and tapestry," the splendour +of which is enhanced by the brightness of a summer's morning. +</p> +<p> +162. "<i>In peace love tunes the Shepherd's reed</i>," a pretty composition +from this line by Scott, painted by Mrs. John Hakewill. A rustic boy and +girl are seated beneath a woody bank: the intent expression of the boy +playing the pipe and of the listening girl are really delightful. +</p> +<p> +195. <i>Edinburgh Castle from the Grass Market</i>. D. Roberts. A fine picture +of the associated sublimities of nature and art. +</p> +<p> +208. <i>The Ettrick Shepherd in his Forest Plaid</i>. J.W. Gordon. Correct in +likeness, but strangely shadowed. +</p> +<p> +224. <i>Coronation of William IV</i>. The first picture of a series to +represent the procession to the Abbey on the day of the Coronation of his +present Majesty, containing the portraits of distinguished personages who +attended on that occasion.—Painted for his Majesty, by R.B. Davis. This +picture occupies comparatively as much length on the walls as its +description would in our columns: it is some yards long, and perhaps four +feet in height. It is but hastily painted. The framework is excellent, and +well appointed for St. James's, Windsor, or Buckingham Palace. We hope the +<i>picture</i> will be liked there as well as the frame. +</p> +<p> +<span class="pagenum"> + <a id="page200" + name="page200"> + </a>[pg 200] +</span> +244. <i>Elizabeth relieving the Exile</i>, by Miss A. Beaumont, is an +interesting picture, from the well-remembered incident in the <i>Exiles of +Siberia.</i> +</p> +<p> +296. <i>Interior of a Gaming-house</i>. H. Pidding. We take this to represent +one of the <i>salons</i> of Frescati's, or other Parisian gaming-house, where +females are admitted to participate in the game, and witness the madness +and folly of the stronger sex. The party are chiefly about a <i>rouge et +noir</i> table, and are in the highest stage of recklessness. One of them, a +female, has flung herself from the lure across a chair, apparently in the +last stage of wretchedness and despair. The excitement of the players is +powerfully wrought up and contrasted with the <i>sang froid</i> of the +<i>croupier</i>, who seems to treat all the world as a ball. Other persons are +seeking fresh excitement at the hands of a liveried waiter. But we must +leave the rest, which it would take a column or two to describe, +especially as to our mind, a gaming-house furnishes an epitome of all the +bad passions that rankle in the human breast. +</p> +<p> +301. <i>The Reform Question</i>. Thomas Clater. A pleasanter scene than the +preceding picture. A village blacksmith is reading the newspaper, by a +candle held by a boy, to a listening neighbour. The puzzling of the reader, +the vacant stare of the candle-holder, and the intent expression of the +absorbed listener, are excellent. Perhaps the light of the candle is +objectionable. +</p> +<p> +311. <i>Love in the Dairy</i>. H.H. Hobday. A ticklish village amour: a young +fellow importuning a buxom dairy-maid, and apparently on the verge of +conquest; in the distant door-way stands a mar-loving, wrinkled old woman, +whose crabbed face ought not to be trusted in a dairy. +</p> +<p> +466. <i>The Lord Chancellor</i>, seated in a chair, in his official robes, by +J. Lonsdale. The likeness is excellent, as are the robes, wig, ruffles, &c. +but the great seal and mace are even dingier than the orignals. We could +have spared the books thrown on the floor, though the paper register in +one of them almost <i>comes out</i>. +</p> +<p> +We reserve a few pictures for another visit. The Portraits, as might be +expected, are numerous. The King's supporters are two ex-sheriffs: by the +way, how many good turns does <i>office</i> yield to art; there is nothing like +a portrait to perpetuate your brief authority. Works of imagination are +scarce, especially as empainting the ideas of poets and passion-writers +has become fashionable. +</p> + +<hr class="full" /> + + +<h2>NOTES OF A READER.</h2> + +<hr /> + +<h3>THE VEGETABLE WORLD.</h3> +<p> +We pencil a few passages, at random, from Part 14 of <i>Knowledge for the +People</i>—(Botany, concluded.) +</p> +<p> +<i>Why does snow, when in contact with leaves and stems, melt more speedily +than when lodged upon dead substances?</i> +</p> +<p> +Because of the internal heat of the plants, heat being a production of the +vegetable as well as animal body, though in a much lower degree in the +former than the latter. Mr. Hunter appears to have detected this heat by a +thermometer applied in frosty weather to the internal parts of vegetables +newly opened. It is evident that a certain appropriate portion of heat is +a necessary stimulus to the constitution of every plant, without which its +living principle is destroyed.—<i>Smith</i>. +</p> +<p> +<span class="pagenum"> + <a id="page201" + name="page201"> + </a>[pg 201] +</span> +<i>Why is fructification so important to plants?</i> +</p> +<p> +Because it continues them by seeds, and, according to Sir James Smith, +"all other modes of propagation are but the extension of an individual, +and, sooner or later, terminate in its total extinction." Dr. Drummond is +of a contrary opinion, and quotes the following fact:—"In South America +there is a species of bamboo which forms forests in the marshes of many +leagues in extent, and yet Mutis, who botanized for nearly twenty years in +the parts where it grows, was never able to detect the +fructifications."—<i>Humboldt</i>. +</p> +<p> +The produce of vegetable seeds in a hundred-fold degree is common, and +many trees and shrubs bring forth their fruit by thousands. A single plant +of the poppy will produce above 30,000 seeds; and, of tobacco, above +40,000; and Buffon remarks, that from the seeds of a single elm-tree, one +hundred thousand young elms may be raised from the product of one year. +Some ferns, it is said, produce their seeds by millions. +</p> +<p> +<i>Why should seeds be uniformly kept dry before sown?</i> +</p> +<p> +Because the least damp will cause an attempt at vegetation, when the seeds +necessarily die, as the process cannot, as they are situated, go on. +</p> +<p> +<i>Why, in summer, is continued watering required to newly sown seeds?</i> +</p> +<p> +Because, if the soil is only moistened at the time of sowing, it induces +the projection of the radicle, or first root, which, in very parching +weather, and in clayey cutting soil, withers away, and the crop is +consequently lost, for want of a continued supply of moisture. +</p> +<p> +<i>Why is selection important for procuring abundance of genuine seeds?</i> +</p> +<p> +Because we may then choose the most vigorous plants, which naturally prove +of greater fecundity. Thus, in 1823, Mr. Shirreff marked one vigorous +wheat plant, near the centre of a field, which produced him 2,473 grains. +These were dibbled in the autumn of the same year, the produce sown +broadcast the second and third years, and the fourth harvest produced +forty quarters of sound grain. A fine purple-topped Swedish turnip +produced 100,296 grains, which was seed enough for five imperial acres, +and thus, in three years, one turnip would produce seed enough for Great +Britain for a year.—<i>Quarterly Journal of Agriculture.</i> +</p> +<p> +<i>Why are winds the great agents by which seeds are diffused?</i> +</p> +<p> +Because seeds are, as it were, provided with various wings for seizing on +the breeze. The thistle and dandelion are familiar examples of this mode +of dissemination. "How little," Sir J.E. Smith observes, "are children +aware, as they blow away the seeds of dandelion, or stick burs in sport +upon each other's clothes, that they are fulfilling one of the great ends +of nature." Dr. Woodward calculates, that one seed of the common spear +thistle will produce "at the first crop, twenty-four thousand, and +consequently five hundred and twenty-six millions of seeds, at the second." +</p> +<p> +Some plants discharge their seeds. Thus, a certain fungus has the property +of ejecting its seeds with great force and rapidity, and with a loud +cracking noise, and yet it is no bigger than a pin's head! +</p> +<p> +<i>Why is a milky fluid found in the cocoa-nut?</i> +</p> +<p> +Because in this case, as well as in a few others, all the fluids destined +to nourish the embryo of the fruit does not harden, whence a greater or +less quantity of this kind of mild emulsion is contained within the kernel. +</p> +<p> +<i>Why are certain eatable roots unfit for the table when the plants have +flowered?</i> +</p> +<p> +Because the mucus or proper juice in the tubular cells being appropriated +for perfecting the flower stem, the flower, and the fruit, is absorbed as +the fructification of the stem advances; and, as these are perfected, the +cells are emptied, and their sides become ligneous. +</p> +<p> +<i>Why is the Jerusalem Artichoke so called?</i> +</p> +<p> +Because of its corruption from its Italian name, <i>Girasole Articiocco</i>, +sunflower artichoke, as the plant was first brought from Peru to Italy, +and thence propagated throughout Europe.—<i>Smith.</i> +</p> + +<hr /> + + +<h3>AMERICAN MANNERS.</h3> + +<p> +We suspect certain pages of Mrs. Trollope's <i>Domestic Manners of the +Americans</i> to be highly coloured, but they are cleverly written, and will +be read with considerable interest. +</p> +<p> +<i>A Backwoodsman.</i> +</p> +<p> +"We visited one farm, which interested us particularly from its wild and +lonely situation, and from the entire dependence of the inhabitants upon +their own resources. It was a partial clearing in the very heart of the +forest. The house was built on the side of a hill, so steep that a high +ladder was necessary to enter the front door, while the back one opened +against the hill-side; at the foot of this sudden eminence ran a clear +stream, whose bed had been deepened into a little reservoir, just opposite +the house. A noble field of Indian corn stretched away into the forest on +one side, and a few half-cleared acres, with a shed or two upon them, +occupied the other, giving accommodation to cows, horses, pigs, and +chickens innumerable. Immediately before the house was a small potato +garden, with a few peach and apple trees. The house was built of logs, and +consisted of two rooms, besides a little shanty or lean-to, that was used +as a kitchen. Both rooms were comfortably furnished with good beds, +drawers, &c. The farmer's wife, and a young woman who looked like her +sister, were spinning, and three little children were playing about. The +woman told me that they spun and wove all the cotton and woollen garments +of the family, and knit all the stockings; her husband, though not a +shoe-maker by trade, made all the shoes. She manufactured all the soap and +candles they used, and prepared her sugar from the sugar-trees on their +farm. All she wanted with money, she said, was to buy coffee, tea, and +whiskey, and she could 'get enough any day by sending a batch of butter +and chicken to market.' They used no wheat, nor sold any of their corn, +which, though it appeared a very large quantity, was not more than they +required to make their bread and cakes of various kinds, and to feed all +their live stock during the winter. She did not look in health, and said +they had all had ague in 'the fall' but she seemed contented, and proud of +her independence; though it was in somewhat a mournful accent that she +said, ''Tis strange to us to see company: I expect the sun may rise and +set a hundred times before I shall see another <i>human</i> that does not +belong to the family.' +</p> +<p> +<span class="pagenum"> + <a id="page202" + name="page202"> + </a>[pg 202] +</span> +"These people were indeed, independent—Robinson Crusoe was hardly more +so, and they eat and drink abundantly; but yet it seemed to me that there +was something awful and almost unnatural in their loneliness. No village +bell ever summoned them to prayer, where they might meet the friendly +greeting of their fellow-men. When they die, no spot sacred by ancient +reverence will receive their bones—Religion will not breathe her sweet +and solemn farewell upon their grave; the husband or the father will dig +the pit that is to hold them, beneath the nearest tree; he will himself +deposit them within it, and the wind that whispers through the boughs will +be their only requiem. But then they pay neither taxes nor tithes, are +never expected to pull off a hat or to make a curtsey, and will live and +die without hearing or uttering the dreadful words, 'God save the king.'" +</p> +<p> +<i>A Presbyterian Church in Cincinnati.</i> +</p> +<p> +"It was in the middle of summer, but the service we were recommended to +attend did not begin till it was dark. The church was well lighted, and +crowded almost to suffocation. On entering, we found three priests +standing side by side, in a sort of tribune, placed where the altar +usually is, handsomely fitted up with crimson curtains, and elevated about +as high as our pulpits. We took our places in a pew close to the rail +which surrounded it. +</p> +<p> +"The priest who stood in the middle was praying; the prayer was +extravagantly vehement, and offensively familiar in expression; when this +ended a hymn was sung, and then another priest took the centre place and +preached. The sermon had considerable eloquence, but of a frightful kind. +The preacher described, with ghastly minuteness, the last feeble fainting +moments of human life, and then the gradual progress of decay after death, +which he followed through every process up to the loathsome stage of +decomposition. Suddenly changing his tone, which had been that of sober, +accurate description, into the shrill voice of horror, he bent forward his +head, as if to gaze on some object beneath the pulpit, and made known to +us what he saw in the pit that seemed to open before him. The device was +certainly a happy one for giving effect to his description of hell. No +image that fire, flame, brimstone, molten lead, or red-hot pincers could +supply, with flesh, nerves, and sinews quivering under them, was omitted. +The perspiration ran in streams from the face of the preacher; his eyes +rolled, his lips were covered with foam, and every feature had the deep +expression of horror it would have borne, had he, in truth, been gazing at +the scene he described. The acting was excellent. At length he gave a +languishing look to his supporters on each side, as if to express his +feeble state, and then sat down, and wiped the drops of agony from his +brow. +</p> +<p> +"The other two priests arose, and began to sing a hymn. It was some +seconds before the congregation could join as usual; every upturned face +looked pale and horror-struck. When the singing ended, another took the +centre place, and began in a sort of coaxing, affectionate tone, to ask +the congregation if what their dear brother had spoken had reached their +hearts? Whether they would avoid the hell he had made them see? 'Come, +then!' he continued, stretching out his arms towards them, 'come to us, +and tell us so, and we will make you see Jesus, the dear gentle Jesus, who +shall save you from it. But you must come to him! You must not be ashamed +to come to him! This night you shall tell him that you are not ashamed of +him; we will make way for you; we will clear the bench for anxious sinners +to sit upon. Come, then! come to the anxious bench, and we will show you +Jesus! Come! Come! Come!' +</p> +<p> +"Again a hymn was sung, and while it continued, one of the three was +employed in clearing one or two long benches that went across the rail, +sending the people back to the lower part of the church. The singing +ceased, and again the people were invited, and exhorted not to be ashamed +of Jesus, but to put themselves upon 'the anxious benches,' and lay their +heads on his bosom. 'Once more we will sing,' he concluded, 'that we may +give you time.' And again they sung a hymn. +</p> +<p> +"And now in every part of the church a movement was perceptible, slight at +first, but by degrees becoming more decided. Young girls arose, and sat +down, and rose again; and then the pews opened, and several came tottering +out, their hands clasped, their heads hanging on their bosoms, and every +limb trembling, and still the hymn went on; but as the poor creatures +approached the rail their sobs and groans became audible. They +<span class="pagenum"> + <a id="page203" + name="page203"> + </a>[pg 203] +</span> +seated +themselves on the 'anxious benches;' the hymn ceased, and two of the three +priests walked down from the tribune, and going, one to the right, and the +other to the left, began whispering to the poor tremblers seated there. +These whispers were inaudible to us, but the sobs and groans increased to +a frightful excess. Young creatures, with features pale and distorted, +fell on their knees on the pavement, and soon sunk forward on their faces; +the most violent cries and shrieks followed, while from time to time a +voice was heard in convulsive accents, exclaiming, 'Oh Lord!' 'Oh Lord +Jesus!' 'Help me, Jesus!' and the like. Meanwhile the two priests +continued to walk among them; they repeatedly mounted on the benches, and +trumpet-mouthed proclaimed to the whole congregation 'the tidings of +salvation;' and then from every corner of the building arose in reply, +short sharp cries of 'Amen!' 'Glory!' 'Amen!' while the prostrate +penitents continued to receive whispered comfortings, and from time to +time a mystic caress. More than once I saw a young neck encircled by a +reverend arm. Violent hysterics and convulsions seized many of them, and +when the tumult was at the highest, the priest who remained above, again +gave out a hymn as if to drown it. It was a frightful sight to behold +innocent young creatures, in the gay morning of existence, thus seized +upon, horror-struck, and rendered feeble and enervated for ever. One young +girl, apparently not more than fourteen, was supported in the arms of +another, some years older; her face was pale as death; her eyes wide open, +and perfectly devoid of meaning; her chin and bosom wet with slaver; she +had every appearance of idiotism. I saw a priest approach her, he took her +delicate hand, 'Jesus is with her! Bless the Lord!' he said, and passed on. +Did the men of America value their women as men ought to value their wives +and daughters, would such scenes be permitted among them? +</p> +<p> +"It is hardly necessary to say that all who obeyed the call to place +themselves on the 'anxious benches' were women, and by far the greater +number very young women. The congregration was in general, extremely well +dressed, and the smartest and most fashionable ladies of the town were +there; during the whole revival the churches and meeting-houses were every +day crowded with well-dressed people." +</p> +<p> +"It is thus the ladies of Cincinnati amuse themselves; to attend the +theatre is forbidden; to play cards is unlawful; but they work hard in +their families and must have some relaxation. For myself, I confess that I +think the coarsest comedy ever written would be a less detestable +exhibition for the eyes of youth and innocence than such a scene." +</p> + +<hr class="full" /> + +<h2>SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.</h2> +<hr /> + +<h3>THE COFFIN-MAKER.</h3> +<p> +The paper in the <i>New Monthly Magazine</i>, under this title, occupies a +sheet or sixteen pages, and is stated to be from the pen of the Hon. Mrs. +Norton. It is written in an almost breathless, and purposely hurried, +style, and the narrative of feelings and incidents flows with such +rapidity, that the reader is carried onward, <i>nolens volens, vi et verbis</i> +through the adventures. The writer is the son of a carpenter: his father +dies; unable to obtain any other employment, he obtains that of a +coffin-maker. His aversion to the trade, and the state of his feelings is +thus naturally described: +</p> +<p> +"The first few weeks of my employment passed pleasantly enough; my master +was satisfied with me, and on Sunday evenings I was able occasionally to +enjoy a walk. But my spirits soon became less buoyant, and even my health +began to suffer; I entirely lost the florid look which was my poor mother's +admiration; my very step grew slower, and there were Sundays when I +declined the evening walk, which had been my only recreation, merely +because the happy laugh and continued jests of (my friend) Henry Richards +annoyed and distressed me while contrasted with my own heaviness of heart. +Evening after evening, sometimes through a whole dismal night, I worked at +my melancholy employment; and as my master was poor, and employed no other +journey-man, I worked most commonly alone. Frequently as the heavy hammer +descended, breaking at regular intervals the peaceful silence of night, I +recalled some scene of sorrow and agony that I had witnessed in the day; +and as the echo of some shriek or stifled moan struck in fancy on my ear, +I would pause to wipe the dew from my brow and curse the trade of a +coffin-maker. Every day some fresh cause appeared to arise for loathing my +occupation; whilst all were alike strangers to me in the town where my +master lived, I worked cheerfully and wrote merrily home; but now that I +began to know every one, to be acquainted with the number of members which +composed different families, to hear of their sicknesses and misfortunes; +now that link after link bound me as it +<span class="pagenum"> + <a id="page204" + name="page204"> + </a>[pg 204] +</span> +were by a spell, to feel for those +round me, and to belong to them, my cheerfulness was over. The mother +turned her eyes from me with a shuddering sigh, and gazed on the dear +circle of little ones as if she sought to penetrate futurity and guess +which of the young things, now rosy in health, was to follow her long lost +and still lamented one. The doting father pressed the arm of his pale +consumptive girl nearer to his heart, as he passed me: friends who were +yet sorrowing for their bereavement, gave up the attempt at cheerfulness, +and relapsed into melancholy silence at my approach. If I attempted (as I +often did at first) to converse gaily with such of the townspeople as were +of my master's rank in life, I was checked by a bitter smile, or a sudden +sigh, which told me that while <i>I</i> was giving way to levity, the thoughts +of my hearers had wandered back to the heavy hours when their houses were +last darkened by the shadow of death. I carried about with me an unceasing +curse; an imaginary barrier separated me from my fellow men. I felt like +an executioner, from whose bloody touch men shrink, not so much from +loathing of the <i>man</i>, who is but the instrument of death, as from horror +at the image of that death itself—death, sudden, appalling, and +inevitable. Like him, I brought the presence of death too vividly before +them; like him, I was connected with the infliction of a doom I had no +power to avert. Men withheld from me their affection, refused me their +sympathy, as if I were not like themselves. My very mortality seemed less +obvious to their imaginations when contrasted with the hundreds for whom +my hand prepared the last narrow dwelling-house, which was to shroud for +ever their altered faces from sorrowful eyes. Where <i>I</i> came, <i>there</i> came +heaviness of heart, mournfulness, and weeping. Laughter was hushed at my +approach; conversation ceased; darkness and silence fell around my +steps—the darkness and the silence of <i>death</i>. Gradually I became awake +to my situation. I no longer attempted to hold free converse with my +fellow men. I suffered the gloom of their hearts to overshadow mine. My +step crept slowly and stealthily into their dwellings; my voice lowered +itself to sadness and monotony; I pressed no hand in token of +companionship; no hand pressed mine, except when wrung with agony, some +wretch, whose burden was more than he could bear restrained me for a few +moments of maddened and convulsive grief, from putting the last finishing +stroke to my work, and held me back to gaze yet again on features which I +was about to cover from his sight. It is well that God, in his +unsearchable wisdom, hath made death loathsome to us. It is well that an +undefined and instinctive shrinking within us, makes what we have loved +for long years, in a few hours +</p> +<div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>"That lifeless thing, the living fear."</p> + </div> +</div> +<p> +It is well that the soul hath scarcely quitted the body ere the work of +corruption is begun. For if, even thus, mortality clings to the remnants +of mortality, with 'love stronger than death;' if, as I have seen it, warm +and living lips are pressed to features where the gradually sinking eye +and hollow cheek speak horribly of departed life; what would it be if the +winged soul left its tenement of clay, to be resolved only into a marble +death; to remain cold, beautiful, and imperishable; every day to greet our +eyes; every night to be watered with our tears? The bonds which hold men +together would be broken; the future would lose its interest in our minds; +we should remain sinfully mourning the idols of departed love, whose +presence forbade oblivion of their loveliness; and a thin and scattered +population would wander through the world as through the valley of the +shadow of death! How often have I been interrupted when about to nail down +a coffin, by the agonized entreaties of some wretch to whom the +discoloured clay bore yet the trace of beauty, and the darkened lid seemed +only closed in slumber! How often have I said, 'Surely <i>that</i> heart will +break with its woe!' and yet, in a little while, the bowed spirit rose +again, the eye sparkled, and the lip smiled, <i>because the dead were +covered from their sight</i>; and that which is present to man's senses is +destined to affect him far more powerfully than the dreams of his +imagination or memory. How often, too, have I seen the reverse of the +picture I have just drawn; when the pale unconscious corse has lain +abandoned in its loveliness, and grudging hands have scantily dealt out a +portion of their superfluity, to obtain the last rites for one who so +lately moved, spoke, smiled, and walked amongst them! And I have felt, +even then, that there were those to whom that neglected being had been far +more precious than heaps of gold, and I have mourned for them who perished +among strangers. One horrible scene has chased another from my mind +through a succession of years; and some of those +<span class="pagenum"> + <a id="page205" + name="page205"> + </a>[pg 205] +</span> + which, perhaps, deeply +affected me at the time, are, by the mercy of Heaven, forgotten. But +enough remains to enable me to give a faint outline of the causes which +have changed me from what I was, to the gloomy joyless being I am at +length become. There is one scene indelibly impressed upon my memory." +</p> +<p> +A scene of domestic tragedy follows, which is wrought up with great effect: +</p> +<p> +"I was summoned late at night to the house of a respectable merchant, who +had been reduced, in a great measure, by the wilful extravagance of his +only son, from comparative wealth to ruin and distress. I was met by the +widow, on whose worn and weary face the calm of despair had settled. She +spoke to me for a few moments, and begged me to use dispatch and caution +in the exercise of my calling:—'for indeed,' said she, 'I have watched my +living son with a sorrow that has almost made me forget grief for the +departed. For five days and five nights I have watched, and his bloodshot +eye has not closed, no, not for a moment, from its horrible task of gazing +on the dead face of the father that cursed him. He sleeps now, if sleep it +can be called, that is rather the torpor of exhaustion; but his rest is +taken on that father's death-bed. Oh! young man, feel for me! Do your task +in such a manner, that my wretched boy may not awake till it is over, and +the blessing of the widow be on you for ever!' To this strange prayer I +could only offer a solemn assurance that I would do my utmost to obey her; +and with slow creeping steps we ascended the narrow stairs which led to +the chamber of death. It was a dark, wretched-looking, ill-furnished room, +and a drizzling November rain pattered unceasingly at the latticed window, +which was shaken from time to time by the fitful gusts of a moaning wind. +A damp chillness pervaded the atmosphere, and rotted the falling paper +from the walls; and, as I looked towards the hearth, (for there was no +grate,) I felt painfully convinced that the old man had died without the +common comforts his situation imperiously demanded. The white-washed sides +of the narrow fire-place were encrusted with a green damp, and the +chimney-vent was stuffed with straw and fragments of old carpet, to +prevent the cold wind from whistling through the aperture. The common +expression, 'He has seen better days,' never so forcibly occurred to me as +at that moment. He <i>had</i> seen better days: he had toiled cheerfully +through the day, and sat down to a comfortable evening meal. The wine-cup +had gone round; and the voice of laughter had been heard at his table for +many a year, and yet here he had crept to die like a beggar! I looked at +the flock bed, and felt my heart grow sick within me. The corpse of a man, +apparently about sixty, lay stretched upon it, and on his hollow and +emaciated features the hand of death had printed the ravages of many days. +The veins had ceased to give even the appearance of life to the +discoloured skin; the eyelids were deep sunken, and the whole countenance +was (and none but those accustomed to gaze on the face of the dead can +understand me) utterly expressionless. But if a sight like this was +sickening and horrible, what shall I say of the miserable being to whom a +temporary oblivion was giving strength for renewed agony? He had +apparently been sitting at the foot of the corpse, and, as the torpor of +heavy slumber stole over him, had sunk forward, his hand still retaining +the hand of the dead man. His face was hid; but his figure, and the thick +curls of dark hair, bespoke early youth. I judged him at most, to be +two-and-twenty. I began my task of measuring the body, and few can tell +the shudder which thrilled my frame as the carpenter's rule passed those +locked hands—the vain effort of the living still to claim kindred with +the dead! It was over, and I stole from the room, cautiously and silently +as I entered. Once, and only once, I turned to gaze at the melancholy +group. There lay the corpse, stiff and unconscious; there sat the son, in +an unconsciousness yet more terrible, since it could not last. There, pale +and tearless, stood the wife of him, who, in his dying hour, cursed her +child and his. How little she dreamed of such a scene when her meek lips +first replied to his vows of affection! How little she dreamed of such a +scene when she first led that father to the cradle of his sleeping boy! +when they bent together with smiles of affection, to watch his quiet +slumber, and catch the gentle breathing of his parted lips! I had scarcely +reached the landing-place before the wretched woman's hand was laid +lightly on my arm to arrest my progress. Her noiseless step had followed +me without my being aware of it. 'How soon will your work be done?' said +she, in a suffocated voice. 'To-morrow I could be here again,' answered I. +'To-morrow! and what am I to do, if my boy wakes before that time?' and +her voice became +<span class="pagenum"> + <a id="page206" + name="page206"> + </a>[pg 206] +</span> +louder and hoarse with fear. 'He will go mad, I am sure +he will; his brain will not hold against these horrors. Oh! that God would +hear me!—that God would hear me! and let that slumber sit on his senses +till the sight of the father that cursed him is no longer present to us! +Heaven be merciful to me!' and with the last words she clasped her hands +convulsively, and gazed upwards. I had known opiates administered to +sufferers whose grief for their bereavement almost amounted to madness. I +mentioned this hesitatingly to the widow, and she eagerly caught at it. +'Yes! that would do,' exclaimed she; 'that would do, if I could but get +him past that horrible moment! But stay; I dare not leave him alone as he +is, even for a little while:—what will become of me!' I offered to +procure the medicine for her, and soon returned with it. I gave it into +her hands, and her vehement expressions of thankfulness wrung my heart. I +had attempted to move the pity of the apothecary at whose shop I obtained +the drug, by an account of the scene I had witnessed, in order to induce +him to pay a visit to the house of mourning; but in vain. To him, who had +<i>not</i> witnessed it, it was nothing but a tale of every-day distress. All +that long night I worked at the merchant's coffin, and the dim grey light +of the wintry morning found me still toiling on. Often, during the hours +passed thus heavily, that picture of wretchedness rose before me. Again I +saw the leaning and exhausted form of the young man, buried in slumber, on +his father's death-bed: again my carpenter's rule almost touched the +clasped hands of the dead and the living, and a cold shudder mingled with +the chill of the dawning day, and froze my blood." +</p> +<p> +"As I passed up one of the streets which led to the merchant's lodgings, +my head bending under the weight of the coffin I was carrying, at every +step I took, the air seemed to grow more thick around me, and at length, +overcome by weariness, both of body and mind, I stopped, loosed the straps +which steadied my melancholy burden, and placing it in an upright position +against the wall, wiped the dew from my forehead, and (shall I confess it?) +the tears from my eyes. I was endeavouring to combat the depression of my +feelings by the reflection that I was the support and comfort of my poor +old mother's life, when my attention was roused by the evident compassion +of a young lady, who, after passing me with a hesitating step, withdrew +her arm from that of her more elderly companion, and pausing for an +instant, put a shilling into my hand, saying, 'You look very weary, my +poor man; pray get something to drink with that.' A more lovely +countenance (if by lovely be meant that which engages love) was never +moulded by nature; the sweetness and compassion of her pale face and soft +innocent eyes; the kindness of her gentle voice, made an impression on my +memory too strong to be effaced. <i>I saw her once again!</i> I reached the +merchant's lodgings and my knock was answered as on the former occasion, +by the widow herself. She sighed heavily as she saw me, and after one or +two attempts to speak, informed me that her son was awake, but that it was +impossible for her to administer the opiate, as he refused to let the +smallest nourishment pass his lips; but that he was quite quiet, indeed +had never spoken since he woke, except to ask her how she felt; and she +thought I might proceed without fear of his interruption. I entered +accordingly, followed by a lad, son to the landlady who kept the lodgings, +and with his assistance I proceeded to lift the corpse, and lay it in the +coffin. The widow's son remained motionless, and, as it were, stupified +during this operation: but the moment he saw me prepare the lid of the +coffin so as to be screwed down, he started up with the energy and +gestures of a madman. His glazed eyes seemed bursting from their sockets, +and his upper lip, leaving his teeth bare, gave his mouth the appearance +of a horrible and convulsive smile. He seized my arm with his whole +strength; and, as I felt his grasp, and saw him struggling for words, I +expected to hear curses and execrations, or the wild howl of an infuriated +madman. I was mistaken. The wail of a sickly child, who dreads its +mother's departure, was the only sound to which I could compare that +wretched man's voice. He held me with a force almost supernatural; but +his tongue uttered supplications in a feeble monotonous tone, and with the +most humble and beseeching manner. 'Leave him,' exclaimed he, 'leave him a +little while longer. He will forgive me; I know he will. He spoke that +horrible word to rouse my conscience. But I heard him and came back to him. +I would have toiled and bled for him; he knows that well. Hush! hush! I +cannot hear his voice for my mother's sobs; but I know he will forgive me. +Oh! father, do not refuse! I am humble—I am penitent. Father, I have +sinned against Heaven +<span class="pagenum"> + <a id="page207" + name="page207"> + </a>[pg 207] +</span> +and before thee—father, I have sinned! Oh! mother, +he is cursing me again. He is lifting his hand to curse me—his right hand. +Look, mother, look! Save me, O God! my father curses me on his dying bed! +Save me, oh!——' The unfinished word resolved itself into a low hollow +groan, and he fell back insensible. I would have assisted him, but his +mother waved me back. 'Better so, better so,' she repeated hurriedly; 'it +is the mercy of God which has caused this—do you do your duty, and I will +do mine,' and she continued to kneel and support the head of her son, +while we fastened and secured down the coffin. At length all was finished, +and then and not till then we carried the wretched youth from the chamber +of death, to one as dark, as gloomy, and as scantily furnished, but having +a wood fire burning in the grate, and a bed with ragged curtains at one +end of it. And here, in comparative comfort, the landlady allowed him to +be placed, even though she saw little chance of her lodgers being able to +pay for the change. Into the glass of water held to his parched lips, as +he recovered his senses, I poured a sufficient quantity of the opiate to +produce slumber, and had the satisfaction of hearing his mother fervently +thank God, as still half unconscious, he swallowed the draught. I thought +he would not have survived the shock he had received; but I was mistaken. +The merchant was buried and forgotten; the son lived, and we met again in +a far, far different scene." +</p> + + <hr class="full" /> + +<h2>THE GATHERER.</h2> + +<hr /> + +<h3>NOBLES OF JOHANNA.</h3> +<p> +We had long been aware that the potentates of the <i>Guinea coast</i> not only +assume English titles, but wear under, or in place of, diadems, the +cast-off wigs of our Lord Chancellors—but we were not prepared for what +follows in the latitude of the Mozambique Channel, as related by Captain +Basil Hall. +</p> +<p> +"We proceeded to our guide's house, where he introduced us, not indeed to +his wives, for all these ladies were stowed away behind a screen of mats, +but to some of the males of his family, and, amongst others, to a queer +copper-coloured gentleman, who styled himself, in his communications with +us, 'the Duke of Devonshire,' and begged very hard to be allowed the +honour of having our linen to wash. His Grace was a little dumpy fellow, +who stooped considerably, wore neither shoes nor stockings, and exhibited +so little of a nose, that when you caught his countenance in profile, the +facial line, as the physiognomists call it, suffered no interruption when +drawn from the brow to the lips. The poor Duke little knew the cause of +the laughter which his occupation, title, and the contrast of looks, +excited in those of our party who had seen his grace's noble namesake in +the opposite hemisphere." +</p> +<p> +"Most of the natives of Johanna, even the negro slaves, talk a little +English; but the best examples of such acquirements were found, where they +ought to be, amongst the grandees of the island. The following is a fair +specimen of the conversation of the dukes and earls at the capital of the +Comoros.—'How do you do, sir? Very glad see you. D—n your eyes! Johanna +man like English very much. God d—n! That very good? Eh? Devilish hot, +sir! What news? Hope your ship stay too long while, very. D—n my eye! +Very fine day.' After which, in a sort of whisper, accompanied by a most +insinuating smile, his lordship, or his grace, as the rank of the party +might be, would add:—'You want orange? You want goat? Cheap! I got good, +very. You send me you clothes; I wash with my own hand—clean! fine! very! +I got every thing, plenty, great, much! God d—n!' And then, as if to +clench the favourable opinion which these eloquent appeals had made, the +speaker was sure to produce a handful of certificates from mates of +Indiamen, masters of Yankee brigs, and middies of men-of-war; some written +in solemn earnest, some quizzically, but all declaring his lordship, the +bearer, to be a pretty good washerman, but the sort of person not to be +trusted far out of sight, as he would certainly walk off with your +clothes-bag if he could safely do so."—<i>Autobiography, Second Series</i>. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<p> +<i>Bed of Leaves</i>.—In some countries the leaves of the beech tree are +collected in autumn, before they have been injured by the frost, and are +used instead of feathers for beds; and mattresses formed of them are said +to be preferable to those either of straw or chaff. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<p> +<i>Pure Style</i>.—Cardinal Bembo was so rigorous with regard to purity of +style, that he is said to have had forty different partitions, through +which his writings, as he polished them by degrees, successively passed; +nor did he publish them till they had sustained these forty examinations. +How would the cardinal have +<span class="pagenum"> + <a id="page208" + name="page208"> + </a>[pg 208] +</span> + acted with the editorship of a daily newspaper. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<p> +<i>To lie at the Pool of Bethesda</i> is used proverbially in Germany, in +speaking of the theological candidates who are waiting for a benefice. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<p> +<i>Court Pun</i>.—The witty Marquess de Bièvre was asked by Louis XV. for a +pun. "Give me a subject, sire,'" said B. "Make it on myself," said Louis. +"Sire, the king is not a subject," was the pleasant reply. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<p> +<i>History</i>.—The first page of Thucydides is, in my opinion, the +commencement of real history. All preceding narrations are so intermixed +with fable, that philosophers ought to abandon them in a great measure, to +the embellishment of the poet and orator.—<i>Hume</i>. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<p> +<i>Old Squibs</i>.—Richard Bentley and Charles Boyle (Earl of Orrery,) had a +warm dispute relative to the genuineness of the Greek Epistles of Phalaris, +an edition of which was published by the latter. Bentley was victorious, +though he was kept in hot water with the critics and wits of the age. Dr. +Garth assailed him thus: +</p> +<div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>So diamonds owe a lustre to their foil,</p> + <p>And to a <i>Bentley</i> 'tis we owe a <i>Boyle</i>.</p> + </div> +</div> +<p> +Conyers Middleton was a sad thorn in Bentley's side, from the latter +having called the former, when a young student in the university, +<i>fiddling</i> Conyers, because he played on the violin. A punning caricature +represented B. about to be thrust into the brazen bull of Phalaris, and +exclaiming, "I had rather be <i>roasted</i> than <i>Boyled</i>." +</p> + +<hr /> + +<p> +<i>Hip, Hip, Hurra!</i>—During the stirring times of the Crusades, the +chivalry of Europe was excited to arms by the inflammatory appeals of the +well-known Peter the Hermit. While preaching the Crusade, this furious +zealot was accustomed to exhibit a banner emblazoned with the following +letters, H.E.P., the initials of the Latin words, <i>"Hierosolyma Est +Perdita</i>," Jerusalem is destroyed. The people in some of the countries +which he visited, not being acquainted with the Latin, read and pronounced +the inscription as if one word—HEP. The followers of the Hermit were +accustomed, whenever an unfortunate Jew appeared in the streets, to raise +the cry, "Hep, hep, hurra," to hunt him down, and flash upon the +defenceless Israelite their maiden swords, before they essayed their +temper with the scimetar of the Saracen.—<i>Tatler</i>. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<p> +<i>Wool-gathering</i>.—A very patriotic landlord, Squire Henry, of Straffan, +county of Kildare, had hit on an expedient to benefit the wool-growers in +general, and his numerous tenantry in particular. Knowing that market +value is in the direct ratio of demand and scarcity, he annually buried +the wool shorn from <i>his own</i> sheep, lest it might interfere with the +profitable sale of his tenants' fleeces. But, alas! this generous system +of self-sacrifice did not "work well." The result was—though Squire Henry +never suspected the existence of such turpitude in the human heart—the +ungrateful tenantry dug up by night what he buried by day, wool never rose +in price, and they never were able to pay up their arrears of +rent.—<i>Fraser's Magazine</i>. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<p> +One day, a physician alighted from his carriage, and entering the shop of +a medical bookseller, inquired of its sleek-faced master, "whether he had +a copy of Heberden's <i>Commentaries</i>?" "No, sir," replied the man of +letters, "but we have Caesar's <i>Commentaries</i>, and they are by far the +best."—<i>Metropolitan</i>. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<p> +<i>Mortality in the reign of William IV</i>.—Since the accession of King +William not less, we are told, than <i>twenty-four</i> generals and +<i>twenty-six</i> admirals, have found their way into Westminster Abbey, or +elsewhere. Considering that his majesty continues to receive the most +friendly assurances from all foreign powers, this attack upon the army and +navy list is rather prodigious. Napoleon himself could scarcely have made +greater gaps in the United Service Club in the time. To be sure they were +not all Nelsons and Marlboroughs, or we should have marked them as they +dropped off; whereas one can hardly name, five of the fifty great warriors. +—<i>Ibid</i>. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<p> +<i>Origin of Black Monday</i>.—Black Monday—Easter Monday, in the year 1359, +when hail stones killed both men and horses in the army of our King Edward +the Third, in France. He was on his march, within two leagues of Chartres, +when there happened a storm of piercing wind, that swelled to a tempest of +rain, lightning, and hail stones, so prodigious, as instantly to kill +6,000 of his horses, and 1,000 of his best troops. P.T.W. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<p> +*** MR. HAYDON'S Exhibition in our next. +</p> + + +<hr class="full" /> + +<blockquote class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote1" name="footnote1"> + </a><b>Footnote 1</b>: + <a href="#footnotetag1"> + (return) + </a> + <p> + Hist. and Antiq. St. Saviour, Southwark, 1795. + </p> +</blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote2" name="footnote2"> + </a><b>Footnote 2</b>: + <a href="#footnotetag2"> + (return) + </a> + <p> + The first we read of Bear-baiting in England, was in the reign of King + John, at Ashby-de-la-Zouch, where "thyss straynge passtyme was + introduced by some Italyans for his highness' amusement, wherewith he + and his court were highly delighted." + </p> +</blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote3" name="footnote3"> + </a><b>Footnote 3</b>: + <a href="#footnotetag3"> + (return) + </a> + <p> + Reliq. Wotton, p. 425. Edit. 1685 + </p> +</blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote4" name="footnote4"> + </a><b>Footnote 4</b>: + <a href="#footnotetag4"> + (return) + </a> + <p> + Winwood's Memorials, vol. iii. p. 469. + </p> +</blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote5" name="footnote5"> + </a><b>Footnote 5</b>: + <a href="#footnotetag5"> + (return) + </a> + <p> + Annals of the Stage. By J.P. Collyer, Esq. F.S.A. Vol. I. + </p> +</blockquote> + +<hr class="full" /> +<p> +<i>Printed and Published by J. LIMBIRD, 143, Strand, (near Somerset House,) +London; sold by ERNEST FLEISCHER, 626, New Market, Leipsic; G.G. BENNIS, +55, Rue Neuve, St. Augustin, Paris; and by all Newsmen and Booksellers</i>. +</p> +<hr class="full" /> + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, +and Instruction, by Various + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MIRROR OF LITERATURE, NO. 540 *** + +***** This file should be named 12550-h.htm or 12550-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/2/5/5/12550/ + +Produced by Jonathan Ingram, Allen Siddle and PG Distributed Proofreaders + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction + Vol. XIX. No. 540, Saturday, March 31, 1832 + +Author: Various + +Release Date: June 8, 2004 [EBook #12550] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MIRROR OF LITERATURE, NO. 540 *** + + + + +Produced by Jonathan Ingram, Allen Siddle and PG Distributed Proofreaders + + + + + + + + +THE MIRROR OF LITERATURE, AMUSEMENT, AND INSTRUCTION. + +VOL. XIX. No. 540.] SATURDAY, MARCH 31, 1832. [PRICE 2d. + + + + * * * * * + + + +BANKSIDE.--OLD THEATRES. + +[Illustration: BANKSIDE IN 1648.] + +[Illustration: BULL AND BEAR-BAITING THEATRES.] + +[Illustration: BEAR-BAITING--ROSE--GLOBE.] + +The ancient topography of the southern bank of the Thames (or _Bankside_) +between London and Blackfriars bridges is peculiarly interesting to the +lover of dramatic lore, as well as to the inquirer into the sports and +pastimes of our ancestors. It appears to have been the _Arcadia_ of the +olden metropolis, if such a term be applicable to a place notorious for +the indulgence of brutal sports. + +The Cut in the adjoining column represents Bankside in 1648, from which it +appears to have been then in part waste and unenclosed. "It was land +belonging to the crown, and on various parts of it stood the Globe Theatre, +the Bear Garden, and other places of public show; here were also the Pike +Gardens, some time called the Queen's Pike Gardens, with ponds for the +preservation of fresh-water fish, which were said to be kept for the +supply of the royal table, under the inspection of an officer, called the +king's purveyor of pike, who had here a house for his residence."[1] On +the Bankside, prior to the above date, were also the ancient Bordello, or +Stews, which, according to Pennant, were distinguished by their respective +signs painted against the walls, one of which, in particular, was the +Cardinal's Hat; and a small court, now or till lately called _Cardinal's +Hat Court_, still exists on the Bankside, and probably shows the precise +site of the mansion of depravity. In like manner we find on Bankside, +_Pike Garden_, _Globe Alley_, and in the vicinity a public-house with the +sign of the _Globe_. On Bankside also stood an ancient Hall and Palace of +the Bishops of Winchester, stated to have been built by William Gifford, +Bishop of Winchester, about the year 1107, on a piece of ground belonging +to the Prior of Bermondsey, to whom was paid a yearly acknowledgment. The +great court, at one time belonging to this palace, is still known by the +name of _Winchester Square_, and in the adjacent street was, some time +since, an abutment of one of the gates. Near this Palace, on the south, at +one time stood the Episcopal Palace of the Bishops of Rochester; which is +supposed to have bequeathed its name to _Rochester Street_. The whole of +the _Bank_ shown in the Cut is now densely populated, and scarcely a pole +of green sward is left to denote its ancient state. On the opposite or +Middlesex bank may be distinguished the celebrated Castle Baynard. + +The second Cut represents the BULL and BEAR-BAITING THEATRES, as they +appeared in their first state, A.D. 1560. This spot was called Paris +Garden, and the two theatres are said to have been the first that were +formed near London. In these, according to Stow, were scaffolds for the +spectators to stand upon, an indulgence for which they paid in the +following manner: "Those who go to Paris Garden, the Bell Savage, or +Theatre, to behold bear-baiting, enterludes, or fence-play, must not +account of any pleasant spectacle unless they first pay one penny at the +gate, another at the entrie of the scaffold, and a third for quiet +standing." One Sunday afternoon, in the year 1582, the scaffold, being +overcharged with spectators, fell down during the performance, and a great +number of persons were killed or maimed by the accident, which the +puritans of the time failed not to attribute to a Divine judgment. These +theatres were patronized by royalty: for we read that Queen Elizabeth, on +the 26th of May, 1599, went by water with the French ambassadors to Paris +Garden, where they saw a baiting of bulls and bears. Indeed, Southwark +seems to have long been of sporting notoriety, for, in the Humorous Lovers, +printed in 1617, one of the characters says, "I'll set up my bills, that +the gamesters of London, Horsly-down, _Southwark_, and Newmarket, may come +in and bait him (the bear,) here before the ladies, &c."[2] + +The third Cut includes the GLOBE, ROSE, and BEAR-BAITING THEATRES, as they +appeared about the year 1612. Of the Globe we have been furnished with the +following account by a zealous correspondent, _G.W._: + +The Globe Theatre stood on a plot of ground, now occupied by four houses, +contiguous to the present Globe Alley, Maiden Lane, Southwark. This +theatre was of considerable size. It is not certain when it was built. +Hentzner, the German traveller, who gives an amusing description of London +in the time of Queen Elizabeth, alludes to it as existing in 1598, but it +was probably not built long before 1596. It was an hexagonal, wooden +building, partly open to the weather, and partly thatched with reeds, on +which, as well as other theatres, a pole was erected, to which a flag was +affixed. These flags were probably displayed only during the hours of +performance; and it should seem from one of the old comedies that they +were taken down in Lent, in which time, during the early part of King +James's reign, plays were not allowed to be represented, though at a +subsequent period this prohibition was dispensed with by paying a fee to +the Master of the Revels. + +It was called the Globe from its sign, which was a figure of Hercules, or +Atlas, supporting a globe, under which was written, _Totus mundus agit +histrionem_, (All the world acts a play):--and not as many have +conjectured, that the Globe though hexagonal at the outside, was a rotunda +within, and that it might have derived its name from its circular form. + +This theatre was burnt down June 29, 1613, but it was rebuilt with greater +splendour in the following year. The Cut represents the original theatre. +The account of this accident is given by Sir Henry Wotton, in a letter +dated July 2, 1613.[3] "Now to let matters of state sleepe, I will +entertain you at the present with what happened this week at the Banks +side. The King's players had a new play called All is True, representing +some principal pieces of the reign of Henry the Eighth, which set forth +with many extraordinary circumstances of pomp and majesty even to the +matting of the stage; the knights of the order with their Georges and +Garter, the guards with their embroidered coats, and the like: sufficient +in truth within awhile to make greatness very familiar, if not ridiculous. +Now King Henry making a Masque at the Cardinal Wolsey's house, and certain +cannons being shot off at his entry, some of the paper or other stuff, +wherewith one of them was stopped, did light on the thatch, where being +thought at first but idle smoak, and their eyes more attentive to the show, +it kindled inwardly, and ran round like a train, consuming within less +than an hour the whole house to the very ground. This was the fatal period +of that virtuous fabrick, wherein yet nothing did perish but _wood_ and +_straw_, and a few forsaken cloaks; only one man had his breeches set on +fire, that would perhaps have broyled him, if he had not by the benefit of +a provident wit, put it out with a bottle of ale." + +From a letter of Mr. John Chamberlaine to Sir Ralph Winwood, dated July 8, +1613, in which this accident is likewise mentioned, we learn that the +theatre had only two doors.[4] "The burning of the Globe or playhouse on +the Bankside on St. Peter's day cannot escape you; which fell out by a +peal of chambers, (that I know not upon what occasion were to be used in +the play,) the tampin or stopple of one of them lighting in the thatch +that covered the house, burn'd it down to the ground in less than two +hours, with a dwelling-house adjoyning; and it was a great marvaile and a +fair grace of God that the people had so little harm, having but _two +narrow doors_ to get out." + +In 1613, was entered in the Stationers' books, "A doleful ballad of the +General Conflagration of the famous Theatre called the Globe." + +Taylor, the water poet, commemorates the event in the following lines: + + "As gold is better that in fire's tried, + So is the Bankside Globe, that late was burn'd; + For where before it had a thatched hide, + Now to a stately theatre 'tis turn'd; + Which is an emblem that great things are won; + By those that dare through greatest dangers run." + +It is also alluded to in some verses by Ben Jonson, entitled, "An +Execration upon Vulcan," from which it appears that Ben Jonson was in the +theatre when it was burnt. + +This theatre was open in summer and the performances took place by +daylight; the King's company usually began to play in the month of May. +The exhibitions appear to have been calculated for the lower class of +people, and to have been more frequent than those at the Blackfriars, till +1604 or 5, when it became less fashionable and frequented. Being +contiguous to the Bear Garden, it is probable that those who resorted +there went to the theatre, when the bear-baiting sports were over, and +such persons were not likely to form a very refined audience. + +We have no description of the interior of the Globe, but that it was +somewhat similar to our modern theatres, with an open space in the roof: +or perhaps it more resembled an inn-yard, where, in the beginning of Queen +Elizabeth's reign, many of our ancient dramatic pieces were performed. The +galleries in both were arranged on three sides of the building; the small +rooms under the lowest, answered to our present boxes and were called +rooms; the yard bears a sufficient resemblance to the pit, as at present +in use, and where the common people stood to see the exhibition; from +which circumstance they are called by Shakspeare "the _groundlings_," and +by Ben Jonson, "the _understanding_ gentlemen of the _ground_." The stage +was erected in the area, with its back to the gateway where the admission +money was taken. The price of admission into the best _rooms_, or boxes, +was in Shakspeare's time, a shilling, though afterwards it appears to have +risen to two shillings and half-a-crown. The galleries, or scaffolds, as +they were sometimes called, and that part of the house which in private +theatres was named the pit, seem to have been the same price, which was +sixpence, while in some meaner playhouses it was only a penny, and in +others two-pence. + +We learn from Sir Henry Hebert, that 20_l_. was the greatest receipt for +one day's performance; by that we may calculate upon the house having +contained about 700 persons, at the prices before stated; that is to say, +100 for the boxes, and the rest in the other parts of the house. + +Part of the site of this theatre is now occupied by the brewery of Messrs. +Barclay and Perkins; and in the _History of St. Saviour's_, already quoted, +we read that "the passage which led to the Globe Tavern, of which the +playhouse formed a part, was, till within these few years, known by the +name of Globe Alley, and upon its site now stands a large store-house for +porter." + +The _Rose_ or smaller theatre, was erected in the year 1592, and is stated +to have cost L103. 2_s_. 7_d_.--a sum which would scarcely pay half the +expenses of a modern patent theatre for a single night! + +These theatres appear to have been cited as nuisances by the parish +officers of St. Saviour's, in which they stood; for in July, 1597-8, a +resolution was agreed to by a vestry of the parish, "that a petition shall +be made to the bodye of the Councell, (Privy Council,) concerning the +play-houses in this parish; wherein all the enormities shall be showed +that come thereby to the parish, and that in respect thereof they may be +dismissed, and put down from playing: and that four, or two of the +Churchwardens, &c. shall present the cause with a collector of the +Boroughside, and another of the Bankside." The presentation of this +petition did not produce the desired effect; for some time afterwards the +play-houses not having been put down, the Churchwardens of St. Saviour's, +as appears from an entry in their Parish Register, endeavoured to obtain +tithes and poor-rates from the owners and managers of the theatres on the +Bankside.[5] This corresponds with the state of the English theatre, at +this period, at the height of its glory and reputation. Dramatic authors +of the first excellence, and eminent actors equally abounded; every year +produced a number of new plays; nay, so great was the passion for show or +representation, that it was the fashion for the nobility to celebrate +their weddings, birthdays, and other occasions of rejoicing, with masques +and interludes; the king, queen, and court frequently performing in those +represented in the royal palaces, and all the nobility being actors in +their old private houses. Alas! + + What's gone and what's past help + Should be past grief. + +Dryden sung + + Support the stage, + Which so declines that shortly we may see + Players and plays reduced to second infancy! + +--What would he sing in these times! + +Among the numerous memoranda of the topography of this interesting +district, we find that the well-known iron foundry of Messrs. Bradley, now +occupies the site of a Bear-garden. The Falcon public-house adjoining the +foundry of that name, was once the most considerable inn in the county of +Surrey, the adjoining foundry being anciently a part of it: and it is said +that very near the Falcon was once a mill for the grinding of corn, for +the Priory of St. Mary Overy. + +To conclude. The accompanying Cuts are copied from one of a series of +prints illustrative of the antiquities of the metropolis, published by +Messrs. Boydell, in the year 1818. + + + [1] Hist. and Antiq. St. Saviour, Southwark, 1795. + + [2] The first we read of Bear-baiting in England, was in the + reign of King John, at Ashby-de-la-Zouch, where "thyss + straynge passtyme was introduced by some Italyans for his + highness' amusement, wherewith he and his court were highly + delighted." + + [3] Reliq. Wotton, p. 425. Edit. 1685 + + [4] Winwood's Memorials, vol. iii. p. 469. + + [5] Annals of the Stage. By J.P. Collyer, Esq. F.S.A. Vol. I. + + * * * * * + + + + +LACONICS. + +(_For the Mirror_.) + +Amongst men of the world comfort merely signifies a great consideration +for themselves, and a perfect indifference about others. + +Every one who gives way to thought, must, of necessity, become wiser every +day; for either the ideas that present themselves to his mind will confirm +his yet rickety theories, or observation will teach him that his previous +views of things were ill-founded. + +Party spirit is like gambling--a vast number of persons trouble themselves +about what in the end can be beneficial only to a few. + +It is as difficult to win over an enthusiast by force of reasoning, as to +persuade a lover of his mistress's faults; or to convince a man who is at +law of the badness of his cause. + +Knowledge of the world is regarded as an useful, if not an elegant, +accomplishment, but this advantage, like every other good, is mixed with +some alloy: the acute observer of men and manners cannot but be disgusted +with the scenes that take place around him, and his knowledge may at last +have the effect of souring his own disposition. + +Talents, without the accompaniment of religion, are but fatal presents: +they not only add strength to the vices of the individual, but what is +worse they render them more conspicuous to the world. + +It is strange that the eye of man should have that magic power we have all +felt that it possesses. We can contemplate other bright and beautiful +objects without withdrawing our gaze; and what is there in the formation +of an eye that should create in us any uneasiness? It is the consciousness +that the eye is the index of the mind--that when a man fixes his eye on us +we are the subject of his thoughts, and that a being gifted with a soul +like ourselves is employing its energies and setting its machinery at work +about ourselves. It is this conviction that makes us modestly, and almost +involuntarily, shrink from such an inspection. + +To put ourselves in a passion, in consequence of the misconduct of others, +is unquestionably very weak behaviour, but it has also something generous +about it; for we are clearly annoying and punishing ourselves, when the +offenders only ought to have been the sufferers. + +Meanness and conceit are frequently combined in the same character: for he +who to obtain transient applause can be indifferent to truth and his own +dignity, will be as little scrupulous about them if, by subserviency, he +can improve his condition in the world. + +The most trivial circumstances are able to put an end to our +gratifications; they are like beds of roses, where it is very unlikely all +the leaves should be smooth, and even one that is doubled suffices to make +us uncomfortable. + +Garrulous men are commonly conceited, and they will be found (with very +few exceptions) to be superficial as well. They who are in a hurry to tell +what they do know, will be equally inclined, from the impulse of +prevailing habit, to tell what they do not know. + +F. + + * * * * * + +LEGAL RHYMES. + +(_For the Mirror._) + +According to Goguet, "the first laws of any people were composed in verses, +which they sang;" and why should it not be so when Apollo was one of the +first of legislators? and under his auspices they were published to the +sound of the harp. Pittacus, one of the seven sages of Greece, formed a +code of laws in verse, that they might be the easier remembered. The +ancient laws of Spain also were chanted in verse, and the custom was +preserved a long time among many nations. Mio. Psellus, who lived in the +reign of Constantine Ducas, published a synopsis of the law, in verse, and +in 1701, Gumaro, a civilian of Naples, taught the dry and intricate system +of civil law, in a _novel._ Coke's Reports have been "done into verse" by +an anonymous author; and Cowper, the poet, tells us, that a relation of +his who had studied the law, "a gentleman of sprightly parts," began to +versify Coke's Institutes; he gives the following specimen of the +performance: + + "Tenant in fee + Simple is he, + And need neither quake nor quiver, + Who hath his lands, + Free from demands, + To him and his heirs for ever." + +Records, charters, and wills, and many other legal documents, have been +written in verse. The following grant was made by Edward the Confessor to +Randolf Peperking: + + "Iche Edward konyng (_king_) + Have given of my forest the keping, + Of the Hundred of Cholmer and Daucing, + To Randolph Peperking and to his kindling, (_heirs_) + With heart and hynd, doe and bock, (_buck_) + Hare and fox, cat and brock, (_badger_) + Wild fowell and his flock, + Partridge, fesant hen, and fesant cock, + With green and wyld stob and stock, + To kepen and to yemen (_hold_) by all his might, + Both by day and eke by night: + And hounds for to holde, + Gode and swift and bolde, + Four greyhounds and six beaches, (_hound bitches_) + For hare and fox, and wild cats, + And thereof Iche made him my booke, + Witness the Bishop Wolston, + And book ycleped many on, + And Sweyne of Essex, our brother, + And token him many other, + And our steward Hamelyn, + That bysought me for him." + +The Dunmow matrimonial flitch of bacon is a well known custom; the oath is +in verse, and as follows: + + "You shall swear by the custom of your confession, + That you never made any nuptial transgression, + Since you were married to your wife, + By household brawls, or contentious strife, + Or otherwise, in bed or at board, + Offended each other in deed or in word-- + Or since the parish clerk said Amen, + Wish'd yourselves unmarried again; + Or in a twelvemonth and a day, + Repented not in thought, any way, + But continued true, and in desire, + As when you join'd hands in holy quire. + If to these conditions, without all fear, + Of your own accord you will freely swear, + A gammon of bacon you shall receive, + And beare it hence with love and good leave, + For this is our custom at Dunmow well known, + Though the sport be ours, the bacon's your own." + +For the custom of riding the black ram, and the penal rhyme thereto +attached, we refer the reader to the _Spectator,_ No. 614. + +The following rhyming wills have been proved in the Prerogative Court of +Canterbury: + + "The fifth of May, + Being airy and gay + And to hip not inclined, + But of vigorous mind, + And my body in health. + I'll dispose of my wealth, + And all I'm to leave + On this side the grave, + To some one or other, + And I think to my brother; + Because I foresaw + That my brethren in law, + If I did not take care, + Would come in for their share, + Which I nowise intended, + 'Till their manners are mended, + And of that God knows there's no sign. + I do therefore enjoin, + And do strictly command, + Of which witness my hand, + That naught I have got + Be brought into hotchpot: + But I give and devise, + As much as in me lies, + To the son of my mother, + My own dear brother. + And to have and to hold + All my silver and gold, + As th' affectionate pledges + Of his brother, JOHN HEDGES." + +In the next, the items are more curious and particular: + + "What I am going to bequeath + When this frail part submits to death-- + But still I hope the spark divine, + With its congenial stars shall shine, + My good executors fulfill, + And pay ye fairly my last will, + With first and second codicil. + And first I give to dear Lord Hinton, + At Twyford school now, not at Winton, + One hundred guineas and a ring, + Or some such memorandum thing, + And truly much I should have blunder'd, + Had I not given another hundred + To dear Earl Paulett's second son, + Who dearly loves a little fun. + Unto my nephew, Stephen Langdon, + Of whom none says he e'er has wrong done, + The civil laws he loves to hash, + I give two hundred pounds in cash. + One hundred pounds to my niece, Tudor, + (With luring eyes one Clark did view her,) + And to her children just among 'em, + A hundred more--and not to wrong 'em, + In equal shares I freely give it, + Not doubting but they will receive it. + To Betsy Mudford and Mary Lee, + If they with Mrs. Mudford be, + Because they round the year did dwell + In Davies-street, and serv'd full well. + The first ten pounds, the other twenty, + And girls, I hope that will content ye. + In seventeen hundred and sixty-nine, + This with my hand I write and sign, + The sixteenth day of fair October, + In merry mood, but sound and sober. + Past my threescore and fifteenth year, + With spirits gay and conscience clear-- + Joyous and frolicksome, though old, + And like this day, serene, but cold; + To foes well wishing, and to friends most kind, + In perfect charity with all mankind. + For what remains I must desire, + To use the words of Matthew Prior. + Let this my will be well obey'd, + And farewell all, I'm not afraid, + For what avails a struggling sigh. + When soon, or later, all must die? + M. DARLEY." + +Joshua West, who was known in his sphere "as the poet of the Six Clerks' +Office," made his will in rhyme; it is dated 13th December, 1804: + + "Perhaps I die not worth a groat, + But should I die worth somewhat more, + Then I give that, and my best coat, + And all my manuscripts in store, + To those who will the goodness have + To cause my poor remains to rest, + Within a decent shell and grave, + This is the will of JOSHUA WEST." + +In 1654, Henry Phillips published the "Purchasers' Pattern," in which he +gives advice to purchasers of estates of inheritance, in verse. + +There is also a long article in verse, "On the Distribution of Intestates' +Effects: it begins-- + + "By the laws of the land, + It is settled and planned, + That intestates' effects shall be spread, + At the end of the year, + When the debts are all clear, + 'Mong the kindred as here may be read." + +Before the conclusion, the author says, + + "To the rest that succeed, + We need not proceed, + Enough has already been penn'd, + And now it's high time, + For our doggrel rhyme + To come, lest it err, to an end." + +This hint I shall apply to myself, lest my article become as dry and +uninteresting as my subject, and conclude with a declaration in which I +heartily concur: + + "Fee simple, and a simple fee, + And all the fees in tail, + Are nothing when compared to thee, + Thou best of fees--female." + +W.A.R. + + * * * * * + + + + +FINE ARTS + +THE NINTH EXHIBITION OF THE SOCIETY OF BRITISH ARTISTS. + + +We are happy to learn that the "British Artists" continue to flourish. +Their association, we believe, originated in the inefficiency of similar +Institutions. They started in a spirit of generous rivalry, and, above all +things, with the view to aid aspiring merit. It could, however, scarcely +be called rivalry to any other Institution, and to this line of conduct we +attribute much of the success of the Society of British Artists. As the +Secretary states in an Address to the Public, prefixed to this year's +Catalogue, "they have never opposed, either directly or indirectly, any +existing Institution for the promotion of the Fine Arts, but have +uniformly sought to go hand in hand with whatever tended to their general +advancement." It appears likewise, that works in Painting, Sculpture, +Architecture, and Engraving, to the amount of L18,000. and upwards, have +been sold from the walls of the Exhibition, since the formation of the +Society, and numerous commissions given in consequence of the talent thus +displayed; and that all future donations will be devoted towards +completing the purchase of the galleries occupied by the Society, in +Suffolk-street. + +The full attendance at the private view on Friday, accorded with these +gratifying statements. Suffolk-street and Pall Mall East were crowded with +the carriages of visiters, and in the rooms was an abundant sprinkling of +nobility, patrons of art, men of letters, and some note of purchases at +the keeper's table. There are upwards of 800 Pictures, and about 100 +specimens of Sculpture and Engraving. The crowded state of the rooms +during the hour that we were there, allowed us only to note a few works. + +1. _Cardinal Weld_; a well painted portrait, by James Ramsey, of the +benevolent owner of Lulworth Castle. The features are dignified and finely +intellectual. We could, too, associate their expression with the +philanthropic act of the Cardinal's affording an asylum to fallen royalty. + +13. _Ruins_. D. Roberts. A delightful composition, from these exquisite +lines by Mrs. Hemans: + + "There have been bright and glorious pageants here, + Where now grey stones and moss-grown columns lie-- + There have been words, which earth grew pale to hear, + Breath'd from the cavern's misty chambers nigh: + There have been voices through the sunny sky, + And the pine woods, their choral hymn-notes sending, + And reeds and lyres, their Dorian melody, + With incense clouds around the temple blending, + And throngs, with laurel boughs, before the altar bending." + +27. _A Philosopher_. H. Wyatt. Admirably coloured: the flesh tints and +deep expression of the features will not escape notice. + +52. _The Town of Menagio, on the Lake of Como_. T.C. Hofland. A scene of +beautiful repose in the artist's best style. + +57. _Portrait of Mrs. Davenport_ in the character of the Nurse in "Romeo +and Juliet." James Holmes. Almost speakingly characteristic. You may +imagine the actress drawling out, "awear--y," and her attitude admirably +accords with "Fie, how my bones ache." + +114. _The Baptism_. G. Harvey, S.A. Foremost among the attractions of the +Exhibition, though of a serious turn. The quotation will best describe the +subject: + + "Here, upon a semicircular ledge of rocks, over a narrow chasm, down + which the tiny stream played in a murmuring waterfall, and divided into + two equal parts, sat the congregation, devoutly listening to their + minister, who stood before them on what might well be called a small + natural pulpit of living stone.... Divine service was closed, and a + row of maidens, all clothed in purest white, arranged themselves at + the foot of the pulpit, with the infants about to be baptized. + + "The fathers of the infants, just as if they had been in their own + Kirk, had been sitting there during worship, and now stood up before + the minister.... Some of the younger ones in that semicircle kept + gazing down into the pool, in which the whole scene was reflected; + and now and then, in spite of the grave looks or admonishing whispers + of their elders, letting a pebble fall into the water, that they + might judge of its depth from the length of time that elapsed before + the clear air-bells lay sparkling on the agitated surface."--Vide + "_Lights and Shadows of Scottish Life_." + + +155. _His Most Gracious Majesty William the Fourth_. H.E. Dawe. The King +in his state robes: the likeness is excellent. + +156. _The Grecian Choirs at the Temple of Apollo_. A sweet composition by +W. Linton, from Petrarch; "representing the passage of the Choirs across +the narrow strait between Delos and Rhenia, by a bridge magnificently +decorated with gold and garlands, rich stuffs and tapestry," the splendour +of which is enhanced by the brightness of a summer's morning. + +162. "_In peace love tunes the Shepherd's reed_," a pretty composition +from this line by Scott, painted by Mrs. John Hakewill. A rustic boy and +girl are seated beneath a woody bank: the intent expression of the boy +playing the pipe and of the listening girl are really delightful. + +195. _Edinburgh Castle from the Grass Market_. D. Roberts. A fine picture +of the associated sublimities of nature and art. + +208. _The Ettrick Shepherd in his Forest Plaid_. J.W. Gordon. Correct in +likeness, but strangely shadowed. + +224. _Coronation of William IV_. The first picture of a series to +represent the procession to the Abbey on the day of the Coronation of his +present Majesty, containing the portraits of distinguished personages who +attended on that occasion.--Painted for his Majesty, by R.B. Davis. This +picture occupies comparatively as much length on the walls as its +description would in our columns: it is some yards long, and perhaps four +feet in height. It is but hastily painted. The framework is excellent, and +well appointed for St. James's, Windsor, or Buckingham Palace. We hope the +_picture_ will be liked there as well as the frame. + +244. _Elizabeth relieving the Exile_, by Miss A. Beaumont, is an +interesting picture, from the well-remembered incident in the _Exiles of +Siberia._ + +296. _Interior of a Gaming-house_. H. Pidding. We take this to represent +one of the _salons_ of Frescati's, or other Parisian gaming-house, where +females are admitted to participate in the game, and witness the madness +and folly of the stronger sex. The party are chiefly about a _rouge et +noir_ table, and are in the highest stage of recklessness. One of them, a +female, has flung herself from the lure across a chair, apparently in the +last stage of wretchedness and despair. The excitement of the players is +powerfully wrought up and contrasted with the _sang froid_ of the +_croupier_, who seems to treat all the world as a ball. Other persons are +seeking fresh excitement at the hands of a liveried waiter. But we must +leave the rest, which it would take a column or two to describe, +especially as to our mind, a gaming-house furnishes an epitome of all the +bad passions that rankle in the human breast. + +301. _The Reform Question_. Thomas Clater. A pleasanter scene than the +preceding picture. A village blacksmith is reading the newspaper, by a +candle held by a boy, to a listening neighbour. The puzzling of the reader, +the vacant stare of the candle-holder, and the intent expression of the +absorbed listener, are excellent. Perhaps the light of the candle is +objectionable. + +311. _Love in the Dairy_. H.H. Hobday. A ticklish village amour: a young +fellow importuning a buxom dairy-maid, and apparently on the verge of +conquest; in the distant door-way stands a mar-loving, wrinkled old woman, +whose crabbed face ought not to be trusted in a dairy. + +466. _The Lord Chancellor_, seated in a chair, in his official robes, by +J. Lonsdale. The likeness is excellent, as are the robes, wig, ruffles, &c. +but the great seal and mace are even dingier than the orignals. We could +have spared the books thrown on the floor, though the paper register in +one of them almost _comes out_. + +We reserve a few pictures for another visit. The Portraits, as might be +expected, are numerous. The King's supporters are two ex-sheriffs: by the +way, how many good turns does _office_ yield to art; there is nothing like +a portrait to perpetuate your brief authority. Works of imagination are +scarce, especially as empainting the ideas of poets and passion-writers +has become fashionable. + + * * * * * + + + + +NOTES OF A READER. + + +THE VEGETABLE WORLD. + +We pencil a few passages, at random, from Part 14 of _Knowledge for the +People_--(Botany, concluded.) + +_Why does snow, when in contact with leaves and stems, melt more speedily +than when lodged upon dead substances?_ + +Because of the internal heat of the plants, heat being a production of the +vegetable as well as animal body, though in a much lower degree in the +former than the latter. Mr. Hunter appears to have detected this heat by a +thermometer applied in frosty weather to the internal parts of vegetables +newly opened. It is evident that a certain appropriate portion of heat is +a necessary stimulus to the constitution of every plant, without which its +living principle is destroyed.--_Smith_. + +_Why is fructification so important to plants?_ + +Because it continues them by seeds, and, according to Sir James Smith, +"all other modes of propagation are but the extension of an individual, +and, sooner or later, terminate in its total extinction." Dr. Drummond is +of a contrary opinion, and quotes the following fact:--"In South America +there is a species of bamboo which forms forests in the marshes of many +leagues in extent, and yet Mutis, who botanized for nearly twenty +years in the parts where it grows, was never able to detect the +fructifications."--_Humboldt_. + +The produce of vegetable seeds in a hundred-fold degree is common, and +many trees and shrubs bring forth their fruit by thousands. A single plant +of the poppy will produce above 30,000 seeds; and, of tobacco, above +40,000; and Buffon remarks, that from the seeds of a single elm-tree, one +hundred thousand young elms may be raised from the product of one year. +Some ferns, it is said, produce their seeds by millions. + +_Why should seeds be uniformly kept dry before sown?_ + +Because the least damp will cause an attempt at vegetation, when the seeds +necessarily die, as the process cannot, as they are situated, go on. + +_Why, in summer, is continued watering required to newly sown seeds?_ + +Because, if the soil is only moistened at the time of sowing, it induces +the projection of the radicle, or first root, which, in very parching +weather, and in clayey cutting soil, withers away, and the crop is +consequently lost, for want of a continued supply of moisture. + +_Why is selection important for procuring abundance of genuine seeds?_ + +Because we may then choose the most vigorous plants, which naturally prove +of greater fecundity. Thus, in 1823, Mr. Shirreff marked one vigorous +wheat plant, near the centre of a field, which produced him 2,473 grains. +These were dibbled in the autumn of the same year, the produce sown +broadcast the second and third years, and the fourth harvest produced +forty quarters of sound grain. A fine purple-topped Swedish turnip +produced 100,296 grains, which was seed enough for five imperial acres, +and thus, in three years, one turnip would produce seed enough for Great +Britain for a year.--_Quarterly Journal of Agriculture._ + +_Why are winds the great agents by which seeds are diffused?_ + +Because seeds are, as it were, provided with various wings for seizing on +the breeze. The thistle and dandelion are familiar examples of this mode +of dissemination. "How little," Sir J.E. Smith observes, "are children +aware, as they blow away the seeds of dandelion, or stick burs in sport +upon each other's clothes, that they are fulfilling one of the great ends +of nature." Dr. Woodward calculates, that one seed of the common spear +thistle will produce "at the first crop, twenty-four thousand, and +consequently five hundred and twenty-six millions of seeds, at the second." + +Some plants discharge their seeds. Thus, a certain fungus has the property +of ejecting its seeds with great force and rapidity, and with a loud +cracking noise, and yet it is no bigger than a pin's head! + +_Why is a milky fluid found in the cocoa-nut?_ + +Because in this case, as well as in a few others, all the fluids destined +to nourish the embryo of the fruit does not harden, whence a greater or +less quantity of this kind of mild emulsion is contained within the kernel. + +_Why are certain eatable roots unfit for the table when the plants have +flowered?_ + +Because the mucus or proper juice in the tubular cells being appropriated +for perfecting the flower stem, the flower, and the fruit, is absorbed as +the fructification of the stem advances; and, as these are perfected, the +cells are emptied, and their sides become ligneous. + +_Why is the Jerusalem Artichoke so called?_ + +Because of its corruption from its Italian name, _Girasole Articiocco_, +sunflower artichoke, as the plant was first brought from Peru to Italy, +and thence propagated throughout Europe.--_Smith._ + + * * * * * + + +AMERICAN MANNERS. + +We suspect certain pages of Mrs. Trollope's _Domestic Manners of the +Americans_ to be highly coloured, but they are cleverly written, and will +be read with considerable interest. + +_A Backwoodsman._ + +"We visited one farm, which interested us particularly from its wild and +lonely situation, and from the entire dependence of the inhabitants upon +their own resources. It was a partial clearing in the very heart of the +forest. The house was built on the side of a hill, so steep that a high +ladder was necessary to enter the front door, while the back one opened +against the hill-side; at the foot of this sudden eminence ran a clear +stream, whose bed had been deepened into a little reservoir, just opposite +the house. A noble field of Indian corn stretched away into the forest on +one side, and a few half-cleared acres, with a shed or two upon them, +occupied the other, giving accommodation to cows, horses, pigs, and +chickens innumerable. Immediately before the house was a small potato +garden, with a few peach and apple trees. The house was built of logs, and +consisted of two rooms, besides a little shanty or lean-to, that was used +as a kitchen. Both rooms were comfortably furnished with good beds, +drawers, &c. The farmer's wife, and a young woman who looked like her +sister, were spinning, and three little children were playing about. The +woman told me that they spun and wove all the cotton and woollen garments +of the family, and knit all the stockings; her husband, though not a +shoe-maker by trade, made all the shoes. She manufactured all the soap and +candles they used, and prepared her sugar from the sugar-trees on their +farm. All she wanted with money, she said, was to buy coffee, tea, and +whiskey, and she could 'get enough any day by sending a batch of butter +and chicken to market.' They used no wheat, nor sold any of their corn, +which, though it appeared a very large quantity, was not more than they +required to make their bread and cakes of various kinds, and to feed all +their live stock during the winter. She did not look in health, and said +they had all had ague in 'the fall' but she seemed contented, and proud of +her independence; though it was in somewhat a mournful accent that she +said, ''Tis strange to us to see company: I expect the sun may rise and +set a hundred times before I shall see another _human_ that does not +belong to the family.' + +"These people were indeed, independent--Robinson Crusoe was hardly more +so, and they eat and drink abundantly; but yet it seemed to me that there +was something awful and almost unnatural in their loneliness. No village +bell ever summoned them to prayer, where they might meet the friendly +greeting of their fellow-men. When they die, no spot sacred by ancient +reverence will receive their bones--Religion will not breathe her sweet +and solemn farewell upon their grave; the husband or the father will dig +the pit that is to hold them, beneath the nearest tree; he will himself +deposit them within it, and the wind that whispers through the boughs will +be their only requiem. But then they pay neither taxes nor tithes, are +never expected to pull off a hat or to make a curtsey, and will live and +die without hearing or uttering the dreadful words, 'God save the king.'" + +_A Presbyterian Church in Cincinnati._ + +"It was in the middle of summer, but the service we were recommended to +attend did not begin till it was dark. The church was well lighted, and +crowded almost to suffocation. On entering, we found three priests +standing side by side, in a sort of tribune, placed where the altar +usually is, handsomely fitted up with crimson curtains, and elevated about +as high as our pulpits. We took our places in a pew close to the rail +which surrounded it. + +"The priest who stood in the middle was praying; the prayer was +extravagantly vehement, and offensively familiar in expression; when this +ended a hymn was sung, and then another priest took the centre place and +preached. The sermon had considerable eloquence, but of a frightful kind. +The preacher described, with ghastly minuteness, the last feeble fainting +moments of human life, and then the gradual progress of decay after death, +which he followed through every process up to the loathsome stage of +decomposition. Suddenly changing his tone, which had been that of sober, +accurate description, into the shrill voice of horror, he bent forward his +head, as if to gaze on some object beneath the pulpit, and made known to +us what he saw in the pit that seemed to open before him. The device was +certainly a happy one for giving effect to his description of hell. No +image that fire, flame, brimstone, molten lead, or red-hot pincers could +supply, with flesh, nerves, and sinews quivering under them, was omitted. +The perspiration ran in streams from the face of the preacher; his eyes +rolled, his lips were covered with foam, and every feature had the deep +expression of horror it would have borne, had he, in truth, been gazing at +the scene he described. The acting was excellent. At length he gave a +languishing look to his supporters on each side, as if to express his +feeble state, and then sat down, and wiped the drops of agony from his +brow. + +"The other two priests arose, and began to sing a hymn. It was some +seconds before the congregation could join as usual; every upturned face +looked pale and horror-struck. When the singing ended, another took the +centre place, and began in a sort of coaxing, affectionate tone, to ask +the congregation if what their dear brother had spoken had reached their +hearts? Whether they would avoid the hell he had made them see? 'Come, +then!' he continued, stretching out his arms towards them, 'come to us, +and tell us so, and we will make you see Jesus, the dear gentle Jesus, who +shall save you from it. But you must come to him! You must not be ashamed +to come to him! This night you shall tell him that you are not ashamed of +him; we will make way for you; we will clear the bench for anxious sinners +to sit upon. Come, then! come to the anxious bench, and we will show you +Jesus! Come! Come! Come!' + +"Again a hymn was sung, and while it continued, one of the three was +employed in clearing one or two long benches that went across the rail, +sending the people back to the lower part of the church. The singing +ceased, and again the people were invited, and exhorted not to be ashamed +of Jesus, but to put themselves upon 'the anxious benches,' and lay their +heads on his bosom. 'Once more we will sing,' he concluded, 'that we may +give you time.' And again they sung a hymn. + +"And now in every part of the church a movement was perceptible, slight at +first, but by degrees becoming more decided. Young girls arose, and sat +down, and rose again; and then the pews opened, and several came tottering +out, their hands clasped, their heads hanging on their bosoms, and every +limb trembling, and still the hymn went on; but as the poor creatures +approached the rail their sobs and groans became audible. They seated +themselves on the 'anxious benches;' the hymn ceased, and two of the three +priests walked down from the tribune, and going, one to the right, and the +other to the left, began whispering to the poor tremblers seated there. +These whispers were inaudible to us, but the sobs and groans increased to +a frightful excess. Young creatures, with features pale and distorted, +fell on their knees on the pavement, and soon sunk forward on their faces; +the most violent cries and shrieks followed, while from time to time a +voice was heard in convulsive accents, exclaiming, 'Oh Lord!' 'Oh Lord +Jesus!' 'Help me, Jesus!' and the like. Meanwhile the two priests +continued to walk among them; they repeatedly mounted on the benches, and +trumpet-mouthed proclaimed to the whole congregation 'the tidings of +salvation;' and then from every corner of the building arose in reply, +short sharp cries of 'Amen!' 'Glory!' 'Amen!' while the prostrate +penitents continued to receive whispered comfortings, and from time to +time a mystic caress. More than once I saw a young neck encircled by a +reverend arm. Violent hysterics and convulsions seized many of them, and +when the tumult was at the highest, the priest who remained above, again +gave out a hymn as if to drown it. It was a frightful sight to behold +innocent young creatures, in the gay morning of existence, thus seized +upon, horror-struck, and rendered feeble and enervated for ever. One young +girl, apparently not more than fourteen, was supported in the arms of +another, some years older; her face was pale as death; her eyes wide open, +and perfectly devoid of meaning; her chin and bosom wet with slaver; she +had every appearance of idiotism. I saw a priest approach her, he took her +delicate hand, 'Jesus is with her! Bless the Lord!' he said, and passed on. +Did the men of America value their women as men ought to value their wives +and daughters, would such scenes be permitted among them? + +"It is hardly necessary to say that all who obeyed the call to place +themselves on the 'anxious benches' were women, and by far the greater +number very young women. The congregration was in general, extremely well +dressed, and the smartest and most fashionable ladies of the town were +there; during the whole revival the churches and meeting-houses were every +day crowded with well-dressed people." + +"It is thus the ladies of Cincinnati amuse themselves; to attend the +theatre is forbidden; to play cards is unlawful; but they work hard in +their families and must have some relaxation. For myself, I confess that I +think the coarsest comedy ever written would be a less detestable +exhibition for the eyes of youth and innocence than such a scene." + + * * * * * + + + +SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS. + + +THE COFFIN-MAKER. + +The paper in the _New Monthly Magazine_, under this title, occupies a +sheet or sixteen pages, and is stated to be from the pen of the Hon. Mrs. +Norton. It is written in an almost breathless, and purposely hurried, +style, and the narrative of feelings and incidents flows with such +rapidity, that the reader is carried onward, _nolens volens, vi et verbis_ +through the adventures. The writer is the son of a carpenter: his father +dies; unable to obtain any other employment, he obtains that of a +coffin-maker. His aversion to the trade, and the state of his feelings is +thus naturally described: + +"The first few weeks of my employment passed pleasantly enough; my master +was satisfied with me, and on Sunday evenings I was able occasionally to +enjoy a walk. But my spirits soon became less buoyant, and even my health +began to suffer; I entirely lost the florid look which was my poor mother's +admiration; my very step grew slower, and there were Sundays when I +declined the evening walk, which had been my only recreation, merely +because the happy laugh and continued jests of (my friend) Henry Richards +annoyed and distressed me while contrasted with my own heaviness of heart. +Evening after evening, sometimes through a whole dismal night, I worked at +my melancholy employment; and as my master was poor, and employed no other +journey-man, I worked most commonly alone. Frequently as the heavy hammer +descended, breaking at regular intervals the peaceful silence of night, I +recalled some scene of sorrow and agony that I had witnessed in the day; +and as the echo of some shriek or stifled moan struck in fancy on my ear, +I would pause to wipe the dew from my brow and curse the trade of a +coffin-maker. Every day some fresh cause appeared to arise for loathing my +occupation; whilst all were alike strangers to me in the town where my +master lived, I worked cheerfully and wrote merrily home; but now that I +began to know every one, to be acquainted with the number of members which +composed different families, to hear of their sicknesses and misfortunes; +now that link after link bound me as it were by a spell, to feel for those +round me, and to belong to them, my cheerfulness was over. The mother +turned her eyes from me with a shuddering sigh, and gazed on the dear +circle of little ones as if she sought to penetrate futurity and guess +which of the young things, now rosy in health, was to follow her long lost +and still lamented one. The doting father pressed the arm of his pale +consumptive girl nearer to his heart, as he passed me: friends who were +yet sorrowing for their bereavement, gave up the attempt at cheerfulness, +and relapsed into melancholy silence at my approach. If I attempted (as I +often did at first) to converse gaily with such of the townspeople as were +of my master's rank in life, I was checked by a bitter smile, or a sudden +sigh, which told me that while _I_ was giving way to levity, the thoughts +of my hearers had wandered back to the heavy hours when their houses were +last darkened by the shadow of death. I carried about with me an unceasing +curse; an imaginary barrier separated me from my fellow men. I felt like +an executioner, from whose bloody touch men shrink, not so much from +loathing of the _man_, who is but the instrument of death, as from horror +at the image of that death itself--death, sudden, appalling, and +inevitable. Like him, I brought the presence of death too vividly before +them; like him, I was connected with the infliction of a doom I had no +power to avert. Men withheld from me their affection, refused me their +sympathy, as if I were not like themselves. My very mortality seemed less +obvious to their imaginations when contrasted with the hundreds for whom +my hand prepared the last narrow dwelling-house, which was to shroud for +ever their altered faces from sorrowful eyes. Where _I_ came, _there_ came +heaviness of heart, mournfulness, and weeping. Laughter was hushed at my +approach; conversation ceased; darkness and silence fell around my +steps--the darkness and the silence of _death_. Gradually I became awake +to my situation. I no longer attempted to hold free converse with my +fellow men. I suffered the gloom of their hearts to overshadow mine. My +step crept slowly and stealthily into their dwellings; my voice lowered +itself to sadness and monotony; I pressed no hand in token of +companionship; no hand pressed mine, except when wrung with agony, some +wretch, whose burden was more than he could bear restrained me for a few +moments of maddened and convulsive grief, from putting the last finishing +stroke to my work, and held me back to gaze yet again on features which I +was about to cover from his sight. It is well that God, in his +unsearchable wisdom, hath made death loathsome to us. It is well that an +undefined and instinctive shrinking within us, makes what we have loved +for long years, in a few hours + + "That lifeless thing, the living fear." + +It is well that the soul hath scarcely quitted the body ere the work of +corruption is begun. For if, even thus, mortality clings to the remnants +of mortality, with 'love stronger than death;' if, as I have seen it, warm +and living lips are pressed to features where the gradually sinking eye +and hollow cheek speak horribly of departed life; what would it be if the +winged soul left its tenement of clay, to be resolved only into a marble +death; to remain cold, beautiful, and imperishable; every day to greet our +eyes; every night to be watered with our tears? The bonds which hold men +together would be broken; the future would lose its interest in our minds; +we should remain sinfully mourning the idols of departed love, whose +presence forbade oblivion of their loveliness; and a thin and scattered +population would wander through the world as through the valley of the +shadow of death! How often have I been interrupted when about to nail down +a coffin, by the agonized entreaties of some wretch to whom the +discoloured clay bore yet the trace of beauty, and the darkened lid seemed +only closed in slumber! How often have I said, 'Surely _that_ heart will +break with its woe!' and yet, in a little while, the bowed spirit rose +again, the eye sparkled, and the lip smiled, _because the dead were +covered from their sight_; and that which is present to man's senses is +destined to affect him far more powerfully than the dreams of his +imagination or memory. How often, too, have I seen the reverse of the +picture I have just drawn; when the pale unconscious corse has lain +abandoned in its loveliness, and grudging hands have scantily dealt out a +portion of their superfluity, to obtain the last rites for one who so +lately moved, spoke, smiled, and walked amongst them! And I have felt, +even then, that there were those to whom that neglected being had been far +more precious than heaps of gold, and I have mourned for them who perished +among strangers. One horrible scene has chased another from my mind +through a succession of years; and some of those which, perhaps, deeply +affected me at the time, are, by the mercy of Heaven, forgotten. But +enough remains to enable me to give a faint outline of the causes which +have changed me from what I was, to the gloomy joyless being I am at +length become. There is one scene indelibly impressed upon my memory." + +A scene of domestic tragedy follows, which is wrought up with great effect: + +"I was summoned late at night to the house of a respectable merchant, who +had been reduced, in a great measure, by the wilful extravagance of his +only son, from comparative wealth to ruin and distress. I was met by the +widow, on whose worn and weary face the calm of despair had settled. She +spoke to me for a few moments, and begged me to use dispatch and caution +in the exercise of my calling:--'for indeed,' said she, 'I have watched my +living son with a sorrow that has almost made me forget grief for the +departed. For five days and five nights I have watched, and his bloodshot +eye has not closed, no, not for a moment, from its horrible task of gazing +on the dead face of the father that cursed him. He sleeps now, if sleep it +can be called, that is rather the torpor of exhaustion; but his rest is +taken on that father's death-bed. Oh! young man, feel for me! Do your task +in such a manner, that my wretched boy may not awake till it is over, and +the blessing of the widow be on you for ever!' To this strange prayer I +could only offer a solemn assurance that I would do my utmost to obey her; +and with slow creeping steps we ascended the narrow stairs which led to +the chamber of death. It was a dark, wretched-looking, ill-furnished room, +and a drizzling November rain pattered unceasingly at the latticed window, +which was shaken from time to time by the fitful gusts of a moaning wind. +A damp chillness pervaded the atmosphere, and rotted the falling paper +from the walls; and, as I looked towards the hearth, (for there was no +grate,) I felt painfully convinced that the old man had died without the +common comforts his situation imperiously demanded. The white-washed sides +of the narrow fire-place were encrusted with a green damp, and the +chimney-vent was stuffed with straw and fragments of old carpet, to +prevent the cold wind from whistling through the aperture. The common +expression, 'He has seen better days,' never so forcibly occurred to me as +at that moment. He _had_ seen better days: he had toiled cheerfully +through the day, and sat down to a comfortable evening meal. The wine-cup +had gone round; and the voice of laughter had been heard at his table for +many a year, and yet here he had crept to die like a beggar! I looked at +the flock bed, and felt my heart grow sick within me. The corpse of a man, +apparently about sixty, lay stretched upon it, and on his hollow and +emaciated features the hand of death had printed the ravages of many days. +The veins had ceased to give even the appearance of life to the +discoloured skin; the eyelids were deep sunken, and the whole countenance +was (and none but those accustomed to gaze on the face of the dead can +understand me) utterly expressionless. But if a sight like this was +sickening and horrible, what shall I say of the miserable being to whom a +temporary oblivion was giving strength for renewed agony? He had +apparently been sitting at the foot of the corpse, and, as the torpor of +heavy slumber stole over him, had sunk forward, his hand still retaining +the hand of the dead man. His face was hid; but his figure, and the thick +curls of dark hair, bespoke early youth. I judged him at most, to be +two-and-twenty. I began my task of measuring the body, and few can tell +the shudder which thrilled my frame as the carpenter's rule passed those +locked hands--the vain effort of the living still to claim kindred with +the dead! It was over, and I stole from the room, cautiously and silently +as I entered. Once, and only once, I turned to gaze at the melancholy +group. There lay the corpse, stiff and unconscious; there sat the son, in +an unconsciousness yet more terrible, since it could not last. There, pale +and tearless, stood the wife of him, who, in his dying hour, cursed her +child and his. How little she dreamed of such a scene when her meek lips +first replied to his vows of affection! How little she dreamed of such a +scene when she first led that father to the cradle of his sleeping boy! +when they bent together with smiles of affection, to watch his quiet +slumber, and catch the gentle breathing of his parted lips! I had scarcely +reached the landing-place before the wretched woman's hand was laid +lightly on my arm to arrest my progress. Her noiseless step had followed +me without my being aware of it. 'How soon will your work be done?' said +she, in a suffocated voice. 'To-morrow I could be here again,' answered I. +'To-morrow! and what am I to do, if my boy wakes before that time?' and +her voice became louder and hoarse with fear. 'He will go mad, I am sure +he will; his brain will not hold against these horrors. Oh! that God would +hear me!--that God would hear me! and let that slumber sit on his senses +till the sight of the father that cursed him is no longer present to us! +Heaven be merciful to me!' and with the last words she clasped her hands +convulsively, and gazed upwards. I had known opiates administered to +sufferers whose grief for their bereavement almost amounted to madness. I +mentioned this hesitatingly to the widow, and she eagerly caught at it. +'Yes! that would do,' exclaimed she; 'that would do, if I could but get +him past that horrible moment! But stay; I dare not leave him alone as he +is, even for a little while:--what will become of me!' I offered to +procure the medicine for her, and soon returned with it. I gave it into +her hands, and her vehement expressions of thankfulness wrung my heart. I +had attempted to move the pity of the apothecary at whose shop I obtained +the drug, by an account of the scene I had witnessed, in order to induce +him to pay a visit to the house of mourning; but in vain. To him, who had +_not_ witnessed it, it was nothing but a tale of every-day distress. All +that long night I worked at the merchant's coffin, and the dim grey light +of the wintry morning found me still toiling on. Often, during the hours +passed thus heavily, that picture of wretchedness rose before me. Again I +saw the leaning and exhausted form of the young man, buried in slumber, on +his father's death-bed: again my carpenter's rule almost touched the +clasped hands of the dead and the living, and a cold shudder mingled with +the chill of the dawning day, and froze my blood." + +"As I passed up one of the streets which led to the merchant's lodgings, +my head bending under the weight of the coffin I was carrying, at every +step I took, the air seemed to grow more thick around me, and at length, +overcome by weariness, both of body and mind, I stopped, loosed the straps +which steadied my melancholy burden, and placing it in an upright position +against the wall, wiped the dew from my forehead, and (shall I confess it?) +the tears from my eyes. I was endeavouring to combat the depression of my +feelings by the reflection that I was the support and comfort of my poor +old mother's life, when my attention was roused by the evident compassion +of a young lady, who, after passing me with a hesitating step, withdrew +her arm from that of her more elderly companion, and pausing for an +instant, put a shilling into my hand, saying, 'You look very weary, my +poor man; pray get something to drink with that.' A more lovely +countenance (if by lovely be meant that which engages love) was never +moulded by nature; the sweetness and compassion of her pale face and soft +innocent eyes; the kindness of her gentle voice, made an impression on my +memory too strong to be effaced. _I saw her once again!_ I reached the +merchant's lodgings and my knock was answered as on the former occasion, +by the widow herself. She sighed heavily as she saw me, and after one or +two attempts to speak, informed me that her son was awake, but that it was +impossible for her to administer the opiate, as he refused to let the +smallest nourishment pass his lips; but that he was quite quiet, indeed +had never spoken since he woke, except to ask her how she felt; and she +thought I might proceed without fear of his interruption. I entered +accordingly, followed by a lad, son to the landlady who kept the lodgings, +and with his assistance I proceeded to lift the corpse, and lay it in the +coffin. The widow's son remained motionless, and, as it were, stupified +during this operation: but the moment he saw me prepare the lid of the +coffin so as to be screwed down, he started up with the energy and +gestures of a madman. His glazed eyes seemed bursting from their sockets, +and his upper lip, leaving his teeth bare, gave his mouth the appearance +of a horrible and convulsive smile. He seized my arm with his whole +strength; and, as I felt his grasp, and saw him struggling for words, I +expected to hear curses and execrations, or the wild howl of an infuriated +madman. I was mistaken. The wail of a sickly child, who dreads its +mother's departure, was the only sound to which I could compare that +wretched man's voice. He held me with a force almost supernatural; but +his tongue uttered supplications in a feeble monotonous tone, and with the +most humble and beseeching manner. 'Leave him,' exclaimed he, 'leave him a +little while longer. He will forgive me; I know he will. He spoke that +horrible word to rouse my conscience. But I heard him and came back to him. +I would have toiled and bled for him; he knows that well. Hush! hush! I +cannot hear his voice for my mother's sobs; but I know he will forgive me. +Oh! father, do not refuse! I am humble--I am penitent. Father, I have +sinned against Heaven and before thee--father, I have sinned! Oh! mother, +he is cursing me again. He is lifting his hand to curse me--his right hand. +Look, mother, look! Save me, O God! my father curses me on his dying bed! +Save me, oh!----' The unfinished word resolved itself into a low hollow +groan, and he fell back insensible. I would have assisted him, but his +mother waved me back. 'Better so, better so,' she repeated hurriedly; 'it +is the mercy of God which has caused this--do you do your duty, and I will +do mine,' and she continued to kneel and support the head of her son, +while we fastened and secured down the coffin. At length all was finished, +and then and not till then we carried the wretched youth from the chamber +of death, to one as dark, as gloomy, and as scantily furnished, but having +a wood fire burning in the grate, and a bed with ragged curtains at one +end of it. And here, in comparative comfort, the landlady allowed him to +be placed, even though she saw little chance of her lodgers being able to +pay for the change. Into the glass of water held to his parched lips, as +he recovered his senses, I poured a sufficient quantity of the opiate to +produce slumber, and had the satisfaction of hearing his mother fervently +thank God, as still half unconscious, he swallowed the draught. I thought +he would not have survived the shock he had received; but I was mistaken. +The merchant was buried and forgotten; the son lived, and we met again in +a far, far different scene." + + * * * * * + + + +THE GATHERER. + + +NOBLES OF JOHANNA. + +We had long been aware that the potentates of the _Guinea coast_ not only +assume English titles, but wear under, or in place of, diadems, the +cast-off wigs of our Lord Chancellors--but we were not prepared for what +follows in the latitude of the Mozambique Channel, as related by Captain +Basil Hall. + +"We proceeded to our guide's house, where he introduced us, not indeed to +his wives, for all these ladies were stowed away behind a screen of mats, +but to some of the males of his family, and, amongst others, to a queer +copper-coloured gentleman, who styled himself, in his communications with +us, 'the Duke of Devonshire,' and begged very hard to be allowed the +honour of having our linen to wash. His Grace was a little dumpy fellow, +who stooped considerably, wore neither shoes nor stockings, and exhibited +so little of a nose, that when you caught his countenance in profile, the +facial line, as the physiognomists call it, suffered no interruption when +drawn from the brow to the lips. The poor Duke little knew the cause of +the laughter which his occupation, title, and the contrast of looks, +excited in those of our party who had seen his grace's noble namesake in +the opposite hemisphere." + +"Most of the natives of Johanna, even the negro slaves, talk a little +English; but the best examples of such acquirements were found, where they +ought to be, amongst the grandees of the island. The following is a fair +specimen of the conversation of the dukes and earls at the capital of the +Comoros.--'How do you do, sir? Very glad see you. D--n your eyes! Johanna +man like English very much. God d--n! That very good? Eh? Devilish hot, +sir! What news? Hope your ship stay too long while, very. D--n my eye! +Very fine day.' After which, in a sort of whisper, accompanied by a most +insinuating smile, his lordship, or his grace, as the rank of the party +might be, would add:--'You want orange? You want goat? Cheap! I got good, +very. You send me you clothes; I wash with my own hand--clean! fine! very! +I got every thing, plenty, great, much! God d--n!' And then, as if to +clench the favourable opinion which these eloquent appeals had made, the +speaker was sure to produce a handful of certificates from mates of +Indiamen, masters of Yankee brigs, and middies of men-of-war; some written +in solemn earnest, some quizzically, but all declaring his lordship, the +bearer, to be a pretty good washerman, but the sort of person not to be +trusted far out of sight, as he would certainly walk off with your +clothes-bag if he could safely do so."--_Autobiography, Second Series_. + + * * * * * + +_Bed of Leaves_.--In some countries the leaves of the beech tree are +collected in autumn, before they have been injured by the frost, and are +used instead of feathers for beds; and mattresses formed of them are said +to be preferable to those either of straw or chaff. + + * * * * * + +_Pure Style_.--Cardinal Bembo was so rigorous with regard to purity of +style, that he is said to have had forty different partitions, through +which his writings, as he polished them by degrees, successively passed; +nor did he publish them till they had sustained these forty examinations. +How would the cardinal have acted with the editorship of a daily newspaper. + + * * * * * + +_To lie at the Pool of Bethesda_ is used proverbially in Germany, in +speaking of the theological candidates who are waiting for a benefice. + + * * * * * + +_Court Pun_.--The witty Marquess de Bievre was asked by Louis XV. for a +pun. "Give me a subject, sire,'" said B. "Make it on myself," said Louis. +"Sire, the king is not a subject," was the pleasant reply. + + * * * * * + +_History_.--The first page of Thucydides is, in my opinion, the +commencement of real history. All preceding narrations are so intermixed +with fable, that philosophers ought to abandon them in a great measure, to +the embellishment of the poet and orator.--_Hume_. + + * * * * * + +_Old Squibs_.--Richard Bentley and Charles Boyle (Earl of Orrery,) had a +warm dispute relative to the genuineness of the Greek Epistles of Phalaris, +an edition of which was published by the latter. Bentley was victorious, +though he was kept in hot water with the critics and wits of the age. Dr. +Garth assailed him thus: + + So diamonds owe a lustre to their foil, + And to a _Bentley_ 'tis we owe a _Boyle_. + +Conyers Middleton was a sad thorn in Bentley's side, from the latter +having called the former, when a young student in the university, +_fiddling_ Conyers, because he played on the violin. A punning caricature +represented B. about to be thrust into the brazen bull of Phalaris, and +exclaiming, "I had rather be _roasted_ than _Boyled_." + + * * * * * + +_Hip, Hip, Hurra!_--During the stirring times of the Crusades, the +chivalry of Europe was excited to arms by the inflammatory appeals of the +well-known Peter the Hermit. While preaching the Crusade, this furious +zealot was accustomed to exhibit a banner emblazoned with the following +letters, H.E.P., the initials of the Latin words, _"Hierosolyma Est +Perdita_," Jerusalem is destroyed. The people in some of the countries +which he visited, not being acquainted with the Latin, read and pronounced +the inscription as if one word--HEP. The followers of the Hermit were +accustomed, whenever an unfortunate Jew appeared in the streets, to raise +the cry, "Hep, hep, hurra," to hunt him down, and flash upon the +defenceless Israelite their maiden swords, before they essayed their +temper with the scimetar of the Saracen.--_Tatler_. + + * * * * * + +_Wool-gathering_.--A very patriotic landlord, Squire Henry, of Straffan, +county of Kildare, had hit on an expedient to benefit the wool-growers in +general, and his numerous tenantry in particular. Knowing that market +value is in the direct ratio of demand and scarcity, he annually buried +the wool shorn from _his own_ sheep, lest it might interfere with the +profitable sale of his tenants' fleeces. But, alas! this generous system +of self-sacrifice did not "work well." The result was--though Squire Henry +never suspected the existence of such turpitude in the human heart--the +ungrateful tenantry dug up by night what he buried by day, wool never rose +in price, and they never were able to pay up their arrears of +rent.--_Fraser's Magazine_. + + * * * * * + +One day, a physician alighted from his carriage, and entering the shop of +a medical bookseller, inquired of its sleek-faced master, "whether he had +a copy of Heberden's _Commentaries_?" "No, sir," replied the man of +letters, "but we have Caesar's _Commentaries_, and they are by far the +best."--_Metropolitan_. + + * * * * * + +_Mortality in the reign of William IV_.--Since the accession of King +William not less, we are told, than _twenty-four_ generals and +_twenty-six_ admirals, have found their way into Westminster Abbey, or +elsewhere. Considering that his majesty continues to receive the most +friendly assurances from all foreign powers, this attack upon the army and +navy list is rather prodigious. Napoleon himself could scarcely have made +greater gaps in the United Service Club in the time. To be sure they were +not all Nelsons and Marlboroughs, or we should have marked them as they +dropped off; whereas one can hardly name, five of the fifty great warriors. +--_Ibid_. + + * * * * * + +_Origin of Black Monday_.--Black Monday--Easter Monday, in the year 1359, +when hail stones killed both men and horses in the army of our King Edward +the Third, in France. He was on his march, within two leagues of Chartres, +when there happened a storm of piercing wind, that swelled to a tempest of +rain, lightning, and hail stones, so prodigious, as instantly to kill +6,000 of his horses, and 1,000 of his best troops. P.T.W. + + * * * * * + +*** MR. HAYDON'S Exhibition in our next. + + * * * * * + + +_Printed and Published by J. LIMBIRD, 143, Strand, (near Somerset House,) +London; sold by ERNEST FLEISCHER, 626, New Market, Leipsic; G.G. BENNIS, +55, Rue Neuve, St. Augustin, Paris; and by all Newsmen and Booksellers_. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, +and Instruction, by Various + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MIRROR OF LITERATURE, NO. 540 *** + +***** This file should be named 12550.txt or 12550.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/2/5/5/12550/ + +Produced by Jonathan Ingram, Allen Siddle and PG Distributed Proofreaders + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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