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diff --git a/12552-0.txt b/12552-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..16742f8 --- /dev/null +++ b/12552-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1445 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 12552 *** + +THE MIRROR OF LITERATURE, AMUSEMENT, AND INSTRUCTION. + +VOL. XIX. No. 542.] SATURDAY, APRIL 14, 1832. [PRICE 2d. + + + + * * * * * + + + +[Illustration: ENTRANCE LODGE.] + +THE BEULAH SALINE SPA, NORWOOD. + + +Our attention has been invited to the Beulah Spa by a _brochure_ lately +published, from the very competent pen of Dr. George Hume Weatherhead; the +details of which will be read with interest by all who are in quest of +"healing founts." "The Spa," observes Dr. Weatherhead, "has long been +resorted to by the country people of the neighbourhood, who, from +experiencing its beneficial effects in a variety of diseases, have +sustained its sanative character, and kept it from sinking into total +neglect." We trust, however, that its virtues may soon enjoy more +extensive celebrity, especially as the attractions of the scenery amidst +which the spring is situate are of no common-place character, and the +distance from the metropolis both easy and inviting. The Spa has already +acquired some popularity; for, we learned on our visit a few days since, +that, although it was only opened to the public towards the close of the +month of August, in the past year, it was visited during the autumn by +several hundred persons weekly. + +Dr. Weatherhead has described the local scenery with accuracy. Beulah, the +estate upon which the spring is situate, is within the village of Norwood, +seven miles south of London, upon one of those elevations known as the +Norwood hills. "From trigonometrical observation," observes Dr. +Weatherhead, "it has been computed that the height of these hills is about +390 feet above the level of the sea at low water.[1] Thus placed above the +fogs of the plain, and removed from the smoky and contaminated atmosphere +of the metropolis, the air has long been celebrated for its pure and +invigorating qualities." Norwood was in the memory of several of the +inhabitants still living, an entire forest of oaks, and the well-known +resort of tribes of gipsies.[2] The country from Camberwell thence is, +therefore, in great part a newly-peopled district. Its outline is very +uneven, perhaps more so than any other portion of the environs of the +metropolis. The road runs over or through many little crests or hills, and +sinks into sheltered valleys, where you see newly-built habitations +nestling together, and almost reminding one of the aboriginal contrivances +for warmth and comfort in less civilized countries. The road-side is set +with "suburban villas" which would make the spleen of Cowper blaze into +madness; though few of them exhibit any pretensions to elegance or +snugness. Neither would two newly-built churches in the prospect allay the +anti-urban poet; their starved proportions contrasting but coldly with the +primitive simplicity of a village church. The _country_ itself is +nevertheless picturesque; the prospect is of enchanting beauty, and as +you approach Beulah, you obtain occasional glimpses of the subjacent +valley which you enjoy more at leisure and at a _coup d'oeil_ in the Spa +grounds. + +The Spring lies embowered in a wood of oaks, open to the south-west whose +dense foliage shelters and protects it. It is now the sole vestige of the +gipsy haunts, and comprises a space of more than twenty-five acres; the +gentle inclination of the ground keeping the foot-paths always dry. + +We entered the grounds at an elegant rustic lodge (_see the Cut_,) where +commences a new carriage-road[3] to Croydon; which winds round the flank +of the hill, and is protected by hanging woods. The lodge is in the best +taste of ornate rusticity, with the characteristic varieties of gable, +dripstone, portico, bay-window, and embellished chimney: of the latter +there are some specimens in the best style of our olden architects. This +building, as well as the other rural edifices in the grounds, and the +whole disposal of the latter, have been planned by Mr. Decimus Burton, the +originator of the architectural embellishments of the Zoological Gardens +in the Regent's Park. + +Passing the lodge, we descended by a winding path through the wood to a +small lawn or glade, at the highest point of which is a circular rustic +building, used as a confectionery and reading-room; near which is the Spa, +within a thatched apartment. The spring rises about 14 feet, within a +circular rockwork enclosure; the water is drawn by a contrivance, at once +ingenious and novel; a glass urn-shaped pail, terminating with a cock of +the same material, and having a stout rim and cross-handle of silver, is +attached to a thick worsted rope, and let down into the spring by a pulley, +when the vessel being taken up full, the water is drawn off by the cock. +We quote Dr. Weatherhead's analytical description of the water: + +"The water drawn fresh from the well is beautifully transparent and +sparkling. Innumerable bubbles of fixed air are seen rising to the surface, +when allowed to stand. Its taste is distinctly bitter, without being at +all disagreeable, leaving on the palate the peculiar flavour of its +predominant saline ingredient, the sulphate of magnesia. The temperature +of the water, at the bottom of the well, is 52 deg. of Fahrenheit; its +specific gravity 1011; and, by an analysis of its composition by those +distinguished scientific chemists, Messrs. Faraday and Hume, the following +are the solid contents of a quart of the water:-- + + BEULAH SALINE. + Sulphate of magnesia ............ 123 + Sulphate of soda and magnesia .... 32 + Muriate of soda .................. 19 + Muriate of magnesia .............. 18-1/2 + Carbonate of lime ................ 15 + Carbonate of soda ................. 3 + --- + Grains 210-1/2 + + CHELTENHAM PURE SALINE. + Sulphate of magnesia ............. 22 + Sulphate of soda ................. 30 + Muriate of soda ..................100 + Sulphate of lime .................. 9 + --- + Grains 161 + +"As a mean of comparison, the saline contents of a quart of the Cheltenham +pure saline, as analyzed by Mr. Brande, the predecessor of Mr. Faraday in +the professorship at the Royal Institution, is placed opposite to the +Beulah Spring, to enable the reader to judge how much superior, as an +aperient water, the latter is to that of Cheltenham. And, first, it may be +observed, that the gross amount of the several salts, in the same quantity +of the waters, is much greater in the Beulah than in the Cheltenham spring, +the difference being forty-nine grains and a half of solid saline matter +in a quart--that is, the impregnation is nearly one-third stronger; and, +secondly, the nature of the saline ingredients also merits observation. +One hundred grains out of one hundred and sixty-one, consist, as we see, +in the Cheltenham, of muriate of soda, or common table-salt. Now, this +substance, when perfectly freed from other salts adhering to it, possesses +comparatively very feeble aperient properties; whereas the mass of the +ingredients in the Beulah Spa is composed of two powerful saline +substances, the sulphate of magnesia, and that peculiar double salt, the +sulphate of soda and magnesia, constituting three-fourths of the whole +saline impregnation." [4] + +The lawn is tastefully varied with parterres of plants; owing to the +lateness of the season, we saw but few near flowering, save + + Daffodils, + That come before the swallow dares, and take + The winds of March with beauty, violets dim, + But sweeter than the lids of Juno's eyes, + Or Cytherea's breath. + +A few yards from the lawn a rustic orchestra is in course of erection: +whence "the dulcet and harmonious sounds" of music may attune with the +joyful inspiration of the natural beauties of the scene. Our guide, (of a +more intelligent and communicative character than guides usually are,) +directed us by a descending path through the wood, across a rude bridge, +past a maze, by a flight of roughly-formed steps, to a terrace, whence we +enjoyed a picturesque prospect of great range and indescribable beauty. +The woods were as yet leafless, but primroses enlivened the pathside: how +touchingly is their solitude told by our poets. Shakspeare calls them + + Pale primroses + That die unmarried ere they can behold + Bright Phoebus in his strength. + +Milton describes them as dying forsaken: + + Bring the rathe primrose that forsaken dies: + +and Mayne calls this flower + + Lorn tenant of the peaceful glade, + Emblem of virtue in the shade. + +Dr. Weatherhead describes the prospect from this terrace with more +minuteness than the hazy state of the atmosphere enabled us to trace its +several beauties. The ancient archiepiscopal town of Croydon lies at your +feet; more remote, Banstead Downs spread a carpet of blooming verdure to +the sight; in the extreme distance Windsor Castle peers its majestic +towers above the mist; while elsewhere the utmost verge of the horizon is +bounded by the bold range of the Surrey and Hampshire hills. Turning to +the left you enjoy a view of Addiscombe Place, the seminary for cadets of +the East India Company; of Shirley, the sporting seat of John Maberly, Esq. +M.P.; of the Addington hills clothed with heaths; and of the park, the +seat of his Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury; when the prospect, +deepening in extent, stretches as far as Knockholt Beeches, near Seven +Oaks, and, winding round, comprehends the tall spire of Beckenham Church, +piercing through the dense woods which surround it; Shooter's Hill, +Blackheath, and the villages that intervene. + +Immediately beneath you are the grounds of the Spa, every portion of which +can be distinctly traced from this spot: the lodge, lawn, refreshment-room, +spring, and orchestra, as we have described them, and the paths winding +among the woods till they disappear as it were in trackless solitude. + +Dr. Weatherhead's pamphlet treats copiously, but in a popular style, of +the medicinal properties of the Spa. The terms for drinking the waters are +furnished at the lodge, where the visiter may smile at the remedy being +_set to music_, in the melodies of the Beulah Spring Quadrilles. It may +prevent some disappointment by stating that the Grounds are not opened to +the public on Sundays. + + + [1] By accurate observation the height of the fog, relatively with + the higher edifices, whose elevation is known, it has been + ascertained that the fogs of London never rise more than from + two hundred to two hundred and forty feet above the same level. + + [2] Who does not remember the traditionary notoriety of Margaret + Finch? + + [3] The private property of the estate, and attached to the Spa. + + + [4] We drank a half-pint tumbler of the water, which, as Dr. + Weatherhead observes, is bitter without being disagreeable. + Its flavour is that of Sulphate of Magnesia, or _Epsom Salts;_ + and we should say that our _modicum_ might be imitated by + dissolving a dram of the above ingredient in half-a-pint of + pure water. + + * * * * * + + + + +RETROSPECTIVE GLEANINGS. + +ANCIENT LAWS. + + +The following quaint observations possess peculiar interest at the present +moment: + +"Among the ancient Druids," says Mr. Owen Feltham, "it was absolutely +forbidden to register their laws in writing. And Caesar, in his Gallique +Wars, gives us two reasons for it. One, that their mysteries might not +come to be profaned and encommoned by the vulgar: another, that not being +written, they might be more careful ever to carry them in their thoughts +and memory. Though doubtless it was as well to preserve their own +authority, to keep the people to a recourse to them, and to a reverence +and esteem of their judgments. Besides, it oft falls out that what is +written, though it were a good law when made, yet by the emergency of +affairs, and the condition of men and times, it happens to be bad and +alterable. And we find it to be evidently true, that, as where there are +many physicians, there are many diseases; so where there are many laws, +there are likewise many enormities. That nation that swarms with law and +lawyers, certainly abounds with vice and corruption. Where you find much +fowl resort, you may be sure there is no want of either water, mud, or +weeds. + +"In the beginning of thriving states, when they are more industrious and +innocent, they have then the fewest laws. Rome itself had at first but +twelve tables. But after, how infinitely did their number of laws increase! +Old states, like old bodies will be sure to contract diseases. And where +the law-makers are many, the laws will never be few. That nation is in +best estate that hath the fewest laws, and those good. Variety does but +multiply snares. If every bush be limed, there is no bird can escape with +all his feathers free. And many times when the law did not intend it, men +are made guilty by the pleader's oratory; either to express his eloquence, +to advance his practice, or out of mastery to carry his cause: like a +garment pounced with dust, the business is so smeared and tangled that +without a Galilaeus his glass, you can never come to discern the spots of +this changeable moon. Sometimes to gratify a powerful party, justice is +made blind through corruption, as well as out of impartiality. That indeed, +by reason of the non-integrity of men. To go to law, is, for two to +contrive the kindling of a fire at their own cost, to warm others, and +singe themselves to cinders. Because they cannot agree to what is truth +and equity, they will both agree to plume themselves, that others may be +stuck with their feathers." + +W.G.C. + + * * * * * + +OLD WEATHER RHYMES. + +Rhymes which refer to the weather were probably written by the monks. + + If St. Paul be fine and clear, + We shall have a happy year. + If St. Paul be thick with rain, + Then dear will be the price of grain. + + After St. Bartholomew + Come long evenings and cold dew. + + February fill dyke, + Be it black or be it white, + But if it is white, + It is better to like. + + March winds and April showers, + Bring forth May flowers. + + He who views his wheat on a weeping May, + Will himself so weeping away; + But he who views it on a weeping June, + Will go away in another tune. + + When the sand doth feed the clay, + England woe and well-a-day: + But when the clay doth feed the sand, + Then it is well with Angle Land. + + A swarm of bees in May + Is worth a load of hay, + A swarm of bees in June + Is worth a silver spoon. + A swarm of bees in July + Is not worth a fly. + + Under a broomstalk silver and gold, + Under a gorsestalk hunger and cold. + When hempe's spun, + England's done. + +The latter referred to the reigns of Henry VIII., Edward IV., Mary and +Philip, and Queen Elizabeth, but proved false prophecy. + +W. + + * * * * * + + +CROWLAND ABBEY. + +In the days of Monks and Friars, the following lines in bad Latin, were +composed on Crowland, Lincolnshire, or the adjoining Abbey: + + In Hollandia stat Crowland; + Ibi vinium talequale, + Ibi foenum gladiale + Ibi lecti lapidale, + Ibi viri boreali, + Ibi vale sine vale. + +They are thus translated in the _Beauties of England and Wales_ (1767):-- + + "In Holland stands Crowland + Built on dirty low land. + Where you'll find, if you go, + The wine's but so so; + The blades of the hay + Are like swords one may say, + The beds are like stones, + And break a man's bones; + The men rough and sturdy, + Compliments will afford me + But bid you good b'w'y, + When both hungry and dry." + +W.H. + + * * * * * + + +THE HOBBY HORSE. + +Bromley Pagets was remarkable for a very singular sport on New Year's Day +and Twelfth Day, called the Hobby Horse Dance: a person rode upon the +image of a horse, with a bow and arrow in his hands, with which he made a +snapping noise, keeping time with the music, whilst six others danced the +hay and other country dances, with as many rein-deer's heads on their +shoulders. To this hobby-horse belonged a pot, which the Reeves of the +town kept and filled with cakes and ale, towards which the spectators +contributed a penny, and with the remainder maintained their poor and +repaired the church.--W.H. + + * * * * * + + +HOLY LAND. + +Ramsey Island, near St. David's Head, is said to have been inhabited by so +many saints, that no less than twenty thousand are stated in ancient +histories to lie interred there. Near this place are the rocks styled the +Bishop and his Clerks, which, says an ancient author "preache deadly +doctrine to their winter audience, such poor sea-faring men as are forcyd +thether by tempest, onelie in one thing they are to be commended, they +keepe residence better than the rest of the canons of that see (St. +David's) are wont to do." + +W.H. + + * * * * * + + +ANCIENT AGRICULTURAL SOCIETIES. + +After the Britons retired into Wales, it was enacted that no man should +guide a plough that could not make one; and that the driver should make +the ropes of twisted willows, with which it was drawn. It was usual for +six or eight persons to form themselves into a society for fitting out one +of these ploughs, providing it with oxen, and every thing necessary for +ploughing; and many curious laws were made for the regulation of such +societies. If any person laid dung on the field with the consent of the +proprietor, he was by law allowed the use of that land for one year. If +the dung was carried out in a cart in great abundance, he was to have the +use of the land for three years. Whoever cut down a wood, and converted +the ground into arable, with the consent of the owner, was to have the use +of it for five years. If any one folded his cattle for one year, upon a +piece of ground belonging to another, with the owner's consent, he was +allowed the use of the ground for four years. Thus, though the Britons had +in a great measure lost the knowledge of agriculture, they appear to have +been very assiduous in giving encouragement to such as would attempt the +revival of it. + +T. GILL. + + * * * * * + + + + +THE SELECTOR; AND LITERARY NOTICES OF NEW WORKS. + + +LANDERS' DISCOVERY OF THE TERMINATION OF THE NIGER. + +We continue our extracts from this very entertaining work, the following +being from the second volume. + +At Boossà, the travellers receive a visit from "the noted widow Zuma." She +must be an Amazonian lady, for, having quarrelled with her prince, the +ruler of Wowow, she was obliged to fly, and actually to climb over the +city wall in the night, and travel on foot to Boossà. Female politicians +in Africa are not so safe as in the _coteries_ of civilized Europe: they +have to fight their own battles, and we conclude, to raise their own +supplies: "the widow complained sadly of poverty and the hardness of the +times; she had fought with the Yarribeans against Alòrie; but instead of +receiving a recompense for her bravery, she had lost half her slaves in an +engagement, which so disgusted her with the military profession, that she +immediately abandoned it and returned home. Yet, in spite of all her +losses and misfortunes, she has gained so much in corpulency, that it was +with the utmost difficulty, she could squeeze herself into the doorway of +our hut, although it is by no means small. The widow Zuma is a very +good-looking, elderly person of matronly appearance. Her skin is of a +light copper colour." Should this meet the eye of any soldier of fortune, +&c. + +At Boossà, they hear some tidings of + + _Mungo Park_. + +"Our visiters remained with us a considerable time, and in the course of +conversation, one of them observed that they had in their possession a +tobe, which belonged to a white man who came from the north many years ago, +and from whom it had been purchased by the king's father. We expressed +great curiosity to see this tobe, and it was sent us as a present a short +time after their departure. Contrary to our expectations, we found it to +be made of rich crimson damask, and very heavy from the immense quantity +of gold embroidery with which it was covered. As the time when the late +king was said to have purchased this tobe corresponds very nearly to the +supposed period of Mr. Park's death, and as we never heard of any other +white man having come from the north so far south as Boossà, we are +inclined to believe it to be part of the spoil obtained from the canoe of +that ill-fated traveller. Whether Mr. Park wore the tobe himself, which is +scarcely probable on account of its weight, or whether he intended it as a +present to a native chief, we are at a loss to determine. At all events, +the article is a curiosity in itself; and if we should live to return to +England, we shall easily learn whether it was made there or not. The chief +himself has never worn the tobe, nor did his predecessor, from a +superstitious feeling; 'besides,' observed the king, 'it might excite the +cupidity of the neighbouring powers.' + +"_Sunday, June 20th_.--The king sent a messenger this morning, to inform +us that he was a tailor, and that he would thank us for some thread and a +few needles for his own private use. By this man he likewise sent a musket +for us to repair; but as it is Sunday, we have declined doing it till +to-morrow. Eager as we are to obtain even the slightest information +relative to the unhappy fate of Mr. Park and his companions, as well as to +ascertain if any of their books or papers are now in existence at this +place, we had almost made up our minds to refrain from asking any +questions on the subject, because we were apprehensive that it might be +displeasing to the king, and involve us in many perplexities. Familiarity, +however, having in some measure worn off this impression, and the king +being an affable, obliging, and good-natured person, we were emboldened to +send Paskoe to him this morning, with a message expressive of the interest +we felt on the subject, in common with all our countrymen; and saying that, +if any books or papers which belonged to Mr. Park were yet in his +possession, he would do us a great service, by delivering them into our +hands, or at least by granting us permission to see them. To this the king +returned for answer, that when Mr. Park was lost in the Niger, he was a +very little boy, and that he knew not what had become of his effects; that +the deplorable event had occurred in the reign of the late king's +predecessor, who died shortly after; and that all traces of the white man +had been lost with him. This answer disappointed our hopes, for to us it +appeared final and decisive. But in the evening they were again raised by +a hint from our host, who is the king's drummer, and one of the principal +men in the country: he assured us, that there was certainly one book at +least saved from Mr. Park's canoe, which is now in the possession of a +very poor man in the service of his master, to whom it had been entrusted +by the late king during his last illness. He said moreover, that if but +one application were made to the king, on any subject whatever, very +little was thought of it; but if a second were made, the matter would be +considered of sufficient importance to demand his whole attention,--such +being the custom of the country. The drummer therefore recommended us to +persevere in our inquiries, for he had no doubt that something to our +satisfaction would be elicited. At his own request, we sent him to the +king immediately, desiring him to repeat our former statement, and to +assure the king, that should he be successful in recovering the book we +wanted, our monarch would reward him handsomely. He desired the drummer to +inform us, that he would use every exertion, and examine the man who was +reported to have the white man's book in his possession, at an early hour +to-morrow. Here the matter at present rests. + + * * * * * + +"In the afternoon, the king came to see us, followed by a man with a book +under his arm, which was said to have been picked up in the Niger after +the loss of our countryman. It was enveloped in a large cotton cloth, and +our hearts beat high with expectation as the man was slowly unfolding it, +for by its size we guessed it to be Mr. Park's journal; but our +disappointment and chagrin were great, when, on opening the book, we +discovered it to be an old nautical publication of the last century. The +title-page was missing, but its contents were chiefly tables of logarithms. +It was a thick royal quarto, which led us to conjecture that it was a +journal; between the leaves we found a few loose papers of very little +consequence indeed; one of them contained two or three observations on the +height of the water in the Gambia; one was a tailor's bill on a Mr. +Anderson; and another was addressed to Mr. Mungo Park, and contained an +invitation to dinner,--the following is a copy of it:-- + + 'Mr. and Mrs. Watson would be happy to + have the pleasure of Mr. Park's company at + dinner on Tuesday next, at half-past five + o'clock. + + 'An answer is requested. + + '_Strand, 9th Nov. 1804_.' + +"The king, as well as the owner of the book, looked as greatly mortified +as ourselves, when they were told that the one produced was not that of +which we were in quest, because the reward promised would not of course be +obtained. As soon as our curiosity had been fully satisfied, the papers +were carefully collected and placed again between the leaves, and the book +as carefully folded in its envelope as before, and taken away by its owner, +who values it as much as a household god. Thus all our hopes of obtaining +Mr. Park's journal or papers, in this city, are entirely defeated. The +inquiry, on our part, has not been prosecuted without much trouble and +anxiety, and some little personal sacrifices likewise, which, had they +been ten times as great, we would gladly have made whilst a single hope +remained of their being effectual." + +After much ado at Boossà, owing to the canoe not being ready--the "King of +the Canoe," a sort of Lord of the Admiralty, informing the travellers with +the utmost unconcern that it was out of repair--they + + _Embark on the Niger_. + +"About mid-day the workmen having finished our canoe, the luggage was +presently put into it, and between twelve and one we embarked with our +people, and were launched out into the river. The direction of this branch +was nearly east and west; and we proceeded some distance down the stream +for the purpose of getting into the main branch of the Niger, where there +is deeper water. This object was soon attained, and we found it flowing +from north to south, through a rich and charming country, which seemed to +improve in appearance the further we advanced. We were propelled at a good +rate up a channel, which, from half a mile in breadth, gradually widened +to rather better than a mile. Beautiful, spreading, and spiry trees +adorned the country on each side of the river, like a park; corn, nearly +ripe, waved over the water's edge; large, open villages appeared every +half-hour; and herds of spotted cattle were observed grazing and enjoying +the cool of the shade. The appearance of the river, for several miles, was +no less enchanting than its borders; it was as smooth as a lake; canoes +laden with sheep and goats, were paddled by women down its almost +imperceptible current; swallows, and a variety of aquatic birds, were +sporting over its glassy surface, which was ornamented by a number of +pretty little islands. + +"_Friday, June 25th_.--The most remarkable object which we saw on rising +this morning, was a rugged and romantic range of hills, appearing to the +eastward of our encampment; it is called _Engarskie_, from a country of +the same name in which the hills are situated, and which was formerly an +independent kingdom, but is now become a province of Yàoorie. At a little +before seven, A.M., our canoe was pushed off the sandy beach on which it +had been secured last evening, and propelled down a very narrow channel, +between a large sand-bank and the shore. This conducted us into the main +branch of the Niger, and we again admired its delightful and magnificent +appearance. + +"We had proceeded only a few hundred yards when the river gradually +widened to two miles, and continued so as far as the eye could reach. It +looked very much like an artificial canal; the banks having the appearance +of a dwarf wall, with vegetation beyond. In most places the water was +extremely shallow, but in others it was deep enough to float a frigate. +During the first two hours of the day, the scenery was as interesting and +picturesque as can be imagined. The banks were literally covered with +hamlets and villages; fine trees, bending under the weight of their dark +and impenetrable foliage, everywhere relieved the eye from the glare of +the sun's rays, and, contrasted with the lively verdure of the little +hills and plains, produced the most pleasing effect. Afterwards, however, +there was a decided change; the banks, which before consisted of dark +earth, clay, or sand, were now composed of black rugged rocks; large +sand-banks and islands were scattered in the river, which diverted it into +a variety of little channels, and effectually destroyed its appearance. + +"We had heard so unfavourable an account of the state of the river at one +particular place which we should have to pass, that our people were +compelled to disembark and walk along the banks a considerable way till we +had passed it, when we took them in again. We found the description to be +in no wise exaggerated; it presented a most forbidding appearance, and +yields only to the state of the Niger near Boossà in difficulty and danger. +On our arrival at this formidable place, we discovered a range of black +rocks running directly across the stream, and the water, finding only one +narrow passage, rushed through it with great impetuosity, over-turning and +carrying away everything in its course. Our boatmen, with the assistance +of a number of the natives, who planted themselves on the rocks on each +side of the only channel, and in the stream at the stern of the canoe, +lifted it by main force into smoother and safer water. The last difficulty +with respect to rocks and sand-banks was now overcome, and in a very +little time we came to the termination of all the islands, after which, it +is said, there is not a single dangerous place up the Niger. The river +here presented its noblest appearance; not a single rock nor sand-bank was +anywhere perceptible; its borders resumed their beauty, and a strong, +refreshing breeze, which had blown during the whole of the morning, now +gave it the motion of a slightly-agitated sea. In the course of the +morning we passed two lovely little islands, clothed in verdure, which at +a short distance looked as charming as the fabled gardens of Hesperia; +indeed no spot on earth can excel them in beauty of appearance. These +islands are inhabited by a few individuals." + +Upon leaving Yàoorie, a venerable Arab chief pretended great regard for +the travellers, though he used them deceitfully; they had, however, +"enjoyed an innocent kind of revenge, in administering to him a powerful +dose of medicine, which though harmless in its effects, had yet been very +troublesome to him. Indeed, it was not till we had 'jalaped' the sultan, +his sister, and all the royal family, that we were permitted to take our +farewell of Yàoorie." + +The incident of physicking the royal family at Yàoorie by way of +leave-taking, is only equalled by the following oddity:--"The captain of +the palm oil brig, Elizabeth, now in the Calabar river, actually +white-washed his crew from head to foot, while they were sick with fever +and unable to protect themselves; his cook suffered so much in the +operation, that the lime totally deprived him of the sight of one of his +eyes, and rendered the other of little service to him." + +The account of the Travellers' visit to Fernando Po, in the third volume, +will be read with interest, as indeed will every page of the whole +narrative; and to this commendation of the Messrs. Landers' Journal of +their past adventures we cheerfully add our best wishes for the success of +their future enterprize. + + * * * * * + + +SONGS OF THE GIPSIES. + +Among the musical novelties of the day, we notice with much pleasure, a +pretty volume of Lyrics, written by Mr. Moncrieff, the music by Mr. S. +Nelson. The poetry is throughout sparkling and characteristic, and "an +Historical Introduction on the origin and customs of Gipsies," prefixed to +the Songs, is so attractive as to be likely to share the popularity of the +piano-forte accompaniments. It is written with considerable care and +neatness, and the peculiar tact requisite to produce an interesting paper +on a dry subject. + +We are only enabled to quote from the lyrics, an opening carol, as + + Liberty, liberty! + Search the world round, + 'Tis with the Gipsy + Alone thou art found. + Then in the gay greenwood + We worship thee now, + The free, oh the free! + Still live under the bough. + + Trarah! Trarah! + Hark, the deep dingles ring, + Free hearts, with the bird + And the deer are on wing; + Joy claims in the greenwood + The Gipsy's glad vow, + The blithe, oh the blithe! + Still live under the bough. + +And the first song entire. + +THE GIPSY QUEEN. + + Oh! 'tis I am the Gipsy Queen! + And where is there queen like me, + That can revel upon the green, + In boundless liberty? + What though my cheek be brown, + And wild my raven hair, + A red cloth hood my crown, + And my sceptre the wand I bear! + Yet, 'tis I am the Gipsy Queen! + + With my kingdom I'm well content, + Though my realm's but the hawthorn glade; + And my palace a tatter'd tent + Beneath the willow's shade: + Though my banquet I'm forc'd to make + On haws and berries store, + And the game that by chance we take + From some neighbouring hind's barn door! + Yet, 'tis I am the Gipsy Queen! + + 'Tis true I must ply my art, + And share in my subjects' toils; + But of all their gains I've part, + I've the choice of all their spoils; + And, by love and duty led, + Ere from my jet black eye + One sad tear should be shed, + A thousand hearts would die! + For, 'tis I am the Gipsy Queen! + + * * * * * + +A SONG OF PITCAIRN'S ISLAND. + + Come, take our boy, and we will go + Before our cabin door; + The winds shall bring us, as they blow, + The murmurs of the shore; + And we will kiss his young blue eyes, + And I will sing him as he lies, + Songs that were made of yore: + I'll sing, in his delighted ear, + The island-lays thou lov'st to hear. + + And thou, while stammering I repeat, + Thy country's tongue shalt teach; + 'Tis not so soft, but far more sweet + Than my own native speech; + For thou no other tongue didst know, + When, scarcely twenty moons ago, + Upon Tahité's beach, + Thou cam'st to woo me to be thine, + With many a speaking look and sign. + + I knew thy meaning--thou didst praise + My eyes, my locks of jet; + Ah! well for me they won thy gaze-- + But thine were fairer yet! + I'm glad to see my infant wear + Thy soft blue eyes and sunny hair, + And when my sight is met + By his white brow and blooming cheek, + I feel a joy I cannot speak. + + Come talk of Europe's maids with me, + Whose necks and cheeks, they tell, + Outshine the beauty of the sea, + White foam and crimson shell. + I'll shape like theirs my simple dress, + And bind like them each jetty tress, + A sight to please thee well; + And for my dusky brow will braid + A bonnet like an English maid. + + Come, for the soft, low sunlight calls-- + We lose the pleasant hours; + 'Tis lovelier than these cottage walls-- + That seat among the flowers. + And I will learn of thee a prayer + To Him who gave a home so fair, + A lot so blest as ours-- + The God who made for thee and me + This sweet lone isle amid the sea. + +_From a volume of American Poetry, William Cullen Bryant._ + + * * * * * + + +[Illustration: TOMB OF THE POET, WALLER.] + + +In the churchyard of Beaconsfield, Bucks, stands the above handsome +tribute to the memory of the celebrated poet and politician, EDMUND WALLER. +The monument is of marble, with a pyramid rising from the centre, and a +votive urn at each corner. On the east side is a Latin inscription, +stating that Waller was born March 30, 1605, at Coleshill, in +Hertfordshire; his father being Robert Waller, Esq. (of Agmondelsham in +Buckingham, whose family was originally a branch of the Kentish +Wallers,[5]) and his mother of the Hampden family; that he was a student +at Cambridge; "his first wife was Anne, only daughter and heiress to +Edward Banks, twice made a father by his first wife, and thirteen times by +his second, whom he survived eight years; he died October 21, 1687." The +original inscription is by Rymer, and is to be seen in most editions of +the poet's works. The monument was erected by the poet's son's executors, +in 1700, and stands on the east side of the churchyard, near the family +vault. The above engraving is from a sketch, obligingly furnished by our +Correspondent, W.H. of Wycombe. + +Waller was proprietor of the manor of Beaconsfield, and that of Hall Barn, +in the vicinity, at which latter place he resided. + +It is remarkable, that this great man, toward the decline of life bought a +small house, with a little land, on his natal spot; observing, "that he +should be glad to die like the stag, where he was roused." This, however, +did not happen. "When he was at Beaconsfield," says Johnson, "he found his +legs grow tumid: he went to Windsor, where Sir Charles Scarborough then +attended the king, and requested him, as both a friend and physician, to +tell him what that swelling meant. 'Sir,' answered Scarborough, 'your +blood will run no longer.' Waller repeated some lines of Virgil, and went +home to die. As the disease increased upon him, he composed himself for +his departure; and calling upon Dr. Birch to give him the holy sacrament, +he desired his children to take it with him, and made an earnest +declaration of his faith in Christianity. It now appeared what part of his +conversation with the great could be remembered with delight. He related, +that being present when the Duke of Buckingham talked profanely before +King Charles, he said to him, 'My lord, I am a great deal older than your +Grace, and have, I believe, heard more arguments for atheism than ever +your Grace did; but I have lived long enough to see there is nothing in +them, and so I hope your Grace will." + + + [5] Johnson's Life of Waller, wherein the poet is stated to have + been born March 3. + + * * * * * + + + + + +SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS. + + +TROUT TICKLING IN IRELAND. + +What will our _ticklish_ correspondent, W.H.H. say to this? + +"Kniveing trouts" (they call it tickling in England) is good sport. You go +to a stony shallow at night, a companion bearing a torch; then stripping +to the thighs and shoulders, wade in; grope with your hands under the +stones, sods, and other harbourage, till you find your game, then grip him +in your "knieve," and toss him ashore. + +I remember, when a boy, carrying the splits for a servant of the family, +called Sam Wham. Now Sam was an able young fellow, well-boned and willing; +a hard headed cudgel player, and a marvellous tough wrestler, for he had a +backbone like a sea-serpent; this gained him the name of the Twister and +Twiner. He had got into the river, with his back to me, was stooping over +a broad stone, when something bolted from under the bank on which I stood, +right through his legs. Sam fell with a great splash upon his face, but in +falling, jammed whatever it was against the stone. "Let go, Twister," +shouted I, "'tis an otter, he will nip a finger off you."--"Whisht," +sputtered he, as he slid his hand under the water; "May I never read a +text again, if he isna a sawmont wi' a shouther like a hog!"--"Grip him by +the gills, Twister," cried I.--"Saul will I!" cried the Twiner; but just +then there was a heave, a roll, a splash, a slap like a pistol-shot; down +went Sam, and up went the salmon, spun like a shilling at pitch and toss, +six feet into the air. I leaped in just as he came to the water; but my +foot caught between two stones, and the more I pulled the firmer it stuck. +The fish fell in a spot shallower than that from which he had leaped. Sam +saw the chance, and tackled to again: while I, sitting down in the stream +as best I might, held up my torch, and cried fair play, as shoulder to +shoulder, throughout and about, up and down, roll and tumble, to it they +went, Sam and the salmon. The Twister was never so twined before. Yet +through crossbuttocks and capsizes innumerable, he still held on; now +haled through a pool; now haling up a bank; now heels over head; now head +over heels; now head and heels together; doubled up in a corner; but at +last stretched fairly on his back, and foaming for rage and disappointment; +while the victorious salmon, slapping the stones with his tail, and +whirling the spray from his shoulders at every roll, came boring and +snoring up the ford. I tugged and strained to no purpose; he flashed by me +with a snort, and slid into the deep water. Sam now staggered forward with +battered bones and peeled elbows, blowing like a grampus, and cursing like +nothing but himself. He extricated me, and we limped home. Neither rose +for a week; for I had a dislocated ankle, and the Twister was troubled +with a broken rib. Poor Sam! he had his brains discovered at last by a +poker in a row, and was worm's meat within three months; yet, ere he died, +he had the satisfaction of feasting on his old antagonist, who was man's +meat next morning. They caught him in a net. Sam knew him by the twist in +his tail.--_Blackwood's Magazine_. + + * * * * * + +DIAMONDS IN BRAZIL. + +The operation of working for these precious jems is a very simple one. The +alluvial soil (the cascalhao) is dug up from the bed of the river, and +removed to a convenient spot on the banks for working. The process is as +follows:--a rancho is erected about a hundred feet long, and half that +distance in width; down the middle of the area is conveyed a canal, +covered with earth; on the other side of the area is a flooring of planks, +about sixteen feet in length, extending the whole length of the shed, and +to which an inclined direction is given; this flooring is divided into +troughs, into which is thrown a portion of the cascalhao; the water is +then let in, and the earth raked until the water becomes clear; the earthy +particles having been washed away, the gravel is raked up to the end of +the trough; the largest stones are thrown out, and afterwards the smaller +ones, the whole is then examined with great care for diamonds. When a +negro finds one, he claps his hands, stands in an erect posture, holding +the diamond between his fore-finger and thumb; it is received by one of +the overseers posted on lofty seats, at equal distances, along the line of +the work. On the conclusion of the work, the diamonds found during the day +are weighed, and registered by the overseer _en chef_. If a negro has the +good fortune to find a stone weighing upwards of seventeen carats, he is +immediately manumitted, and for smaller stones proportionate premiums are +given. There are, besides, several other works on this river, and on other +streams, but the supply of diamonds falls now considerably short of former +periods, and their produce scarcely defrays the expenses. + +The Diamond District of the Serro do Frio is about twenty leagues in +length, and nine in breadth; the soil is barren, but intersected by +numerous streams. It was first discovered by some miners, shortly after +the establishment of the Villa do Principe. In working for gold in the +rivulets of Milho Verde and St. Goncalzes, they discovered some pebbles of +geometric form, and of a peculiar hue and lustre. For some years these +pebbles were given as pretty baubles to children, or used as counters for +marking the points of their favourite game of voltarete. At last an +officer, who had been some years at Goa, in the East Indies, arrived in +the Commarca: he was struck with the peculiar form of these pebbles, and +from several experiments he made, it struck him that they were diamonds. +He immediately collected a few, and sent them to Holland, where, to the +astonishment of the lapidaries, they were found to be brilliants of the +finest water. It will easily be imagined, that on the arrival of this +intelligence in Brazil, the hitherto despised counters suddenly became the +objects of universal research, and almost immediately disappeared. + +The government of Portugal now issued a decree, declaring all diamonds a +monopoly of the crown. For a length of time it was considered that +diamonds were confined solely to the district of Serro Frio. But this is +an error; they are found in almost every part of the empire, particularly +in the remote provinces of Goyazes and Matto Grosso, where there exist +several districtos diamantescos. These gems have been even found on the +tops of the highest mountains; indeed, it is the opinion of the Brazilian +mineralogists that the original diamond formations are in the mountains, +and that they will one day or other be discovered in such quantities, as +to render them objects of comparatively small value. + +The largest diamond in the world was found in the river Abaite; about +ninety-two leagues to N.W. of Serro do Frio. The history of its discovery +is romantic:--three Brazilians, Ant. de Souza, Jose Felix Gomes, and +Thomas de Souza, were sentenced, for some supposed misdemeanour, to +perpetual banishment in the wildest part of the interior. Their sentence +was a cruel one; but the region of their exile was the richest in the +world; every river rolled over a bed of gold, every valley contained +inexhaustible mines of diamonds. A suspicion of this kind enabled these +unfortunate men to support the horrors of their fate; they were constantly +sustained by the golden hope of discovering some rich mine, that would +produce a reversion of their hard sentence. Thus they wandered about for +nearly six years, in quest of mines; but fortune was at last propitious. +An excessive draught had laid dry the bed of the river Abaite, and here, +while working for gold, they discovered a diamond of nearly an ounce in +weight. Overwhelmed with joy at this providential discovery, they resolved +to proceed, at all hazards, to Villa Rica, and trust to the mercy of the +crown. The governor, on beholding the magnitude and lustre of the gem, +could scarcely credit the evidence of his senses. He immediately appointed +a commission of the officers of the Diamond District to report on its +nature; and on their pronouncing it a real diamond, it was immediately +dispatched to Lisbon. It is needless to add that the sentence of the three +"condemnados" was immediately reversed. + +This celebrated diamond has been estimated by Romé de l'Isle at the +enormous sum of three hundred millions sterling. It is uncut, but the late +King of Portugal, who had a passion for precious stones, had a hole bored +through it, in order to wear it suspended about his neck on gala days. No +sovereign possessed so fine a collection of diamonds as this +prince.--_Monthly Mag_. + + * * * * * + + + + +NOTES OF A READER. + + +AMERICAN LIFE. + +Mrs. Trollope's amusing book has furnished us with still another page or +two of scenes and sketches: + +_Crocodiles on the Mississippi_. + +"It is said that at some points of this dismal river, crocodiles are so +abundant as to add the terror of their attacks to the other sufferings of +a dwelling there. We were told a story of a squatter, who having 'located' +himself close to the river's edge, proceeded to build his cabin. This +operation is soon performed, for social feeling and the love of whiskey +bring all the scanty neighbourhood round a new comer, to aid him in +cutting down trees, and in rolling up the logs, till the mansion is +complete. This was done; the wife and five young children were put in +possession of their new home, and slept soundly after a long march. +Towards day-break the husband and father was awakened by a faint cry, and +looking up, beheld relics of three of his children scattered over the +floor, and an enormous crocodile, with several young-ones around her, +occupied in devouring the remnants of their horrid meal. He looked around +for a weapon, but finding none, and aware that unarmed he could do nothing, +he raised himself gently on his bed, and contrived to crawl from thence +through a window, hoping that his wife, whom he left sleeping, might with +the remaining children rest undiscovered till his return. He flew to his +nearest neighbour and besought his aid; in less than half an hour two men +returned with him, all three well armed; but alas! they were too late! the +wife and her two babes lay mangled on their bloody bed. The gorged +reptiles fell an easy prey to their assailants, who, upon examining the +place, found the hut had been constructed close to the mouth of a large +hole, almost a cavern, where the monster had hatched her hateful brood." + +_Pig Scavengers_. + +"We were soon settled in our new dwelling, which looked neat and +comfortable enough, but we speedily found that it was devoid of nearly all +the accommodation that Europeans conceive necessary to decency and comfort. +No pump, no cistern, no drain of any kind, no dustman's cart, or any other +visible means of getting rid of the rubbish, which vanishes with such +celerity in London, that one has no time to think of its existence; but +which accumulated so rapidly at Cincinnati, that I sent for my landlord to +know in what manner refuse of all kinds was to be disposed of. + +"Your Help will just have to fix them all into the middle of the street, +but you must mind, old woman, that it is the middle. I expect you don't +know as we have got a law what forbids throwing such things at the sides +of the streets; they must just all be cast right into the middle, and the +pigs soon takes them off.'" + +_American English_. + +"I very seldom during my whole stay in the country heard a sentence +elegantly turned, and correctly pronounced from the lips of an American. +There is always something either in the expression or the accent that jars +the feelings and shocks the taste." + +_Mr. Bullock_. + +"About two miles below Cincinnati, on the Kentucky side of the river, Mr. +Bullock, the well known proprietor of the Egyptian Hall, has bought a +large estate, with a noble house upon it. He and his amiable wife were +devoting themselves to the embellishment of the house and grounds; and +certainly there is more taste and art lavished on one of their beautiful +saloons, than all Western America can show elsewhere. It is impossible to +help feeling that Mr. Bullock is rather out of his element in this remote +spot, and the gems of art he has brought with him, show as strangely there, +as would a bower of roses in Siberia, or a Cincinnati fashionable at +Almack's. The exquisite beauty of the spot, commanding one of the finest +reaches of the Ohio, the extensive gardens, and the large and handsome +mansion, have tempted Mr. Bullock to spend a large sum in the purchase of +this place, and if any one who has passed his life in London could endure +such a change, the active mind and sanguine spirit of Mr. Bullock might +enable him to do it; but his frank, and truly English hospitality, and his +enlightened and inquiring mind, seemed sadly wasted there. I have since +heard with pleasure that Mr. Bullock has parted with this beautiful, but +secluded mansion. + +"Mr. Bullock was showing to some gentlemen of the first standing, the very +_élite_ of Cincinnati, his beautiful collection of engravings, when one +among them exclaimed, 'Have you really done all these since you came here? +How hard you must have worked!'" + +_Cows_. + +"These animals are fed morning and evening at the door of the house, with +a good mess of Indian corn, boiled with water; while they eat, they are +milked, and when the operation is completed the milk-pail and the meal-tub +retreat into the dwelling, leaving the republican cow to walk away, to +take her pleasure on the hills, or in the gutters, as may suit her fancy +best. They generally return very regularly to give and take the morning +and evening meal; though it more than once happened to us, before we were +supplied by a regular milk cart, to have our jug sent home empty, with the +sad news that 'the cow was not come home, and it was too late to look for +her to breakfast now.' Once, I remember, the good woman told us that she +had overslept herself, and that the cow had come and gone again, 'not +liking, I expect, to hanker about by herself for nothing, poor thing.'" + +_Health of Cincinnati_. + +"A gentleman told us, that when a medical man intended settling in a new +situation, he always, if he knew his business, walked through the streets +at night, before he decided. If he saw the dismal twinkle of the +watch-light from many windows he might be sure that disease was busy, and +that the 'location' might suit him well." + +_Marketing_. + +"It is the custom for the gentlemen to go to market at Cincinnati; the +smartest men in the place, and those of the 'highest standing' do not +scruple to leave their beds with the sun, six days in the week, and, +prepared with a mighty basket, to sally forth in search of meat, butter, +eggs, and vegetables. I have continually seen them returning, with their +weighty basket on one arm and an enormous ham depending from the other." + +_Moving Houses_. + +"One of the sights to stare at in America is that of houses moving from +place to place. We were often amused by watching this exhibition of +mechanical skill in the streets. They make no difficulty of moving +dwellings from one part of the town to another. Those I saw travelling +were all of them frame-houses, that is, built wholly of wood, except the +chimneys; but it is said that brick buildings are sometimes treated in the +same manner. The largest dwelling that I saw in motion was one containing +two stories of four rooms each; forty oxen were yoked to it. The first few +yards brought down the two stacks of chimneys, but it afterwards went on +well. The great difficulties were the first getting it in motion and the +stopping exactly in the right place. This locomotive power was extremely +convenient at Cincinnati, as the constant improvements going on there made +it often desirable to change a wooden dwelling for one of brick; and +whenever this happened, we were sure to see the ex No. 100 of Main-street +or the ex No. 55 of Second-street creeping quietly out of town, to take +possession of a humble suburban station on the common above it." + +_Social distinctions_. + +"My general appellation amongst my neighbours was 'the English old woman,' +but in mentioning each other they constantly employed the term 'lady;' and +they evidently had a pleasure in using it, for I repeatedly observed, that +in speaking of a neighbour, instead of saying Mrs. Such-a-one, they +described her as 'the lady over the way what takes in washing,' or as +'that there lady, out by the Gulley, what is making dip-candles.' Mr. +Trollope was as constantly called 'the old man,' while dray-men, butchers' +boys, and the labourers on the canal were invariably denominated 'them +gentlemen;' nay, we once saw one of the most gentlemanlike men in +Cincinnati introduce a fellow in dirty shirt sleeves, and all sorts of +detestable et cetera, to one of his friends, with this formula, 'D---- let +me introduce this gentleman to you.'" + + * * * * * + + + + +THE COSMOPOLITE. + + +SUPERSTITIONS, FABLES, &c. RELATIVE TO ANIMALS. + +(_Concluded from page 213_.) + +The oriental fable of the _Roc_ has its probable origin in the condor, +which is undoubtedly the largest and strongest bird of the vulture tribe +in existence, and extremely ravenous. Minerva's bird, the _Owl_, is well +known as one of ill omen; besides the superstitious idea that the +screech-owl foretells death by its cry, it was formerly believed to suck +the blood of children. The Mongol and Calmuc Tartars have held the _White +Owl_ sacred since the days of Genghis Khan, when a bird of this species +having settled on a bush in which that prince had hidden himself from his +enemies, those who pursued him past it, not believing that a bird would +perch on a bush wherein a man was concealed. The _Raven_ has ever been +considered by the vulgar as a bird of evil omen, the indicator of +misfortunes and death; and, indeed, the superstition is but consonant with +a bird of such funereal note and hue, and exhibiting such goule-like +propensities. The Swedes, however, regard it as sacred, and no one offers +to molest it. In the north of England, one _Magpie_ flying alone, is +deemed an ill omen; two together, a fortunate one; three forebode a +funeral, and four a wedding; or, when on a journey, to meet two magpies +portends a wedding; three, a successful journey; four, unexpected good +news; and five, that the person will soon be in company with the great. To +kill a magpie, indicates or brings down some terrible misfortune. The +_Sparrow Hawk_ was sacred with the Egyptians, and the symbol of Osiris. +The _Yellow Hammer_ is superstitiously considered an agent _diablerie_. +The _Wheat-Ear_ is, in the Highlands, a detested bird, and fancied one of +evil omen, on account of its frequenting old churchyards, where it nestles +amongst the stones, and finds plenty of insects for food. The _Woodcock_ +is, we believe, the bird imagined to drop, in its proper season, from the +moon. It is a vulgar error, that the song of the _Nightingale_ is +melancholy, and that it only sings by night; but to hear the Cuckoo before +the Nightingale has been long deemed an unsuccessful omen in love: the +saliva of the cuckoo has been thought to preserve all it falls upon. + + "The _Robin_ and the _Wren_ + Are God Almighty's cock and hen," + +says the old distich, and whilst it is reckoned wicked to kill either of +these (not but that there is an ancient custom of "hunting the wren" still +kept up, we believe, in some parts of this country,) it is considered +unlucky to kill a _Swallow_, or _House-Martin_. The _King-fisher_ is the +Halcyon of the ancients, who imagined that during the process of +incubation by the female the sea remained unvexed by storms; hence +"halcyon days." The feathers of this bird are employed by the Tartars for +many superstitious purposes; they consider them amulets of priceless value, +enabling them to inspire women with love. In more civilized countries it +was once believed, that if the body of a kingfisher were suspended by a +thread, some magnetic influence would turn its breast to the north: others +thought it a preserver of woollen cloths from moths. The _Albatross_ (by +some considered the kingfisher or halcyon,) is fabled to sleep in the air, +never to touch the earth; and to kill one is reckoned supremely unlucky. +There is an Indian bird, the name of which has unfortunately escaped us, +that is feigned to live only on the rain-drops which it can draw with its +bill from the clouds; in a dry season, therefore, this bird perishes. Of +the _Bird of Paradise_ the following wonders were once credited: viz. that +the egg was laid in the air by the female, and there hatched by the male +in an orifice of his body; that it had no legs (these however are long, +and a disfigurement to the body, which the Indians know, and fearful of +their depreciating the value of the bird, upon capturing it, cut them off); +that it hung itself by the two long feathers of its tail on a tree when +sleeping; that it never touched the ground during any period of its +existence, and fed wholly on dew. The Indians also believe that the leader, +or king of the birds of paradise is black, with red spots, and that he +soars far away from the rest of the flock, which, however, never quit him, +but settle where he does. The _Gigantic Crane_ is believed by the Indians +to be invulnerable, and animated by the souls of deceased Brahmins; the +Africans hold it in equal veneration. Whence arises the classical fable +that swans sing their own dirge just previous to death, and expire singing +it? The wild swan certainly may be said to whistle, but the tame has no +other note than a hiss, and this only when provoked. The Kamschatdales and +Kuriles wear round their necks the bills of _Puffins_, as an amulet which +ensures good fortune. Who was _Mother Carey_?--The wife, perhaps, of +"_Davy_," and keeper of his "locker;" Mother Carey's chickens is the +well-known appellation, in _tarrish_ tongue, of _Stormy Petrels_, not +superstitiously supposed to forebode tempests, since they seem their very +element; but it is probable that to Mother Carey herself (we crave her +pardon--_Mistress_) some astounding "yarn" is attached. The _Stork_, the +_Crane_, and the _Pelican_, are each the subject of idle stories; the +latter has been asserted to feed her young with her own bosom's blood, and +to fill her pouch with water in order to supply them in the desert. A +notion is entertained by the ignorant that the _Bittern_ thrusts its bill +into a reed, which serves as a pipe to increase the volume of its natural +note, and swell it above pitch; and in some places a tradition prevails +that it thrusts its head into water and then blows with all its might. It +is erroneous that the _Ostrich_ lays her eggs in the sand, depending +solely on the sun's rays to hatch them; the truth is that, as from the +heat of her native climate, it is not always necessary for her to sit upon +them, she simply does what numerous birds in colder latitudes are well +known to do; viz. cover them, that they may not, during her absence, lose +their heat. + +The popular opinion that the _Turtle Dove_, of either sex, should it +happen to lose its mate, remains ever after in a state of disconsolate +celibacy, is, we believe, disproved by the fact, at least as respects +these birds in a wild state; but we may remark, that the loss of a +companion to more than one kind of _domesticated_ bird, if it has been +brought up with one, even though not in the same cage, is sometimes so +severely deplored by the survivor, as to occasion its death, if the loss +be not speedily supplied. The old story of _Swallows_ passing the winter +in a state of torpidity at the bottom of rivers, lakes, and ponds, has +been frequently agitated, asserted to be a fact by one party, and totally +disproved by the other. The reader may be amused to learn, that very +recently we were assured by one, who _knew it for an absolute fact_, that +ducks and even chickens (!!!) had been found in a certain farmer's pond, +laid up in winter quarters, which were revived by the warmth of the sun +and upper air, upon being fished out of it!! "Regarding _Birds' Eggs_," +says the Naturalist in his interesting Journal, "we have a very foolish +superstition here (Gloucestershire:) the boys may take them unrestrained, +but their mothers so dislike their being kept in the house, that they +usually break them; their presence may be tolerated for a few days, but by +the ensuing Sunday they are frequently destroyed, under the idea that they +bring bad luck, or prevent the coming of good fortune, as if in some way +offensive to the domestic deity of the hearth." + +Here, then, we pause; some abler hand may, perhaps, be tempted to take up +the subject as we leave it, for there are yet gleanings, in the field, of +"Superstitions and Fables connected with animals," over which our leisure +has allowed us but lightly to pass; gleanings sufficient to reward the +industrious and the curious; or, it may even be, that we shall return, +some day, to this topic ourselves, time and materials permitting. + +_Great Marlow, Bucks_. M.L.B. + + * * * * * + + + + +THE GATHERER. + + +_Congreve Rockets_.--When the Congreve rockets were first introduced into +the navy, the admiral on the Brazil station proposed to exhibit to the +king, Don Juan VI., the effect of these formidable projectiles. His +majesty consented, and the whole court were accordingly assembled in the +balconies of the palace, at the Rio, for the purpose of witnessing the +spectacle. By some mishap, of very frequent occurrence in the early +history of these missiles, at the moment of firing the tube veered round, +and the rocket, instead of flying over to Praia Grande, took the opposite +direction, and fell and exploded in the great square, almost beneath the +windows of the palace. The consternation of the king was only equalled by +the mortification of the admiral, who immediately despatched an officer on +shore to explain the cause of the _contretemps_ to his majesty; and +offering to let off another, but the terrified monarch would not hear of +it. "I have a great respect," said he, "for my good allies, the English, +but after dinner they are absolutely fit for nothing;" an observation +which clearly indicated to what cause his majesty attributed the +unfortunate result of the exhibition.--_Monthly Magazine_. + + * * * * * + +_Prosperity of America_.--The United States of N. America posses an almost +undefinable extent of fertile uncultivated land--a highly industrious and +intelligent population of 13,000,000--the national debt will be paid this +year--and they have a large surplus revenue. That of 1831 was 27,700,000 +Spanish dollars; the expenditure for all government purposes 14,700,000. + + * * * * * + +_War._--Were the disputes between great and rival nations to be settled by +single combat, by those, through whose ambition, pride, or other cause, +they were occasioned, millions of lives might have been saved. + + * * * * * + +_Curious Custom._--There is held in Italy, a kind of feast, or ceremony, +in the courts of certain princes, on St. Nicholas's Day, in which people +hide presents in the shoes or slippers of those they would do honour to; +in such a manner as to surprise them on the morrow, when they come to +dress. It is done in imitation of the practice of St. Nicholas; who used, +in the night time, to throw purses of money in at the windows, for +portions to poor maidens on their marriage. P.T.W. + + * * * * * + +_Experience._--It often happens that the more we see into a man, the less +we admire him.--_Pliny._ + + * * * * * + +The Romans were so anxious to encourage marriage, that they punished +unmarried persons by rendering them incapable of receiving any legacy, or +inheritance by will, except from near relatives. And those who were +married, and had not any children, could take no more than half the estate. + + * * * * * + +_Etruscan Vases._--The art of making earthenware was transported from +Etruria into Greece. The Romans also borrowed this invention from the +Etruscans, to whom also Greece was indebted for many of its ceremonies and +religious institutions, as well as for its mechanics and artificers. + + * * * * * + +It is customary in the canton Wallis, Switzerland, for those who have +found anything lost, even money, to affix it to a large crucifix in the +churchyard, and there is not an example on record, of any object being +taken away except by the rightful owner. W.G.C. + + * * * * * + +_Cumberland Titles._--The honorary titles arising from the different +degrees of allowed consequence or property in Cumberland, appear (says +Britton) singular when compared with their usual acceptation in society. +The mistress of the house is a _Dame_; every owner of a little landed +property is a _'Statesman_; his eldest son is the _Laird_; and where there +is no son, the eldest daughter is born to the title of _Leady_. Thus we +may see a '_Statesman_ driving the plough, a _Lord_ attending the market +with vegetables, and a _Leady_ labouring at the churn. P.T.W. + + * * * * * + +_A string of echo puns_ surpassing all others, may be seen in a scarce +work, published in the reign of James I. A specimen--a divine, willing to +play more with words, than to be serious in the expounding of his text, +spoke thus in one part of the sermon:--"This dyall shewes we must _die +all_; yet, notwithstanding, all howses are turned into _ale-houses_; our +cares are turned into _cates_; our paradise, into, _a pair of dice_; our +marriage, into a _merry age_; our matrimony, into a _matter of money_; our +divines, into _dry vines_. It was not so in the days of Noah, +_Ah no_!"--T.G. + + * * * * * + +_Advertisement Extraordinary, from a Newspaper of 1796_.--"Whereas the +right hon. William Pitt, Chancellor of his Majesty's Exchequer, did on the +night of Monday last, and on or about the hour of six o'clock, utter in +his place in the House of Commons, certain sentences or phrases, +containing several assurances, denials, promises, retractions, persuasions, +explanations, hints, insinuations, and intimations, and expressing much +hope, fear, joy, sorrow, confidence, and doubt, upon the subject of peace, +then and there recommended by Charles Grey, esq., member of the aforesaid +House of Commons, for the county of Northumberland; and whereas the entire +effectual and certain meaning of the whole of the said sentences, phrases, +denials, promises, retractions, persuasions, explanations, hints, +insinuations, and intimations, has escaped and fled, so that what remains +is to plain understandings incomprehensible, and to many good men is +matter of painful contemplation: now this is to promise to any person who +shall restore the said lost meaning, or shall illustrate, simplify, and +explain the said meaning, the sum of five thousand pounds, to be paid on +the first day of April next, at the office of John Bull, esq., Pay-All and +Fight-All, to the several high contracting powers, engaged in the present +_just_ and _necessary_ war! + +"Done at the office of Mr. John Bull's Chief Decypherer, _Turnagain_ Lane, +_Circumbendibus_ Street, _Obscurity_ Square, Feb. 18, 1796." + + * * * * * + +_Cheap Soup_.--Take ten quarts of water, and stir it with a rush-light +till it boils; season it to your liking, and it is ready for use. N.B. The +wick may be bolted.--_Monthly Mag_. + + * * * * * + +_Epitaph on the death of Miss Eliza More, aged_ 14. + + Here lies who never lied before, + And one who will never lie _More_, + To which there need no _more_ be said + Than _More_ the pity she is dead, + For when alive she charmed us _More_ + Than all the _Mores_ just gone before.[6] + + + [6] Her two sisters dying some months before. + + * * * * * + +_On Anne Green, a Quakeress_. + + Here lies a piece of Christ, a star in dust, + A wedge of gold, a china dish that must + Be used in heaven, when Christ doth feed the just. + + * * * * * + +_Inscribed on the back door of a Tavern_, which opened into the Parish +Church of St. Michael's, Cambridge, kept by Mr. Burrell, 1639: which door +is now taken down, the tavern having been pulled down, and a new street +built on its site. + + Go on by leave, no way here lies: + But way and leave to those + That hast to taste good wine and fine, + And fear not Burrell's foes. + + * * * * * + +_Copied from the Churchwarden's Book_. + +_The Mother Tongue_.--In Mr. Combe's _Illustrations of Phrenology_, a case +is related of a Welsh milkman, in London, who happening to fall down two +pair of stairs, received a severe contusion on the head, and was carried +to St. George's Hospital, where he lay senseless for several days, and +unable to speak. At length he became something better, and began to talk +to the nurses, but in such terms that no one could understand him, till it +was discovered that he had forgotten his English, and was talking Welsh; a +language he had not spoken for eighteen years. Mr. Combe conceives that +the blow having hit the store-house in his head, where the Welsh language +was garnered, his youthful acquisitions were poured out, whilst the +English language, which he had learned much later, was overpowered and +obliterated by the force of his mother tongue. W.G.C. + + * * * * * + +_Warning to Betrayers_.--St. Bennet's Abbey, in Norfolk, was so well +fortified, that William the Conqueror, in vain besieged it, till a monk, +upon condition of being made abbot, betrayed the place. The king performed +the condition, but hanged the new _abbot_ as a _traitor_. P.T.W. + + * * * * * + + +_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 12552 *** |