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diff --git a/12634-0.txt b/12634-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..7615e06 --- /dev/null +++ b/12634-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1348 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 12634 *** + +THE MIRROR OF LITERATURE, AMUSEMENT, AND INSTRUCTION. + +VOL. XVII, No. 489.] SATURDAY, MAY 14, 1831. [PRICE 2d. + + * * * * * + + + + +ST. GEORGE'S HOSPITAL. + +[Illustration: ST. GEORGE'S HOSPITAL.] + + +All who enjoy the luxury of doing good (and who does not, in some way +or other?) will be happy to learn that the above is the elevation of the +new St. George's Hospital, at Hyde Park Corner. It is already a splendid +monument of British benevolence; but is only a portion of the original +plan, which is to complete another front towards Hyde Park; this will +extend even further than the old hospital. + +St. George's Hospital, we learn from a printed "Account," "was set +on foot soon after Michaelmas, 1733, by some gentlemen who were +before concerned in a charity of the like kind, in the lower part of +Westminster. They judged this house convenient for their purpose, on +account of its air, situation, and nearness to town; procured a lease +of it, and opened a subscription for carrying on the charity here. +The subscriptions increased so fast, that on the nineteenth of October +they were formed into a regular society, and actually began to receive +patients on the first of January following." The Establishment was, +therefore, prosperous at its commencement, and the same good fortune +has subsequently attended its progress. It is supported by Voluntary +Contributions. The resources are considerable in property, and have been +greatly enriched by legacies. Indeed, the legacies which fell to the +Hospital during last year, exceeded 11,000l. + +The building of the new Hospital, in the Engraving, was first proposed +at a meeting held in the year 1827, at which the open-hearted Duke +of York was chairman; and at a subsequent meeting, the Archbishop of +Canterbury presided. A "Building Fund" was raised, to which the late +King munificently contributed £1,000. This Fund is entirely separate +from the General Funds of the Hospital: "the sums already subscribed" +says the Report of 1830, "have been expended in erecting a part of +the building which is now occupied by 140 patients, and the public are +earnestly requested to keep in view the importance of continuing their +benevolent contributions, until the great object of re-building the +entire Hospital has been effected." It is well known that the closeness +of the wards in the old building has long been a subject of the deepest +regret to the physicians and surgeons, who have observed its effect in +preventing or retarding the cure of their patients; and this evil must, +in some degree, be increased by the new building partially obstructing +the ventilation of the old. + +From the Report of 1829, we also learn that the subscriptions were +£3,439. the Dividends £3,798. and the Legacies £1,781. and the expenses +of the year £9,731. including £709. for bedding, &c. for the new +building. + +The new building is from the designs of W. Wilkins, Esq. R.A. architect +of the London University, &c. The Engraving represents the grand front +which faces the Green Park, and consists of a centre and two wings, in +all 200 feet in length. Part of the north wing, which we have referred +to as facing Hyde Park, or stretching towards Knightsbridge, is also +erected. The south wing is finished, and occupied by patients, as is +also the south end of the east front. The theatre for lectures on +surgery and medicine will accommodate 150 students. Immediately +adjoining it is the museum of anatomical preparations. The entire +edifice is faced with compost, coloured and checkered in imitation of +stone. The hospital, when complete, will contain 29 wards, and 460 beds. +The contracts for building the whole amount to about £41,000. + +The grand front, seen from the Green Park, has a handsome appearance, +and the architecture is simply elegant. Viewed in association with +the costly arch entrance to the Gardens of Buckingham Palace, and the +classic screen and gates to Hyde Park--the New Hospital gives rise to +a grateful recollection of national benevolence as well as cultivation +of fine art--of soothing life's ills as well as embellishing its +enjoyments--in short, of nurturing the first and best feelings of our +nature as well as encouraging taste and talent. May England never halt +in raising such monuments of her real greatness! + + * * * * * + + +SUNSET THOUGHTS. + +(_For the Mirror._) + + + I've stood to gaze on the sunset hill, + When the winds were hush'd and the waves were still; + As the sun sank slowly down the west, + I thought of the good man dropping to rest, + When his race is run--he yields his breath, + And softly sinks in the slumber of death. + + When I gazed on the gorgeous western sky, + I thought of those blissful bowers on high, + Whose brightness--blessedness serene, + Ear hath not heard--eye hath not seen. + + When I saw the golden glories die, + I thought on life's uncertainty, + And as night came on in her ebon gloom, + Oh! I thought of the dark and the dreamless tomb, + How soon man's fairest prospects flee, + The curtain drops--"_And where is he?_" + + COLBOURNE. + + * * * * * + + + + +THE NOVELIST. + + * * * * * + + +THE GOLDEN BODKIN. + +_An Illustration of Sayings and Doings._ + +(_For the Mirror._) + + +It was the vesper-hour when the lovely Lady Victorine entered the church +of St. Genevieve with her liege lord the Marquess de Montespan, and +proceeding slowly down a side aisle of that magnificent fane, prostrated +herself upon the steps of an altar of black marble, upon which burned +in silver cassolettes, two small glimmering fires, sparingly fed with +frankincense, and serving rather to render visible, than to illumine +the gloom of the niche in which the altar stood; whilst the tapers which +twinkled like glow-worms here and there in the body of the spacious +temple, indicated the presence of worshippers, who, in the uncertain and +vasty darkness, were scarcely beheld. The Marquess de Montespan kneeled +beside his fair lady, and a couple of domestics at a respectful distance +from the noble pair, whilst the solemn pealing of the organ intermingled +with the low murmurings of human voices, and the sweet, full-toned +responses of the choir, aided and attested the devotion of those who now +attended vespers in the church of St. Genevieve. The sacred service was +nearly concluded, when the attention of the congregation was painfully +diverted from the solemn duty in which they were engaged, by thrilling +shrieks proceeding from one of the side aisles, and an uncommon stir and +tumult about the dark oratory of the Montespans, to which, therefore, a +crowd was presently attracted. Alas! for the brevity and vanity of human +life! The marquess, who had but so short a time since entered the church +in manly prime, health, and strength, and in the full flush of happiness +and hope, now suddenly, ay, even as he knelt beside his beautiful wife, +and even as their spirits mingled in the same acts of devotion, the +marquess now, struck by the angel of death, laid cold, senseless, and +motionless, in the arms of his servants, who were vainly endeavouring to +recall that vital spark which was totally extinct. Victorine, the young +and lovely marchioness, thus suddenly and awfully reduced to widowhood, +had fallen into such violent hysterics, as to render the task of +supporting her almost dangerous to a noble youth who had voluntarily +undertaken it. The consternation of the spectators at this tragical +spectacle may be well imagined; but some two or three of them had, +nevertheless, presence of mind sufficient to fetch a physician, and +after medical aid had somewhat restored to composure the unhappy +Victorine, she, with her deceased husband, upon whom, alas, all efforts +of art had been bestowed in vain, was carefully conveyed to the Hotel +de Montespan. Upon the breast of the Comte de Villeroi had the head +of the afflicted marchioness rested, in the eventful hour of her sad +bereavement, and in less than six months did he supply to her the +place of her departed lord. This event occurred, it was then deemed, +prematurely, and the precise and censorious blamed the indelicate haste +with which Victorine had exchanged her weeds for bridal attire; but +the kind-hearted observed, "Poor young creature, all Paris knows that +Villeroi was the elected of her heart, long ere she was forced into a +marriage with Montespan; no wonder therefore is it, that the first act +of her recovered liberty should be, that of throwing herself into his +arms;" so, "all Paris," after this appeal to its knowledge of private +history, and best sympathies, could do no less than take the charitable +side of the question, and Madame la Comtesse de Villeroi was allowed, +unmolested by the voice of public censure, to reign awhile as bride +and belle in the high circles which her beauty and agreeable qualities +so well fitted her to adorn. Ere long, however, it was surmised that +Victorine found herself not quite so happy in her union with the object +of her first affection as she had anticipated she should be; she was +pale, spiritless, and absent; sometimes started when addressed, as if +only accustomed to the accents of authority unmingled with kindness; her +cheeks were hollow, her eyes sunken and ray-less, and her smile was the +very mockery of mirth; evidently she was not happy, and the apparently +affectionate attentions lavished upon her by the comte, tended not to +diminish suspicions that he was not altogether so amiable at home, as he +took pains to appear in society. However, balls and fêtes followed the +union of the young couple very gaily for some months, and everybody said +that the Comtesse de Villeroi, rich, beautiful, and beloved, ought to be +the happiest creature in existence. + +Something more than a year after the demise of the Marquess de +Montespan, Paris was thrown into considerable consternation by a report +originating with some of the petty officers of the sacred establishment, +that the church of St. Genevieve was haunted; old Albert Morel, the +sexton, protesting upon the faith of a good Catholic, that he had heard, +when occasionally in the church, alone, a strange rattling noise +proceed from the vaults beneath it. "What this could be," he remarked, +"was past comprehension, unless it were ghosts playing at skittles +with their own dead bones." Some people laughed at this idea, and some +sapiently shaking their heads, declared with ominous looks, that Morel +was no fool, but knew what he knew, whilst every one agreed that some +foundation, at least there must be, for the fearful tale. At length, in +the church of St. Genevieve, it became necessary for the interment of +some individual of rank, to open the very vault from whence seemed +chiefly or entirely to proceed the strange and alarming sounds, and this +happened to be that, in which were deposited the mortal remains of the +Marquess de Montespan; from his coffin, (a mere wooden shell,) it was +now ascertained that the rattling proceeded, and as upon inspection, a +hole was observed to have been drilled in the wood, as if by the teeth +of some animal, it was judged expedient to open and examine it further. +The remains of the marquess were discovered in a state of dry +decomposition, with his head as completely severed from his body as +if by the stroke of the axe; but, horror of horrors! that head, that +skeleton skull, moved, as those who opened the coffin stood to gaze on +its revolting contents, and rolled to and fro by itself! Dismay seized +the spectators, who were about to rush in disorder from the spot, when +one more courageous than the rest, laying hold of the skull, shook it +violently for some moments, when, from one of the eye-sockets dangled +the tail of a rat! The cause of the strange sounds heard by Morel and +others, connected with the church of St. Genevieve, was now obvious; +the voracious animal had entered when lean and small, into the head of +the deceased marquess, by the eye, but after revelling upon the brain +of the unfortunate defunct for some time, had increased to a size which +rendered its exit by the same passage impossible, and its efforts at +extrication from horrible thraldom, caused the rattling of the disjoined +head in the coffin. It was proposed to saw asunder the skull, in +order to free the creature, and the advice of Albert Morel, that the +operation should be performed by one of the medical fraternity, who +might be glad to witness the fact of a rat being imprisoned in a human +head, was cheerfully taken. Some, however, objected to its being done, +without application for leave having been first made to the Comtesse de +Villeroi, as one to whom the proprietorship of her deceased husband's +remains naturally and solely appertained, and who might feel it as a +cruel insult towards herself, and a sacrilegious violation of the grave +of her first lord, the consigning without her knowledge and permission, +any part of his body to the hands of a surgeon. "Tush!" quoth old Morel, +"all nonsense that! for if one may believe what has long been town-talk, +'tis little that madame will care for her dead husband now she has a +living one who pleases her better than ever he could do, poor man!" The +sexton's arguments were conclusive, and it was agreed at last, that the +skull should be carried to Monsieur Nicolais, the celebrated surgeon, +who had unavailingly attempted by bleeding, to recover the late marquess +from the apoplexy which carried him off. + +A large and brilliant party had assembled at the chateau de Vermont, +the residence of the gay and opulent Comte de Villeroi and his lady, to +celebrate the christening of their first born, when in the midst of a +splendid banquet, an alarm was given that the house was surrounded by +police and gens d'armes, who required in the king's name a surrender +of the persons of the Comte and Comtesse de Villeroi, they standing +attainted of foul and treasonable murder! The confusion and dismay which +seized all parties upon this terrible catastrophe, it is impossible +to describe; but it suffices to state, that the Comte de Villeroi was +impeached for, and fully committed for trial on the charge of having +feloniously aided and abetted Victorine de Villeroi, (late Montespan,) +in wilfully and maliciously causing the death of her late liege husband, +Herbert de Montespan, by thrusting a long pin, or bodkin of gold into +his right ear, well knowing that the same entering into his brain, would +cause his instantaneous dissolution. Master Nicolais, it appeared, +in sawing open the skull of the deceased with anatomical science and +precision, had found a pin or Golden Bodkin like that described in the +indictment, and like what were at this period much used by ladies in +fastening up their hair, bearing the initials, V.M. which he perceived +had been violently thrust through the orifice of the ear, into the brain +of the unfortunate victim. This inference as to the fiendish murderer +was inevitable, and just; and the horror-struck practitioner scrupled +not to incite the relations of the late marquess to summon witnesses, +and lay a criminal information against Victorine de Villeroi as +principal in, and Armand de Villeroi as accessary to, this abominable +transaction. Upon trial, the innocence of the Comte, as to the slightest +knowledge of his wife's secret and heinous crime, was so apparent that +it ensured him an honourable acquittal; but the guilt of that wretched +woman being established beyond all doubt by the evidence of the +goldsmith who had made for her, and engraved her initials upon, the +Golden Bodkin, of the domestics who had seen her when their master +fell asleep during the vespers at St. Genevieve, put her hand beneath +his head as if with the intent of waking, and raising him up, and +subsequently by her own confession, her guilt was thus incontrovertibly +established. She suffered those extreme penalties of the law which the +heinous nature of her crime demanded, and fully justified. + +This historiette, in the leading incidents of which, every Frenchman +at all acquainted with the _Causes Cèlèbres_ of his country, will +detect matters of fact, we have "made a prief of in our notebook," as +one of those interesting cases, (not less remarkable because of rather +frequent occurrence) which incontestably prove, that under the just +government of the Omniscient, who hath willed that "Whosoever sheddeth +the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed."--Murder will out! + +M.L.B. + + * * * * * + + + + +THE SELECTOR AND LITERARY NOTICES OF _NEW WORKS_. + + * * * * * + + +POLAND. + +Dr. Lardner has commenced a "_Library_," as a kind of succedaneum +to his valuable "Cyclopaedia." Both are styled _Cabinet_, and the +first may be considered an amplification of the second. Two of the +Cabinet Library volumes contain a Retrospect of Public Affairs for +1831--not a chronology of shreds and patches, but a well-digested review +of the great events of the year--and important indeed they are. The work +is the quintessence of an "Annual Register:" it is not so porous and +pursy as the last mentioned book, but is a pleasant volume to put in +one's pocket and read inside a coach, if the passengers will allow you +to do so; and it seems to be a good book for newspaper readers, to +arrange their head-pieces, for they are usually crammed with all kinds +of recollections, and have but few right-set views. We do not content +ourselves with saying the _Retrospect_ is well written, but quote +a proof of equal length and interest--for it relates to a country whose +fate is anxiously watched by all Europe, nay, by all the world. It is +from the author's Chapter on the State of Poland. After some pages on +the oppressed Poles, the writer proceeds:-- + +"Thus the army, both in its numbers and management, was entirely at +the mercy and under the direction of Muscovite despotism; the resources +of the state were employed, without the legal control of the diet, to +strengthen Russian tyranny, the press was enslaved, that no remonstrance +might be made against Russian oppression; the citizens were arrested, +imprisoned, and punished by a Russian military chieftain, without being +brought to trial before the proper native tribunals; the legislative +chambers were deprived of their just prerogatives; the national customs, +habits, and feelings were hourly insulted; the citizens were beset with +an infamous police, an deprived even of the melancholy consolation of +complaint; thus, in short, every Polish right was violated--every +article of the charter broken--and the whole efforts of an imperial +savage, at the head of a strong military force, directed to efface from +the countrymen of the Sobieskis and Kosciuszkos all the remains of the +Polish character. + +"This, it must be allowed, is a picture of tyranny and misgovernment +sufficiently appalling to justify the resistance of any people, but more +especially that of a people which had long been accustomed to even a +licentious freedom, which was proud of its national honour and ancient +renown; which entertained such a veneration for its laws and usages as +to preserve for two centuries the _liberum veto_ and the rights of +elective monarchy, the source of all its calamities; and which had the +positive stipulations of its sovereign for the preservation of its +national rights. But, like most general pictures, its impression may +be diminished by its generality. We shall therefore make no apology for +introducing, on the authority of an Englishman who had been twelve years +in Poland, a few facts to give the character of precision and truth +to the outline. In the fortress of Zamosc twelve state prisoners were +found, some of whom had been incarcerated for six years without having +undergone a trial, and whose names were only known to the commander +of the castle. In the dungeons of Marienanski, in Warsaw, was found a +victim of the Russian police, who had been kept in solitary confinement +for ten years, and whose fate was entirely unknown to his friends and +relatives. Respectable inhabitants of Warsaw were often taken and +flogged before the grand duke without the formality of a trial, or the +specification of a charge. Some were even, in the same unlawful manner, +made to break stones or wheel barrows on the streets or highways like +galley slaves. Persons of rank were frequently taken from their homes, +immured in prison, and dismissed after several weeks' incarceration +without knowing what alleged offence had provoked such a wanton exercise +of power contrary to the charter and the privileges of Poland; state +offenders were carried out of the country to Russian prisons and +attempts were made to give them a journey to Siberia, which were only +prevented by the threat of suicide on the part of the victims. The +resources of the kingdom were squandered entirely for Russian objects; +and the people were oppressed to maintain a Polish and a Russian army. +Peculation and pillage was the order of the day. The president of the +town of Warsaw, with a salary of between 500l. and 600l. contrived +to amass a fortune of 100,000l. in fifteen years, besides living in +splendour and squandering twice his legal income. The same unprincipled +peculation was practised by other municipal or state officers. The +Russian generals were in league with the magistrates and billet-master, +to divide the booty received from the inhabitants as the price of +exemption from the oppressive quartering of troops on their houses. +Spies were employed by the police to watch every man of the least +consequence in society, and the nobility were often driven to the +country to avoid such dangerous intruders. In several instances +members of the diet were banished to their estates, and made to pay +the troops that guarded them, for having ventured in the assembly, +whose discussions ought to have been free, to express a suspicion of +the government, or to hint an opinion contrary to the taste of the +grand duke. + +"The following statement of facts on this head, to which we have seen no +allusion made in the public prints, but the authenticity of which may be +relied on, will give a better idea of the system of Russian government +in Poland than any general description could convey. We have received it +from the quarter to which we have above alluded:-- + +"According to the laws of Poland, a commission, chosen by the citizens, +has the right of examining and auditing the accounts of the town. From +the tyrannical system adopted by the officers who were continually about +the person of the grand duke, they dared not perform their duty from +fear of his displeasure, and probably, at the instigation of the +miscreants around him, being consigned to a prison; remonstrances were, +however, generally made at the half-yearly meeting of the commission; +though, up to the period immediately before the revolution, nothing was +done to check the evil. In the month of September a circumstance +occurred, not important in itself, but of great weight in the future +course of events. _Janiszewski_, a cidevant officer in the army, +had sent several petitions to the president of the town, which were +treated with neglect and insult. He and the president met in the street, +when the latter again insulted him. This was immediately resented by the +former, who inflicted severe corporal chastisement on the latter. The +grand duke refused to interfere in the affair. A trial ensued, in which +some abuses of the president were exposed, and _Janiszewski_ +sentenced only to forty days' imprisonment. This affair, and this +decision, created a strong sensation at the time; and emboldened the +commission appointed to investigate the affairs of the town-house to +insist on their rights. The commission, being at length roused by the +numerous abuses that were pressed on their attention, obtained an order +from the minister of the interior to proceed in the execution of their +duties. They immediately formed themselves into branch committees, each +two taking cognizance of a department. The task of investigating the +abuses in the quartering of the officers devolved on two citizens, +called _Schuch_ and _Czarnecki_. They found, on inquiry, that +the owners of large houses were induced to compromise with the +billetmaster for a sum in cash equal to one-fourth, and in some +instances to one half of the amount of rent, in lieu of having a general +or any number of inferior officers quartered on them. In Warsaw many of +the houses contain from fifty to a hundred families; consequently, the +billet-compensation money was a grievous tax. The mass of extortions +were found to exceed in reality any previous estimate. A new scene now +opened to view. Those gentlemen received evidence that the Russian +generals _were participators in the pillage of the town_, and in +league with the president and billet-master. Feeling that they should be +detected in proceedings so disgraceful, they consulted a lawyer +(_Wolinski_,) to know if the researches of the committee could not +be legally prevented. His opinion was given in the negative; but, in +order to divert the public mind from the investigation, he advised +_Czarnecki_ to provoke one of the commission to strike him, when he +should be able to prosecute him for attacking an _employé_ and by +that means get rid of the investigation. _Czarnecki_ used the most +insulting language to Mr. Schuch, and in a fit of desperation seized +hold of his arm, with the intention of putting him out of the room by +force. The committee-man being on his guard, the manoeuvre failed. +_Czarnecki_, seeing himself foiled, his iniquity discovered, and +his ill-gotten wealth likely to be confiscated, committed suicide, and +thus left the president and generals to fight their own battles. The +artillery of Messrs. _Schuch_ and _Czarnecki_ was now directed +against the whole of the Russian and two Polish generals, the notorious +and unprincipled _Raznieki_, the head of the secret police of the +kingdom, and _Kossecki_. Means had in vain been tried to bribe +Messrs. _Schuch_ and _Czarnecki_ through the commissary of the +circle, that the investigations should cease, or that the generals +should not appear to be implicated in the affair. It was ascertained by +the investigation that General _Lewicki,_ Russian commander of the +town, independently of the lodgings he occupied, received payment for +more _than a hundred lodgings_; that General _Gendre_ received +payment of 212l. 10s.; that _Philippeus_, cashier to the grand +duke, received from the same fund 225l. annually, which was sweetened by +a prompt payment of 2,500l., being ten years in advance; and that the +coachmen and lackeys of the grand duke and generals received money from +the same fund, instead of wages from their masters. As the inflexibility +and integrity of those gentlemen were proof against all bribes, the +generals foresaw the impending storm which threatened to break and +overwhelm them. In this critical situation, they conceived one of the +most atrocious plots on record. Its object was to create a disturbance, +by which the town-house should be set on fire, and the documents which +implicated them in the pillage should be consumed. They agreed to +produce this by arming a number of students; and their agent was an +officer in the army, known to belong to the secret societies. The sum of +200 ducats in gold was paid him as a reward for anticipated services, +and 200 stand of arms was provided him. For such a project this man +seemed a fit agent. He took lodgings in the house where the students met +to hold their deliberations, opened to them his revolutionary views, +and represented himself as one qualified to rescue their common country +from the grasp of despotism. He so far ingratiated himself into their +confidence as to obtain some knowledge of the general plan for the +freedom of Poland. Circumstances, however, created distrust of this new +and overzealous auxiliary; and the students refused to act with him, +or to receive the muskets the generals had provided for distribution. +Communication having now ceased between Petrikowski and the students, he +took lodgings in the next room to that in which they met to hold their +deliberations; what he overheard was communicated to the generals; and +ten students were in consequence denounced, arrested, and severely +flogged (by an arbitrary order of the grand duke,) to make them divulge +their associates. Though writhing under the whip of the executioner, +not a word escaped their lips to inculpate their friends, or impart +a knowledge of the schemes that had so long engrossed their thoughts. +The severity of the punishment may be conceived by the fact, that one +of the number died soon after its infliction. The students were kept in +solitary confinement, and their punishment remained uncertain; universal +sympathy was felt for their sufferings by their comrades, coupled with +an ardent desire to relieve them; but by this time danger threatened to +implicate a great part of their body, and it was ascertained that an +order to arrest a great number was to take place on the 30th November. +On the 27th November, an order arrived in Warsaw from the emperor, to +send to Riga with all possible despatch 42,000,000 of florins, equal +to 1,050,000l. sterling, of which 2,000,000 were to be furnished from +the treasury of the minister of war, 28,000,000 from the government +treasury, and 12,000,000 from the bank. These two circumstances +concurring, created great activity in all persons connected with the +overthrow of despotism and the freedom of their country; and it was +determined only on the memorable morning of the 29th to commence their +patriotic work in the evening." + +The Editor's Conclusion, or Summary of the Year is likewise worthy of +extract: + +"The curtain of the year 1830 dropped on Europe in a state of ferment +and agitation, of which it was impossible to check the progress or to +foretell the result. The masses of the population had been stirred up +from the bottom by the concussion of the French and Belgic revolutions, +and could not be expected for a long time to subside into order, +or resume a determinate arrangement according to their weight and +affinities. The partition wall of privilege, rank, or subordination, +interposed between different classes of the European community, had +in some cases been forcibly broken down, and in others had been more +silently undermined. Antiquity, custom, usage, or legitimacy, which +formerly became a shelter to abuses, could not now protect justice and +right from threatened innovation. Everywhere power was challenged on its +rounds, and compelled to give the popular watchword before it could be +allowed to pass. Whether it was a nation that demanded its independence +from a foreign power, as in Belgium and Poland; or a people that +cashiered their dynasty, as in France and Saxony; or a parliament that +changed its administration for a more popular party, as in England; or +republics that liberalized their institutions, as in Switzerland,--all +was movement and change. The breath of revolution sometimes blew from +the suburbs of a capital, as in France; sometimes from the cottages of +the peasant, as in the Swiss mountains; but it was every where powerful. +No institution was held venerable, no authority sacred, that stood in +the way of the popular will. The people had every where got a purchase +against their rulers, and had fixed their engines for a further pull. +The power of domestic military protection had diminished, in proportion +as rulers required its aid; while, at the same time, all Europe seemed +arming for a general trial of strength, or a recommencement of conquest. +Every kind of reform was the order of the day; financial reform, legal +reform, ecclesiastical reform, and parliamentary reform. The year that +has just commenced must resolve the character of many of those vague +tendencies to change, to war, and confusion, which alarmed some and +inspired hope into others at the close of 1830." + + * * * * * + + + + +NOTES OF A READER. + + * * * * * + + +THE DRAMATIC ANNUAL. + +Mr Frederick Reynolds, the veteran dramatist, has, by the aid of Mr. +W.H. Brooke, produced an amusing and elegant volume of a Playwright's +Adventures, under the above title, Mr. Brooke's contributions are a +plentiful sprinkling of Cuts, full of point and humour, and dovetailed +by the Editor with no lack of ingenuity. The Narrative itself purports +to be a series of adventures, or a volume of accidents to a young +playwright in quest of dramatic fortune, with a due admixture of love +and murder, and "a happy union."--These are relieved by pungent attempts +at repartee and harmless raillery, so as to make the dialogue portion +glide off pleasantly enough. Instead of quoting an entire chapter from +the volume, we are enabled to transfer to our pages a few of its +epigrammatic illustrations. First, is what Mr. Reynold calls _l'auteur +sifflè_, but this, for the sake of comprehensiveness, we style the +damned author. + +[Illustration: THE DAMNED AUTHOR.] + + * * * * * + +Mr. Reynolds seems to hold with Swift, that the merriest faces are in +mourning coaches, for his hero at a funeral introduces one of the best +cuts. Thus-- + +On Vivid's return home, his gratification was soon diminished by +the recollections of "existing circumstances," and these caused him +to sink into a gloomy and desponding state; when Sam Alltact, rather +_malapropos_, entered with a black-edged card, inviting his master +to the funeral of a deceased acquaintance, an eminent young artist, +named Gilmaurs, who, never having been an R.A., but simply an engraver +of extraordinary genius, was not to be buried under the dome of St. +Paul's, but in a village churchyard. + +[Illustration: THE HANGING COMMITTEE.] + +Vivid could not help remarking to a brother mourner, that, in his +opinion, the profession of a painter was as much overrated as that of an +engraver was underrated: "for," he added, "what real and unprejudiced +connoisseur, while contemplating Woollett's Roman Edifices from Claude, +and Sir Robert Strange's Titian's Mistress from Titian, with many +others, would not acknowledge, that the copy in many instances so +rivalled, if not surpassed, the original, that it became a decided +question, which artist ought to carry off the palm?" + +"Or, at any rate," cried an odd accordant theatrical companion, "the +connoisseur might say, with Shakspeare-- + + 'Which is the merchant here, and which the Jew?'" + + +"There is no doubt, that in any school of painting," continued our hero, +"such men as Reynolds, West, and Lawrence, cannot be too much upheld +whilst living or lauded and regretted when dead. There is likewise +Wilkie--another Hogarth----" + +"I beg your pardon," rejoined the theatrical gentleman; "but till I can +forget the blunderbuss fired from the upsetting coach, the cobweb over +the poor's-box, and the gay parson and undertaker at the harlot's +funeral, I cannot allow of the comparison. Besides, I admire Hogarth +for another reason: did _he_ consider an engraver's to be an +_infradig._ profession? No, for he was the engraver of _his +own_ works." + +"True," replied Vivid; "and other painters have been engravers. +But to the point: look at the variety of the exquisite engravings +in the Annuals; and having compared them with the large, coarse, +_mindless_ pictures in--what may be called another _annual_--the +Exhibition of the Royal Academy, then say, whether you do not prefer the +distinct delicate touches of a well-directed _burin_, to the broad, +trowel-like splashings of an ill-directed painting-brush?" + +"I do; and whilst I bow down to the excellence of such a portrait as +that of Charles the First, by Vandyke, or that of Robin Goodfellow, by +Sir Joshua, _cum multis aliis_ by painters of the same pre-eminent +description--ay, and also whilst I greatly admire numerous pictures +still annually exhibited by highly talented living artists, I ask, if I +am not to speak my mind relative to that class of painting, which might +pass muster outside the inns at Dartford, or Hounslow, or ----. However, +'the lion preys not upon carcasses,' and, therefore, I will leave these +canvass-spoilers to the judgment of those, who will show them in their +proper light--viz. the hanging-committee." + +The funeral being concluded, they return to town, Vivid agreeing with +his odd companion in leaving the canvass-spoilers to the _hanging +committee_. + +Is it not to be hoped that a day may come when a thorough revision and +amelioration of our equity laws will be deemed a matter of as great +national importance as that chief occupier of the time of our grand +_rural Capulets_ and _Montagues_, the revision and amelioration +of the game laws. + +[Illustration] + + * * * * * + + +TRIAL BY BATTLE. + +"Ay, leave lawyers to wrangle amongst each other--a practice which of +late years has become so much a legal fashion, that some of our +Westminster Hall heroes, forgetting their clients' quarrels in their +own, suddenly convert themselves into a new plaintiff and defendant, and +brawl forth such home coarse vituperations----" + +"True;--formerly they used to brow-beat witnesses, now they brow-beat +one another, and so defyingly, that ere long, who knows but the +_four_ courts may resemble, as punsters would say, the _five_ +courts?" + +[Illustration] + + * * * * * + + +KICKING THE WORLD. + +Every one has heard of kicking the world before them, though, +comparatively, so few succeed in the task. The wights in the cut are in +an enviable condition. + +[Illustration] + + * * * * * + +A sketch of one of those inveterate story tellers which are the standing +dishes of a _table d'hôte_, introduces one of the best of the cuts, +Mr. Blase Bronzely, _loquitur_: + +"Well, gentlemen, as I was saying, when I saw at Stratford-upon-Avon the +Shakspearean procession pass in the street, it rained so violently that +Caliban and Hamlet's Ghost carried umbrellas, whilst Ophelia----" + +"Obvious, my dear Blase; or, as a late premier used to say, 'It can't be +missed,' 'Too much of water hast thou, poor Ophelia:' and, besides, your +wet ghost is a mere crib from yourself; for whenever you go hunting in +cloudy weather, don't you regularly ride with a smart silver parasol +over your dear little head?" + +[Illustration] + + * * * * * + +Soon growing tired of lounging in the library, loitering on the pier, +and of all the rest of the usual dull sea-side routine, he literally +knew so little what to do with himself, that, to kill an hour or two +before dinner, he would frequently be seen seated on a tombstone in the +churchyard, yawning; staring at the church clock, and comparing it with +his own watch;--in short, in some degree resembling + + "Patience on a monument." + +[Illustration: A SEA-SIDE TIME-KILLER--(_Dover._)] + + * * * * * + +The reader will conclude by these specimens that fun and frolic are the +characteristics of the _Dramatic Annual_; and we have given him a +spice of its best humour. These Cuts, by the way, are in a style which +all illustrators would do well to cultivate. We have seen much labour +expended on illustrations of works of humour, such as fine etchy work, +and points wrought up with extreme delicacy. The effect, however, is any +but humorous: you think of painstaking and trouble, whereas a few lines +vividly dashed off, by their unstudied style, will ensure a laugh, where +more elaborate productions only remind us of effort. Hood's pen-and-ink +cuts are excellent in their way--as bits of fun, but not of art. Now, +Brooke's designs are both works of fun and art. + + * * * * * + + +THE FAMILY CABINET ATLAS + +Is completed with the Twelfth Part, in the same style of excellence +as it was commenced. In this portion are two plates, exhibiting a +comparative view of Inland Seas and Principal Lakes of the Eastern +and Western Hemispheres--which alone are worth the price of the Part. +Altogether, the uniformity and elegance of this work reflect high credit +on the taste and talent of every one concerned in its production; and it +really deserves a place on every writing-table not already provided with +an Atlas. For constant reference, too, it is well calculated, by its +convenient size, and is preferable to the cumbrous folio, as well as the +varnished, rustling, roller map. + + * * * * * + + +THE KING'S SECRET. + +Hundreds of persons have probably been disappointed by this +work--an historical novel, of the time of Edward the Third, by +Mr. Power, of Covent Garden Theatre. Scandal-loving people are so fond of +concatenation, or stringing circumstances, causes, and effects together, +that in the present case they made up their minds to some _secret_ of +our times: some boudoir story of Windsor or St. James's, which might +show how royalty loves. On the contrary, "the _secret_" does not +come out;--the reader is only tickled, his curiosity excited, and the +tale, like an ill-going clock, is wound up without striking. + +We attempt something like an outline of the plot, although it is just +to induce Our reader to turn to the work itself, for we foretel he +will be pleased with its details. Artevelde, a beer brewster of Ghent, +intrigues with Edward to transfer the coronet of Flanders from Count +Lewis to the young Prince of Wales. The scheme fails, and Artevelde +perishes in an affray with the citizens In his negotiations he had +employed his daughter, and dispatched her on one occasion, in a private +yacht, to the Thames, to confer with the King. In her passage she is +observed and recognised by the follower of a Flemish noble, who has a +direct interest in defeating Artevelde's scheme for the marriage and +settlement of his daughter, who, before she reaches the King, is seized +by this noble and his agents, but is rescued by a brave young citizen. +Here the love begins. This young citizen is the nephew of a wealthy +old goldsmith, but he abominates the traffic and filthy lucre of his +uncle's profession--for, it should be added, the goldsmiths were the +money-jobbers of those days--and aspires to become a soldier of fortune. +London was a fitting place for such ambition, for those were chivalrous +times. Artevelde's daughter entrusts the youth with the commission, and +dispatches him to the King: he acquits himself with courtly discretion, +and, having displayed some prowess in a passage of arms, soon obtains +an appointment in the royal service. Edward's interview with the lady +determines him to start instantly for Flanders, and the young citizen +(Borgia) accompanies him. They fall into the hands of the same Flemish +noble who had attacked the heroine; but they are rescued, and land at +the Flemish coast.--The scheme fails, as we have said: after Artevelde's +death, his daughter becomes the King's ward. The interests of the +parties now become too complicated for us to follow: we may, however, +state that "the King's Secret" is the parentage of Borgia; it was +asserted that he was "the very child reported to have been born during +the period of Queen Isabella's romantic love passages with Roger +Mortimer, at the court of Hainault."--"Be content, therefore, with +that you and til here already are possessed of, since what remains is, +and must continue, '_The King's Secret_.'" + +The heroine is the gemmy character of the story; but, in that of the +King so much license has been used as almost to defy its identification +with history. Scenes, situations, and sketches, of uncommon interest, +abound throughout the work; the manners and customs of the times, and +the details of costume and pageant glitter are worked up with great +labour--perhaps with more than is looked for or will be appreciated in +a novel. Still, they are creditable to the taste and research of the +author. Occasionally, there are scenes of bold and stirring interest, +just such as might be expected from an actor of Mr. Power's vivid +stamp. The storm sketches towards the close of the second volume are +even infinitely better than any of John Kemble's shilling waves or +Mr. Farley's last scenes. In other portions of the work, bits of +antiquarianism are so _stuck on_ the pages as to perplex, rather +than aid the descriptions, by their technicality. Here and there too +the tinsel is unsparingly sprinkled. + +Nevertheless, there is a vividness--a freshness--and altogether a +superior interest, in all the details which must render "The King's +Secret" a favourite work with the fiction-and-fact-reading public. +The scenes are so complicated in their interest, that it is scarcely +possible to detach an extract. + +In the early part of the first volume occurs a passage relative to the +resistance of the people of Ghent to the oppression of their rulers, +which smacks strongly of the enthusiasm of liberty. + +"Whilst impelled on the one hand by the strong desire to regulate +the arbitrary and oppressive exactions, which cramped their energies +and held them for ever at the mercy of their despot's caprice, and +restrained on the other hand by their habitual reverence for their +feudal princes. Artevelde stepped forth, and in their startled ears +pronounced the word "_Resist!_" His eloquence was well seconded by +the grasping severity of a needy and extravagant court, until gradually +combining their wrath and intelligence with the energies of the populace +jealous of their rights, the merchants and citizens of the cities of +Flanders rose upon the bears and butterflies who infested and robbed +them, and, thrusting them forth, set modern Europe the first fearful +example of a people's strength, and the rottenness of the wooden gods +for whom they laboured. Whilst princes, on their parts, learned a lesson +they have not since forgotten or ever ceased to practise, and combining +their hosts of slaves, lashed them onward to scare this stranger, +Freedom, from the earth, even as in our times of intelligence they have +done, and will do; and the brainless slaves, so lashed, shouted and went +forward to the murderous work which rivetted their own fetters, even as +in our time they have done, and will again do in times to come." + + * * * * * + + + + +SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS. + + * * * * * + + +TWENTY YEARS. + +BY THOMAS HAYNES BAYLY. + + + They tell me twenty years are past + Since I have look'd upon thee last, + And thought thee fairest of the fair, + With thy sylph-like form and light-brown hair! + I can remember every word + That from those smiling lips I heard: + Oh! how little it appears + Like the lapse of twenty years. + + Thou art changed! in thee I find + Beauty of another kind; + Those rich curls lie on thy brow + In a darker cluster now; + And the sylph hath given place + To the matron's form of grace.-- + Yet how little it appears + Like the lapse of twenty years. + + Still thy cheek is round and fair; + 'Mid thy curls not one grey hair; + Not one lurking sorrow lies + In the lustre of those eyes: + Thou hast felt, since last we met, + No affliction, no regret! + Wonderful! to shed no tears + In the lapse of twenty years. + + But what means that changing brow? + Tears are in those dark eyes now! + Have my rush, incautious words + Waken'd Feeling's slumbering chords? + Wherefore dost thou bid me look + At you dark-bound journal book?-- + _There_ the register appears + Of the lapse of twenty years. + + Thou hast been a happy bride, + Kneeling by a lover's side; + And unclouded was thy life, + As his loved and loving wife;-- + Thou hast worn the garb of gloom, + Kneeling by that husband's tomb;-- + Thou hast wept a widow's tears + In the lapse of twenty years. + + Oh! I see my error now, + To suppose, in cheek and brow, + Strangers may presume to find + Treasured secrets of the mind: + _There_ fond Memory still will keep + Her vigil, when she _seems_ to sleep; + Though composure re-appears + In the lapse of twenty years. + + Where's the hope that can abate + The grief of hearts thus desolate + That can Youth's keenest pangs assuage, + And mitigate the gloom of Age? + Religion bids the tempest cease, + And, leads her to a port of peace; + And on, the lonely pilot steers + Through the lapse of future years. + + +_New Monthly Magazine._ + + * * * * * + + +MEMOIRS OF THE MACAW OF A LADY OF QUALITY. + +_By Lady Morgan._ + +(_Continued from page_ 318). + + +Meantime Father Flynn, with a Jesuit's adroitness, was endeavouring to +gain his object, as I afterwards learned; but on alluding to his works +and celebrity, he discovered that the ambassador had never so much +as heard of him, though he had heard wonders of his parrot, which he +requested might be sent for. I was immediately ushered into the cabinet, +as the superior went out, and I never saw my dear master more. Perhaps +he could "bear no rival near the throne;" perhaps, in his preoccupation, +he forgot to reclaim me. Be that as it may, he sailed that night, in +a Portuguese merchantman, for Lisbon; and I became the property of +the representative of his British Majesty. After the first few days of +favouritism, I sensibly lost ground with his excellency; for he was too +deeply occupied, and had too many resources of his own, to find his +amusement in my society. During the few days I sat at his table, I +entertained his diplomatic guests with cracking nuts, extracting the +kernels, peeling oranges, talking broad Scotch and Parisian French, +chanting the "Gloria," dancing "Gai Coco," and, in fact, exhibiting all +my accomplishments. I was, however, soon sent to the secretary's office +to be taught a new jargon, and to be subjected to tricks from the +underlings of the embassy. + +Here I picked up but little, for there was but little to pick up. +I learned, however, to call for "Red tape and sealing-wax"--to cry +"What a bore!" "Did you ever see such a quiz?"--to call "Lord Charles," +"Mr. Henry," and pronounce "good for nothing"--a remark applied by the +young men to the pens, which they flung away by hundreds, and which the +servants picked up and sold, with other perquisites of office incidental +to their calling. Whenever I applied these acquisitions with effect, it +was always attributed to chance; but I was so tormented and persecuted +by Lord Charles and Mr. Henry, who being unpaid _attachés_, had +nothing to do, and helped each other to do it, that I took every +opportunity to annoy them. One day, when the ante-room was filled with +young officers of the British frigate, one of the boobies, pointing to +Lord Charles, called to me, "Poll, who is that?" I answered, "Red tape +and sealing-wax;" and raised a general shout at the expense of the +little diplomatic pedant. An Irish midshipman present, a Mr. O'Gallagher, +pointing to Mr. Henry, asked me, "Who is that, Poll?" "Good for +nothing," I replied; and Mr. Henry flew at me in a rage, swore I had +been taught to insult him, and that he would wring my neck off. This he +would have done but for the protection of the chaplain, to whose breast +I flew, and who carried me away to his own room. In a few days I was +consigned to Mr. O'Gallagher, the midshipman, as a present to the +chaplain's patroness, a lady of high rank and celebrated sanctity in +Ireland, near to whose Propaganda the family of O'Gallagher resided. I +was the bearer of a letter of introduction, in which my pious education +and saintly acquirements were set forth, my knowledge of the Creed +exposed, and myself recommended as a means of aiding her ladyship's +proselyting vocation, as animals of less intelligence had done before. +I embarked therefore on board the British frigate--an honour which +had been refused my old master, and was treated with great care and +attention during the voyage. On arriving in a British port, my young +protector got leave of absence, and took a passage in a vessel bound +for Dublin. On the morning of our coming to anchor, my cage was put on +shore on the quay, while O'Gallagher returned to look after his luggage. +Thus left to myself, I soon attracted the attention of a wretched, +squalid-looking animal, something between a scare-crow and a long-armed +gibbon. His melancholy visage dilated into a broad grin the moment he +saw me; and coming up, and making me a bow, he said, "Ah! thin, Poll, +agrah, you're welcome to ould Ireland. Would you take a taste of potato, +just to cure your say-sickness?" and he put a cold potato into my cage, +which he had been gnawing with avidity himself. The potato was among the +first articles of my food in my native paradise, and the recollection of +it awakened associations which softened me towards the poor, hospitable +creature who presented it. Still I hesitated, till he said, "Take it, +Miss, and a thousand welcomes,--take it, agrah, from poor Pat." I took +it with infinite delight; and holding it in my claws, and peeling it +with my beak, began to mutter "Poor Pat! poor Pat!" "Oh, musha, musha! +oh, by the powers!" He cried, "but that's a great bird, any how--just +like a Christian--look here, boys." A crowd now gathered round my +cage, and several exclamations, which recalled my old friends of the +Propaganda, caught my attention. "Oh! queen of glory!" cried one; "Holy +Moses!" exclaimed another; "Blessed rosary!" said a third. I turned +my head from side to side, listening; and excited by the excitement +I caused, I recited several scraps of litanies in good Latinity,--There +was first an universal silence, then an universal shout, and a general +cry of "A miracle! a miracle!" "Go to Father Murphy," said one; "Off +with ye, ye sowl, to the Counsellor," said a second; "Bring the baccah +to him," cried an old woman; "Mrs. Carey, where is your blind son?" said +a young one. Could faith have sufficed, I should indeed have worked +miracles. In the midst of my triumphs, Mr. O'Gallagher returned, carried +me off, put me in a carriage, and drove away, followed by the shouting +multitude.--That night we put up at an hotel in Sackville-street, and +the next morning the street re-echoed with cries of "Here is a full +account of the miraculous parrot just arrived in the city of Dublin, +with a list of his wonderful cures, for the small charge of one +halfpenny." Shortly after we set off by the Ballydangan heavy fly, for +Sourcraut Hall. I was placed on the top of the coach, to the delight +of the outside passengers; where I soon made an acquaintance with the +customary oratory of guards and coachmen, which produced much laughter. +I rapidly added to my vocabulary many curious phrases, among which the +most distinct were--"Aisy, now, aisy," "Get along out of that," "All's +right," &c. &c. &c. with nearly a verse of "The night before Larry was +stretched," tune and all, and the air of "Polly put the kettle on," +which the guard was practising on his bugle, to relieve the tedium of +the journey. Like all nervous animals, I am extremely susceptible to +external impressions; and the fresh air, movement, and company, had all +their usual exhilarating effects on my spirits. Our lady of Sourcraut +Hall, Lady C----, received myself and my protector with a ceremonious +and freezing politeness; asked a few questions concerning my treatment, +gentleness, and docility; and desiring my kind companion to put me on +the back of a chair, she bowed him out of the room. When he was gone, +the lady turned to a gloomy-looking man, who sat reading at a table, +and who looked so like one of the Portuguese brothers of the Propaganda, +that I took him for a _frate_--"What a poor benighted creature that +young man seems to be!" she said. The grave gentleman, who I afterwards +found was known in the neighbourhood by the title of her ladyship's +"moral agent," replied, "What, madam, would you have of an +O'Gallagher--a family of the blackest Papists in the county?" My lady +shook her head, and threw up her devout eyes.--Dinner was now announced, +and the moral agent giving his hand to the lady, I was left to sleep +away the fatigue of my journey. + +I awoke very hungry, and consequently disposed to be very talkative, but +was silenced by finding myself surrounded by a crowd of persons of both +sexes, who were eagerly gazing on me. A certain prostrate look of sly, +shy humility, lengthened their pale faces, to the exclusion of all +intellectual expression. They formed a sort of religious meeting, called +a tea-and-tract party; but the open door discovered preparations for a +more substantial conclusion to the _obbligato_ prayers and lectures +of the evening. My new mistress was evidently descanting on my merits, +and read that paragraph from the chaplain's letter which described my +early associations, my knowledge of the Creed, and announced me as +a source of edification to her servants. Two or three words of this +harangue operating on my memory, I put forth my profession of faith with +a clearness of articulation and fidelity really wonderful for a bird. +What exclamations! what turning-up of eyes! I was stifled with caresses, +intoxicated with praises, and crammed with sweetmeats. The moral agent +grew pale with jealousy, when Doctor Direful was announced. He rushed +into the room like a whirlwind, but stood aghast at beholding the devout +crowd that encircled me. Instead of the usual apophthegms, and serious +discourse, he heard nothing but "Pretty Poll," "Scratch a poll," "What +a dear bird," &c. The malicious moral agent chuckled, and explained +that the bird had, for the moment, usurped the attention which should +exclusively belong to his reverence, who had taken the pains to come so +far to enlighten the dark inmates of Sourcraut Hall. Dr. Direful stood +rolling his fierce eye (he had but one) on the abashed assembly; and, +pushing me off my perch, drove me with his handkerchief into the dense +crowd which filled the bottom of the room, and consisted of all the +servants of the house, with some recently converted Papists from +among the Sourcraut tenantry. All drew back in horror, to let one +so anathematised pass without contact. I coiled myself up near a +droll-looking little postilion, who, while turning up the whites of his +eyes, was coaxing me to him with a fragment of plumb-cake, which he had +stolen from the banquet-table. Dr. Direful returned to the centre of the +room, and mounted a desk to commence his lecture. The auditory crowded +and cowered timidly round him, while he, looking down on them with a +wrathful and contemptuous glance, was about to pour forth the pious +venom which hung upon his lips, when a sharp cry of "_Get along out +of that_" struck him dumb. Inquiry was useless, for all were ready +to swear that they had not uttered a word. Dr. Direful called them +"blasphemous liars," and proceeded one and all to empty the vials of his +wrath through the words of a text of awful denunciation, which I dare +not here repeat; but his words were again arrested by the exclamation +of, "Aisy now, aisy--what a devil of a hurry you are in!" uttered in +quick succession.--He jumped down from his altitude; and, in reply to +his renewed inquiries, a serious coachman offered up to the vengeance +of this Moloch of methodism the mischievous postilion, who had that +morning detected the not always sober son of the whip in other devotions +than those to which he professed exclusive addiction. When I saw the +rage of all parties, I thought of the roasted Indians of the Brazils, +and shuddered for the poor lad. After a short, but inquisitorial +examination, in which he in vain endeavoured to throw the blame on me, +he was stripped of his gaudy dress, and in spite of his well-founded +protestations of innocence, turned almost naked from the house. When +peace was restored, a hymn was sung as an exorcism of the evil spirit +that had gotten among the assembly; when, being determined to exculpate +the poor postilion, I joined with all my force in the chorus, with my +Catholic "_Gloria in excelsis_," which I abruptly changed into +"Polly put the kettle on." Thus taken in the fact, I was, without +ceremony, denounced as an emissary from Clongowes, brought to Sourcraut +Hall by the Papist O'Gallagher, with a forged letter, to disturb the +community. I was immediately cross-examined by a religious attorney, as +if I had been a white-boy or a ribbon-man. "Come forward," he said, "you +bird of satan!--speak out, and answer for yourself, for its yourself can +do it, you egg of the devil! What brought you here?" I answered, "It was +all for my sweet sowl's sake, jewel!"--and the answer decided my fate, +without more to do. And now loaded with all the reproaches that the +_odium theologicum_ could suggest, I was cuffed, hunted, and +finally driven out of the gates by the serious coachman, to perish on +the highway. On recovering from my fright, I found myself at the edge +of a dry ditch, where the poor shivering postilion sat lamenting his +martyrdom. I went up to him, cowering and chattering; and at the sight +of me the tears dried on his dirty cheeks--his sobs changed to a laugh +of delight; and when I hopped on his wrist, and cried "Poor Pat," all +his sufferings were forgotten. While thus occupied, a little carriage, +drawn by a superb horse, with the reins thrown loose on his beautiful +neck, ascended the hill. At the sight I screamed out "Get along out of +that!" which so frightened the high-blooded creature that he started, +and flung the two persons in the carriage fairly into the middle of the +road. One of them, in a military dress, sprung at once on his feet, and +laying the whip across the naked shoulders of the postilion, exclaimed, +"I'll teach you, you little villain, to break people's necks." "Oh! +murther! murther!" cried the poor boy, "shure, it was not me, plase +your honour, only the parrot, Captain." "What parrot, you lying rascal?" +"There, Captain, Sir, look forenenst you." The captain did look up, and +saw me perched on the branch of a scrubby hawthorn-tree. Surprised and +amused, he exclaimed, "By Jove! how odd! What a magnificent bird! Why +Poll, what the deuce brought you here?" "Eh, sirs," I replied at random, +"it was aw' for the love of the siller." The captain, and his little +groom Midge, who had picked himself up on the other side of the +cabriolet, shrieked with laughing. "I say, my boy," said the captain, +"is that macaw your's?" "It is," said the little liar. "Would you take +a guinea for it?" asked the captain. "Troth, would I; two," said the +postilion. "Done," said the captain; and pulling out his purse, and +giving the two guineas, I suffered myself to be caught and placed in +the cabriolet. The young officer sprang in after me, and, taking the +reins, pursued his journey. We slept that night at a miserable inn +in a miserable town. The next morning we arrived at my old hotel in +Sackville-street, and shortly after sailed for England. + +The Honourable George Fitz-Forward, my new master, was a younger +brother of small means and large pretensions. He had been quartered at +Kil-mac-squabble with a detachment, where he had passed the winter in +still-hunting, quelling _ructions_, shooting grouse and rebels, +spitting over the bridge, and smoking cigars; and having obtained leave +of absence, _pour se d'écrasser_, was on his way to London for the +ensuing season. We travelled in the cab by easy stages, and halted only +at great houses on the road, beginning with Plas Newyd, and ending at +Sion House. My master's rank, and my talents, were as good as board +wages to us; and as the summer was not yet sufficiently advanced for +the London winter, we found every body at home, and had an amazingly +pleasant time. My master was enchanted with his acquisition. I made the +_frais_ of every society; and my repartees and bonmots furnished +the Lord Johns and Lady Louisas with subjects for whole reams of pink +and blue note-paper. My master frequently said, "That bird is wonderful! +he is a great catch!"--and my fame had spread over the whole west end of +the town a full week before our arrival in London. + +_The Metropolitan_, No. I. + + * * * * * + + +LONDON LYRICS, + +PROVERBS. + + + My good Aunt Bridget, spite of age, + Versed in Valerian, Dock, and Sage, + Well knew the Virtues of herbs; + But Proverbs gain'd her chief applause, + "Child," she exclaimed, "respect old saws, + And pin your faith on Proverbs." + + Thus taught, I dubb'd my lot secure; + And, playing long-rope, "slow and sure," + Conceived my movement clever; + When lo! an urchin by my side + Push'd me head foremost in, and cried-- + "Keep Moving," "Now or Never," + + At Melton, next, I join'd the hunt, + Of bogs and bushes bore the brunt, + Nor once my courser held in; + But when I saw a yawning steep, + I thought of "Look before you leap," + And curb'd my eager gelding. + + While doubtful thus I rein'd my roan, + Willing to save a fractured bone, + Yet fearful of exposure, + A sportsman thus my spirit stirr'd-- + "Delays are dangerous;"--I spurr'd + My steed, and leap'd th' enclosure. + + I ogled Jane, who heard me say + That "Rome was not built in a day," + When lo: Sir Fleet O'Grady + Put this, my saw, to sea again, + And proved, by running off with Jane, + "Faint heart ne'er won fair Lady." + + Aware "New Brooms sweep clean," I took + An untaught tyro for a cook, + (The tale I tell a fact is) + She spoilt my soup; but, when I chid, + She thus once more my work undid, + "Perfection comes from Practice." + + Thus, out of every adage hit, + And, finding that ancestral wit + As changeful as the clime is: + From Proverbs, turning on my heel, + I now cull Wisdom from my seal, + Who's motto's "Ne quid nimis." + + +_New Monthly Magazine._ + + * * * * * + + + + +THE GATHERER. + + A snapper up of unconsidered trifles. + SHAKSPEARE. + + * * * * * + + +SHIP LAUNCH. + +In a few months a new ship will be launched, called the _Reform_. +Admiral, _William the Fourth_--Chief Mate, _Grey_--Pilot, +_Brougham_--Purser, _Russell_--_Crew_, the people of England, Scotland, +and Ireland. Bound to Palace Yard, Westminster; freight uncommonly +cheap, with good stowage. + +N.B. For further particulars inquire of Bob _Oldborough_, at the +sign of the _Tumble down_ Dick, _Borough_, Southwark. + +P.T.W. + + * * * * * + +Gold coins (ix James I.) were raised by proclamation, 2s. in every 20s. + +_Groat_.--In the Saxon time, we had no silver money bigger than +a penny, nor after the conquest, till Edward III. who about the year +1351, coined grosses (i.e. groats, or great pieces) which went for 4d. +a-piece; and so the matter stood till the reign of Henry VII. who in +1504 first coined shillings. + +G.K. + + * * * * * + + +TWO THOUSAND POUNDS REFUSED BY A BURGESS FOR HIS VOTE. + +Oldfield, in his _History of Boroughs_, says, "On the death of +the late Lord Holmes, a very powerful attempt was made by Sir William +Oglander and some other neighbouring gentlemen, to deprive his +lordship's nephew and successor, the Rev. Mr. Troughear Holmes, of his +influence over the Corporation of Newport, Isle of Wight. The number of +that body was at that time _twenty-three_, there being one vacancy +amongst the aldermen, occasioned by the recent death of Lord Holmes. +Eleven of them continued firm to the interest of the nephew, and the +same number was equally eager to transfer that interest to Sir William +Oglander and the Worsley family. A Mr. Taylor of this town, one of the +burgesses, withheld his declaration, and as his vote would decide the +balance of future influence, it was imagined that he only suspended it +for the purpose of private advantage. Agreeably to that idea, he was +eagerly sought by the agents of each party. The first who applied is +said to have made him an offer of 2.000l. Mr. Taylor had actually made +up his mind to have voted with his party, but the moment his integrity +and independence were attacked, he reversed his determination, and +resolved to give his suffrage on the opposite side. That party, however, +like their opponents, being ignorant of the favour designed them, +and of the accident to which they owed it, assailed him with a more +advantageous offer. He informed them that he had but just formed the +resolution, in consequence of a similar insult from their adversaries, +of giving them his support, but since he had discovered that they were +both aiming at power by the same means, he was determined to vote +for neither of them; and to put himself out of the power of further +temptation, he resolved to resign his gown as a burgess of the +corporation; which he accordingly did the next day." + +P.T.W. + + * * * * * + + +CARDINAL WOLSEY. + +Limington, one mile east from Ilchester, in Somersetshire, is noted on +account of a school having been kept there by the great Cardinal Wolsey +in the early part of his life, who whilst in this situation was, for a +misdemeanour, put into the stocks by Sir Amias Pawlett. This indignity +was never forgiven by the haughty prelate, who, when in power, made Sir +Amias feel the weight of his resentment, by making him dance attendance +at the court for many years, whilst soliciting a favour. + +C.D. + + * * * * * + +_On an unsuccessful Oculist, who became a Tallow Chandler._ + + + So many of the human kind, + Under his hands became stone blind, + That for such failings to atone, + At length he let the trade alone; + And ever after in despite + Of darkness, liv'd by giving, light; + But Death who has exciseman's power + To enter houses every hour, + Thinking his light grew rather sallow, + Snuffed out his wick, and seized his tallow. + + +I.H. + + * * * * * + + +TO CORRESPONDENTS. + +We are again compelled to remind our Correspondents that by the +multiplicity of their well-intended communications, we are unable +to answer them individually otherwise than by the insertion of their +papers. We receive upwards of 150 letters during the month, and were we +to promise replies to all of them, our Editorial duties would he heavy +indeed, especially as the correspondence is but one of the many features +of the _Mirror_. + + * * * * * + +_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 12634 *** |