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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 12781 ***
+
+THE MIRROR OF LITERATURE, AMUSEMENT, AND INSTRUCTION.
+
+VOL. 17, No. 485.] SATURDAY, APRIL 16, 1831. [PRICE 2d.
+
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+MOCHA.
+
+[Illustration: MOCHA.]
+
+
+"_Bon pour la digestion_," said the young Princess Esterhazy, when sent to
+bed by her governess without her dinner; we say the same of _coffee_; and
+hope the reader will think the same of Mocha, or the place whence the
+finest quality is exported.
+
+Mocha, the coffee-drinker need not be told, is a place of some importance
+on the borders of the Red Sea, in that part of Arabia termed "Felix," or
+"Happy." "The town looks white and cheerful, the houses lofty, and have a
+square, solid appearance; the roadstead is almost open, being only
+protected by two narrow spits of sand--on one of which is a round castle,
+and the other an insignificant fort."
+
+Lord Valentia[1] visited Mocha repeatedly during his examination of the
+shores of the Red Sea; and his description is the most full and minute:--
+
+    [1] From whose work the Engraving is copied.
+
+"Its appearance from the sea is, he says, tolerably handsome, as all the
+buildings are white-washed, and the minarets of the three mosques rise to
+a considerable height. The uniform line of the flat-roofed houses is also
+broken by several circular domes of _kobbas_, or chapels. On landing at a
+pier, which has been constructed for the convenience of trade, the effect
+is improved by the battlements of the walls, and a lofty tower on which
+cannon are mounted, which advances before the town, and is meant to
+protect the sea gate. The moment, however, that the traveller passes the
+gates, these pleasing ideas are put to flight by the filth that abounds in
+every street, and more particularly in the open spaces which are left
+within the walls, by the gradual decay of the deserted habitations which
+once filled them. The principal building in the town is the residence of
+the dola, which is large and lofty, having one front to the sea, and
+another to a square. Another side of the square, which is the only regular
+place in the town, is filled up by the official residence of the _bas
+kateb_, or secretary of state, and an extensive serai, built by the
+Turkish pacha during the time that Mocha was tributary to the Grand
+Seignior. These buildings externally have no pretensions to architectural
+elegance, yet are by no means ugly objects, from their turretted tops, and
+fantastic ornaments in white stucco. The windows are in general small,
+stuck into the wall in an irregular manner, closed with lattices, and
+sometimes opening into a wooden, carved-work balcony. In the upper
+apartments, there is generally a range of circular windows above the
+others, filled with thin strata of a transparent stone, which is found in
+veins in a mountain near Sanaa. None of these can be opened, and only a
+few of the lower ones, in consequence of which, a thorough air is rare in
+their houses; yet the people of rank do not seem oppressed by the heat,
+which is frequently almost insupportable to a European.
+
+"The best houses are all facing the sea, and chiefly to the north of the
+sea gate. The British factory is a large and lofty building, but has most
+of the inconveniences of an Arab house.
+
+"The town of Mocha is surrounded by a wall, which towards the sea is not
+above sixteen feet high, though on the land side it may, in some places,
+be thirty. In every part it is too thin to resist a cannon-ball, and the
+batteries along shore are unable to bear the shock of firing the cannon
+that are upon them.
+
+"The climate of Mocha is extremely sultry,[2] owing to its vicinity to the
+arid sands of Africa, over which the S.E. wind blows for so long a
+continuance, as not to be cooled in its short passage over the sea below
+the Straits Babel Mandel.
+
+    [2] From 90 to 95 deg. Fahr in July.
+
+"Mocha, according to some learned natives, was not in existence four
+hundred years ago; from which period we know nothing of it, till the
+discoveries and conquests of the Portuguese in India opened the Red Sea to
+the natives of Europe."
+
+Mrs. Lushington, in her interesting _Journey from Calcutta to Europe_,
+says, "the coffee-bean is cultivated in the interior, and is thence
+brought to Mocha for exportation. The Arabs themselves use the husks,
+which make but an inferior infusion. Every lady who pays a visit, carries
+a small bag of coffee with her, which enables her 'to enjoy society
+without putting her friends to expense.'"
+
+Mocha coffee is in smaller berries than other kinds, and its flavour is
+extremely fine. Hundreds of pages have been written on the origin and
+introduction of coffee as a beverage. In the _Coffee-drinker's Manual_,
+translated from the French, we find it dated at the middle of the
+seventeenth century, and in that quarter of Arabia wherein Mocha is
+situated.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+ORIGIN OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS.
+
+(_To the Editor._)
+
+
+As a general reader of your entertaining miscellany, I take the liberty to
+correct a mistake in No. 481, relative to the Origin of the House of
+Commons, which is indirectly stated to have _originated from the Battle of
+Evesham_. It is true that the earliest instance on record of the
+assembling in parliament representatives of the people occurred in the
+same year with the battle of Evesham; but it had no connexion whatever
+with the event of that engagement, since the parliament (to which for the
+first time citizens and burgesses were summoned) was assembled through the
+influence of the Earl of Leicester, who then held the king under his
+control; and the meeting took place in the beginning of the year 1265, the
+writs of summons having been issued in November, 1264; while the battle of
+Evesham, in which the Earl of Leicester was killed, did not happen till
+August 4, 1265, or between five and six months after the conclusion of the
+parliament. From that period to the death of Henry III. in 1272, it does
+not appear that any election of citizens or burgesses, to attend
+parliament, occurred. The next instance of such elections seems to have
+happened in the 18th of Edward I.; and the first returns to such writs of
+summons extant are dated the 23rd of the same reign, since which, with a
+few intermissions, they have been regularly continued.
+
+The correctness of these statements will appear from a reference to the
+4th and 5th chapters of Sir W. Betham's recently published work on
+"Dignities Feudal and Parliamentary," or to Sir James Mackintosh's History
+of England.
+
+M.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+We admit that the battle of Evesham, literally speaking, was not the
+origin of the House of Commons, and wish our correspondent P.T.W. had
+furnished us with the name of the "modern writer" who has made the
+assertion. At the same time it must be conceded that the fall of Simon de
+Montfort, at Evesham, led to the more speedy consummation of the wished
+for object. Thus Sir James Mackintosh, History of England, vol. i. p. 236,
+says--
+
+"Simon de Montfort, at the very moment of his fall, set the example of an
+extensive reformation in the frame of parliament, which, though his
+authority was not acknowledged by the punctilious adherents to the letter
+and forms of law, was afterwards legally adopted by Edward, and rendered
+the parliament of that year the model of the British parliament, and in a
+considerable degree affected the constitution of all other representative
+assemblies. It may indeed be considered as the practical discovery of
+popular representation. The particulars of the war are faintly discerned
+at the distance of six or seven centuries. The reformation of parliament,
+which first afforded proof from experience that liberty, order, greatness,
+power, and wealth, are capable of being blended together in a degree of
+harmony which the wisest men had not before believed to be possible, will
+be held in everlasting remembrance. He died unconscious of the
+imperishable name which he acquired by an act which he probably considered
+as of very small importance--the summoning a parliament, of which the
+lower house was composed, as it has ever since been formed, of knights of
+the shires, and members for cities and boroughs. He thus unknowingly
+determined that England was to be a free country; and he was the blind
+instrument of disclosing to the world that great institution of
+representation which was to introduce into popular governments a
+regularity and order far more perfect than had heretofore been purchased
+by submission to absolute power, and to draw forth liberty from
+confinement in single cities to a fitness for being spread over
+territories which, experience does not forbid us to hope, may be as vast
+as have ever been grasped by the iron gripe of a despotic conqueror. The
+origin of so happy an innovation is one of the most interesting objects of
+inquiry which occurs in human affairs; but we have scarcely any positive
+information on the subject; for our ancient historians, though they are
+not wanting in diligently recording the number and the acts of national
+assemblies, describe their composition in a manner too general to be
+instructive, and take little note of novelty or peculiarity in the
+constitution of that which was called by the Earl of Leicester.
+
+"That assembly met at London, on the 22nd of January, 1265, according to
+writs still extant, and the earliest of their kind known to us, directing
+'the sheriffs to elect and return two knights for each county, two
+citizens for each city, and two burgesses for every burgh in the county.'
+If this assembly be supposed to be the same which is vested with the power
+of granting supply by the Great Charter of John, the constitution must be
+thought to have undergone an extensive, though unrecorded, revolution in
+the somewhat inadequate space of only fifty years, which had elapsed since
+the capitulation of Runnymede; for in the Great Charter we find the
+tenants of the crown in chief alone expressly mentioned as forming with
+the prelates and peers the common council for purposes of taxation; and
+even they seem to have been required to give their personal attendance,
+the important circumstances of election and representation not being
+mentioned in the treaty with John;--neither does it contain any
+stipulation of sufficient distinctness applicable to cities and boroughs,
+for which the charter provides no more than the maintenance of their
+ancient liberties.
+
+"Probably conjecture is all that can now be expected respecting the rise
+and progress of these changes. It is, indeed, beyond all doubt, that by
+the constitution, even as subsisting under the early Normans, the great
+council shared the legislative power with the king, as clearly as the
+parliament have since done.[3] But these great councils do not seem to
+have contained members of popular choice; and the king, who was supported
+by the revenue of his demesnes, and by dues from his military tenants,
+does not appear at first to have imposed, by legislative authority,
+general taxes to provide for the security and good government of the
+community.--These were abstract notions, not prevalent in ages when the
+monarch was a lord paramount rather than a supreme magistrate. Many of the
+feudal perquisites had been arbitrarily augmented, and oppressively
+levied. These the Great Charter, in some cases, reduced to a certain sum;
+while it limited the period of military service itself. With respect to
+scutages and aids, which were not capable of being reduced to a fixed
+rate, the security adopted was, that they should never be legal, unless
+they were assented to at least by the majority of those who were to pay
+them. Now these were not the people at large, but the military tenants of
+the crown, who are accordingly the only persons entitled to be present at
+the great council to be holden for taxation. Very early, however,
+talliages had been exacted by the crown from those who were not military
+tenants; and this imposition daily grew in importance with the relaxation
+of the feudal tenures, and the increasing opulence of towns. The attempt
+of the barons to include talliage, and even the vague mention of the
+privileges of burghs, are decisive symptoms of this silent revolution. But
+the generally feudal character of the charter and the main object of its
+framers prevailed over that premature, but very honest, effort of the
+barons."
+
+    [3] "Legis habet vigorem, quicquid de consilio et consensu
+        magnatum et reipublicæ communi sponsione, authoritate regis,
+        juste fuerit definitum."--_Bracton_.
+
+We recommend the reader to turn to the pages succeeding the above extract,
+where the views of the enlightened author and statesman on the origin of
+our parliament are set forth in perspicuous and masterly style.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+VISIT TO CORFE CASTLE.
+
+(_From a Correspondent._)
+
+
+This is Corfe Castle! the celebrated structure, the date of which, and the
+founder of which, are lost in antiquity:
+
+          "It stands to tell
+  A melancholy tale, to give
+  An awful warning; soon
+  Oblivion will steal silently
+  The remnant of its fame."
+
+The castle is situate on the summit of a vast pyramidical mound, situated
+abruptly in an opening of the chalk range extending from Ballard Down to
+Worthbarrow in the Isle of Purbeck, county of Dorset. The walls are
+extremely thick, (12 feet in some places,) and are about half a mile in
+circuit. On the northern side the steepness of the ascent renders it
+inaccessible, and on the south is a deep ditch, over which is a bridge of
+three arches commanded by a gateway, flanked by two circular massive
+towers. The first ward has several towers. Passing onwards in a
+considerable ascent, we reached a second bridge guarded by a gate and
+towers, and entered the second ward, in which are the ruins of five
+towers. Winding round to the right, the explorer enters on the third and
+principal ward, which stands on the summit of the hill; here were the
+state apartments, store rooms, chapel, &c. built on vaults. The view from
+this portion of the ruin is magnificent. A wide expanse of flat country
+extending to Lytchett Bay and Poole, lies immediately at your feet. The
+gloomy fir trees wave in solemnity, and form in their darkness, a striking
+contrast with the dwellings that are scattered over the scene, and appear
+like specks of dazzling white; the estuary of Poole Harbour stretches
+along the distance like a mirror, and its molten silver-like appearance is
+broken here and there by small islands, among which Brownsea is
+conspicuous. Here we stood leaning over the northern battlement
+contemplating the face of a delightful country, smiling in peace,--from
+the stern and rugged fastness of war.
+
+It was a bright summer's day; strong masses of light and shade lay
+sleeping on the walls of the ruins, the dungeons were partially lighted by
+the rays which broke into their gloom, and it chanced to be a village
+holiday:
+
+  "Within the massy prison's mouldering courts,
+  Fearless and free the ruddy children played,
+  Weaving gay chaplets for their innocent brows
+  With the green ivy and the red wall-flower,
+  That mocks the dungeon's unavailing gloom;
+  The ponderous chains and gratings of strong iron,
+  There rusted amid heaps of broken stone
+  That mingled slowly with their native earth.
+  There the broad beam of day, which feebly once
+  Lighted the cheek of lean captivity
+  With a pale and sickly glare, then freely shone
+  On the pure smiles of infant playfulness.
+  No more the shuddering voice of hoarse despair
+  Pealed through the echoing vaults, but soothing notes
+  Of joy fingered winds and gladsome birds
+  And merriment were resonant around."
+
+Such were our feelings as we wandered musing and admiring amid the
+stupendous ruins of this once magnificent fabric.
+
+  "Now Time his dusky pennons o'er the scene,
+  Closes in stedfast darkness."
+
+The pomp of its splendour has passed away, and the stern wardour disputing
+entrance to the belted knight is now succeeded by a lank cobbler, who
+watches for lounging strangers, and acts as "_Cicerone_," blending the
+most absurd and ridiculous stories in order to eke another sixpence from
+the purse of his auditor, and to add greater importance to himself; but he
+had a most amusing method of answering any startling questions as to date,
+by significantly observing in the purest Dorset dialect, "Why Lord love
+ye, zur, it wur avore the memory of ony maun in the parish!"
+
+Apropos to dates, the earliest mention of Corfe is A.D. 978, when the
+Saxon annals narrate the murder of Edward, King of the West Saxons,
+committed here by his mother-in-law, Elfrida.
+
+It was in the gloomy dungeons of this castle that King John starved to
+death twenty-two prisoners of war, many of whom were among the first
+nobility of Poictu, victims to the cruelty of a barbarous sceptered
+tyrant! Then again, we thought of the fate of Peter of Pontefract, the
+imprudent prophet, who, if he had turned over a page in the book of fate,
+should have folded down the leaf instead of incurring the monarch's
+vengeance by meddling with state affairs.
+
+It was in this fortress that the unfortunate Edward II. was murdered in
+1372, by his cruel keepers, Sir John Maltravers, and Sir Thomas Gurney,
+who having removed the dethroned monarch from castle to castle, subjecting
+him to every hardship and indignity, hoping that ill-treatment might
+shorten his days. At last they determined amidst the profound security
+afforded by this impregnable castle, to effect his death in the most
+horrible manner, in order to prevent marks of violence being seen on his
+corpse, namely, by inserting a horn tube into his body, through which was
+conveyed a red-hot iron! Well may the traveller shudder at these ruins as
+they beetle over him in frowning ruggedness, for they have been the
+murderers' den; and doubtless many a deed of slaughter has been committed
+in them, which has never come to light, under tyrannical power, which has
+never come to the knowledge of men or blotted the page of history.
+
+The vast masses of the castle ruins which lie scattered about and in the
+vale below, form a scene of havoc and devastation, at once magnificent and
+impressive. The towers were blasted with gunpowder, and many
+
+               "Which do slope
+  Their heads to their foundations,"
+
+appear as if they were yet staggering from the blast of the mine which
+sprung them from their beds; they lean as if ready to tumble down the
+steep sides of the hill, and appear as if a child's finger would roll them
+headlong. The ruins are in the possession of the family of Bankes.
+
+In a meadow in the vale on the west side, which leads, by the by, to
+Orchard Farm, is to be seen a curious earthwork, apparently ancient
+British, which, from its structure, might have been a place of druidical
+judicature, or for pastimes. This relic has, we believe, escaped the
+notice of the intelligent Rev. John Clavell of Kimmeridge; and if the
+public are ever to be favoured with the result of his studies and patient
+investigations, it will be one of the most extraordinary productions of
+its kind.
+
+There is a small work on Corfe Castle, published by a very intelligent
+resident of Wareham; and we are in hopes that the grey and hoary ruins may
+call forth the muse of J.F. Pennie, who resides on this wild romantic
+district, and whom we met with pleasure in our rambles.
+
+JAMES SILVESTER, SEN.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+NOTES OF A READER.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+KNOWLEDGE FOR THE PEOPLE; OR, THE PLAIN WHY AND BECAUSE.
+
+Part 6.--_Sports and Pastimes._
+
+
+We quote the following from HUNTING:
+
+Why is it inferred that hunting was practised by the ancient Britons?
+
+Because Dionysius (who lived 50 B.C.) says, that the inhabitants of the
+northern part of this island tilled no ground, but lived in great part
+upon the food they procured by hunting. Strabo (nearly contemporary) also
+says, that the dogs bred in Britain were highly esteemed upon the
+continent, on account of their excellent qualities for hunting.
+
+Cæsar tells us, that venison constituted a great portion of their food;
+and as they had in their possession such dogs as were naturally prone to
+the chase, there can be little doubt that they would exercise them for
+procuring their favourite diet; besides, they kept large herds of cattle
+and flocks of sheep, both of which required protection from the wolves and
+other ferocious animals that infested the woods and coverts, and must
+frequently have rendered hunting an act of absolute necessity.--_Strutt._
+
+Why is hunting considered more ancient than hawking?
+
+Because, in the earliest ages of the world, hunting was a necessary labour
+of self-defence, or the first law of nature, rather than a pastime; while
+hawking could never have been adopted from necessity, or in
+self-protection.
+
+Why was hunting originally considered a royal and noble sport?
+
+Because, as early as the ninth century, it formed an essential part of the
+education of a young nobleman. Alfred the Great was an expert and
+successful hunter before he was twelve years of age. Among the tributes
+imposed by Athelstan, upon a victory over Constantine, King of Wales, were
+"hawks and sharp-scented dogs, fit for hunting of wild beasts." Edward the
+Confessor "took the greatest delight to follow a pack of swift hounds in
+pursuit of game, and to cheer them with his voice."--_Malmesbury._ Harold,
+his successor, rarely travelled without his hawk and hounds. William the
+Norman, and his immediate successors, restricted hunting to themselves and
+their favourites. King John was particularly attached to field sports, and
+even treated the animals worse than his subjects. In the reign of Edward
+II. hunting was reduced to a perfect science, and rules established for
+its practice; these were afterwards extended by the _master of the game_
+belonging to Henry IV., and drawn up for the use of his son, Henry Prince
+of Wales, in two tracts, which are extant. Edward III., according to
+Froissart, while at war with France, and resident there, had with him
+sixty couple of stag-hounds, and as many hare-hounds, and every day hunted
+or hawked. Gaston, Earl of Foix, a foreign nobleman, contemporary with
+Edward, also kept six hundred dogs in his castle for hunting. James I.
+preferred hunting to hawking or shooting; so that it was said of him, "he
+divided his time betwixt his standish, his bottle, and his hunting; the
+last had his fair weather, the two former his dull and cloudy."
+
+Ladies' hunting-dresses of the 15th century, as figured in Strutt's
+Sports, &c., differ but little from the modern riding habit.
+
+Why are greyhounds still petted by ladies?
+
+Because in former times they were considered as valuable presents,
+especially among the ladies, with whom they appear to have been peculiar
+favourites. In an ancient metrical romance (Sir Eglamore), a princess
+tells the knight, that if he was inclined to hunt, she would, as an
+especial mark of her favour, give him an excellent greyhound, so swift
+that no deer could escape from his pursuit.--_Strutt._
+
+Why were certain forests called royal chases?
+
+Because the privileges of hunting there were confined to the king and his
+favourites; and, to render these receptacles for the beasts of the chase
+more capacious, or to make new ones, whole villages were depopulated, and
+places of divine worship overthrown, not the least regard being paid to
+the miseries of the suffering inhabitants, or the cause of
+religion.--_Strutt._
+
+Why were lands first imparked?
+
+Because their owners might still more effectually preserve deer and other
+animals for hunting.
+
+A recent French newspaper gave notice of an association for the purpose of
+enabling persons of all ranks to enjoy the pleasures of the chase. A park
+of great extent is to be taken on lease near Paris; its extent is about
+six thousand acres, partly arable, and partly forest ground. The plan is,
+to open it to subscribers during six months--viz. from September 1 to
+March 1, an ample stock of game being secured in preserves.
+
+Why were parks and inclosures usually attached to priories?
+
+Because they were receptacles of game for the clergy of rank, who at all
+times had the privilege of hunting in their own possessions. At the time
+of the Reformation, the see of Norwich only was in the possession of no
+less than thirteen parks, well stocked with deer and other animals for the
+chase.--_Spelman._
+
+The eagerness of the clergy for hunting is described as irrepressible.
+Prohibitions of councils produced little effect. In some instances a
+particular monastery obtained a dispensation. Thus, that of St. Denis, in
+774, represented to Charlemagne that the flesh of hunted animals was
+salutary for sick monks, and that their skins would serve to bind books in
+the library. Alexander III., by a letter to the clergy of Berkshire,
+dispenses with their keeping the archdeacon in dogs and hawks during his
+visitation.--_Rymer._ An archbishop of York, in 1321, carried a train of
+two hundred persons, who were maintained at the expense of the abbeys on
+his road, and who hunted with a pack of hounds from parish to
+parish!--_Whitaker's Hist. of Craven_, quoted in _Hallam's Hist. Middle
+Ages_.
+
+Why was hunting formerly a very convenient resource for the wholesomeness,
+as well as luxury, of the table?
+
+Because the natural pastures being then unimproved, and few kinds of
+fodder for cattle discovered, it was impossible to maintain the summer
+stock during the cold season. Hence a portion of it was regularly
+slaughtered and salted for winter provision. We may suppose, therefore,
+that when no alternative was offered but these salt meats, even the
+leanest venison was devoured with relish.--_Hallam's Hist. Middle Ages._
+
+Why were all the great forests pierced by those long rectilinear alleys
+which appear in old prints, and are mentioned in old books?
+
+Because the avenues were particularly necessary for those large parties,
+resembling our modern _battues_, where the honoured guests being stationed
+in fit _standings_, had an opportunity of displaying their skill in venery
+by selecting the buck which was in season, and their dexterity at bringing
+him down with the cross-bow or long-bow.
+
+Why should a deer-park exhibit but little artificial arrangement in its
+disposal?
+
+Because the stag, by nature one of the freest denizens of the forest, can
+only be kept even under comparative restraint, by taking care that all
+around him intimates a complete state of forest and wilderness. Thus,
+there ought to be a variety of broken ground, of copse-wood, and of
+growing timber--of land, and of water. The soil and herbage must be left
+in its natural state; the long fern, amongst which the fawns delight to
+repose, must not be destroyed.
+
+Why did the common people formerly call the forest "good," and the
+greenwood "merry?"
+
+Because of the pleasure they took in the scenes themselves, as well as in
+the pastimes which they afforded.
+
+Why is a short gallop called a canter?
+
+Because of its abbreviation from Canterbury, the name of the pace used by
+the monks in going to that city.
+
+Why was a certain noise called the "hunt's-up?"
+
+Because it was made to rouse a person in a morning; originally a tune
+played to wake the sportsmen, and call them together, the purport of which
+was, _The hunt is up!_ which was the subject of hunting ballads also.
+
+This expression is common among the older poets. One Gray, it is said,
+grew into good estimation with Henry VIII. and the Duke of Somerset, "for
+making certaine merry ballades, whereof one chiefly was, _the hunte is up!
+the hunte is up!_" Shakspeare has--
+
+  Since arm from arm that voice doth us affray,
+  Hunting thee hence with _hunts-up_ to the day.
+                            _Romeo and Juliet._
+
+Again, in Drayton's _Polyolbion_--
+
+  No sooner doth the earth her flow'ry bosom brave,
+  At such time as the year brings on the pleasant spring,
+  But _hunts-up_ to the morn the feather'd sylvans sing.
+
+Why is a small hunting horn called a bugle?
+
+Because of its origin from _bugill_, which means a buffalo, or perhaps any
+horned cattle. In the Scottish dialect it was _bogle_, or _bowgill_.
+_Buffe_, _bugle_, and _buffalo_, are all given by Barrett, as synonimous
+for the wild ox.--_Nares' Glossary_.
+
+Why is the stirrup so called?
+
+Because of its origin from _stigh-rope_, from _stigan ascendere_, to
+mount; and thus termed by our Saxon ancestors, from a rope being used for
+mounting when stirrups began to be used in this island. It is evident,
+from various monuments of antiquity, that, at first, horsemen rode without
+either saddles or stirrups.
+
+Why are sportsmen said to hunt counter?
+
+Because they hunt the wrong way, and trace the scent backwards. Thus, in
+an old-work, _Gentleman's Recreations_: "When the hounds or beagles hunt
+it by the heel, we say they hunt counter." To hunt by the heel must be to
+go towards the heel instead of the toe of the game--i.e.
+backwards.--_Nares_.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+WEATHER AT PARIS.
+
+
+It appears from observations made at the Royal Observatory in Paris, that,
+in the year 1830, the number of fine days was 164; of cloudy, 181; of
+rainy, 149; of foggy, 228; of frosty, 28; of snowy, 24; of sleety, 8; of
+thundery, 13. The wind was northerly 44 times; north-easterly, 23 times;
+easterly, 17 times; south-easterly, 23 times; southerly, 74 times;
+south-westerly, 69 times; westerly, 71 times; and north-westerly, 47
+times.--_New Monthly Magazine._
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+BEER HOUSES.
+
+
+It appears, from Parliamentary Returns, that _five thousand three hundred
+and seventy-nine_ "beer houses" have been opened under the new Act in
+England and Wales; while the number of public-houses licensed is
+forty-five thousand six hundred and twenty-four. The number of beer-houses
+opened in Wales, is one thousand seven hundred and seventy-three, nearly
+half the number opened in all England--the number for England is three
+thousand six hundred and six.--_Ib._
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+SAVINGS' BANKS.
+
+
+According to a Parliamentary Return just printed, the gross amount of sums
+received on account of savings' banks is, since their establishment in
+1817, 20,760,228l. Amount of sums paid, 5,648,338l. The balance therefore
+is, 15,111,890l. It also states that the gross amount of interest paid and
+credited to savings' banks by the commissioners for the reduction of the
+national debt is, 5,141,410l. 8s. 7d.--_Ibid._
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+SOAP.
+
+
+According to the Parliamentary Returns, the quantity of soap charged with
+the excise duty in great Britain, in the year ending the 5th of January,
+1830, was--of hard soap, 103,041,961 lbs.; of soft soap, 9,068,918 lbs. In
+the year ending the 5th of January last, the quantity was--of hard,
+117,324,320 lbs.; and of soft, 10,209,519 lbs. The number of licenses
+granted to soap-makers in the United Kingdom in the former year was 585,
+and in the latter 542.--_Ib._
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+AUTOGRAPHS.
+
+[Illustration: AUTOGRAPHS.]
+
+
+We have the pleasure of resuming these innate illustrations of genius.
+Some of the present specimens are copied from the plate appended to the
+_Edinburgh Literary Journal_, whence the page in No. 478 of the _Mirror_
+was taken. First is
+
+LEIGH HUNT.--Leigh Hunt's writing is a good deal like the man: it is
+constrainedly easy, with an affectation of ornament, yet withal a good
+hand. The signature is copied from a letter written to a friend in
+Edinburgh, in 1820; and as one part of this letter is curious and
+interesting, we have pleasure in presenting it to our readers. We are
+inclined to believe that there are many good points about Leigh Hunt. We
+like the spirit of the following extract from his letter:--
+
+"And this reminds me to tell you, that I am not the author of the book
+called the Scottish Fiddle, which I have barely seen. The name alone, if
+you had known me, would have convinced you that I could not have been the
+author. I had made quite mistakes enough about Sir Walter, not to have to
+answer for this too. I took him for a mere courtier and political bigot.
+When I read his novels, which I did very lately, at one large glut (with
+the exception of the Black Dwarf, which I read before), I found that when
+he spoke so charitably of the mistakes of kings and bigots, he spoke out
+of an abundance of knowledge, instead of narrowness, and that he could
+look with a kind eye also at the mistakes of the people. If I still think
+he has too great a leaning to the former, and that his humanity is a
+little too much embittered with spleen, I can still see and respect the
+vast difference between the spirit which I formerly thought I saw in him,
+and the little lurking contempts and misanthropies of a naturally wise and
+kind man, whose blood perhaps has been somewhat saddened by the united
+force of thinking and sickliness. He wishes us all so well that he is
+angry at not finding us better. His works occupy the best part of some
+book-shelves always before me, where they continually fill me with
+admiration for the author's genius, and with regret for my petty mistakes
+about it."--_Edinburgh Literary Journal._
+
+J. SINCLAIR--the signature of the venerable Sir John Sinclair, Bart., who
+has written and edited upwards of 25 useful works.
+
+CAROLINE NORTON--the Honourable Mrs. Norton, author of the "Sorrows of
+Rosalie," the "Undying One," &c., and grand-daughter of the late Mr.
+Thomas Sheridan. This signature is from a superb portrait in a recent
+Number of the _New Monthly Magazine_: a lovelier and more intellectual
+head and front we never beheld.
+
+B.R. HAYDON--peculiarly characteristic of the writer's style of
+painting--large and bold. Whoever has seen his _Napoleon_, just opened for
+exhibition, must, we think, acknowledge the above identity. In our next
+Number we intend to notice the above triumph of art.
+
+ALARIC A. WATTS--an elegant hand, worthy of the editor of the most elegant
+of the Annuals: this, however, is not Mr. Watts's ordinary signature.
+
+J. MONTGOMERY.--This hand is far more redundant in ornament than one would
+have expected from so gentle and talented a Quaker; but the Quaker has
+been lost in the poet, as an old grey wall is concealed under a luxuriant
+mantling of ivy. The autograph now engraved is copied from the signature
+attached to the original of his beautiful poem on Night, beginning--"Night
+is the time for rest."--_Edinburgh Literary Journ._
+
+CH. MAURICE DE TALLEYRAND--whose life will hereafter be traced throughout
+a volume of the history of the last and present century. His age is 77.
+This signature is copied from the Frontispiece to the last edition to the
+_Court and Camp of Bonaparte_, in the _Family Library_, which is a fine
+portrait of Talleyrand, engraved by Finden, from a picture by Girard.
+
+H. MACKENZIE--author of the _Man of Feeling_, &c. He died during the past
+year, in Edinburgh.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+FINE ARTS.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+PANORAMA OF HOBART TOWN.
+
+
+Mr. R. Burford, the most successful panorama painter of his day, has
+lately completed a View of Hobart Town, Van Dieman's Land, and the
+surrounding country, which he is now exhibiting in the Strand. It is not,
+perhaps, the most striking picture this ingenious artist has produced, yet
+it is certainly one of the most interesting. The embellishments of books
+of travels, the sketches of tourists, and the extravagant _annual_ prints,
+have familiarized the stay-at-home reader with almost every city on the
+European continent; but a view in Van Dieman's Land is much more of a
+novelty. It is comparatively a _terra incognita_, about which every one
+must feel some curiosity, though more rationally expressed than that of a
+King of Persia, who asked what sort of a place America was--"underground,
+or how?" For the purpose of giving a general idea of a country, a
+panoramic painting is well adapted: the size of the objects is at once
+natural, there is no straining of eyes to make them out, and the effect of
+the whole scene is that of being dropped in the midst of the country, and
+its surface at once spread before us.
+
+Of Hobart Town we quote a brief description from Mr. Burford's pamphlet,
+or key to the picture:--
+
+"The capital and seat of government of Van Dieman's Land, or Tasmania, is
+delightfully situated at the head of Sullivan's Cove, on the south-east
+side of the river Derwent, about twelve miles from its mouth. The town is
+built on two small hills and the intermediate valley, the whole gently
+sloping towards the harbour from the foot of Mount Wellington--a rock
+which suddenly rears its snow-clad summit to the height of 4,000 feet.
+Through the centre of the town a rapid stream takes its course, giving
+motion to several mills, and affording a constant supply of most excellent
+water for all domestic purposes, as well as increasing the salubrity and
+beauty of the neighbourhood. From the summit of one of these hills, the
+present panorama was taken, which, although it does not include the
+buildings in the lowest part of the valley, exhibits every object
+particularly deserving notice, as well as the broad expanse of the
+Derwent, covered with ships, boats, &c. Beyond the town, and on the
+opposite side of the river, the eye ranges over a vast extent of country,
+richly variegated and diversified by gently rising hills, broad and
+verdant slopes, farms, and pasture lands, in the highest state of
+cultivation, presenting the most agreeable scenes, replete with the useful
+product of a rich soil and fine climate; the whole bounded by lofty
+mountains, clothed with rich and almost impervious forests of evergreens,
+occasionally intermixed with high and nearly perpendicular rocks, whose
+summits are, for a great part of the year, covered with snow;--the whole
+forming one of the most agreeable, picturesque, and romantic scenes that
+can be conceived.
+
+"Van Dieman's Land is, from north to south, one hundred and sixty miles in
+length; and from east to west, one hundred and forty-five miles in width;
+being separated from the main land by Bass's Straits, which are nearly one
+hundred miles across. The whole island, which is, almost without
+exception, of the most fertile and beautiful description, is divided into
+two counties--Buckingham and Cornwall--of which Hobart Town and Dalrymple
+are the capitals: the distance between them is one hundred and twenty
+miles.
+
+"Hobart Town contains at present, upwards of one thousand houses, and has
+a resident population exceeding seven thousand persons. The town is well
+planned, and the streets, which intersect each other at right angles, are
+wide, the law compelling persons who build to leave at least sixty feet in
+width for carriage and foot ways: they are Macadamized, and are, as well
+as the numerous bridges over the stream, kept in excellent condition by
+the chain gangs. The houses are generally built at a short distance from
+each other, and are partly surrounded with gardens, which, with a very
+little attention, not always bestowed, become very ornamented and useful,
+producing, not only the many beautiful trees and shrubs of the country,
+but every fruit, flower, and vegetable, common in England. The houses are
+generally of two, sometimes of three, stories in height, well built of
+brick or stone, and covered with shingles of the peppermint tree; some few
+are still only weather boarded. The bricks are of a good and durable
+quality, and the free-stone of a very beautiful description, but
+exceedingly dear. Many buildings are formed of rough hewn stone, stuccoed
+with a good white cement, which keeps very clean. Macquarrie-street,
+running in a straight line from the Pier, contains many very handsome
+public buildings and private houses, being the residences of the principal
+settlers, merchants, &c. Rents are in general very high;--a small house of
+four rooms and a kitchen, will let for sixty or eighty pounds per annum;
+and a large one, adapted for a store, will obtain from two to three
+hundred. It cannot be expected at this early period, that the public
+buildings should display much architectural ornament; it is sufficient
+that they are large, substantially built, and well adapted for the several
+purposes for which they were erected.--Besides the church, there is a
+Scotch church, a neat stone building, near the barracks; a Wesleyan
+meeting, a stuccoed building in Bathurst-street; and a small Catholic
+chapel in Patrick-street. There are several excellent academies, and a
+seminary for young ladies, where first-rate accomplishments are taught,
+and every possible care taken of the health and morals of their pupils, by
+Mrs. Midwood and Miss Shartland; there are also day charity schools, on
+the Lancastrian system, for the children of convicts, labourers, &c. The
+boarding houses and hotels are well conducted and comfortable; at the
+latter, every accommodation to be found in one of the best English inns
+may be had, but at a truly English price; the low public houses and the
+grog shops are of the vilest description. An active and vigilant police
+has been recently reorganised, under the superintendence of two officers
+from England, whose exertions are already attended with the most
+beneficial results.
+
+"The climate is most salubrious, the mean temperature being 60 deg.
+Fahrenheit; the extremes, 36 deg. 80 deg. The spring usually commences in
+September; the summer in December; the autumn in April; and the winter,
+seven weeks of which is very severe, in June."
+
+The Panorama is well executed throughout, and in parts, with much delicacy
+and finish. The distant country, bays, and points, are for the most part
+delightfully painted. Here and there are spots which almost remind us of
+Virgil's
+
+      --locos loetos, et amoena vireta,
+  Fortunatorum nemorum, sedesque beatas:
+
+and, without any view to a transportable offence, a man might well wish to
+settle himself here "for life."
+
+Mr. Burford's "Descriptions" are perhaps better drawn up than those of
+exhibitions in general. In the Keyplate before us, fifty-two points or
+objects are denoted, and further illustrated by half-a-dozen pages of
+letter-press.--In the town are seen the barracks; the governor's,
+commissary's, and judges' residences; hotel, jail, lime-kilns, church,
+court-house, bank, hospital, treasury, pier, &c., and Mrs. Midwood's
+seminary. Groups of convicts enliven the picture--we had almost said
+en_lighten_ it, from recollection of the picking propensities to which
+hundreds of them are indebted for their abode here. They are deplorable
+specimens of fallen nature--such as may be seen in droves slinking to
+their work in the dock-yard at Portsmouth, or elsewhere, and still bearing
+the front of humanity in their begrimed features, but harrowing the
+spectator with painful recollections of their moral abandonment. One of
+the groups is a chain gang at work--breaking stones for the road--or, a
+last effort at self-improvement, by mending the ways of others. How
+different would these worthies appear in a rabble rout at a London fire,
+or in all the sleekness of civilization, as exhibited in the sundry
+avocations of picking a pocket, in easing a country gentleman of his
+uncrumpled or bright dividend, or studying our ease and comfort by helping
+themselves to all our houses contain without the rudeness of disturbing
+our slumbers. A neighbouring group of natives, though less sightly than
+these fallen sons of civilization, in a moral point of view, would be a
+happy contrast, could we but look into the hearts of both parties, and see
+what is passing therein.
+
+But we are moralizing, and this may not be the most showy inducement for
+the reader to visit Mr. Burford's Panorama, and admire its pictorial
+beauties. Let him do so; and before he leaves the place, turn about, and
+think for himself, and be assured there is good in every thing.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+INK LITHOGRAPHY.
+
+
+An exquisite specimen of this branch of art, by the ingenious Mr. R.
+Martin, of Holborn, has hitherto escaped our notice. It was forwarded to
+us some weeks since, and accidentally mislaid. It is, however, never too
+late to be just--by saying that the performance before us, in clearness,
+delicacy, and finish, equals, if not exceeds, every specimen yet produced
+in this country, or those we have seen on or from the continent. The
+Drawing is about the size of two pages of the _Mirror_, and exhibits
+specimens of almost every branch of the art. Thus, there are fruit and
+flowers--an antique cross--a Gothic tomb--bust and ornamented
+pedestal--laurel wreath--the Corinthian capital and Egyptian
+architecture--wood scenery--a beautiful landscape--a portrait of Lord
+Clarendon--"Portrait of a Lady"--a storm on the sea-coast--anatomical
+picture--a crouching tiger--a charter, with the seal affixed, the latter
+extremely fine--a country plan, very delicate and clear--suit of ancient
+armour, &c. The etchy spirit of these subjects almost equals the finest
+work on copper, and its elaborateness proves to how great perfection
+English artists have already carried the art of drawing on stone. Compared
+with some of their early productions, the present is a marvel of art: it
+combines the perspicuity of a pen-and-ink drawing with the freedom and
+fine effect of chalk drawing. We hope to hear nothing more of the
+_uncertainty_ of lithography.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+PHILANTHROPY
+
+
+Is the only consistent species of public love. A patriot may be honest in
+one thing, yet a knave in all else;--a philanthropist sees and seizes the
+_whole_ of virtue.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+PUNCH AND JUDY.
+
+_By a Modern Pythagorean._
+
+
+One day last summer I happened to be travelling in the coach between
+Lanark and Glasgow. There were only two inside passengers besides myself;
+viz. an elderly woman, and a gentleman, apparently about thirty years of
+age, who sported a fur cap, a Hessian cloak, and large moustaches. The
+former was, I think, about the most unpleasant person to look at I had
+ever seen. Her features were singularly harsh and forbidding. She was also
+perfectly taciturn, for she never opened her lips, but left me and the
+other passenger to keep up the conversation the best way we could. The
+young man I found to be a very pleasant and intelligent fellow--quite a
+gentleman in his manners; and apparently either an Oxon or a Cantab, for
+he talked much and well about the English universities, a subject on which
+I also happened to be tolerably conversant. But, agreeable as his
+conversation was, it could not prevent me from entertaining an unpleasant
+feeling--one almost amounting to dislike and hostility--against the
+female; whom I regarded, from the first moment, with singular aversion. We
+were not troubled, however, very long with her company, for she left us at
+Dalserf, about half way between Lanark and Hamilton.
+
+"It is very curious, sir," said I to the stranger when she had gone, "that
+I should feel so strangely annoyed as I have been with that woman. I
+absolutely know nothing about her, and cannot lay a single fault to her
+charge, but plain looks and taciturnity; and yet I feel as if no
+inducement would tempt me to step again into a coach where I knew she was
+to be present. And after all, for any thing I know to the contrary, she
+may be a very good woman."
+
+"Your feelings, sir," answered he, "are remarkable, but by no means new;
+for I have myself been subject to a precisely similar train of emotions,
+and from a cause similar to yours. The thing is odd, I allow--what my
+friend, Coleridge, would call a psychological curiosity--but, I believe,
+every human being has at times felt it more or less. The unlucky woman who
+has proved such a source of annoyance to you, has been none whatever to
+me. She is plain-looked, to be sure, but it did not strike me that there
+was any thing peculiarly unpleasant in her aspect; and as for her silence,
+_that_, in my eyes, is no discommendation. So much for the different
+trains of emotions experienced by different persons from the same cause.
+There is, in truth, my dear sir, no accounting for such metaphysical
+phenomena. We must just take them as we find them, and be contented to
+know the effect while we remain in ignorance of the cause. Now, to show
+that you do not stand alone in such feelings, I shall, with your
+permission, relate an event which lately occurred to myself; on which
+occasion I was horribly annoyed by a circumstance in itself perfectly
+harmless and trivial, and which gave me much more disturbance than the
+taciturn lady who has just left us has given to you. My adventure, in
+truth, was attended with such extraordinary results, both to myself and
+another individual, that it possesses many of the characters of a genuine
+romance." Having expressed my desire to hear what he had to relate on such
+a subject, he proceeded as follows:--
+
+"The circumstance I allude to happened not long ago, while supping at the
+house of a literary friend in Edinburgh. On arriving, about nine in the
+evening, I was ushered into his library, where I found him, accompanied by
+two other friends; and in the short interval which elapsed before supper
+was announced, we amused ourselves looking at his books, and making
+comments upon such of them as struck our fancy. Our host was distinguished
+for learning; he was a man, in fact, of uncommon abilities, both natural
+and acquired; and the two guests who chanced to be with him were, in this
+particular, little inferior to himself. Among the other books which we
+happened to take up, was _Punch and Judy_, illustrated by the inimitable
+pencil of George Cruikshank. While looking at these capital delineations
+of the characters in the famous popular opera of the fairs, no particular
+emotion, save one of a good deal of pleasure, passed through my mind. I
+looked at them as I would do at any other humorous prints; and laying down
+the volume, thought no more of it at the time.
+
+"In a few minutes the servant girl made her appearance, to announce that
+supper was ready; and laying hold of the landlord's arm, I went along with
+him down stairs; his two friends, linked together in the same manner,
+following close at our heels. On entering the dining-room, there was
+certainly a very neat repast spread out. I cannot at this moment
+condescend upon all the viands, but I recollect distinctly of boiled
+lobsters, devilled fowls, and fried codlings, staring us in the face.
+There was, however, an individual in the room, and in the act of seating
+herself at the head of the table, who struck my fancy more forcibly than
+even the dishes upon the table. This, as I afterwards learned, was Miss
+Snooks, our entertainer's cousin. I was not exactly prepared to encounter
+the apparition of a female at our banquet. The landlord was a confirmed
+bachelor; and I expected to see nothing but myself, and three other _lords
+of the creation_, for the evening. To tell the truth, (which at the risk
+of my gallantry must be done,) I was a little disappointed, for I had come
+thither expecting to enjoy some private talk with the male part of the
+company, and overhaul some bits of scandal not exactly fitted for a lady's
+ear. However, there was no help for it. A lady _was_ present, and we had
+just to make up our minds to put a bridle upon our tongues, so long as she
+pleased to honour us with her company.
+
+"I had scarcely crossed the threshold of the room, than Miss Snooks
+curtsied to me, honoured me with a smile, and requested me to place myself
+alongside of her. I did so, and had time to contemplate her physiognomy.
+The first thing which struck me was the immense size of her nose. It stood
+forward _tremendously prominent_; and behind it--in the shade--was her
+face. It did not glide gently away from the brow above, and from the
+cheeks at each side. On the contrary, it jutted out like a promontory, and
+seemed as bold and defined as Cape Wrath or the Ord of Caithness. It
+appeared to have sprung out all at once from her face at the touch of some
+magician's wand, in the same way as Minerva sprung from the head of
+Jupiter. It had a hump on it, too, like a dromedary; for it was a Roman
+nose--such as that sported in days of old by Julius Cæsar, and, in modern
+times, by the Duke of Wellington--only much more magnificent in its
+dimensions. I feel some difficulty in describing the rest of Miss Snooks,
+so much was I taken up with this godlike feature. She was tall, thin,
+wrinkled, fiery-eyed, with a blue silk gown on; and a cap, stiff-starched,
+and overgrown with a mountain of frills, and indigo-coloured ribbons. Her
+voice was shrill, almost squeaking; and--with reverence be it spoken--she
+had a _leetle_ bit of a beard--only a few odd hairs growing from her chin
+and upper lip. Her age, I suppose, might be about fifty.
+
+"Now comes the peg 'whereon hangs a tale,' and where my feeling resembled
+your own. I felt I was to be miserable for the night--at least so long as
+Miss Snooks favoured us with her company; and that she would favour us
+with it long enough was evident--for I had a presentiment that she was a
+_blue-stocking_, and _they_ always sit late. Her gown was blue, so were
+her ribbons, so were her little twinkling eyes, and so was her nose--at
+least at the point. But there was no help for it. I made up my mind to the
+worst, and allowed her to help me to a bit of fowl. The landlord, and the
+two other guests supped on fried codlings. She herself fastened upon a
+lobster's claw.
+
+"Meanwhile supper proceeded, and the clatter of knives and forks bore
+testimony that the process of mastication was going on swimmingly. For
+some time I enjoyed it as much as the rest of the company, as I was rather
+hungry and the fowl excellent; but my enjoyment was of short duration--for
+Mr. Hookey, the gentleman who sat opposite to me, on the left hand of Miss
+Snooks, asked me a question, and on looking up to answer it I saw--not
+him, but the lady's nose. I speak advisedly: there is no exaggeration in
+the case. If any part of him was visible, it must have been his body. His
+face was utterly hid by the tremendous feature which stood between us like
+an 'envious shade,' and intercepted all vision in that direction. To get
+out of the influence of this 'baleful planet' I shifted my head aside, and
+so did he, and we thus got a sight of each other over its peak. From that
+moment, all idea of eating was gone. The nose stood at first _literally_
+between my friend and me--and now it stood _metaphorically_ between the
+fowl and my stomach.
+
+"Unfortunately, Mr. Hookey, besides being a great talker, was a native of
+the same part of the country as myself, and having been absent from thence
+several years, was anxious to hear of any event and change that had taken
+place since he left it. He accordingly bored me with questions which I
+could not but answer. I could not answer them decently without raising my
+head--and I could not raise my head without encountering the nose of Miss
+Snooks.
+
+"But this was not the worst part of the business. Miss Snooks took it into
+her head to put questions to me, and thus confronted me still more with
+her _promontory_. There was no way of evading the annoyance, but by
+getting to the opposite side of the table--a step which it was impossible
+to perform with any regard to decency; and I was thus compelled to 'kiss
+the rod,' and put the best face I could upon the matter.
+
+"Supper being removed, wine was introduced; and I had the honour of
+pouring out a glass of port to Miss Snooks. She thanked me with an
+inclination of her head--or rather of her nose--and drank to my health,
+and to that of the rest of the company. While performing the process of
+drinking, I could not help gazing upon her, to see how so very remarkable
+a person would go to work. The peak of her nose actually dipped down over
+the farthest rim of the glass--spanning it as a rainbow spans the Vale of
+Glengarry, while the 'limpid ruby' rolled in currents within the embrace
+of her delighted lips. The more I gazed upon her, the greater did my
+surprise at this extraordinary feature become.
+
+"It is unnecessary to detail at length, the conversation which ensued. It
+was tolerably connected, as might be looked for in so small a company,
+seldom, branching out into miscellaneous details, and turning chiefly upon
+literary matters. But I found it impossible to join in it with any degree
+of relish. In vain did my opposite neighbour call up before my imagination
+the scenes of my birthplace; in vain did our landlord crack his jokes--for
+he was a great humourist--and rally me upon my dulness; in vain did he
+allege that I was in love, and good-naturedly fix upon two or three girls
+as the objects of my affections. Worthy man! little did he imagine that I
+was in love with his cousin's nose.
+
+"In love, yes! I bore the same love towards it, that the squirrel bears to
+the rattlesnake--when it gets fascinated by the burning eyeballs, horrid
+fangs, and forked tongue of its crawling, slimy, and execrable foe.
+Mistake me not, sir, or suppose that I mean to insinuate that Miss Snooks
+was a rattlesnake. No; the reasoning is purely analogical; and I only wish
+it to be inferred that _that_ nose, humped like a dromedary--prominent as
+Cape Wrath--nobler than Cæsar's, or the great captain's--had precisely the
+same influence on me as the envenomed Python of the American woods has
+upon the squirrel. It fascinated me--threw a spell over me--enchanted my
+faculties--made me love to gaze upon what I abhorred, and think of nothing
+but one feature--one nose, which nevertheless held a more prominent place
+in the temple of my imagination, than Atlas, Andes, or Teneriffe, or even
+the unscalable ridges of Himalaya, where Indra, the god of the elements,
+is said to have placed his throne. Having meditated for some time in this
+way, I found that it would never do. There was something inexpressibly
+absurd in the mood which my mind was getting into, and I resolved to throw
+off the incubus which oppressed me, and be like other people. Full of this
+idea, I filled a bumper, and bolted it off--then another--then another. I
+was getting on admirably, and rapidly recovering my equanimity, when
+chancing to turn my eyes towards Mr. Hookey, he was nowhere to be seen. He
+had not gone out; that was impossible; no--he was concealed from me by the
+mighty nose.
+
+"This event had nearly capsized me, and brought me back into my old way,
+when I poured out another glass of wine, and hastily swallowed it, which
+in some measure restored the equilibrium of my faculties. I looked again
+at Hookey, and saw him distinctly--the shade was gone, for Miss Snooks had
+leaned back, in a languishing mood, upon her chair, and taken her nose
+along with her. At this moment I fancied I saw her ogling me with both
+eyes, and resolved to be upon my guard. I remembered the solemn vows
+already made to my dear Cecilia; and on this account determined to stand
+out against Miss Snooks and her nose.
+
+"But this was only a temporary relief. Again did she lean forward, and
+again was the nose protruded between Hookey and myself. It acted as an
+eclipse--it annihilated him--made him a mere nonentity--rendered him
+despicable in my eyes. It was impossible to respect any man who lived in
+the shade of a nose, who hid his light under such a bushel. Hang the
+ninny, he must be a sneaking fellow!
+
+"The wine now began to circulate more freely round the table, and the
+tongues of the company to get looser in their heads. Miss Snooks also
+commenced talking at a greater stretch than she had hitherto done. I soon
+found out that she was a poetess, and had written a couple of novels,
+besides two or three tragedies. In fact, her whole conversation was about
+books and authors, and she did us the favour of reciting some of her own
+compositions. She was also prodigiously sentimental, talked much about
+love, and was fond of romantic scenery. I know not how it was, but
+although her conversation was far from indifferent, it excited ridiculous
+emotions in my mind, rather than any thing else. If she talked of
+mountains, I could think of nothing but the hump upon her nose, which was,
+in my estimation, a nobler mountain than Helvellyn or Cairngorm. If she
+got among promontories, this majestic feature struck me as being sublimer
+than any I had ever heard of--not excepting the Cape of Good Hope, first
+doubled by Vasco de Gama.--When she conversed about the blue loch and the
+cerulean sky, I saw in the tip of her nose a complexion as blue or
+cerulean as any of these. It was at once a nose--a mountain--a cape--a
+loch--a sky. In short it was every thing. She was armed with it, as the
+Paladins of old with their armour. Nay, it possessed the miraculous
+property of rendering a human being invisible, of concealing Mr. Hookey
+from my eyes; thus rivalling the ring of Gyges, and casting the invisible
+coat of Jack the Giant-killer into the shade.
+
+"After conversing with her for some time upon indifferent matters, she
+asked me if I was fond of caricatures, and spoke particularly of the
+designs of George Cruikshank. Scarcely had she mentioned the name of this
+artist, than I was seized with a strange shuddering. In one moment I
+called to mind his illustrations of Punch and Judy, at which we had been
+looking, before coming down to supper. A clue was now given to the
+otherwise unaccountable train of feelings, which had possessed me ever
+since I saw Miss Snooks. From the moment when I first set my eyes upon
+her, I fancied I had seen her before; but where, when, and upon what
+occasion I found it impossible to tell. Her squeaking voice, her blue
+twinkling eyes, her huge frilled cap, and above all, her mighty nose, all
+seemed familiar to me. They floated within my spirit as a half-forgotten
+dream; and without daring to whisper such a thing to myself, I still felt
+the impression that all was not new--that the novelty was not so great as
+I imagined.
+
+"But Punch and Judy set all to rights. I had seen Miss Snooks in George
+Cruikshank, and at once all my perplexing feelings were accounted for.
+_She_ was Judy--_she_ was Punch's wife. Yes, Miss Snooks, the old maid,
+was the wife of Mr. Punch. There was no denying the fact. The same small
+weazel eyes, the same sharp voice and hooked chin, and the same nose--at
+once mountain, cape, &c. &c. belonged alike to Judy and Miss Snooks. They
+were two persons; the same, yet, different--different, yet the same--the
+one residing in the pages of Cruikshank, or chattering and fighting in the
+booths of mountebanks at Donnybrook or St. Bartholomew's Fair--the other
+seated bolt upright, at the head of her cousin's table, beside a small
+_coterie_ of _littérateurs_.
+
+"I know not whether it was the effect of the old port, but, strange to
+say, I could not for some time view Miss Snooks in her former capacity,
+but simply as Judy. She was magnified in size, it is true, from the pert,
+termagant puppet of the fairs, and was an authoress--a writer of tragedies
+and novels--in which character, to the best of my knowledge, the spouse of
+Punchinello had never made her appearance, but then the similitude between
+them, in other respects, was so striking as to constitute identity. Eyes,
+chin, voice, nose, were all precisely alike, and stamped them as one and
+the same individual.
+
+"But this strange illusion soon wore away, and I again saw Miss Snooks in
+her true character. It would perhaps be better if I said that I saw her
+nose--for somehow I never could look upon herself save as subordinate to
+this feature. It were an insult to so majestic a promontory to suppose it
+the mere appendage of a human face. No--the face was an appendage of it,
+and kept at a viewless distance behind, while the nose stood forward in
+vast relief, intercepting the view of all collateral objects--casting a
+noble shadow upon the wall--and impressing an air of inconceivable dignity
+upon its fair proprietor.
+
+"The first impression which I experienced on beholding the lady was one of
+fear. I have stated how completely she--or, to speak more properly, her
+nose--stood between me and Mr. Hookey, and felt appalled in no small
+degree at so extraordinary a circumstance. There is something
+inexpressibly awful in a _lunar_ eclipse, and a _solar_ one is still more
+overpowering, but neither the one nor the other could be compared to the
+_nasal_ eclipse effected by Miss Snooks. So much for my first impressions:
+now for the second. They were those of boundless admiration, and--."
+
+Most unfortunately, just as the gentleman had got to this part of his
+story, the coach stopped at the principal inn of Hamilton, and he there
+left it, after bowing politely to me, and wishing me a pleasant ride for
+the rest of the journey.--_Fraser's Magazine._
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+SANDY HARG.
+
+
+  The night-star shines clearly,
+    The tide's in the bay,
+  My boat, like the sea-mew,
+    Takes wing and away.
+  Though the pellock rolls free
+    Through the moon-lighted brine,
+  The silver-finn'd salmon
+    And herling are mine--
+  My fair one shall taste them,
+    May Morley of Larg,
+  I've said and I've sworn it,
+    Quoth young Sandy Harg.
+
+  He spread his broad net
+    Where, 'tis said, in the brine,
+  The mermaidens sport
+    Mid the merry moonshine:
+  He drew it and laugh'd,
+    For he found 'mongst the meshes
+  A fish and a maiden,
+    With silken eyelashes--
+  And she sang with a voice
+    Like May Morley's of Larg,
+  "A maid and a salmon
+    For young Sandy Harg!"
+
+  Oh, white were her arms,
+    And far whiter her neck--
+  Her long locks in armfuls
+    Overflow'd all the deck:
+  One hand on the rudder
+    She pleasantly laid,
+  Another on Sandy,
+    And merrily said--
+  "Thy halve-net has wrought thee
+    A gallant day's darg--
+  Thou'rt monarch of Solway,
+    My young Sandy Harg."
+
+  Oh, loud laugh'd young Sandy,
+    And swore by the mass,
+  "I'll never reign king,
+    But mid gowans and grass:"
+  Oh, loud laugh'd young Sandy,
+    And swore, "By thy hand,
+  My May Morley, I'm thine,
+    Both by water and land!
+  'Twere marvel if mer-woman,
+    Slimy and slarg,
+  Could rival the true love
+    Of young Sandy Harg."
+
+  She knotted one ringlet.
+    Syne knotted she twain,
+  And sang--lo! thick darkness
+    Dropp'd down on the main--
+  She knotted three ringlets,
+    Syne knotted she nine,
+  A tempest stoop'd sudden
+    And sharp on the brine,
+  And away flew the boat--
+    There's a damsel in Larg
+  Will wonder what's come of thee
+    Young Sandy Harg.
+
+  "The sky's spitting fire,"
+    Cried Sandy--"and see!
+  Green Criffel reels round,
+    And will choke up the sea;
+  From their bottles of tempest
+    The fiends draw the corks,
+  Wide Solway is barmy,
+    Like ale when it works;
+  There sits Satan's daughter,
+    Who works this dread darg,
+  To mar my blythe bridal"
+    Quoth young Sandy Harg.
+
+  From his bosom a spell
+    To work wonders he took,
+  Thrice kiss'd it and smiled,
+    Then triumphantly shook
+  The boat by the rudder,
+    The maid by the hair,
+  With wailings and shrieks
+    She bewilder'd the air;
+  He flung her far seaward,
+    Then sailed off to Larg--
+  There was mirth at the bridal
+    Of young Sandy Harg.
+
+_New Monthly Magazine._
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+THE GATHERER.
+
+  A snapper up of unconsidered trifles.
+
+SHAKSPEARE.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+LEGEND CONCERNING THE PRESERVATION OF THE WELSH PEDIGREES PREVIOUS TO THE
+FLOOD.
+
+(_For the Mirror._)
+
+
+A figure was seen, standing on a precipice as the waters of the flood were
+rising, which waved its hand repeatedly--the waters rose and the figure
+disappeared. Noah, looking from the deck, was shortly afterwards hailed by
+the same person amidst the roar of the elements, "Quite full!" exclaimed
+the patriarch, as the ark lurched deeply. "Full!" exclaimed the voice,
+which was now close alongside, "Ah! Morgan Jones, is that you?" "We are
+quite full."--"Then take care of this packet; as for myself never mind,
+but take care of the packet." The packet was carefully handed aboard, the
+eyes of Morgan Jones saw the patriarch receive it into his own hands, when
+the huge ark gave a most terrific lurch, and hitting poor Morgan, he sunk
+under her counter, was thumped by the keel, and was seen no more; but the
+packet was received, and proved to be his pedigree from Adam!
+
+W. PULLEN.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+LUDICROUS BLUNDERS.
+
+(_From "After Dinner Chat," in the New Monthly Magazine._)
+
+
+_H._--How completely a fine poetical thought may be destroyed by the
+alteration of a single word! I recollect a ludicrous instance of this. I
+was quoting to M--d--y, who is rather deaf, a line of Campbell's, as
+being, in my opinion, equal to any that ever was produced:
+
+  "And Freedom shriek'd--as Kosciusko fell."
+
+"I dare say you are right," replied M--d--y; "but it does not quite please
+me: I must think of it." And he repeated--
+
+  "And Freedom _squeak'd_--as Kosciusko fell."
+
+_F._--L--ml--y, of the --th Dragoons, was, as you may remember, a
+great admirer of the "Hohenlinden" of the same poet, and used frequently
+to recite it; but instead of
+
+  "Wave, Munich! all thy banners wave!
+  And charge with all thy _chivalry_,"--
+
+fancying, no doubt, that the poet, from ignorance of military terms, had
+committed a blunder, he used invariably to say--
+
+  "And charge with all thy _cavalry_."
+
+_K._--I once heard two whimsical blunders made in the course of a
+performance of Macbeth, at a poor little country theatre. The Lady
+Macbeth--who, not unlikely, had been a laundress--instead of saying merely
+
+  "A little water clears us of this deed,"
+
+chose to "make assurance double sure," and said--"A little soap and
+water." And, presently after, for
+
+  "We have scotch'd the snake, not killed it,"
+
+the Thane, looking with an air of profound mystery at his tender mate,
+whispered her,
+
+  "We have _cotch_ a snake, and _killed_ it."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+PARLIAMENT OF BATTS.
+
+
+Gurdon, in his _History of Parliament_, says--"This parliament was
+summoned in the reign of Henry the Sixth, to meet at Leicester; and orders
+were sent to the members that they should not wear swords; so they came to
+parliament (like modern butchers) with long staves, from whence the
+parliament got the name of _The Parliament of Batts_; and when the
+batts were prohibited, the members had recourse to stones and leaden
+bullets. This parliament was opened with the Confirmation of Liberties."
+
+P.T.W.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+WITENAGEMOTES.
+
+
+"Alfred, with the advice and consent of his _Witas_, in _Witenagemote_,
+made his code of law that was common to the whole nation, and enacted that
+a _Witenagemote_ should be held twice a year, and oftener if need
+were."--See _Gurdon on Parliament_.
+
+P.T.W.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+ANNUAL OF SCIENCE.
+
+
+This Day is published, price 5s.
+
+ARCANA of SCIENCE, and ANNUAL REGISTER of the USEFUL ARTS for 1831.
+
+Comprising POPULAR INVENTIONS, IMPROVEMENTS, and DISCOVERIES
+
+    Mechanics          Agriculture
+    Chemical Science   Gardening
+    Botany             Domestic Economy
+    Zoology            Useful and Ornamental Art
+    Geology            Geographical Discovery
+    Meteorology
+
+Abridged from the Transactions of Public Societies and Scientific Journals
+of the past year. With several Engravings.
+
+"One of the best and cheapest books of the day."--_Mag. Nat. Hist._
+
+"An annual register of new inventions and improvements in a popular form
+like this, cannot fail to be useful."--_Lit. Gaz._
+
+Printed for JOHN LIMBIRD, 143, Strand;--of whom may be had the Volumes for
+the three preceding years.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+_Printed and Published by J. LIMBIRD, 143, Strand, (near Somerset House,)
+London; sold by ERNEST FLEISCHER, 626, New Market, Leipsic; G.G. BENNIS,
+55, Rue Neuve, St. Augustin, Paris; and by all Newsmen and Booksellers._
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Mirror of Literature, Amusement,
+and Instruction No. 485, by Various
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 12781 ***