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diff --git a/12781-h/12781-h.htm b/12781-h/12781-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..74f2293 --- /dev/null +++ b/12781-h/12781-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,1454 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"> +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" /> +<title>The Mirror of Literature, Issue 485.</title> + +<style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[*/ + + <!-- + body {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + p {text-align: justify;} + blockquote {text-align: justify;} + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 {text-align: center;} + pre {font-size: 0.7em;} + + hr {text-align: center; width: 50%;} + html>body hr {margin-right: 25%; margin-left: 25%; width: 50%;} + hr.full {width: 100%;} + html>body hr.full {margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 0%; width: 100%;} + hr.short {text-align: center; width: 20%;} + html>body hr.short {margin-right: 40%; margin-left: 40%; width: 20%;} + + .note, .footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} + + span.pagenum {position: absolute; left: 1%; right: 91%; font-size: 8pt;} + span.strongspan {font-variant:small-caps;font-weight:bold;} + + .poem {margin-left:10%; margin-right:10%; margin-bottom: 1em; text-align: left;} + .poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} + .poem p {margin: 0; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem p.i2 {margin-left: 1em;} + .poem p.i4 {margin-left: 2em;} + .poem p.i6 {margin-left: 3em;} + .poem p.i8 {margin-left: 4em;} + .poem p.i10 {margin-left: 5em;} + + .figure {padding: 1em; margin: 0; text-align: center; font-size: 0.8em; margin: auto;} + .figure img {border: none;} + --> +/*]]>*/ +</style> +</head> +<body> +<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 12781 ***</div> + +<hr class="full" /> +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page257" name="page257"></a>[pg 257]</span> +<h1>THE MIRROR<br /> +OF<br /> +LITERATURE, AMUSEMENT, AND INSTRUCTION.</h1> +<hr class="full" /> +<table width="100%" summary="biblio data"> +<tr> +<td align="left"><b>Vol. 17. No. 485.]</b></td> +<td align="center"><b>SATURDAY, APRIL 16, 1831</b></td> +<td align="right"><b>[PRICE 2d.</b></td> +</tr> +</table> +<hr class="full" /> +<h2>MOCHA.</h2> +<div class="figure"><a href="images/485-1.png"><img width="100%" +src="images/485-1.png" alt="Mocha." /></a></div> +<p>“<i>Bon pour la digestion</i>,” said the young Princess Esterhazy, when +sent to bed by her governess without her dinner; we say the same of +<i>coffee</i>; and hope the reader will think the same of Mocha, or the +place whence the finest quality is exported.</p> + +<p>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.”</p> + +<p>Lord Valentia<a id="footnotetag1" name= +"footnotetag1"></a><a href="#footnote1"><sup>1</sup></a> visited Mocha repeatedly during his examination of the +shores of the Red Sea; and his description is the most full and minute:—</p> + +<p>“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 <i>kobbas</i>, 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 <i>bas +kateb</i>, 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 <span class="pagenum"><a id="page258" name="page258"></a>[pg 258]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>“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.</p> + +<p>“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.</p> + +<p>“The climate of Mocha is extremely sultry,<a id="footnotetag2" name= +"footnotetag2"></a><a href="#footnote2"><sup>2</sup></a> 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.</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>Mrs. Lushington, in her interesting <i>Journey from Calcutta to +Europe</i>, 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.’”</p> + +<p>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 <i>Coffee-drinker’s +Manual</i>, 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.</p> +<hr /> +<h3>ORIGIN OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS.</h3> +<h4>(<i>To the Editor.</i>)</h4> + +<p>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 <i>originated from the Battle +of Evesham</i>. 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>M.</p> + +<hr class="short" /> +<p>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—</p> + +<p>“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, <span class="pagenum"><a id="page259" name="page259"></a>[pg 259]</span> 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.</p> + +<p>“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.</p> + +<p>“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.<a id="footnotetag3" name="footnotetag3"></a> +<a href="#footnote3"><sup>3</sup></a> 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 <span class="pagenum"><a id="page260" name="page260"></a>[pg 260]</span> 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.”</p> +<p>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.</p> +<hr /> +<h3>VISIT TO CORFE CASTLE.</h3> +<h4>(<i>From a Correspondent.</i>)</h4> +<p>This is Corfe Castle! the celebrated structure, the date of which, and the +founder of which, are lost in antiquity:</p> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="i8">"It stands to tell</p> +<p> A melancholy tale, to give</p> +<p> An awful warning; soon</p> +<p> Oblivion will steal silently</p> +<p> The remnant of its fame."</p> +</div> +</div> +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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:</p> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>“Within the massy prison’s mouldering courts,</p> +<p> Fearless and free the ruddy children played,</p> +<p> Weaving gay chaplets for their innocent brows</p> +<p> With the green ivy and the red wall-flower,</p> +<p> That mocks the dungeon’s unavailing gloom;</p> +<p> The ponderous chains and gratings of strong iron,</p> +<p> There rusted amid heaps of broken stone</p> +<p> That mingled slowly with their native earth.</p> +<p> There the broad beam of day, which feebly once</p> +<p> Lighted the cheek of lean captivity</p> +<p> With a pale and sickly glare, then freely shone</p> +<p> On the pure smiles of infant playfulness.</p> +<p> No more the shuddering voice of hoarse despair</p> +<p> Pealed through the echoing vaults, but soothing notes</p> +<p> Of joy fingered winds and gladsome birds</p> +<p> And merriment were resonant around.”</p> +</div> +</div> +<p>Such were our feelings as we wandered musing and admiring amid the +stupendous ruins of this once magnificent fabric.</p> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p> “Now Time his dusky pennons o’er the scene,</p> +<p> Closes in stedfast darkness.”</p> +</div> +</div> +<p>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 “<i>Cicerone</i>,” 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!”</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>It was in this fortress that the unfortunate Edward II. was murdered in +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page261" name="page261"></a>[pg 261]</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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</p> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="i8">"Which do slope</p> +<p> Their heads to their foundations,"</p> +</div> +</div> +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>JAMES SILVESTER, SEN.</p> +<hr class="full" /> +<h2>NOTES OF A READER.</h2> +<hr /> +<h3>KNOWLEDGE FOR THE PEOPLE; OR, THE PLAIN WHY AND BECAUSE.</h3> +<h4>Part 6.--<i>Sports and Pastimes.</i></h4> +<p>We quote the following from HUNTING:</p> + +<p>Why is it inferred that hunting was practised by the ancient Britons?</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.—<i>Strutt.</i></p> + +<p>Why is hunting considered more ancient than hawking?</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Why was hunting originally considered a royal and noble sport?</p> + +<p>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.”—<i>Malmesbury.</i> +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 +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page262" name="page262"></a>[pg 262]</span> established for its practice; these were afterwards extended by +the <i>master of the game</i> 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.”</p> + +<p>Ladies’ hunting-dresses of the 15th century, as figured in Strutt’s +Sports, &c., differ but little from the modern riding habit.</p> + +<p>Why are greyhounds still petted by ladies?</p> + +<p>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.—<i>Strutt.</i></p> + +<p>Why were certain forests called royal chases?</p> + +<p>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.—<i>Strutt.</i></p> + +<p>Why were lands first imparked?</p> + +<p>Because their owners might still more effectually preserve deer and other +animals for hunting.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Why were parks and inclosures usually attached to priories?</p> + +<p>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.—<i>Spelman.</i></p> + +<p>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.—<i>Rymer.</i> 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!—<i>Whitaker’s Hist. of Craven</i>, quoted in <i>Hallam’s Hist. +Middle Ages</i>.</p> + +<p>Why was hunting formerly a very convenient resource for the wholesomeness, +as well as luxury, of the table?</p> + +<p>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.—<i>Hallam’s Hist. Middle +Ages.</i></p> + +<p>Why were all the great forests pierced by those long rectilinear alleys +which appear in old prints, and are mentioned in old books?</p> + +<p>Because the avenues were particularly necessary for those large parties, +resembling our modern <i>battues</i>, where the honoured guests being +stationed in fit <i>standings</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>Why should a deer-park exhibit but little artificial arrangement in its +disposal?</p> + +<p>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 <span class="pagenum"><a id="page263" name="page263"></a>[pg 263]</span> 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.</p> + +<p>Why did the common people formerly call the forest “good,” and the +greenwood “merry?”</p> + +<p>Because of the pleasure they took in the scenes themselves, as well as in +the pastimes which they afforded.</p> + +<p>Why is a short gallop called a canter?</p> + +<p>Because of its abbreviation from Canterbury, the name of the pace used by +the monks in going to that city.</p> + +<p>Why was a certain noise called the “hunt’s-up?”</p> + +<p>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, <i>The hunt is up!</i> which was the subject of hunting ballads also.</p> + +<p>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, <i>the hunte is +up! the hunte is up!</i>” Shakspeare has—</p> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p> Since arm from arm that voice doth us affray,</p> +<p> Hunting thee hence with <i>hunts-up</i> to the day.</p> +</div> +<p><i>Romeo and Juliet.</i></p> +</div> +<p>Again, in Drayton’s <i>Polyolbion</i>—</p> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>No sooner doth the earth her flow’ry bosom brave, + At such time as the year brings on the pleasant spring, + But <i>hunts-up</i> to the morn the feather’d sylvans sing.</p> +</div> +</div> +<p>Why is a small hunting horn called a bugle?</p> + +<p>Because of its origin from <i>bugill</i>, which means a buffalo, or +perhaps any horned cattle. In the Scottish dialect it was <i>bogle</i>, or +<i>bowgill</i>. <i>Buffe</i>, <i>bugle</i>, and <i>buffalo</i>, are all +given by Barrett, as synonimous for the wild ox.—<i>Nares’ Glossary</i>.</p> + +<p>Why is the stirrup so called?</p> + +<p>Because of its origin from <i>stigh-rope</i>, from <i>stigan +ascendere</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>Why are sportsmen said to hunt counter?</p> + +<p>Because they hunt the wrong way, and trace the scent backwards. Thus, in +an old-work, <i>Gentleman’s Recreations</i>: “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.—<i>Nares</i>.</p> + +<hr /> +<h3>WEATHER AT PARIS.</h3> +<p>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.—<i>New Monthly Magazine.</i></p> + +<hr /> +<h3>BEER HOUSES.</h3> +<p>It appears, from Parliamentary Returns, that <i>five thousand three +hundred and seventy-nine</i> “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.—<i>Ib.</i></p> + +<hr /> +<h3>SAVINGS' BANKS.</h3> +<p>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.—<i>Ibid.</i></p> + +<hr /> +<h3>SOAP.</h3> +<p>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.—<i>Ib.</i></p> + +<hr class="full" /> +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page264" name="page264"></a>[pg 264]</span> +<h2>AUTOGRAPHS.</h2> +<div class="figure"><a href="images/485-2.png"><img width="100%" +src="images/485-2.png" alt="Autographs." /></a></div> + +<p>We have the pleasure of resuming these innate illustrations of genius. +Some of the present specimens are copied from the plate appended to the +<i>Edinburgh Literary Journal</i>, whence the page in No. 478 of the +<i>Mirror</i> was taken. First is</p> + +<p>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:—</p> + +<p>“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.”—<i>Edinburgh Literary Journal.</i></p> + +<p>J. SINCLAIR—the signature of the venerable Sir John Sinclair, Bart., who +has written and edited upwards of 25 useful works.</p> + +<p>CAROLINE NORTON—the Honourable Mrs. Norton, author of the “Sorrows of +Rosalie,” the “Undying One,” &c., and grand-daughter of the late Mr. +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page265" name="page265"></a>[pg 265]</span>Thomas Sheridan. This signature is from a superb portrait in a recent +Number of the <i>New Monthly Magazine</i>: a lovelier and more +intellectual head and front we never beheld.</p> + +<p>B.R. HAYDON—peculiarly characteristic of the writer’s style of +painting—large and bold. Whoever has seen his <i>Napoleon</i>, just +opened for exhibition, must, we think, acknowledge the above identity. In +our next Number we intend to notice the above triumph of art.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.”—<i>Edinburgh Literary Journ.</i></p> + +<p>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 +<i>Court and Camp of Bonaparte</i>, in the <i>Family Library</i>, which is +a fine portrait of Talleyrand, engraved by Finden, from a picture by +Girard.</p> + +<p>H. MACKENZIE—author of the <i>Man of Feeling</i>, &c. He died during the +past year, in Edinburgh.</p> +<hr class="full" /> +<h2>FINE ARTS.</h2> +<hr /> +<h3>PANORAMA OF HOBART TOWN.</h3> +<p>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 <i>annual</i> +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 <i>terra incognita</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>Of Hobart Town we quote a brief description from Mr. Burford’s pamphlet, +or key to the picture:—</p> + +<p>“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.</p> + +<p>“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 <span class="pagenum"><a id="page266" name="page266"></a>[pg 266]</span> Town and +Dalrymple are the capitals: the distance between them is one hundred and +twenty miles.</p> + +<p>“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.</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>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</p> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="i4">--locos loetos, et amoena vireta,</p> +<p> Fortunatorum nemorum, sedesque beatas:</p> +</div> +</div> +<p>and, without any view to a transportable offence, a man might well wish to +settle himself here “for life.”</p> + +<p>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<i>lighten</i> 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 <span class="pagenum"><a id="page267" name="page267"></a>[pg 267]</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> +<hr /> +<h3>INK LITHOGRAPHY.</h3> +<p>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 <i>Mirror</i>, 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 +<i>uncertainty</i> of lithography.</p> +<hr /> +<h3>PHILANTHROPY</h3> +<p>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 +<i>whole</i> of virtue.</p> +<hr class="full" /> +<h2>SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.</h2> +<hr /> +<h3>PUNCH AND JUDY.</h3> +<h4><i>By a Modern Pythagorean.</i></h4> +<p>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.</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>“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 <span class="pagenum"><a id="page268" name="page268"></a>[pg 268]</span> unpleasant in her aspect; and as for her +silence, <i>that</i>, 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:—</p> + +<p>“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 <i>Punch and Judy</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>“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 +<i>lords of the creation</i>, 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 <i>was</i> +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.</p> + +<p>“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 <i>tremendously prominent</i>; 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 <i>leetle</i> bit of a beard—only a few odd hairs growing from her +chin and upper <span class="pagenum"><a id="page269" name="page269"></a>[pg 269]</span> lip. Her age, I suppose, might be about fifty.</p> + +<p>“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 +<i>blue-stocking</i>, and <i>they</i> 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.</p> + +<p>“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 +<i>literally</i> between my friend and me—and now it stood +<i>metaphorically</i> between the fowl and my stomach.</p> + +<p>“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.</p> + +<p>“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 <i>promontory</i>. 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.</p> + +<p>“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.</p> + +<p>“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.</p> + +<p>“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 <i>that</i> 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 <span class="pagenum"><a id="page270" name="page270"></a>[pg 270]</span> 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.</p> + +<p>“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.</p> + +<p>“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!</p> + +<p>“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.</p> + +<p>“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.</p> + +<p>“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. +<i>She</i> was Judy—<i>she</i> 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 <span class="pagenum"><a id="page271" name="page271"></a>[pg 271]</span>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 <i>coterie</i> of <i>littérateurs</i>.</p> + +<p>“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.</p> + +<p>“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.</p> + +<p>“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 <i>lunar</i> eclipse, and a <i>solar</i> one is +still more overpowering, but neither the one nor the other could be +compared to the <i>nasal</i> eclipse effected by Miss Snooks. So much for +my first impressions: now for the second. They were those of boundless +admiration, and—.”</p> + +<p>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.—<i>Fraser’s Magazine.</i></p> +<hr /> +<h3>SANDY HARG.</h3> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p> The night-star shines clearly,</p> +<p class="i2"> The tide’s in the bay,</p> +<p> My boat, like the sea-mew,</p> +<p class="i2"> Takes wing and away.</p> +<p> Though the pellock rolls free</p> +<p class="i2"> Through the moon-lighted brine,</p> +<p> The silver-finn’d salmon</p> +<p class="i2"> And herling are mine—</p> +<p> My fair one shall taste them,</p> +<p class="i2"> May Morley of Larg,</p> +<p> I’ve said and I’ve sworn it,</p> +<p class="i2"> Quoth young Sandy Harg.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p> He spread his broad net</p> +<p class="i2"> Where, ’tis said, in the brine,</p> +<p> The mermaidens sport</p> +<p class="i2"> Mid the merry moonshine:</p> +<p> He drew it and laugh’d,</p> +<p class="i2"> For he found ’mongst the meshes</p> +<p> A fish and a maiden,</p> +<p class="i2"> With silken eyelashes—</p> +<p> And she sang with a voice</p> +<p class="i2"> Like May Morley’s of Larg,</p> +<p> “A maid and a salmon</p> +<p class="i2"> For young Sandy Harg!”</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p> Oh, white were her arms,</p> +<p class="i2"> And far whiter her neck—</p> +<p> Her long locks in armfuls</p> +<p class="i2"> Overflow’d all the deck:</p> +<p> One hand on the rudder</p> +<p class="i2"> She pleasantly laid,</p> +<p> Another on Sandy,</p> +<p class="i2"> And merrily said—</p> +<p> “Thy halve-net has wrought thee</p> +<p class="i2"> A gallant day’s darg—</p> +<p> Thou’rt monarch of Solway,</p> +<p class="i2"> My young Sandy Harg.”</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p> Oh, loud laugh’d young Sandy,</p> +<p class="i2"> And swore by the mass,</p> +<p> “I’ll never reign king,</p> +<p class="i2"> But mid gowans and grass:”</p> +<p> Oh, loud laugh’d young Sandy,</p> +<p class="i2"> And swore, “By thy hand,</p> +<p> My May Morley, I’m thine,</p> +<p class="i2"> Both by water and land!</p> +<p> ’Twere marvel if mer-woman,</p> +<p class="i2"> Slimy and slarg,</p> +<p> Could rival the true love</p> +<p class="i2"> Of young Sandy Harg.”</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p> She knotted one ringlet.</p> +<p class="i2"> Syne knotted she twain,</p> +<p> And sang—lo! thick darkness</p> +<p class="i2"> Dropp’d down on the main—</p> +<p> She knotted three ringlets,</p> +<p class="i2"> Syne knotted she nine,</p> +<p> A tempest stoop’d sudden</p> +<p class="i2"> And sharp on the brine,</p> +<p> And away flew the boat—</p> +<p class="i2"> There’s a damsel in Larg</p> +<p> Will wonder what’s come of thee</p> +<p class="i2"> Young Sandy Harg.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p> “The sky’s spitting fire,”</p> +<p class="i2"> Cried Sandy—“and see!</p> +<p> Green Criffel reels round,</p> +<p class="i2"> And will choke up the sea;</p> +<p> From their bottles of tempest</p> +<p class="i2"> The fiends draw the corks,</p> +<p> Wide Solway is barmy,</p> +<p class="i2"> Like ale when it works;</p> +<p> There sits Satan’s daughter,</p> +<p class="i2"> Who works this dread darg,</p> +<p> To mar my blythe bridal”</p> +<p class="i2"> Quoth young Sandy Harg.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p> From his bosom a spell</p> +<p class="i2"> To work wonders he took,</p> +<p> Thrice kiss’d it and smiled,</p> +<p class="i2"> Then triumphantly shook</p> +<p> The boat by the rudder,</p> +<p class="i2"> The maid by the hair,</p> +<p> With wailings and shrieks</p> +<p class="i2"> She bewilder’d the air;</p> +<p> He flung her far seaward,</p> +<p class="i2"> Then sailed off to Larg—</p> +<p> There was mirth at the bridal</p> +<p class="i2"> Of young Sandy Harg.</p> +</div> +<p><i>New Monthly Magazine.</i></p> +</div> +<hr class="full" /> +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page272" name="page272"></a>[pg 272]</span> +<h2>THE GATHERER.</h2> +<div class="note"> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>A snapper up of unconsidered trifles.</p> +</div> +<p>SHAKSPEARE</p> +</div> +</div> +<hr /> +<h3>LEGEND CONCERNING THE PRESERVATION OF THE WELSH PEDIGREES PREVIOUS TO THE +FLOOD.</h3> +<h4>(<i>For the Mirror.</i>)</h4> +<p>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!</p> +<p>W. PULLEN.</p> +<hr /> +<h3>LUDICROUS BLUNDERS.</h3> +<h4>(<i>From “After Dinner Chat,” in the New Monthly Magazine.</i>)</h4> +<p><i>H.</i>—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:</p> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>“And Freedom shriek’d—as Kosciusko fell.”</p> +</div> +</div> +<p>“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—</p> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>“And Freedom <i>squeak’d</i>—as Kosciusko fell.”</p> +</div> +</div> +<p><i>F.</i>—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</p> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p> “Wave, Munich! all thy banners wave!</p> +<p> And charge with all thy <i>chivalry</i>,”—</p> +</div> +</div> +<p>fancying, no doubt, that the poet, from ignorance of military terms, had +committed a blunder, he used invariably to say—</p> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p> “And charge with all thy <i>cavalry</i>.”</p> +</div> +</div> +<p><i>K.</i>—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</p> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>“A little water clears us of this deed,”</p> +</div> +</div> +<p>chose to “make assurance double sure,” and said—“A little soap and +water.” And, presently after, for</p> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>“We have scotch’d the snake, not killed it,”</p> +</div> +</div> +<p>the Thane, looking with an air of profound mystery at his tender mate, +whispered her,</p> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>“We have <i>cotch</i> a snake, and <i>killed</i> it.”</p> +</div> +</div> + +<hr /> +<h3>PARLIAMENT OF BATTS.</h3> +<p>Gurdon, in his <i>History of Parliament</i>, 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 <i>The Parliament of Batts</i>; 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> +<p>P.T.W.</p> + +<hr /> +<h3>WITENAGEMOTES.</h3> +<p>“Alfred, with the advice and consent of his <i>Witas</i>, in +<i>Witenagemote</i>, made his code of law that was common to the whole +nation, and enacted that a <i>Witenagemote</i> should be held twice a +year, and oftener if need were.”—See <i>Gurdon on Parliament</i>.</p> +<p>P.T.W.</p> + +<hr /> +<h3>ANNUAL OF SCIENCE.</h3> +<p>This Day is published, price 5<i>s</i>.</p> +<p>ARCANA of SCIENCE, and ANNUAL REGISTER of the USEFUL ARTS for 1831.</p> +<p>Comprising POPULAR INVENTIONS, IMPROVEMENTS, and DISCOVERIES</p> +<table summary="Annual of Science" border="0" width="80%" align="center"> + <tr> + <td>Mechanics</td> + <td>Agriculture</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Chemical Science</td> + <td>Gardening</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Botany</td> + <td>Domestic Economy</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Zoology</td> + <td>Useful and Ornamental Art</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Geology</td> + <td>Geographical Discovery</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Meteorology</td> + </tr> +</table> +<p>Abridged from the Transactions of Public Societies and Scientific Journals +of the past year. With several Engravings.</p> + +<p>“One of the best and cheapest books of the day.”—<i>Mag. Nat. Hist.</i></p> + +<p>“An annual register of new inventions and improvements in a popular form +like this, cannot fail to be useful.”—<i>Lit. Gaz.</i></p> + +<p>Printed for JOHN LIMBIRD, 143, Strand;—of whom may be had the Volumes for +the three preceding years.</p> +<hr class="full" /> +<blockquote class="footnote"> +<a id="footnote1" name="footnote1"></a> <b>Footnote 1</b>: <a href="#footnotetag1">(return)</a> +<p>From whose work the Engraving is copied.</p> +<a id="footnote2" name="footnote2"></a> <b>Footnote 2</b>: <a href="#footnotetag2">(return)</a> +<p>From 90 to 95 deg. Fahr in July.</p> +<a id="footnote3" name="footnote3"></a> <b>Footnote 3</b>: <a href="#footnotetag3">(return)</a> +<p>“Legis habet vigorem, quicquid de consilio et consensu magnatum et reipublicæ communi sponsione, authoritate regis, juste fuerit definitum.”—<i>Bracton</i>.</p> +</blockquote> +<hr class="full" /> +<p><em>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.</em></p> + +<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 12781 ***</div> +</body> |