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diff --git a/12898-0.txt b/12898-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..99879d2 --- /dev/null +++ b/12898-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1659 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 12898 *** + +THE MIRROR OF LITERATURE, AMUSEMENT, AND INSTRUCTION. + +VOL. XIII, No. 358.] SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 1829. [PRICE 2d. + + + + * * * * * + + +[Illustration: YORK TERRACE, REGENT'S PARK.] + +YORK TERRACE, + +REGENT'S PARK. + + +If the reader is anxious to illustrate any political position with the +"signs of the times," he has only to start from Waterloo-place, (thus +commencing with a glorious reminiscence,) through Regent-street and +Portland-place, and make the architectural tour of the Regent's Park. +Entering the park from the New Road by York Gate, one of the first +objects for his admiration will be _York Terrace_, a splendid range of +private residences, which has the appearance of an unique palace. This +striking effect is produced by all the entrances being in the rear, where +the vestibules are protected by large porches. All the doors and windows +in the principal front represented in the engraving are uniform, and +appear like a suite of princely apartments, somewhat in the style of a +little Versailles. This idea is assisted by the gardens having no +divisions. + +The architecture of the building is Græco-Italian. It consists of an +entrance or ground story, with semicircular headed windows and rusticated +piers. A continued pedestal above the arches of these windows runs +through the composition, divided between the columns into balustrades, in +front of the windows of the principal story, to which they form handsome +balconies. The elegant windows of this and the principal chamber story +are of the Ilissus Ionic, and are decorated with a colonnade, completed +with a well-proportioned entablature from the same beautiful order. Mr. +Elmes, in his critical observations on this terrace, thinks the attic +story "too irregular to accompany so chaste a composition as the Ionic, +to which it forms a crown;" he likewise objects to the cornice and +blocking-course, as being "also too small in proportion for the majesty +of the lower order." + +York Terrace is from the design of Mr. Nash, whose genius not +unfrequently strays into such errors as our architectural critic has +pointed out. + + * * * * * + + +VALENTINE CUSTOMS. + +_(To the Editor of the Mirror.)_ + + +As some of the customs described by your correspondent W.H.H.[1] are left +unaccounted for, I suppose any one is at liberty to sport a few +conjectures on the subject. May not, for instance, the practice of +burning the "_holly boy_" have its origin in some of those rustic +incantations described by Theocritus as the means of recalling a truant +lover, or of warming a cold one; and thus translated:-- + + [1] See No. 356 of the MIRROR, "Valentine's Day." + + "First Delphid injured me, he raised my flame, + And now I burn this bough in Delphid's name." + +Virgil, too, in his 8th Eclogue, alludes to the same charm:-- + + "Sparge molam, et fragiles incende bitumine lauros; + Daphnis me malus urit, ego hanc in Daphnide laurum." + + "Next in the fire the bays with brimstone burn, + And whilst it crackles in the sulphur, say, + This I for Daphnis burn, thus Daphnis burn away." + DRYDEN. + +The _"holly bush"_ being made to represent the person beloved, may also +be borrowed from the ancients:-- + + -------------------"Terque hæc altaria circum + _Effigiem_ duco." + VIRGIL. + + "Thrice round the altar I the image draw." + +The burning wax candles may be more difficult to account for, unless it +refer to the custom of melting wax in order to mollify the beloved one's +heart:-- + + "As this devoted wax melts o'er the fire, + Let Myndian Delphis melt with soft desire." + THEOCRITUS. + + ---------------"Hæc ut cera liquescit." + -------------"Sic nostro Daphnis amore." + VIRGIL. + +For a woman to compose a garland was always considered an indication of +her being in love. Aristophanes says, + + "The wreathing garlands in a woman is + The usual symptom of a love-sick mind." + +Should the charms resorted to by lovers two thousand years ago, appear to +you, even remotely, to have influenced the love rites as performed by the +village men and maidens of the present day, perhaps you may deem this +string of quotations worthy of a corner in your amusing miscellany. + +E. + + * * * * * + + +LINES + +_On the Sarcophagus[2] which contains the remains of Nelson in St. Paul's +Cathedral._ + +_(For the Mirror.)_ + + + To mark th' excess of priestly pow'r + To keep in mind that gorgeous hour, + Thou art no Popish monument, + Altho' by Wolsey thou wer't sent, + From thine own native Italy + To tell where his proud ashes lie. + To thee a nobler part is given! + A prouder task design'd by heav'n! + 'Tis thine the sea chief's grave to shroud, + Idol and wonder of the crowd! + The bravest heart that ever stood + The shock of battle on the flood! + The stoutest arm that ever led + A warrior o'er the ocean's bed! + Whose name long dreaded on the sea + Alone secured the victory! + His Britain sea-girt stood alone, + Whilst all the earth was heard to moan, + Beneath war's iron--iron rod, + Trusting in Nelson as her god.--CYMBELINE. + + [2] See MIRROR, No. 306, p 234. + + * * * * * + + + +COINAGE OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. + +_(For the Mirror.)_ + + +In 1749, a considerable number of gold coins were discovered on the top +of Karnbre, in Cornwall, which are clearly proved to have belonged to the +ancient Britons. The figures that were first stamped on the coins of all +nations were those of oxen, horses, sheep, &c. It may, therefore, be +concluded, that the coins of any country which have only the figures of +cattle stamped on them, and perhaps of trees, representing the woods in +which their cattle pastured,--were the most ancient coins of the country. +Some of the gold coins found at Karnbre, and described by Dr. Borlase, +are of this kind, and may be justly esteemed the most ancient of our +British coins. Sovereigns soon became aware of the importance of money, +and took the fabrication of it under their own direction, ordering their +own heads to be impressed on one side of the coins, while the figure of +some animal still continued to be stamped on the other. Of this kind are +some of the Karnbre coins, with a royal head on one side, and a horse on +the other. When the knowledge and use of letters were once introduced +into any country, it would not be long before they appeared on its coins, +expressing the names of the princes whose heads were stamped on them. +This was a very great improvement in the art of coining, and gave an +additional value to the money, by preserving the memories of princes, and +giving light to history. Our British ancestors were acquainted with this +improvement before they were subdued by the Romans, as several coins of +ancient Britain have very plain and perfect inscriptions, and on that +account merit particular attention. + +INA. + + * * * * * + + +ANIMAL FOOD. + +_(For the Mirror.)_ + + +It is generally allowed, that a profusion of animal food has a tendency +to vitiate and debase the nature and dispositions of men; +notwithstanding, the lovers of flesh urge the names of many of the most +eminent in literature and science, in opposition to this assertion. + +Plutarch attributed the stupidity of his countrymen, the Boeotians, to +the profusion of animal food which they consumed, and even now, our +lovely, soup drinking, coffee sipping friends on the continent, attribute +the saturnine, melancholy, and bearish dispositions of John Bull, to his +partiality for, + + "The famous roast-beef of Old England." + +A facetious, philosophical, friend of mine, lately amused me with some +remarks, on the nature and properties of different kinds of food. "We +know," said he, "that one herb produces _this_ effect, and another +_that_; that different species and varieties of plants have different +virtues; and, why may we not infer that the same rule extends to animated +nature; that our fish, flesh, and fowl, not only serve as nutriment, but +that each kind possesses peculiar and individual properties." + +This will account for the _piggish_ habits and propensities so +conspicuous in the inhabitants of certain places in England, and whose +partiality for _swine's flesh_, is proverbial. The _sheepish_ manners of +our students and school-boys, may also be attributed to the _mutton_ so +generally alloted to them. I might continue my observations, _ad +infinitum_. I might say, that the _wisdom of the goose_ was discoverable +in--whose love of that, "most abused of God's creatures," is well known: +and that the sea-side predilections of a certain Bart., of festive +notoriety, were occasioned by his partiality for turtle. + +QUÆSITOR. + + * * * * * + + +WHITEHALL. + +MARRIAGE OF ANNE BOLEYN + +_(For the Mirror)_ + + +The extraordinary revolution which took place in our religious +institutions in the time of Henry VIII., has rendered his reign one of +the most important in the annals of ecclesiastical history. For the great +changes at that glorious æra, the reformation, when the clouds of +ignorance and superstition were dispelled, we are principally indebted to +the beauteous, but unfortunate Anne Boleyn, whose influence with the +haughty monarch, was the chief cause of the abolition of the papal +supremacy in England; one of the greatest blessings ever bestowed by a +monarch on his country. Intimately associated with, and the principal +scene of these important events, was the ancient palace of Whitehall,[3] +which Henry, into whose possession it came on the premunire of Wolsey, +considerably enlarged and beautified, changing its name from that of York +Place, to the one by which it is still designated. + + [3] WHITEHALL was originally erected in the year 1243, by Hubert + de Burgh, Earl of Kent, who bequeathed it to the House of the + Blackfriars, near "_Oldborne_," where he was buried. It was + afterwards purchased by Walter Gray, Archbishop of York, who made + it his town residence, and at his death, left it to that See, + whence it acquired the name of _York House_. Cardinal Wolsey, on + his preferment to the Archbishoprick of York, resided here, in + great state; but on his premunire it was forfeited (or as some + authors assert had been previously given by him,) to the king. + Henry VIII. made it his principal residence, and greatly enlarged + it, the ancient and royal palace of Westminster having fallen to + decay; at the same time he enclosed the adjoining park of St. + James's, which appertained to this palace as well as to that of + St. James's, which that monarch had erected on the site of an + ancient hospital, founded before the conquest for "leprous + sisters." For some curious details of Wolsey's magnificence and + ostentation during his residence at York Place, we refer the + reader to the second volume of Mr. Brayley's _Londiniana_. + +In this building, an event, the most important, in its consequences, +recorded in the history of any country, took place,--the marriage of Anne +Boleyn, who had been created Countess of Pembroke, with the "stern +Harry." The precise period of these nuptials, owing to the secrecy with +which they were performed, is involved in considerable obscurity, and has +given rise to innumerable controversies among historians; the question +not being even to this hour satisfactorily decided as to whether they +were solemnized in the month of _November_, 1532, or in that of +_January_, 1533. Hall,[4] Holinshed,[5] and Grafton, whose authority +several of our more modern historians[6] have followed, place it on the +14th of November, 1532, the Feast Day of St. Erkenwald; but Stow[7] +informs us, that it was celebrated on the 25th of January 1533; and his +assertion bears considerable weight, being corroborated by a letter from +Archbishop Cranmer, dated "the xvij daye of June," 1533, from his "manor +of Croydon," to Hawkyns, the embassador at the emperor's court. In this +letter the prelate says, "she was marid muche about _St. Paules daye_ +last, as the condicion thereof dothe well appere by reason she ys now +sumwhat bygg with chylde."[8] This statement, coming as it does from so +authentic a source, and coinciding with the accounts of Stow, Wyatt,[9] +and Godwin[10] may, we think, be regarded as the most correct. Her +marriage was not made known until the following Easter, when it was +publicly proclaimed, and preparations made for her coronation, which was +conducted with extraordinary magnificence in Whitsuntide. Her becoming +pregnant soon after her marriage "gave great satisfaction to the king, +and was regarded by the people as a strong proof of the queen's former +modesty and virtue."[11] This latter circumstance, however, has not met +with that consideration among historians which it appears to merit; for +we must remember that Elizabeth was born on the 7th of the following +September, an event, which would perhaps rather tend to confirm the +opinion of Hall, in contradiction to that of Stow, if, indeed, Anne had +been proof against the advances of Henry, previous to their marriage, +which some writers have doubted. + + [4] Hall's "Chronicle," p. 794. edit. 1809. + + [5] Holinshed says, "he married priuilie the Lady Anne Bullougne + the same daie, being the _14th daie of Nouember_, and the feast + daie of Saint Erkenwald; which marriage was kept so secret, that + verie few knew it till Easter next insuing, when it was perceiued + that she was with child."--"Chronicles," vol. iii. p. 929. edit. + 1587. + + [6] Hume and Henry place the marriage in November. Lingard and + Sharon Turner in January. + + [7] Vide Stow's "Annals," by Howes, p. 562. edit. 1633. "King + Henry priuily married the Lady Anne Boleigne on the fiue and + twentieth of January, being _St. Paul's daie_: Mistresse Anne + Sauage bore vp Queene Annes traine, and was herselfe shortly + after marryed to the Lord Barkley. Doctor Rowland Lee, that + marryed the King to Queene Anne, was made Bishop of Chester, then + Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield, and President of Wales." + + [8] Harleian MSS. No. 6148. This letter is quoted by Burnet in + the first volume of his "History of the Reformation:" it may be + found printed entire in the eighteenth volume of the + "Archæologia:" and also in the second volume of Ellis's "Original + Letters," first series, p. 33. The MS. consists of a rough + copy-book of the Archbishop's letters, in his own hand writing. + + [9] Wyatt's Life of "Queen Anne Boleigne." Vide Appendix to + Cavendish's "Life of Wolsey," by Singer, vol. ii. p. 200. This + interesting memoir was written at the close of the sixteenth + century, (with the view of subverting the calumnies of Sanders,) + by George Wyatt, Esq, grandson of the poet of the same name, and + sixth son and heir of Sir Thomas Wyatt, who was decapitated in + the reign of Queen Mary, for his insurrection. + + [10] "Annales," p. 51. edit. 1616. "Ulterioris moræ perlæsus + Rex, Boleniam suam iam tandem Januarij 25, duxit uxorem, sed + clauculum, & paucissimis testibus adhibitis." Polydor Virgil + makes no mention of the period of the marriage, he only says, "in + matrimonium duxit Annam Bulleyne, quam paulò antè amare cæperat. + ex quâ suscepit filiam nomine Elizabeth." p. 689. edit. 1570. + + [11] Hume's "History of England," vol. iv. p 3. + +Lingard, whose History is now in the course of publication, intimates +that the ceremony was performed "in a garret, at the western end of the +palace of Whitehall;"[12] this, however, when we consider the haughty +character of Henry, is totally improbable, and rests entirely on the +authority of one solitary manuscript. There is no reason, however, to +doubt but that they were married in some apartment in that palace, and +most probably in the king's private closet.[13] Dr. Rowland Lee, one of +the royal chaplains, and afterwards Bishop of Coventry officiated, in the +presence only of the Duke of Norfolk, uncle to the Lady Anne, and her +father, mother, and brother. Lord Herbert,[14] whose authority has been +quoted by Hume, says, that Cranmer was also present, but this is +undoubtedly an error, as that prelate had only just then returned from +Germany, and was not informed of the circumstance until two weeks +afterwards, as appears from the following passage in his letter to +Hawkyns, before quoted:--"Yt hath bin reported thorowte a greate parte of +the realme that I married her; which was playnly false, for I myself knew +not thereof a fortenyght after it was donne." + + [12] Lingard's "History of England," vol. iv. p. 190. 4to edit. + + [13] Vide Speed's "Annals," p. 1029. + + [14] "Life and Raigne of Henry the Eighth," p. 341. edit. 1649. + +It may not, perhaps, prove uninteresting to our readers, or quite +irrelevant to the subject, to close this brief account of the marriage of +Anne Boleyn, with the copy of a letter from that queen to "Squire +Josselin, upon ye birth of Q. Elizabth," preserved among the manuscripts +in the British Museum.[15] + + [15] Harleian MSS. No. 787. + +"By the Queen--Trusty and well beloved wee greet you well. And whereas it +hath pleased ye goodness of Almighty God of his infinite mercy and grace +to send unto vs at this tyme good speed in ye deliverance and bringing +forth of a Princess to ye great joye and inward comfort of my lord. Us, +and of all his good and loving subjects of this his realme ffor ye which +his inestimable beneuolence soe shewed unto vs. We have noe little cause +to give high thankes, laude and praysing unto our said Maker, like as we +doe most lowly, humbly, and wth all ye inward desire of our heart. And +inasmuch as wee undoubtedly trust yt this our good is to you great +pleasure, comfort, and consolacion; wee therefore by these our Lrs +aduertise you thereof, desiring and heartily praying you to give wth vs +unto Almighty God, high thankes, glory, laud, and praising, and to pray +for ye good health, prosperity, and continuall preservation of ye sd +Princess accordingly. Yeoven under our Signett at my Lds Manner of +Greenwch,[16] ye 7th day of September, in ye 25th yeare of my said Lds +raigne, An. Dno. 1533." + +S.I.B. + + [16] Queen Elizabeth was born at the ancient Palace of + Greenwich, or as it was then called, "the Manner of Plesaunce," + one of the favourite residences of Henry VIII. + + * * * * * + + + +MEMORABLE DAYS. + + * * * * * + + +COLLOP MONDAY. + + +Collop Monday is the day before Shrove Tuesday, and in many parts is made +a day of great feasting on account of the approaching Lent. It is so +called, because it was the last day allowed for eating animal food before +Lent; and our ancestors cut up their fresh meat into collops, or steaks, +for salting or hanging up until Lent was over; and even now in many +places it is still a custom to have eggs and collops, or slices of bacon, +for dinner on this day. + +In Westmoreland, and particularly at Brough, where I have witnessed it +many times, the good people kill a great many pigs about a week or two +previous to Lent, which have been carefully fattened up for the occasion. +The good housewife is busily occupied in salting the flitches and hams to +hang up in the "pantry," and in cutting the fattest parts of the pig for +collops on this day. The most luscious cuts are baked in a pot in an +oven, and the fat poured out into a bladder, as it runs out of the meat, +for hog's-lard. When all the lard has been drained off, the remains +(which are called _cracklings_, being then baked quite crisp) resemble +the crackling on a leg of pork, are eaten with potatoes, and from the +quantity of salt previously added to them, to preserve the lard, are +unpalatable to many mouths. The rough farmers' men, however, devour them +as a savoury dish, and every time "lard" is being made, _cracklings_ are +served up for the servants' dinner. Indeed, even the more respectable +classes partake of this dish. + +PIG-FRY--This is a Collop Monday dish, and is a necessary appendage to +"_cracklings_." It consists of the fattest parts of the entrails of the +pig, broiled in an oven. Numerous herbs, spices, &c. are added to it; and +upon the whole, it is a more sightly "_course_" at table than fat +cracklings. Sometimes the good wife indulges her house with a pancake, as +an assurance that she has not forgotten to provide for Shrove Tuesday. +The servants are also treated with "a drop of something good" on this +occasion; and are allowed (if they have nothing of importance to require +their immediate attention) to spend the afternoon in conviviality. + +AVVER BREAD.--During Lent, in the same county, a great quantity of bread, +called avver bread, is made. It is of _oats_, leavened and kneaded into a +large, thin, round cake, which is placed upon a "_girdle_"[17] over the +fire. The bread is about the thickness of a "lady's" slice of bread and +butter. + + [17] Rutherglen, in Lanarkshire, has also long been celebrated + for baking _sour cakes_--_See_ vol. X. MIRROR, p 316.--I am of + opinion these cakes are of precisely the same make and origin as + those to which the writer alludes under the above name of "_sour + cakes_," which I presume he must have forgotten the name of. I + should have mentioned, that when these cakes (for they are + frequently called _avver cakes_) are baked, the fire must be of + wood; they never bake them over any other fire. These cakes are + of a remarkably strong, sour taste. I should further note, that + the _girdle_ is attached to a "crane" affixed in the chimney. + +I am totally unable to give a definition of the word _avver_, and should +feel much gratified by any correspondent's elucidation. I think _P.T.W_. +may possibly assist me on this point; and if so, I shall be much obliged. +There is an evident corruption in it. I have sometimes thought that avver +means oaten, although I have no other authority than from knowing the +strange pronunciation given to other words. + +W.H.H. + + * * * * * + + + +THE CONTEMPORARY TRAVELLER. + + * * * * * + + +DESCRIPTION OF MEKKA. + + +Mekka maybe styled a handsome town; its streets are in general broader +than those of eastern cities; the houses lofty, and built of stone; and +the numerous windows that face the streets give them a more lively and +European aspect than those of Egypt or Syria, where the houses present +but few windows towards the exterior. Mekka (like Djidda) contains many +houses three stories high; few at Mekka are white-washed; but the dark +grey colour of the stone is much preferable to the glaring white that +offends the eye in Djidda. In most towns of the Levant the narrowness of +a street contributes to its coolness; and in countries where +wheel-carriages are not used, a space that allows two loaded camels to +pass each other is deemed sufficient. At Mekka, however, it was necessary +to leave the passages wide, for the innumerable visiters who here crowd +together; and it is in the houses adapted for the reception of pilgrims +and other sojourners, that the windows are so contrived as to command a +view of the streets. + +The city is open on every side; but the neighbouring mountains, if +properly defended, would form a barrier of considerable strength against +an enemy. In former times it had three walls to protect its extremities; +one was built across the valley, at the street of Mala; another at the +quarter of Shebeyka; and the third at the valley opening into the +Mesfale. These walls were repaired in A.H. 816 and 828, and in a century +after some traces of them still remained. + +The only public place in the body of the town is the ample square of the +great mosque; no trees or gardens cheer the eye; and the scene is +enlivened only during the Hadj by the great number of well stored shops +which are found in every quarter. Except four or five large houses +belonging to the Sherif, two _medreses_ or colleges (now converted into +corn magazines,) and the mosque, with some buildings and schools attached +to it, Mekka cannot boast of any public edifices, and in this respect +is, perhaps, more deficient than any other eastern city of the same size. +Neither khans, for the accommodation of travellers, or for the deposit of +merchandize, nor palaces of grandees, nor mosques, which adorn every +quarter of other towns in the East, are here to be seen; and we may +perhaps attribute this want of splendid buildings to the veneration which +its inhabitants entertain for their temple; this prevents them from +constructing any edifice which might possibly pretend to rival it. + +The houses have windows looking towards the street; of these many project +from the wall, and have their frame-work elaborately carved, or gaudily +painted. Before them hang blinds made of slight reeds, which exclude +flies and gnats while they admit fresh air. Every house has its terrace, +the floor of which (composed of a preparation from lime-stone) is built +with a slight inclination, so that the rain-water runs off through +gutters into the street; for the rains here are so irregular that it is +not worth while to collect the water of them in cisterns, as is done in +Syria. The terraces are concealed from view by slight parapet walls; for +throughout the east, it is reckoned discreditable that a man should +appear upon the terrace, whence he might be accused of looking at women +in the neighbouring houses, as the females pass much of their time on the +terraces, employed in various domestic occupations, such as drying corn, +hanging up linen, &c. The Europeans of Aleppo alone enjoy the privilege +of frequenting their terraces, which are often beautifully built of +stone; here they resort during the summer evenings, and often to sup and +pass the night. All the houses of the Mekkawys, except those of the +principal and richest inhabitants, are constructed for the accommodation +of lodgers, being divided into many apartments, separated from each +other, and each consisting of a sitting-room and a small kitchen. Since +the pilgrimage, which has begun to decline, (this happened before the +Wahaby conquest,) many of the Mekkawys, no longer deriving profit from +the letting of their lodgings, found themselves unable to afford the +expense of repairs; and thus numerous buildings in the out-skirts have +fallen completely into ruin, and the town itself exhibits in every street +houses rapidly decaying. I saw only one of recent construction; it was in +the quarter of El Shebeyka, belonged to a Sherif, and cost, as report +said, one hundred and fifty purses; such a house might have been built at +Cairo for sixty purses. + +The streets are all unpaved; and in summer time the sand and dust in them +are as great a nuisance as the mud is in the rainy season, during which +they are scarcely passable after a shower; for in the interior of the +town the water does not run off, but remains till it is dried up. It may +be ascribed to the destructive rains, which, though of shorter duration +than in other tropical countries, fall with considerable violence, that +no ancient buildings are found in Mekka. The mosque itself has undergone +so many repairs under different sultans, that it may be called a modern +structure; and of the houses, I do not think there exists one older than +four centuries; it is not, therefore, in this place, that the traveller +must look for interesting specimens of architecture or such beautiful +remains of Saracenic structures as are still admired in Syria, Egypt, +Barbary, and Spain. In this respect the ancient and far-famed Mekka is +surpassed by the smallest provincial towns of Syria or Egypt. The same +may be said with respect to Medina, and I suspect that the towns of Yemen +are generally poor in architectural remains. + +Mekka is deficient in those regulations of police which are customary in +Eastern cities. The streets are totally dark at night, no lamps of any +kind being lighted; its different quarters are without gates, differing +in this respect also from most Eastern towns, where each quarter is +regularly shut up after the last evening prayers. The town may therefore +be crossed at any time of the night, and the same attention is not paid +here to the security of merchants, as well as of husbands, (on whose +account principally, the quarters are closed,) as in Syrian or Egyptian +towns of equal magnitude. The dirt and sweepings of the houses are cast +into the streets, where they soon become dust or mud according to the +season. The same custom seems to have prevailed equally in ancient times; +for I did not perceive in the skirts of the town any of those heaps of +rubbish which are usually found near the large towns of Turkey. + +With respect to water, the most important of all supplies, and that which +always forms the first object of inquiry among Asiatics, Mekka is not +much better provided than Djidda; there are but few cisterns for +collecting rain, and the well-water is so brackish that it is used only +for culinary purposes, except during the time of the pilgrimage, when the +lowest class of hadjys drink it. The famous well of Zemzem, in the great +mosque, is indeed sufficiently copious to supply the whole town; but, +however holy, its water is heavy to the taste and impedes digestion; the +poorer classes besides have not permission to fill their water-skins with +it at pleasure. The best water in Mekka is brought by a conduit from the +vicinity of Arafat, six or seven hours distant. The present government, +instead of constructing similar works, neglects even the repairs and +requisite cleansing of this aqueduct. It is wholly built of stone; and +all those parts of it which appear above ground, are covered with a thick +layer of stone and cement. I heard that it had not been cleaned during +the last fifty years; the consequence of this negligence is, that the +most of the water is lost in its passage to the city through apertures, +or slowly forces its way through the obstructing sediment, though it +flows in a full stream into the head of the aqueduct at Arafat. The +supply which it affords in ordinary times is barely sufficient for the +use of the inhabitants, and during the pilgrimage sweet water becomes an +absolute scarcity; a small skin of water (two of which skins a person may +carry) being then often sold for one shilling--a very high price among +Arabs. + +There are two places in the interior of Mekka where the aqueduct runs +above ground; there the water is let off into small channels or +fountains, at which some slaves of the Sherif are stationed, to exact a +toll from persons filling their water-skins. In the time of the Hadj, +these fountains are surrounded day and night by crowds of people +quarrelling and fighting for access to the water. During the late siege, +the Wahabys cut off the supply of water from the aqueduct; and it was not +till some time after, that the injury which this structure then received, +was partially repaired. + +There is a small spring which oozes from under the rocks behind the great +palace of the Sherif, called Beit el Sad; it is said to afford the best +water in this country, but the supply is very scanty. The spring is +enclosed, and appropriated wholly to the Sherif's family. + +Beggars, and infirm or indigent hadjys, often entreat the passengers in +the streets of Mekka for a draught of sweet water; they particularly +surround the water-stands, which are seen in every corner, and where, for +two paras in the time of the Hadj, and for one para, at other times, as +much water may be obtained as will fill a jar.--_Burckhardt's Travels in +Arabia_. + + * * * * * + + + +THE NATURALIST. + +[Illustration: FLAKES OF SNOW MAGNIFIED.] + + + +Snow is one of the treasures of the atmosphere. Its wonderful +construction, and the beautiful regularity of its figures, have been the +object of a treatise by Erasmus Bartholine, who published in 1661, "_De +Figurâ Nivis Dissertatio_," with observations of his brother Thomas on +the use of snow in medicine. On examining the flakes of snow with a +magnifying glass before they melt, (which may easily be done by making +the experiment in the open air,) they will appear composed of fine +shining spicula or points, diverging like rays from a centre. As the +flakes fall down through the atmosphere, they are joined by more of these +radiated spicula, and thus increase in bulk like the drops of rain or +hail-stones. Dr. Green says, "that many parts of snow are of a regular +figure, for the most part so many little rowels or stars of six points, +and are as perfect and transparent ice as any seen on a pond. Upon each +of these points are other collateral points set at the same angles as the +main points themselves; among these there are divers others, irregular, +which are chiefly broken points and fragments of the regular ones. Others +also, by various winds, seem to have been thawed and frozen again into +irregular clusters; so that it seems as if the whole body of snow was an +infinite mass of icicles irregularly figured. That is, a cloud of vapours +being gathered into drops, those drops forthwith descend, and in their +descent, meeting with a freezing air as they pass through a colder +region, each drop is immediately frozen into an icicle, shooting itself +forth into several points; but these still continuing their descent, and +meeting with some intermitting gales of warmer air, or, in their +continual waftage to and fro, touching upon each other are a little +thawed, blunted, and frozen into clusters, or entangled so as to fall +down in what we call flakes." But we are not, (says the author of the +"Contemplative Philosopher,") to consider snow merely as a curious +phenomenon. The Great Disposer of universal bounty has so ordered it, +that it is eminently subservient, as well as all the works of creation, +to his benevolent designs. + + "He gives the winter's snow her airy birth, + And bids her virgin fleeces clothe the earth." + SANDYS. + +P.T.W. + + * * * * * + + +MONKEYS AT GIBRALTAR. + + +Though Gibraltar abounds with monkeys, there are none to be found in the +rest of Spain; this is supposed to be occasioned by the following +circumstance;--The waters of the Propontis, which anciently might be +nothing but a lake formed by the Granicus and Rhyndacus, finding it more +easy to work themselves a canal by the Dardanelles than any other way, +spread into the Mediterranean, and forcing a passage into the ocean +between Mount Atlas and Calpe, separated the rock from the coast of +Africa; and the monkeys being taken by surprise, were compelled to be +carried with it over to Europe, "These animals," says a resident at +Gibraltar, "are now in high favour here. The lieutenant-governor, General +Don, has taken them under his protection, and threatened with fine and +imprisonment any one who shall in any way molest them. They have +increased rapidly, of course. Many of them are as large as our dogs; and +some of the old grandfathers and great-grandfathers are considerably +larger. I had the good fortune to fall in with a family of about ten, and +had an opportunity of watching for a time their motions. There appeared +to be a father and mother, four or five grown-up children, and three that +had not reached the years of discretion. One of them was still at the +breast; and although he was large enough to be weaned, and indeed made +his escape as rapidly as the mother when they took the alarm, it was +quite impossible to restrain laughter when one saw the mother, with great +gravity, sitting nursing the little elf, with her hand behind it, and the +older children skipping up and down the walls, and playing all sorts of +antic tricks with one another. They made their escape with the utmost +rapidity, leaping over rocks and precipices with great agility, and +evidently unconscious of fear." + +W.G.C. + + * * * * * + + + +THE SELECTOR, + +AND + +LITERARY NOTICES OF + +_NEW WORKS_ + + * * * * * + + +THE GREAT WORLD OF FASHION. + + +Satire is the pantomime of literature, and harlequin's jacket, his black +vizor, and his eel-like lubricity, are so many harmless satires on the +weak sides of our nature. The pen of the satirist is as effective as the +pencil of the artist; and provided it draw well, cannot fail to prove as +attractive. Indeed, the characters of pantomime, harlequin, columbine, +clown, and pantaloon, make up the best _quarto_ that has ever appeared on +the manners and follies of the times; and they may be turned to as grave +an account as any page of Seneca's Morals, or Cicero's Disputations; +however various the means, the end, or object, is the same, and all is +rounded with a sleep. + +"The Great World," in the language of satire, is the "glass of fashion +and the mould of form." Its geography and history are as perpetually +changing as the modes of St. James's, or the features of one of its +toasted beauties; and what is written of it to-day may be dry, and its +time be out of joint, before it has escaped the murky precincts of the +printing-house. It is subtlety itself, and we know not "whence it cometh, +and whither it goeth." Its philosophy is concentric, for this Great World +consists of thousands of little worlds, _usque ad infinitum_, and we do +well if we become not giddy with looking on the wheels of its +vicissitudes. + +We know not whom we have to thank for the pamphlet of sixty +pages--entitled "A Geographical and Historical Account of the Great +World"--now before us. It bears the imprint of "Ridgway, Piccadilly," so +that it is published at the gate of the very region it describes--like +the accounts of _Pere la Chaise_, sold at its _concierge_. Annexed is a +Map of the Great World--but the author has not "attempted to lay down the +longitude; the only measurements hitherto made being confined to the +west of the meridian of St. James's Strait." Then the author tells us of +the atomic hypothesis of the formation of the Great World. "These rules, +for the performance of what appears to be an atomic quadrille, are +furnished by Sir H. Davy, elected by the Great World, master of the +ceremonies for the preservation of order, and prescribing rules for the +regulation of the Universe." "The surface of the Great World, or rather +its crust, has been ascertained to be exceedingly shallow." + +The inhabitants of the Great World, in its diurnal rotation, receive no +light from the sun till a few hours before the time of its setting with +us, when it also sets with them, so that they are inconvenienced for a +short time only, by its light. In its annual orbit, it has but one +season, which, though called Spring, is subject to the most sudden +alternations of heat and cold. The females have a singular method of +protecting themselves from the baneful effects of these violent changes, +which is worthy of notice:--they wrap themselves up, during the short +time the sun shines, in pelisses, shawls, and cloaks, their heads being +protected by hats, whose umbrageous brims so far exceed in dimensions the +little umbrellas raised above them, that a stranger is at a loss to +conjecture the use of the latter. Shortly after the sun has set, these +habiliments are all thrown off, dresses of gossamer are substituted in +their place, and the fair wearers rush out into the open air, to enjoy +the cool night breezes. + +This is but the "Companion to the Map." The Voyage to the several Islands +of the Great World, "is in a frame-work of the adventures of Sir Heedless +Headlong, who neither reaches the Great World by a balloon, nor Perkins's +steam-gun. He cruises about St. James's Straits, makes for Idler's +Harbour, in Alba; is repulsed, but with a friend, Jack Rashleigh, +journeys to Society Island, lands at Small Talk Bay, and makes for the +capital, Flirtington. He first visits a general assembly of the leaders +of the isle. At the house of assembly the rush of charioteers was so +great, that it is impossible to say what might have been the consequence +of the general confusion, or how many lives might have been lost, but for +the interference of a little man in a flaxen wig, and broad-brimmed hat, +with a cane in his hand, whose authority is said to extend equally over +ladies and pickpockets of all degrees."[18] Then comes an exquisite bit +of badinage on that most stupid of all stupidities, a fashionable rout. + + [18] Quasi Townsend. + +"On entering the walls, my surprise may be partly conceived, at finding +those persons, whom I had seen so eagerly striving to gain admittance, +crowded together in a capacious vapour bath, heated to so high a +temperature, that had I not been aware of the strict prohibition of +science, I should have imagined the meeting to have been held for the +purpose of ascertaining, by experiment, the greatest degree of heat which +the human frame is capable of supporting. That they should choose such a +place for their deliberations upon the welfare of the island, appeared to +me extraordinary, and only to be accounted for upon the supposition that +it was intended to carry off, by evaporation, that internal heat to which +the assemblies of legislators of some other countries are known to be +subject. Judging from the grave and melancholy countenances of the +persons assembled, I councluded the affairs of the island to be in a very +disasterous state; and I could discover very little either said or done, +at all calculated to advance its interests. Of the capital itself, some +members said a few words; but, to use the language of our Globe, in so +inaudible a tone of voice, that we could scarcely catch their import. The +principal subject of their discussion consisted of complaining of the +extreme heat of the bath, and mutual inquiries respecting their intention +of immersing themselves in any others that were open the same night." + +He next satirizes a fashionable dinner, the parks, the Horticultural +Society, some pleasant jokes upon a rosy mother and her parsnip-pale +daughters, and an admirable piece of fun upon the female oligarchy of +Almacks. + +"From hence I made a trip to Crocky's Island, situated on the opposite +side of the Strait. On landing at Hellgate, within Fools' Inlet my +surprise was much excited by the prodigious flocks of gulls, pigeons, and +geese, which were directing their flight towards the Great Fish Lake, +whither I, too, was making my way. I concluded their object was to +procure food, of which a profusion was here spread before them, +consisting of every thing which such birds most delight to peck at; but +no sooner had they settled near the bank, than they were seized upon by a +Fisherman, (who was lying in wait for them,) and completely plucked of +their feathers, an operation to which they very quietly submitted, and +were then suffered to depart. Upon inquiring his motive for what appeared +to me a wanton act of cruelty, he told me his intention was to stuff his +bed with the feathers; 'or,' added he, 'if you _vill_, to feather my +nest.' Being myself an admirer of a soft bed, I saw no reason why I +should not employ myself in the same way; but owing, perhaps, to my being +a novice in the art, and not knowing how to manage the birds properly, +they were but little disposed to submit themselves to my hands; and, in +the attempt, I found myself so completely covered with feathers, that +which of the three descriptions of birds aforesaid I most resembled, it +would have been difficult to determine. The fisherman, seeing my +situation, was proceeding to add to the stock of feathers which he had +collected in a great bag, by plucking those from my person, when, wishing +to save him any further trouble, I hurried back to Hellgate." + +We cannot accompany Sir Heedless any further; but must conclude with a +few piquancies from the _Vocabulary of the Language of the Great World_, +which is as necessary to the enjoyment of fashionable life, as is a +glossary to an elementary scientific treatise:-- + +_At Home._--Making your house as unlike home as possible, by turning +every thing topsy-turvy, removing your furniture, and squeezing as many +people into your rooms as can be compressed together. + +_Not at Home._--Sitting in your own room, engaged in reading a new novel, +writing notes, or other important business. + +_Affection._--A painful sensation, such as gout, rheumatism, cramp, +head-ache, &c. + +_Mourning._--An outward covering of black, put on by the relatives of any +deceased person of consequence, or by persons succeeding to a large +fortune, as an emblem of their grief upon so melancholy an event. + +_Morning._--The time corresponding to that between our noon and sun-set. + +_Evening._--The time between our sun-set and sun-rise. + +_Night._---The time between our sun-rise and noon. + +_Domestic._--An epithet applied to cats, dogs, and other tame animals, +keeping at home. + +_Reflection._--The person viewed in a looking-glass. + +_Tenderness._--A property belonging to meat long kept. + +_An Undress._--A thick covering of garments. + +_A Treasure._--A lady's maid, skilful in the mysteries of building up +heads, and pulling down characters; ingenious in the construction of +caps, capes, and scandal, and judicious in the application of paint and +flattery; also, a footman, who knows, at a single glance, what visiters +to admit to the presence of his mistress, and whom to refuse. + +_Immortality_.--An imaginary privilege of living for ever, conferred upon +heroes, poets, and patriots. + +_Taste_.--The art of discerning the precise shades of difference +constituting a bad or well dressed man, woman, or dinner. + +_Tact_.--The art of wheedling a rich old relation, winning an heiress, or +dismissing duns with the payment of fair promises. + +_Album_.--A ledger kept by ladies for the entry of compliments, in rhyme, +paid _on demand_ to their beautiful hair, complexions fair, the dimpled +chin, the smiles that win, the ruby lips, where the bee sips, &c. &c.; +the whole amount being transferred to their private account from the +public stock. + +_Resignation_.--Giving up a place. + +_A Heathen_.--An infidel to the tenets of ton, a Goth; a monster; a +vulgar wretch. One who eats twice of soup, swills beer, _takes_ wine, +knows nothing about ennui, dyspepsia, or peristaltic persuaders, and does +not play ecarté; a creature--nobody. + +_Vice_.--An instrument made use of by ladies in _netting_ for the purpose +of securing their work. + +_A Martyr_.--A gentleman subject to the gout. + +_Temperate_.----Quiet, an epithet applied only to horses. + +_Bore_.--A country acquaintance, or relation, a leg of mutton, a +hackney-coach, &c., children, or a family party. + +_Love_.--Admiration of a large fortune. + +_Courage_.--Shooting a fellow creature, perhaps a friend, from the fear +of being thought a coward. + +_Christmas_.--That time of year when tradesmen, and boys from school, +become troublesome. + + * * * * * + + + +OLD POETS. + + * * * * * + + +A KISS. + + + Best charge and bravest retreat in Cupid's fight, + A double key which opens to the heart, + Most rich, when most his riches it impart, + Nest of young joys, schoolmaster of delight, + Teaching the mean at once to take and give, + The friendly stay, where blows both wound and heal, + The petty death where each in other live, + Poor hope's first wealth, hostage of promise weak, + Breakfast of love. + SIR P. SYDNEY. + + * * * * * + + +SIGHT. + + + -----Nine things to sight required are + The power to see, the light, the visible thing: + Being not too small, too thin, too nigh, too far, + Clear space, and time the form distinct to bring. + J. DAVIES. + + * * * * * + + +MERCY AND JUSTICE. + + + Oh who shall show the countenance and gestures + Of Mercy and Justice; which fair sacred sisters, + With equal poise doth ever balance even, + The unchanging projects of the King of heaven. + The one stern of look, the other mild aspecting, + The one pleas'd with tears, the other blood affecting; + The one bears the sword of vengeance unrelenting + The other brings pardon for the true repenting. + J. SYLVESTER + + * * * * * + + + I know that countenance cannot lie + Whose thoughts are legible in the eye. + M. ROYDON. + + * * * * * + + +INGRATITUDE. + + + Unthankfulness is that great sin, + Which made the devil and his angels fall: + Lost him and them the joys that they were in, + And now in hell detains them bound in thrall. + SIR J. HARRINGTON. + + * * * * * + + + Thou hateful monster base ingratitude, + Soul's mortal poison, deadly killing-wound, + Deceitful serpent seeking to delude, + Black loathsome ditch, where all desert is drown'd; + Vile pestilence, which all things dost confound. + At first created to no other end, + But to grieve those, whom nothing could offend. + M. DRAYTON. + + * * * * * + + +HEAVEN. + + + From hence with grace and goodness compass'd round, + God ruleth, blesseth, keepeth all he wrought, + Above the air, the fire, the sea and ground + Our sense, our wit, our reason and our thought; + Where persons three, with power and glory crown'd, + Are all one God, who made all things of naught. + Under whose feet, subjected to his grace + Sit nature, fortune, motion, time and place. + + This is the place from whence like smoke and dust + Of this frail world, the wealth, the pomp, the power, + He tosseth, humbleth, turneth as he lust, + And guides our life, our end, our death and hour, + No eye (however virtuous, pure and just) + Can view the brightness of that glorious bower, + On every side the blessed spirits be + Equal in joys though differing in degree. + E. FAIRFAX. + + * * * * * + + +MARRIAGE. + + + In choice of wife prefer the modest chaste, + Lilies are fair in show, but foul in smell, + The sweetest looks by age are soon defaced, + Then choose thy wife by wit and loving well. + Who brings thee wealth, and many faults withal, + Presents thee honey mix'd with bitter gall. + D. LODGE. + + * * * * * + + +PRIDE. + + Pride is the root of ill in every state, + The source of sin, the very fiend's fee: + The bead of hell, the bough, the branch, the tree; + From which do spring and sprout such fleshly seeds, + As nothing else but moans and mischief breeds. + G. GASCOIGNE. + + * * * * * + + + +SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS. + + * * * * * + + +NOTES FROM THE LONDON REVIEW, + +NO. 1. + +ANCIENT AND MODERN LUXURIES. + + +As a learned doctor, a passionate admirer of the Nicotian plant, was not +long since regaling himself with a pinch of snuff, in the study of an old +college friend, his classical recollections suddenly mixed with his +present sensation, and suggested the following question:--"If a Greek or +a Roman were to rise from the grave, how would you explain to him the +three successive enjoyments which we have had to-day after dinner,--tea, +coffee, and snuff? By what perception or sensation familiar to them, +would you account for the modern use of the three vulgar elements, which +we see notified on every huckster's stall?--or paint the more refined +beatitude of a young barrister comfortably niched in one of our London +divans, concentrating his ruminations over a new Quarterly, by the aid of +a highly-flavoured Havannah?" The doctor's friend, whose ingenuity is not +easily taken at fault, answered, "By friction, which was performed so +consummately in their baths. It is no new propensity of animal nature, to +find pleasure from the combination of a _stimulant_, and a _sedative_. +The ancients chafed their skins, and we chafe our stomachs, exactly for +that same double purpose of excitement and repose (let physiologists +explain their union) which these vegetable substances procure now so +extensively to mankind. In a word, I would tell the ancient Greeks or +Romans, that the dealer in tea, coffee, tobacco, and snuff, is to us what +the experienced practioner of the _strigil_ was to them; with this +difference, however, that while we spare our skins, our stomachs are in +danger of being tanned into leather." + + * * * * * + + +THE STAGE. + + +We may compare _tragedy_ to a martyrdom by one of the old masters; which, +whatever be its merit, represents persons, emotions, and events so remote +from the experience of the spectator, that he feels the grounds of his +approbation and blame to be in a great measure conjectural. The +_romance_, such as we generally have seen it, resembles a Gothic +window-piece, where monarchs and bishops exhibit the symbols of their +dignity, and saints hold out their palm branches, and grotesque monsters +in blue and gold pursue one another through the intricacies of a +never-ending scroll, splendid in colouring, but childish in composition, +and imitating nothing in nature but a mass of drapery and jewels thrown +over the commonest outlines of the human figure. The works of the +_comedian_, in their least interesting forms, are Dutch paintings and +caricatures: in their best, they are like Wilkie's earlier pictures, +accurate imitations of pleasing, but familiar objects--admirable as works +of art, but addressed rather to the judgment than to the imagination. + + * * * * * + + +ENGLISH WOMEN. + + +Nothing could be more easy than to prove, in the reflected light of our +literature, that from the period of our Revolution to the present time, +the education of women has improved among us, as much, at least, as that +of men. Unquestionably that advancement has been greater within the last +fifty years, than during any previous period of equal length; and it may +even be doubted whether the modern rage of our fair countrywomen for +universal acquirement has not already been carried to a height injurious +to the attainment of excellence in the more important branches of +literary information. + +But in every age since that of Charles II, Englishwomen have been better +educated than their mothers. For much of this progress we are indebted to +Addison. Since the Spectator set the example, a great part of our lighter +literature, unlike that of the preceding age, has been addressed to the +sexes in common: whatever language could shock the ear of woman, whatever +sentiment could sully her purity of thought, has been gradually expunged +from the far greater and better portion of our works of imagination and +taste; and it is this growing refinement and delicacy of expression, +throughout the last century, which prove, as much as any thing, the +increasing number of female readers, and the increasing homage which has +been paid to the better feelings of their sex. + + * * * * * + + +Mr. Lee, the high-constable of Westminster, in the _Police Report_, says, +"I have known the time when I have seen the regular thieves watching +Drummonds' house, looking out for persons coming out: and the widening of +the pavement of the streets has, I think, done a great deal of good. With +respect to pick-pocketing, there is not a chance of their doing now as +they used to do. If a man attempts to pick a pocket, it is ten to one if +he is not seen, which was not the case formerly." + + * * * * * + + +CRIME IN PARIS. + + +Vidocq, in his Memoires, relates, that in 1817, with twelve agents or +subordinate officers, he effected in Paris the number of arrests which +he thus enumerates:-- + + Assassins or murderers 15 + Robbers or burglars 5 + Ditto with false keys 108 + Ditto in furnished houses 12 + Highwaymen 126 + Pickpockets and cutpurses 73 + Shoplifters 17 + Receivers of stolen property 38 + Fugitives from the prisons 14 + Tried galley-slaves, having left their exile 43 + Forgers, cheats, swindlers, &c. 46 + Vagabonds, robbers returned to Paris 229 + By mandates from his excellency 46 + Captures and seizures of stolen property 39 + ---- + 811 + + * * * * * + + +WITNESSES. + + +The protracted proceedings of our criminal courts are productive of one +serious evil, which we have never seen noticed. Domestic servants, and +others who appear as witnesses, must frequently wait, day after day, in +the court-yard and avenues, or in the adjacent public-houses, until the +cases on which they have been subpoenaed are called for trial. During +these intervals they converse and become acquainted with others in +attendance, a large proportion of whom are generally friends or +associates of the prisoners. It is thus that the most dangerous +intimacies have been formed; and many instances have occurred where +servants, who have been seen in the courts as witnesses for a +prosecution, have soon afterwards appeared there as prisoners. + + * * * * * + + +YOU'LL COME TO OUR BALL. + + +"Comment! c'est lui?--que je le regarde encore!--c'est que vraiment il +est bien changé; n'est pas, mon papa?"--_Les premiers Amours_. + + You'll come to our Ball--since we parted, + I've thought of you, more than I'll say; + Indeed, I was half broken-hearted, + For a week, when they took you away. + Fond Fancy brought back to my slumbers + Our walks on the Ness and the Den, + And echoed the musical numbers + Which you used to sing to me then. + I know the romance, since it's over, + 'Twere idle, or worse, to recall:-- + I know you're a terrible rover: + But, Clarence,--you'll come to our Ball! + + It's only a year, since at College + You put on your cap and your gown; + But, Clarence, you're grown out of knowledge, + And chang'd from the spur to the crown: + The voice that was best when it faltered + Is fuller and firmer in tone; + And the smile that should never have altered,-- + Dear Clarence,--it is not your own: + Your cravat was badly selected, + Your coat don't become you at all; + And why is your hair so neglected? + You _must_ have it curled for our Ball. + + I've often been out upon Haldon, + To look for a covey with Pup: + I've often been over to Shaldon, + To see how your boat is laid up: + In spite of the terrors of Aunty, + I've ridden the filly you broke; + And I've studied your sweet, little Dante, + In the shade of your favourite oak: + When I sat in July to Sir Lawrence, + I sat in your love of a shawl; + And I'll wear what you brought me from Florence, + Perhaps, if you'll come to our Ball. + + You'll find us all changed since you vanished: + We've set up a National School, + And waltzing is utterly banished-- + And Ellen has married a fool-- + The Major is going to travel-- + Miss Hyacinth threatens a rout-- + The walk is laid down with fresh gravel-- + Papa is laid up with the gout: + And Jane has gone on with her easels, + And Anne has gone off with Sir Paul; + And Fanny is sick of the measles,-- + And I'll tell you the rest at the Ball. + + You'll meet all your Beauties;--the Lily, + And the Fairy of Willowbrook Farm, + And Lucy, who made me so silly + At Dawlish, by taking your arm-- + Miss Manners, who always abused you, + For talking so much about Hock-- + And her sister who often amused you, + By raving of rebels and Rock; + And something which surely would answer, + A heiress, quite fresh from Bengal-- + So, though you were seldom a dancer, + You'll dance, just for once, at our Ball. + + But out on the world!--from the flowers + It shuts out the sunshine of truth; + It blights the green leaves in the bowers, + It makes an old age of our youth: + And the flow of our feeling, once in it, + Like a streamlet beginning to freeze, + Though it cannot turn ice in a minute, + Grows harder by sullen degrees-- + Time treads o'er the grave of Affection; + Sweet honey is turned into gall. + Perhaps you have no recollection + That ever you danced at our Ball. + + You once could be pleased with our ballads-- + To-day you have critical ears: + You once could be charmed with our salads-- + Alas! you've been dining with Peers-- + You trifled and flirted with many--- + You've forgotten the when and the how-- + There was _one_ you liked better than any-- + Perhaps you've forgotten _her_ now. + But of those you remember most newly, + Of those who delight or enthrall, + None love you a quarter so truly + As some you will find at our Ball. + + They tell me you've many who flatter, + Because of your wit and your song-- + They tell me (and what does it matter?) + You like to be praised by the throng-- + They tell me you're shadowed with laurel, + They tell me you're loved by a Blue-- + They tell me you're sadly immoral, + Dear Clarence, _that_ cannot be true! + But to me you are still what I found you + Before you grew clever and tall-- + And you'll think of the spell that once bound you-- + And you'll come--_won't_ you come?--to our Ball! + + _London Magazine._ + + * * * * * + + +PARTY. + + +Two dogs cannot worry one another in the streets without instantly +forming each his party among the crowd; much more then does the principle +apply to higher contests. + + * * * * * + + + +THE ANECDOTE GALLERY. + + * * * * * + + +MOLIERE. + + +At the town of Pezénas they still show an elbow-chair of Molière's (as at +Montpelier they show the gown of Rabelais,) in which the poet, it is +said, ensconced in a corner of a barber's shop, would sit for the hour +together, silently watching the air, gestures, and grimaces of the +village politicians, who, in those days, before coffee-houses were +introduced into France, used to congregate in this place of resort. The +fruits of this study may be easily discerned in those original draughts +of character from the middling and lower classes with which his pieces +everywhere abound. + +Molière's celebrated farce of _Les Précieuses Ridicules_; a piece in only +one act, but which, by its inimitable satire, effected such a revolution +in the literary taste of his countrymen, as has been accomplished by few +works of a more imposing form--may be considered as the basis of the +dramatic glory of Molière, and the dawn of good comedy in France. The +satire aimed at a coterie of wits who set themselves up as arbiters of +taste and fashion, and was welcomed with enthusiastic applause, most of +them being present at the first exhibition, to behold the fine fabric, +which they had been so painfully constructing, brought to the ground by a +single blow. "And these follies," said Ménage to Chapelin, "which you and +I see so finely criticised here, are what we have been so long admiring. +We must go home and burn our idols." "Courage, Molière," cried an old man +from the pit; "this is genuine comedy." The price of the seats was +doubled from the time of the second representation. Nor were the effects +of the satire merely transitory. It converted an epithet of praise into +one of reproach; and a _femme precieuse_, a _style precieux_, a _ton +precieux_, once so much admired, have ever since been used only to +signify the most ridiculous affectation. There was, in truth, however, +quite as much luck as merit, in this success of Molière; whose production +exhibits no finer raillery, or better sustained dialogue, than are to be +found in many of his subsequent pieces. It assured him, however, of his +own strength, and disclosed to him the mode in which he should best hit +the popular taste. "I have no occasion to study Plautus or Terence any +longer," said he, "I must henceforth, study the world." The world +accordingly was his study; and the exquisite models of character which it +furnished him, will last as long as it shall endure. + +Though an habitual valetudinarian, Molière relied almost wholly on the +temperance of his diet for the reestablishment of his health. "What use +do you make of your physician?" said the king to him one day. "We chat +together, Sire," said the poet. "He gives me his prescriptions; I never +follow them; and so I get well." + +In Molière's time, the profession of a comedian was but lightly esteemed +in France at this period. Molière experienced the inconveniences +resulting from this circumstance, even after his splendid literary career +had given him undoubted claims to consideration. Most of our readers no +doubt, are acquainted with the anecdote of Belloc, an agreeable poet of +the court, who, on hearing one of the servants in the royal household +refuse to aid the author of the _Tartuffe_ in making the king's bed, +courteously requested "the poet to accept his services for that purpose." +Madame Campan's anecdote of a similar courtesy, on the part of Louis the +Fourteenth, is also well known; who, when several of these functionaries +refused to sit at table with the comedian, kindly invited him to sit down +with him, and, calling in some of his principal courtiers, remarked that +"he had requested the pleasure of Molière's company at his own table, as +it was not thought quite good enough for his officers." This rebuke had +the desired effect. + +Molière died in 1673, he had been long affected by a pulmonary complaint, +and it was only by severe temperance that he was enabled to preserve even +a moderate degree of health. At the commencement of the year, his malady +sensibly increased. At this very season, he composed his _Malade +Imaginaire_; the most whimsical, and perhaps the most amusing of the +compositions, in which he has indulged his raillery against the faculty. +On the 17th of February, being the day appointed for its fourth +representation, his friends would have dissuaded him from appearing, in +consequence of his increasing indisposition. But he persisted in his +design, alleging "that more than fifty poor individuals depended for +their daily bread on its performance." His life fell a sacrifice to his +benevolence. The exertions which he was compelled to make in playing the +principal part of _Argan_ aggravated his distemper, and as he was +repeating the word _juro_, in the concluding ceremony, he fell into a +convulsion, which he vainly endeavoured to disguise from the spectators +under a forced smile. He was immediately carried to his house, in the +_Rue de Richelieu_, now No. 34. A violent fit of coughing, on his +arrival, occasioned the rupture of a blood-vessel; and seeing his end +approaching, he sent for two ecclesiastics of the parish of St. Eustace, +to which he belonged, to administer to him the last offices of religion. +But these worthy persons having refused their assistance, before a third, +who had been sent for, could arrive, Molière, suffocated with the +effusion of blood, had expired in the arms of his family. + +Molière died soon after entering upon his fifty-second year. He is +represented to have been somewhat above the middle stature, and well +proportioned; his features large, his complexion dark, and his black, +bushy eye-brows so flexible, as to admit of his giving an infinitely +comic expression to his physiognomy. He was the best actor of his own +generation, and by his counsels, formed the celebrated Baron, the best of +the succeeding. He played all the range of his own characters, from +_Alceste_ to _Sganarelle_; though he seems to have been peculiarly fitted +for broad comedy. + +He produced all his pieces, amounting to thirty, in the short space of +fifteen years. He was in the habit of reading these to an old female +domestic, by the name of La Forêt; on whose unsophisticated judgment he +greatly relied. On one occasion when he attempted to impose upon her the +production of a brother author, she plainly told him that he had never +written it. Sir Walter Scott may have had this habit of Molière's in his +mind, when he introduced a similar expedient into his "Chronicles of the +Canongate." For the same reason, our poet used to request the comedians +to bring their children with them, when he recited to them a new play. +The peculiar advantage of this humble criticism, in dramatic +compositions, is obvious. Alfieri himself, as he informs us, did not +disdain to resort to it. + +Molière was naturally of a reserved and taciturn temper; insomuch that +his friend Boileau used to call him the _Contemplateur_. Strangers who +had expected to recognise in his conversation the sallies of wit which +distinguished his dramas, went away disappointed. The same thing is +related of La Fontaine. The truth is, that Molière went into society as a +spectator, not as an actor; he found there the studies for the +characters, which he was to transport upon the stage; and he occupied +himself with observing them. The dreamer, La Fontaine, lived too in a +world of his own creation. His friend, Madame de la Sablière, paid to him +this untranslateable compliment; "En vérité, mon cher La Fontaine, vous +seriez bien bête, si vous n'aviez pas tant d'esprit." These unseasonable +reveries brought him, it may be imagined, into many whimsical adventures. +The great Corneille, too, was distinguished by the same apathy. A +gentleman dined at the same table with him for six months, without +suspecting the author of the "Cid." + +Molière enjoyed the closest intimacy with the great Condé, the most +distinguished ornament of the court of Louis the Fourteenth; to such an +extent indeed, that the latter directed, that the poet should never be +refused admission to him, at whatever hour he might choose to pay his +visit. His regard for his friend was testified by his remark, rather more +candid than courteous, to an Abbé of his acquaintance, who had brought +him an epitaph, of his own writing, upon the deceased poet. "Would to +heaven," said the prince, "that he were in a condition to bring me +yours." + + * * * * * + + +DOMESTIC HABITS OF NAPOLEON. + + +At nine o'clock the emperor came out of his sleeping apartments, dressed +for the whole day. First the officers on duty were admitted, and received +their orders for the day. Then the _grandes entrees_ and the officers of +the household not on duty were introduced; and if any one had any +particular communication to make, he staid till the public audience was +concluded. At half after nine o'clock Napoleon breakfasted, on a small +mahogany table with one leg, and covered with a napkin. The prefect of +the palace stood close by this table, with his hat under his arm. The +breakfast rarely lasted beyond eight minutes. Sometimes, however, men of +science or literature, or distinguished artists, were admitted at this +time, with whom Napoleon is represented to have conversed in an easy and +lively style. Amongst these were M. Monge, Costaz, Denon, Bertholet, +Corvisart, David, Gerard, Isabey, Talma, and Fontaine. Dinner was served +at six o'clock; the emperor and the empress dined alone on the common +days of the week, but on Sunday all the imperial family attended, upon +which occasion Napoleon, the empress, and Madame Mère had arm-chairs, and +the rest chairs without arms. There was only one course. The emperor +drank no wine but Chambertin, and that usually mixed with water. Dinner +lasted in general from fifteen to twenty minutes. All this time the +prefect of the palace had to superintend the affair _en grand_, and to +answer any questions put to him. In the drawing-room a page presented to +the emperor a waiter with a cup and a sugar-stand. Le chef d'office +poured out the coffee; the empress took the cup from the emperor; the +page and the chef d'office retired; the prefect waited till the empress +had poured the coffee into the saucer and given it to Napoleon. After +this the emperor went to his papers again, and the empress played at +cards. Sometimes he would come and talk a little while with the people of +the household in the apartments of the empress, but not often, and he +never staid long. Upon his retiring, the officers on duty attended the +audience _du coucher_, and received their orders for the morrow. This was +the ordinary economy of the emperor's time, when not with the army. + +Napoleon read the English newspapers every day in French, and M. de +Bausset says the translation was rigorously exact. One day in January, +1811, the emperor gave some of these extracts to de B., and ordered him +to read them aloud during dinner. The prefect got on pretty well, till he +stumbled at some uncouth epithets, with which he was puzzled how to deal, +especially in the presence of the empress, and a room full of domestics. +He blew his nose, and skipped the words--"No!" said Napoleon, "read out! +you will find many more." "I should be wanting--" "Read, I tell you," +repeated the emperor, "read every thing!" At last de B. ran upon "tyrant +or despot," which he commuted for "emperor." Napoleon caught the paper +out of his hands, read the real phrase aloud, and then ordered M. de B. +to continue. These translations used to be made by Maret, Duke of +Bassano. + + * * * * * + + + +THE GATHERER. + + "A snapper-up of unconsidered trifles." + SHAKSPEARE. + + * * * * * + + +RETENTIVE MEMORY. + + +The historian, Fuller, in 1607, had a most retentive memory; he could +repeat 500 strange, unconnected words, after twice hearing them; and a +sermon verbatim, after reading it once. He undertook, after passing from +Temple Bar to the farthest part of Cheapside and back again, to mention +all the signs over the shops on both sides of the streets, repeated them +backwards and forwards, and performed the task with great exactness. + +J.T.S. + + * * * * * + + +EVE'S TOMB. + + +About two miles northward of Djidda is shown the tomb of Howa (Eve), the +mother of mankind; it is, as I was informed, a rude structure of stone, +about four feet in length, two or three feet in height, and as many in +breadth; thus resembling the tomb of Noah, seen in the valley of Bekaa, +in Syria--_Burckhardt's Travels in Arabia_. + + * * * * * + + +ACROSTIC ON THE EYES. + + + E nchanting features! how thy beauties charm; + Y e magic orbs, in which for ever dwell + E ach varying passion, from the bosom warm, + S ilently ye express what language ne'er, can tell. + C.J.T. + + * * * * * + + +VOLTAIRE. + + +When Voltaire was once ridiculing our immortal author of "Paradise Lost," +in the presence of Dr. Young, it is said the latter delivered the +following extempore: + + "Thou art so witty, profligate, and thin, + Thou seem'st a Milton, with his Death and Sin." + R.Y. + + * * * * * + +VENTILATION. + +Garrick told Cibber, "that his pieces were the best ventilators to his +theatre at Drury Lane; for as soon as any of them were played, the +audience directly left the house." + + * * * * * + +ACROSTIC TO BRAHAM. + + B ear not away ye gales that sound! + R apture be mute, nor breathe one sigh! + A ttentive angels hover round-- + H eaven listens to his melody; + A nd all the spheres' harmonious strings + M ove in celestial strains when Braham sings! + G.J.T. + + * * * * * + +This day is published, price 5s. with a Frontispiece, and thirty other +Engravings, the + +ARCANA OF SCIENCE, AND ANNUAL REGISTER OF THE USEFUL ARTS, FOR 1829. + +The MECHANICAL department contains ONE HUNDRED New Inventions and +Discoveries, with 14 _Engravings_. + +CHEMICAL, SEVENTY articles, with 2 _Engravings_. + +NATURAL HISTORY, 135 New Facts and Discoveries, with 7 _Engravings_. + +ASTRONOMICAL and METEOROLOGICAL PHENOMENA--35 articles--6 _Engravings_. + +AGRICULTURE, GARDENING, and RURAL ECONOMY, 100 _Articles_. + +DOMESTIC ECONOMY 50 _Articles_. + +USEFUL ARTS, 50 _Articles_. + +FINE ARTS. + +PUBLIC IMPROVEMENTS. + +MISCELLANEOUS REGISTER, &c. + +"We hope the editor will publish a similar volume annually."--_Gardener's +Magazine_. + + * * * * * + +_Printed and Published by J. LIMBIRD, 143, Strand. (near Somerset House,) +London; sold by ERNEST FLEISCHER, 626, New Market, Leipsic; and by all +Newsmen and Booksellers_. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, +and Instruction, No. 358, by Various + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 12898 *** |