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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 13113 ***
+
+Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this
+      file which includes the original illustration.
+      See 13113-h.htm or 13113-h.zip:
+      (http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/1/3/1/1/13113/13113-h/13113-h.htm)
+      or
+      (http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/1/3/1/1/13113/13113-h.zip)
+
+
+
+
+THE MIRROR OF LITERATURE, AMUSEMENT, AND INSTRUCTION.
+
+VOL. 17, No. 495.] SATURDAY, JUNE 25, 1831. [PRICE 2d.
+
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+HERMITAGE AT FROGMORE.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+Frogmore is one of the most delightful of the still retreats of
+Royalty. It was formerly the seat of the Hon. Mrs. Egerton, of whom it
+was purchased by Queen Charlotte, in 1792, who made considerable
+additions to the house and gardens. The grounds were laid out by Uvedale
+Price, Esq. a celebrated person in the annals of picturesque gardening.
+The ornamental improvements were made by the direction of the Princess
+Elizabeth, (now Landgravine of Hesse Homburg,) whose taste for rural
+quiet we noticed in connexion with an Engraving of Her Royal Highness'
+Cottage, adjoining Old Windsor churchyard. [1]
+
+    [1]: See _Mirror_, No 475.
+
+Frogmore occupies part of a fertile valley, which divides the Little
+Park from Windsor Forest, and comprises about thirteen acres. Mr.
+Hakewill describes it as "diversified with great skill and taste, and a
+piece of water winds throughout it with a pleasing variety of turn and
+shape. The trees and shrubs, both native and exotic, which spread their
+shade and diffuse their fragrance, are disposed with the best effect;
+while buildings are so placed as to enliven and give character to the
+general scene. The Ruin was designed by Mr. James Wyatt, and being
+seated on the bank of the water, as well as in part in the wood, it
+presents, with its creeping ivy and fractured buttresses, a most
+pleasing object from various points of the garden. The _Hermitage (see
+the Engraving)_ is a small circular thatched building, completely
+embowered in lofty trees, and was constructed from a drawing of the
+Princess Elizabeth. There is also a Gothic Temple, sacred to solitude,
+and a well-imagined and picturesque barn, which heighten the appropriate
+scenery. Too much cannot be said of the secluded beauty of this charming
+spot, and nothing further need be said of the taste and judgment of
+Major Price, to whom its arrangements have been entrusted."
+
+The _Hermitage_ contains a tablet spread with fruit, eggs, and bread,
+and a figure of a hermit reading the Scriptures; at the entrance are
+the following lines, written on the marriage of the Princess Royal:--
+
+  Ye whom variety delights,
+  Descend awhile from Windsor's heights,
+  And in this hovel deign to tread,
+  Quitting the castle for the shed;
+  Such were the muse's favourite haunts,
+  From care secluded and from wants.
+  What nature needs this but can give,
+  Could we as nature dictates live;
+  For see, on this plain board at noon
+  Are placed a platter and a spoon,
+  Which, though they mark no gorgeous treat,
+  Suggest 'tis reasonable to eat.
+  What though the sun's meridian light
+  Beams not on our hovel bright,
+  Though others need, we need him not,
+  Coolness and gloom befit a cot.
+  Our hours we count without the sun.
+  These sands proclaim them as they run,
+  Sands within a glass confined,
+  Glass which ribs of iron bind;
+  For Time, still partial to this glass,
+  Made it durable as brass,
+  That, placed secure upon a shelf,
+  None might crush it but himself.
+  Let us here the day prolong
+  With loyal and with nuptial song,
+  Such as, with duteous strains addrest,
+  May gratify each royal guest;
+  Thrice happy, should our rural toils
+  Be requited by their smiles.
+
+There are other affectionate testimonials in the grounds. The Gothic
+ruin contains an apartment fitted up as an oratory, ornamented with a
+copy of the Descent from the Cross, modelled in chalk, after the
+celebrated painting by Rembrandt; busts of George III. and the Duke of
+Kent; a posthumous marble figure of an infant child of his present
+Majesty; and an alto-relievo representing an ascending spirit attended
+by a guardian angel with the inscription--
+
+             Monumental Tablet
+               To the Memory
+                   of
+  Her Royal Highness the Princess Charlotte.
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+ANCIENT WAGES TO MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT.
+
+(_For the Mirror._)
+
+
+Chamberlayne, in his _Angliæ Notitia_, says, "Although the lords of
+parliament are to bear their own charges, because they represent there
+only themselves; yet all the commons, both lay and clergy, that is,
+_Procuratores Cleri_, are to have _rationales expensus_, (as the words
+of the writ are) that is, such allowance as the king considering the
+prices of all things, shall judge meet to impose upon the people to pay.
+In the 17th of Edward II. it was ten groats for knights, and five groats
+for burgesses; but not long after it was four shillings for all others,
+which in those days, as appears by the prices of all things, was a
+considerable sum, above ten times more than it is now, (1688) for not
+only then expenses were considered, though that was great by reason of
+the suitable attendance that then every parliament-man had, but also
+their pains, their loss of time, and necessary neglect of their own
+private affairs for the service of their country; and when the counties,
+cities, and boroughs paid so dear for their expenses, they were wont to
+take care to chuse such men as were best able, and most diligent in the
+speedy despatch of affairs; by which means, with some others, more
+business in those times was despatched in parliament in a week, than is
+now perhaps in ten; so that the protections for parliament-men and their
+servants from arrests were not then grievous, when scarce any parliament
+or sessions lasted so long as one of the four terms at Westminster.
+
+"The aforementioned expenses duly paid, did cause all the petty decayed
+boroughs of England to become humble suitors to the king, that they
+might not be obliged to send burgesses to parliament; whereby it came to
+pass, that divers were unburgessed, as it was in particular granted to
+_Chipping_, or _Market-Morriton_, upon their petition; and then the
+number of the _Commons House_ being scarce half so many as at present,
+then debates and bills were sooner expedited." page 156, 21st. edit.
+
+Halsted, in his _History of Kent_, tells us, "The pay of the burgesses
+of Canterbury was fixed (anno 1411) at two shillings a-day for each,
+while such burgess was absent from his family attending his duty. In
+1445 the wages were no more than twelve pence a-day; two years
+afterwards they were increased to sixteenpence, and in 1503 had again
+been raised to two shillings. In Queen Mary's reign, the corporation
+refused to continue this payment any longer, and the wages of the
+members were then levied by assessment on the inhabitants at large, and
+continued to be so raised till these kinds of payments were altogether
+discontinued."
+
+P.T.W.
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+THE WORD "EI."
+
+(_For the Mirror._)
+
+
+This word, which was engraven on the temple of Apollo, at Delphi, has
+occasioned much controversy among the literati. The learned and
+admirable Plutarch tells us that it means "thou art" as if "thou art
+one." The Langhornes, in their life of this philosopher, [2] attack his
+opinion as inconsistent with "the whole tenour of the Heathen
+Mythology." It in to be observed, that the Greek word for priests is
+"[Greek: iereis]" (iereis). But I infer nothing from this; yet at the
+same time it is a remarkable circumstance. The objection of the
+Langhornes is frivolous; for the sun (Apollo) in most nations, was
+considered chief of the gods, and this inscription was placed to prove
+his _superiority and unity_.
+
+    [2] Langhorne's Plutarch, vol. i. p. xv.--Limbird's edition.
+
+It is a very remarkable circumstance, that when the Pythia refused to
+enter the temple, at the application of Alexander, "Philip's godlike
+son," and he attempting to force her in, she exclaimed--"[Greek:
+Anikaetos ei o pai]" (My son, you are invincible.) Now, probably, she
+had some other intention in using that word; but, however, that does not
+affect the argument. I cannot but consider that Plutarch is right.
+
+B.K.
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+A FAREWELL TO SPAIN.
+
+    FOR MUSIC.
+
+(_For the Mirror._)
+
+
+  Land of the myrtle and the vine,
+    The sunny citron-tree,
+  With heart upon the waves I give
+    My latest look to thee.
+
+  Thy glorious scenes of vale and hill
+    With joy I now resign,
+  And seek a more congenial land,
+    Where Freedom will be mine.
+
+  Farewell! thou hast the iron sway
+    Of bigots and of slaves,
+  But mine shall be a chainless heart
+    Upon the dark blue waves.
+
+  For thee our sires have fought and died,
+    For thee their blood have given,
+  When tyrants o'er the trampled field
+    Like thunder-clouds were driven.
+
+  And has the purple tide in vain,
+    From hill and vale been poured,
+  Or do the hopes of Freedom sleep
+    With mighty Mina's sword?
+
+  Oh! no--the trumpet-voice of war,
+    Shall proudly sound again,
+  And millions shall obey its call,
+    And break their chartered chain!
+
+  Till then, my native hearth and home
+    I'll joyfully resign;
+  Farewell! thou song-enchanted land
+    Of myrtle and of vine.
+
+  _Deal_.            G.K.C.
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+THE DEATH-BEDS OF GREAT MEN.
+
+(_For the Mirror._)
+
+
+If there are any remarks which deserve to be recorded for the benefit of
+mankind, they are those which have been expressed on a dying bed, when,
+unfettered by prejudice or passion, Truth shines forth in her real
+colours. Sir John Hawkins has recorded of Dr. Johnson, that when
+suffering under that disease which ended in his dissolution, he
+addressed his friends in the following words:--"You see the state I am
+in, conflicting with bodily pain and mental distraction. While you are
+in health and strength, labour to do good, and avoid evil, if ever you
+wish to escape the distress that oppresses me."
+
+When Lord Lyttleton was on his death-bed, his daughter, Lady Valentia,
+and her husband, came to see him. He gave them his solemn benediction,
+adding--"Be good, be virtuous, my lord; you must come to this."
+
+The triumphant death of Addison will be remembered with feelings of
+pleasure by all. Having sent for the young Earl of Warwick, he
+affectionately pressed his hand, saying--"See in what peace a Christian
+can die!"
+
+The father of William Penn was opposed to his son's religious
+principles; but finding that he acted with sincerity, was at last
+reconciled. When dying, he adjured him to do nothing contrary to his
+conscience--"So," said he, "you will keep peace within, which will be a
+comfort in the day of trouble."
+
+Locke, the day before his death, addressed Lady Masham, who was sitting
+by his bedside, exhorting her to regard this world only as a state of
+preparation for a better. He added, that he had lived long enough, and
+expressed his gratitude to God for the happiness that had fallen to his
+lot.
+
+Tillotson, when dying, thanked his Maker that he felt his conscience at
+ease, and that he had nothing further to do but to await the will of
+Heaven.
+
+Sir Walter Raleigh behaved on the scaffold with the greatest composure.
+Having vindicated his conduct in an eloquent speech, he felt the edge of
+the axe, observing with a smile--"It is a sharp medicine, but a sure
+remedy, for all woes." Being asked which way he would lay himself on the
+block, he replied--"So the heart be right, it is no matter which way the
+head lies."
+
+Latimer, when he beheld a fagot ready kindled laid at Ridley's feet,
+exclaimed--"Be of good cheer, master Ridley, and play the man; we shall
+this day light such a candle in England, as I hope, by God's grace,
+shall never be put out."
+
+The author of Hervey's Meditations, when on his sick bed, observed that
+his time had been too much occupied in reading the historians, orators,
+and poets of ancient and modern times; and that were he to renew his
+studies, he would devote his attention to the Scriptures.
+
+The last words which the eminent physician Haller addressed to his
+medical attendant expressed the calm serenity of his mind. "My friend,"
+said he, laying his hand on his pulse, "the artery no longer beats."
+
+M. De La Harpe, one of the first literary characters of the last
+century, who for many years laboured to spread the principles of the
+French philosophy, but afterwards became a most strenuous defender of
+Christianity, on the evening preceding his death was visited by a
+friend. He was listening to the Prayers for the Sick; as soon as they
+were concluded, he stretched forth his hand and said--"I am grateful to
+Divine mercy, for having left me sufficient recollection to feel how
+consoling these prayers are to the dying."
+
+Cardinal Wolsey, when dying, by slow progress and short journeys,
+reached Leicester Abbey. He was received with the greatest respect. His
+only observation was, "Father Abbot, I am come to lay my bones among
+you." He died three days after, with, great composure and fortitude. He
+said, shortly before his death--"Had I but served my God as diligently
+as I have served the king, he would not have forsaken me in my grey
+hairs; but this is the just reward I must receive for my pains and
+study, in not regarding my service to God, but only to my prince."
+
+Melancthon, a few days before his death, although extremely debilitated,
+delivered his usual lecture. At the termination of it, he said,
+impressively--"I am a dying man, and these are the three subjects for
+intercession with God, which I leave to my children and their little
+ones--that they may form part of his church, and worship him
+aright--that they may be one in him, and live in harmony with each
+other--and that they may be fellow-heirs of eternal life." The day
+before his death, he addressed some present--"God bestows talents on our
+youth, do you see that they use them aright." While dying, his friends
+discerned a slight motion of the countenance, which was peculiar to him
+when deeply affected by religious joy.
+
+W.
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+THE NOVELIST.
+
+
+OSMYN AND ZAMBRI.
+
+_A Persian Tale. From the French._
+
+(_From a Correspondent._)
+
+
+A worthy old Persian having arrived at the end of an irreproachable
+life, experienced in his last moments the greatest uneasiness for the
+fate of his two sons, whom he was about to leave without fortune,
+without a livelihood, and without a prospect. The elder called Osmyn,
+was twenty years of age, and the younger, eighteen, bore the name of
+Zambri.
+
+As the old man drew near his last hour, he thought much less of his own
+sufferings than of the fate of his children, when his ear was agreeably
+struck with a soft and melodious voice, which said to him, "Fear
+nothing, old man, I will watch over your children; die in peace as thou
+hast lived. I bring a present for each of your sons; let them make good
+use of it, and one day perhaps they may be re-united, and live in
+happiness."
+
+At these words a balsamic odour spread itself in the cottage, and a
+bright light discovered to the view of the astonished Persian, the
+features of a young man, whose expressive countenance had in it
+something celestial. It was a beneficent genius, who after having
+deposited his presents on the bed of the old man, vanished like
+lightning. The old man called his two sons, they ran eagerly towards him
+with a light, and approached the bed of their father, who related to
+them the visit he had been honoured with, and showed them the presents
+of the genius. On one side was a small box covered with brilliant
+spangles; on the other a sheet of paper carefully sealed. "Come Osmyn,"
+said the old man, "you are the eldest, it is for you to choose."
+
+Osmyn attracted by the richness of the box, chose it with eagerness, and
+poor Zambri was obliged to be contented with the humble envelope. The
+old man embraced them, blessed them, and died as one resigning himself
+to the arms of hope. After having wept sincerely the death of so good a
+father, and having rendered the last offices to his remains, the two
+brothers were anxious to know what aid they should find in the presents
+of the genius. Osmyn opened his little box and found it filled with
+pastilles of divers forms and colours. He was almost tempted to laugh at
+the meanness of such a gift, when he perceived these words written on
+the lid of the box--"_Each time that thou eatest one of these pastilles,
+thine imagination will bring forth a poem perfect in all its parts,
+sublime and delicate in its details, such in short as will surpass the
+ablest works of the best Persian poets._"
+
+Osmyn did not want vanity; the possession of so fine a secret failed not
+to turn his young brain, and a hundred illusions of fortune and glory
+presented themselves at once to his imagination.
+
+From the value of the present given by the genius to his brother, Zambri
+doubted not that his paper contained also some marvellous secret. He
+opened it and read with as much surprise as sorrow--"_A new Receipt for
+preparing Sherbet._" Some lines pointed out the method of composing a
+liquor, of which one drop only being infused in a bowl of Sherbet, would
+give it a taste and perfume hitherto unknown to the most voluptuous
+Asiatics.
+
+Osmyn was overjoyed, and Zambri was in despair; Osmyn wished not to quit
+his brother, but the orders of the genius were imperative. The two
+brothers embraced each other tenderly, shed tears, and separated. The
+eldest took the road to Bagdad, where all the learned, and all the poets
+of Asia were assembled to attend the court of the Caliph. As to poor
+Zambri, he quitted the cottage of his father, carrying nothing with him
+but _the humble receipt for preparing Sherbet_, and leaving to chance
+the direction of his course.
+
+Before his arrival at Bagdad, Osmyn had already eaten half-a-dozen of
+the pastilles, and consequently carried with him half-a-dozen poems,
+beside which were to fade the productions of the greatest Eastern poets.
+But he soon found that pretenders to talent often succeed better than
+those who really possess it. He felt the necessity of connecting himself
+with literary men, and men of the world; but he only found them occupied
+with their business, their pleasures, or their own pretensions. Under
+what title could he present himself? Under that of a poet? The court and
+the city overflowed with them; they had already filled every avenue. To
+consult his fellows would be to consult his rivals; to ask their praises
+would be to ask a miser for his treasures. Besides, so many books
+appeared, that people did not care to read. However, Osmyn's works were
+published, but they were not even noticed in the multitude of similar
+productions.
+
+After having vegetated four or five years at Bagdad, without obtaining
+anything but weak encouragement given by wise men, (who are without
+influence because they are wise,) poor Osmyn began to lose the brilliant
+hopes that formerly had dazzled him. However, by dint of eating the
+pastilles, he at last attracted some notice. If it requires time for
+genius to emerge from obscurity, no sooner is it known than recompense
+is made for slow injustice. It is sought after not for itself, but for
+the sake of vanity. Envy often avails itself of it as a fit instrument
+subservient to its own purposes. Soon, in fact, the works of Osmyn only
+were spoken of, and after languishing a long time unnoticed, he saw
+himself at once raised to the pinnacle, without having passed the steps
+which lead from misery to fortune, from obscurity to glory.
+
+The Caliph desired to see so great a genius, and to possess him at his
+court. Osmyn was overwhelmed with favours; he sung the praises of the
+Caliph with a delicacy that other poets were far from being able to
+imitate. The Caliph admired delicate praise the more because it is rare
+at court.
+
+So much merit and favour besides, soon created the jealousy of other
+poets, and likewise of the courtiers. Even those, who had showed
+themselves the most enthusiastic admirers of Osmyn's talents, feared to
+see themselves eclipsed by this new comer, and resolved to destroy the
+idol they had raised so much higher than they wished.
+
+One of the poets, Osmyn's enemy, was employed to compose a satire
+against the Caliph, and it was agreed that this should be circulated
+under the favourite's name. From that time the avenger of the common
+cause never quitted Osmyn, nor ceased to load him with praises and
+caresses.
+
+One day when Osmyn delivered an extempore poem before the Caliph, his
+rival, after having warmly applauded him, cast down his eyes by
+accident, and saw shining on the floor one of the pastilles that Osmyn,
+who was led away by the vivacity of his declamation, had let fall by
+mistake. The traitor snatched it up, and put it mechanically in his
+mouth.
+
+The pastille produced its effect; the poet felt a sudden inspiration,
+left the hall and flew to compose the projected satire. He was surprised
+at his own aptitude; the verses cost him no trouble, but flowed of
+themselves. The bitterest expressions escaped from his pen without his
+seeking for them. In short, in an instant, he brought forth a true
+_chef-d'oeuvre_ of malice.
+
+He continued some moments in ecstacy with his work, and carried it in
+triumph to his friends--or rather to his accomplices. The satire was
+received with the liveliest applause: it was the pure and vigorous style
+of Osmyn. The writer had imitated his handwriting; and soon the libel
+was spread about in his name.
+
+Murmurs arose on all sides against the ingratitude of Osmyn. The satire
+fell into the hands of the Caliph, who in his rage ordered the
+unfortunate Osmyn to be stript of all his property, and driven from
+Bagdad. Osmyn, overpowered by the blow, could not defend himself;
+besides, how could he make his innocence heard amidst the cries of his
+calumniators.
+
+After having wandered a long time, every where imploring pity--sometimes
+meeting with kindness, but oftener repulsed with selfishness--he
+arrived, at nightfall, before a superb country house, magnificently
+illuminated. He heard the accents of joy mingled with the sounds of a
+brilliant concert of music, and saw all the signs of a splendid fête.
+However, the thunder began to roll, the sky was obscured by heavy
+clouds, and Osmyn's miserable clothing was soon drenched by the rain.
+
+He approached this beautiful house, in hopes to find there, if not
+hospitality for the night, at least an asylum for some minutes. The
+slaves perceived him, and said to him harshly--"What do you ask,
+beggar?"
+
+"A humble shelter from the storm, a morsel of bread to appease my
+hunger, and a little straw to rest my body on, borne down by fatigue."
+
+"Thou shalt have none of these."
+
+"For pity--"
+
+"Begone!"
+
+"See how it rains!--Hear how it thunders!"
+
+"Go elsewhere, and come not to disturb by thy presence the pleasures of
+our master."
+
+Osmyn was on the point of obeying this order, when the master of the
+house, who had witnessed this scene from a window, came down, called his
+slaves, and ordered them to receive the unfortunate man, to procure him
+clothes, a bed, and all he was in need of. "Misery," said he, "misery is
+for him who revels in the presence of the poor, and suffers them to
+plead for assistance in vain; and misfortune for the rich who, cloyed
+with luxuries, refuse a morsel of bread to a famishing stranger. Poor
+traveller, go and repose thyself, and may the Prophet send thee
+refreshing slumbers, that thou mayst for a time forget thy sufferings."
+
+"Oh Heaven!" cried Osmyn, "what voice strikes my ear? It is the
+voice--the voice of Zambri!"
+
+"Zambri! what! do you know him?"
+
+"Heavens! do I know him?--Do I know my brother?"
+
+"You my brother!" cried Zambri in his turn. "Can it be? That voice--those
+features, disfigured by poverty and misery. Ah! I recognise you, my dear
+Osmyn!"
+
+No more need be said: he flew to embrace his brother; but Osmyn,
+overcome by the excess of his joy, fell senseless at his feet.
+
+He was conveyed into the finest apartment of the villa, every assistance
+was afforded him, and he was soon restored. Zambri ordered him
+magnificent apparel, and taking him by the hand, conducted him to the
+banquet, and presented him to his friends. After the repast, Osmyn
+related all the vicissitudes of his fortune, his long suffering, his
+rapid glory, the jealousy and perfidy of his enemies, "But thou," added
+he, "my dear Zambri, by what good fortune do I find you in such an
+enviable situation? What! this beautiful house, this crowd of slaves,
+these sumptuous ornaments!--to what dost thou owe them?"
+
+"_To the receipt for preparing Sherbet,_" said Zambri, smiling. "Listen
+to my story, it is very simple. Soon after we parted, I directed my
+steps towards Teflis, where I sought only to gain a livelihood. On my
+arrival, I went into the public places where the opulent people
+assemble, to refresh themselves with ices and sherbet. I solicited
+employment there, but was refused, and harshly sent away. Not knowing
+what to do, and not having money to procure a subsistence, I went at
+length to one of the obscure cafés, frequented by the lowest people. The
+master of this wretched place, who was named Mehdad, agreed to accept my
+services. I prepared a bottle of the liquor for which the good genius
+had given me the receipt, but the ingredients of which, although cheap,
+I had not before been able to purchase, and soon I found an immense
+company crowding to Mehdad's café. The rich people also would take no
+other; and Mehdad soon had before him the prospect of becoming opulent.
+
+"He had a daughter; she was young and beautiful; I became enamoured of
+her, and ventured to ask her hand. I had preserved the secret of my
+receipt. Mehdad was ignorant that he owed his good fortune to me, and
+believed that it was through his own talent. He rejected my offer with
+disdain, and drove me from his house. Poor fellow! he was not the first
+who, without knowing it, had driven good luck from his home.
+
+"I had gained some money in his service; and I employed the fruit of my
+economy in forming for myself an establishment in one of the public
+gardens of Teflis, on the banks of the charming river Khur. Here I
+erected a small, but elegant pavilion, and I sold my Sherbet to all the
+promenaders of the garden. In a short time Mehdad, and all the cafés of
+Teflis, were abandoned for my little pavilion. Zambri's Sherbet was
+alone in demand: it was spoken of in all companies--it was taken at all
+festivals. The garden of Zambri was crowded from morning till night. The
+multitude was attracted towards my pavilion like swarms of flies towards
+a honey-comb. I was compelled to erect a pavilion ten times larger than
+the former, and I decorated it magnificently.
+
+"A year had scarcely elapsed before I had acquired a considerable
+fortune. I quitted my new establishment, returned to the city, and
+purchased merchandize of all descriptions. I prepared a great quantity
+of this favourite liquor, to which I owe all my wealth. I sent it to all
+the cities of Persia, and into the most distant countries. Heaven seemed
+to smile on my exertions. A beautiful widow, aged twenty years, saw and
+loved me; I was not insensible to her charms. We made mutual vows of
+attachment, and marriage crowned my happiness.
+
+"We have acquired this charming retreat, and reside here during the most
+beautiful season of the year, amongst our good friends, who, in
+partaking our pleasures, add to them the charms of their society.
+
+"How many times, dear Osmyn, have my thoughts been occupied with thee!
+Often have I said, in the midst of my prosperity, Where is my
+brother?--where dwells Osmyn? No doubt the invaluable secret he
+possesses has gained him an immense fortune, and raised him to the
+pinnacle of honour. But I see that in these times happiness,
+tranquillity, and perhaps riches, are more easily obtained by humble and
+modest employment, than by splendid abilities. In the course of my
+transactions, I have met with vexations and disappointments. Sometimes
+my Sherbet has been imitated; but the fraud has always been discovered,
+and the intrigues of my rivals have added to my reputation. At length I
+have found that it is easier to satisfy the caprice than the judgment of
+mankind, and that those who could not understand the merits of a clever
+work, would readily agree upon the subject of a delicious and agreeable
+beverage."
+
+Thus spoke the good Zambri: he strove affectionately to console Osmyn.
+The two brothers separated no more; and, thanks to the _receipt for
+preparing_ _Sherbet_, they lived long together amidst the pleasures
+that wealth commands, and the still more true and solid happiness
+procured by peace and friendship.
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+THE NATURALIST.
+
+
+BOTANY OF SHAKSPEARE.
+
+
+At a recent meeting of the Medico-Botanical Society, a very interesting
+dissertation on the medicinal plants which occur in the plays of
+Shakspeare, from the pen of Mr. Rootsay, of Bristol, was read, and
+excited considerable attention. The hebenon henbane alluded to in
+_Hamlet_, the mandragora, the various plants so beautifully alluded to
+in _Romeo and Juliet_, and in other dramas, were the subject of the
+inquiry, and much classical information was displayed by the ingenious
+author in the illustration of the subject. We hope to report more
+respecting this very interesting paper to our readers.
+
+
+      *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+THE CUTTLE-FISH.
+
+
+The following account of the _sepia media_, a small species of
+cuttle-fish, is given by Mr. Donovan, in his "Excursion through South
+Wales:"--"When first caught, the eyes, which are large and prominent,
+glistened with the lustre of the pearl, or rather of the emerald, whose
+luminous transparency they seemed to emulate. The pupil is a fine black,
+and above each eye is a semilunar mark of the richest garnet. The body,
+nearly transparent, or of a pellucid green, is glossed with all the
+variety of prismatic tints, and thickly dotted with brown. At almost
+every effort of respiration, the little creature tossed its arms in
+apparent agony, and clung more firmly to the finger; while the
+dark-brown spots upon the body alternately faded and revived,
+diminishing in size till they were scarcely perceptible, and then
+appearing again as large as peas, crowding, and becoming confluent
+nearly all over the body. At length, the animal being detained too long
+from its native element, became enfeebled, the colours faded, the spots
+decreased in size, and all its pristine beauty vanished with the last
+gasp of life."
+
+W.G.C.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+THE OSTRICH.
+
+
+The Ostriches in the Gardens of the Zoological Society would be truly a
+noble pair, were it not for an unnatural curve in the neck of the male,
+in consequence, it is said, of its having formerly swallowed something
+more than usually bulky and hard of digestion.
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+MANNERS AND CUSTOMS OF ALL NATIONS.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+RUSSIAN BURIAL GROUND.
+
+
+Mr. James's popular Journal of a Tour in Russia, &c., has supplied the
+above illustration of honours paid to the dead in that country. The Cut
+represents one of the Cemeteries of the government of Tchernigoff. Mr.
+James describes it as planted around with trees, and studded thick with
+wooden crosses, oratories, and other permanent marks of reverence. The
+general appearance of piety with which these grounds are kept up, their
+sequestered situation apart from any town, the profound veneration with
+which they are saluted by the natives, added to the dark and sepulchral
+shade of the groves, lend them an interest with which the tinsel
+ornaments of more gorgeous cemeteries can in no degree compare.
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+ANCESTORS.
+
+
+Some nations pay particular attention to the memory of their ancestors.
+The Quojas, a people of Africa, offer sacrifices of rice and wine to
+their ancestors, before they undertake any considerable action; and the
+anniversaries of their death are always kept by their families with
+great solemnity; the king invokes the souls of his father and mother to
+make trade flourish and the chase succeed. But the Chinese have
+distinguished themselves above all other nations, by the veneration in
+which they hold their ancestors. Part of the duty, according to the laws
+of Confucius, which children owe their parents, consists in worshipping
+them when dead. They have a solemn and an ordinary worship for this
+purpose, the former of which is held twice a year with great pomp, and
+is described as follows by an eye witness:--The sacrifices were made in
+a chapel, well adorned, where there were six altars, furnished with
+censers, tapers, and flowers. There were three ministers, and behind
+them two young acolites: he that officiated was an aged man, and a new
+Christian. The three former went with a profound silence, and made
+frequent genuflexions towards the five altars, pouring out wine;
+afterwards they drew near to the sixth, and when they came to the foot
+of the altar, half bowed down, they said their prayers with a low voice.
+That being finished, the three ministers went to the altar; the priest
+took up a vessel full of wine, and drank; then he lifted up the head of
+a deer, or goat; after which, taking fire from the altar, they lighted a
+bit of paper, and the minister of ceremonies turning towards the people,
+said, with a high voice, that he gave them thanks in the name of their
+ancestors, for having so well honoured them; and in recompense he
+promised them, on their part, a plentiful harvest, a fruitful issue,
+good health and long life, and all those advantages which are most
+pleasing to men.
+
+The Chinese have also in their houses a niche, or hollow place, in which
+they put the names of their deceased fathers, to which they make prayers
+and offerings of perfumes and spices at certain periods.
+
+A.V.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+THE SELECTOR;
+AND LITERARY NOTICES OF _NEW WORKS_.
+
+
+HISTORY OF POLAND.
+
+
+This volume, a goodly octavo, will be peculiarly acceptable at the
+present season. It presents a lucid view of Polish history, from the
+earliest period to the present eventful moment; and, as a passage of
+immediate interest, we quote the following character of the President of
+the National Government of Poland:
+
+    This illustrious personage, Prince Adam Czartoryski, is the
+    eldest son of the late prince of the same house, and is
+    descended from the family of Jagellon, the ancient sovereigns of
+    Lithuania. His father was long known, not only as a nobleman of
+    the first rank in Poland, but as one of the most accomplished
+    scholars in Europe. Such was his reputation, that at the period
+    of the last vacancy in the throne of Poland, Poniatowski
+    (afterwards king) was deputed by the diet to propitiate the
+    Empress Catherine, to second the election of Czartoryski; but
+    the deputy's handsome form found such favour in the licentious
+    eyes of the modern Messalina, that he ceased to urge the suit of
+    the diet, and returned the avowed nominee of his imperial
+    mistress. Prince Czartoryski's claims on the throne, popularity,
+    and consequent influence, rendered him odious to the court of
+    St. Petersburg, and when the last act of spoliation was
+    perpetrated, his lands were ravaged, his beautiful Castle of
+    Pulawy destroyed, and a sentence of extermination pronounced
+    against him, unless he would consent to send his two sons, one
+    the subject of this notice, and the other Prince Constantino
+    Czartoryski, as hostages to St. Petersburg. To avoid this
+    wretched alternative, the prince and his princess, who still
+    survive, consented to the separation, and the two young
+    noblemen, were placed under the eye of those who were deemed
+    worthy, by the Autocrat, of reforming their principles. The
+    talents displayed by both brothers soon obtained for them the
+    admiration of the court; and as it was of great importance to
+    gain them over, every mark of imperial favour was heaped upon
+    them by the Emperor Alexander, with whom, from infancy, they had
+    established terms of the utmost familiarity. The elder brother
+    held for a long time the portfolio of the Foreign Office, and,
+    in his official capacity, accompanied his imperial master to the
+    scenes of some of his most serious disasters. During Napoleon's
+    invasion, Prince Constantino was in Poland, and confiding in the
+    integrity of the then master of the destinies of Europe, and
+    breathing naught but freedom for his country, he joined the
+    banners of the invader, and raised a regiment at his own expense
+    to aid in the cause of liberation. At Smolensk he received a
+    severe wound, from the effects of which he has never yet
+    recovered. He resides at Vienna.
+
+    The influence of Prince Adam Czartoryski proved to be singularly
+    useful to Poland after the downfall of Napoleon. He interposed,
+    and interposed successfully, between the anger of Alexander and
+    his suffering country; and, on the establishment of the kingdom
+    of Poland, was appointed the curator of all the universities,
+    both there and in the incorporated provinces. These duties he
+    sedulously discharged, until he was superseded by the notorious
+    Count Novozilzoff. From this period he has lived in retirement,
+    faithfully performing all the duties of private life. The
+    promotion of agriculture, science in all its branches, and
+    kindly offices among mankind, constituted his occupations until
+    recent events drew him from his privacy. The first call was made
+    by the Russian functionaries, as stated in the text, for the
+    purpose of self-protection! the second was that of his devoted
+    country, when a government was essential to success. He was
+    chosen not only one of the five members of the executive body,
+    but its president, a station which he still honourably fills.
+    Into his new office he has carried all the unostentatious and
+    disinterested virtues that adorned Pulawy, and there is little
+    doubt that if (and no one suspects that such will not be the
+    case) the independence of Poland be fairly won, the choice of
+    his country will point to him as its sovereign. Having finished
+    his academical career at the University of Edinburgh, he early
+    acquired a strong taste for English institutions and for
+    Englishmen, and of this he gave substantial proof by devoting
+    250 l. a-year to the exclusive purchase of English books. His
+    revenues are enormous; but his liberality is unbounded; and, as
+    it is a rule in his munificent establishment to provide
+    liberally for the families of all his dependants, his means are
+    comparatively restricted, but his personal wants are few; and
+    that he is ready to accommodate himself to circumstances, was
+    well shown by his only observation on hearing of the
+    confiscation of his large property in Podolia by Nicholas.
+    "Instead of riding, I must walk, and instead of sumptuous fare,
+    I must dine on buck-wheat."[3] Such is a faint outline of this
+    illustrious man's character. Were it only for the admirable
+    example of such an individual guiding the reigns of the
+    government of a devoted people, it is most ardently to be hoped
+    that Poland may triumph over her enemies, and be raised to that
+    rank from which she was degraded only by the basest of
+    treasons.--_Fletcher's History of Poland._
+
+    [3] The common food of the poor.
+
+As the pronunciation of the Polish language is attended with some
+difficulty, the author of this work has, in his advertisement, subjoined
+the following hints, taken principally from the "Letters Literary and
+Political on Poland, Edinburgh, 1823."
+
+All vowels are sounded as in French and Italian; and there are no
+diphthongs, every vowel being pronounced distinctly. The consonants are
+the same as in English, except
+
+_w_, which is sounded like _v_, at the beginning of a word; thus,
+Warsawa--_Varsafa_; in the middle or at the end of a word it has the
+sound of _f_, as in the instance already cited; and Narew--_Nareff_.
+
+_c_, like _tz_, and never like _k_; thus, Pac is sounded _Patz_.
+
+_g_, like _g_ in Gibbon; thus, _Oginski_.
+
+_ch_, like the Greek [Greek: ch] or _k_; thus, Lech--_Lek_.
+
+_cz_, like the English _tch_ in pitch;--thus, Czartoryski pronounce
+_Tchartoryski_.
+
+_sz_, like _sh_ in _shape_; thus, Staszyc like _Stashytz_.
+
+_szcz_, like _shtch_; thus, Szczerbiec like _Shtcherbietz_.
+
+_rz_, like _j_ in _je_, with a slight sound of _r_; thus,
+Rzewuski--_Rjevuski_.
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+WHITE'S BAMPTON LECTURES.
+
+
+Dr. Dibdin has prefixed the subsequent Note to one of these Lectures
+(Character of Christ compared with that of Mahomet), which he has
+reprinted in vol. iii. of the _Sunday Library_:--
+
+    "Of all the sermons preached in this, or in any other country,
+    THESE are perhaps the most celebrated; or, if this observation
+    require qualification, the only exception may be in favour of
+    those of the _Petit Carême_ of MASILLON. For three successive
+    terms, the church of St. Mary's, at Oxford, was crowded with an
+    auditory breathless in admiration of the splendour of diction
+    and vividness of imagery manifested in these discourses. The
+    subject treated of--'_A Comparison of Mahometanism and
+    Christianity in their History, their Evidences, and their
+    Effects_'--was new and striking in the pulpit of the University
+    Church. A great deal of highly wrought expectation, from more
+    than a whisper spread abroad of the sources whence the chief
+    materials had been derived, preceded their publicity; and the
+    preacher, although by no means remarkable for elegance of
+    manner, or ductility and melody of voice, applied his whole
+    energies to the task of giving power and effect to his delivery.
+    He succeeded, greatly beyond his own expectations; and the
+    University rung with his praises. The fame which ensued was
+    merited; for the public, till then satisfied with the tame
+    polish and cold invective of BLAIR, became delighted by the
+    union of such harmony of language, skilfulness of argument, and
+    singularity of research, as were blended in these lectures. Yet
+    it may be questioned, not only whether a display of similar
+    talent would _now_ receive the like applause, but whether many
+    subsequent courses of Bampton lectures have not rendered a more
+    essential service to Christianity.
+
+    "But, extraordinary as was the result of the _preaching_ of
+    these Bampton lectures, perhaps a more extraordinary history
+    belongs to their _composition_; and posterity will learn, with
+    wonder, and perhaps with mingled pity and contempt, that the
+    measures resorted to by the Laudian Professor of Arabic, in
+    order to impose upon his best friend and most able coadjutor,
+    DR. PARR, form such a tissue of petty artifice and intrigue as
+    scarcely to be believed. The whole plot, however, is minutely
+    and masterly developed in Dr. Johnstone's _Life of Dr. Parr_,
+    vol. i. p. 216-281, to which I refer the curious reader for some
+    very singular particulars. The facts, as there delineated, are
+    simply these:--A secret correspondence was carried on between
+    Professor White and Mr. Badcock, a dissenting minister of
+    Devonshire, who furnished the greater part of the materials of
+    these lectures; which materials, copied out by Professor White,
+    with a few emendations and additions, were sent to Dr. Parr as
+    the exclusive composition of the Professor. Several of the
+    lectures are wholly Badcock's, by the express admission of Dr.
+    White; and the undeniable evidence of a douceur of 500l. from
+    the Professor to Mr. Badcock, is a sufficiently solid proof of
+    the value in which the former held the labours of the latter.
+    There could be no violation of any great moral feeling in the
+    transaction thus simply considered; for the labourer was worthy
+    of his hire; but the evasive subtleties and shuffling
+    subterfuges by which the literary intercourse was stubbornly
+    denied, and attempted to be set aside, by Professor White, is
+    matter of perfect astonishment! In the mean while, Dr. Parr
+    steadily continued his critical labours, believing that the
+    Professor sought no _aid_ but his _own_. He revised, added, and
+    polished at his entire discretion; and while it is allowed that
+    _one-fifth_ at least, of these lectures are the work of his
+    learned hand, he undoubtedly gave to the whole its last and most
+    effectual polish. The history which belongs to his discovery of
+    the collateral aid of Badcock, is curious and amusing; but can
+    have no place here. It does great credit to the head and heart
+    of Dr. Parr. Thus the reader will observe that no small interest
+    is attached to the volume from which the ensuing extracts are
+    made: a volume, full, doubtless, of extensive and learned
+    research, and exhibiting a style remarkable alike for its
+    consummate art and harmonious copiousness."
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+WEALTH OF HENRY VII.
+
+
+The hoard amassed by Henry, and "most of it under his own key and
+keeping, in secret places at Richmond," is said to have amounted to near
+1,800,000 l., which, according to our former conjectures, would be
+equivalent to about 16,000,000 l.; an amount of specie so immense as to
+warrant a suspicion of exaggeration, in an age when there was no control
+from public documents on a matter of which the writers of history were
+ignorant. Our doubts of the amount amassed by Henry are considerably
+warranted by the computation of Sir W. Petty, who, a century and a half
+later, calculated the whole specie of England at only 6,000,000 l.--This
+hoard, whatever may have been its precise extent, was too great to be
+formed by frugality, even under the penurious and niggardly Henry. A
+system of extortion was employed, which "the people, into whom there is
+infused for the preservation of monarchies a natural desire to discharge
+their princes, though it be with the unjust charge of their counsellors,
+did impute unto Cardinal Morton and Sir Reginald Bray, who, as it after
+appeared, as counsellors of ancient authority with him, did so second
+his humours as nevertheless they did temper them. Whereas Empson and
+Dudley, that followed, being persons that had no reputation with him,
+otherwise than by the servile following of his bent, did not give way
+only as the first did, but shaped his way to those extremities for which
+himself was touched with remorse at his death."[4] The means of exaction
+chiefly consisted in the fines incurred by slumbering laws, in commuting
+for money other penalties which fell on unknown offenders, and in the
+sale of pardons and amnesties. Every revolt was a fruitful source of
+profit. When the great confiscations had ceased, much remained to be
+gleaned by true or false imputations of participation in treason. To be
+a dweller in a disaffected district, was, for the purposes of the king's
+treasure, to be a rebel. No man could be sure that he had not incurred
+mulcts, or other grievous penalties, by some of those numerous laws
+which had so fallen into disuse by their frivolous and vexatious nature
+as to strike before they warned. It was often more prudent to compound
+by money, even in false accusations, than to brave the rapacity and
+resentment of the king and his tools. Of his chief instruments, "Dudley
+was a man of good family, eloquent, and one that could put hateful
+business into good language; Empson, the son of a sieve-maker, of
+Towcester, triumphed in his deeds, putting off all other respects. They
+were privy counsellors and lawyers, who turned law and justice into
+wormwood and rapine."[5] They threw into prison every man whom they
+could indict, and confined him, without any intention to prosecute, till
+he ransomed himself. They prosecuted the mayors and other magistrates of
+the city of London, for pretended or trivial neglects of duty, long
+after the time of the alleged offences; subservient judges imposed
+enormous fines, and the king imprisoned during his own life some of the
+contumacious offenders. Alderman Hawes is said to have died heartbroken
+by the terror and anguish of these proceedings. [6] They imprisoned and
+fined juries who hesitated to lend their aid when it was deemed
+convenient to seek it. To these, Lord Bacon tells us, were added "other
+courses fitter to be buried than repeated."[7] Emboldened by long
+success, they at last disdained to observe "_the half face of
+justice_,"[8] but summoning the wealthy and timid before them in private
+houses, "shuffled up" a summary examination without a jury, and levied
+such exactions as were measured only by the fears and fortunes of their
+victims.--_Mackintosh's England_, Vol. 2.
+
+    [4] Bacon, iii. 409.
+
+    [5] Ibid. iii. 380.
+
+    [6] See examples in Bacon, iii.
+
+    [7] Bacon, iii. 382.
+
+    [8] E: Ibid. 381.
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+SPIRIT OF DISCOVERY.
+
+
+THE COURSE OF THE NIGER.
+
+
+The discovery of the termination of the course of the Niger, will be of
+the greatest importance to geography, to our political power, and to
+civilization.
+
+With regard to geography, perhaps the contradiction which was afforded
+by the various sources whence we derived our knowledge of the character
+of the interior of Africa, and of the course of, next to the Nile, the
+most renowned, and, as was considered from the same accounts, the
+greatest river of that country, have in late times given unlimited zest
+in the pursuit of further information, and has not in the least
+detracted from the pleasure with which we find that we are indebted to
+our countrymen for the solution of this all-absorbing problem. It
+appears, that among the ancients many facts connected with the geography
+of the interior of Africa were well known, which have still been an
+object of discussion among the moderns; and of these, we may enumerate
+the occurrence of a large lake or marsh (for it is either, at different
+seasons of the year), whose real existence, beyond the speculations of
+geographers, was very unsatisfactorily established, until the journey of
+Denham and Clapperton; and the fact of the occurrence of a great river
+in the west, emptying itself into the ocean, though many were of opinion
+that it lost itself in an inland marsh, or in the desert, while others
+supported the opinion of its identity with the Nile of the Egyptians.
+The researches of Ptolemy and the Arabian geographers on the Nile of the
+Negroes, and in later times the travels of Leo Africanus, who was a Moor
+of Grenada, demonstrated the absurdity of this opinion; and how
+extraordinary that, in the boasted perfection of human intellect, it
+should have been broached several centuries afterwards, and that the
+barometric levellings of Bruce should have been necessary to enforce
+conviction! It is not at all improbable that Hanno, the Carthaginian, as
+advanced by Macqueen, reached the Bight of Benin, or of Biafra; and
+certainly the geographical information obtained on these countries by
+Herodotus and Edrisi was more accurate than the speculations of many
+modern geographers. Observation had demonstrated to the moderns that no
+large river emptied itself into the ocean on the north-west coast,
+though it required a more accurate acquaintance with the Senegal and the
+Gambia before it was fully ascertained that they were not the outlets of
+this great stream. The progress of navigation along the south-eastern
+shores of Africa also showed that no large river emptied itself into the
+sea along that coast; while the settlements of the Portuguese on the
+coast to the south of Cape Lopez, led them, at an early period, to adopt
+the opinion afterwards supported by Mungo Park and Mr. Barrow, that one
+or more of the rivers in their vicinity were the outlets of the great
+river of the interior of Africa. Two celebrated geographers, D'Anville
+and Major Rennell, however, espoused the theory of the waters emptying
+themselves into the Wangara, or great marsh; which argument underwent
+various modifications in the hands of different geographers; and though
+the probability of its emptying itself into the Gulf of Guinea had been
+pointed out on the continent, and vigorously supported in this country,
+an expedition was fitted out to explore the Congo or Zaire, which,
+though unfortunate to the individuals concerned, was yet satisfactory in
+a geographical point of view, and demonstrated that the rivers south of
+Cape Lopez were not the outlets of the waters of the Niger, and gave
+origin to a speculation which partook of all the characters of a romance
+of the desert, beneath the sands of which its author buried the gigantic
+stream, loaded with the waters of the Wangara or Lake Tchad, to make it
+flow into the Mediterranean at the Syrtis of the ancients.
+
+In the history of geography there are no examples of greater
+perseverance and courageous determination than in the efforts made to
+triumph over the difficulties presented in the solution of this
+important question. Since 1815, there has scarcely a year passed in
+which a new attempt has not been made; and of these, if we recede a
+little farther back, twenty-five were made by our countrymen, fourteen
+by Frenchmen, two by Americans, and one by a German; of which but a
+small number, since the days of Houghton, have not fallen victims to
+their heroic devotion.
+
+Mungo Park first observed the direction of the stream which had become
+as much an object of discussion as its termination; and, strange to say,
+after the present discovery, it will, in some parts of its course, still
+remain so. The unfortunate traveller just alluded to, previous to his
+descent of the river, obtained some information from Moors and from
+negroes, on its course by Timbuctoo. The Jinnie of Park is synonymous
+with Jenné, Giné, Dhjenné, of other writers, as Jenné has again been
+confounded with Kano or Kanno. It may be a figurative term--for the
+Jinnie of Park was on an island, as was the Jenné of the Moorish
+reports, while the Jenné of some travellers is at a short distance from
+the river. This cannot be the case with regard to Timbuctoo, which is
+visited by caravans twice a year from Morocco; nor is the name met with
+any where, except the two first syllables in the town of Timbo, which
+cannot be mistaken for Timbuctoo.
+
+Major Laing had discovered the source of the Niger to be in the
+mountains of Loma, in 9 deg. 15 min. west latitude, and had ascertained
+its course for a short distance from its source. We were also aware of
+the existence of one or two streams joining the great river, or
+branching from it near Timbuctoo. De Lisle had marked a river Gambarra,
+on his maps drawn up for Louis XV., and not without good authority. This
+is the river coming from Houssa; and the Joliba of modern travellers is
+a river, we could prove, from the concurring testimony of a variety of
+sources, coming from the north-west, and joining its waters with, that
+is to say flowing into the Niger, in the immediate neighbourhood of
+Timbuctoo; still at that point the Kowarra, or Quorra of the Moors, or
+Quolla of the Negroes, who always change the _r_ for _l_ a name which,
+according to Laing, it has at its sources--according to Clapperton, it
+preserves beyond Timbuctoo, and is probably still the name of the same
+stream at its embouchure in the Bight of Biafra. The Quarrama is another
+tributary stream which passes by Saccatoo, and falls into the Quorra
+above Youri, and above the point where Mungo Park was wrecked; and the
+line of country between this river and the Shashum, comprising the hills
+of Doochee, of Naroo, and of Dull, is the line of water-shed to the
+rivers joining the Quorra on the one hand, and those emptying themselves
+into the Wangara on the other. The course given by Sultan Bello, and the
+information obtained by Major Denham, both pointed out a river coursing
+to the east, which is probably the branch followed by the Landers: for
+its termination in Lake Tchad had not even the air of probability;
+though it is not, on the other-hand, at all improbable that other
+branches empty themselves into the Bight of Benin, by the rivers
+Formosa or Volta, according to information given to Captain Clapperton
+and Major Laing.
+
+We had intended to embody some remarks upon the pretended journey of
+Caillié; but we find we have already occupied too much space in details
+necessary to make the geographical nature of the question well
+understood; and we shall content ourselves with remarking, that the
+discovery of the termination of the Quorra, or Niger, tends to throw a
+degree of improbability upon the narrative of that individual, which it
+will require much ingenuity to explain away. It is certain that the
+latitude given to Timbuctoo by the editor of those travels, and upon
+which sufficient ridicule has already been thrown in the Edinburgh
+Geographical Journal, may be considered as an error entirely of the
+editor's, who, by taking it upon himself, will relieve the burden of the
+mistake from the traveller, and thus lighten the weighty doubts which
+might in consequence bear upon the remainder of the details; for the
+situation of that city, as given by Jomard, is quite inconsistent with
+the situation it must be in, from the ascertained source, direction, and
+termination of the river. There can be no doubt but that a portion of
+the labours presented to the public as the travels of Caillié are
+founded upon valid documents, wherever obtained, and probably most of
+the errors are those of the editor. But though authorities can be found
+in support of the division of the Quorra into two branches; one of
+which, the Joliba, flows to the north-west, and the other in an almost
+opposite direction,--fact which has no analogy in geography, and, what
+is better, no existence in nature; yet no authority can be found for
+placing Timbuctoo on a river flowing north from the Niger.
+
+The details which will be given to us by the results of this successful
+expedition will, then, not only be of assistance in allying the existing
+condition of things with the knowledge of the ancients, but it will
+enable us to reduce to a few facts the many contradictory statements
+which have originated in the variety of the sources of information, and
+the individual and national rivalry which the interest of the question
+gave birth to among the geographers of the present day. It will also be
+of importance, as it was connected with a great question, as to the
+possibility of a large river traversing an extensive continent, or
+losing itself in a marsh or lake, or being buried in the extensive sands
+of the desert. By laying open the interior of Africa to us, it will
+increase our political strength and commercial advantages on those
+coasts;--it will enable us to put into practice an amelioration long
+contemplated by Mr. Barrow, in the choice of our settlements on those
+coasts;--it will place the greatest and most important vent of the
+barbarous and inhuman traffic of negroes in our possession; and it will
+enable us to diffuse the benefits of superior intelligence among an
+ignorant and suffering people.--Literary Gazette.
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.
+
+
+DISAGREEABLES.
+
+BY THE ETTRICK SHEPHERD.
+
+    "For four things the earth is disquieted, and five which it
+    cannot bear."                                      AGUR.
+
+
+  This world is a delightful place to dwell in,
+  And many sweet and lovely things are in it;
+  Yet there are sundry, at the which I have
+  A natural dislike, against all reason.
+  I never like A TAILOR. Yet no man
+  Likes a new coat or inexpressibles
+  Better than I do--few, I think, so well:
+  I can't account for this. The tailor is,
+  A far more useful member of society
+  Than is a poet;--then his sprightly wit,
+  His glee, his humour, and his happy mind
+  Entitle him to fair esteem. Allowed.
+  But then, his self-sufficiency;--his shape
+  So like a frame, whereon to hang a suit
+  Of dandy clothes;--his small straight back and arms,
+  His thick bluff ankles, and his supple knees,
+  Plague on't!--'Tis wrong--I do not like a tailor.
+
+    AN OLD BLUE-STOCKING MAID! Oh! that's a being,
+  That's hardly to be borne. Her saffron hue,
+  Her thinnish lips, close primmed as they were sewn
+  Up by a milliner, and made water-proof,
+  To guard the fount of wisdom that's within.
+  Her borrowed locks, of dry and withered hue,
+  Her straggling beard of ill-condition'd hairs,
+  And then her jaws of wise and formal cast;
+  Chat-chat--chat-chat! Grand shrewd remarks!
+  That may have meaning, may have none for me.
+  I like the creature so supremely ill,
+  I never listen, never calculate.
+  I know this is ungenerous and unjust:
+  I cannot help it; for I do dislike
+  An old blue-stocking maid even to extremity.
+  I do protest I'd rather kiss a tailor.
+
+    A GREEDY EATER! He is worst of all.
+  The gourmand bolts and bolts, and smacks his chops--
+  Eyes every dish that enters, with a stare
+  Of greed and terror, lest one thing go by him.
+  The glances that he casts along the board,
+  At every slice that's carved, have that in them
+  Beyond description. I would rather dine
+  Beside an ox--yea, share his cog of draff;
+  Or with a dog, if he'd keep his own side;
+  Than with a glutton on the rarest food.
+    A thousand times I've dined upon the waste,
+  On dry-pease bannock, by the silver spring.
+  O, it was sweet--was healthful--had a zest;
+  Which at the paste my palate ne'er enjoyed.
+  My bonnet laid aside, I turned mine eyes
+  With reverence and humility to heaven,
+  Craving a blessing from the bounteous Giver;
+  Then grateful thanks returned. There was a joy
+  In these lone meals, shared by my faithful dog,
+  Which I remind with pleasure, and has given
+  A verdure to my spirit's age. Then think
+  Of such a man, beside a guzzler set;
+  And how his stomach nauseates the repast.
+    "When he thinks of days he shall never more see.
+  Of his cake and his cheese, and his lair on the lea,
+  His laverock that hung on the heaven's ee-bree,
+    His prayer and his clear mountain rill."
+  I cannot eat one morsel. There is that,
+  Somewhere within, that balks each bold attempt;
+  A loathing--a disgust--a something worse:
+  I know not what it is. A strong desire
+  To drink, but not for thirst. 'Tis from a wish
+  To wash down that enormous eater's food--
+  A sympathetic feeling. Not of love!
+  And be there ale, or wine, or potent draught
+  Superior to them both, to that I fly,
+  And glory in the certainty that mine
+  Is the ethereal soul of food, while his
+  Is but the rank corporeal--the vile husks
+  Best suited to his crude voracity.
+  And far as the bright spirit may transcend
+  Its mortal frame, my food transcendeth his.
+
+    A CREDITOR! Good heaven, is there beneath
+  Thy glorious concave of cerulean blue,
+  A being formed so thoroughly for dislike,
+  As is a creditor? No, he's supreme,
+  The devil's a joke to him! Whoe'er has seen
+  An adder's head upraised, with gleaming eyes,
+  About to make a spring, may form a shade
+  Of mild resemblance to a creditor.
+    I do remember once--'tis long agone--
+  Of stripping to the waist to wade the Tyne--
+  The English Tyne, dark, sluggish, broad, and deep;
+  And just when middle-way, there caught mine eye,
+  A lamprey of enormous size pursuing me!
+  L---- what a fright! I bobb'd, I splashed, I flew.
+  He had a creditor's keen, ominous look,
+  I never saw an uglier--but a real one.
+    This is implanted in man's very nature,
+  It cannot be denied. And once I deemed it
+  The most degrading stain our nature bore:
+  Wearing a shade of every hateful vice,
+  Ingratitude, injustice, selfishness.
+  But I was wrong, for I have traced the stream
+  Back to its fountain in the inmost cave,
+  And found in postulate of purest grain,
+  It's first beginning.--It is not the man,
+  The friend who has obliged us, we would shun,
+  But the conviction which his presence brings,
+  That we have done him wrong:--a sense of grief
+  And shame at our own rash improvidence:
+  The heart bleeds for it, and we love the man
+  Whom we would shun. The feeling's hard to bear.
+
+    A BLUSTERING FELLOW! There's a deadly bore,
+  Placed in a good man's way, who only yearns
+  For happiness and joy. But day by day,
+  This blusterer meets me, and the hope's defaced.
+  I cannot say a word--make one remark,
+  That meets not flat and absolute contradiction--
+  I nothing know on earth--am misinformed
+  On every circumstance. The very terms,
+  Scope, rate, and merits of my own transactions
+  Are all to me unknown, or falsified,
+  Of which most potent proof can be adduced.
+  Then the important thump upon the board,
+  Snap with the thumb, and the disdainful 'whew!'
+  Sets me and all I say at less than naught.
+    What can a person do?--To knock him down
+  Suggests itself, but then it breeds a row
+  In a friend's house, or haply in your own,
+  Which is much worse; for glasses go like cinders;
+  The wine is spilled--the toddy. The chair-backs
+  Go crash! No, no, there's nothing but forbearance,
+  And mark'd contempt. If that won't bring him down,
+  There's nothing will. Ah! can the leopard change
+  His spots, or the grim Ethiop his hue?
+  Sooner they may and nature change her course,
+  Than can a blusterer to a modest man:
+  He still will stand a beacon of dislike.
+  A fool--I wish all blustering chaps were dead,
+  That's the true bathos to have done with them.
+
+_Fraser's Magazine._
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+THE GATHERER.
+
+    A snapper up of unconsidered trifles.
+                                 SHAKSPEARE.
+
+
+GAD'S HILL.
+
+
+Gad's Hill, not far from Chatham, was formerly a noted place for
+depredations on seamen, after they had received their pay at the latter
+place. The following robbery was committed there in or verging on the
+year 1676: About four o'clock one morning, a gentleman was robbed by one
+Nicks, on a bay mare, just as he was on the declivity of the hill, on
+the west side. Nicks rode away, and as he said, was stopped nearly an
+hour by the difficulty of getting a boat, to enable him to cross the
+river; but he made the best use of it as a kind of bait to his horse.
+From thence he rode across the county of Essex to Chelmsford. Here he
+stopped about an hour to refresh his horse, and give the animal a
+ball;--from thence to Braintree, Bocking, and Withersfield; thence over
+the Downs to Cambridge; and from thence, keeping still the cross roads,
+he went by Fenny Stratford, [9] to Godmanchester and Huntingdon, where
+he and his mare baited about an hour; and, as he said himself, he slept
+about half an hour: then holding on the north road, and keeping a full
+gallop most of the way, he came to York the same afternoon; put off his
+boots and riding clothes, and went dressed as if he had been an
+inhabitant of the place, to the bowling-green, where, among many other
+gentlemen, was the Lord Mayor of the city. He, singling out his
+lordship, studied to do something particular that the mayor might
+remember him, and then took occasion to ask him what o'clock it was. The
+mayor, pulling out his watch, told him the time, which was a quarter
+before, or a quarter after eight at night. Upon a prosecution for this
+robbery, the whole merit of the case turned upon this single point:--the
+person robbed, swore to the man, to the place, and to the time, in which
+the robbery was committed; but Nicks, proving by the Lord Mayor of
+York, that he was as far off as _Yorkshire_ at that time, the jury
+acquitted him on the bare supposition, that the man could not be at two
+places so remote on one and the same day.
+
+    [9] Fenny, or Fen Stanton, not Stratford, must be here meant, as
+    the former is in the direct road from Cambridge to Huntingdon.
+
+I need not remind your numerous readers that the roads in 1676 were in a
+very different plight to those of 1831; at the former period it would
+not have been possible for Tom Thumb to have trotted sixteen miles an
+hour on any turnpike road in England. Even my friend, the respected
+driver of the Old Union Cambridge Coach to London, can remember, in his
+time, the coach being two days on the road, and occasionally being
+indebted to farmers for the loan of horses to drag the coach wheels out
+of their sloughy tracks.
+
+J.S.W.
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+DIGNIFIED REPROOF.
+
+
+Catherine Parthenay, niece of the celebrated Anna Parthenay, returned
+this spirited reply to the importunities of Henry IV.--"Your majesty
+must know, that although I am too humble to become your wife, I am at
+the same time descended from too illustrious a family ever to become
+your mistress."
+
+P.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+L--A--W.
+
+
+The circumlocution and diffuseness of law papers--the apparent
+redundancy of terms, and multiplicity of synonymes, which may be found
+on all judicial proceedings, are happily hit off in the following, which
+we copy from _Jenk's New York Evening Journal_:--
+
+"A LAWYER'S STORY.--Tom strikes Dick over the shoulders with a rattan as
+big as your little finger. A lawyer would tell you the story something
+in this way:--And that, whereas the said Thomas, at the said Providence,
+in the year and day aforesaid, in and upon the body of the said Richard,
+in the peace of God and the State, then and there being, did make a most
+violent assault and inflicted a great many and divers blows, kicks,
+cuffs, thumps, bumps, contusions, gashes, wounds, hurts, damages, and
+injuries, in and upon the head, neck, breast, stomach, lips, knees,
+shins, and heels of the said Richard, with divers sticks, staves, canes,
+poles, clubs, logs of wood, stones, guns, dirks, swords, daggers,
+pistols, cutlasses, bludgeons, blunderbusses, and boarding pikes, then
+and there held in the hands, fists, claws, and clutches of him the said
+Thomas."
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+WATERLOO--"FORGET ME NOT."
+
+    "On one of these graves I observed the little wild blue flower,
+    known by the name of 'Forget me not'."--_Visit to the Field of
+    Waterloo._
+
+
+  No marble tells, nor columns rise,
+    To bid the passing stranger mourn,
+  Where valour fought, and bled, and died,
+    From friends and life abruptly torn.
+
+  Yet on the earth that veils[10] their heads,
+    Where bravest hearts are doom'd to rot,
+  This simple flower, with meek appeal,
+    Prefers the prayer "Forget me not."
+
+  Forget! forbid my heart responds
+    While bending o'er the hero's grave--
+  Forbid that e'er oblivion's gloom
+    Should shade the spot where rest the brave.
+
+  Fond kindred at this awful shrine
+    Will oft, with footsteps faltering,
+  Approach and drop the pious tear--
+    Sad Memory's purest offering.
+
+  And well their country marks those deeds--
+    The land that gave each bosom fire:
+  Deeds that her proudest triumph won,
+    But gaining, saw her sons expire.
+
+  And ages hence will Britain's sons,
+    As trophied tributes meet their view,
+  Admire, exult--yet mourn the pangs
+    These glories cost, at Waterloo.
+
+D.
+
+
+    [10] The layer of earth scarce covers the bodies, so may be
+    called a veil.
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+SWORD PRESENTED BY THE KING TO THE DUKE OF WELLINGTON, ON THE
+ANNIVERSARY OF WATERLOO.
+
+
+On the hilt, and executed in high relief, are branches of oak
+surrounding the crown. The bark of the branches are opening, which
+display the words--"India, Copenhagen, Peninsula, and Waterloo." The top
+part of the scabbard exhibits his majesty's arms, initials, and crown;
+the middle of the scabbard exhibits the arms and orders of the Duke of
+Wellington on the one side, and on the reverse his batons. The lower end
+has the thunderbolt and wings, the whole surrounded with oak leaves and
+laurel, with a rich foliage, in which was introduced the flower of the
+Lotus. The blade exhibits, in has relief, his majesty's arms, initials,
+and crown; the arms, orders, and batons, of the Duke of Wellington,
+Hercules taming the tiger, the thunderbolt, the British colours bound up
+with the caduceus and fasces, surrounded by laurel, and over them the
+words--"India, Copenhagen, Peninsula, and Waterloo," terminating with a
+sheathed sword, surrounded by laurel and palm.
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+ODDITIES.
+
+
+Fashion-mongers make odd work with language. Thus, we read of Mrs.
+Ravenshaw giving a "petit" _souper_ to about 150 of the _haut ton_.
+
+The _Court Journal_, too, tells us that a few days since Lord Lansdowne
+met with "a severe accident," by which "he suffered no material injury."
+
+The Queen's dress at her last ball was "white and silver, striped with
+blue." The song says--
+
+  To be nice about trifles
+  Is trifling and folly;--
+
+but the _modistes_ can gather little from such a description as the
+above.
+
+In the Zoological Gardens is a pheasant, one of whose feathers measures
+5 feet 11 inches in length!
+
+A "_Charming Fellow_,"--The records of the Horticultural Society inform
+us that _Lady_ Cochrane has been elected "a Fellow of the Society."
+
+
+VEDI PAGANINI E MORI.
+  See Paganini, and then _die_!
+    I beg to tell a different story;
+  And to the _bowing_ crowd I cry,
+    See Paganini, and then Mori!
+                                 _Court Journal._
+
+In a List of New Books and Reprints we find one by "Bishop Home; in
+silk, 2s. 6d."
+
+         _Epitaph on Spenser._
+             _In Spenserum._
+
+  Famous alive and dead, here is the odds,
+  Then god of poets, now poet of the gods.
+
+The Philomathic Society of Warsaw have elected Mr. Campbell a
+corresponding member, as "Campbell _Tomes_ Poète Anglais."--_Literary
+Gazette._
+
+_Anatomy._--The price for unopened subjects in Paris is 5 francs, or 4s.
+2d.; and 3 francs, or 2s. 6d. for opened ones.--_Lancet_.
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+THE LORD CHANCELLOR.
+
+Vol. XVII. of the MIRROR,
+
+
+With a Steel-plate Portrait of this illustrious Individual, Memoir, &c.,
+50 Engravings, and 450 closely printed Pages, will be published on the
+30th instant, price 5s. 6d. boards.
+
+Part 110, price 10d., will be ready on the same day.
+
+The Supplementary Number will contain the above Portrait, a copious
+Memoir, Title-page, Index, &c; and, from its extension beyond the usual
+space, will be published at 4d.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Printed and Published by J. LIMBIRD, 143, Strand, (near Somerset
+House,) London; sold by ERNEST FLEISCHER, 626, New Market, Leipsic; G.G.
+BENNIS, 55, Rue Neuve, St. Augustin, Paris; and by all Newsmen and
+Booksellers.
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 13113 ***