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| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 04:42:26 -0700 |
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| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 04:42:26 -0700 |
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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/13587-0.txt b/13587-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9ffb300 --- /dev/null +++ b/13587-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1646 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 13587 *** + +THE MIRROR OF LITERATURE, AMUSEMENT, AND INSTRUCTION. + +VOL. X, NO. 290.] SATURDAY, DECEMBER 29, 1827. [PRICE 2d. + + * * * * * + + + + +OLD SARUM + + +[Illustration] + + +Among the earliest antiquarian records, Old Sarum is described as a city +of the Belgae; and its historical details have proved an exhaustless +mine for the researches of topographical illustrators. + +Thus, Sir R.C. Hoare describes it as "a city of high note in the +remotest periods by the several barrows near it, and its proximity to +the two largest Druidical temples in England, namely, Stonehenge and +Abury."[1] + + + +The Romans held it as a strong military station, and it was admitted +to the privileges of the Latin law, under the name of _Sorbiodunum;_[2] + +Under the Saxons it ranked among the most considerable towns of the West +kingdom, and possessed ecclesiastical establishments soon after the +conversion of the Saxons to Christianity.[3] + +In the early part of the ninth century it was the frequent residence of +Egbert; and in 960, Edgar assembled here a national council to devise +the best means of repelling the Danes in the north.[4] + +Arthur commanded it to be more strongly fortified by another trench and +high palisadoes.[5] + +In 1086, William the Norman convened in this city the prelates, nobles, +sheriffs, and knights of his new dominions, there to receive their +homage;[6] and probably, within its walls was framed the feudal law, as +Domesday Book was commenced in the same year. + +Two other national councils were held here; one by William Rufus, in +1096, and another by Henry I in 1116.[7] + +Peter of Blois, an early ecclesiastical writer, described Old Sarum as +"barren, dry, and solitary, exposed to the rage of the wind; and the +church (stands) as a captive on the hill where it was built, like the +ark of God shut up in the profane house of Baal."[8] + +Such are a few of the chronological data of the principal events in the +history of Old Sarum; these, however, will suffice to elucidate the +antiquity of the city, and from their historical importance cannot fail +to make the preceding engraving a subject of general as well as of local +interest, especially as it represents the old city, previous to its +reduction in 553. + +Scarcely a vestige of human habitation now remains of Old Sarum, as we +have shown once a place "of great importance--and a city adorned with +many proud structures--a splendid cathedral and other churches--a castle +with lofty towers and ramparts--regular streets and houses--and once the +residence of a numerous population." But all these have passed away, and +nought is left to tell the tale of their greatness, but a few crumbling +wrecks of massy walls; whilst vast fosses and elevated ramparts remain +to mark it as the site of desolating war. The contrast of time-worn +ruins with their surounding scenes of luxuriant nature is affecting even +to melancholy. A recent visiter to the area of Old Sarum describes "a +field of oats flourishing on the very spot where the crowded street had +formerly extended itself; and a barrier existing to the further progress +of agriculture, by the remains of the cathedral, castle, &c. forming +heaps of rubbish barely covered with scanty and unprofitable verdure." + +The space occupied by the ancient city is stated to have been nearly +2,000 feet in diameter, surrounded with a fosse, or ditch, of immense +depth, and two ramparts, inner and outer: on the inner, which was much +higher than the outer, stood a wall nearly 12 feet thick at its +foundation, of flint and chalk, strongly cemented together, and cased +with hewn stone, on which was a parapet with battlements. In the centre, +on the summit of the hill, stood the castle or citadel, surrounded with +a very deep intrenchment and a high rampart; and in the area beneath, +forming a wide space between the inner and outer ramparts, stood the +city, divided into equal parts, north and south; near the middle of each +division was a gate--these two being the grand entrances, with a tower +and mole over and before each. Besides these were ten other towers, at +equal distances round the city; and opposite them, in a straight line +with the castle, were built the principal streets, intersected in the +middle with one grand circular street, encompassing the whole city. In +the angle to the north-west stood the cathedral, and episcopal palace, +and the houses of the clergy. + +The area of the city was also divided into nearly equal parts by +intrenchments and ramparts thrown up, by which means if one part was +taken, the other was still defensible; and if the whole of the out-works +were in the hands of the enemy, the besieged could retire to the castle, +whose walls were impregnable. There appears to have been but one +entrance to the castle, on the east. There were five wells, four in the +city and one in the castle, designed chiefly to support the garrison and +inhabitants in time of war, or during a siege. + +The decline of Sarum, which was very rapid, has been traced to a +disagreement between the civil and ecclesiastical authorities. During +the reign of Henry I. the bishop of Old Sarum, who rose to that dignity, +from being a parish priest at Caen, was entrusted with the keys of the +fortress. The bishop, however, fell into disgrace, the king resumed the +command of the castle, and the military openly insulted the disgraced +prelate and the clergy. These animosities increasing, the Empress Maude +bestowed many gifts upon the cathedral, and added much land to its grants. +Herbert, a subsequent bishop of the see, attempted to remove the +establishment, but its execution was reserved for his brother and +successor, Richard Poor, whose monument is in the south chancel of the +present cathedral at Salisbury. This was about the year 1217, from which +time the inhabitants of Old Sarum removed their residence, and pulled +down their dwellings, with the materials of which they constructed their +new habitations: and as one city increased in population and extent, so +the other almost as rapidly decayed. Hence the establishment of New +Sarum, or _Salisbury_. + +In the reign of Edward II. Sarum possessed the privilege of sending two +members to parliament, a privilege which it still retains. + + [1] "_Ancient Wilts_,"--Sir R.C. Hoare, speaking of _Stonehenge_, + expresses his opinion that "our earliest inhabitants were Celts, + who naturally introduced with them their own buildings customs, + rites, and religions ceremonies, and to them I attribute the + erection of Stonehenge, and the greater part of the sepulchral + memorials that still continue to render its environs so truly + interesting to the antiquary and historian." _Abury_, or + _Avebury_, is a village amidst the remains of an immense + temple, which for magnificence and extent is supposed to have + exceeded the more celebrated fabric of Stonehenge; Some + enthusiastic inquirers have however, carried their supposition + beyond probability, and in their zeal have even supposed them to + be _antediluvian_ labours! Many of the _barrows_ in the vicinity + of Sarum have been opened, and in them several antiquarian relics + have been discovered. In short, the whole county is one of high + antiquarian interest, and its history has been illustrated with + due fidelity and research. + + [2] Richard of Cirericesler, p. 31, 68, 113. + + [3] Cott. _Coll. Faustina_, b. 3, _MSS. Brit Mus._ + + [4] Brompton _Twysd._. 866. + + [5] Dodsworth's _History of Salisbury Cathedral_. + + [6] Roger de Hoveden. + + [7] Ibid. + + [8] Petrus Blesensis, _Epist_, 105. + + * * * * * + + +CHRISTMAS CUSTOMS. + +(_For the Mirror._) + +The manner of spending _Christmas Eve_ can hardly be better +described than by the celebrated Wilkie's sketch under that title. +Christmas is not now what it was formerly. Wilkie's painting relates to +the present time, and I do not know where Christmas is more cheerfully +observed in these days than in London--still there is an alteration--no +boar's head--no pageantries, no wassailing. In the north of England +its approach is denoted by the country people having their wood fires, +consisting of huge pieces of stumps of trees piled upon the grate, +and by entwining branches of holly over their doors, and by _school +boys_ acting some play to a school full of auditors; the yearly one +at Brough was _St. George_, which is now put down by some strolling +players who exhibit in the town every Christmas. + +These are signals for Christmas, and although there is but one Christmas +day, yet the week is generally over before any thing like quietness +appears. The morning is ushered in by the ringing of the _church +bells_, and the little maidens playing at the game of _prickey +sockey_, as they call it. See them all dressed up in their +_best_, with their wrists adorned with rows of _pins_, running +about from house to house inquiring who will play at the game. The door +is opened, and she cries out, + + "Prickey Sockey, for a pin, + I CAR not whether I LOSS or win." + + +The game is played by the one holding between her two fore-fingers and +thumbs a pin, which she clasps tightly to prevent her antagonist seeing +either part of it, while her opponent _guesses_. The head of the +pin is _sockey_, and the point _prickey_, and when the other +guesses, she touches the end she guesses at, saying, _"this for +prickey_," or "_this for sockey_;" at night the other delivers +her two pins. Thus the game is played and when the clock strikes twelve +it is declared _up_, that is, no one can play after that time. + +The Christmas dinner consists of large pork or goose pies, which Brand +mentions as peculiar to this county; the goose is put in whole; they are +all marked on the top by a fork with the owner's initials; formerly it +was a religious inscription. In the afternoon (be it spoken perhaps to +their shame) they sally forth for a game at foot-ball, the first day on +which the game is played, the ball is what they call _clubbed up +for_, and he who can run away with the ball may keep it; but this +seldom occurs, as it is kicked to pieces before the game is over. And +this is Christmas Day here. At Kirby, a man named _Tom Mattham_ +(since deceased) used to go round the town on Christmas Eve, about +twelve o'clock, with a bell, and chant a few carols; this was too solemn +to be compared to the London waits, but the custom still exists. + +In most of the western parts of Devonshire a superstitions custom +prevails, that on Christmas Eve, at twelve o'clock, oxen in their stalls +are always kneeling, as in the attitude of devotion; but since the style +was altered, they do this on Old Christmas Eve only. At Whitbeck, in +Cumberland, they have a similar superstition; the _bees_ are said +to sing on the midnight before Christmas Day, and the oxen to kneel at +the same hour. + +In many parts of the north too it should be observed, it is customary +for men to go out and cut large ash and holly sticks and entwine them +over the doors of their houses. And in Cumberland, little maidens +assemble on Christmas to _guess who their husband shall be_, which +is done by collecting peculiar sticks, and looking for some singular +mark upon them. This is the time when sweethearts too send round their +presents to the young lasses, by whom others are returned. + +The custom of keeping open house is, I think, obsolete. Haddon Hall (so +late as Queen Elizabeth) was kept open during twelve days after +Christmas, with the _old English_ hospitality. I observe also in +some old books accounts of a feast of "cakes and ales" being usual.[9] + +In the book of _Christmasse Carolles_, by Wynkyn de Worde in 1521, +are the following verses on bringing in the Boar's head:-- + + + "A Carrol bryngyne in the boar's head, + _Caput Apri defero._ + _Redden laudes Domino._ + + "The bore's head in hande brynge I, + With garlaudes gay and rosemary + I praye you all synge merely, + _Qui estis in convivio._ + + "The bore's head I understande + Is the chefe servyce in this lande, + Looke wherever it be fand, + _Servite cum cantico._ + + "Be gladde both man and lasse + For this hath ordayned our stewarde + To chere you all this Christmasse + The bore's head with mustarde." + + +Upon the young prince's coronation, 1170, Henry II. "served his son at +the table as server, bringing up the _bore's head_ with _trumpets_ +before it, according to the manner."--_Hollinshed_. + +The boar's head was stuffed "_with branches of rosemary_, "it +appears with trumpets playing, so that "_it was a grande syghte_." + +It would appear they had grand doings at the inns of court during +Christmas. The usual dish at the first course at dinner was "a large +_bore's head_ upon a silver platter, with minstralsye."--_Dugdale's +Orig. Jur._ + +Before the last civil wars, the first diet in gentlemen's houses that +was brought to table at Christmas was a _boar's head with a lemon in +his mouth_. At Queen's College, Oxford, the custom is retained; the +bearer of it brings it into the hall singing to an old tune, an old +Latin rhyme, _Caput Apri Defero, &c._ + +Formerly, "An English gentleman at the opening of the great day, i.e. on +Christmas Day in the morning, had all his tenants and neighbours enter +his hall by day-break. The strong beer was broached, and the black jacks +went plentifully about with toast, sugar, nutmeg, and good Cheshire +cheese. The hackin (the great sausage) must be boiled by day-break, or +else two young men must take the maiden (the cook) by the arms, and run +her round the market-place till she is ashamed of her laziness."--_From +an old Tract, "Round about our Coal Fire, or Christmas Entertainments_." + +Further, from the same Tract we find that "In Christmas holidayes," the +tables were all spread from the first to the last; the sirloins of beef, +the minched pies, the _plum porridge_, the capons, turkeys, geese +and plum-puddings, were all brought upon the board, every one ate +heartily and was welcome, which gave rise to the proverb, "merry in the +hall, where beards wag all." + +Misson says, "the plum-porridge is not at all inferior to the pie;" the +goose pie usually made at Christmas. + +_Yule Cakes_.--I must now call your attention to the _Yule +Cakes_. Yule dough a little image of paste, was formerly baked at +_Yuletide_, and presented by bakers to their customers, as +_Christmas candles_ are given away by tallow chandlers. Brand +says, "the Yule dough has perhaps been intended for an image of the +child, Jesus, with the Virgin Mary," and he says, "it is now, if I +mistake not, pretty generally laid aside, or at most retained only by +children." Mr. Brand was not aware that the custom still prevailed in +many parts in the north. At Brough I have frequently ate of the cakes; +they are figured with currants, and are usually eaten with a basin of +frumity on Christmas Eve. Mince pies are there called _minched_, or +_shrid pies_. + +The custom of decking our houses and churches with holly, &c. originates +from ancient heathenish practices. Mr. Brand says, that "_holly_ +was used only to deck the inside of houses at Christmas, while +_ivy_ was used not only as a vintner's sign, but also among the +evergreens at funerals." Archdeacon Nares mentions "the custom longest +preserved, was the hanging up of a bush of mistletoe in the kitchen or +servant's hall, with the _charm_ attached to it, that the maid who +was not kissed under it at Christmas would not be married in that year." +In the north a similar custom is observed, viz. that of kissing a maiden +_over_ a bunch of holly. Polydore Virgil says, that "Trimmyng of +the temples with hangynges, flowers, boughs, and garlandes, was taken of +the heathen people, whiche decked their idols and houses with such +arraye." + +_Round about our Coal Fire_.--Formerly fires were in the middle of +the room, and the company sat in a ring round about it, hence the +proverb, "round about our coal fire," which is as great a comfort as any +at Christmas. + +In the north they have their _Yule log_, or _Yuletide log_, +which is a huge log burning in the chimney corner, whilst the Yule cakes +are baked on a "girdle," (a kind of frying pan) over the fire; little +lads and maidens assemble nightly at some neighbouring friend's to hear +the goblin story, and join in "fortune telling," or some game. There is +a part of an old song which runs thus: and with which I shall conclude +this custom + + "Now all our neighbours chimnies smoke, + And _Christmas logs_ are burning, + Their ovens they with baked meate choke, + And all their spits are turning." + + +And in another place we hear that + + "The wenches with their _wassell bowles_ + About the streete are singing." + + +_Wassail-bowl_.--Formerly it was customary to _wassail_ on +Christmas Eve, or drink health to the apple trees. + + "Wassaile the trees that they may beare + You many a plum and many a peare, + For more or lesse fruits they will bringe, + And do you give them wassailing." + +HERRICK. + + +Sir Thomas Acland informed Mr. Brand, in 1790, that at Werington, on +Christmas Eve, "it was then customary for the country people to sing a +wassail or drinking song, and throw the toast from the wassail-bowl to +the apple-trees, in order to have a fruitful tree." + +In many towns in Cumberland it is the practice on Christmas Eve to roast +apples before the fire on a string, and hold under them a bowl of spiced +ale (called there _mulled ale_) and let them roast on until they +drop into the ale. + +We have the following picture of a country squire from Grose:--"His +chief drink the year round was generally ale, except at this season, the +fifth of November, or some other gala days, when he would make a bowl of +strong brandy punch, garnished with a toast and nutmeg. In the corner of +his hall by the fire-side stood a large wooden two-armed chair, and +within the chimney corner were a couple of seats. Here at Christmas he +entertained his tenants assembled round a globing fire made of the roots +of trees and other _great logs_, and told and heard the _traditionary +tales of the village_, respecting ghosts and witches, till fear made +them afraid to move. In the mean time the jorum of ale was in continual +circulation." + +_Christmas Presents_.--A friend of mine at Appleby, in +Westmoreland, who is aware of my writing this article, says, "Pray +recollect the old custom we have here of making little presents one to +another. You know it is the practice here for little girls to send +numerous presents to their sweethearts, secured as tightly with _wax +and brown paper_ as can be, that they may be some time guessing what +it is before they open it. And if it is worth remarking, I would further +remind you of the sending of _shrid_ pies (which you know are very +excellent) as presents to neighbours." + +In London enough is seen of the presents at Christmas, without +describing them; and after a "day spent merrily," they in the evening +commence card playing, which is kept up till morning, generally +speaking, and from thenceforth a whole run of merry days, till and +beyond Twelfth Day. + +Soon after Christmas Day we are apprized of Twelfth Day (which keeps us +from dulness) by the icy cakes which everywhere appear in the +pastrycook's windows. And now I think I have as far as I am able +fulfilled my promise, and I may perhaps conclude this article with +wishing you and _all_ your readers and correspondents a merry +Christmas and a happy new year. + +W.H.H. + + [9] See MIRROR, p. 330. + + * * * * * + + +RECOLLECTIONS OF MELROSE ABBEY. + +(_For the Mirror._) + + "I do love these ancient ruins; + We never tread upon them, but we set + Our foot upon some reverend history." + + +This fine ruin has a double interest attached to it, for, independent of +that which is created by the antiquity and splendour of the edifice, the +visiter should bear in mind that it is the _Kennaquhair_ of the +northern magician; and here the scenes so finely depicted in the +_Monastery_ are vividly brought to our recollection; it gives a +"local habitation and a name" to some of the most interesting creations +of Sir Walter Scott's genius. The abbey is situated in a valley, +surrounded by the Eildon hills. Some ruins of the abbey mill, with the +dam belonging to "Hob Miller," the father of the "lovely Mysinda," are +still to be seen; and the ford across the Tweed, where the worthy +Sacristan was played so scurvy a trick by the White Lady, is also +pointed out. Some miles off, on a wild and romantic spot on the course +of the river, Elwin, or Allan, is Fairy Dean, or Nameless Dean, which is +at once identified to be that place above the tower and vale of +Glendearg, which was the favourite haunt of the White Lady, and the spot +where Sir Piercie Shafton's _stoccatas_, _embroccatas_, and +_passados_ first failed him, when opposed to the less polished and +rustic skill of Halbert Glendinning, assisted by the machinations of the +queen of the elfin tribe. On this place are found a number of small +stones, of a singular shape and appearance, resembling guns, cradles +with children in them, bonnets, &c., several of which I obtained in a +tour to Scotland. They are called _elf-stones_ by the neighbouring +peasantry. + +Many parts of the abbey are still in a state of tolerable preservation; +the marks of cannon-shot and fire are visible on the walls in some +places, the abbey having been bombarded by Oliver Cromwell, with his +usual zeal against every thing that adorned the country. Many Roman +medals of Vespasian, Adrian, &c. have been found about it. I hardly know +a more interesting place to visit than Melrose and its neighbourhood; +while the abbey affords a fine moral lesson on the instability and +perishableness of even the most magnificent works raised by human skill +and industry. + + "Here naked stand the melancholy walls, + Lash'd by the wint'ry tempests, cold and bleak, + That whistle mournful through the empty aisles, + And piece-meal crumble down the towers to dust," + + +When viewed by moonlight, the solemnity and grandeur of the effect is +charming. An enthusiastic friend of mine, on paying the abbey a visit a +year or two ago, had it lighted up with tapers. I subjoin a few passages +from a letter I received at the time from him;--"Yesterday, being +Valentine's day, in the evening I went to vespers, and had six tapers +burning at the high altar in the abbey; also several in each of the +(eight) confessionals, holy water, fonts, shrines, and altars.--The +church-yard, the abbey, were silent as the grave; you might have heard a +pin drop; there was not a breath of air stirring, so the tapers burnt, +beautifully." This must have strongly reminded the spectator of the +introduction to the _Monastery_, and the visit of the worthy +benedictine, accompanied by Captain Clutterbuck, for the purpose of +taking up his patron's heart. My friend adds, "not a taper has been +burnt in St. Mary's of Melrose since the days of Knox.--On Monday I went +to the tower of Glendearg; at the fountain, where Sir Piercie Shafton +and Halbert Glendinning fought, I got, with the help of my guide, some +curious stones, said to be the work of the _White Lady_." The +scenery is picturesque in the highest degree. "Yesterday I went to Old +Melrose. The windings of the Tweed there are beautiful; but the tolling +the abbey bell recalls me from my wanderings." + +The impression made on Sir Walter Scott by the ruins may be inferred +from the following lines:-- + + "If thou would'st view fair Melrose aright, + Go visit it by the pale moonlight; + For the gay beams of lightsome day + Gild but to flout the ruins grey. + When the broken arches are black in night, + And each shafted oriel glimmers white; + When the cold light's uncertain shower + Streams on the ruin'd central tower, + When buttress and buttress, alternately, + Seem framed of ebon and ivory; + When silver edges the imagery, + And the scrolls that teach thee to live and die; + When distant Tweed is heard to rave, + And the owlet to hoot o'er the dead man's grave; + Then go--but go alone the while-- + Then view St. David's ruin'd pile; + And home returning, soothly swear, + Was never scene so sad and fair!" + + +One of your correspondents (with whom I had once a disputation on the +_weighty_ subject of ghosts) sent you a version of the subjoined +epitaph, with a trifling alteration in the spelling, (which is copied +from a very ancient tomb-stone in Melrose Abbey,) with these remarks, +(see MIRROR, vol. 4, p. 392):--"The following beautiful lines were +written by a cow-boy [!] in Sussex on a wall, with a piece of red chalk, +[mark the precision.] They have only been inserted in a Sussex paper, +and may be quite unknown to many London readers," &c. &c. &c. This is a +regular hoax. + + +EPITAPH. + + The earth goeth on the earth, + Glist'ring like Gold; + The earth goes to the earth sooner than it wold. + The earth builds on the earth castles and towers; + The earth says to the earth, all shall be ours. + + +Here the contemplative wanderer may pass many an hour, with profit and +pleasure, + + "Mid epitaphs and tombs, + Wrapt in the dreams of other days." + + +HISTORY OF THE ABBEY. + +I have arranged a few particulars of the history, &c. of this relic of +monkish times, which will form an appropriate conclusion to these +desultory remarks. + + "Hail! ye bold turrets, and thou rev'rend pile, + That seem in age's hoary rest to smile! + All trail! for here creative fancy reads + Of ages past the long-forgotten deeds. + With trembling footsteps I approach thy gates, + The massy door upon the hinges grates! + Hark! as it opens what a hollow groan + 'Cross the dark hall and down the aisles is thrown!" + +SIR EGERTON BAYDGES. + + +It is handed down by tradition that an abbey was founded at Melrose +about the end of the sixth century. The famous St. Cuthbert was one of +the abbots in 643; he, however, left, and went to Holy Island, in +Northumberland. Many wonderful stories are related of St. Cuthbert; that +eleven years after his death in Holy Island, (in 687,) his body, on +being taken up, exhibited no marks of corruption, seeming as if asleep, +&c. &c. Ethelwold succeeded St. Cuthbert, and sometime after the +monastery was ruined by the Danes. The place where this abbey is +supposed to have stood is called Old Melrose, and is a mile and a half +from the present abbey. + +Melrose Abbey was founded by king David of Scotland in 1136. It is +supposed to have been built in ten years. The church of the convent was +dedicated to St. Mary on the 28th of July, 1146. It was the mother +church of the Cistertian order in Scotland. The monks were brought from +Rievaulx Abbey, in Yorkshire. Their habit was white; and they soon +superseded the order of the Benedictines. + +The abbey is built in the form of St. John's cross, of the Gothic style +of architecture, and is 258 feet in length; the breadth 137-1/2 feet; +and 943 feet in circumference. A considerable part of the principal +tower is now in ruins; its present height is 84 feet. There are many +very superb windows; the principal one at the east end (which is the top +nave of the cross,) appears to have been more recently built than the +others, and is 57 feet in extreme height, and 28 feet wide. It has been +ornamented with statues, &c. The beauty of the carved work, with which +the abbey is profusely decorated, is seldom equalled, and deservedly +celebrated: + + "Spreading herbs and flow'rets bright, + Glisten'd with the dew of night; + Nor herb nor flow'ret glisten'd there, + But was carved in the cloister'd arches as fair." + + +There are in the external view of the building 50 windows, 4 doors, 54 +niches, and above 50 buttresses. The abbey was much injured by the +English in 1322 and 1384. Richard II. made it a grant in 1389, as some +compensation for the injuries it had sustained in the retreat of his +army. It was also greatly defaced during the reformation. A stronger +proof of their infatuated and (partly) misplaced zeal cannot be adduced, +than the destruction of religious edifices by the reformers. There were +one hundred monks, without including the abbot and dignitaries. The last +abbot was James Stuart, natural son of James V., who died in 1559. The +privileges and possessions of the abbey were very extensive,.and it was +endowed by its founder, David, with the lands of Melrose, Eildon, &c., +&c., right of fishery on the Tweed, &c.; and succeeding monarchs +increased its property. Sixty of the monks, it is said, renounced popery +at the reformation. In 1542, the revenue of the abbey was, "1758_l_. +in money, 14 chalders nine bolls of wheat, 56 chal. 5 bolls of barley, +78 chal. 13 bolls of meal, 44 chal. 10 bolls of oats, 84 capons, 620 +poultry, 105 stone of butter, 8 chal. of salt, 340 loads of peats, and +500 carriages;" besides 60 bolls of corn, 300 barrels of ale, and 18 +hogsheads of wine, for the service of the mass: a large quantity for the +entertainment of strangers; 4,000_l_. for the care of the sick; and +400_l_. to the barber. These were given up at the commencement of the +reformation in 1561. The lands were either seized by the crown, or +divided amongst the nobles. A large portion fell into the hands of the +Buccleugh family. + +A stone coffin, supposed to be that of the famous Michael Scott, the +wizard, was found in the small aisle on the south of the chancel in +1812. It was authenticated that his remains had been laid here. There +was an altar erected to say mass for his soul. The length of the +skeleton was six feet. A stone head at the foot of the coffin bears a +very rude wizard-like appearance. Alexander II. and many of the Scottish +kings and nobles are buried here. The best view is obtained of the +building from the south east, which, indeed, commands the whole of the +ruin. The village contains 500 or 600 inhabitants, and is 35 miles +distant from Edinburgh. The remains of several Roman camps are to be +seen in its neighbourhood, and one of the hills bears the marks of +having been a volcano. Sir Walter Scott's residence at Abbotsford is +within a few miles. + +VYVYAN. + + * * * * * + +ON WAITS. + +(_To the Editor of the Mirror_.) + + +MR. EDITOR,--It may not be unacceptable to many of your readers to +receive some elucidation of a custom which is still prevalent at the +present season. I allude to the waits, who visit us in the month of +December, with instrumental music, going from house to house. + +_Waites_, or _waits_, formerly _wayghtes_ is derived from +the latter noun, and originally signified _hautbois_, (or hautbois, +as we have it in English,) of which it is not unworthy remark, there is +no singular number. From the instrument its signification was, after a +time, transferred to the performers themselves; concerning whom, it is +well known,.the appellation is now applied to all who follow the +practice above adverted to, especially those who, at the approach of. +Christmas, salute us with their nightly concerts. + +The _wayghtes_ of ancient times were, as some historians say, so +called, because they attended or _waited_ on potentates, judges, +magistrates, and bodies corporate, pomp and processions, &c.; they were +also sometimes appointed to keep a sort of Watch at night, and were then +generally decorated with superb dresses, splendid cloaks, &c. In Rymers' +_Fardera_ there is an account of such an establishment, of the +minstrels and _waites_ who were in the service of the court of +Edward IV., wherein is mentioned "a _waite_ that nighteleye, from +Michaelmas to Shrove Thorsday, pipeth the watch within this court;" "i. +fewer times, in the somere nightes iij. times." Todd derives the term +waits from _wahts_, (Goth.) nocturnal itinerant musicians, +(Beaumont and Fletcher;) Bayley, on account of their waiting on +magistrates, &c.; or of _guet_, a watch; or from the French +_guetter_, to watch, because anciently they kept a sort of watch a +night. From what I have narrated, then, it appears that the persons +formerly called waites, or waits, were _musical_ watchmen, the word +implying _obees_. They were, in fact, minstrels, at first annexed +to the king's court, who sounded the watch every night; and in towns +paraded the streets during winter, to prevent theft, &c. At Exeter they +were set up, with a regular salary, in 1400; and although suppressed by +the Puritans, were reinstated in 1660. M.A. Boyer, in his _French and +English Dictionary_, Rivington. 1747, under the word _waits_, s. +has the following: "in the French, _sorte de hautbois_, (ho-boy,) +corresponding with the signification of the term waits, as itinerant or +wandering (music or) musicians. These nocturnal perambulators, it seems, +were anciently called, as they now are, waits; and persons, bearing the +same name, still go about our streets during the month of December, +(previous to the 25th.) Whatsoever may be the reasons or the motives of +those (maunderers) who _now_ call _themselves waits_, I must +leave for the consideration of such as are favoured with their visits. I +am of opinion it can have neither allusion nor similitude to the +Christmas carol as some have suggested, which was an imitation, however +humble, of 'The glory to God on high,' &c., as sung by the angels who +hovered over the fields of Bethlehem on the morning of our Saviour's +nativity." It is true, indeed, that our modern angels, _the waits_ +of 1897, have _hovered about_, and _they may_ (without a pun) +be styled angels (of darkness), not only on account of the watch they +keep _a nights_, but on account of those _spirit-uous propensities_, +for the attainment of which, principally, some have supposed, _we_ are +_indebted_ to _them_ for _their waits_, and also for their _wait-ing_ +upon us on the day ycleped boxing-day. + +But to return to our subject; independent of the origin of the waits, or +of the persons so called, as relates to the institution in England, +which is, comparatively, of modern date, _it appears there were +peculiar to the Romans_ a description of individuals, who, in their +offices and character, answered to our waits, and from whom there is no +doubt the latter were derived; these, among the Romans, were called +_spondaulae_, from which I conceive the _waightes_, or _waites_, +of our ancient kings were borrowed. The _Roman waites_, or _spondaulae_, +were a description of vocal and instrumental musicians, who performed a +hymn, whose measure consisted of spondees, (a poetic foot, formed of two +long syllables,) which was sung, accompanied by the flute, or other wind +instrument, while the priest offered the sacrifice, and the incense was +burning, to procure the favour of the gods; the waits, or spondaulae, +continuing their music, to prevent the priest from hearing sounds of ill +omen, which might disturb the ceremony, or divert his attention. It has +been suggested, in this view of the origin of the waits, which many +writers consider to be the real source of the custom, that they are +altogether anti-christian, and of heathen and idolatrous foundation, and +of consequence have neither allusion to, nor connexion with, our +festivities at Christmas _at any period_. + +City Road. + +L. DESORMEAUX. + + * * * * * + +ORIGIN OF LOVE. + +FROM THE MADRIGALS OF GUARINI. + +(_For the Mirror_.) + + + Cupid one day, in luckless hour, + Observed a bee from flow'r to flow'r, + Hurrying on busy wing; + Thinking to gain the honied prize, + He strove the insect to surprise, + But quickly felt its sting. + + Fired with revenge, he flew away + To where asleep my Julia lay, + On mossy bank reclin'd; + And while he sought relief to sip, + By kisses from her balmy lip, + He left the sting behind. + + Thus if I now, in hours of bliss, + From her sweet mouth should steal a kiss, + I after feel the smart; + For when her rosy lips I've press'd, + And think myself supremely blest, + I bear the sting at heart! + +E.L.J. + + + * * * * * + +TOTTENHAM HIGH CROSS. + +(_For the Mirror_.) + + +On entering Tottenham, on the right from London, is to be seen the +following inscription over eight alms-houses:-- + + 1600. + Not vnto vs, + O Lord-- + Not vnto vs--But + vnto thy name + give ye glorie. + +_Ps. 115, v. i._ + + +"Balthaza Zanchez, born in Spain, in the citie of Shere, in Estramadvra, +is the fownder of these eyght Alma-Houses for the relieefe of eyght +poore men and women of the Town of Tattenham High Crasse." + +The founder of these alms-houses, Balthazar Zanches, was confectioner to +Philip II. of Spain, with whom he came over to England, and was the +first who exercised that art in this country. He became a Protestant, +and died in 1602. It is said that he lived in the house, now the George +and Vulture Inn; at the entrance of which he had fixed the arms of +England, in a garter, supported by a lion and griffin, and with the +initials E.R.: over another door, 1587. + +Among the ancient possessors of the manor of Tottenham, was Robert +Bruce, king of Scotland, from whom the Manor-House obtained the name of +Bruce Castle, which it still retains.--At the end of Page Green stands a +remarkable circular clump of elms, called the Seven Sisters; and on the +west side of the great road is St. Loy's well, which is said to be +always full, and never to run over; and opposite the vicarage house +rises a spring, called Bishop's Well, of which the common people report +many strange cures. + + * * * * * + + + + +ARCANA OF SCIENCE. + + * * * * * + +_Outline of the History of Gas Lighting._ + + +"What a striking contrast between the appearance of the brilliantly +illuminated streets at this time, compared with the days of Henry V. It +is recorded, that in 1417, Sir Henry Barton, mayor of London, ordained +'lanterns with lights to bee hanged out on the winter evenings between +Hallowtide and Candlemasse.' Paris was first lighted by an order issued +in 1524; and in the beginning of the sixteenth century, the streets +being infested with robbers, the inhabitants were ordered to keep lights +burning in the windows of all such houses as fronted the streets. In +1668, when some regulations were made for improving the streets of +London, the inhabitants were reminded to hang out their lanterns at the +usual time; and in 1690 an order was issued to hang out a light, or +lamp, every night as soon as it was dark, from Michaelmas to Christmas. +By an act of the common council in 1716, all housekeepers, whose houses +fronted any street, lane, or passage, were required to hang out, every +dark night, one or more lights, to burn from six to eleven o'clock, +under the penalty of one shilling. In 1736, the lord mayor and common +council applied to parliament for an act to enable them to erect lamps; +and in 1744 they obtained farther powers for lighting the city. +Birmingham was first lighted by lamps in 1733, so that in this +improvement it preceded the metropolis."--_Beckman's History of +Inventions_. + +It may not be disagreeable to our readers to trace the brilliant lights +by which the streets are illuminated, from the obscure recesses of +nature, and to show by what steps that which was once thought simply an +object of curiosity, has been applied to a practical purpose of the most +useful and agreeable kind. + +The inflammable gases were known originally for their direful effects +rather than their useful qualities. Miners were acquainted with two of +them, called the _choke damp_ and the _fire damp_, long before +the establishment of the Royal Society; but the earliest printed account +of either occurs in its Transactions, in the year 1667. The paper in +which it is contained, is entitled, "A Description of a Well and Earth +in Lancashire taking Fire, by a Candle approaching to it. Imparted by +Thomas Shirley, Esq an eye-witness." + +Dr. Stephen Hales was the first person who procured an elastic fluid +from the actual distillation of coal. His experiments with this object +are related in the first volume of his Vegetable Statics, published in +1726. From the distillation of "one hundred and fifty-eight grains of +Newcastle coal, he states that he obtained one hundred and eighty cubic +inches of air, which weighed fifty-one grains, being nearly one third of +the whole." The inflammability of the fluid he thus produced was no part +of his inquiry; and though it is now deemed its most useful and +important property, appears to have excited no attention till several +years after. + +In the "Philosophical Transactions" for 1733, some properties of +coal-gas are detailed in a paper called, "An Account of the Damp Air in +a Coal-pit of Sir James Lowther, sunk within Twenty Yards of the Sea." +This paper, as it contains some striking facts relating to the +inflammability and other properties of coal-gas, is deserving of +particular attention. + +The principal properties of coal-gas are here related with remarkable +minuteness and precision; and as the writer exhibited them to different +members of the Royal Society, and showed that after keeping the gas +sometime, it still retained its elasticity and inflammability, it is +remarkable, that the philosophers of the time undertook no experiments +with the view of applying it to useful purposes. + +Dr. John Clayton, in an extract from a letter in the "Philosophical +Transactions" for 1735, calls gas the "spirit" of coal; and came to a +knowledge of its inflammability by an accident. This "spirit" chanced to +catch fire, by coming in contact with a candle, as it was escaping from +a fracture in one of his distillatory vessels. By preserving the gas in +bladders, he frequently diverted his friends, by exhibiting its +inflammability. This is the nearest approach to the idea of practically +applying this property. + +The subject attracted the attention of Dr. Richard Watson, who published +the results of his researches in the second volume of his "Chemical +Essays." He dwells upon the elasticity and inflammability of coal-gas; +and remarked, that it retains these properties _after passing through +a great quantity of water_. + +The man who first applied the inflammability of gas to the purposes of +illumination, was Mr. Murdoch. This gentleman, residing at Soho, near +Birmingham, that hot-bed of ingenuity and mechanical science, on +occasion of the celebration of the peace of 1802, covered the works of +Soho with a light and splendour that astonished and delighted all the +population of the surrounding country. Mr. Murdoch had not attained to +this perfection without having had many difficulties to encounter. In +the year 1792, he used coal gas for lighting his house and offices, at +Redruth, in Cornwall; and in 1797 he again made a similar use of it at +Old Cunnock, in Ayrshire. At Soho, he constructed an apparatus which +enabled him to exhibit his plan on a larger scale than any he had +heretofore attempted. His experiments were then seduously continued, +with the able assistance of Mr. Southern and Mr. Henry Creighton, with +a view to ascertain not only the best modes of making, but also of +purifying and burning gas, so as to prevent either the smell or the +smoke from being offensive. + +Previous to the public display made of the illuminating properties of +gas, at Soho, it had been applied to similar purposes, by a M. Le Bon, +of Paris. A friend of the gentlemen at Soho, wrote from Paris a letter, +dated November 8, 1801, to that establishment, informing them, that a +person had lighted up his house and gardens with the gas obtained from +wood and coal, and had it in contemplation to light up the city of +Paris. This is an important fact in the detail of the history of +gas-lighting; and we should be glad of further information respecting +the steps which led M. Le Bon to the results which he appears to have +obtained, and also respecting the fortunes which subsequently attended +the invention in France. However, M. Le Bon's exhibitions have a +remarkable connexion with the progress of the invention in England: they +seem, indeed, almost to have diverted it from its natural course, which +certainly would have led from the illumination at Soho to its public +adoption. + +In 1804, Dr. Henry delivered a course of lectures on chemistry, at +Manchester, in which he showed the mode of producing gas from coal, and +the facility and advantage of its use. Dr, Henry analyzed the +composition and investigated the properties of carburetted hydrogen gas. +His experiments were numerous and accurate, and made upon a variety of +substances; and having obtained the gas from wood, peat, different kinds +of coal, oil, wax, &c. he endeavoured to estimate the relative quantity +of light yielded by each. + +In 1805, Mr. Samuel Clegg, to whom the world is much indebted for the +improvements he subsequently introduced into the manufacture of gas, +having left Soho, directed his attention to the construction of gas +apparatus. The first he erected was in the cotton mill of Mr. H Lodge, +near Halifax, in Yorkshire. Mr. Josiah Pemberton, one of those ingenious +men happily not rare in the centre of our manufactures, whose minds are +perpetually employed on the improvement of mechanical contrivances, and +who, as soon as they have accomplished one discovery, leave others to +reap the benefit, and themselves pursue the chase alter new inventions, +had for some time been experimenting on the nature of gas. A resident of +Birmingham, his attention was probably roused by the exhibition at Soho; +and such was the fertility of his invention, and his practical skill as +a mechanic, that it has been observed by those who know him, that he +never undertook to make an article without inventing an improvement in +its construction. About 1806, he exhibited gas-lights in a variety of +forms, and with great brilliance, at the front of his manufactory in +Birmingham. + +In 1808 he constructed an apparatus, applicable to several uses, for Mr. +Benjamin Cooke, a manufacturer of brass tubes, gilt toys, and other +articles. In 1808, Mr. Murdoch communicated to the Royal Society a very +interesting account of his successful application of coal gas to +lighting the extensive establishment of Messrs. Phillips and Lea. For +this communication, Count Rumford's gold medal was presented to him. Mr. +Murdoch's statements threw great light on the comparative advantage of +gas and candles, and contained much useful information on the expenses +of production and management. + +Early in 1809, Mr. Samuel Clegg communicated to the Society of Arts his +plan of an apparatus for lighting manufactories with gas, for which he +received a silver medal. In this year also, Mr. Clegg erected a gas +apparatus in Mr. Harris's manufactory at Coventry. + +It was natural to suppose that all these circumstances should eventually +produce an impression on the country; consequently about this time much +attention was excited towards gas-lighting, and much utility anticipated +from a general application of it to public purposes. In this year 1809, +accordingly, the first application was made to parliament for an act to +incorporate a company, with the view of carrying on its processes more +effectually and beneficially. The movers in this project were some of +the more intelligent and persevering subscribers to a New Light and Heat +Company, projected by Mr. Winsor. They were opposed by some on the +ground of their designs being visionary and fraught with danger; and by +Mr. Murdoch on the plea of priority of invention, which entitled him to +exclusive privileges if he chose to avail himself of them. This gave +rise to a long and minute investigation of the subject before a committee +of the House of Commons. The application terminated unsuccessfully; and +the testimony of Mr. Aceum, exposed him to the animadversions of Mr. +Brougham. In 1810, however, the application was renewed by the same +parties, and though some opposition was encountered, and considerable +expense incurred, the bill passed, but not without great alterations; +and the present London and Westminster Chartered Gas-Light and Coke +Company was established. The proceedings of this company after the act +was obtained comprise a most important period in the history of this +invention. During the first few years of their operations large sums of +money were expended in experiments, and very few beneficial results were +obtained. The undertaking was complicated and difficult, and not only +required the guidance of experience, but the assistance of a scientific +education and a fertile invention. These requisites were found in the +person of Mr. Samuel Clegg, under whose able direction and +superintendence the principal works of the company, at their different +stations, were erected. From this period various improvements were +gradually introduced into almost every part of the apparatus. In 1816, +Mr. Clegg obtained the patent for his horizontal rotative retort; his +apparatus for purifying coal gas with cream of lime; for his rotative +gas meter; and self-acting governor; and altogether by his exertions the +London and Westminster Company's affairs assumed a new and flattering +aspect. + +For reasons which are not assigned, in 1817, Mr. Clegg retired from the +service of this establishment. + +In this year, 1817, at the three stations belonging to the Chartered Gas +Company, twenty-five chaldron of coal were daily carbonized, producing +300,000 cubic feet of gas, which was equal to the supply of 75,000 +Argand lamps, each yielding the light of six candles. At the City Gas +Works, in Dorset-street, Black-friars, the quantity of coal daily +carbonized amounted to, three chaldron, which afforded a quantity of gas +adequate to the supply of 1,500 Argand lamps; so that twenty-eight +chaldron of coal were daily carbonized at that time, and 76,500 lights +supplied by those two companies only. + +At this period the principal object of attention in the manufacture of +gas was its purification. Mr. D. Wilson, of Dublin, took out a patent +for purifying coal gas by means of the chemical action of ammoniacal +gas. Another plan was devised by Mr. Reuben Phillips, of Exeter, who +obtained a patent for the purification of coal gas by the use of dry +lime. Mr. G. Holworthy, in 1818, took out a patent for a method of +purifying it by causing the gas, in a highly-condensed state, to pass +through iron retorts heated to a dark red. For this object and several +others, having in view improvements upon the ordinary method, many other +patents were procured. + +OIL gas now appeared in the field as a rival of COAL gas. In 1815, Mr. +John Taylor had obtained a patent for an apparatus for the decomposition +of _oil_ and other animal substances; but the circumstance which +more particularly attracted the public attention to be directed to +_oil_ gas was the erection of the patent apparatus at Apothecary's +Hall, by Messrs. Taylors and Martineau; and the way was prepared for an +application to parliament for the establishment of an Oil Gas Company by +sundry papers in journals, and by the recommendations of Sir William +Congreve, who had been employed by the Secretary of State to inspect the +state of the gas manufactories in the metropolis. This application, made +in the year 1825, proved unfortunate. + +In Sir William's Reports is the following account, beginning with the +London Gas-Light and Coke Company:-- + +At the Peter-street station the whole number of the retorts which they +had fixed was 300; the greatest number working at any time daring the +last year, 22l; the least 87. Fifteen gasometers, varying in dimensions, +the contents computed on an average at 20,626 cubic feet each, amounting +to 309,385 cubic feet altogether; but never quite filled; the working +contents estimated at 18,626 cubic feet each--in the whole at 279,390 +cubic feet. The extent of mains belonging to this station is about +fifty-seven miles, there being two separate mains in some of the +streets; the produce of gas from 10,000 to 12,000 cubic feet from a +chaldron of coals. The weekly consumption of coal is reckoned at 42 +bushels for each retort, amounting to about 602 chaldrons; and taking +the average number of retorts worked at this station at about 153, would +give an annual consumption of coals of upwards of 9,282 chaldrons, +producing 111,384,000 cubic feet of gas. + +The average number of lights during the year 1822 was 10,660 private, +2,248 street lamps, theatres, 3,894. + +At the Brick-lane works, the number of retorts which were fixed was 371, +the greatest number worked 217, and the least 60. The number of +gasometers 12, each averaging 18,427 cubic feet, amounting in the whole +to 221,131 cubic feet; and their average working contents 197,124 cubic +feet. The average number of retorts worked was 133; the coals consumed +8,060 chaldrons; the quantity of gas produced 96,720.000 cubic feet; the +number of lamps 1,978 public, 7,366 private, through 40 miles of mains. + +At the Curtain-road establishment the whole number of retorts was 240; +the greatest number worked in the last year 80; the lowest 21. The +number of gasometers 6, average contents of each 15,077 cubic feet; the +contents of the whole 90,467; another gasometer containing 16,655 cubic +feet; the average number of retorts worked 55; the coals consumed 3,336 +chaldrons; quantity of gas produced 40,040,000 cubic feet; the number of +lamps supplied 3,860 private, and 629 public, through 25 miles of mains. + +The whole annual consumption of coals by the three different stations +was 20,678; the quantity of gas produced 248,000,000 cubic feet: the +whole number of lamps lighted by this company 30,735, through 122 miles +of mains. + +The City of London Gas-Light Company, Dorset-street:--The number of +retorts fixed 230; the number of gasometers 6; the largest 39,270 cubic +feet, the smallest 5,428 cubic feet; two large additional gasometers +nearly completed, contents of each 27,030 cubic feet, making in the +whole 181,282 cubic feet. The number of lamps lighted 5,423 private, and +2,413 public, through 50 miles of mains. The greatest number of retorts +worked at a time (in 1811) 130, the least 110, average 170. The quantity +of coals carbonized amounted to 8,840 chaldrons; produced 106,080,000 +cubic feet of gas. + +The South London Gas-Light and Coke Company, at Bankside:--The number of +retorts was 140; gasometers 3; the contents of the whole 41,110 cubic +feet; and their mains from 30 to 40 miles in length. At their other +station in Wellington-street, they had then no retorts in action; but +three large gasometers were erected, containing together 73,565 cubic +feet, which were supplied from Bankside till the retorts were ready to +work. + +The Imperial Gas-Light and Coke Company were erecting at their Hackney +station two gasometers of 10,000 cubic feet each, and about to erect +four more of the same size. At their Pancras station they had marked out +ground for six gasometers of 10,000 cubic feet each. + +In the year 1814, there was only _one_ gasometer in Peter-street, +of 14,000 cubic feet, belonging to the Chartered Gas-Light Company, then +the only company established in London. At present there are four great +companies, having altogether 47 gasometers at work, capable of +containing in the whole 917,940 cubic feet of gas, supplied by 1,315 +retorts, and these consuming 33,000 chaldron of coals in the year, and +producing 41,000 chaldron of coke. The whole quantity of gas generated +annually being upwards of 397,000,000 cubic feet, by which 61,203 +private, and 7,268 public or street lamps are lighted in the metropolis. +In addition to these great companies, there are several private +companies, whose operations are not included in the foregoing +statements.--_Abridged from Matthews's History of Gas-Lighting, and +the London Magazine, Dec. 1827_. + + * * * * * + + + + +SPIRIT OF THE +PUBLIC JOURNALS. + + * * * * * + +LONDON LYRICS. + +MAGOG'S PROPHECY. + + Pastor cum traheret per freta navibus. + +HOR. _lib._ i. _od._ 15. + + + As late, of civic glory vain, + The Lord Mayor drove down Mincing-lane, + The progress of the baimer'd train + To lengthen, not to shorten: + + Gigantic Magog, vex'd with heat, + Thus to be made the rabble's treat, + Check'd the long march in Tower-street, + To tell his Lordship's fortune. + + "Go, man thy barge for Whitehall Stair; + Salute th' Exchequer Barons there, + Then summon round thy civic chair + To dinner Whigs and Tories-- + Bid Dukes and Earls thy hustings climb; + But mark my work, Matthias Prime, + Ere the tenth hour the scythe of Time + Shall amputate, thy glories. + + "Alas! what loads of food I see, + What Turbots from the Zuyder Zee, + What Calipash, what Calipee, + What Salad and what Mustard: + Heads of the Church and limbs of Law, + Vendors of Calico and Straw, + Extend one sympathetic jaw + To swallow Cake and Custard. + + "Thine armour'd Knights their steeds discard' + To quaff thy wine 'through helmet barr'd,' + While K.C.B.'s, with bosoms starr'd, + Within their circle wedge thee. + Even now I see thee standing up, + Raise to thy lip 'the loving cup,' + Intent its ruby tide to sup, + And bid thy hearers pledge thee. + + "But, ah! how fleeting thy renown! + Thus treading on the heel of Brown; + How vain thy spangled suit, thy gown + Intended for three waiters: + Ere Lansdowne's speech is at an end, + I see a board of lamps descend, + Whose orbs in bright confusion blend, + And strew the floor with splinters. + + "Their smooth contents spread far and near, + And in one tide impetuous smear + Knight, Waiter, Liveryman, and Peer: + Nay, even his Royal Highness + The falling board no longer props, + Owns, with amaze, the unwelcome drops + And, premature anointment, swaps + For oozy wet his dryness. + + "Fear shrieks in many a varied tone, + Pale Beauty mourns her spotted zone, + And heads and bleeding knuckles own + The glittering prostration. + Behold! thou wip'st thy crimson chin, + And all is discord, all is din; + While scalded waiters swear thee in + With many an execration. + + "Yet, Lucas, smile in Fortune's spite; + Dark mornings often change to bright; + Ne'er shall this omen harm a wight + So active and so clever. + How buoyant, how elastic thou! + With a lamp halo round thy brow, + Prophetic Magog dubs thee now + A Lighter man--than ever." + +_New Monthly Magazine._ + + * * * * * + + +ROYAL APPETITES. + + +Charles XII. was brave, noble, generous, and disinterested,--a complete +hero, in fact, and a regular fire-eater. Yet, in spite of these +qualifications and the eulogiums of his biographer, it is pretty evident +to those who impartially consider the career of this potentate, that he +was by no means of a sane mind. In short, to speak plainly, he was mad, +and deserved a strait-waistcoat as richly as any straw-crowned monarch +in Bedlam. A single instance, in _my_ opinion, fully substantiates +this. I allude to his absurd freak at Frederickshall, when, in order to +discover how long he could exist without nourishment, he abstained from +all kinds of food for more than seventy hours! Now, would any man in his +senses have done this? Would Louis XVIII., for instance, that wise and +ever-to-be-lamented monarch? Had it been the _reverse_ indeed--had +Charles, instead of practising starvation, adopted the opposite +expedient, and endeavoured to ascertain the greatest possible quantity +of meat, fruit, bread, wine, vegetables, Sec. &c. he could have +_disposed of_ in any given time--why then it might have been +something! But to _fast_ for three days! if this be not madness--! +Indeed, there is but one reason I could ever conceive for a person not +eating; and that is, when, like poor Count Ugolino and his family, he +can get _nothing to eat_! + +Charles, now, and Louis--what a contrast! The first despised the +pleasures of the table, abjured wine, and would, I dare say, just +as soon have been without "a distinguishing taste" as with it. Your +Bourbon, on the contrary, a five-mealed man, quaffing right Falernian +night and day; and wisely esteeming the gratification of his palate of +such importance, as absolutely to send from Lisle to Paris--distance +of I know not how many score leagues--at a crisis, too, of peculiar +difficulty--for a single _pâte_! "Go," cried the illustrious exile to +his messenger; "dispatch, _mon enfant_! Mount the _tricolor_! Shout +_Vive le Diable_! Any thing! But be sure you clutch the precious +compound! Napoleon has driven me from my throne; but he cannot deprive +me of my appetite!" Here was courage! I challenge the most enthusiastic +admirer of Charles to produce a similar instance of indifference to +danger! + +There is another trait in the character of Louis which equally demands +our admiration, and proves that the indomitable firmness may be +sometimes associated with the most sensitive and--I had almost +said--infantine sensibility. Of course, it will be perceived that I +allude to the peculiar tenderness by which that amiable prince was often +betrayed, even into tears, upon occasions when ordinary minds would have +manifested comparative _nonchalance_. I have been assured that Louis +absolutely wept once at Hartwell, _merely because oysters were out of +season_!--a testaceous production, to which he was remarkably +attached, (whence his cognomen of _Des Huîtres_, by corruption +_Dix-huit_;) so much so, indeed, as to be literally _ready to +eat them_, whenever they were brought into his presence. It is said +that this worthy descendant of the Good _Henrí_ used to put a +barrel of Colchester oysters daily _hors de combat_, merely to +_give him an appetite_. + +_Monthly Magazine._ + + * * * * * + + +PORSON AND SHERIDAIT. + + +The worst effect of "the scholar's melancholy," is when it leads a man, +from a distrust of himself, to seek for low company, or to forget it by +matching below himself. Porson, from not liking the restraints, or not +possessing the exterior recommendations of good society, addicted +himself to the lowest indulgences, spent his days and nights in +cider-cellars and pot-houses, cared not with whom or where he was, so +that he had somebody to talk to and something to drink, "from humble +porter to imperial tokay," (_a liquid_, according to his own pun,) +and fell a martyr, in all likelihood, to what in the first instance was +pure _mauvaise honte_. Nothing could overcome this propensity to +low society and sotting, but the having something to do, which required +his whole attention and faculties; and then he shut himself up for weeks +together in his chambers, or at the university, to collate old +manuscripts, or edite a Greek tragedy, or expose a grave pedant, without +seeing a single boon companion, or touching a glass of wine. I saw him +once at the London Institution with a large patch of coarse brown paper +on his nose, the skirts of his rusty black coat hung with cob-webs, and +talking in a tone of suavity approaching to condescension to one of the +managers. It is a pity that men should so lose themselves from a certain +awkwardness and rusticity at the outset. But did not Sheridan make the +same melancholy ending, and run the same fatal career, though in a +higher and more brilliant circle? He did; and though not from exactly +the same cause, (for no one could accuse Sheridan's purple nose and +flashing eye of a bashfulness--"modest as morning when she coldly eyes +the youthful Phoebus!") yet it was perhaps from one nearly allied to it, +namely, the want of that noble independence and confidence in its own +resources which should distinguish genius, and the dangerous ambition to +get sponsors and vouchers for it in persons of rank and fashion. The +affectation of the society of lords is as mean and low-minded as the +love of that of cobblers and tapsters. It is that cobblers and tapsters +may admire, that we wish to be seen in the company of _their_ +betters. + +_New Monthly Magazine_ + + * * * * * + + +THE "STAY-AT-HOME." + + + I'll never dwell among the Caffres; + I'll never willing cross the Line, + Where Neptune, 'mid the tarry laughers, + Dips broiling landsmen in the brine. + + I'll never go to New South Wales, + Nor hunt for glory at the Pole-- + To feed the sharks, or catch the whales, + Or tempt a Lapland lady's soul. + I'll never willing stir an ell + Beyond old England's chalky border, + To steal or smuggle, buy or sell, + To drink cheap wine, or beg an Order. + + Let those do so who long for claret, + Let those, who'd kiss a Frenchman's--toes; + I'll not drink vinegar, nor Star it, + For any he that wears a nose. + I'll not go lounge out life in Calais, + To dine at half a franc a head; + To hut like rats in lanes and alleys-- + To eat an exile's gritty bread. + + To flirt with shoeless Seraphinas, + To shrink at every ruffian's shako; + Without a pair of shirts between us, + Morn, noon, and night to smell tobacco; + To live my days in Gallic hovels, + Untouched by water since the flood; + To wade through streets, where famine grovels + In hunger, frippery, and mud. + +_Monthly Magazine._ + + + * * * * * + + + + +THE SELECTOR; +AND +LITERARY NOTICES OF +NEW WORKS. + + * * * * * + + +ART OF DRINKING WINE + +The order of taking wine at dinner has not been sufficiently observed in +this country. "There is," as the immortal bard beautifully expresses it, +"a reason in roasting eggs;" and if there is a _rationale_ of +eating, why should there not be a system of drinking? The red wines +should _always_ precede the white, except in the case of a French +dinner, when the oysters should have a libation of Chablis, or Sauterne. +I do not approve of white Hermitage with oysters. The Burgundies should +follow--the purple Chambertin or odorous Romanee. A single glass of +Champagne or Hock, or any other white wine, may then intervene between +the Cote Rotie and Hermitage; and last, not least in our dear love, +should come the cool and sweet-scented Claret. With the creams and the +ices should come the Malaga, Rivesaltes, or Grenache; nor with these +will Sherry or Madeira harmonize ill. Last of all, should Champagne boil +up in argent foam, and be sanctified by an offering of Tokay, poured +from a glass so small, that you might fancy it formed of diamond. + +_Literary Pocket-Book._ + + * * * * * + + +STRATFORD-ON-AVON. + +I was detained at Stratford nearly two hours, and endeavoured to see +whatever I could, in so short a time, relative to Shakspeare. The clean, +quiet, _uncommercial_ appearance of the town pleased me; but I was +interested beyond expression on seeing the great poet's house. When I +entered the untenanted room where he first drew the breath of this +world, I took off my hat with, I hope, an unaffected sentiment of +homage. The walls and ceiling of this chamber are covered with names and +votive inscriptions, among which I saw the signatures of Sir Walter +Scott, Mr. Lockhaft, Washington Irving, and many others familiar to me, +foreigners as well as English. I did not sign _my_ name, for I felt +that it had no right in such a place; but I brought away a minute relic, +in the shape of a bit of rotten wood, pinched from the beam that +supports the chimney. + +From the birth-place of the illustrious man, I found my way to his +corpse-place; and never had I beheld so beautiful and venerable a +church, or so tranquil and lovely a spot. The approach to the edifice, +which is situated at some distance from the town, upon the banks of the +fresh and murmuring Avon, is through an avenue of lime-trees, the +branches of which are interlaced _archwise_, as Lord Bacon would +say, so as to form a green canopy of some length. The scenery is not +what is called _romantic_, but soft and quiet, and calculated, +above all things, to surround the tomb of the genial poet of human +nature. + +I was determined to get into the church, though it was so early; and, +accordingly, after a little trouble, I found out the sexton, a fine old +fellow, with a Saxon name, who was munching his breakfast in a large +old-fashioned room with latticed casements, half kitchen and half +parlour. But he was too busy with his meal to be disturbed; and +accordingly he sent his wife with me to open the church, and I believe +our footsteps were the first which had that morning disturbed the holy +silence of the place. The building is very fine, and even stately; but +the interest connected with Shakspeare absorbs all other feelings, and +monopolizes one's admiration. I stood under his monument, on the very +stone of his grave. * * * + +_Ibid._ + + * * * * * + + + + +THE GATHERER. + +"I am but a _Gatherer_ and disposer of other men's +stuff."--_Wotton._ + + * * * * * + + +LORD RUSSEL. + +When my Lord Russel was on the scaffold, and preparing to be beheaded, +he took his watch out of his pocket and gave it to Dr. Burnet, who +assisted his devotions, with this observation: "My time-piece may be of +service to you: I have no further occasion for it. My thoughts are fixed +on eternity." + + * * * * * + + +EPITAPH ON A SCOLD. + + + Here lies my wife; and heaven knows, + Not less for mine than her repose! + + * * * * * + + +ON A MAN WHOSE NAME WAS PENNY. + + Reader, if in cash thou art in want of any, + Dig four feet deep and thou shalt find A PENNY. + + * * * * * + + +DRAMATIC SKETCH OF A THIN MAN. + +A long lean man, with all his limbs rambling--no way to reduce him +to compass, unless you could double him like a pocket rule--with his +arms spread, he'd lie on the bed of Ware like a cross on a Good Friday +bun--standing still, he is a pilaster without a base--he appears rolled +out or run up against a wall--so thin that his front face is but the +moiety of a profile--if he stands cross-legged, he looks like a +Caduceus, and put him in a fencing attitude, you would take him for +a piece of chevaux-de-frise--to make any use of him, it must be as a +spontoon or a fishing-rod--when his wife's by, he follows like a note +of admiration--see them together, one's a mast and the other all +hulk--she's a dome, and he's built together like a glass-house--when +they part, you wonder to see the steeple separate from the chancel, +and were they to embrace, he must hang round her neck like a skein +of thread on a lace-maker's bolster--to sing her praise, you should +choose a rondeau; and to celebrate him, you must write all +Alexandrines.--_Sheridan's MSS. in Moore's Life of him._ + + * * * * * + + + A man of words and not of deeds, + Is like a garden full of seeds. + + * * * * * + + +STOLEN GOODS. + +A Negro in Jamaica was tried for theft, and ordered to be flogged. He +begged to be heard, which being granted, he asked--"If white man buy +tolen goods why he be no flogged too?" "Well," said the judge, "so he +would." "Dere, den," replied Mungo, "is my Massa, he buy _tolen goods, +he knew me tolen, and yet he buy me."--Elgin Courier._ + + * * * * * + + +DECREASE OF LUNACY IN LONDON. + +According to the Parliamentary Returns in May, 1819, the total number +of lunatics comprised in the circle of London and different private +asylums, amounted to 2,005, which Dr. Burrows calculates as proving an +increase of only five on an average in twenty years, notwithstanding the +increase of our population. The late Dr. Heberden and Dr. Willan both +concurred in this statement. The large district of Mary-la-bonne, which +some years ago comprehended the greatest proportion of inhabitants in +the metropolis, not less than 80,000,--from 1814 to the year 1819 +received only 180 female lunatics, and 118 males. + + * * * * * + + +INGREDIENTS OF MODERN LOVE. + + + Twenty glances, twenty tears, + Twenty hopes, and twenty fears, + Twenty times assail your door, + And if denied, come twenty more, + Twenty letters perfumed sweet, + Twenty nods in every street, + Twenty oaths, and twenty lies, + Twenty smiles, and twenty sighs, + Twenty times in jealous rage, + Twenty beauties to engage, + Twenty tales to whisper low, + Twenty billet-doux to show, + Twenty times a day to pass, + Before a flattering looking-glass, + Twenty times to stop your coach, + With twenty words of fond reproach, + Twenty days of keen vexation, + Twenty opera assignations, + Twenty nights behind the scenes, + To dangle after mimic queens, + Twenty such lovers may be found, + Sighing for twenty thousand pounds, + But take my word, ye girls of sense, + You'll find them not worth twenty-pence. + + * * * * * + + +GREAT AND SMALL. + +A shopkeeper at Poncaster had, for his virtues, obtained the name of the +_little rascal_. A stranger asked him why this application was +given him? "To distinguish me from the rest of my trade," quoth he, +"who are all _great rascals_." + +C.F.E. + + * * * * * + + +THE LAW, PROFESSORS OF, IN ENGLAND:-- + + Counsel 936 + Special Pleaders below the Bar 49 + Conveyancers 90 + London Attorneys 2,146 + Country Attorneys 5,200 + ___________ + Total 8,421 + +_Law List_ + + * * * * * + + +EPIGRAM FROM THE SPANISH OF REBOLLEDO. + +(_For the Mirror_.) + + + Fair Phillis has fifty times registered vows, + That of Christian or Turk, she would ne'er be the spouse, + For wedlock so much she disdain'd, + And neither of these she has married, 'tis true, + For now she's the wife of a wealthy old _Jew_; + And thus she her vow has maintain'd! + +E.L.J. + + * * * * * + + +THE LAWYER AND HIS CLIENT. + + Two lawyers, when a knotty cause was o'er, + Shook hands and were as good friends as before, + "Zounds!" says the losing client, "how come yaw + To be such friends, who were such foes just naw?" + "Thou fool," says one, "we lawyers tho' so keen, + Like shears, ne'er cut ourselves, but what's between." + + + * * * * * + + +LIMBIRD'S EDITION OF THE + +BRITISH NOVELIST, Publishing in Monthly Parts, price 6d. each.--Each +Novel will be complete in itself, and may be purchased separately. + +_The following Novels are already Published_: + + s. d. + Goldsmith's Vicar of Wakefield 0 10 + The Mysteries of Udolpho 3 6 + Mackenzie's Man of Feeling 0 6 + Rasselas 0 8 + Paul and Virginia 0 6 + The Old English Baron 1 8 + The Castle of Otranto 0 6 + The Romance of the Forest 1 8 + Almoran and Hamet 0 6 + Elizabeth, or the Exiles of Siberia 0 6 + Nature and Art 0 8 + The Italian 2 0 + A Simple Story 1 4 + The Castles of Athlin and Dunbayne 0 6 + Sicilian Romance 1 0 + The Man of the World 1 0 + Zeluco, by Dr. Moore 2 0 + Joseph Andrews 1 6 + Humphry Clinker 1 8 + Edward, by Dr. Moore 2 6 + + * * * * * + +Published by J. LIMBIRD, 143, Strand, London, and Sold by all +Booksellers and Newsmen. + + * * * * * + + + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, +and Instruction, No. 290, by Various + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 13587 *** diff --git a/13587-h/13587-h.htm b/13587-h/13587-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3d0b200 --- /dev/null +++ b/13587-h/13587-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,2221 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" +"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" /> + +<title>The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction, No. 290.</title> + + <style type="text/css"> + <!-- + body {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + p {text-align: justify;} + blockquote {text-align: justify;} + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 {text-align: center;} + pre {font-size: 0.7em;} + + hr {text-align: center; width: 50%;} + html>body hr {margin-right: 25%; margin-left: 25%; width: 50%;} + hr.full {width: 100%;} + html>body hr.full {margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 0%; width: 100%;} + + .note, .footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} + + span.pagenum {position: absolute; left: 1%; right: 91%; font-size: 8pt;} + + .poem {margin-left:10%; margin-right:10%; margin-bottom: 1em; text-align: left;} + .poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} + .poem p {margin: 0; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem p.i2 {margin-left: 1em;} + .poem p.i4 {margin-left: 2em;} + .poem p.i6 {margin-left: 3em;} + .poem p.i8 {margin-left: 4em;} + + .figure {padding: 1em; margin: 0; text-align: center; font-size: 0.8em; margin: auto;} + .figure img {border: none;} + --> + </style> +</head> +<body> +<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 13587 ***</div> + + <hr class="full" /> + <span class="pagenum"><a id="page441" name="page441"></a>[pg 441]</span> + + <h1>THE MIRROR<br /> + OF<br /> + LITERATURE, AMUSEMENT, AND INSTRUCTION.</h1> + <hr class="full" /> + + <table width="100%" summary="Banner"> + <tr> + <td align="left"><b>VOL. X, NO. 290.]</b></td> + <td align="center"><b>SATURDAY, DECEMBER 29, 1827.</b></td> + <td align="right"><b>[PRICE 2d.</b></td> + </tr> + </table> + <hr class="full" /> + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +<h3> + OLD SARUM +</h3> + + +<div class="figure" style="width: 100%;"> +<a href="images/290-1.png"><img width="100%" src="images/290-1.png" +alt="Old Sarum" /></a> +</div> + + + +<p> +Among the earliest antiquarian records, Old Sarum is described as a city +of the Belgae; and its historical details have proved an exhaustless +mine for the researches of topographical illustrators. +</p> + +<p> +Thus, Sir R.C. Hoare describes it as "a city of high note in the +remotest periods by the several barrows near it, and its proximity to +the two largest Druidical temples in England, namely, Stonehenge and +Abury."<a id="footnotetag1" name="footnotetag1"></a><a href="#footnote1"><sup>1</sup></a> +</p> + +<p> +"<i>Ancient Wilts</i>,"—Sir R.C. Hoare, speaking of <i>Stonehenge</i>, + expresses his opinion that "our earliest inhabitants were Celts,X-- expresses his opinion that "our earliest inhabitants were Celts, + who naturally introduced with them their own buildings customs, + rites, and religions ceremonies, and to them I attribute the + erection of Stonehenge, and the greater part of the sepulchral + memorials that still continue to render its environs so truly + interesting to the antiquary and historian." <i>Abury</i>, or + <i>Avebury</i>, is a village amidst the remains of an immense + temple, which for magnificence and extent is supposed to have + exceeded the more celebrated fabric of Stonehenge; Some + enthusiastic inquirers have however, carried their supposition + beyond probability, and in their zeal have even supposed them to + be <i>antediluvian</i> labours! Many of the <i>barrows</i> in the vicinity + of Sarum have been opened, and in them several antiquarian relics + have been discovered. In short, the whole county is one of high + antiquarian interest, and its history has been illustrated with + due fidelity and research. +</p> + +<p> +The Romans held it as a strong military +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page442" name="page442"></a>[pg 442]</span> +station, and it was admitted +to the privileges of the Latin law, under the name of <i>Sorbiodunum;</i><a id="footnotetag2" name="footnotetag2"></a><a href="#footnote2"><sup>2</sup></a> +</p> + +<p> +Under the Saxons it ranked among the most considerable towns of the West +kingdom, and possessed ecclesiastical establishments soon after the +conversion of the Saxons to Christianity.<a id="footnotetag3" name="footnotetag3"></a><a href="#footnote3"><sup>3</sup></a> +</p> + +<p> +In the early part of the ninth century it was the frequent residence of +Egbert; and in 960, Edgar assembled here a national council to devise +the best means of repelling the Danes in the north.<a id="footnotetag4" name="footnotetag4"></a><a href="#footnote4"><sup>4</sup></a> +</p> + +<p> +Arthur commanded it to be more strongly fortified by another trench and +high palisadoes.<a id="footnotetag5" name="footnotetag5"></a><a href="#footnote5"><sup>5</sup></a> +</p> + +<p> +In 1086, William the Norman convened in this city the prelates, nobles, +sheriffs, and knights of his new dominions, there to receive their +homage;<a id="footnotetag6" name="footnotetag6"></a><a href="#footnote6"><sup>6</sup></a> and probably, within its walls was framed the feudal law, as +Domesday Book was commenced in the same year. +</p> + +<p> +Two other national councils were held here; one by William Rufus, in +1096, and another by Henry I in 1116.<a id="footnotetag7" name="footnotetag7"></a><a href="#footnote7"><sup>7</sup></a> +</p> + +<p> +Peter of Blois, an early ecclesiastical writer, described Old Sarum as +"barren, dry, and solitary, exposed to the rage of the wind; and the +church (stands) as a captive on the hill where it was built, like the +ark of God shut up in the profane house of Baal."<a id="footnotetag8" name="footnotetag8"></a><a href="#footnote8"><sup>8</sup></a> +</p> + +<p> +Such are a few of the chronological data of the principal events in the +history of Old Sarum; these, however, will suffice to elucidate the +antiquity of the city, and from their historical importance cannot fail +to make the preceding engraving a subject of general as well as of local +interest, especially as it represents the old city, previous to its +reduction in 553. +</p> + +<p> +Scarcely a vestige of human habitation now remains of Old Sarum, as we +have shown once a place "of great importance—and a city adorned with +many proud structures—a splendid cathedral and other churches—a castle +with lofty towers and ramparts—regular streets and houses—and once the +residence of a numerous population." But all these have passed away, and +nought is left to tell the tale of their greatness, but a few crumbling +wrecks of massy walls; whilst vast fosses and elevated ramparts remain +to mark it as the site of desolating war. The contrast of time-worn +ruins with their surounding scenes of luxuriant nature is affecting even +to melancholy. A recent visiter to the area of Old Sarum describes "a +field of oats flourishing on the very spot where the crowded street had +formerly extended itself; and a barrier existing to the further progress +of agriculture, by the remains of the cathedral, castle, &c. forming +heaps of rubbish barely covered with scanty and unprofitable verdure." +</p> + +<p> +The space occupied by the ancient city is stated to have been nearly +2,000 feet in diameter, surrounded with a fosse, or ditch, of immense +depth, and two ramparts, inner and outer: on the inner, which was much +higher than the outer, stood a wall nearly 12 feet thick at its +foundation, of flint and chalk, strongly cemented together, and cased +with hewn stone, on which was a parapet with battlements. In the centre, +on the summit of the hill, stood the castle or citadel, surrounded with +a very deep intrenchment and a high rampart; and in the area beneath, +forming a wide space between the inner and outer ramparts, stood the +city, divided into equal parts, north and south; near the middle of each +division was a gate—these two being the grand entrances, with a tower +and mole over and before each. Besides these were ten other towers, at +equal distances round the city; and opposite them, in a straight line +with the castle, were built the principal streets, intersected in the +middle with one grand circular street, encompassing the whole city. In +the angle to the north-west stood the cathedral, and episcopal palace, +and the houses of the clergy. +</p> + +<p> +The area of the city was also divided into nearly equal parts by +intrenchments and ramparts thrown up, by which means if one part was +taken, the other was still defensible; and if the whole of the out-works +were in the hands of the enemy, the besieged could retire to the castle, +whose walls were impregnable. There appears to have been but one +entrance to the castle, on the east. There were five wells, four in the +city and one in the castle, designed chiefly to support the garrison and +inhabitants in time of war, or during a siege. +</p> + +<p> +The decline of Sarum, which was very rapid, has been traced to a +disagreement between the civil and ecclesiastical authorities. During +the reign of Henry I. the bishop of Old Sarum, who rose to that dignity, +from being a parish priest at Caen, was entrusted with the keys of the +fortress. The bishop, however, fell into disgrace, the king resumed the +command of the castle, and the military openly insulted the disgraced +prelate and the clergy. These animosities increasing, the Empress Maude +bestowed many gifts +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page443" name="page443"></a>[pg 443]</span> +upon the cathedral, and added much land to its grants. +Herbert, a subsequent bishop of the see, attempted to remove the +establishment, but its execution was reserved for his brother and +successor, Richard Poor, whose monument is in the south chancel of the +present cathedral at Salisbury. This was about the year 1217, from which +time the inhabitants of Old Sarum removed their residence, and pulled +down their dwellings, with the materials of which they constructed their +new habitations: and as one city increased in population and extent, so +the other almost as rapidly decayed. Hence the establishment of New +Sarum, or <i>Salisbury</i>. +</p> + +<p> +In the reign of Edward II. Sarum possessed the privilege of sending two +members to parliament, a privilege which it still retains. +</p> + + + +<hr /> + + +<h3> + CHRISTMAS CUSTOMS. +</h3> + +<center> +(<i>For the Mirror.</i>) +</center> + +<p> +The manner of spending <i>Christmas Eve</i> can hardly be better +described than by the celebrated Wilkie's sketch under that title. +Christmas is not now what it was formerly. Wilkie's painting relates to +the present time, and I do not know where Christmas is more cheerfully +observed in these days than in London—still there is an alteration—no +boar's head—no pageantries, no wassailing. In the north of England +its approach is denoted by the country people having their wood fires, +consisting of huge pieces of stumps of trees piled upon the grate, +and by entwining branches of holly over their doors, and by <i>school +boys</i> acting some play to a school full of auditors; the yearly one +at Brough was <i>St. George</i>, which is now put down by some strolling +players who exhibit in the town every Christmas. +</p> + +<p> +These are signals for Christmas, and although there is but one Christmas +day, yet the week is generally over before any thing like quietness +appears. The morning is ushered in by the ringing of the <i>church +bells</i>, and the little maidens playing at the game of <i>prickey +sockey</i>, as they call it. See them all dressed up in their +<i>best</i>, with their wrists adorned with rows of <i>pins</i>, running +about from house to house inquiring who will play at the game. The door +is opened, and she cries out, +</p> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> + <p> "Prickey Sockey, for a pin,</p> + <p> I CAR not whether I LOSS or win."</p> +</div></div> + + + +<p> +The game is played by the one holding between her two fore-fingers and +thumbs a pin, which she clasps tightly to prevent her antagonist seeing +either part of it, while her opponent <i>guesses</i>. The head of the +pin is <i>sockey</i>, and the point <i>prickey</i>, and when the other +guesses, she touches the end she guesses at, saying, <i>"this for +prickey</i>," or "<i>this for sockey</i>;" at night the other delivers +her two pins. Thus the game is played and when the clock strikes twelve +it is declared <i>up</i>, that is, no one can play after that time. +</p> + +<p> +The Christmas dinner consists of large pork or goose pies, which Brand +mentions as peculiar to this county; the goose is put in whole; they are +all marked on the top by a fork with the owner's initials; formerly it +was a religious inscription. In the afternoon (be it spoken perhaps to +their shame) they sally forth for a game at foot-ball, the first day on +which the game is played, the ball is what they call <i>clubbed up +for</i>, and he who can run away with the ball may keep it; but this +seldom occurs, as it is kicked to pieces before the game is over. And +this is Christmas Day here. At Kirby, a man named <i>Tom Mattham</i> +(since deceased) used to go round the town on Christmas Eve, about +twelve o'clock, with a bell, and chant a few carols; this was too solemn +to be compared to the London waits, but the custom still exists. +</p> + +<p> +In most of the western parts of Devonshire a superstitions custom +prevails, that on Christmas Eve, at twelve o'clock, oxen in their stalls +are always kneeling, as in the attitude of devotion; but since the style +was altered, they do this on Old Christmas Eve only. At Whitbeck, in +Cumberland, they have a similar superstition; the <i>bees</i> are said +to sing on the midnight before Christmas Day, and the oxen to kneel at +the same hour. +</p> + +<p> +In many parts of the north too it should be observed, it is customary +for men to go out and cut large ash and holly sticks and entwine them +over the doors of their houses. And in Cumberland, little maidens +assemble on Christmas to <i>guess who their husband shall be</i>, which +is done by collecting peculiar sticks, and looking for some singular +mark upon them. This is the time when sweethearts too send round their +presents to the young lasses, by whom others are returned. +</p> + +<p> +The custom of keeping open house is, I think, obsolete. Haddon Hall (so +late as Queen Elizabeth) was kept open during twelve days after +Christmas, with the <i>old English</i> hospitality. I observe also in +some old books accounts of a feast of "cakes and ales" being usual.<a id="footnotetag9" name="footnotetag9"></a><a href="#footnote9"><sup>9</sup></a> +</p> + +<p> +In the book of <i>Christmasse Carolles</i>, by Wynkyn de Worde in 1521, +are the +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page444" name="page444"></a>[pg 444]</span> +following verses on bringing in the Boar's head:— +</p> + + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> + <p> "A Carrol bryngyne in the boar's head,</p> +<p class="i2"> <i>Caput Apri defero.</i></p> +<p class="i2"> <i>Redden laudes Domino.</i></p> +</div><div class="stanza"> + <p> "The bore's head in hande brynge I,</p> + <p> With garlaudes gay and rosemary</p> + <p> I praye you all synge merely,</p> +<p class="i4"> <i>Qui estis in convivio.</i></p> +</div><div class="stanza"> + <p> "The bore's head I understande</p> + <p> Is the chefe servyce in this lande,</p> + <p> Looke wherever it be fand,</p> +<p class="i4"> <i>Servite cum cantico.</i></p> +</div><div class="stanza"> + <p> "Be gladde both man and lasse</p> +<p class="i2"> For this hath ordayned our stewarde</p> + <p> To chere you all this Christmasse</p> +<p class="i2"> The bore's head with mustarde."</p> +</div></div> + + + +<p> +Upon the young prince's coronation, 1170, Henry II. "served his son at +the table as server, bringing up the <i>bore's head</i> with <i>trumpets</i> +before it, according to the manner."—<i>Hollinshed</i>. +</p> + +<p> +The boar's head was stuffed "<i>with branches of rosemary</i>, "it +appears with trumpets playing, so that "<i>it was a grande syghte</i>." +</p> + +<p> +It would appear they had grand doings at the inns of court +during Christmas. The usual dish at the first course at dinner +was "a large <i>bore's head</i> upon a silver platter, with +minstralsye."—<i>Dugdale's Orig. Jur.</i> +</p> + +<p> +Before the last civil wars, the first diet in gentlemen's houses that +was brought to table at Christmas was a <i>boar's head with a lemon in +his mouth</i>. At Queen's College, Oxford, the custom is retained; the +bearer of it brings it into the hall singing to an old tune, an old +Latin rhyme, <i>Caput Apri Defero, &c.</i> +</p> + +<p> +Formerly, "An English gentleman at the opening of the great day, i.e. on +Christmas Day in the morning, had all his tenants and neighbours enter +his hall by day-break. The strong beer was broached, and the black jacks +went plentifully about with toast, sugar, nutmeg, and good Cheshire +cheese. The hackin (the great sausage) must be boiled by day-break, or +else two young men must take the maiden (the cook) by the arms, and run +her round the market-place till she is ashamed of her laziness."—<i>From +an old Tract, "Round about our Coal Fire, or Christmas Entertainments</i>." +</p> + +<p> +Further, from the same Tract we find that "In Christmas holidayes," the +tables were all spread from the first to the last; the sirloins of beef, +the minched pies, the <i>plum porridge</i>, the capons, turkeys, geese +and plum-puddings, were all brought upon the board, every one ate +heartily and was welcome, which gave rise to the proverb, "merry in the +hall, where beards wag all." +</p> + +<p> +Misson says, "the plum-porridge is not at all inferior to the pie;" the +goose pie usually made at Christmas. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Yule Cakes</i>.—I must now call your attention to the <i>Yule +Cakes</i>. Yule dough a little image of paste, was formerly baked at +<i>Yuletide</i>, and presented by bakers to their customers, as +<i>Christmas candles</i> are given away by tallow chandlers. Brand +says, "the Yule dough has perhaps been intended for an image of the +child, Jesus, with the Virgin Mary," and he says, "it is now, if I +mistake not, pretty generally laid aside, or at most retained only by +children." Mr. Brand was not aware that the custom still prevailed in +many parts in the north. At Brough I have frequently ate of the cakes; +they are figured with currants, and are usually eaten with a basin of +frumity on Christmas Eve. Mince pies are there called <i>minched</i>, or +<i>shrid pies</i>. +</p> + +<p> +The custom of decking our houses and churches with holly, &c. originates +from ancient heathenish practices. Mr. Brand says, that "<i>holly</i> +was used only to deck the inside of houses at Christmas, while +<i>ivy</i> was used not only as a vintner's sign, but also among the +evergreens at funerals." Archdeacon Nares mentions "the custom longest +preserved, was the hanging up of a bush of mistletoe in the kitchen or +servant's hall, with the <i>charm</i> attached to it, that the maid who +was not kissed under it at Christmas would not be married in that year." +In the north a similar custom is observed, viz. that of kissing a maiden +<i>over</i> a bunch of holly. Polydore Virgil says, that "Trimmyng of +the temples with hangynges, flowers, boughs, and garlandes, was taken of +the heathen people, whiche decked their idols and houses with such +arraye." +</p> + +<p> +<i>Round about our Coal Fire</i>.—Formerly fires were in the middle of +the room, and the company sat in a ring round about it, hence the +proverb, "round about our coal fire," which is as great a comfort as any +at Christmas. +</p> + +<p> +In the north they have their <i>Yule log</i>, or <i>Yuletide log</i>, +which is a huge log burning in the chimney corner, whilst the Yule cakes +are baked on a "girdle," (a kind of frying pan) over the fire; little +lads and maidens assemble nightly at some neighbouring friend's to hear +the goblin story, and join in "fortune telling," or some game. There is +a part of an old song which runs thus: and with which I shall conclude +this custom +</p> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> + <p> "Now all our neighbours chimnies smoke,</p> +<p class="i2"> And <i>Christmas logs</i> are burning,</p> + <p> Their ovens they with baked meate choke,</p> +<p class="i2"> And all their spits are turning."</p> +</div></div> + + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page445" name="page445"></a>[pg 445]</span> +</p> + +<p> +And in another place we hear that +</p> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> + <p> "The wenches with their <i>wassell bowles</i></p> + <p> About the streete are singing."</p> +</div></div> + + + +<p> +<i>Wassail-bowl</i>.—Formerly it was customary to <i>wassail</i> on +Christmas Eve, or drink health to the apple trees. +</p> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> + <p> "Wassaile the trees that they may beare</p> + <p> You many a plum and many a peare,</p> + <p> For more or lesse fruits they will bringe,</p> + <p> And do you give them wassailing."</p> +<p style="text-align: right;">HERRICK.</p> +</div></div> + +<p> +Sir Thomas Acland informed Mr. Brand, in 1790, that at Werington, on +Christmas Eve, "it was then customary for the country people to sing a +wassail or drinking song, and throw the toast from the wassail-bowl to +the apple-trees, in order to have a fruitful tree." +</p> + +<p> +In many towns in Cumberland it is the practice on Christmas Eve to roast +apples before the fire on a string, and hold under them a bowl of spiced +ale (called there <i>mulled ale</i>) and let them roast on until they +drop into the ale. +</p> + +<p> +We have the following picture of a country squire from Grose:—"His +chief drink the year round was generally ale, except at this season, the +fifth of November, or some other gala days, when he would make a bowl of +strong brandy punch, garnished with a toast and nutmeg. In the corner of +his hall by the fire-side stood a large wooden two-armed chair, and +within the chimney corner were a couple of seats. Here at Christmas he +entertained his tenants assembled round a globing fire made of the roots +of trees and other <i>great logs</i>, and told and heard the <i>traditionary +tales of the village</i>, respecting ghosts and witches, till fear made +them afraid to move. In the mean time the jorum of ale was in continual +circulation." +</p> + +<p> +<i>Christmas Presents</i>.—A friend of mine at Appleby, in +Westmoreland, who is aware of my writing this article, says, "Pray +recollect the old custom we have here of making little presents one to +another. You know it is the practice here for little girls to send +numerous presents to their sweethearts, secured as tightly with <i>wax +and brown paper</i> as can be, that they may be some time guessing what +it is before they open it. And if it is worth remarking, I would further +remind you of the sending of <i>shrid</i> pies (which you know are very +excellent) as presents to neighbours." +</p> + +<p> +In London enough is seen of the presents at Christmas, without +describing them; and after a "day spent merrily," they in the evening +commence card playing, which is kept up till morning, generally +speaking, and from thenceforth a whole run of merry days, till and +beyond Twelfth Day. +</p> + +<p> +Soon after Christmas Day we are apprized of Twelfth Day (which keeps us +from dulness) by the icy cakes which everywhere appear in the +pastrycook's windows. And now I think I have as far as I am able +fulfilled my promise, and I may perhaps conclude this article with +wishing you and <i>all</i> your readers and correspondents a merry +Christmas and a happy new year. +</p> + +<h4> +W.H.H. +</h4> + +<hr /> + + +<h3> + RECOLLECTIONS OF MELROSE ABBEY. +</h3> + +<center> +(<i>For the Mirror.</i>) +</center> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> + <p> "I do love these ancient ruins;</p> + <p> We never tread upon them, but we set</p> + <p> Our foot upon some reverend history."</p> +</div></div> + + + +<p> +This fine ruin has a double interest attached to it, for, independent of +that which is created by the antiquity and splendour of the edifice, the +visiter should bear in mind that it is the <i>Kennaquhair</i> of the +northern magician; and here the scenes so finely depicted in the +<i>Monastery</i> are vividly brought to our recollection; it gives a +"local habitation and a name" to some of the most interesting creations +of Sir Walter Scott's genius. The abbey is situated in a valley, +surrounded by the Eildon hills. Some ruins of the abbey mill, with the +dam belonging to "Hob Miller," the father of the "lovely Mysinda," are +still to be seen; and the ford across the Tweed, where the worthy +Sacristan was played so scurvy a trick by the White Lady, is also +pointed out. Some miles off, on a wild and romantic spot on the course +of the river, Elwin, or Allan, is Fairy Dean, or Nameless Dean, which is +at once identified to be that place above the tower and vale of +Glendearg, which was the favourite haunt of the White Lady, and the spot +where Sir Piercie Shafton's <i>stoccatas</i>, <i>embroccatas</i>, and +<i>passados</i> first failed him, when opposed to the less polished and +rustic skill of Halbert Glendinning, assisted by the machinations of the +queen of the elfin tribe. On this place are found a number of small +stones, of a singular shape and appearance, resembling guns, cradles +with children in them, bonnets, &c., several of which I obtained in a +tour to Scotland. They are called <i>elf-stones</i> by the neighbouring +peasantry. +</p> + +<p> +Many parts of the abbey are still in a state of tolerable preservation; +the marks of cannon-shot and fire are visible on the walls in some +places, the abbey having been bombarded by Oliver Cromwell, with his +usual zeal against every thing that adorned the country. Many Roman +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page446" name="page446"></a>[pg 446]</span> +medals of Vespasian, Adrian, &c. have been found about it. I hardly know +a more interesting place to visit than Melrose and its neighbourhood; +while the abbey affords a fine moral lesson on the instability and +perishableness of even the most magnificent works raised by human skill +and industry. +</p> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> + <p> "Here naked stand the melancholy walls,</p> + <p> Lash'd by the wint'ry tempests, cold and bleak,</p> + <p> That whistle mournful through the empty aisles,</p> + <p> And piece-meal crumble down the towers to dust,"</p> +</div></div> + + + +<p> +When viewed by moonlight, the solemnity and grandeur of the effect is +charming. An enthusiastic friend of mine, on paying the abbey a visit a +year or two ago, had it lighted up with tapers. I subjoin a few passages +from a letter I received at the time from him;—"Yesterday, being +Valentine's day, in the evening I went to vespers, and had six tapers +burning at the high altar in the abbey; also several in each of the +(eight) confessionals, holy water, fonts, shrines, and altars.—The +church-yard, the abbey, were silent as the grave; you might have heard a +pin drop; there was not a breath of air stirring, so the tapers burnt, +beautifully." This must have strongly reminded the spectator of the +introduction to the <i>Monastery</i>, and the visit of the worthy +benedictine, accompanied by Captain Clutterbuck, for the purpose of +taking up his patron's heart. My friend adds, "not a taper has been +burnt in St. Mary's of Melrose since the days of Knox.—On Monday I went +to the tower of Glendearg; at the fountain, where Sir Piercie Shafton +and Halbert Glendinning fought, I got, with the help of my guide, some +curious stones, said to be the work of the <i>White Lady</i>." The +scenery is picturesque in the highest degree. "Yesterday I went to Old +Melrose. The windings of the Tweed there are beautiful; but the tolling +the abbey bell recalls me from my wanderings." +</p> + +<p> +The impression made on Sir Walter Scott by the ruins may be inferred +from the following lines:— +</p> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> + <p> "If thou would'st view fair Melrose aright,</p> + <p> Go visit it by the pale moonlight;</p> + <p> For the gay beams of lightsome day</p> + <p> Gild but to flout the ruins grey.</p> + <p> When the broken arches are black in night,</p> + <p> And each shafted oriel glimmers white;</p> + <p> When the cold light's uncertain shower</p> + <p> Streams on the ruin'd central tower,</p> + <p> When buttress and buttress, alternately,</p> + <p> Seem framed of ebon and ivory;</p> + <p> When silver edges the imagery,</p> + <p> And the scrolls that teach thee to live and die;</p> + <p> When distant Tweed is heard to rave,</p> + <p> And the owlet to hoot o'er the dead man's grave;</p> + <p> Then go—but go alone the while—</p> + <p> Then view St. David's ruin'd pile;</p> + <p> And home returning, soothly swear,</p> + <p> Was never scene so sad and fair!"</p> +</div></div> + + + +<p> +One of your correspondents (with whom I had once a disputation on the +<i>weighty</i> subject of ghosts) sent you a version of the subjoined +epitaph, with a trifling alteration in the spelling, (which is copied +from a very ancient tomb-stone in Melrose Abbey,) with these remarks, +(see MIRROR, vol. 4, p. 392):—"The following beautiful lines were +written by a cow-boy [!] in Sussex on a wall, with a piece of red chalk, +[mark the precision.] They have only been inserted in a Sussex paper, +and may be quite unknown to many London readers," &c. &c. &c. This is a +regular hoax. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<h3> + EPITAPH. +</h3> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> + <p> The earth goeth on the earth,</p> + <p> Glist'ring like Gold;</p> + <p> The earth goes to the earth sooner than it wold.</p> + <p> The earth builds on the earth castles and towers;</p> + <p> The earth says to the earth, all shall be ours.</p> +</div></div> + + + +<p> +Here the contemplative wanderer may pass many an hour, with profit and +pleasure, +</p> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> + <p> "Mid epitaphs and tombs,</p> + <p> Wrapt in the dreams of other days."</p> +</div></div> + +<hr /> + +<h3> + HISTORY OF THE ABBEY. +</h3> + +<p> +I have arranged a few particulars of the history, &c. of this relic of +monkish times, which will form an appropriate conclusion to these +desultory remarks. +</p> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> + <p> "Hail! ye bold turrets, and thou rev'rend pile,</p> + <p> That seem in age's hoary rest to smile!</p> + <p> All trail! for here creative fancy reads</p> + <p> Of ages past the long-forgotten deeds.</p> + <p> With trembling footsteps I approach thy gates,</p> + <p> The massy door upon the hinges grates!</p> + <p> Hark! as it opens what a hollow groan</p> + <p> 'Cross the dark hall and down the aisles is thrown!"</p> +<p style="text-align: right;">SIR EGERTON BAYDGES.</p> +</div></div> + +<p> +It is handed down by tradition that an abbey was founded at Melrose +about the end of the sixth century. The famous St. Cuthbert was one of +the abbots in 643; he, however, left, and went to Holy Island, in +Northumberland. Many wonderful stories are related of St. Cuthbert; that +eleven years after his death in Holy Island, (in 687,) his body, on +being taken up, exhibited no marks of corruption, seeming as if asleep, +&c. &c. Ethelwold succeeded St. Cuthbert, and sometime after the +monastery was ruined by the +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page447" name="page447"></a>[pg 447]</span> +Danes. The place where this abbey is +supposed to have stood is called Old Melrose, and is a mile and a half +from the present abbey. +</p> + +<p> +Melrose Abbey was founded by king David of Scotland in 1136. It is +supposed to have been built in ten years. The church of the convent was +dedicated to St. Mary on the 28th of July, 1146. It was the mother +church of the Cistertian order in Scotland. The monks were brought from +Rievaulx Abbey, in Yorkshire. Their habit was white; and they soon +superseded the order of the Benedictines. +</p> + +<p> +The abbey is built in the form of St. John's cross, of the Gothic style +of architecture, and is 258 feet in length; the breadth 137-1/2 feet; +and 943 feet in circumference. A considerable part of the principal +tower is now in ruins; its present height is 84 feet. There are many +very superb windows; the principal one at the east end (which is the top +nave of the cross,) appears to have been more recently built than the +others, and is 57 feet in extreme height, and 28 feet wide. It has been +ornamented with statues, &c. The beauty of the carved work, with which +the abbey is profusely decorated, is seldom equalled, and deservedly +celebrated: +</p> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> + <p> "Spreading herbs and flow'rets bright,</p> + <p> Glisten'd with the dew of night;</p> + <p> Nor herb nor flow'ret glisten'd there,</p> + <p> But was carved in the cloister'd arches as fair."</p> +</div></div> + + + +<p> +There are in the external view of the building 50 windows, 4 doors, 54 +niches, and above 50 buttresses. The abbey was much injured by the +English in 1322 and 1384. Richard II. made it a grant in 1389, as some +compensation for the injuries it had sustained in the retreat of his +army. It was also greatly defaced during the reformation. A stronger +proof of their infatuated and (partly) misplaced zeal cannot be adduced, +than the destruction of religious edifices by the reformers. There were +one hundred monks, without including the abbot and dignitaries. The last +abbot was James Stuart, natural son of James V., who died in 1559. The +privileges and possessions of the abbey were very extensive,.and it was +endowed by its founder, David, with the lands of Melrose, Eildon, &c., +&c., right of fishery on the Tweed, &c.; and succeeding monarchs +increased its property. Sixty of the monks, it is said, renounced popery +at the reformation. In 1542, the revenue of the abbey was, +"1758<i>l</i>. in money, 14 chalders nine bolls of wheat, 56 chal. 5 +bolls of barley, 78 chal. 13 bolls of meal, 44 chal. 10 bolls of oats, +84 capons, 620 poultry, 105 stone of butter, 8 chal. of salt, 340 loads +of peats, and 500 carriages;" besides 60 bolls of corn, 300 barrels of +ale, and 18 hogsheads of wine, for the service of the mass: a large +quantity for the entertainment of strangers; 4,000<i>l</i>. for the care +of the sick; and 400<i>l</i>. to the barber. These were given up at the +commencement of the reformation in 1561. The lands were either seized by +the crown, or divided amongst the nobles. A large portion fell into the +hands of the Buccleugh family. +</p> + +<p> +A stone coffin, supposed to be that of the famous Michael Scott, the +wizard, was found in the small aisle on the south of the chancel in +1812. It was authenticated that his remains had been laid here. There +was an altar erected to say mass for his soul. The length of the +skeleton was six feet. A stone head at the foot of the coffin bears a +very rude wizard-like appearance. Alexander II. and many of the Scottish +kings and nobles are buried here. The best view is obtained of the +building from the south east, which, indeed, commands the whole of the +ruin. The village contains 500 or 600 inhabitants, and is 35 miles +distant from Edinburgh. The remains of several Roman camps are to be +seen in its neighbourhood, and one of the hills bears the marks of +having been a volcano. Sir Walter Scott's residence at Abbotsford is +within a few miles. +</p> + +<h4> +VYVYAN. +</h4> + +<hr /> + +<h3> +ON WAITS. +</h3> + +<center> +(<i>To the Editor of the Mirror</i>.) +</center> + + +<p> +MR. EDITOR,—It may not be unacceptable to many of your readers to +receive some elucidation of a custom which is still prevalent at the +present season. I allude to the waits, who visit us in the month of +December, with instrumental music, going from house to house. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Waites</i>, or <i>waits</i>, formerly <i>wayghtes</i> is derived from +the latter noun, and originally signified <i>hautbois</i>, (or hautbois, +as we have it in English,) of which it is not unworthy remark, there is +no singular number. From the instrument its signification was, after a +time, transferred to the performers themselves; concerning whom, it is +well known,.the appellation is now applied to all who follow the +practice above adverted to, especially those who, at the approach of. +Christmas, salute us with their nightly concerts. +</p> + +<p> +The <i>wayghtes</i> of ancient times were, as some historians say, so +called, because they attended or <i>waited</i> on potentates, judges, +magistrates, and bodies corporate, pomp and processions, &c.; they were +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page448" name="page448"></a>[pg 448]</span> +also sometimes appointed to keep a sort of Watch at night, and were then +generally decorated with superb dresses, splendid cloaks, &c. In Rymers' +<i>Fardera</i> there is an account of such an establishment, of the +minstrels and <i>waites</i> who were in the service of the court of +Edward IV., wherein is mentioned "a <i>waite</i> that nighteleye, from +Michaelmas to Shrove Thorsday, pipeth the watch within this court;" "i. +fewer times, in the somere nightes iij. times." Todd derives the term +waits from <i>wahts</i>, (Goth.) nocturnal itinerant musicians, +(Beaumont and Fletcher;) Bayley, on account of their waiting on +magistrates, &c.; or of <i>guet</i>, a watch; or from the French +<i>guetter</i>, to watch, because anciently they kept a sort of watch a +night. From what I have narrated, then, it appears that the persons +formerly called waites, or waits, were <i>musical</i> watchmen, the word +implying <i>obees</i>. They were, in fact, minstrels, at first annexed +to the king's court, who sounded the watch every night; and in towns +paraded the streets during winter, to prevent theft, &c. At Exeter they +were set up, with a regular salary, in 1400; and although suppressed by +the Puritans, were reinstated in 1660. M.A. Boyer, in his <i>French and +English Dictionary</i>, Rivington. 1747, under the word <i>waits</i>, s. +has the following: "in the French, <i>sorte de hautbois</i>, (ho-boy,) +corresponding with the signification of the term waits, as itinerant or +wandering (music or) musicians. These nocturnal perambulators, it seems, +were anciently called, as they now are, waits; and persons, bearing the +same name, still go about our streets during the month of December, +(previous to the 25th.) Whatsoever may be the reasons or the motives of +those (maunderers) who <i>now</i> call <i>themselves waits</i>, I must +leave for the consideration of such as are favoured with their visits. I +am of opinion it can have neither allusion nor similitude to the +Christmas carol as some have suggested, which was an imitation, however +humble, of 'The glory to God on high,' &c., as sung by the angels who +hovered over the fields of Bethlehem on the morning of our Saviour's +nativity." It is true, indeed, that our modern angels, <i>the waits</i> +of 1897, have <i>hovered about</i>, and <i>they may</i> (without a pun) +be styled angels (of darkness), not only on account of the watch they +keep <i>a nights</i>, but on account of those <i>spirit-uous propensities</i>, +for the attainment of which, principally, some have supposed, <i>we</i> are +<i>indebted</i> to <i>them</i> for <i>their waits</i>, and also for their <i>wait-ing</i> +upon us on the day ycleped boxing-day. +</p> + +<p> +But to return to our subject; independent of the origin of the waits, or +of the persons so called, as relates to the institution in England, +which is, comparatively, of modern date, <i>it appears there were +peculiar to the Romans</i> a description of individuals, who, in their +offices and character, answered to our waits, and from whom there is no +doubt the latter were derived; these, among the Romans, were called +<i>spondaulae</i>, from which I conceive the <i>waightes</i>, or <i>waites</i>, +of our ancient kings were borrowed. The <i>Roman waites</i>, or <i>spondaulae</i>, +were a description of vocal and instrumental musicians, who performed a +hymn, whose measure consisted of spondees, (a poetic foot, formed of two +long syllables,) which was sung, accompanied by the flute, or other wind +instrument, while the priest offered the sacrifice, and the incense was +burning, to procure the favour of the gods; the waits, or spondaulae, +continuing their music, to prevent the priest from hearing sounds of ill +omen, which might disturb the ceremony, or divert his attention. It has +been suggested, in this view of the origin of the waits, which many +writers consider to be the real source of the custom, that they are +altogether anti-christian, and of heathen and idolatrous foundation, and +of consequence have neither allusion to, nor connexion with, our +festivities at Christmas <i>at any period</i>. +</p> + +<p> +City Road. +</p> + +<h4> +L. DESORMEAUX. +</h4> + +<hr /> + +<h3> +ORIGIN OF LOVE. +</h3> + +<center> +FROM THE MADRIGALS OF GUARINI. +</center> + +<center> +(<i>For the Mirror</i>.) +</center> + + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> + <p> Cupid one day, in luckless hour,</p> + <p> Observed a bee from flow'r to flow'r,</p> +<p class="i2"> Hurrying on busy wing;</p> + <p> Thinking to gain the honied prize,</p> + <p> He strove the insect to surprise,</p> +<p class="i2"> But quickly felt its sting.</p> +</div><div class="stanza"> + <p> Fired with revenge, he flew away</p> + <p> To where asleep my Julia lay,</p> +<p class="i2"> On mossy bank reclin'd;</p> + <p> And while he sought relief to sip,</p> + <p> By kisses from her balmy lip,</p> +<p class="i2"> He left the sting behind.</p> +</div><div class="stanza"> + <p> Thus if I now, in hours of bliss,</p> + <p> From her sweet mouth should steal a kiss,</p> +<p class="i2"> I after feel the smart;</p> + <p> For when her rosy lips I've press'd,</p> + <p> And think myself supremely blest,</p> +<p class="i2"> I bear the sting at heart!</p> +</div></div> + + +<h4> +E.L.J. +</h4> + + +<hr /> + +<h3> +TOTTENHAM HIGH CROSS. +</h3> + +<center> +(<i>For the Mirror</i>.) +</center> + + +<p> +On entering Tottenham, on the right from London, is to be seen the +following inscription over eight alms-houses:— +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page449" name="page449"></a>[pg 449]</span> +</p> + + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> + <p> 1600.</p> + <p> Not vnto vs,</p> + <p> O Lord—</p> + <p> Not vnto vs—But</p> + <p> vnto thy name</p> + <p> give ye glorie.</p> +<p style="text-align: right;"><i>Ps. 115, v. i.</i></p> +</div></div> + +<p> +"Balthaza Zanchez, born in Spain, in the citie of Shere, in Estramadvra, +is the fownder of these eyght Alma-Houses for the relieefe of eyght +poore men and women of the Town of Tattenham High Crasse." +</p> + +<p> +The founder of these alms-houses, Balthazar Zanches, was confectioner to +Philip II. of Spain, with whom he came over to England, and was the +first who exercised that art in this country. He became a Protestant, +and died in 1602. It is said that he lived in the house, now the George +and Vulture Inn; at the entrance of which he had fixed the arms of +England, in a garter, supported by a lion and griffin, and with the +initials E.R.: over another door, 1587. +</p> + +<p> +Among the ancient possessors of the manor of Tottenham, was Robert +Bruce, king of Scotland, from whom the Manor-House obtained the name of +Bruce Castle, which it still retains.—At the end of Page Green stands a +remarkable circular clump of elms, called the Seven Sisters; and on the +west side of the great road is St. Loy's well, which is said to be +always full, and never to run over; and opposite the vicarage house +rises a spring, called Bishop's Well, of which the common people report +many strange cures. +</p> + +<hr class="full" /> + + + + +<h2> + ARCANA OF SCIENCE. +</h2> + + + +<hr /> + +<center> +<i>Outline of the History of Gas Lighting.</i> +</center> + + +<p> +"What a striking contrast between the appearance of the brilliantly +illuminated streets at this time, compared with the days of Henry V. It +is recorded, that in 1417, Sir Henry Barton, mayor of London, ordained +'lanterns with lights to bee hanged out on the winter evenings between +Hallowtide and Candlemasse.' Paris was first lighted by an order issued +in 1524; and in the beginning of the sixteenth century, the streets +being infested with robbers, the inhabitants were ordered to keep lights +burning in the windows of all such houses as fronted the streets. In +1668, when some regulations were made for improving the streets of +London, the inhabitants were reminded to hang out their lanterns at the +usual time; and in 1690 an order was issued to hang out a light, or +lamp, every night as soon as it was dark, from Michaelmas to Christmas. +By an act of the common council in 1716, all housekeepers, whose houses +fronted any street, lane, or passage, were required to hang out, every +dark night, one or more lights, to burn from six to eleven o'clock, +under the penalty of one shilling. In 1736, the lord mayor and common +council applied to parliament for an act to enable them to erect lamps; +and in 1744 they obtained farther powers for lighting the city. +Birmingham was first lighted by lamps in 1733, so that in this +improvement it preceded the metropolis."—<i>Beckman's History of +Inventions</i>. +</p> + +<p> +It may not be disagreeable to our readers to trace the brilliant lights +by which the streets are illuminated, from the obscure recesses of +nature, and to show by what steps that which was once thought simply an +object of curiosity, has been applied to a practical purpose of the most +useful and agreeable kind. +</p> + +<p> +The inflammable gases were known originally for their direful effects +rather than their useful qualities. Miners were acquainted with two of +them, called the <i>choke damp</i> and the <i>fire damp</i>, long before +the establishment of the Royal Society; but the earliest printed account +of either occurs in its Transactions, in the year 1667. The paper in +which it is contained, is entitled, "A Description of a Well and Earth +in Lancashire taking Fire, by a Candle approaching to it. Imparted by +Thomas Shirley, Esq an eye-witness." +</p> + +<p> +Dr. Stephen Hales was the first person who procured an elastic fluid +from the actual distillation of coal. His experiments with this object +are related in the first volume of his Vegetable Statics, published in +1726. From the distillation of "one hundred and fifty-eight grains of +Newcastle coal, he states that he obtained one hundred and eighty cubic +inches of air, which weighed fifty-one grains, being nearly one third of +the whole." The inflammability of the fluid he thus produced was no part +of his inquiry; and though it is now deemed its most useful and +important property, appears to have excited no attention till several +years after. +</p> + +<p> +In the "Philosophical Transactions" for 1733, some properties of +coal-gas are detailed in a paper called, "An Account of the Damp Air in +a Coal-pit of Sir James Lowther, sunk within Twenty Yards of the Sea." +This paper, as it contains some striking facts relating to the +inflammability and other properties of coal-gas, is deserving of +particular attention. +</p> + +<p> +The principal properties of coal-gas are here related with remarkable +minuteness and precision; and as the writer exhibited them to different +members of the Royal Society, and showed that after keeping the gas +sometime, it still retained its elasticity and inflammability, it is +remarkable, that the philosophers of the time undertook no experiments +with the view of applying it to useful purposes. +</p> + +<p> +Dr. John Clayton, in an extract from a letter in the "Philosophical +Transactions" for 1735, calls gas the "spirit" of coal; and came to a +knowledge of its inflammability by an accident. This "spirit" chanced to +catch fire, by coming +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page450" name="page450"></a>[pg 450]</span> +in contact with a candle, as it was escaping from +a fracture in one of his distillatory vessels. By preserving the gas in +bladders, he frequently diverted his friends, by exhibiting its +inflammability. This is the nearest approach to the idea of practically +applying this property. +</p> + +<p> +The subject attracted the attention of Dr. Richard Watson, who published +the results of his researches in the second volume of his "Chemical +Essays." He dwells upon the elasticity and inflammability of coal-gas; +and remarked, that it retains these properties <i>after passing through +a great quantity of water</i>. +</p> + +<p> +The man who first applied the inflammability of gas to the purposes of +illumination, was Mr. Murdoch. This gentleman, residing at Soho, near +Birmingham, that hot-bed of ingenuity and mechanical science, on +occasion of the celebration of the peace of 1802, covered the works of +Soho with a light and splendour that astonished and delighted all the +population of the surrounding country. Mr. Murdoch had not attained to +this perfection without having had many difficulties to encounter. In +the year 1792, he used coal gas for lighting his house and offices, at +Redruth, in Cornwall; and in 1797 he again made a similar use of it at +Old Cunnock, in Ayrshire. At Soho, he constructed an apparatus which +enabled him to exhibit his plan on a larger scale than any he had +heretofore attempted. His experiments were then seduously continued, +with the able assistance of Mr. Southern and Mr. Henry Creighton, with +a view to ascertain not only the best modes of making, but also of +purifying and burning gas, so as to prevent either the smell or the +smoke from being offensive. +</p> + +<p> +Previous to the public display made of the illuminating properties of +gas, at Soho, it had been applied to similar purposes, by a M. Le Bon, +of Paris. A friend of the gentlemen at Soho, wrote from Paris a letter, +dated November 8, 1801, to that establishment, informing them, that a +person had lighted up his house and gardens with the gas obtained from +wood and coal, and had it in contemplation to light up the city of +Paris. This is an important fact in the detail of the history of +gas-lighting; and we should be glad of further information respecting +the steps which led M. Le Bon to the results which he appears to have +obtained, and also respecting the fortunes which subsequently attended +the invention in France. However, M. Le Bon's exhibitions have a +remarkable connexion with the progress of the invention in England: they +seem, indeed, almost to have diverted it from its natural course, which +certainly would have led from the illumination at Soho to its public +adoption. +</p> + +<p> +In 1804, Dr. Henry delivered a course of lectures on chemistry, at +Manchester, in which he showed the mode of producing gas from coal, and +the facility and advantage of its use. Dr, Henry analyzed the +composition and investigated the properties of carburetted hydrogen gas. +His experiments were numerous and accurate, and made upon a variety of +substances; and having obtained the gas from wood, peat, different kinds +of coal, oil, wax, &c. he endeavoured to estimate the relative quantity +of light yielded by each. +</p> + +<p> +In 1805, Mr. Samuel Clegg, to whom the world is much indebted for the +improvements he subsequently introduced into the manufacture of gas, +having left Soho, directed his attention to the construction of gas +apparatus. The first he erected was in the cotton mill of Mr. H Lodge, +near Halifax, in Yorkshire. Mr. Josiah Pemberton, one of those ingenious +men happily not rare in the centre of our manufactures, whose minds are +perpetually employed on the improvement of mechanical contrivances, and +who, as soon as they have accomplished one discovery, leave others to +reap the benefit, and themselves pursue the chase alter new inventions, +had for some time been experimenting on the nature of gas. A resident of +Birmingham, his attention was probably roused by the exhibition at Soho; +and such was the fertility of his invention, and his practical skill as +a mechanic, that it has been observed by those who know him, that he +never undertook to make an article without inventing an improvement in +its construction. About 1806, he exhibited gas-lights in a variety of +forms, and with great brilliance, at the front of his manufactory in +Birmingham. +</p> + +<p> +In 1808 he constructed an apparatus, applicable to several uses, for Mr. +Benjamin Cooke, a manufacturer of brass tubes, gilt toys, and other +articles. In 1808, Mr. Murdoch communicated to the Royal Society a very +interesting account of his successful application of coal gas to +lighting the extensive establishment of Messrs. Phillips and Lea. For +this communication, Count Rumford's gold medal was presented to him. Mr. +Murdoch's statements threw great light on the comparative advantage of +gas and candles, and contained much useful information on the expenses +of production and management. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page451" name="page451"></a>[pg 451]</span> +</p> + +<p> +Early in 1809, Mr. Samuel Clegg communicated to the Society of Arts his +plan of an apparatus for lighting manufactories with gas, for which he +received a silver medal. In this year also, Mr. Clegg erected a gas +apparatus in Mr. Harris's manufactory at Coventry. +</p> + +<p> +It was natural to suppose that all these circumstances should eventually +produce an impression on the country; consequently about this time much +attention was excited towards gas-lighting, and much utility anticipated +from a general application of it to public purposes. In this year 1809, +accordingly, the first application was made to parliament for an act to +incorporate a company, with the view of carrying on its processes more +effectually and beneficially. The movers in this project were some of +the more intelligent and persevering subscribers to a New Light and Heat +Company, projected by Mr. Winsor. They were opposed by some on the +ground of their designs being visionary and fraught with danger; and by +Mr. Murdoch on the plea of priority of invention, which entitled him to +exclusive privileges if he chose to avail himself of them. This gave +rise to a long and minute investigation of the subject before a committee +of the House of Commons. The application terminated unsuccessfully; and +the testimony of Mr. Aceum, exposed him to the animadversions of Mr. +Brougham. In 1810, however, the application was renewed by the same +parties, and though some opposition was encountered, and considerable +expense incurred, the bill passed, but not without great alterations; +and the present London and Westminster Chartered Gas-Light and Coke +Company was established. The proceedings of this company after the act +was obtained comprise a most important period in the history of this +invention. During the first few years of their operations large sums of +money were expended in experiments, and very few beneficial results were +obtained. The undertaking was complicated and difficult, and not only +required the guidance of experience, but the assistance of a scientific +education and a fertile invention. These requisites were found in the +person of Mr. Samuel Clegg, under whose able direction and +superintendence the principal works of the company, at their different +stations, were erected. From this period various improvements were +gradually introduced into almost every part of the apparatus. In 1816, +Mr. Clegg obtained the patent for his horizontal rotative retort; his +apparatus for purifying coal gas with cream of lime; for his rotative +gas meter; and self-acting governor; and altogether by his exertions the +London and Westminster Company's affairs assumed a new and flattering +aspect. +</p> + +<p> +For reasons which are not assigned, in 1817, Mr. Clegg retired from the +service of this establishment. +</p> + +<p> +In this year, 1817, at the three stations belonging to the Chartered Gas +Company, twenty-five chaldron of coal were daily carbonized, producing +300,000 cubic feet of gas, which was equal to the supply of 75,000 +Argand lamps, each yielding the light of six candles. At the City Gas +Works, in Dorset-street, Black-friars, the quantity of coal daily +carbonized amounted to, three chaldron, which afforded a quantity of gas +adequate to the supply of 1,500 Argand lamps; so that twenty-eight +chaldron of coal were daily carbonized at that time, and 76,500 lights +supplied by those two companies only. +</p> + +<p> +At this period the principal object of attention in the manufacture of +gas was its purification. Mr. D. Wilson, of Dublin, took out a patent +for purifying coal gas by means of the chemical action of ammoniacal +gas. Another plan was devised by Mr. Reuben Phillips, of Exeter, who +obtained a patent for the purification of coal gas by the use of dry +lime. Mr. G. Holworthy, in 1818, took out a patent for a method of +purifying it by causing the gas, in a highly-condensed state, to pass +through iron retorts heated to a dark red. For this object and several +others, having in view improvements upon the ordinary method, many other +patents were procured. +</p> + +<p> +OIL gas now appeared in the field as a rival of COAL gas. In 1815, Mr. +John Taylor had obtained a patent for an apparatus for the decomposition +of <i>oil</i> and other animal substances; but the circumstance which +more particularly attracted the public attention to be directed to +<i>oil</i> gas was the erection of the patent apparatus at Apothecary's +Hall, by Messrs. Taylors and Martineau; and the way was prepared for an +application to parliament for the establishment of an Oil Gas Company by +sundry papers in journals, and by the recommendations of Sir William +Congreve, who had been employed by the Secretary of State to inspect the +state of the gas manufactories in the metropolis. This application, made +in the year 1825, proved unfortunate. +</p> + +<p> +In Sir William's Reports is the following account, beginning with the +London Gas-Light and Coke Company:— +</p> + +<p> +At the Peter-street station the whole +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page452" name="page452"></a>[pg 452]</span> +number of the retorts which they +had fixed was 300; the greatest number working at any time daring the +last year, 22l; the least 87. Fifteen gasometers, varying in dimensions, +the contents computed on an average at 20,626 cubic feet each, amounting +to 309,385 cubic feet altogether; but never quite filled; the working +contents estimated at 18,626 cubic feet each—in the whole at 279,390 +cubic feet. The extent of mains belonging to this station is about +fifty-seven miles, there being two separate mains in some of the +streets; the produce of gas from 10,000 to 12,000 cubic feet from a +chaldron of coals. The weekly consumption of coal is reckoned at 42 +bushels for each retort, amounting to about 602 chaldrons; and taking +the average number of retorts worked at this station at about 153, would +give an annual consumption of coals of upwards of 9,282 chaldrons, +producing 111,384,000 cubic feet of gas. +</p> + +<p> +The average number of lights during the year 1822 was 10,660 private, +2,248 street lamps, theatres, 3,894. +</p> + +<p> +At the Brick-lane works, the number of retorts which were fixed was 371, +the greatest number worked 217, and the least 60. The number of +gasometers 12, each averaging 18,427 cubic feet, amounting in the whole +to 221,131 cubic feet; and their average working contents 197,124 cubic +feet. The average number of retorts worked was 133; the coals consumed +8,060 chaldrons; the quantity of gas produced 96,720.000 cubic feet; the +number of lamps 1,978 public, 7,366 private, through 40 miles of mains. +</p> + +<p> +At the Curtain-road establishment the whole number of retorts was 240; +the greatest number worked in the last year 80; the lowest 21. The +number of gasometers 6, average contents of each 15,077 cubic feet; the +contents of the whole 90,467; another gasometer containing 16,655 cubic +feet; the average number of retorts worked 55; the coals consumed 3,336 +chaldrons; quantity of gas produced 40,040,000 cubic feet; the number of +lamps supplied 3,860 private, and 629 public, through 25 miles of mains. +</p> + +<p> +The whole annual consumption of coals by the three different stations +was 20,678; the quantity of gas produced 248,000,000 cubic feet: the +whole number of lamps lighted by this company 30,735, through 122 miles +of mains. +</p> + +<p> +The City of London Gas-Light Company, Dorset-street:—The number of +retorts fixed 230; the number of gasometers 6; the largest 39,270 cubic +feet, the smallest 5,428 cubic feet; two large additional gasometers +nearly completed, contents of each 27,030 cubic feet, making in the +whole 181,282 cubic feet. The number of lamps lighted 5,423 private, and +2,413 public, through 50 miles of mains. The greatest number of retorts +worked at a time (in 1811) 130, the least 110, average 170. The quantity +of coals carbonized amounted to 8,840 chaldrons; produced 106,080,000 +cubic feet of gas. +</p> + +<p> +The South London Gas-Light and Coke Company, at Bankside:—The number of +retorts was 140; gasometers 3; the contents of the whole 41,110 cubic +feet; and their mains from 30 to 40 miles in length. At their other +station in Wellington-street, they had then no retorts in action; but +three large gasometers were erected, containing together 73,565 cubic +feet, which were supplied from Bankside till the retorts were ready to +work. +</p> + +<p> +The Imperial Gas-Light and Coke Company were erecting at their Hackney +station two gasometers of 10,000 cubic feet each, and about to erect +four more of the same size. At their Pancras station they had marked out +ground for six gasometers of 10,000 cubic feet each. +</p> + +<p> +In the year 1814, there was only <i>one</i> gasometer in Peter-street, +of 14,000 cubic feet, belonging to the Chartered Gas-Light Company, then +the only company established in London. At present there are four great +companies, having altogether 47 gasometers at work, capable of +containing in the whole 917,940 cubic feet of gas, supplied by 1,315 +retorts, and these consuming 33,000 chaldron of coals in the year, and +producing 41,000 chaldron of coke. The whole quantity of gas generated +annually being upwards of 397,000,000 cubic feet, by which 61,203 +private, and 7,268 public or street lamps are lighted in the metropolis. +In addition to these great companies, there are several private +companies, whose operations are not included in the foregoing +statements.—<i>Abridged from Matthews's History of Gas-Lighting, and +the London Magazine, Dec. 1827</i>. +</p> + +<hr class="full" /> + + + + +<h2> + SPIRIT<br /> OF THE<br /> +PUBLIC JOURNALS. +</h2> + +<hr /> + +<h3> +LONDON LYRICS. +</h3> + +<center> +MAGOG'S PROPHECY. +</center> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> + <p> Pastor cum traheret per freta navibus.</p> +<p style="text-align: right;">HOR. <i>lib.</i> i. <i>od.</i> 15.</p> +</div></div> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> + <p> As late, of civic glory vain,</p> + <p> The Lord Mayor drove down Mincing-lane,</p> + <p> The progress of the baimer'd train</p> +<p class="i2"> To lengthen, not to shorten:</p> +</div></div> + + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page453" name="page453"></a>[pg 453]</span> +</p> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> + <p> Gigantic Magog, vex'd with heat,</p> + <p> Thus to be made the rabble's treat,</p> + <p> Check'd the long march in Tower-street,</p> +<p class="i2"> To tell his Lordship's fortune.</p> +</div><div class="stanza"> + <p> "Go, man thy barge for Whitehall Stair;</p> + <p> Salute th' Exchequer Barons there,</p> + <p> Then summon round thy civic chair</p> +<p class="i2"> To dinner Whigs and Tories—</p> + <p> Bid Dukes and Earls thy hustings climb;</p> + <p> But mark my work, Matthias Prime,</p> + <p> Ere the tenth hour the scythe of Time</p> +<p class="i2"> Shall amputate, thy glories.</p> +</div><div class="stanza"> + <p> "Alas! what loads of food I see,</p> + <p> What Turbots from the Zuyder Zee,</p> + <p> What Calipash, what Calipee,</p> +<p class="i2"> What Salad and what Mustard:</p> + <p> Heads of the Church and limbs of Law,</p> + <p> Vendors of Calico and Straw,</p> + <p> Extend one sympathetic jaw</p> +<p class="i2"> To swallow Cake and Custard.</p> +</div><div class="stanza"> + <p> "Thine armour'd Knights their steeds discard'</p> + <p> To quaff thy wine 'through helmet barr'd,'</p> + <p> While K.C.B.'s, with bosoms starr'd,</p> +<p class="i2"> Within their circle wedge thee.</p> + <p> Even now I see thee standing up,</p> + <p> Raise to thy lip 'the loving cup,'</p> + <p> Intent its ruby tide to sup,</p> +<p class="i2"> And bid thy hearers pledge thee.</p> +</div><div class="stanza"> + <p> "But, ah! how fleeting thy renown!</p> + <p> Thus treading on the heel of Brown;</p> + <p> How vain thy spangled suit, thy gown</p> +<p class="i2"> Intended for three waiters:</p> + <p> Ere Lansdowne's speech is at an end,</p> + <p> I see a board of lamps descend,</p> + <p> Whose orbs in bright confusion blend,</p> +<p class="i2"> And strew the floor with splinters.</p> +</div><div class="stanza"> + <p> "Their smooth contents spread far and near,</p> + <p> And in one tide impetuous smear</p> + <p> Knight, Waiter, Liveryman, and Peer:</p> +<p class="i2"> Nay, even his Royal Highness</p> + <p> The falling board no longer props,</p> + <p> Owns, with amaze, the unwelcome drops</p> + <p> And, premature anointment, swaps</p> +<p class="i2"> For oozy wet his dryness.</p> +</div><div class="stanza"> + <p> "Fear shrieks in many a varied tone,</p> + <p> Pale Beauty mourns her spotted zone,</p> + <p> And heads and bleeding knuckles own</p> +<p class="i2"> The glittering prostration.</p> + <p> Behold! thou wip'st thy crimson chin,</p> + <p> And all is discord, all is din;</p> + <p> While scalded waiters swear thee in</p> +<p class="i2"> With many an execration.</p> +</div><div class="stanza"> + <p> "Yet, Lucas, smile in Fortune's spite;</p> + <p> Dark mornings often change to bright;</p> + <p> Ne'er shall this omen harm a wight</p> +<p class="i2"> So active and so clever.</p> + <p> How buoyant, how elastic thou!</p> + <p> With a lamp halo round thy brow,</p> + <p> Prophetic Magog dubs thee now</p> +<p class="i2"> A Lighter man—than ever."</p> +</div></div> + + +<h4> +<i>New Monthly Magazine.</i> +</h4> + +<hr /> + + +<h3> + ROYAL APPETITES. +</h3> + + +<p> +Charles XII. was brave, noble, generous, and disinterested,—a complete +hero, in fact, and a regular fire-eater. Yet, in spite of these +qualifications and the eulogiums of his biographer, it is pretty evident +to those who impartially consider the career of this potentate, that he +was by no means of a sane mind. In short, to speak plainly, he was mad, +and deserved a strait-waistcoat as richly as any straw-crowned monarch +in Bedlam. A single instance, in <i>my</i> opinion, fully substantiates +this. I allude to his absurd freak at Frederickshall, when, in order to +discover how long he could exist without nourishment, he abstained from +all kinds of food for more than seventy hours! Now, would any man in his +senses have done this? Would Louis XVIII., for instance, that wise and +ever-to-be-lamented monarch? Had it been the <i>reverse</i> indeed—had +Charles, instead of practising starvation, adopted the opposite +expedient, and endeavoured to ascertain the greatest possible quantity +of meat, fruit, bread, wine, vegetables, Sec. &c. he could have +<i>disposed of</i> in any given time—why then it might have been +something! But to <i>fast</i> for three days! if this be not madness—! +Indeed, there is but one reason I could ever conceive for a person not +eating; and that is, when, like poor Count Ugolino and his family, he +can get <i>nothing to eat</i>! +</p> + +<p> +Charles, now, and Louis—what a contrast! The first despised the +pleasures of the table, abjured wine, and would, I dare say, just as +soon have been without "a distinguishing taste" as with it. Your +Bourbon, on the contrary, a five-mealed man, quaffing right Falernian +night and day; and wisely esteeming the gratification of his palate of +such importance, as absolutely to send from Lisle to Paris—distance of +I know not how many score leagues—at a crisis, too, of peculiar +difficulty—for a single <i>pâte</i>! "Go," cried the illustrious exile +to his messenger; "dispatch, <i>mon enfant</i>! Mount the +<i>tricolor</i>! Shout <i>Vive le Diable</i>! Any thing! But be sure you +clutch the precious compound! Napoleon has driven me from my throne; but +he cannot deprive me of my appetite!" Here was courage! I challenge the +most enthusiastic admirer of Charles to produce a similar instance of +indifference to danger! +</p> + +<p> +There is another trait in the character of Louis which equally demands +our admiration, and proves that the indomitable firmness may be +sometimes associated with the most sensitive and—I had almost +said—infantine sensibility. Of course, it will be perceived that I +allude to the peculiar tenderness by which that amiable prince was often +betrayed, even into tears, upon occasions when ordinary minds would have +manifested comparative <i>nonchalance</i>. +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page454" name="page454"></a>[pg 454]</span> +I have been assured that Louis +absolutely wept once at Hartwell, <i>merely because oysters were out of +season</i>!—a testaceous production, to which he was remarkably +attached, (whence his cognomen of <i>Des Huîtres</i>, by corruption +<i>Dix-huit</i>;) so much so, indeed, as to be literally <i>ready to +eat them</i>, whenever they were brought into his presence. It is said +that this worthy descendant of the Good <i>Henrí</i> used to put a +barrel of Colchester oysters daily <i>hors de combat</i>, merely to +<i>give him an appetite</i>. +</p> + +<h4> +<i>Monthly Magazine.</i> +</h4> + +<hr /> + + +<h3> + PORSON AND SHERIDAIT. +</h3> + + +<p> +The worst effect of "the scholar's melancholy," is when it leads a man, +from a distrust of himself, to seek for low company, or to forget it by +matching below himself. Porson, from not liking the restraints, or not +possessing the exterior recommendations of good society, addicted +himself to the lowest indulgences, spent his days and nights in +cider-cellars and pot-houses, cared not with whom or where he was, so +that he had somebody to talk to and something to drink, "from humble +porter to imperial tokay," (<i>a liquid</i>, according to his own pun,) +and fell a martyr, in all likelihood, to what in the first instance was +pure <i>mauvaise honte</i>. Nothing could overcome this propensity to +low society and sotting, but the having something to do, which required +his whole attention and faculties; and then he shut himself up for weeks +together in his chambers, or at the university, to collate old +manuscripts, or edite a Greek tragedy, or expose a grave pedant, without +seeing a single boon companion, or touching a glass of wine. I saw him +once at the London Institution with a large patch of coarse brown paper +on his nose, the skirts of his rusty black coat hung with cob-webs, and +talking in a tone of suavity approaching to condescension to one of the +managers. It is a pity that men should so lose themselves from a certain +awkwardness and rusticity at the outset. But did not Sheridan make the +same melancholy ending, and run the same fatal career, though in a +higher and more brilliant circle? He did; and though not from exactly +the same cause, (for no one could accuse Sheridan's purple nose and +flashing eye of a bashfulness—"modest as morning when she coldly eyes +the youthful Phoebus!") yet it was perhaps from one nearly allied to it, +namely, the want of that noble independence and confidence in its own +resources which should distinguish genius, and the dangerous ambition to +get sponsors and vouchers for it in persons of rank and fashion. The +affectation of the society of lords is as mean and low-minded as the +love of that of cobblers and tapsters. It is that cobblers and tapsters +may admire, that we wish to be seen in the company of <i>their</i> +betters. +</p> + +<h4> +<i>New Monthly Magazine.</i> +</h4> + +<hr /> + + +<h3> + THE "STAY-AT-HOME." +</h3> + + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> + <p> I'll never dwell among the Caffres;</p> +<p class="i2"> I'll never willing cross the Line,</p> + <p> Where Neptune, 'mid the tarry laughers,</p> +<p class="i2"> Dips broiling landsmen in the brine.</p> +</div><div class="stanza"> + <p> I'll never go to New South Wales,</p> +<p class="i2"> Nor hunt for glory at the Pole—</p> + <p> To feed the sharks, or catch the whales,</p> +<p class="i2"> Or tempt a Lapland lady's soul.</p> + <p> I'll never willing stir an ell</p> +<p class="i2"> Beyond old England's chalky border,</p> + <p> To steal or smuggle, buy or sell,</p> +<p class="i2"> To drink cheap wine, or beg an Order.</p> +</div><div class="stanza"> + <p> Let those do so who long for claret,</p> +<p class="i2"> Let those, who'd kiss a Frenchman's—toes;</p> + <p> I'll not drink vinegar, nor Star it,</p> +<p class="i2"> For any he that wears a nose.</p> + <p> I'll not go lounge out life in Calais,</p> +<p class="i2"> To dine at half a franc a head;</p> + <p> To hut like rats in lanes and alleys—</p> +<p class="i2"> To eat an exile's gritty bread.</p> +</div><div class="stanza"> + <p> To flirt with shoeless Seraphinas,</p> +<p class="i2"> To shrink at every ruffian's shako;</p> + <p> Without a pair of shirts between us,</p> +<p class="i2"> Morn, noon, and night to smell tobacco;</p> + <p> To live my days in Gallic hovels,</p> +<p class="i2"> Untouched by water since the flood;</p> + <p> To wade through streets, where famine grovels</p> +<p class="i2"> In hunger, frippery, and mud.</p> +</div></div> + + +<h4> +<i>Monthly Magazine.</i> +</h4> + + +<hr class="full" /> + + + + +<h2> + THE SELECTOR;<br /> +AND<br /> +LITERARY NOTICES OF<br /> +NEW WORKS.<br /> +</h2> + +<hr /> + + +<h3> + ART OF DRINKING WINE +</h3> + +<p> +The order of taking wine at dinner has not been sufficiently observed in +this country. "There is," as the immortal bard beautifully expresses it, +"a reason in roasting eggs;" and if there is a <i>rationale</i> of +eating, why should there not be a system of drinking? The red wines +should <i>always</i> precede the white, except in the case of a French +dinner, when the oysters should have a libation of Chablis, or Sauterne. +I do not approve of white Hermitage with oysters. The Burgundies should +follow—the purple Chambertin or odorous Romanee. A single glass of +Champagne or Hock, or any other white wine, may then intervene between +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page455" name="page455"></a>[pg 455]</span> +the Cote Rotie and Hermitage; and last, not least in our dear love, +should come the cool and sweet-scented Claret. With the creams and the +ices should come the Malaga, Rivesaltes, or Grenache; nor with these +will Sherry or Madeira harmonize ill. Last of all, should Champagne boil +up in argent foam, and be sanctified by an offering of Tokay, poured +from a glass so small, that you might fancy it formed of diamond. +</p> + +<h4> +<i>Literary Pocket-Book.</i> +</h4> + +<hr /> + + +<h3> + STRATFORD-ON-AVON. +</h3> + +<p> +I was detained at Stratford nearly two hours, and endeavoured to see +whatever I could, in so short a time, relative to Shakspeare. The clean, +quiet, <i>uncommercial</i> appearance of the town pleased me; but I was +interested beyond expression on seeing the great poet's house. When I +entered the untenanted room where he first drew the breath of this +world, I took off my hat with, I hope, an unaffected sentiment of +homage. The walls and ceiling of this chamber are covered with names and +votive inscriptions, among which I saw the signatures of Sir Walter +Scott, Mr. Lockhaft, Washington Irving, and many others familiar to me, +foreigners as well as English. I did not sign <i>my</i> name, for I felt +that it had no right in such a place; but I brought away a minute relic, +in the shape of a bit of rotten wood, pinched from the beam that +supports the chimney. +</p> + +<p> +From the birth-place of the illustrious man, I found my way to his +corpse-place; and never had I beheld so beautiful and venerable a +church, or so tranquil and lovely a spot. The approach to the edifice, +which is situated at some distance from the town, upon the banks of the +fresh and murmuring Avon, is through an avenue of lime-trees, the +branches of which are interlaced <i>archwise</i>, as Lord Bacon would +say, so as to form a green canopy of some length. The scenery is not +what is called <i>romantic</i>, but soft and quiet, and calculated, +above all things, to surround the tomb of the genial poet of human +nature. +</p> + +<p> +I was determined to get into the church, though it was so early; and, +accordingly, after a little trouble, I found out the sexton, a fine old +fellow, with a Saxon name, who was munching his breakfast in a large +old-fashioned room with latticed casements, half kitchen and half +parlour. But he was too busy with his meal to be disturbed; and +accordingly he sent his wife with me to open the church, and I believe +our footsteps were the first which had that morning disturbed the holy +silence of the place. The building is very fine, and even stately; but +the interest connected with Shakspeare absorbs all other feelings, and +monopolizes one's admiration. I stood under his monument, on the very +stone of his grave. * * * +</p> + +<h4> +<i>Ibid.</i> +</h4> + +<hr class="full" /> + + + + +<h2> + THE GATHERER. +</h2> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p> +"I am but a <i>Gatherer</i> and disposer of other men's +stuff."—<i>Wotton.</i> +</p> +</div></div> + +<hr /> + + +<h3> + LORD RUSSEL. +</h3> + +<p> +When my Lord Russel was on the scaffold, and preparing to be beheaded, +he took his watch out of his pocket and gave it to Dr. Burnet, who +assisted his devotions, with this observation: "My time-piece may be of +service to you: I have no further occasion for it. My thoughts are fixed +on eternity." +</p> + +<hr /> + + +<h3> + EPITAPH ON A SCOLD. +</h3> + + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> + <p> Here lies my wife; and heaven knows,</p> + <p> Not less for mine than her repose!</p> +</div></div> + +<hr /> + + +<h3> + ON A MAN WHOSE NAME WAS PENNY. +</h3> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> + <p> Reader, if in cash thou art in want of any,</p> + <p> Dig four feet deep and thou shalt find A PENNY.</p> +</div></div> + +<hr /> + + +<h3> + DRAMATIC SKETCH OF A THIN MAN. +</h3> + +<p> +A long lean man, with all his limbs rambling—no way to reduce him +to compass, unless you could double him like a pocket rule—with his +arms spread, he'd lie on the bed of Ware like a cross on a Good Friday +bun—standing still, he is a pilaster without a base—he appears rolled +out or run up against a wall—so thin that his front face is but the +moiety of a profile—if he stands cross-legged, he looks like a +Caduceus, and put him in a fencing attitude, you would take him for +a piece of chevaux-de-frise—to make any use of him, it must be as a +spontoon or a fishing-rod—when his wife's by, he follows like a note +of admiration—see them together, one's a mast and the other all +hulk—she's a dome, and he's built together like a glass-house—when +they part, you wonder to see the steeple separate from the chancel, +and were they to embrace, he must hang round her neck like a skein +of thread on a lace-maker's bolster—to sing her praise, you should +choose a rondeau; and to celebrate him, you must write all +Alexandrines.—<i>Sheridan's MSS. in Moore's Life of him.</i> +</p> + +<hr /> + + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> + <p> A man of words and not of deeds,</p> + <p> Is like a garden full of seeds.</p> +</div><div class="stanza"> +</div></div> + +<hr /> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page456" name="page456"></a>[pg 456]</span> +</p> + + +<h3> + STOLEN GOODS. +</h3> + +<p> +A Negro in Jamaica was tried for theft, and ordered to be flogged. He +begged to be heard, which being granted, he asked—"If white man buy +tolen goods why he be no flogged too?" "Well," said the judge, "so he +would." "Dere, den," replied Mungo, "is my Massa, he buy <i>tolen goods, +he knew me tolen, and yet he buy me."—Elgin Courier.</i> +</p> + +<hr /> + + +<h3> + DECREASE OF LUNACY IN LONDON. +</h3> + +<p> +According to the Parliamentary Returns in May, 1819, the total number +of lunatics comprised in the circle of London and different private +asylums, amounted to 2,005, which Dr. Burrows calculates as proving an +increase of only five on an average in twenty years, notwithstanding the +increase of our population. The late Dr. Heberden and Dr. Willan both +concurred in this statement. The large district of Mary-la-bonne, which +some years ago comprehended the greatest proportion of inhabitants in +the metropolis, not less than 80,000,—from 1814 to the year 1819 +received only 180 female lunatics, and 118 males. +</p> + +<hr /> + + +<h3> + INGREDIENTS OF MODERN LOVE. +</h3> + + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> + <p> Twenty glances, twenty tears,</p> + <p> Twenty hopes, and twenty fears,</p> + <p> Twenty times assail your door,</p> + <p> And if denied, come twenty more,</p> + <p> Twenty letters perfumed sweet,</p> + <p> Twenty nods in every street,</p> + <p> Twenty oaths, and twenty lies,</p> + <p> Twenty smiles, and twenty sighs,</p> + <p> Twenty times in jealous rage,</p> + <p> Twenty beauties to engage,</p> + <p> Twenty tales to whisper low,</p> + <p> Twenty billet-doux to show,</p> + <p> Twenty times a day to pass,</p> + <p> Before a flattering looking-glass,</p> + <p> Twenty times to stop your coach,</p> + <p> With twenty words of fond reproach,</p> + <p> Twenty days of keen vexation,</p> + <p> Twenty opera assignations,</p> + <p> Twenty nights behind the scenes,</p> + <p> To dangle after mimic queens,</p> + <p> Twenty such lovers may be found,</p> + <p> Sighing for twenty thousand pounds,</p> + <p> But take my word, ye girls of sense,</p> + <p> You'll find them not worth twenty-pence.</p> +</div></div> + +<hr /> + + +<h3> + GREAT AND SMALL. +</h3> + +<p> +A shopkeeper at Poncaster had, for his virtues, obtained the name of the +<i>little rascal</i>. A stranger asked him why this application was +given him? "To distinguish me from the rest of my trade," quoth he, +"who are all <i>great rascals</i>." +</p> + +<h4> +C.F.E. +</h4> + +<hr /> + + +<h3> +THE LAW, PROFESSORS OF, IN ENGLAND:— +</h3> + + +<table summary="Numbers of law professors" width="100%"> +<tr><td>Counsel </td><td align="right"> 936</td></tr> +<tr><td>Special Pleaders below the Bar </td><td align="right"> 49</td></tr> +<tr><td>Conveyancers </td><td align="right"> 90</td></tr> +<tr><td>London Attorneys </td><td align="right"> 2,146</td></tr> +<tr><td> Country Attorneys </td><td align="right"> 5,200</td></tr> +<tr><td> </td><td align="right"><hr class="full" /></td></tr> +<tr><td> </td><td align="right"> Total 8,421</td></tr> +</table> + + +<h4> +<i>Law List</i> +</h4> + +<hr /> + + +<h3> + EPIGRAM FROM THE SPANISH OF REBOLLEDO. +</h3> + +<center> +(<i>For the Mirror</i>.) +</center> + + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> + <p> Fair Phillis has fifty times registered vows,</p> + <p> That of Christian or Turk, she would ne'er be the spouse,</p> +<p class="i2"> For wedlock so much she disdain'd,</p> + <p> And neither of these she has married, 'tis true,</p> + <p> For now she's the wife of a wealthy old <i>Jew</i>;</p> +<p class="i2"> And thus she her vow has maintain'd!</p> +</div></div> + + +<h4> +E.L.J. +</h4> + +<hr /> + + +<h3> + THE LAWYER AND HIS CLIENT. +</h3> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> + <p> Two lawyers, when a knotty cause was o'er,</p> + <p> Shook hands and were as good friends as before,</p> + <p> "Zounds!" says the losing client, "how come yaw</p> +<p class="i2"> To be such friends, who were such foes just naw?"</p> + <p> "Thou fool," says one, "we lawyers tho' so keen,</p> + <p> Like shears, ne'er cut ourselves, but what's between."</p> +</div></div> + + + +<hr /> + + +<h3> + LIMBIRD'S EDITION OF THE +</h3> + +<p> +BRITISH NOVELIST, Publishing in Monthly Parts, price 6d. each.—Each +Novel will be complete in itself, and may be purchased separately. +</p> + +<p> +<i>The following Novels are already Published</i>: +</p> + + +<table summary="List of novels" width="80%" align="center"> +<tr><td> </td><td align="right"><i>s.</i> </td><td align="right"><i>d.</i></td></tr> +<tr><td> Goldsmith's Vicar of Wakefield </td><td align="right">0 </td><td align="right">10</td></tr> +<tr><td> The Mysteries of Udolpho </td><td align="right">3 </td><td align="right">6</td></tr> +<tr><td> Mackenzie's Man of Feeling </td><td align="right">0 </td><td align="right">6</td></tr> +<tr><td> Rasselas </td><td align="right">0 </td><td align="right">8</td></tr> +<tr><td> Paul and Virginia </td><td align="right">0 </td><td align="right">6</td></tr> +<tr><td> The Old English Baron </td><td align="right">1 </td><td align="right"> 8</td></tr> +<tr><td> The Castle of Otranto </td><td align="right">0 </td><td align="right">6</td></tr> +<tr><td> The Romance of the Forest </td><td align="right">1 </td><td align="right">8</td></tr> +<tr><td> Almoran and Hamet </td><td align="right">0 </td><td align="right">6</td></tr> +<tr><td> Elizabeth, or the Exiles of Siberia </td><td align="right">0 </td><td align="right">6</td></tr> +<tr><td> Nature and Art </td><td align="right">0 </td><td align="right">8</td></tr> +<tr><td> The Italian </td><td align="right">2 </td><td align="right">0</td></tr> +<tr><td> A Simple Story </td><td align="right">1 </td><td align="right">4</td></tr> +<tr><td> The Castles of Athlin and Dunbayne </td><td align="right">0 </td><td align="right">6</td></tr> +<tr><td> Sicilian Romance </td><td align="right">1 </td><td align="right">0</td></tr> +<tr><td> The Man of the World </td><td align="right">1 </td><td align="right">0</td></tr> +<tr><td> Zeluco, by Dr. Moore </td><td align="right">2 </td><td align="right">0</td></tr> +<tr><td> Joseph Andrews </td><td align="right">1 </td><td align="right">6</td></tr> +<tr><td> Humphry Clinker </td><td align="right">1 </td><td align="right">8</td></tr> +<tr><td> Edward, by Dr. Moore </td><td align="right">2 </td><td align="right">6</td></tr> +</table> + +<hr class="full" /> + +<p> +Published by J. LIMBIRD, 143, Strand, London, and Sold by all +Booksellers and Newsmen. +</p> + +<hr class="full" /> + +<blockquote class="footnote"> +<a id="footnote1" name="footnote1"></a> +<b>Footnote 1</b>: +<a href="#footnotetag1">(return)</a> +<p> +"<i>Ancient Wilts</i>,"--Sir R.C. Hoare, speaking of <i>Stonehenge</i>, + expresses his opinion that "our earliest inhabitants were Celts, + who naturally introduced with them their own buildings customs, + rites, and religions ceremonies, and to them I attribute the + erection of Stonehenge, and the greater part of the sepulchral + memorials that still continue to render its environs so truly + interesting to the antiquary and historian." <i>Abury</i>, or + <i>Avebury</i>, is a village amidst the remains of an immense + temple, which for magnificence and extent is supposed to have + exceeded the more celebrated fabric of Stonehenge; Some + enthusiastic inquirers have however, carried their supposition + beyond probability, and in their zeal have even supposed them to + be <i>antediluvian</i> labours! Many of the <i>barrows</i> in the vicinity + of Sarum have been opened, and in them several antiquarian relics + have been discovered. In short, the whole county is one of high + antiquarian interest, and its history has been illustrated with + due fidelity and research. +</p> +</blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"> +<a id="footnote2" name="footnote2"></a> +<b>Footnote 2</b>: +<a href="#footnotetag2">(return)</a> +<p>Richard of Cirericesler, p. 31, 68, 113.</p> +</blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"> +<a id="footnote3" name="footnote3"></a> +<b>Footnote 3</b>: +<a href="#footnotetag3">(return)</a> +<p>Cott. <i>Coll. Faustina</i>, b. 3, <i>MSS. Brit Mus.</i></p> +</blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"> +<a id="footnote4" name="footnote4"></a> +<b>Footnote 4</b>: +<a href="#footnotetag4">(return)</a> +<p>Brompton <i>Twysd.</i>. 866.</p> +</blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"> +<a id="footnote5" name="footnote5"></a> +<b>Footnote 5</b>: +<a href="#footnotetag5">(return)</a> +<p>Dodsworth's <i>History of Salisbury Cathedral</i>.</p> +</blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"> +<a id="footnote6" name="footnote6"></a> +<b>Footnote 6</b>: +<a href="#footnotetag6">(return)</a> +<p>Roger de Hoveden.</p> +</blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"> +<a id="footnote7" name="footnote7"></a> +<b>Footnote 7</b>: +<a href="#footnotetag7">(return)</a> +<p>Ibid.</p> +</blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"> +<a id="footnote8" name="footnote8"></a> +<b>Footnote 8</b>: +<a href="#footnotetag8">(return)</a> +<p>Petrus Blesensis, <i>Epist</i>, 105.</p> +</blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"> +<a id="footnote9" name="footnote9"></a> +<b>Footnote 9</b>: +<a href="#footnotetag9">(return)</a> +<p>See MIRROR, p. 330.</p> +</blockquote> + +<hr class="full" /> + +<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 13587 ***</div> +</body> +</html> diff --git a/13587-h/images/290-1.png b/13587-h/images/290-1.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..5d8a0d4 --- /dev/null +++ b/13587-h/images/290-1.png diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction, No. 290 + Volume X. No. 290. Saturday, December 29, 1827. + +Author: Various + +Release Date: October 3, 2004 [EBook #13587] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MIRROR OF LITERATURE *** + + + + +Produced by Jonathan Ingram, David Garcia and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team. + + + + + + +</pre> + + <hr class="full" /> + <span class="pagenum"><a id="page441" name="page441"></a>[pg 441]</span> + + <h1>THE MIRROR<br /> + OF<br /> + LITERATURE, AMUSEMENT, AND INSTRUCTION.</h1> + <hr class="full" /> + + <table width="100%" summary="Banner"> + <tr> + <td align="left"><b>VOL. X, NO. 290.]</b></td> + <td align="center"><b>SATURDAY, DECEMBER 29, 1827.</b></td> + <td align="right"><b>[PRICE 2d.</b></td> + </tr> + </table> + <hr class="full" /> + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +<h3> + OLD SARUM +</h3> + + +<div class="figure" style="width: 100%;"> +<a href="images/290-1.png"><img width="100%" src="images/290-1.png" +alt="Old Sarum" /></a> +</div> + + + +<p> +Among the earliest antiquarian records, Old Sarum is described as a city +of the Belgae; and its historical details have proved an exhaustless +mine for the researches of topographical illustrators. +</p> + +<p> +Thus, Sir R.C. Hoare describes it as "a city of high note in the +remotest periods by the several barrows near it, and its proximity to +the two largest Druidical temples in England, namely, Stonehenge and +Abury."<a id="footnotetag1" name="footnotetag1"></a><a href="#footnote1"><sup>1</sup></a> +</p> + +<p> +"<i>Ancient Wilts</i>,"—Sir R.C. Hoare, speaking of <i>Stonehenge</i>, + expresses his opinion that "our earliest inhabitants were Celts,X-- expresses his opinion that "our earliest inhabitants were Celts, + who naturally introduced with them their own buildings customs, + rites, and religions ceremonies, and to them I attribute the + erection of Stonehenge, and the greater part of the sepulchral + memorials that still continue to render its environs so truly + interesting to the antiquary and historian." <i>Abury</i>, or + <i>Avebury</i>, is a village amidst the remains of an immense + temple, which for magnificence and extent is supposed to have + exceeded the more celebrated fabric of Stonehenge; Some + enthusiastic inquirers have however, carried their supposition + beyond probability, and in their zeal have even supposed them to + be <i>antediluvian</i> labours! Many of the <i>barrows</i> in the vicinity + of Sarum have been opened, and in them several antiquarian relics + have been discovered. In short, the whole county is one of high + antiquarian interest, and its history has been illustrated with + due fidelity and research. +</p> + +<p> +The Romans held it as a strong military +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page442" name="page442"></a>[pg 442]</span> +station, and it was admitted +to the privileges of the Latin law, under the name of <i>Sorbiodunum;</i><a id="footnotetag2" name="footnotetag2"></a><a href="#footnote2"><sup>2</sup></a> +</p> + +<p> +Under the Saxons it ranked among the most considerable towns of the West +kingdom, and possessed ecclesiastical establishments soon after the +conversion of the Saxons to Christianity.<a id="footnotetag3" name="footnotetag3"></a><a href="#footnote3"><sup>3</sup></a> +</p> + +<p> +In the early part of the ninth century it was the frequent residence of +Egbert; and in 960, Edgar assembled here a national council to devise +the best means of repelling the Danes in the north.<a id="footnotetag4" name="footnotetag4"></a><a href="#footnote4"><sup>4</sup></a> +</p> + +<p> +Arthur commanded it to be more strongly fortified by another trench and +high palisadoes.<a id="footnotetag5" name="footnotetag5"></a><a href="#footnote5"><sup>5</sup></a> +</p> + +<p> +In 1086, William the Norman convened in this city the prelates, nobles, +sheriffs, and knights of his new dominions, there to receive their +homage;<a id="footnotetag6" name="footnotetag6"></a><a href="#footnote6"><sup>6</sup></a> and probably, within its walls was framed the feudal law, as +Domesday Book was commenced in the same year. +</p> + +<p> +Two other national councils were held here; one by William Rufus, in +1096, and another by Henry I in 1116.<a id="footnotetag7" name="footnotetag7"></a><a href="#footnote7"><sup>7</sup></a> +</p> + +<p> +Peter of Blois, an early ecclesiastical writer, described Old Sarum as +"barren, dry, and solitary, exposed to the rage of the wind; and the +church (stands) as a captive on the hill where it was built, like the +ark of God shut up in the profane house of Baal."<a id="footnotetag8" name="footnotetag8"></a><a href="#footnote8"><sup>8</sup></a> +</p> + +<p> +Such are a few of the chronological data of the principal events in the +history of Old Sarum; these, however, will suffice to elucidate the +antiquity of the city, and from their historical importance cannot fail +to make the preceding engraving a subject of general as well as of local +interest, especially as it represents the old city, previous to its +reduction in 553. +</p> + +<p> +Scarcely a vestige of human habitation now remains of Old Sarum, as we +have shown once a place "of great importance—and a city adorned with +many proud structures—a splendid cathedral and other churches—a castle +with lofty towers and ramparts—regular streets and houses—and once the +residence of a numerous population." But all these have passed away, and +nought is left to tell the tale of their greatness, but a few crumbling +wrecks of massy walls; whilst vast fosses and elevated ramparts remain +to mark it as the site of desolating war. The contrast of time-worn +ruins with their surounding scenes of luxuriant nature is affecting even +to melancholy. A recent visiter to the area of Old Sarum describes "a +field of oats flourishing on the very spot where the crowded street had +formerly extended itself; and a barrier existing to the further progress +of agriculture, by the remains of the cathedral, castle, &c. forming +heaps of rubbish barely covered with scanty and unprofitable verdure." +</p> + +<p> +The space occupied by the ancient city is stated to have been nearly +2,000 feet in diameter, surrounded with a fosse, or ditch, of immense +depth, and two ramparts, inner and outer: on the inner, which was much +higher than the outer, stood a wall nearly 12 feet thick at its +foundation, of flint and chalk, strongly cemented together, and cased +with hewn stone, on which was a parapet with battlements. In the centre, +on the summit of the hill, stood the castle or citadel, surrounded with +a very deep intrenchment and a high rampart; and in the area beneath, +forming a wide space between the inner and outer ramparts, stood the +city, divided into equal parts, north and south; near the middle of each +division was a gate—these two being the grand entrances, with a tower +and mole over and before each. Besides these were ten other towers, at +equal distances round the city; and opposite them, in a straight line +with the castle, were built the principal streets, intersected in the +middle with one grand circular street, encompassing the whole city. In +the angle to the north-west stood the cathedral, and episcopal palace, +and the houses of the clergy. +</p> + +<p> +The area of the city was also divided into nearly equal parts by +intrenchments and ramparts thrown up, by which means if one part was +taken, the other was still defensible; and if the whole of the out-works +were in the hands of the enemy, the besieged could retire to the castle, +whose walls were impregnable. There appears to have been but one +entrance to the castle, on the east. There were five wells, four in the +city and one in the castle, designed chiefly to support the garrison and +inhabitants in time of war, or during a siege. +</p> + +<p> +The decline of Sarum, which was very rapid, has been traced to a +disagreement between the civil and ecclesiastical authorities. During +the reign of Henry I. the bishop of Old Sarum, who rose to that dignity, +from being a parish priest at Caen, was entrusted with the keys of the +fortress. The bishop, however, fell into disgrace, the king resumed the +command of the castle, and the military openly insulted the disgraced +prelate and the clergy. These animosities increasing, the Empress Maude +bestowed many gifts +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page443" name="page443"></a>[pg 443]</span> +upon the cathedral, and added much land to its grants. +Herbert, a subsequent bishop of the see, attempted to remove the +establishment, but its execution was reserved for his brother and +successor, Richard Poor, whose monument is in the south chancel of the +present cathedral at Salisbury. This was about the year 1217, from which +time the inhabitants of Old Sarum removed their residence, and pulled +down their dwellings, with the materials of which they constructed their +new habitations: and as one city increased in population and extent, so +the other almost as rapidly decayed. Hence the establishment of New +Sarum, or <i>Salisbury</i>. +</p> + +<p> +In the reign of Edward II. Sarum possessed the privilege of sending two +members to parliament, a privilege which it still retains. +</p> + + + +<hr /> + + +<h3> + CHRISTMAS CUSTOMS. +</h3> + +<center> +(<i>For the Mirror.</i>) +</center> + +<p> +The manner of spending <i>Christmas Eve</i> can hardly be better +described than by the celebrated Wilkie's sketch under that title. +Christmas is not now what it was formerly. Wilkie's painting relates to +the present time, and I do not know where Christmas is more cheerfully +observed in these days than in London—still there is an alteration—no +boar's head—no pageantries, no wassailing. In the north of England +its approach is denoted by the country people having their wood fires, +consisting of huge pieces of stumps of trees piled upon the grate, +and by entwining branches of holly over their doors, and by <i>school +boys</i> acting some play to a school full of auditors; the yearly one +at Brough was <i>St. George</i>, which is now put down by some strolling +players who exhibit in the town every Christmas. +</p> + +<p> +These are signals for Christmas, and although there is but one Christmas +day, yet the week is generally over before any thing like quietness +appears. The morning is ushered in by the ringing of the <i>church +bells</i>, and the little maidens playing at the game of <i>prickey +sockey</i>, as they call it. See them all dressed up in their +<i>best</i>, with their wrists adorned with rows of <i>pins</i>, running +about from house to house inquiring who will play at the game. The door +is opened, and she cries out, +</p> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> + <p> "Prickey Sockey, for a pin,</p> + <p> I CAR not whether I LOSS or win."</p> +</div></div> + + + +<p> +The game is played by the one holding between her two fore-fingers and +thumbs a pin, which she clasps tightly to prevent her antagonist seeing +either part of it, while her opponent <i>guesses</i>. The head of the +pin is <i>sockey</i>, and the point <i>prickey</i>, and when the other +guesses, she touches the end she guesses at, saying, <i>"this for +prickey</i>," or "<i>this for sockey</i>;" at night the other delivers +her two pins. Thus the game is played and when the clock strikes twelve +it is declared <i>up</i>, that is, no one can play after that time. +</p> + +<p> +The Christmas dinner consists of large pork or goose pies, which Brand +mentions as peculiar to this county; the goose is put in whole; they are +all marked on the top by a fork with the owner's initials; formerly it +was a religious inscription. In the afternoon (be it spoken perhaps to +their shame) they sally forth for a game at foot-ball, the first day on +which the game is played, the ball is what they call <i>clubbed up +for</i>, and he who can run away with the ball may keep it; but this +seldom occurs, as it is kicked to pieces before the game is over. And +this is Christmas Day here. At Kirby, a man named <i>Tom Mattham</i> +(since deceased) used to go round the town on Christmas Eve, about +twelve o'clock, with a bell, and chant a few carols; this was too solemn +to be compared to the London waits, but the custom still exists. +</p> + +<p> +In most of the western parts of Devonshire a superstitions custom +prevails, that on Christmas Eve, at twelve o'clock, oxen in their stalls +are always kneeling, as in the attitude of devotion; but since the style +was altered, they do this on Old Christmas Eve only. At Whitbeck, in +Cumberland, they have a similar superstition; the <i>bees</i> are said +to sing on the midnight before Christmas Day, and the oxen to kneel at +the same hour. +</p> + +<p> +In many parts of the north too it should be observed, it is customary +for men to go out and cut large ash and holly sticks and entwine them +over the doors of their houses. And in Cumberland, little maidens +assemble on Christmas to <i>guess who their husband shall be</i>, which +is done by collecting peculiar sticks, and looking for some singular +mark upon them. This is the time when sweethearts too send round their +presents to the young lasses, by whom others are returned. +</p> + +<p> +The custom of keeping open house is, I think, obsolete. Haddon Hall (so +late as Queen Elizabeth) was kept open during twelve days after +Christmas, with the <i>old English</i> hospitality. I observe also in +some old books accounts of a feast of "cakes and ales" being usual.<a id="footnotetag9" name="footnotetag9"></a><a href="#footnote9"><sup>9</sup></a> +</p> + +<p> +In the book of <i>Christmasse Carolles</i>, by Wynkyn de Worde in 1521, +are the +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page444" name="page444"></a>[pg 444]</span> +following verses on bringing in the Boar's head:— +</p> + + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> + <p> "A Carrol bryngyne in the boar's head,</p> +<p class="i2"> <i>Caput Apri defero.</i></p> +<p class="i2"> <i>Redden laudes Domino.</i></p> +</div><div class="stanza"> + <p> "The bore's head in hande brynge I,</p> + <p> With garlaudes gay and rosemary</p> + <p> I praye you all synge merely,</p> +<p class="i4"> <i>Qui estis in convivio.</i></p> +</div><div class="stanza"> + <p> "The bore's head I understande</p> + <p> Is the chefe servyce in this lande,</p> + <p> Looke wherever it be fand,</p> +<p class="i4"> <i>Servite cum cantico.</i></p> +</div><div class="stanza"> + <p> "Be gladde both man and lasse</p> +<p class="i2"> For this hath ordayned our stewarde</p> + <p> To chere you all this Christmasse</p> +<p class="i2"> The bore's head with mustarde."</p> +</div></div> + + + +<p> +Upon the young prince's coronation, 1170, Henry II. "served his son at +the table as server, bringing up the <i>bore's head</i> with <i>trumpets</i> +before it, according to the manner."—<i>Hollinshed</i>. +</p> + +<p> +The boar's head was stuffed "<i>with branches of rosemary</i>, "it +appears with trumpets playing, so that "<i>it was a grande syghte</i>." +</p> + +<p> +It would appear they had grand doings at the inns of court +during Christmas. The usual dish at the first course at dinner +was "a large <i>bore's head</i> upon a silver platter, with +minstralsye."—<i>Dugdale's Orig. Jur.</i> +</p> + +<p> +Before the last civil wars, the first diet in gentlemen's houses that +was brought to table at Christmas was a <i>boar's head with a lemon in +his mouth</i>. At Queen's College, Oxford, the custom is retained; the +bearer of it brings it into the hall singing to an old tune, an old +Latin rhyme, <i>Caput Apri Defero, &c.</i> +</p> + +<p> +Formerly, "An English gentleman at the opening of the great day, i.e. on +Christmas Day in the morning, had all his tenants and neighbours enter +his hall by day-break. The strong beer was broached, and the black jacks +went plentifully about with toast, sugar, nutmeg, and good Cheshire +cheese. The hackin (the great sausage) must be boiled by day-break, or +else two young men must take the maiden (the cook) by the arms, and run +her round the market-place till she is ashamed of her laziness."—<i>From +an old Tract, "Round about our Coal Fire, or Christmas Entertainments</i>." +</p> + +<p> +Further, from the same Tract we find that "In Christmas holidayes," the +tables were all spread from the first to the last; the sirloins of beef, +the minched pies, the <i>plum porridge</i>, the capons, turkeys, geese +and plum-puddings, were all brought upon the board, every one ate +heartily and was welcome, which gave rise to the proverb, "merry in the +hall, where beards wag all." +</p> + +<p> +Misson says, "the plum-porridge is not at all inferior to the pie;" the +goose pie usually made at Christmas. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Yule Cakes</i>.—I must now call your attention to the <i>Yule +Cakes</i>. Yule dough a little image of paste, was formerly baked at +<i>Yuletide</i>, and presented by bakers to their customers, as +<i>Christmas candles</i> are given away by tallow chandlers. Brand +says, "the Yule dough has perhaps been intended for an image of the +child, Jesus, with the Virgin Mary," and he says, "it is now, if I +mistake not, pretty generally laid aside, or at most retained only by +children." Mr. Brand was not aware that the custom still prevailed in +many parts in the north. At Brough I have frequently ate of the cakes; +they are figured with currants, and are usually eaten with a basin of +frumity on Christmas Eve. Mince pies are there called <i>minched</i>, or +<i>shrid pies</i>. +</p> + +<p> +The custom of decking our houses and churches with holly, &c. originates +from ancient heathenish practices. Mr. Brand says, that "<i>holly</i> +was used only to deck the inside of houses at Christmas, while +<i>ivy</i> was used not only as a vintner's sign, but also among the +evergreens at funerals." Archdeacon Nares mentions "the custom longest +preserved, was the hanging up of a bush of mistletoe in the kitchen or +servant's hall, with the <i>charm</i> attached to it, that the maid who +was not kissed under it at Christmas would not be married in that year." +In the north a similar custom is observed, viz. that of kissing a maiden +<i>over</i> a bunch of holly. Polydore Virgil says, that "Trimmyng of +the temples with hangynges, flowers, boughs, and garlandes, was taken of +the heathen people, whiche decked their idols and houses with such +arraye." +</p> + +<p> +<i>Round about our Coal Fire</i>.—Formerly fires were in the middle of +the room, and the company sat in a ring round about it, hence the +proverb, "round about our coal fire," which is as great a comfort as any +at Christmas. +</p> + +<p> +In the north they have their <i>Yule log</i>, or <i>Yuletide log</i>, +which is a huge log burning in the chimney corner, whilst the Yule cakes +are baked on a "girdle," (a kind of frying pan) over the fire; little +lads and maidens assemble nightly at some neighbouring friend's to hear +the goblin story, and join in "fortune telling," or some game. There is +a part of an old song which runs thus: and with which I shall conclude +this custom +</p> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> + <p> "Now all our neighbours chimnies smoke,</p> +<p class="i2"> And <i>Christmas logs</i> are burning,</p> + <p> Their ovens they with baked meate choke,</p> +<p class="i2"> And all their spits are turning."</p> +</div></div> + + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page445" name="page445"></a>[pg 445]</span> +</p> + +<p> +And in another place we hear that +</p> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> + <p> "The wenches with their <i>wassell bowles</i></p> + <p> About the streete are singing."</p> +</div></div> + + + +<p> +<i>Wassail-bowl</i>.—Formerly it was customary to <i>wassail</i> on +Christmas Eve, or drink health to the apple trees. +</p> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> + <p> "Wassaile the trees that they may beare</p> + <p> You many a plum and many a peare,</p> + <p> For more or lesse fruits they will bringe,</p> + <p> And do you give them wassailing."</p> +<p style="text-align: right;">HERRICK.</p> +</div></div> + +<p> +Sir Thomas Acland informed Mr. Brand, in 1790, that at Werington, on +Christmas Eve, "it was then customary for the country people to sing a +wassail or drinking song, and throw the toast from the wassail-bowl to +the apple-trees, in order to have a fruitful tree." +</p> + +<p> +In many towns in Cumberland it is the practice on Christmas Eve to roast +apples before the fire on a string, and hold under them a bowl of spiced +ale (called there <i>mulled ale</i>) and let them roast on until they +drop into the ale. +</p> + +<p> +We have the following picture of a country squire from Grose:—"His +chief drink the year round was generally ale, except at this season, the +fifth of November, or some other gala days, when he would make a bowl of +strong brandy punch, garnished with a toast and nutmeg. In the corner of +his hall by the fire-side stood a large wooden two-armed chair, and +within the chimney corner were a couple of seats. Here at Christmas he +entertained his tenants assembled round a globing fire made of the roots +of trees and other <i>great logs</i>, and told and heard the <i>traditionary +tales of the village</i>, respecting ghosts and witches, till fear made +them afraid to move. In the mean time the jorum of ale was in continual +circulation." +</p> + +<p> +<i>Christmas Presents</i>.—A friend of mine at Appleby, in +Westmoreland, who is aware of my writing this article, says, "Pray +recollect the old custom we have here of making little presents one to +another. You know it is the practice here for little girls to send +numerous presents to their sweethearts, secured as tightly with <i>wax +and brown paper</i> as can be, that they may be some time guessing what +it is before they open it. And if it is worth remarking, I would further +remind you of the sending of <i>shrid</i> pies (which you know are very +excellent) as presents to neighbours." +</p> + +<p> +In London enough is seen of the presents at Christmas, without +describing them; and after a "day spent merrily," they in the evening +commence card playing, which is kept up till morning, generally +speaking, and from thenceforth a whole run of merry days, till and +beyond Twelfth Day. +</p> + +<p> +Soon after Christmas Day we are apprized of Twelfth Day (which keeps us +from dulness) by the icy cakes which everywhere appear in the +pastrycook's windows. And now I think I have as far as I am able +fulfilled my promise, and I may perhaps conclude this article with +wishing you and <i>all</i> your readers and correspondents a merry +Christmas and a happy new year. +</p> + +<h4> +W.H.H. +</h4> + +<hr /> + + +<h3> + RECOLLECTIONS OF MELROSE ABBEY. +</h3> + +<center> +(<i>For the Mirror.</i>) +</center> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> + <p> "I do love these ancient ruins;</p> + <p> We never tread upon them, but we set</p> + <p> Our foot upon some reverend history."</p> +</div></div> + + + +<p> +This fine ruin has a double interest attached to it, for, independent of +that which is created by the antiquity and splendour of the edifice, the +visiter should bear in mind that it is the <i>Kennaquhair</i> of the +northern magician; and here the scenes so finely depicted in the +<i>Monastery</i> are vividly brought to our recollection; it gives a +"local habitation and a name" to some of the most interesting creations +of Sir Walter Scott's genius. The abbey is situated in a valley, +surrounded by the Eildon hills. Some ruins of the abbey mill, with the +dam belonging to "Hob Miller," the father of the "lovely Mysinda," are +still to be seen; and the ford across the Tweed, where the worthy +Sacristan was played so scurvy a trick by the White Lady, is also +pointed out. Some miles off, on a wild and romantic spot on the course +of the river, Elwin, or Allan, is Fairy Dean, or Nameless Dean, which is +at once identified to be that place above the tower and vale of +Glendearg, which was the favourite haunt of the White Lady, and the spot +where Sir Piercie Shafton's <i>stoccatas</i>, <i>embroccatas</i>, and +<i>passados</i> first failed him, when opposed to the less polished and +rustic skill of Halbert Glendinning, assisted by the machinations of the +queen of the elfin tribe. On this place are found a number of small +stones, of a singular shape and appearance, resembling guns, cradles +with children in them, bonnets, &c., several of which I obtained in a +tour to Scotland. They are called <i>elf-stones</i> by the neighbouring +peasantry. +</p> + +<p> +Many parts of the abbey are still in a state of tolerable preservation; +the marks of cannon-shot and fire are visible on the walls in some +places, the abbey having been bombarded by Oliver Cromwell, with his +usual zeal against every thing that adorned the country. Many Roman +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page446" name="page446"></a>[pg 446]</span> +medals of Vespasian, Adrian, &c. have been found about it. I hardly know +a more interesting place to visit than Melrose and its neighbourhood; +while the abbey affords a fine moral lesson on the instability and +perishableness of even the most magnificent works raised by human skill +and industry. +</p> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> + <p> "Here naked stand the melancholy walls,</p> + <p> Lash'd by the wint'ry tempests, cold and bleak,</p> + <p> That whistle mournful through the empty aisles,</p> + <p> And piece-meal crumble down the towers to dust,"</p> +</div></div> + + + +<p> +When viewed by moonlight, the solemnity and grandeur of the effect is +charming. An enthusiastic friend of mine, on paying the abbey a visit a +year or two ago, had it lighted up with tapers. I subjoin a few passages +from a letter I received at the time from him;—"Yesterday, being +Valentine's day, in the evening I went to vespers, and had six tapers +burning at the high altar in the abbey; also several in each of the +(eight) confessionals, holy water, fonts, shrines, and altars.—The +church-yard, the abbey, were silent as the grave; you might have heard a +pin drop; there was not a breath of air stirring, so the tapers burnt, +beautifully." This must have strongly reminded the spectator of the +introduction to the <i>Monastery</i>, and the visit of the worthy +benedictine, accompanied by Captain Clutterbuck, for the purpose of +taking up his patron's heart. My friend adds, "not a taper has been +burnt in St. Mary's of Melrose since the days of Knox.—On Monday I went +to the tower of Glendearg; at the fountain, where Sir Piercie Shafton +and Halbert Glendinning fought, I got, with the help of my guide, some +curious stones, said to be the work of the <i>White Lady</i>." The +scenery is picturesque in the highest degree. "Yesterday I went to Old +Melrose. The windings of the Tweed there are beautiful; but the tolling +the abbey bell recalls me from my wanderings." +</p> + +<p> +The impression made on Sir Walter Scott by the ruins may be inferred +from the following lines:— +</p> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> + <p> "If thou would'st view fair Melrose aright,</p> + <p> Go visit it by the pale moonlight;</p> + <p> For the gay beams of lightsome day</p> + <p> Gild but to flout the ruins grey.</p> + <p> When the broken arches are black in night,</p> + <p> And each shafted oriel glimmers white;</p> + <p> When the cold light's uncertain shower</p> + <p> Streams on the ruin'd central tower,</p> + <p> When buttress and buttress, alternately,</p> + <p> Seem framed of ebon and ivory;</p> + <p> When silver edges the imagery,</p> + <p> And the scrolls that teach thee to live and die;</p> + <p> When distant Tweed is heard to rave,</p> + <p> And the owlet to hoot o'er the dead man's grave;</p> + <p> Then go—but go alone the while—</p> + <p> Then view St. David's ruin'd pile;</p> + <p> And home returning, soothly swear,</p> + <p> Was never scene so sad and fair!"</p> +</div></div> + + + +<p> +One of your correspondents (with whom I had once a disputation on the +<i>weighty</i> subject of ghosts) sent you a version of the subjoined +epitaph, with a trifling alteration in the spelling, (which is copied +from a very ancient tomb-stone in Melrose Abbey,) with these remarks, +(see MIRROR, vol. 4, p. 392):—"The following beautiful lines were +written by a cow-boy [!] in Sussex on a wall, with a piece of red chalk, +[mark the precision.] They have only been inserted in a Sussex paper, +and may be quite unknown to many London readers," &c. &c. &c. This is a +regular hoax. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<h3> + EPITAPH. +</h3> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> + <p> The earth goeth on the earth,</p> + <p> Glist'ring like Gold;</p> + <p> The earth goes to the earth sooner than it wold.</p> + <p> The earth builds on the earth castles and towers;</p> + <p> The earth says to the earth, all shall be ours.</p> +</div></div> + + + +<p> +Here the contemplative wanderer may pass many an hour, with profit and +pleasure, +</p> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> + <p> "Mid epitaphs and tombs,</p> + <p> Wrapt in the dreams of other days."</p> +</div></div> + +<hr /> + +<h3> + HISTORY OF THE ABBEY. +</h3> + +<p> +I have arranged a few particulars of the history, &c. of this relic of +monkish times, which will form an appropriate conclusion to these +desultory remarks. +</p> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> + <p> "Hail! ye bold turrets, and thou rev'rend pile,</p> + <p> That seem in age's hoary rest to smile!</p> + <p> All trail! for here creative fancy reads</p> + <p> Of ages past the long-forgotten deeds.</p> + <p> With trembling footsteps I approach thy gates,</p> + <p> The massy door upon the hinges grates!</p> + <p> Hark! as it opens what a hollow groan</p> + <p> 'Cross the dark hall and down the aisles is thrown!"</p> +<p style="text-align: right;">SIR EGERTON BAYDGES.</p> +</div></div> + +<p> +It is handed down by tradition that an abbey was founded at Melrose +about the end of the sixth century. The famous St. Cuthbert was one of +the abbots in 643; he, however, left, and went to Holy Island, in +Northumberland. Many wonderful stories are related of St. Cuthbert; that +eleven years after his death in Holy Island, (in 687,) his body, on +being taken up, exhibited no marks of corruption, seeming as if asleep, +&c. &c. Ethelwold succeeded St. Cuthbert, and sometime after the +monastery was ruined by the +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page447" name="page447"></a>[pg 447]</span> +Danes. The place where this abbey is +supposed to have stood is called Old Melrose, and is a mile and a half +from the present abbey. +</p> + +<p> +Melrose Abbey was founded by king David of Scotland in 1136. It is +supposed to have been built in ten years. The church of the convent was +dedicated to St. Mary on the 28th of July, 1146. It was the mother +church of the Cistertian order in Scotland. The monks were brought from +Rievaulx Abbey, in Yorkshire. Their habit was white; and they soon +superseded the order of the Benedictines. +</p> + +<p> +The abbey is built in the form of St. John's cross, of the Gothic style +of architecture, and is 258 feet in length; the breadth 137-1/2 feet; +and 943 feet in circumference. A considerable part of the principal +tower is now in ruins; its present height is 84 feet. There are many +very superb windows; the principal one at the east end (which is the top +nave of the cross,) appears to have been more recently built than the +others, and is 57 feet in extreme height, and 28 feet wide. It has been +ornamented with statues, &c. The beauty of the carved work, with which +the abbey is profusely decorated, is seldom equalled, and deservedly +celebrated: +</p> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> + <p> "Spreading herbs and flow'rets bright,</p> + <p> Glisten'd with the dew of night;</p> + <p> Nor herb nor flow'ret glisten'd there,</p> + <p> But was carved in the cloister'd arches as fair."</p> +</div></div> + + + +<p> +There are in the external view of the building 50 windows, 4 doors, 54 +niches, and above 50 buttresses. The abbey was much injured by the +English in 1322 and 1384. Richard II. made it a grant in 1389, as some +compensation for the injuries it had sustained in the retreat of his +army. It was also greatly defaced during the reformation. A stronger +proof of their infatuated and (partly) misplaced zeal cannot be adduced, +than the destruction of religious edifices by the reformers. There were +one hundred monks, without including the abbot and dignitaries. The last +abbot was James Stuart, natural son of James V., who died in 1559. The +privileges and possessions of the abbey were very extensive,.and it was +endowed by its founder, David, with the lands of Melrose, Eildon, &c., +&c., right of fishery on the Tweed, &c.; and succeeding monarchs +increased its property. Sixty of the monks, it is said, renounced popery +at the reformation. In 1542, the revenue of the abbey was, +"1758<i>l</i>. in money, 14 chalders nine bolls of wheat, 56 chal. 5 +bolls of barley, 78 chal. 13 bolls of meal, 44 chal. 10 bolls of oats, +84 capons, 620 poultry, 105 stone of butter, 8 chal. of salt, 340 loads +of peats, and 500 carriages;" besides 60 bolls of corn, 300 barrels of +ale, and 18 hogsheads of wine, for the service of the mass: a large +quantity for the entertainment of strangers; 4,000<i>l</i>. for the care +of the sick; and 400<i>l</i>. to the barber. These were given up at the +commencement of the reformation in 1561. The lands were either seized by +the crown, or divided amongst the nobles. A large portion fell into the +hands of the Buccleugh family. +</p> + +<p> +A stone coffin, supposed to be that of the famous Michael Scott, the +wizard, was found in the small aisle on the south of the chancel in +1812. It was authenticated that his remains had been laid here. There +was an altar erected to say mass for his soul. The length of the +skeleton was six feet. A stone head at the foot of the coffin bears a +very rude wizard-like appearance. Alexander II. and many of the Scottish +kings and nobles are buried here. The best view is obtained of the +building from the south east, which, indeed, commands the whole of the +ruin. The village contains 500 or 600 inhabitants, and is 35 miles +distant from Edinburgh. The remains of several Roman camps are to be +seen in its neighbourhood, and one of the hills bears the marks of +having been a volcano. Sir Walter Scott's residence at Abbotsford is +within a few miles. +</p> + +<h4> +VYVYAN. +</h4> + +<hr /> + +<h3> +ON WAITS. +</h3> + +<center> +(<i>To the Editor of the Mirror</i>.) +</center> + + +<p> +MR. EDITOR,—It may not be unacceptable to many of your readers to +receive some elucidation of a custom which is still prevalent at the +present season. I allude to the waits, who visit us in the month of +December, with instrumental music, going from house to house. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Waites</i>, or <i>waits</i>, formerly <i>wayghtes</i> is derived from +the latter noun, and originally signified <i>hautbois</i>, (or hautbois, +as we have it in English,) of which it is not unworthy remark, there is +no singular number. From the instrument its signification was, after a +time, transferred to the performers themselves; concerning whom, it is +well known,.the appellation is now applied to all who follow the +practice above adverted to, especially those who, at the approach of. +Christmas, salute us with their nightly concerts. +</p> + +<p> +The <i>wayghtes</i> of ancient times were, as some historians say, so +called, because they attended or <i>waited</i> on potentates, judges, +magistrates, and bodies corporate, pomp and processions, &c.; they were +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page448" name="page448"></a>[pg 448]</span> +also sometimes appointed to keep a sort of Watch at night, and were then +generally decorated with superb dresses, splendid cloaks, &c. In Rymers' +<i>Fardera</i> there is an account of such an establishment, of the +minstrels and <i>waites</i> who were in the service of the court of +Edward IV., wherein is mentioned "a <i>waite</i> that nighteleye, from +Michaelmas to Shrove Thorsday, pipeth the watch within this court;" "i. +fewer times, in the somere nightes iij. times." Todd derives the term +waits from <i>wahts</i>, (Goth.) nocturnal itinerant musicians, +(Beaumont and Fletcher;) Bayley, on account of their waiting on +magistrates, &c.; or of <i>guet</i>, a watch; or from the French +<i>guetter</i>, to watch, because anciently they kept a sort of watch a +night. From what I have narrated, then, it appears that the persons +formerly called waites, or waits, were <i>musical</i> watchmen, the word +implying <i>obees</i>. They were, in fact, minstrels, at first annexed +to the king's court, who sounded the watch every night; and in towns +paraded the streets during winter, to prevent theft, &c. At Exeter they +were set up, with a regular salary, in 1400; and although suppressed by +the Puritans, were reinstated in 1660. M.A. Boyer, in his <i>French and +English Dictionary</i>, Rivington. 1747, under the word <i>waits</i>, s. +has the following: "in the French, <i>sorte de hautbois</i>, (ho-boy,) +corresponding with the signification of the term waits, as itinerant or +wandering (music or) musicians. These nocturnal perambulators, it seems, +were anciently called, as they now are, waits; and persons, bearing the +same name, still go about our streets during the month of December, +(previous to the 25th.) Whatsoever may be the reasons or the motives of +those (maunderers) who <i>now</i> call <i>themselves waits</i>, I must +leave for the consideration of such as are favoured with their visits. I +am of opinion it can have neither allusion nor similitude to the +Christmas carol as some have suggested, which was an imitation, however +humble, of 'The glory to God on high,' &c., as sung by the angels who +hovered over the fields of Bethlehem on the morning of our Saviour's +nativity." It is true, indeed, that our modern angels, <i>the waits</i> +of 1897, have <i>hovered about</i>, and <i>they may</i> (without a pun) +be styled angels (of darkness), not only on account of the watch they +keep <i>a nights</i>, but on account of those <i>spirit-uous propensities</i>, +for the attainment of which, principally, some have supposed, <i>we</i> are +<i>indebted</i> to <i>them</i> for <i>their waits</i>, and also for their <i>wait-ing</i> +upon us on the day ycleped boxing-day. +</p> + +<p> +But to return to our subject; independent of the origin of the waits, or +of the persons so called, as relates to the institution in England, +which is, comparatively, of modern date, <i>it appears there were +peculiar to the Romans</i> a description of individuals, who, in their +offices and character, answered to our waits, and from whom there is no +doubt the latter were derived; these, among the Romans, were called +<i>spondaulae</i>, from which I conceive the <i>waightes</i>, or <i>waites</i>, +of our ancient kings were borrowed. The <i>Roman waites</i>, or <i>spondaulae</i>, +were a description of vocal and instrumental musicians, who performed a +hymn, whose measure consisted of spondees, (a poetic foot, formed of two +long syllables,) which was sung, accompanied by the flute, or other wind +instrument, while the priest offered the sacrifice, and the incense was +burning, to procure the favour of the gods; the waits, or spondaulae, +continuing their music, to prevent the priest from hearing sounds of ill +omen, which might disturb the ceremony, or divert his attention. It has +been suggested, in this view of the origin of the waits, which many +writers consider to be the real source of the custom, that they are +altogether anti-christian, and of heathen and idolatrous foundation, and +of consequence have neither allusion to, nor connexion with, our +festivities at Christmas <i>at any period</i>. +</p> + +<p> +City Road. +</p> + +<h4> +L. DESORMEAUX. +</h4> + +<hr /> + +<h3> +ORIGIN OF LOVE. +</h3> + +<center> +FROM THE MADRIGALS OF GUARINI. +</center> + +<center> +(<i>For the Mirror</i>.) +</center> + + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> + <p> Cupid one day, in luckless hour,</p> + <p> Observed a bee from flow'r to flow'r,</p> +<p class="i2"> Hurrying on busy wing;</p> + <p> Thinking to gain the honied prize,</p> + <p> He strove the insect to surprise,</p> +<p class="i2"> But quickly felt its sting.</p> +</div><div class="stanza"> + <p> Fired with revenge, he flew away</p> + <p> To where asleep my Julia lay,</p> +<p class="i2"> On mossy bank reclin'd;</p> + <p> And while he sought relief to sip,</p> + <p> By kisses from her balmy lip,</p> +<p class="i2"> He left the sting behind.</p> +</div><div class="stanza"> + <p> Thus if I now, in hours of bliss,</p> + <p> From her sweet mouth should steal a kiss,</p> +<p class="i2"> I after feel the smart;</p> + <p> For when her rosy lips I've press'd,</p> + <p> And think myself supremely blest,</p> +<p class="i2"> I bear the sting at heart!</p> +</div></div> + + +<h4> +E.L.J. +</h4> + + +<hr /> + +<h3> +TOTTENHAM HIGH CROSS. +</h3> + +<center> +(<i>For the Mirror</i>.) +</center> + + +<p> +On entering Tottenham, on the right from London, is to be seen the +following inscription over eight alms-houses:— +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page449" name="page449"></a>[pg 449]</span> +</p> + + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> + <p> 1600.</p> + <p> Not vnto vs,</p> + <p> O Lord—</p> + <p> Not vnto vs—But</p> + <p> vnto thy name</p> + <p> give ye glorie.</p> +<p style="text-align: right;"><i>Ps. 115, v. i.</i></p> +</div></div> + +<p> +"Balthaza Zanchez, born in Spain, in the citie of Shere, in Estramadvra, +is the fownder of these eyght Alma-Houses for the relieefe of eyght +poore men and women of the Town of Tattenham High Crasse." +</p> + +<p> +The founder of these alms-houses, Balthazar Zanches, was confectioner to +Philip II. of Spain, with whom he came over to England, and was the +first who exercised that art in this country. He became a Protestant, +and died in 1602. It is said that he lived in the house, now the George +and Vulture Inn; at the entrance of which he had fixed the arms of +England, in a garter, supported by a lion and griffin, and with the +initials E.R.: over another door, 1587. +</p> + +<p> +Among the ancient possessors of the manor of Tottenham, was Robert +Bruce, king of Scotland, from whom the Manor-House obtained the name of +Bruce Castle, which it still retains.—At the end of Page Green stands a +remarkable circular clump of elms, called the Seven Sisters; and on the +west side of the great road is St. Loy's well, which is said to be +always full, and never to run over; and opposite the vicarage house +rises a spring, called Bishop's Well, of which the common people report +many strange cures. +</p> + +<hr class="full" /> + + + + +<h2> + ARCANA OF SCIENCE. +</h2> + + + +<hr /> + +<center> +<i>Outline of the History of Gas Lighting.</i> +</center> + + +<p> +"What a striking contrast between the appearance of the brilliantly +illuminated streets at this time, compared with the days of Henry V. It +is recorded, that in 1417, Sir Henry Barton, mayor of London, ordained +'lanterns with lights to bee hanged out on the winter evenings between +Hallowtide and Candlemasse.' Paris was first lighted by an order issued +in 1524; and in the beginning of the sixteenth century, the streets +being infested with robbers, the inhabitants were ordered to keep lights +burning in the windows of all such houses as fronted the streets. In +1668, when some regulations were made for improving the streets of +London, the inhabitants were reminded to hang out their lanterns at the +usual time; and in 1690 an order was issued to hang out a light, or +lamp, every night as soon as it was dark, from Michaelmas to Christmas. +By an act of the common council in 1716, all housekeepers, whose houses +fronted any street, lane, or passage, were required to hang out, every +dark night, one or more lights, to burn from six to eleven o'clock, +under the penalty of one shilling. In 1736, the lord mayor and common +council applied to parliament for an act to enable them to erect lamps; +and in 1744 they obtained farther powers for lighting the city. +Birmingham was first lighted by lamps in 1733, so that in this +improvement it preceded the metropolis."—<i>Beckman's History of +Inventions</i>. +</p> + +<p> +It may not be disagreeable to our readers to trace the brilliant lights +by which the streets are illuminated, from the obscure recesses of +nature, and to show by what steps that which was once thought simply an +object of curiosity, has been applied to a practical purpose of the most +useful and agreeable kind. +</p> + +<p> +The inflammable gases were known originally for their direful effects +rather than their useful qualities. Miners were acquainted with two of +them, called the <i>choke damp</i> and the <i>fire damp</i>, long before +the establishment of the Royal Society; but the earliest printed account +of either occurs in its Transactions, in the year 1667. The paper in +which it is contained, is entitled, "A Description of a Well and Earth +in Lancashire taking Fire, by a Candle approaching to it. Imparted by +Thomas Shirley, Esq an eye-witness." +</p> + +<p> +Dr. Stephen Hales was the first person who procured an elastic fluid +from the actual distillation of coal. His experiments with this object +are related in the first volume of his Vegetable Statics, published in +1726. From the distillation of "one hundred and fifty-eight grains of +Newcastle coal, he states that he obtained one hundred and eighty cubic +inches of air, which weighed fifty-one grains, being nearly one third of +the whole." The inflammability of the fluid he thus produced was no part +of his inquiry; and though it is now deemed its most useful and +important property, appears to have excited no attention till several +years after. +</p> + +<p> +In the "Philosophical Transactions" for 1733, some properties of +coal-gas are detailed in a paper called, "An Account of the Damp Air in +a Coal-pit of Sir James Lowther, sunk within Twenty Yards of the Sea." +This paper, as it contains some striking facts relating to the +inflammability and other properties of coal-gas, is deserving of +particular attention. +</p> + +<p> +The principal properties of coal-gas are here related with remarkable +minuteness and precision; and as the writer exhibited them to different +members of the Royal Society, and showed that after keeping the gas +sometime, it still retained its elasticity and inflammability, it is +remarkable, that the philosophers of the time undertook no experiments +with the view of applying it to useful purposes. +</p> + +<p> +Dr. John Clayton, in an extract from a letter in the "Philosophical +Transactions" for 1735, calls gas the "spirit" of coal; and came to a +knowledge of its inflammability by an accident. This "spirit" chanced to +catch fire, by coming +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page450" name="page450"></a>[pg 450]</span> +in contact with a candle, as it was escaping from +a fracture in one of his distillatory vessels. By preserving the gas in +bladders, he frequently diverted his friends, by exhibiting its +inflammability. This is the nearest approach to the idea of practically +applying this property. +</p> + +<p> +The subject attracted the attention of Dr. Richard Watson, who published +the results of his researches in the second volume of his "Chemical +Essays." He dwells upon the elasticity and inflammability of coal-gas; +and remarked, that it retains these properties <i>after passing through +a great quantity of water</i>. +</p> + +<p> +The man who first applied the inflammability of gas to the purposes of +illumination, was Mr. Murdoch. This gentleman, residing at Soho, near +Birmingham, that hot-bed of ingenuity and mechanical science, on +occasion of the celebration of the peace of 1802, covered the works of +Soho with a light and splendour that astonished and delighted all the +population of the surrounding country. Mr. Murdoch had not attained to +this perfection without having had many difficulties to encounter. In +the year 1792, he used coal gas for lighting his house and offices, at +Redruth, in Cornwall; and in 1797 he again made a similar use of it at +Old Cunnock, in Ayrshire. At Soho, he constructed an apparatus which +enabled him to exhibit his plan on a larger scale than any he had +heretofore attempted. His experiments were then seduously continued, +with the able assistance of Mr. Southern and Mr. Henry Creighton, with +a view to ascertain not only the best modes of making, but also of +purifying and burning gas, so as to prevent either the smell or the +smoke from being offensive. +</p> + +<p> +Previous to the public display made of the illuminating properties of +gas, at Soho, it had been applied to similar purposes, by a M. Le Bon, +of Paris. A friend of the gentlemen at Soho, wrote from Paris a letter, +dated November 8, 1801, to that establishment, informing them, that a +person had lighted up his house and gardens with the gas obtained from +wood and coal, and had it in contemplation to light up the city of +Paris. This is an important fact in the detail of the history of +gas-lighting; and we should be glad of further information respecting +the steps which led M. Le Bon to the results which he appears to have +obtained, and also respecting the fortunes which subsequently attended +the invention in France. However, M. Le Bon's exhibitions have a +remarkable connexion with the progress of the invention in England: they +seem, indeed, almost to have diverted it from its natural course, which +certainly would have led from the illumination at Soho to its public +adoption. +</p> + +<p> +In 1804, Dr. Henry delivered a course of lectures on chemistry, at +Manchester, in which he showed the mode of producing gas from coal, and +the facility and advantage of its use. Dr, Henry analyzed the +composition and investigated the properties of carburetted hydrogen gas. +His experiments were numerous and accurate, and made upon a variety of +substances; and having obtained the gas from wood, peat, different kinds +of coal, oil, wax, &c. he endeavoured to estimate the relative quantity +of light yielded by each. +</p> + +<p> +In 1805, Mr. Samuel Clegg, to whom the world is much indebted for the +improvements he subsequently introduced into the manufacture of gas, +having left Soho, directed his attention to the construction of gas +apparatus. The first he erected was in the cotton mill of Mr. H Lodge, +near Halifax, in Yorkshire. Mr. Josiah Pemberton, one of those ingenious +men happily not rare in the centre of our manufactures, whose minds are +perpetually employed on the improvement of mechanical contrivances, and +who, as soon as they have accomplished one discovery, leave others to +reap the benefit, and themselves pursue the chase alter new inventions, +had for some time been experimenting on the nature of gas. A resident of +Birmingham, his attention was probably roused by the exhibition at Soho; +and such was the fertility of his invention, and his practical skill as +a mechanic, that it has been observed by those who know him, that he +never undertook to make an article without inventing an improvement in +its construction. About 1806, he exhibited gas-lights in a variety of +forms, and with great brilliance, at the front of his manufactory in +Birmingham. +</p> + +<p> +In 1808 he constructed an apparatus, applicable to several uses, for Mr. +Benjamin Cooke, a manufacturer of brass tubes, gilt toys, and other +articles. In 1808, Mr. Murdoch communicated to the Royal Society a very +interesting account of his successful application of coal gas to +lighting the extensive establishment of Messrs. Phillips and Lea. For +this communication, Count Rumford's gold medal was presented to him. Mr. +Murdoch's statements threw great light on the comparative advantage of +gas and candles, and contained much useful information on the expenses +of production and management. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page451" name="page451"></a>[pg 451]</span> +</p> + +<p> +Early in 1809, Mr. Samuel Clegg communicated to the Society of Arts his +plan of an apparatus for lighting manufactories with gas, for which he +received a silver medal. In this year also, Mr. Clegg erected a gas +apparatus in Mr. Harris's manufactory at Coventry. +</p> + +<p> +It was natural to suppose that all these circumstances should eventually +produce an impression on the country; consequently about this time much +attention was excited towards gas-lighting, and much utility anticipated +from a general application of it to public purposes. In this year 1809, +accordingly, the first application was made to parliament for an act to +incorporate a company, with the view of carrying on its processes more +effectually and beneficially. The movers in this project were some of +the more intelligent and persevering subscribers to a New Light and Heat +Company, projected by Mr. Winsor. They were opposed by some on the +ground of their designs being visionary and fraught with danger; and by +Mr. Murdoch on the plea of priority of invention, which entitled him to +exclusive privileges if he chose to avail himself of them. This gave +rise to a long and minute investigation of the subject before a committee +of the House of Commons. The application terminated unsuccessfully; and +the testimony of Mr. Aceum, exposed him to the animadversions of Mr. +Brougham. In 1810, however, the application was renewed by the same +parties, and though some opposition was encountered, and considerable +expense incurred, the bill passed, but not without great alterations; +and the present London and Westminster Chartered Gas-Light and Coke +Company was established. The proceedings of this company after the act +was obtained comprise a most important period in the history of this +invention. During the first few years of their operations large sums of +money were expended in experiments, and very few beneficial results were +obtained. The undertaking was complicated and difficult, and not only +required the guidance of experience, but the assistance of a scientific +education and a fertile invention. These requisites were found in the +person of Mr. Samuel Clegg, under whose able direction and +superintendence the principal works of the company, at their different +stations, were erected. From this period various improvements were +gradually introduced into almost every part of the apparatus. In 1816, +Mr. Clegg obtained the patent for his horizontal rotative retort; his +apparatus for purifying coal gas with cream of lime; for his rotative +gas meter; and self-acting governor; and altogether by his exertions the +London and Westminster Company's affairs assumed a new and flattering +aspect. +</p> + +<p> +For reasons which are not assigned, in 1817, Mr. Clegg retired from the +service of this establishment. +</p> + +<p> +In this year, 1817, at the three stations belonging to the Chartered Gas +Company, twenty-five chaldron of coal were daily carbonized, producing +300,000 cubic feet of gas, which was equal to the supply of 75,000 +Argand lamps, each yielding the light of six candles. At the City Gas +Works, in Dorset-street, Black-friars, the quantity of coal daily +carbonized amounted to, three chaldron, which afforded a quantity of gas +adequate to the supply of 1,500 Argand lamps; so that twenty-eight +chaldron of coal were daily carbonized at that time, and 76,500 lights +supplied by those two companies only. +</p> + +<p> +At this period the principal object of attention in the manufacture of +gas was its purification. Mr. D. Wilson, of Dublin, took out a patent +for purifying coal gas by means of the chemical action of ammoniacal +gas. Another plan was devised by Mr. Reuben Phillips, of Exeter, who +obtained a patent for the purification of coal gas by the use of dry +lime. Mr. G. Holworthy, in 1818, took out a patent for a method of +purifying it by causing the gas, in a highly-condensed state, to pass +through iron retorts heated to a dark red. For this object and several +others, having in view improvements upon the ordinary method, many other +patents were procured. +</p> + +<p> +OIL gas now appeared in the field as a rival of COAL gas. In 1815, Mr. +John Taylor had obtained a patent for an apparatus for the decomposition +of <i>oil</i> and other animal substances; but the circumstance which +more particularly attracted the public attention to be directed to +<i>oil</i> gas was the erection of the patent apparatus at Apothecary's +Hall, by Messrs. Taylors and Martineau; and the way was prepared for an +application to parliament for the establishment of an Oil Gas Company by +sundry papers in journals, and by the recommendations of Sir William +Congreve, who had been employed by the Secretary of State to inspect the +state of the gas manufactories in the metropolis. This application, made +in the year 1825, proved unfortunate. +</p> + +<p> +In Sir William's Reports is the following account, beginning with the +London Gas-Light and Coke Company:— +</p> + +<p> +At the Peter-street station the whole +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page452" name="page452"></a>[pg 452]</span> +number of the retorts which they +had fixed was 300; the greatest number working at any time daring the +last year, 22l; the least 87. Fifteen gasometers, varying in dimensions, +the contents computed on an average at 20,626 cubic feet each, amounting +to 309,385 cubic feet altogether; but never quite filled; the working +contents estimated at 18,626 cubic feet each—in the whole at 279,390 +cubic feet. The extent of mains belonging to this station is about +fifty-seven miles, there being two separate mains in some of the +streets; the produce of gas from 10,000 to 12,000 cubic feet from a +chaldron of coals. The weekly consumption of coal is reckoned at 42 +bushels for each retort, amounting to about 602 chaldrons; and taking +the average number of retorts worked at this station at about 153, would +give an annual consumption of coals of upwards of 9,282 chaldrons, +producing 111,384,000 cubic feet of gas. +</p> + +<p> +The average number of lights during the year 1822 was 10,660 private, +2,248 street lamps, theatres, 3,894. +</p> + +<p> +At the Brick-lane works, the number of retorts which were fixed was 371, +the greatest number worked 217, and the least 60. The number of +gasometers 12, each averaging 18,427 cubic feet, amounting in the whole +to 221,131 cubic feet; and their average working contents 197,124 cubic +feet. The average number of retorts worked was 133; the coals consumed +8,060 chaldrons; the quantity of gas produced 96,720.000 cubic feet; the +number of lamps 1,978 public, 7,366 private, through 40 miles of mains. +</p> + +<p> +At the Curtain-road establishment the whole number of retorts was 240; +the greatest number worked in the last year 80; the lowest 21. The +number of gasometers 6, average contents of each 15,077 cubic feet; the +contents of the whole 90,467; another gasometer containing 16,655 cubic +feet; the average number of retorts worked 55; the coals consumed 3,336 +chaldrons; quantity of gas produced 40,040,000 cubic feet; the number of +lamps supplied 3,860 private, and 629 public, through 25 miles of mains. +</p> + +<p> +The whole annual consumption of coals by the three different stations +was 20,678; the quantity of gas produced 248,000,000 cubic feet: the +whole number of lamps lighted by this company 30,735, through 122 miles +of mains. +</p> + +<p> +The City of London Gas-Light Company, Dorset-street:—The number of +retorts fixed 230; the number of gasometers 6; the largest 39,270 cubic +feet, the smallest 5,428 cubic feet; two large additional gasometers +nearly completed, contents of each 27,030 cubic feet, making in the +whole 181,282 cubic feet. The number of lamps lighted 5,423 private, and +2,413 public, through 50 miles of mains. The greatest number of retorts +worked at a time (in 1811) 130, the least 110, average 170. The quantity +of coals carbonized amounted to 8,840 chaldrons; produced 106,080,000 +cubic feet of gas. +</p> + +<p> +The South London Gas-Light and Coke Company, at Bankside:—The number of +retorts was 140; gasometers 3; the contents of the whole 41,110 cubic +feet; and their mains from 30 to 40 miles in length. At their other +station in Wellington-street, they had then no retorts in action; but +three large gasometers were erected, containing together 73,565 cubic +feet, which were supplied from Bankside till the retorts were ready to +work. +</p> + +<p> +The Imperial Gas-Light and Coke Company were erecting at their Hackney +station two gasometers of 10,000 cubic feet each, and about to erect +four more of the same size. At their Pancras station they had marked out +ground for six gasometers of 10,000 cubic feet each. +</p> + +<p> +In the year 1814, there was only <i>one</i> gasometer in Peter-street, +of 14,000 cubic feet, belonging to the Chartered Gas-Light Company, then +the only company established in London. At present there are four great +companies, having altogether 47 gasometers at work, capable of +containing in the whole 917,940 cubic feet of gas, supplied by 1,315 +retorts, and these consuming 33,000 chaldron of coals in the year, and +producing 41,000 chaldron of coke. The whole quantity of gas generated +annually being upwards of 397,000,000 cubic feet, by which 61,203 +private, and 7,268 public or street lamps are lighted in the metropolis. +In addition to these great companies, there are several private +companies, whose operations are not included in the foregoing +statements.—<i>Abridged from Matthews's History of Gas-Lighting, and +the London Magazine, Dec. 1827</i>. +</p> + +<hr class="full" /> + + + + +<h2> + SPIRIT<br /> OF THE<br /> +PUBLIC JOURNALS. +</h2> + +<hr /> + +<h3> +LONDON LYRICS. +</h3> + +<center> +MAGOG'S PROPHECY. +</center> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> + <p> Pastor cum traheret per freta navibus.</p> +<p style="text-align: right;">HOR. <i>lib.</i> i. <i>od.</i> 15.</p> +</div></div> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> + <p> As late, of civic glory vain,</p> + <p> The Lord Mayor drove down Mincing-lane,</p> + <p> The progress of the baimer'd train</p> +<p class="i2"> To lengthen, not to shorten:</p> +</div></div> + + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page453" name="page453"></a>[pg 453]</span> +</p> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> + <p> Gigantic Magog, vex'd with heat,</p> + <p> Thus to be made the rabble's treat,</p> + <p> Check'd the long march in Tower-street,</p> +<p class="i2"> To tell his Lordship's fortune.</p> +</div><div class="stanza"> + <p> "Go, man thy barge for Whitehall Stair;</p> + <p> Salute th' Exchequer Barons there,</p> + <p> Then summon round thy civic chair</p> +<p class="i2"> To dinner Whigs and Tories—</p> + <p> Bid Dukes and Earls thy hustings climb;</p> + <p> But mark my work, Matthias Prime,</p> + <p> Ere the tenth hour the scythe of Time</p> +<p class="i2"> Shall amputate, thy glories.</p> +</div><div class="stanza"> + <p> "Alas! what loads of food I see,</p> + <p> What Turbots from the Zuyder Zee,</p> + <p> What Calipash, what Calipee,</p> +<p class="i2"> What Salad and what Mustard:</p> + <p> Heads of the Church and limbs of Law,</p> + <p> Vendors of Calico and Straw,</p> + <p> Extend one sympathetic jaw</p> +<p class="i2"> To swallow Cake and Custard.</p> +</div><div class="stanza"> + <p> "Thine armour'd Knights their steeds discard'</p> + <p> To quaff thy wine 'through helmet barr'd,'</p> + <p> While K.C.B.'s, with bosoms starr'd,</p> +<p class="i2"> Within their circle wedge thee.</p> + <p> Even now I see thee standing up,</p> + <p> Raise to thy lip 'the loving cup,'</p> + <p> Intent its ruby tide to sup,</p> +<p class="i2"> And bid thy hearers pledge thee.</p> +</div><div class="stanza"> + <p> "But, ah! how fleeting thy renown!</p> + <p> Thus treading on the heel of Brown;</p> + <p> How vain thy spangled suit, thy gown</p> +<p class="i2"> Intended for three waiters:</p> + <p> Ere Lansdowne's speech is at an end,</p> + <p> I see a board of lamps descend,</p> + <p> Whose orbs in bright confusion blend,</p> +<p class="i2"> And strew the floor with splinters.</p> +</div><div class="stanza"> + <p> "Their smooth contents spread far and near,</p> + <p> And in one tide impetuous smear</p> + <p> Knight, Waiter, Liveryman, and Peer:</p> +<p class="i2"> Nay, even his Royal Highness</p> + <p> The falling board no longer props,</p> + <p> Owns, with amaze, the unwelcome drops</p> + <p> And, premature anointment, swaps</p> +<p class="i2"> For oozy wet his dryness.</p> +</div><div class="stanza"> + <p> "Fear shrieks in many a varied tone,</p> + <p> Pale Beauty mourns her spotted zone,</p> + <p> And heads and bleeding knuckles own</p> +<p class="i2"> The glittering prostration.</p> + <p> Behold! thou wip'st thy crimson chin,</p> + <p> And all is discord, all is din;</p> + <p> While scalded waiters swear thee in</p> +<p class="i2"> With many an execration.</p> +</div><div class="stanza"> + <p> "Yet, Lucas, smile in Fortune's spite;</p> + <p> Dark mornings often change to bright;</p> + <p> Ne'er shall this omen harm a wight</p> +<p class="i2"> So active and so clever.</p> + <p> How buoyant, how elastic thou!</p> + <p> With a lamp halo round thy brow,</p> + <p> Prophetic Magog dubs thee now</p> +<p class="i2"> A Lighter man—than ever."</p> +</div></div> + + +<h4> +<i>New Monthly Magazine.</i> +</h4> + +<hr /> + + +<h3> + ROYAL APPETITES. +</h3> + + +<p> +Charles XII. was brave, noble, generous, and disinterested,—a complete +hero, in fact, and a regular fire-eater. Yet, in spite of these +qualifications and the eulogiums of his biographer, it is pretty evident +to those who impartially consider the career of this potentate, that he +was by no means of a sane mind. In short, to speak plainly, he was mad, +and deserved a strait-waistcoat as richly as any straw-crowned monarch +in Bedlam. A single instance, in <i>my</i> opinion, fully substantiates +this. I allude to his absurd freak at Frederickshall, when, in order to +discover how long he could exist without nourishment, he abstained from +all kinds of food for more than seventy hours! Now, would any man in his +senses have done this? Would Louis XVIII., for instance, that wise and +ever-to-be-lamented monarch? Had it been the <i>reverse</i> indeed—had +Charles, instead of practising starvation, adopted the opposite +expedient, and endeavoured to ascertain the greatest possible quantity +of meat, fruit, bread, wine, vegetables, Sec. &c. he could have +<i>disposed of</i> in any given time—why then it might have been +something! But to <i>fast</i> for three days! if this be not madness—! +Indeed, there is but one reason I could ever conceive for a person not +eating; and that is, when, like poor Count Ugolino and his family, he +can get <i>nothing to eat</i>! +</p> + +<p> +Charles, now, and Louis—what a contrast! The first despised the +pleasures of the table, abjured wine, and would, I dare say, just as +soon have been without "a distinguishing taste" as with it. Your +Bourbon, on the contrary, a five-mealed man, quaffing right Falernian +night and day; and wisely esteeming the gratification of his palate of +such importance, as absolutely to send from Lisle to Paris—distance of +I know not how many score leagues—at a crisis, too, of peculiar +difficulty—for a single <i>p�te</i>! "Go," cried the illustrious exile +to his messenger; "dispatch, <i>mon enfant</i>! Mount the +<i>tricolor</i>! Shout <i>Vive le Diable</i>! Any thing! But be sure you +clutch the precious compound! Napoleon has driven me from my throne; but +he cannot deprive me of my appetite!" Here was courage! I challenge the +most enthusiastic admirer of Charles to produce a similar instance of +indifference to danger! +</p> + +<p> +There is another trait in the character of Louis which equally demands +our admiration, and proves that the indomitable firmness may be +sometimes associated with the most sensitive and—I had almost +said—infantine sensibility. Of course, it will be perceived that I +allude to the peculiar tenderness by which that amiable prince was often +betrayed, even into tears, upon occasions when ordinary minds would have +manifested comparative <i>nonchalance</i>. +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page454" name="page454"></a>[pg 454]</span> +I have been assured that Louis +absolutely wept once at Hartwell, <i>merely because oysters were out of +season</i>!—a testaceous production, to which he was remarkably +attached, (whence his cognomen of <i>Des Hu�tres</i>, by corruption +<i>Dix-huit</i>;) so much so, indeed, as to be literally <i>ready to +eat them</i>, whenever they were brought into his presence. It is said +that this worthy descendant of the Good <i>Henr�</i> used to put a +barrel of Colchester oysters daily <i>hors de combat</i>, merely to +<i>give him an appetite</i>. +</p> + +<h4> +<i>Monthly Magazine.</i> +</h4> + +<hr /> + + +<h3> + PORSON AND SHERIDAIT. +</h3> + + +<p> +The worst effect of "the scholar's melancholy," is when it leads a man, +from a distrust of himself, to seek for low company, or to forget it by +matching below himself. Porson, from not liking the restraints, or not +possessing the exterior recommendations of good society, addicted +himself to the lowest indulgences, spent his days and nights in +cider-cellars and pot-houses, cared not with whom or where he was, so +that he had somebody to talk to and something to drink, "from humble +porter to imperial tokay," (<i>a liquid</i>, according to his own pun,) +and fell a martyr, in all likelihood, to what in the first instance was +pure <i>mauvaise honte</i>. Nothing could overcome this propensity to +low society and sotting, but the having something to do, which required +his whole attention and faculties; and then he shut himself up for weeks +together in his chambers, or at the university, to collate old +manuscripts, or edite a Greek tragedy, or expose a grave pedant, without +seeing a single boon companion, or touching a glass of wine. I saw him +once at the London Institution with a large patch of coarse brown paper +on his nose, the skirts of his rusty black coat hung with cob-webs, and +talking in a tone of suavity approaching to condescension to one of the +managers. It is a pity that men should so lose themselves from a certain +awkwardness and rusticity at the outset. But did not Sheridan make the +same melancholy ending, and run the same fatal career, though in a +higher and more brilliant circle? He did; and though not from exactly +the same cause, (for no one could accuse Sheridan's purple nose and +flashing eye of a bashfulness—"modest as morning when she coldly eyes +the youthful Phoebus!") yet it was perhaps from one nearly allied to it, +namely, the want of that noble independence and confidence in its own +resources which should distinguish genius, and the dangerous ambition to +get sponsors and vouchers for it in persons of rank and fashion. The +affectation of the society of lords is as mean and low-minded as the +love of that of cobblers and tapsters. It is that cobblers and tapsters +may admire, that we wish to be seen in the company of <i>their</i> +betters. +</p> + +<h4> +<i>New Monthly Magazine.</i> +</h4> + +<hr /> + + +<h3> + THE "STAY-AT-HOME." +</h3> + + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> + <p> I'll never dwell among the Caffres;</p> +<p class="i2"> I'll never willing cross the Line,</p> + <p> Where Neptune, 'mid the tarry laughers,</p> +<p class="i2"> Dips broiling landsmen in the brine.</p> +</div><div class="stanza"> + <p> I'll never go to New South Wales,</p> +<p class="i2"> Nor hunt for glory at the Pole—</p> + <p> To feed the sharks, or catch the whales,</p> +<p class="i2"> Or tempt a Lapland lady's soul.</p> + <p> I'll never willing stir an ell</p> +<p class="i2"> Beyond old England's chalky border,</p> + <p> To steal or smuggle, buy or sell,</p> +<p class="i2"> To drink cheap wine, or beg an Order.</p> +</div><div class="stanza"> + <p> Let those do so who long for claret,</p> +<p class="i2"> Let those, who'd kiss a Frenchman's—toes;</p> + <p> I'll not drink vinegar, nor Star it,</p> +<p class="i2"> For any he that wears a nose.</p> + <p> I'll not go lounge out life in Calais,</p> +<p class="i2"> To dine at half a franc a head;</p> + <p> To hut like rats in lanes and alleys—</p> +<p class="i2"> To eat an exile's gritty bread.</p> +</div><div class="stanza"> + <p> To flirt with shoeless Seraphinas,</p> +<p class="i2"> To shrink at every ruffian's shako;</p> + <p> Without a pair of shirts between us,</p> +<p class="i2"> Morn, noon, and night to smell tobacco;</p> + <p> To live my days in Gallic hovels,</p> +<p class="i2"> Untouched by water since the flood;</p> + <p> To wade through streets, where famine grovels</p> +<p class="i2"> In hunger, frippery, and mud.</p> +</div></div> + + +<h4> +<i>Monthly Magazine.</i> +</h4> + + +<hr class="full" /> + + + + +<h2> + THE SELECTOR;<br /> +AND<br /> +LITERARY NOTICES OF<br /> +NEW WORKS.<br /> +</h2> + +<hr /> + + +<h3> + ART OF DRINKING WINE +</h3> + +<p> +The order of taking wine at dinner has not been sufficiently observed in +this country. "There is," as the immortal bard beautifully expresses it, +"a reason in roasting eggs;" and if there is a <i>rationale</i> of +eating, why should there not be a system of drinking? The red wines +should <i>always</i> precede the white, except in the case of a French +dinner, when the oysters should have a libation of Chablis, or Sauterne. +I do not approve of white Hermitage with oysters. The Burgundies should +follow—the purple Chambertin or odorous Romanee. A single glass of +Champagne or Hock, or any other white wine, may then intervene between +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page455" name="page455"></a>[pg 455]</span> +the Cote Rotie and Hermitage; and last, not least in our dear love, +should come the cool and sweet-scented Claret. With the creams and the +ices should come the Malaga, Rivesaltes, or Grenache; nor with these +will Sherry or Madeira harmonize ill. Last of all, should Champagne boil +up in argent foam, and be sanctified by an offering of Tokay, poured +from a glass so small, that you might fancy it formed of diamond. +</p> + +<h4> +<i>Literary Pocket-Book.</i> +</h4> + +<hr /> + + +<h3> + STRATFORD-ON-AVON. +</h3> + +<p> +I was detained at Stratford nearly two hours, and endeavoured to see +whatever I could, in so short a time, relative to Shakspeare. The clean, +quiet, <i>uncommercial</i> appearance of the town pleased me; but I was +interested beyond expression on seeing the great poet's house. When I +entered the untenanted room where he first drew the breath of this +world, I took off my hat with, I hope, an unaffected sentiment of +homage. The walls and ceiling of this chamber are covered with names and +votive inscriptions, among which I saw the signatures of Sir Walter +Scott, Mr. Lockhaft, Washington Irving, and many others familiar to me, +foreigners as well as English. I did not sign <i>my</i> name, for I felt +that it had no right in such a place; but I brought away a minute relic, +in the shape of a bit of rotten wood, pinched from the beam that +supports the chimney. +</p> + +<p> +From the birth-place of the illustrious man, I found my way to his +corpse-place; and never had I beheld so beautiful and venerable a +church, or so tranquil and lovely a spot. The approach to the edifice, +which is situated at some distance from the town, upon the banks of the +fresh and murmuring Avon, is through an avenue of lime-trees, the +branches of which are interlaced <i>archwise</i>, as Lord Bacon would +say, so as to form a green canopy of some length. The scenery is not +what is called <i>romantic</i>, but soft and quiet, and calculated, +above all things, to surround the tomb of the genial poet of human +nature. +</p> + +<p> +I was determined to get into the church, though it was so early; and, +accordingly, after a little trouble, I found out the sexton, a fine old +fellow, with a Saxon name, who was munching his breakfast in a large +old-fashioned room with latticed casements, half kitchen and half +parlour. But he was too busy with his meal to be disturbed; and +accordingly he sent his wife with me to open the church, and I believe +our footsteps were the first which had that morning disturbed the holy +silence of the place. The building is very fine, and even stately; but +the interest connected with Shakspeare absorbs all other feelings, and +monopolizes one's admiration. I stood under his monument, on the very +stone of his grave. * * * +</p> + +<h4> +<i>Ibid.</i> +</h4> + +<hr class="full" /> + + + + +<h2> + THE GATHERER. +</h2> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p> +"I am but a <i>Gatherer</i> and disposer of other men's +stuff."—<i>Wotton.</i> +</p> +</div></div> + +<hr /> + + +<h3> + LORD RUSSEL. +</h3> + +<p> +When my Lord Russel was on the scaffold, and preparing to be beheaded, +he took his watch out of his pocket and gave it to Dr. Burnet, who +assisted his devotions, with this observation: "My time-piece may be of +service to you: I have no further occasion for it. My thoughts are fixed +on eternity." +</p> + +<hr /> + + +<h3> + EPITAPH ON A SCOLD. +</h3> + + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> + <p> Here lies my wife; and heaven knows,</p> + <p> Not less for mine than her repose!</p> +</div></div> + +<hr /> + + +<h3> + ON A MAN WHOSE NAME WAS PENNY. +</h3> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> + <p> Reader, if in cash thou art in want of any,</p> + <p> Dig four feet deep and thou shalt find A PENNY.</p> +</div></div> + +<hr /> + + +<h3> + DRAMATIC SKETCH OF A THIN MAN. +</h3> + +<p> +A long lean man, with all his limbs rambling—no way to reduce him +to compass, unless you could double him like a pocket rule—with his +arms spread, he'd lie on the bed of Ware like a cross on a Good Friday +bun—standing still, he is a pilaster without a base—he appears rolled +out or run up against a wall—so thin that his front face is but the +moiety of a profile—if he stands cross-legged, he looks like a +Caduceus, and put him in a fencing attitude, you would take him for +a piece of chevaux-de-frise—to make any use of him, it must be as a +spontoon or a fishing-rod—when his wife's by, he follows like a note +of admiration—see them together, one's a mast and the other all +hulk—she's a dome, and he's built together like a glass-house—when +they part, you wonder to see the steeple separate from the chancel, +and were they to embrace, he must hang round her neck like a skein +of thread on a lace-maker's bolster—to sing her praise, you should +choose a rondeau; and to celebrate him, you must write all +Alexandrines.—<i>Sheridan's MSS. in Moore's Life of him.</i> +</p> + +<hr /> + + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> + <p> A man of words and not of deeds,</p> + <p> Is like a garden full of seeds.</p> +</div><div class="stanza"> +</div></div> + +<hr /> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page456" name="page456"></a>[pg 456]</span> +</p> + + +<h3> + STOLEN GOODS. +</h3> + +<p> +A Negro in Jamaica was tried for theft, and ordered to be flogged. He +begged to be heard, which being granted, he asked—"If white man buy +tolen goods why he be no flogged too?" "Well," said the judge, "so he +would." "Dere, den," replied Mungo, "is my Massa, he buy <i>tolen goods, +he knew me tolen, and yet he buy me."—Elgin Courier.</i> +</p> + +<hr /> + + +<h3> + DECREASE OF LUNACY IN LONDON. +</h3> + +<p> +According to the Parliamentary Returns in May, 1819, the total number +of lunatics comprised in the circle of London and different private +asylums, amounted to 2,005, which Dr. Burrows calculates as proving an +increase of only five on an average in twenty years, notwithstanding the +increase of our population. The late Dr. Heberden and Dr. Willan both +concurred in this statement. The large district of Mary-la-bonne, which +some years ago comprehended the greatest proportion of inhabitants in +the metropolis, not less than 80,000,—from 1814 to the year 1819 +received only 180 female lunatics, and 118 males. +</p> + +<hr /> + + +<h3> + INGREDIENTS OF MODERN LOVE. +</h3> + + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> + <p> Twenty glances, twenty tears,</p> + <p> Twenty hopes, and twenty fears,</p> + <p> Twenty times assail your door,</p> + <p> And if denied, come twenty more,</p> + <p> Twenty letters perfumed sweet,</p> + <p> Twenty nods in every street,</p> + <p> Twenty oaths, and twenty lies,</p> + <p> Twenty smiles, and twenty sighs,</p> + <p> Twenty times in jealous rage,</p> + <p> Twenty beauties to engage,</p> + <p> Twenty tales to whisper low,</p> + <p> Twenty billet-doux to show,</p> + <p> Twenty times a day to pass,</p> + <p> Before a flattering looking-glass,</p> + <p> Twenty times to stop your coach,</p> + <p> With twenty words of fond reproach,</p> + <p> Twenty days of keen vexation,</p> + <p> Twenty opera assignations,</p> + <p> Twenty nights behind the scenes,</p> + <p> To dangle after mimic queens,</p> + <p> Twenty such lovers may be found,</p> + <p> Sighing for twenty thousand pounds,</p> + <p> But take my word, ye girls of sense,</p> + <p> You'll find them not worth twenty-pence.</p> +</div></div> + +<hr /> + + +<h3> + GREAT AND SMALL. +</h3> + +<p> +A shopkeeper at Poncaster had, for his virtues, obtained the name of the +<i>little rascal</i>. A stranger asked him why this application was +given him? "To distinguish me from the rest of my trade," quoth he, +"who are all <i>great rascals</i>." +</p> + +<h4> +C.F.E. +</h4> + +<hr /> + + +<h3> +THE LAW, PROFESSORS OF, IN ENGLAND:— +</h3> + + +<table summary="Numbers of law professors" width="100%"> +<tr><td>Counsel </td><td align="right"> 936</td></tr> +<tr><td>Special Pleaders below the Bar </td><td align="right"> 49</td></tr> +<tr><td>Conveyancers </td><td align="right"> 90</td></tr> +<tr><td>London Attorneys </td><td align="right"> 2,146</td></tr> +<tr><td> Country Attorneys </td><td align="right"> 5,200</td></tr> +<tr><td> </td><td align="right"><hr class="full" /></td></tr> +<tr><td> </td><td align="right"> Total 8,421</td></tr> +</table> + + +<h4> +<i>Law List</i> +</h4> + +<hr /> + + +<h3> + EPIGRAM FROM THE SPANISH OF REBOLLEDO. +</h3> + +<center> +(<i>For the Mirror</i>.) +</center> + + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> + <p> Fair Phillis has fifty times registered vows,</p> + <p> That of Christian or Turk, she would ne'er be the spouse,</p> +<p class="i2"> For wedlock so much she disdain'd,</p> + <p> And neither of these she has married, 'tis true,</p> + <p> For now she's the wife of a wealthy old <i>Jew</i>;</p> +<p class="i2"> And thus she her vow has maintain'd!</p> +</div></div> + + +<h4> +E.L.J. +</h4> + +<hr /> + + +<h3> + THE LAWYER AND HIS CLIENT. +</h3> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> + <p> Two lawyers, when a knotty cause was o'er,</p> + <p> Shook hands and were as good friends as before,</p> + <p> "Zounds!" says the losing client, "how come yaw</p> +<p class="i2"> To be such friends, who were such foes just naw?"</p> + <p> "Thou fool," says one, "we lawyers tho' so keen,</p> + <p> Like shears, ne'er cut ourselves, but what's between."</p> +</div></div> + + + +<hr /> + + +<h3> + LIMBIRD'S EDITION OF THE +</h3> + +<p> +BRITISH NOVELIST, Publishing in Monthly Parts, price 6d. each.—Each +Novel will be complete in itself, and may be purchased separately. +</p> + +<p> +<i>The following Novels are already Published</i>: +</p> + + +<table summary="List of novels" width="80%" align="center"> +<tr><td> </td><td align="right"><i>s.</i> </td><td align="right"><i>d.</i></td></tr> +<tr><td> Goldsmith's Vicar of Wakefield </td><td align="right">0 </td><td align="right">10</td></tr> +<tr><td> The Mysteries of Udolpho </td><td align="right">3 </td><td align="right">6</td></tr> +<tr><td> Mackenzie's Man of Feeling </td><td align="right">0 </td><td align="right">6</td></tr> +<tr><td> Rasselas </td><td align="right">0 </td><td align="right">8</td></tr> +<tr><td> Paul and Virginia </td><td align="right">0 </td><td align="right">6</td></tr> +<tr><td> The Old English Baron </td><td align="right">1 </td><td align="right"> 8</td></tr> +<tr><td> The Castle of Otranto </td><td align="right">0 </td><td align="right">6</td></tr> +<tr><td> The Romance of the Forest </td><td align="right">1 </td><td align="right">8</td></tr> +<tr><td> Almoran and Hamet </td><td align="right">0 </td><td align="right">6</td></tr> +<tr><td> Elizabeth, or the Exiles of Siberia </td><td align="right">0 </td><td align="right">6</td></tr> +<tr><td> Nature and Art </td><td align="right">0 </td><td align="right">8</td></tr> +<tr><td> The Italian </td><td align="right">2 </td><td align="right">0</td></tr> +<tr><td> A Simple Story </td><td align="right">1 </td><td align="right">4</td></tr> +<tr><td> The Castles of Athlin and Dunbayne </td><td align="right">0 </td><td align="right">6</td></tr> +<tr><td> Sicilian Romance </td><td align="right">1 </td><td align="right">0</td></tr> +<tr><td> The Man of the World </td><td align="right">1 </td><td align="right">0</td></tr> +<tr><td> Zeluco, by Dr. Moore </td><td align="right">2 </td><td align="right">0</td></tr> +<tr><td> Joseph Andrews </td><td align="right">1 </td><td align="right">6</td></tr> +<tr><td> Humphry Clinker </td><td align="right">1 </td><td align="right">8</td></tr> +<tr><td> Edward, by Dr. Moore </td><td align="right">2 </td><td align="right">6</td></tr> +</table> + +<hr class="full" /> + +<p> +Published by J. LIMBIRD, 143, Strand, London, and Sold by all +Booksellers and Newsmen. +</p> + +<hr class="full" /> + +<blockquote class="footnote"> +<a id="footnote1" name="footnote1"></a> +<b>Footnote 1</b>: +<a href="#footnotetag1">(return)</a> +<p> +"<i>Ancient Wilts</i>,"--Sir R.C. Hoare, speaking of <i>Stonehenge</i>, + expresses his opinion that "our earliest inhabitants were Celts, + who naturally introduced with them their own buildings customs, + rites, and religions ceremonies, and to them I attribute the + erection of Stonehenge, and the greater part of the sepulchral + memorials that still continue to render its environs so truly + interesting to the antiquary and historian." <i>Abury</i>, or + <i>Avebury</i>, is a village amidst the remains of an immense + temple, which for magnificence and extent is supposed to have + exceeded the more celebrated fabric of Stonehenge; Some + enthusiastic inquirers have however, carried their supposition + beyond probability, and in their zeal have even supposed them to + be <i>antediluvian</i> labours! Many of the <i>barrows</i> in the vicinity + of Sarum have been opened, and in them several antiquarian relics + have been discovered. In short, the whole county is one of high + antiquarian interest, and its history has been illustrated with + due fidelity and research. +</p> +</blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"> +<a id="footnote2" name="footnote2"></a> +<b>Footnote 2</b>: +<a href="#footnotetag2">(return)</a> +<p>Richard of Cirericesler, p. 31, 68, 113.</p> +</blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"> +<a id="footnote3" name="footnote3"></a> +<b>Footnote 3</b>: +<a href="#footnotetag3">(return)</a> +<p>Cott. <i>Coll. Faustina</i>, b. 3, <i>MSS. Brit Mus.</i></p> +</blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"> +<a id="footnote4" name="footnote4"></a> +<b>Footnote 4</b>: +<a href="#footnotetag4">(return)</a> +<p>Brompton <i>Twysd.</i>. 866.</p> +</blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"> +<a id="footnote5" name="footnote5"></a> +<b>Footnote 5</b>: +<a href="#footnotetag5">(return)</a> +<p>Dodsworth's <i>History of Salisbury Cathedral</i>.</p> +</blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"> +<a id="footnote6" name="footnote6"></a> +<b>Footnote 6</b>: +<a href="#footnotetag6">(return)</a> +<p>Roger de Hoveden.</p> +</blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"> +<a id="footnote7" name="footnote7"></a> +<b>Footnote 7</b>: +<a href="#footnotetag7">(return)</a> +<p>Ibid.</p> +</blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"> +<a id="footnote8" name="footnote8"></a> +<b>Footnote 8</b>: +<a href="#footnotetag8">(return)</a> +<p>Petrus Blesensis, <i>Epist</i>, 105.</p> +</blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"> +<a id="footnote9" name="footnote9"></a> +<b>Footnote 9</b>: +<a href="#footnotetag9">(return)</a> +<p>See MIRROR, p. 330.</p> +</blockquote> + +<hr class="full" /> + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, +and Instruction, No. 290, by Various + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MIRROR OF LITERATURE *** + +***** This file should be named 13587-h.htm or 13587-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/3/5/8/13587/ + +Produced by Jonathan Ingram, David Garcia and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team. + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction, No. 290 + Volume X. No. 290. Saturday, December 29, 1827. + +Author: Various + +Release Date: October 3, 2004 [EBook #13587] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MIRROR OF LITERATURE *** + + + + +Produced by Jonathan Ingram, David Garcia and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team. + + + + + + + + + + + +THE MIRROR OF LITERATURE, AMUSEMENT, AND INSTRUCTION. + +VOL. X, NO. 290.] SATURDAY, DECEMBER 29, 1827. [PRICE 2d. + + * * * * * + + + + +OLD SARUM + + +[Illustration] + + +Among the earliest antiquarian records, Old Sarum is described as a city +of the Belgae; and its historical details have proved an exhaustless +mine for the researches of topographical illustrators. + +Thus, Sir R.C. Hoare describes it as "a city of high note in the +remotest periods by the several barrows near it, and its proximity to +the two largest Druidical temples in England, namely, Stonehenge and +Abury."[1] + + + +The Romans held it as a strong military station, and it was admitted +to the privileges of the Latin law, under the name of _Sorbiodunum;_[2] + +Under the Saxons it ranked among the most considerable towns of the West +kingdom, and possessed ecclesiastical establishments soon after the +conversion of the Saxons to Christianity.[3] + +In the early part of the ninth century it was the frequent residence of +Egbert; and in 960, Edgar assembled here a national council to devise +the best means of repelling the Danes in the north.[4] + +Arthur commanded it to be more strongly fortified by another trench and +high palisadoes.[5] + +In 1086, William the Norman convened in this city the prelates, nobles, +sheriffs, and knights of his new dominions, there to receive their +homage;[6] and probably, within its walls was framed the feudal law, as +Domesday Book was commenced in the same year. + +Two other national councils were held here; one by William Rufus, in +1096, and another by Henry I in 1116.[7] + +Peter of Blois, an early ecclesiastical writer, described Old Sarum as +"barren, dry, and solitary, exposed to the rage of the wind; and the +church (stands) as a captive on the hill where it was built, like the +ark of God shut up in the profane house of Baal."[8] + +Such are a few of the chronological data of the principal events in the +history of Old Sarum; these, however, will suffice to elucidate the +antiquity of the city, and from their historical importance cannot fail +to make the preceding engraving a subject of general as well as of local +interest, especially as it represents the old city, previous to its +reduction in 553. + +Scarcely a vestige of human habitation now remains of Old Sarum, as we +have shown once a place "of great importance--and a city adorned with +many proud structures--a splendid cathedral and other churches--a castle +with lofty towers and ramparts--regular streets and houses--and once the +residence of a numerous population." But all these have passed away, and +nought is left to tell the tale of their greatness, but a few crumbling +wrecks of massy walls; whilst vast fosses and elevated ramparts remain +to mark it as the site of desolating war. The contrast of time-worn +ruins with their surounding scenes of luxuriant nature is affecting even +to melancholy. A recent visiter to the area of Old Sarum describes "a +field of oats flourishing on the very spot where the crowded street had +formerly extended itself; and a barrier existing to the further progress +of agriculture, by the remains of the cathedral, castle, &c. forming +heaps of rubbish barely covered with scanty and unprofitable verdure." + +The space occupied by the ancient city is stated to have been nearly +2,000 feet in diameter, surrounded with a fosse, or ditch, of immense +depth, and two ramparts, inner and outer: on the inner, which was much +higher than the outer, stood a wall nearly 12 feet thick at its +foundation, of flint and chalk, strongly cemented together, and cased +with hewn stone, on which was a parapet with battlements. In the centre, +on the summit of the hill, stood the castle or citadel, surrounded with +a very deep intrenchment and a high rampart; and in the area beneath, +forming a wide space between the inner and outer ramparts, stood the +city, divided into equal parts, north and south; near the middle of each +division was a gate--these two being the grand entrances, with a tower +and mole over and before each. Besides these were ten other towers, at +equal distances round the city; and opposite them, in a straight line +with the castle, were built the principal streets, intersected in the +middle with one grand circular street, encompassing the whole city. In +the angle to the north-west stood the cathedral, and episcopal palace, +and the houses of the clergy. + +The area of the city was also divided into nearly equal parts by +intrenchments and ramparts thrown up, by which means if one part was +taken, the other was still defensible; and if the whole of the out-works +were in the hands of the enemy, the besieged could retire to the castle, +whose walls were impregnable. There appears to have been but one +entrance to the castle, on the east. There were five wells, four in the +city and one in the castle, designed chiefly to support the garrison and +inhabitants in time of war, or during a siege. + +The decline of Sarum, which was very rapid, has been traced to a +disagreement between the civil and ecclesiastical authorities. During +the reign of Henry I. the bishop of Old Sarum, who rose to that dignity, +from being a parish priest at Caen, was entrusted with the keys of the +fortress. The bishop, however, fell into disgrace, the king resumed the +command of the castle, and the military openly insulted the disgraced +prelate and the clergy. These animosities increasing, the Empress Maude +bestowed many gifts upon the cathedral, and added much land to its grants. +Herbert, a subsequent bishop of the see, attempted to remove the +establishment, but its execution was reserved for his brother and +successor, Richard Poor, whose monument is in the south chancel of the +present cathedral at Salisbury. This was about the year 1217, from which +time the inhabitants of Old Sarum removed their residence, and pulled +down their dwellings, with the materials of which they constructed their +new habitations: and as one city increased in population and extent, so +the other almost as rapidly decayed. Hence the establishment of New +Sarum, or _Salisbury_. + +In the reign of Edward II. Sarum possessed the privilege of sending two +members to parliament, a privilege which it still retains. + + [1] "_Ancient Wilts_,"--Sir R.C. Hoare, speaking of _Stonehenge_, + expresses his opinion that "our earliest inhabitants were Celts, + who naturally introduced with them their own buildings customs, + rites, and religions ceremonies, and to them I attribute the + erection of Stonehenge, and the greater part of the sepulchral + memorials that still continue to render its environs so truly + interesting to the antiquary and historian." _Abury_, or + _Avebury_, is a village amidst the remains of an immense + temple, which for magnificence and extent is supposed to have + exceeded the more celebrated fabric of Stonehenge; Some + enthusiastic inquirers have however, carried their supposition + beyond probability, and in their zeal have even supposed them to + be _antediluvian_ labours! Many of the _barrows_ in the vicinity + of Sarum have been opened, and in them several antiquarian relics + have been discovered. In short, the whole county is one of high + antiquarian interest, and its history has been illustrated with + due fidelity and research. + + [2] Richard of Cirericesler, p. 31, 68, 113. + + [3] Cott. _Coll. Faustina_, b. 3, _MSS. Brit Mus._ + + [4] Brompton _Twysd._. 866. + + [5] Dodsworth's _History of Salisbury Cathedral_. + + [6] Roger de Hoveden. + + [7] Ibid. + + [8] Petrus Blesensis, _Epist_, 105. + + * * * * * + + +CHRISTMAS CUSTOMS. + +(_For the Mirror._) + +The manner of spending _Christmas Eve_ can hardly be better +described than by the celebrated Wilkie's sketch under that title. +Christmas is not now what it was formerly. Wilkie's painting relates to +the present time, and I do not know where Christmas is more cheerfully +observed in these days than in London--still there is an alteration--no +boar's head--no pageantries, no wassailing. In the north of England +its approach is denoted by the country people having their wood fires, +consisting of huge pieces of stumps of trees piled upon the grate, +and by entwining branches of holly over their doors, and by _school +boys_ acting some play to a school full of auditors; the yearly one +at Brough was _St. George_, which is now put down by some strolling +players who exhibit in the town every Christmas. + +These are signals for Christmas, and although there is but one Christmas +day, yet the week is generally over before any thing like quietness +appears. The morning is ushered in by the ringing of the _church +bells_, and the little maidens playing at the game of _prickey +sockey_, as they call it. See them all dressed up in their +_best_, with their wrists adorned with rows of _pins_, running +about from house to house inquiring who will play at the game. The door +is opened, and she cries out, + + "Prickey Sockey, for a pin, + I CAR not whether I LOSS or win." + + +The game is played by the one holding between her two fore-fingers and +thumbs a pin, which she clasps tightly to prevent her antagonist seeing +either part of it, while her opponent _guesses_. The head of the +pin is _sockey_, and the point _prickey_, and when the other +guesses, she touches the end she guesses at, saying, _"this for +prickey_," or "_this for sockey_;" at night the other delivers +her two pins. Thus the game is played and when the clock strikes twelve +it is declared _up_, that is, no one can play after that time. + +The Christmas dinner consists of large pork or goose pies, which Brand +mentions as peculiar to this county; the goose is put in whole; they are +all marked on the top by a fork with the owner's initials; formerly it +was a religious inscription. In the afternoon (be it spoken perhaps to +their shame) they sally forth for a game at foot-ball, the first day on +which the game is played, the ball is what they call _clubbed up +for_, and he who can run away with the ball may keep it; but this +seldom occurs, as it is kicked to pieces before the game is over. And +this is Christmas Day here. At Kirby, a man named _Tom Mattham_ +(since deceased) used to go round the town on Christmas Eve, about +twelve o'clock, with a bell, and chant a few carols; this was too solemn +to be compared to the London waits, but the custom still exists. + +In most of the western parts of Devonshire a superstitions custom +prevails, that on Christmas Eve, at twelve o'clock, oxen in their stalls +are always kneeling, as in the attitude of devotion; but since the style +was altered, they do this on Old Christmas Eve only. At Whitbeck, in +Cumberland, they have a similar superstition; the _bees_ are said +to sing on the midnight before Christmas Day, and the oxen to kneel at +the same hour. + +In many parts of the north too it should be observed, it is customary +for men to go out and cut large ash and holly sticks and entwine them +over the doors of their houses. And in Cumberland, little maidens +assemble on Christmas to _guess who their husband shall be_, which +is done by collecting peculiar sticks, and looking for some singular +mark upon them. This is the time when sweethearts too send round their +presents to the young lasses, by whom others are returned. + +The custom of keeping open house is, I think, obsolete. Haddon Hall (so +late as Queen Elizabeth) was kept open during twelve days after +Christmas, with the _old English_ hospitality. I observe also in +some old books accounts of a feast of "cakes and ales" being usual.[9] + +In the book of _Christmasse Carolles_, by Wynkyn de Worde in 1521, +are the following verses on bringing in the Boar's head:-- + + + "A Carrol bryngyne in the boar's head, + _Caput Apri defero._ + _Redden laudes Domino._ + + "The bore's head in hande brynge I, + With garlaudes gay and rosemary + I praye you all synge merely, + _Qui estis in convivio._ + + "The bore's head I understande + Is the chefe servyce in this lande, + Looke wherever it be fand, + _Servite cum cantico._ + + "Be gladde both man and lasse + For this hath ordayned our stewarde + To chere you all this Christmasse + The bore's head with mustarde." + + +Upon the young prince's coronation, 1170, Henry II. "served his son at +the table as server, bringing up the _bore's head_ with _trumpets_ +before it, according to the manner."--_Hollinshed_. + +The boar's head was stuffed "_with branches of rosemary_, "it +appears with trumpets playing, so that "_it was a grande syghte_." + +It would appear they had grand doings at the inns of court during +Christmas. The usual dish at the first course at dinner was "a large +_bore's head_ upon a silver platter, with minstralsye."--_Dugdale's +Orig. Jur._ + +Before the last civil wars, the first diet in gentlemen's houses that +was brought to table at Christmas was a _boar's head with a lemon in +his mouth_. At Queen's College, Oxford, the custom is retained; the +bearer of it brings it into the hall singing to an old tune, an old +Latin rhyme, _Caput Apri Defero, &c._ + +Formerly, "An English gentleman at the opening of the great day, i.e. on +Christmas Day in the morning, had all his tenants and neighbours enter +his hall by day-break. The strong beer was broached, and the black jacks +went plentifully about with toast, sugar, nutmeg, and good Cheshire +cheese. The hackin (the great sausage) must be boiled by day-break, or +else two young men must take the maiden (the cook) by the arms, and run +her round the market-place till she is ashamed of her laziness."--_From +an old Tract, "Round about our Coal Fire, or Christmas Entertainments_." + +Further, from the same Tract we find that "In Christmas holidayes," the +tables were all spread from the first to the last; the sirloins of beef, +the minched pies, the _plum porridge_, the capons, turkeys, geese +and plum-puddings, were all brought upon the board, every one ate +heartily and was welcome, which gave rise to the proverb, "merry in the +hall, where beards wag all." + +Misson says, "the plum-porridge is not at all inferior to the pie;" the +goose pie usually made at Christmas. + +_Yule Cakes_.--I must now call your attention to the _Yule +Cakes_. Yule dough a little image of paste, was formerly baked at +_Yuletide_, and presented by bakers to their customers, as +_Christmas candles_ are given away by tallow chandlers. Brand +says, "the Yule dough has perhaps been intended for an image of the +child, Jesus, with the Virgin Mary," and he says, "it is now, if I +mistake not, pretty generally laid aside, or at most retained only by +children." Mr. Brand was not aware that the custom still prevailed in +many parts in the north. At Brough I have frequently ate of the cakes; +they are figured with currants, and are usually eaten with a basin of +frumity on Christmas Eve. Mince pies are there called _minched_, or +_shrid pies_. + +The custom of decking our houses and churches with holly, &c. originates +from ancient heathenish practices. Mr. Brand says, that "_holly_ +was used only to deck the inside of houses at Christmas, while +_ivy_ was used not only as a vintner's sign, but also among the +evergreens at funerals." Archdeacon Nares mentions "the custom longest +preserved, was the hanging up of a bush of mistletoe in the kitchen or +servant's hall, with the _charm_ attached to it, that the maid who +was not kissed under it at Christmas would not be married in that year." +In the north a similar custom is observed, viz. that of kissing a maiden +_over_ a bunch of holly. Polydore Virgil says, that "Trimmyng of +the temples with hangynges, flowers, boughs, and garlandes, was taken of +the heathen people, whiche decked their idols and houses with such +arraye." + +_Round about our Coal Fire_.--Formerly fires were in the middle of +the room, and the company sat in a ring round about it, hence the +proverb, "round about our coal fire," which is as great a comfort as any +at Christmas. + +In the north they have their _Yule log_, or _Yuletide log_, +which is a huge log burning in the chimney corner, whilst the Yule cakes +are baked on a "girdle," (a kind of frying pan) over the fire; little +lads and maidens assemble nightly at some neighbouring friend's to hear +the goblin story, and join in "fortune telling," or some game. There is +a part of an old song which runs thus: and with which I shall conclude +this custom + + "Now all our neighbours chimnies smoke, + And _Christmas logs_ are burning, + Their ovens they with baked meate choke, + And all their spits are turning." + + +And in another place we hear that + + "The wenches with their _wassell bowles_ + About the streete are singing." + + +_Wassail-bowl_.--Formerly it was customary to _wassail_ on +Christmas Eve, or drink health to the apple trees. + + "Wassaile the trees that they may beare + You many a plum and many a peare, + For more or lesse fruits they will bringe, + And do you give them wassailing." + +HERRICK. + + +Sir Thomas Acland informed Mr. Brand, in 1790, that at Werington, on +Christmas Eve, "it was then customary for the country people to sing a +wassail or drinking song, and throw the toast from the wassail-bowl to +the apple-trees, in order to have a fruitful tree." + +In many towns in Cumberland it is the practice on Christmas Eve to roast +apples before the fire on a string, and hold under them a bowl of spiced +ale (called there _mulled ale_) and let them roast on until they +drop into the ale. + +We have the following picture of a country squire from Grose:--"His +chief drink the year round was generally ale, except at this season, the +fifth of November, or some other gala days, when he would make a bowl of +strong brandy punch, garnished with a toast and nutmeg. In the corner of +his hall by the fire-side stood a large wooden two-armed chair, and +within the chimney corner were a couple of seats. Here at Christmas he +entertained his tenants assembled round a globing fire made of the roots +of trees and other _great logs_, and told and heard the _traditionary +tales of the village_, respecting ghosts and witches, till fear made +them afraid to move. In the mean time the jorum of ale was in continual +circulation." + +_Christmas Presents_.--A friend of mine at Appleby, in +Westmoreland, who is aware of my writing this article, says, "Pray +recollect the old custom we have here of making little presents one to +another. You know it is the practice here for little girls to send +numerous presents to their sweethearts, secured as tightly with _wax +and brown paper_ as can be, that they may be some time guessing what +it is before they open it. And if it is worth remarking, I would further +remind you of the sending of _shrid_ pies (which you know are very +excellent) as presents to neighbours." + +In London enough is seen of the presents at Christmas, without +describing them; and after a "day spent merrily," they in the evening +commence card playing, which is kept up till morning, generally +speaking, and from thenceforth a whole run of merry days, till and +beyond Twelfth Day. + +Soon after Christmas Day we are apprized of Twelfth Day (which keeps us +from dulness) by the icy cakes which everywhere appear in the +pastrycook's windows. And now I think I have as far as I am able +fulfilled my promise, and I may perhaps conclude this article with +wishing you and _all_ your readers and correspondents a merry +Christmas and a happy new year. + +W.H.H. + + [9] See MIRROR, p. 330. + + * * * * * + + +RECOLLECTIONS OF MELROSE ABBEY. + +(_For the Mirror._) + + "I do love these ancient ruins; + We never tread upon them, but we set + Our foot upon some reverend history." + + +This fine ruin has a double interest attached to it, for, independent of +that which is created by the antiquity and splendour of the edifice, the +visiter should bear in mind that it is the _Kennaquhair_ of the +northern magician; and here the scenes so finely depicted in the +_Monastery_ are vividly brought to our recollection; it gives a +"local habitation and a name" to some of the most interesting creations +of Sir Walter Scott's genius. The abbey is situated in a valley, +surrounded by the Eildon hills. Some ruins of the abbey mill, with the +dam belonging to "Hob Miller," the father of the "lovely Mysinda," are +still to be seen; and the ford across the Tweed, where the worthy +Sacristan was played so scurvy a trick by the White Lady, is also +pointed out. Some miles off, on a wild and romantic spot on the course +of the river, Elwin, or Allan, is Fairy Dean, or Nameless Dean, which is +at once identified to be that place above the tower and vale of +Glendearg, which was the favourite haunt of the White Lady, and the spot +where Sir Piercie Shafton's _stoccatas_, _embroccatas_, and +_passados_ first failed him, when opposed to the less polished and +rustic skill of Halbert Glendinning, assisted by the machinations of the +queen of the elfin tribe. On this place are found a number of small +stones, of a singular shape and appearance, resembling guns, cradles +with children in them, bonnets, &c., several of which I obtained in a +tour to Scotland. They are called _elf-stones_ by the neighbouring +peasantry. + +Many parts of the abbey are still in a state of tolerable preservation; +the marks of cannon-shot and fire are visible on the walls in some +places, the abbey having been bombarded by Oliver Cromwell, with his +usual zeal against every thing that adorned the country. Many Roman +medals of Vespasian, Adrian, &c. have been found about it. I hardly know +a more interesting place to visit than Melrose and its neighbourhood; +while the abbey affords a fine moral lesson on the instability and +perishableness of even the most magnificent works raised by human skill +and industry. + + "Here naked stand the melancholy walls, + Lash'd by the wint'ry tempests, cold and bleak, + That whistle mournful through the empty aisles, + And piece-meal crumble down the towers to dust," + + +When viewed by moonlight, the solemnity and grandeur of the effect is +charming. An enthusiastic friend of mine, on paying the abbey a visit a +year or two ago, had it lighted up with tapers. I subjoin a few passages +from a letter I received at the time from him;--"Yesterday, being +Valentine's day, in the evening I went to vespers, and had six tapers +burning at the high altar in the abbey; also several in each of the +(eight) confessionals, holy water, fonts, shrines, and altars.--The +church-yard, the abbey, were silent as the grave; you might have heard a +pin drop; there was not a breath of air stirring, so the tapers burnt, +beautifully." This must have strongly reminded the spectator of the +introduction to the _Monastery_, and the visit of the worthy +benedictine, accompanied by Captain Clutterbuck, for the purpose of +taking up his patron's heart. My friend adds, "not a taper has been +burnt in St. Mary's of Melrose since the days of Knox.--On Monday I went +to the tower of Glendearg; at the fountain, where Sir Piercie Shafton +and Halbert Glendinning fought, I got, with the help of my guide, some +curious stones, said to be the work of the _White Lady_." The +scenery is picturesque in the highest degree. "Yesterday I went to Old +Melrose. The windings of the Tweed there are beautiful; but the tolling +the abbey bell recalls me from my wanderings." + +The impression made on Sir Walter Scott by the ruins may be inferred +from the following lines:-- + + "If thou would'st view fair Melrose aright, + Go visit it by the pale moonlight; + For the gay beams of lightsome day + Gild but to flout the ruins grey. + When the broken arches are black in night, + And each shafted oriel glimmers white; + When the cold light's uncertain shower + Streams on the ruin'd central tower, + When buttress and buttress, alternately, + Seem framed of ebon and ivory; + When silver edges the imagery, + And the scrolls that teach thee to live and die; + When distant Tweed is heard to rave, + And the owlet to hoot o'er the dead man's grave; + Then go--but go alone the while-- + Then view St. David's ruin'd pile; + And home returning, soothly swear, + Was never scene so sad and fair!" + + +One of your correspondents (with whom I had once a disputation on the +_weighty_ subject of ghosts) sent you a version of the subjoined +epitaph, with a trifling alteration in the spelling, (which is copied +from a very ancient tomb-stone in Melrose Abbey,) with these remarks, +(see MIRROR, vol. 4, p. 392):--"The following beautiful lines were +written by a cow-boy [!] in Sussex on a wall, with a piece of red chalk, +[mark the precision.] They have only been inserted in a Sussex paper, +and may be quite unknown to many London readers," &c. &c. &c. This is a +regular hoax. + + +EPITAPH. + + The earth goeth on the earth, + Glist'ring like Gold; + The earth goes to the earth sooner than it wold. + The earth builds on the earth castles and towers; + The earth says to the earth, all shall be ours. + + +Here the contemplative wanderer may pass many an hour, with profit and +pleasure, + + "Mid epitaphs and tombs, + Wrapt in the dreams of other days." + + +HISTORY OF THE ABBEY. + +I have arranged a few particulars of the history, &c. of this relic of +monkish times, which will form an appropriate conclusion to these +desultory remarks. + + "Hail! ye bold turrets, and thou rev'rend pile, + That seem in age's hoary rest to smile! + All trail! for here creative fancy reads + Of ages past the long-forgotten deeds. + With trembling footsteps I approach thy gates, + The massy door upon the hinges grates! + Hark! as it opens what a hollow groan + 'Cross the dark hall and down the aisles is thrown!" + +SIR EGERTON BAYDGES. + + +It is handed down by tradition that an abbey was founded at Melrose +about the end of the sixth century. The famous St. Cuthbert was one of +the abbots in 643; he, however, left, and went to Holy Island, in +Northumberland. Many wonderful stories are related of St. Cuthbert; that +eleven years after his death in Holy Island, (in 687,) his body, on +being taken up, exhibited no marks of corruption, seeming as if asleep, +&c. &c. Ethelwold succeeded St. Cuthbert, and sometime after the +monastery was ruined by the Danes. The place where this abbey is +supposed to have stood is called Old Melrose, and is a mile and a half +from the present abbey. + +Melrose Abbey was founded by king David of Scotland in 1136. It is +supposed to have been built in ten years. The church of the convent was +dedicated to St. Mary on the 28th of July, 1146. It was the mother +church of the Cistertian order in Scotland. The monks were brought from +Rievaulx Abbey, in Yorkshire. Their habit was white; and they soon +superseded the order of the Benedictines. + +The abbey is built in the form of St. John's cross, of the Gothic style +of architecture, and is 258 feet in length; the breadth 137-1/2 feet; +and 943 feet in circumference. A considerable part of the principal +tower is now in ruins; its present height is 84 feet. There are many +very superb windows; the principal one at the east end (which is the top +nave of the cross,) appears to have been more recently built than the +others, and is 57 feet in extreme height, and 28 feet wide. It has been +ornamented with statues, &c. The beauty of the carved work, with which +the abbey is profusely decorated, is seldom equalled, and deservedly +celebrated: + + "Spreading herbs and flow'rets bright, + Glisten'd with the dew of night; + Nor herb nor flow'ret glisten'd there, + But was carved in the cloister'd arches as fair." + + +There are in the external view of the building 50 windows, 4 doors, 54 +niches, and above 50 buttresses. The abbey was much injured by the +English in 1322 and 1384. Richard II. made it a grant in 1389, as some +compensation for the injuries it had sustained in the retreat of his +army. It was also greatly defaced during the reformation. A stronger +proof of their infatuated and (partly) misplaced zeal cannot be adduced, +than the destruction of religious edifices by the reformers. There were +one hundred monks, without including the abbot and dignitaries. The last +abbot was James Stuart, natural son of James V., who died in 1559. The +privileges and possessions of the abbey were very extensive,.and it was +endowed by its founder, David, with the lands of Melrose, Eildon, &c., +&c., right of fishery on the Tweed, &c.; and succeeding monarchs +increased its property. Sixty of the monks, it is said, renounced popery +at the reformation. In 1542, the revenue of the abbey was, "1758_l_. +in money, 14 chalders nine bolls of wheat, 56 chal. 5 bolls of barley, +78 chal. 13 bolls of meal, 44 chal. 10 bolls of oats, 84 capons, 620 +poultry, 105 stone of butter, 8 chal. of salt, 340 loads of peats, and +500 carriages;" besides 60 bolls of corn, 300 barrels of ale, and 18 +hogsheads of wine, for the service of the mass: a large quantity for the +entertainment of strangers; 4,000_l_. for the care of the sick; and +400_l_. to the barber. These were given up at the commencement of the +reformation in 1561. The lands were either seized by the crown, or +divided amongst the nobles. A large portion fell into the hands of the +Buccleugh family. + +A stone coffin, supposed to be that of the famous Michael Scott, the +wizard, was found in the small aisle on the south of the chancel in +1812. It was authenticated that his remains had been laid here. There +was an altar erected to say mass for his soul. The length of the +skeleton was six feet. A stone head at the foot of the coffin bears a +very rude wizard-like appearance. Alexander II. and many of the Scottish +kings and nobles are buried here. The best view is obtained of the +building from the south east, which, indeed, commands the whole of the +ruin. The village contains 500 or 600 inhabitants, and is 35 miles +distant from Edinburgh. The remains of several Roman camps are to be +seen in its neighbourhood, and one of the hills bears the marks of +having been a volcano. Sir Walter Scott's residence at Abbotsford is +within a few miles. + +VYVYAN. + + * * * * * + +ON WAITS. + +(_To the Editor of the Mirror_.) + + +MR. EDITOR,--It may not be unacceptable to many of your readers to +receive some elucidation of a custom which is still prevalent at the +present season. I allude to the waits, who visit us in the month of +December, with instrumental music, going from house to house. + +_Waites_, or _waits_, formerly _wayghtes_ is derived from +the latter noun, and originally signified _hautbois_, (or hautbois, +as we have it in English,) of which it is not unworthy remark, there is +no singular number. From the instrument its signification was, after a +time, transferred to the performers themselves; concerning whom, it is +well known,.the appellation is now applied to all who follow the +practice above adverted to, especially those who, at the approach of. +Christmas, salute us with their nightly concerts. + +The _wayghtes_ of ancient times were, as some historians say, so +called, because they attended or _waited_ on potentates, judges, +magistrates, and bodies corporate, pomp and processions, &c.; they were +also sometimes appointed to keep a sort of Watch at night, and were then +generally decorated with superb dresses, splendid cloaks, &c. In Rymers' +_Fardera_ there is an account of such an establishment, of the +minstrels and _waites_ who were in the service of the court of +Edward IV., wherein is mentioned "a _waite_ that nighteleye, from +Michaelmas to Shrove Thorsday, pipeth the watch within this court;" "i. +fewer times, in the somere nightes iij. times." Todd derives the term +waits from _wahts_, (Goth.) nocturnal itinerant musicians, +(Beaumont and Fletcher;) Bayley, on account of their waiting on +magistrates, &c.; or of _guet_, a watch; or from the French +_guetter_, to watch, because anciently they kept a sort of watch a +night. From what I have narrated, then, it appears that the persons +formerly called waites, or waits, were _musical_ watchmen, the word +implying _obees_. They were, in fact, minstrels, at first annexed +to the king's court, who sounded the watch every night; and in towns +paraded the streets during winter, to prevent theft, &c. At Exeter they +were set up, with a regular salary, in 1400; and although suppressed by +the Puritans, were reinstated in 1660. M.A. Boyer, in his _French and +English Dictionary_, Rivington. 1747, under the word _waits_, s. +has the following: "in the French, _sorte de hautbois_, (ho-boy,) +corresponding with the signification of the term waits, as itinerant or +wandering (music or) musicians. These nocturnal perambulators, it seems, +were anciently called, as they now are, waits; and persons, bearing the +same name, still go about our streets during the month of December, +(previous to the 25th.) Whatsoever may be the reasons or the motives of +those (maunderers) who _now_ call _themselves waits_, I must +leave for the consideration of such as are favoured with their visits. I +am of opinion it can have neither allusion nor similitude to the +Christmas carol as some have suggested, which was an imitation, however +humble, of 'The glory to God on high,' &c., as sung by the angels who +hovered over the fields of Bethlehem on the morning of our Saviour's +nativity." It is true, indeed, that our modern angels, _the waits_ +of 1897, have _hovered about_, and _they may_ (without a pun) +be styled angels (of darkness), not only on account of the watch they +keep _a nights_, but on account of those _spirit-uous propensities_, +for the attainment of which, principally, some have supposed, _we_ are +_indebted_ to _them_ for _their waits_, and also for their _wait-ing_ +upon us on the day ycleped boxing-day. + +But to return to our subject; independent of the origin of the waits, or +of the persons so called, as relates to the institution in England, +which is, comparatively, of modern date, _it appears there were +peculiar to the Romans_ a description of individuals, who, in their +offices and character, answered to our waits, and from whom there is no +doubt the latter were derived; these, among the Romans, were called +_spondaulae_, from which I conceive the _waightes_, or _waites_, +of our ancient kings were borrowed. The _Roman waites_, or _spondaulae_, +were a description of vocal and instrumental musicians, who performed a +hymn, whose measure consisted of spondees, (a poetic foot, formed of two +long syllables,) which was sung, accompanied by the flute, or other wind +instrument, while the priest offered the sacrifice, and the incense was +burning, to procure the favour of the gods; the waits, or spondaulae, +continuing their music, to prevent the priest from hearing sounds of ill +omen, which might disturb the ceremony, or divert his attention. It has +been suggested, in this view of the origin of the waits, which many +writers consider to be the real source of the custom, that they are +altogether anti-christian, and of heathen and idolatrous foundation, and +of consequence have neither allusion to, nor connexion with, our +festivities at Christmas _at any period_. + +City Road. + +L. DESORMEAUX. + + * * * * * + +ORIGIN OF LOVE. + +FROM THE MADRIGALS OF GUARINI. + +(_For the Mirror_.) + + + Cupid one day, in luckless hour, + Observed a bee from flow'r to flow'r, + Hurrying on busy wing; + Thinking to gain the honied prize, + He strove the insect to surprise, + But quickly felt its sting. + + Fired with revenge, he flew away + To where asleep my Julia lay, + On mossy bank reclin'd; + And while he sought relief to sip, + By kisses from her balmy lip, + He left the sting behind. + + Thus if I now, in hours of bliss, + From her sweet mouth should steal a kiss, + I after feel the smart; + For when her rosy lips I've press'd, + And think myself supremely blest, + I bear the sting at heart! + +E.L.J. + + + * * * * * + +TOTTENHAM HIGH CROSS. + +(_For the Mirror_.) + + +On entering Tottenham, on the right from London, is to be seen the +following inscription over eight alms-houses:-- + + 1600. + Not vnto vs, + O Lord-- + Not vnto vs--But + vnto thy name + give ye glorie. + +_Ps. 115, v. i._ + + +"Balthaza Zanchez, born in Spain, in the citie of Shere, in Estramadvra, +is the fownder of these eyght Alma-Houses for the relieefe of eyght +poore men and women of the Town of Tattenham High Crasse." + +The founder of these alms-houses, Balthazar Zanches, was confectioner to +Philip II. of Spain, with whom he came over to England, and was the +first who exercised that art in this country. He became a Protestant, +and died in 1602. It is said that he lived in the house, now the George +and Vulture Inn; at the entrance of which he had fixed the arms of +England, in a garter, supported by a lion and griffin, and with the +initials E.R.: over another door, 1587. + +Among the ancient possessors of the manor of Tottenham, was Robert +Bruce, king of Scotland, from whom the Manor-House obtained the name of +Bruce Castle, which it still retains.--At the end of Page Green stands a +remarkable circular clump of elms, called the Seven Sisters; and on the +west side of the great road is St. Loy's well, which is said to be +always full, and never to run over; and opposite the vicarage house +rises a spring, called Bishop's Well, of which the common people report +many strange cures. + + * * * * * + + + + +ARCANA OF SCIENCE. + + * * * * * + +_Outline of the History of Gas Lighting._ + + +"What a striking contrast between the appearance of the brilliantly +illuminated streets at this time, compared with the days of Henry V. It +is recorded, that in 1417, Sir Henry Barton, mayor of London, ordained +'lanterns with lights to bee hanged out on the winter evenings between +Hallowtide and Candlemasse.' Paris was first lighted by an order issued +in 1524; and in the beginning of the sixteenth century, the streets +being infested with robbers, the inhabitants were ordered to keep lights +burning in the windows of all such houses as fronted the streets. In +1668, when some regulations were made for improving the streets of +London, the inhabitants were reminded to hang out their lanterns at the +usual time; and in 1690 an order was issued to hang out a light, or +lamp, every night as soon as it was dark, from Michaelmas to Christmas. +By an act of the common council in 1716, all housekeepers, whose houses +fronted any street, lane, or passage, were required to hang out, every +dark night, one or more lights, to burn from six to eleven o'clock, +under the penalty of one shilling. In 1736, the lord mayor and common +council applied to parliament for an act to enable them to erect lamps; +and in 1744 they obtained farther powers for lighting the city. +Birmingham was first lighted by lamps in 1733, so that in this +improvement it preceded the metropolis."--_Beckman's History of +Inventions_. + +It may not be disagreeable to our readers to trace the brilliant lights +by which the streets are illuminated, from the obscure recesses of +nature, and to show by what steps that which was once thought simply an +object of curiosity, has been applied to a practical purpose of the most +useful and agreeable kind. + +The inflammable gases were known originally for their direful effects +rather than their useful qualities. Miners were acquainted with two of +them, called the _choke damp_ and the _fire damp_, long before +the establishment of the Royal Society; but the earliest printed account +of either occurs in its Transactions, in the year 1667. The paper in +which it is contained, is entitled, "A Description of a Well and Earth +in Lancashire taking Fire, by a Candle approaching to it. Imparted by +Thomas Shirley, Esq an eye-witness." + +Dr. Stephen Hales was the first person who procured an elastic fluid +from the actual distillation of coal. His experiments with this object +are related in the first volume of his Vegetable Statics, published in +1726. From the distillation of "one hundred and fifty-eight grains of +Newcastle coal, he states that he obtained one hundred and eighty cubic +inches of air, which weighed fifty-one grains, being nearly one third of +the whole." The inflammability of the fluid he thus produced was no part +of his inquiry; and though it is now deemed its most useful and +important property, appears to have excited no attention till several +years after. + +In the "Philosophical Transactions" for 1733, some properties of +coal-gas are detailed in a paper called, "An Account of the Damp Air in +a Coal-pit of Sir James Lowther, sunk within Twenty Yards of the Sea." +This paper, as it contains some striking facts relating to the +inflammability and other properties of coal-gas, is deserving of +particular attention. + +The principal properties of coal-gas are here related with remarkable +minuteness and precision; and as the writer exhibited them to different +members of the Royal Society, and showed that after keeping the gas +sometime, it still retained its elasticity and inflammability, it is +remarkable, that the philosophers of the time undertook no experiments +with the view of applying it to useful purposes. + +Dr. John Clayton, in an extract from a letter in the "Philosophical +Transactions" for 1735, calls gas the "spirit" of coal; and came to a +knowledge of its inflammability by an accident. This "spirit" chanced to +catch fire, by coming in contact with a candle, as it was escaping from +a fracture in one of his distillatory vessels. By preserving the gas in +bladders, he frequently diverted his friends, by exhibiting its +inflammability. This is the nearest approach to the idea of practically +applying this property. + +The subject attracted the attention of Dr. Richard Watson, who published +the results of his researches in the second volume of his "Chemical +Essays." He dwells upon the elasticity and inflammability of coal-gas; +and remarked, that it retains these properties _after passing through +a great quantity of water_. + +The man who first applied the inflammability of gas to the purposes of +illumination, was Mr. Murdoch. This gentleman, residing at Soho, near +Birmingham, that hot-bed of ingenuity and mechanical science, on +occasion of the celebration of the peace of 1802, covered the works of +Soho with a light and splendour that astonished and delighted all the +population of the surrounding country. Mr. Murdoch had not attained to +this perfection without having had many difficulties to encounter. In +the year 1792, he used coal gas for lighting his house and offices, at +Redruth, in Cornwall; and in 1797 he again made a similar use of it at +Old Cunnock, in Ayrshire. At Soho, he constructed an apparatus which +enabled him to exhibit his plan on a larger scale than any he had +heretofore attempted. His experiments were then seduously continued, +with the able assistance of Mr. Southern and Mr. Henry Creighton, with +a view to ascertain not only the best modes of making, but also of +purifying and burning gas, so as to prevent either the smell or the +smoke from being offensive. + +Previous to the public display made of the illuminating properties of +gas, at Soho, it had been applied to similar purposes, by a M. Le Bon, +of Paris. A friend of the gentlemen at Soho, wrote from Paris a letter, +dated November 8, 1801, to that establishment, informing them, that a +person had lighted up his house and gardens with the gas obtained from +wood and coal, and had it in contemplation to light up the city of +Paris. This is an important fact in the detail of the history of +gas-lighting; and we should be glad of further information respecting +the steps which led M. Le Bon to the results which he appears to have +obtained, and also respecting the fortunes which subsequently attended +the invention in France. However, M. Le Bon's exhibitions have a +remarkable connexion with the progress of the invention in England: they +seem, indeed, almost to have diverted it from its natural course, which +certainly would have led from the illumination at Soho to its public +adoption. + +In 1804, Dr. Henry delivered a course of lectures on chemistry, at +Manchester, in which he showed the mode of producing gas from coal, and +the facility and advantage of its use. Dr, Henry analyzed the +composition and investigated the properties of carburetted hydrogen gas. +His experiments were numerous and accurate, and made upon a variety of +substances; and having obtained the gas from wood, peat, different kinds +of coal, oil, wax, &c. he endeavoured to estimate the relative quantity +of light yielded by each. + +In 1805, Mr. Samuel Clegg, to whom the world is much indebted for the +improvements he subsequently introduced into the manufacture of gas, +having left Soho, directed his attention to the construction of gas +apparatus. The first he erected was in the cotton mill of Mr. H Lodge, +near Halifax, in Yorkshire. Mr. Josiah Pemberton, one of those ingenious +men happily not rare in the centre of our manufactures, whose minds are +perpetually employed on the improvement of mechanical contrivances, and +who, as soon as they have accomplished one discovery, leave others to +reap the benefit, and themselves pursue the chase alter new inventions, +had for some time been experimenting on the nature of gas. A resident of +Birmingham, his attention was probably roused by the exhibition at Soho; +and such was the fertility of his invention, and his practical skill as +a mechanic, that it has been observed by those who know him, that he +never undertook to make an article without inventing an improvement in +its construction. About 1806, he exhibited gas-lights in a variety of +forms, and with great brilliance, at the front of his manufactory in +Birmingham. + +In 1808 he constructed an apparatus, applicable to several uses, for Mr. +Benjamin Cooke, a manufacturer of brass tubes, gilt toys, and other +articles. In 1808, Mr. Murdoch communicated to the Royal Society a very +interesting account of his successful application of coal gas to +lighting the extensive establishment of Messrs. Phillips and Lea. For +this communication, Count Rumford's gold medal was presented to him. Mr. +Murdoch's statements threw great light on the comparative advantage of +gas and candles, and contained much useful information on the expenses +of production and management. + +Early in 1809, Mr. Samuel Clegg communicated to the Society of Arts his +plan of an apparatus for lighting manufactories with gas, for which he +received a silver medal. In this year also, Mr. Clegg erected a gas +apparatus in Mr. Harris's manufactory at Coventry. + +It was natural to suppose that all these circumstances should eventually +produce an impression on the country; consequently about this time much +attention was excited towards gas-lighting, and much utility anticipated +from a general application of it to public purposes. In this year 1809, +accordingly, the first application was made to parliament for an act to +incorporate a company, with the view of carrying on its processes more +effectually and beneficially. The movers in this project were some of +the more intelligent and persevering subscribers to a New Light and Heat +Company, projected by Mr. Winsor. They were opposed by some on the +ground of their designs being visionary and fraught with danger; and by +Mr. Murdoch on the plea of priority of invention, which entitled him to +exclusive privileges if he chose to avail himself of them. This gave +rise to a long and minute investigation of the subject before a committee +of the House of Commons. The application terminated unsuccessfully; and +the testimony of Mr. Aceum, exposed him to the animadversions of Mr. +Brougham. In 1810, however, the application was renewed by the same +parties, and though some opposition was encountered, and considerable +expense incurred, the bill passed, but not without great alterations; +and the present London and Westminster Chartered Gas-Light and Coke +Company was established. The proceedings of this company after the act +was obtained comprise a most important period in the history of this +invention. During the first few years of their operations large sums of +money were expended in experiments, and very few beneficial results were +obtained. The undertaking was complicated and difficult, and not only +required the guidance of experience, but the assistance of a scientific +education and a fertile invention. These requisites were found in the +person of Mr. Samuel Clegg, under whose able direction and +superintendence the principal works of the company, at their different +stations, were erected. From this period various improvements were +gradually introduced into almost every part of the apparatus. In 1816, +Mr. Clegg obtained the patent for his horizontal rotative retort; his +apparatus for purifying coal gas with cream of lime; for his rotative +gas meter; and self-acting governor; and altogether by his exertions the +London and Westminster Company's affairs assumed a new and flattering +aspect. + +For reasons which are not assigned, in 1817, Mr. Clegg retired from the +service of this establishment. + +In this year, 1817, at the three stations belonging to the Chartered Gas +Company, twenty-five chaldron of coal were daily carbonized, producing +300,000 cubic feet of gas, which was equal to the supply of 75,000 +Argand lamps, each yielding the light of six candles. At the City Gas +Works, in Dorset-street, Black-friars, the quantity of coal daily +carbonized amounted to, three chaldron, which afforded a quantity of gas +adequate to the supply of 1,500 Argand lamps; so that twenty-eight +chaldron of coal were daily carbonized at that time, and 76,500 lights +supplied by those two companies only. + +At this period the principal object of attention in the manufacture of +gas was its purification. Mr. D. Wilson, of Dublin, took out a patent +for purifying coal gas by means of the chemical action of ammoniacal +gas. Another plan was devised by Mr. Reuben Phillips, of Exeter, who +obtained a patent for the purification of coal gas by the use of dry +lime. Mr. G. Holworthy, in 1818, took out a patent for a method of +purifying it by causing the gas, in a highly-condensed state, to pass +through iron retorts heated to a dark red. For this object and several +others, having in view improvements upon the ordinary method, many other +patents were procured. + +OIL gas now appeared in the field as a rival of COAL gas. In 1815, Mr. +John Taylor had obtained a patent for an apparatus for the decomposition +of _oil_ and other animal substances; but the circumstance which +more particularly attracted the public attention to be directed to +_oil_ gas was the erection of the patent apparatus at Apothecary's +Hall, by Messrs. Taylors and Martineau; and the way was prepared for an +application to parliament for the establishment of an Oil Gas Company by +sundry papers in journals, and by the recommendations of Sir William +Congreve, who had been employed by the Secretary of State to inspect the +state of the gas manufactories in the metropolis. This application, made +in the year 1825, proved unfortunate. + +In Sir William's Reports is the following account, beginning with the +London Gas-Light and Coke Company:-- + +At the Peter-street station the whole number of the retorts which they +had fixed was 300; the greatest number working at any time daring the +last year, 22l; the least 87. Fifteen gasometers, varying in dimensions, +the contents computed on an average at 20,626 cubic feet each, amounting +to 309,385 cubic feet altogether; but never quite filled; the working +contents estimated at 18,626 cubic feet each--in the whole at 279,390 +cubic feet. The extent of mains belonging to this station is about +fifty-seven miles, there being two separate mains in some of the +streets; the produce of gas from 10,000 to 12,000 cubic feet from a +chaldron of coals. The weekly consumption of coal is reckoned at 42 +bushels for each retort, amounting to about 602 chaldrons; and taking +the average number of retorts worked at this station at about 153, would +give an annual consumption of coals of upwards of 9,282 chaldrons, +producing 111,384,000 cubic feet of gas. + +The average number of lights during the year 1822 was 10,660 private, +2,248 street lamps, theatres, 3,894. + +At the Brick-lane works, the number of retorts which were fixed was 371, +the greatest number worked 217, and the least 60. The number of +gasometers 12, each averaging 18,427 cubic feet, amounting in the whole +to 221,131 cubic feet; and their average working contents 197,124 cubic +feet. The average number of retorts worked was 133; the coals consumed +8,060 chaldrons; the quantity of gas produced 96,720.000 cubic feet; the +number of lamps 1,978 public, 7,366 private, through 40 miles of mains. + +At the Curtain-road establishment the whole number of retorts was 240; +the greatest number worked in the last year 80; the lowest 21. The +number of gasometers 6, average contents of each 15,077 cubic feet; the +contents of the whole 90,467; another gasometer containing 16,655 cubic +feet; the average number of retorts worked 55; the coals consumed 3,336 +chaldrons; quantity of gas produced 40,040,000 cubic feet; the number of +lamps supplied 3,860 private, and 629 public, through 25 miles of mains. + +The whole annual consumption of coals by the three different stations +was 20,678; the quantity of gas produced 248,000,000 cubic feet: the +whole number of lamps lighted by this company 30,735, through 122 miles +of mains. + +The City of London Gas-Light Company, Dorset-street:--The number of +retorts fixed 230; the number of gasometers 6; the largest 39,270 cubic +feet, the smallest 5,428 cubic feet; two large additional gasometers +nearly completed, contents of each 27,030 cubic feet, making in the +whole 181,282 cubic feet. The number of lamps lighted 5,423 private, and +2,413 public, through 50 miles of mains. The greatest number of retorts +worked at a time (in 1811) 130, the least 110, average 170. The quantity +of coals carbonized amounted to 8,840 chaldrons; produced 106,080,000 +cubic feet of gas. + +The South London Gas-Light and Coke Company, at Bankside:--The number of +retorts was 140; gasometers 3; the contents of the whole 41,110 cubic +feet; and their mains from 30 to 40 miles in length. At their other +station in Wellington-street, they had then no retorts in action; but +three large gasometers were erected, containing together 73,565 cubic +feet, which were supplied from Bankside till the retorts were ready to +work. + +The Imperial Gas-Light and Coke Company were erecting at their Hackney +station two gasometers of 10,000 cubic feet each, and about to erect +four more of the same size. At their Pancras station they had marked out +ground for six gasometers of 10,000 cubic feet each. + +In the year 1814, there was only _one_ gasometer in Peter-street, +of 14,000 cubic feet, belonging to the Chartered Gas-Light Company, then +the only company established in London. At present there are four great +companies, having altogether 47 gasometers at work, capable of +containing in the whole 917,940 cubic feet of gas, supplied by 1,315 +retorts, and these consuming 33,000 chaldron of coals in the year, and +producing 41,000 chaldron of coke. The whole quantity of gas generated +annually being upwards of 397,000,000 cubic feet, by which 61,203 +private, and 7,268 public or street lamps are lighted in the metropolis. +In addition to these great companies, there are several private +companies, whose operations are not included in the foregoing +statements.--_Abridged from Matthews's History of Gas-Lighting, and +the London Magazine, Dec. 1827_. + + * * * * * + + + + +SPIRIT OF THE +PUBLIC JOURNALS. + + * * * * * + +LONDON LYRICS. + +MAGOG'S PROPHECY. + + Pastor cum traheret per freta navibus. + +HOR. _lib._ i. _od._ 15. + + + As late, of civic glory vain, + The Lord Mayor drove down Mincing-lane, + The progress of the baimer'd train + To lengthen, not to shorten: + + Gigantic Magog, vex'd with heat, + Thus to be made the rabble's treat, + Check'd the long march in Tower-street, + To tell his Lordship's fortune. + + "Go, man thy barge for Whitehall Stair; + Salute th' Exchequer Barons there, + Then summon round thy civic chair + To dinner Whigs and Tories-- + Bid Dukes and Earls thy hustings climb; + But mark my work, Matthias Prime, + Ere the tenth hour the scythe of Time + Shall amputate, thy glories. + + "Alas! what loads of food I see, + What Turbots from the Zuyder Zee, + What Calipash, what Calipee, + What Salad and what Mustard: + Heads of the Church and limbs of Law, + Vendors of Calico and Straw, + Extend one sympathetic jaw + To swallow Cake and Custard. + + "Thine armour'd Knights their steeds discard' + To quaff thy wine 'through helmet barr'd,' + While K.C.B.'s, with bosoms starr'd, + Within their circle wedge thee. + Even now I see thee standing up, + Raise to thy lip 'the loving cup,' + Intent its ruby tide to sup, + And bid thy hearers pledge thee. + + "But, ah! how fleeting thy renown! + Thus treading on the heel of Brown; + How vain thy spangled suit, thy gown + Intended for three waiters: + Ere Lansdowne's speech is at an end, + I see a board of lamps descend, + Whose orbs in bright confusion blend, + And strew the floor with splinters. + + "Their smooth contents spread far and near, + And in one tide impetuous smear + Knight, Waiter, Liveryman, and Peer: + Nay, even his Royal Highness + The falling board no longer props, + Owns, with amaze, the unwelcome drops + And, premature anointment, swaps + For oozy wet his dryness. + + "Fear shrieks in many a varied tone, + Pale Beauty mourns her spotted zone, + And heads and bleeding knuckles own + The glittering prostration. + Behold! thou wip'st thy crimson chin, + And all is discord, all is din; + While scalded waiters swear thee in + With many an execration. + + "Yet, Lucas, smile in Fortune's spite; + Dark mornings often change to bright; + Ne'er shall this omen harm a wight + So active and so clever. + How buoyant, how elastic thou! + With a lamp halo round thy brow, + Prophetic Magog dubs thee now + A Lighter man--than ever." + +_New Monthly Magazine._ + + * * * * * + + +ROYAL APPETITES. + + +Charles XII. was brave, noble, generous, and disinterested,--a complete +hero, in fact, and a regular fire-eater. Yet, in spite of these +qualifications and the eulogiums of his biographer, it is pretty evident +to those who impartially consider the career of this potentate, that he +was by no means of a sane mind. In short, to speak plainly, he was mad, +and deserved a strait-waistcoat as richly as any straw-crowned monarch +in Bedlam. A single instance, in _my_ opinion, fully substantiates +this. I allude to his absurd freak at Frederickshall, when, in order to +discover how long he could exist without nourishment, he abstained from +all kinds of food for more than seventy hours! Now, would any man in his +senses have done this? Would Louis XVIII., for instance, that wise and +ever-to-be-lamented monarch? Had it been the _reverse_ indeed--had +Charles, instead of practising starvation, adopted the opposite +expedient, and endeavoured to ascertain the greatest possible quantity +of meat, fruit, bread, wine, vegetables, Sec. &c. he could have +_disposed of_ in any given time--why then it might have been +something! But to _fast_ for three days! if this be not madness--! +Indeed, there is but one reason I could ever conceive for a person not +eating; and that is, when, like poor Count Ugolino and his family, he +can get _nothing to eat_! + +Charles, now, and Louis--what a contrast! The first despised the +pleasures of the table, abjured wine, and would, I dare say, just +as soon have been without "a distinguishing taste" as with it. Your +Bourbon, on the contrary, a five-mealed man, quaffing right Falernian +night and day; and wisely esteeming the gratification of his palate of +such importance, as absolutely to send from Lisle to Paris--distance +of I know not how many score leagues--at a crisis, too, of peculiar +difficulty--for a single _p�te_! "Go," cried the illustrious exile to +his messenger; "dispatch, _mon enfant_! Mount the _tricolor_! Shout +_Vive le Diable_! Any thing! But be sure you clutch the precious +compound! Napoleon has driven me from my throne; but he cannot deprive +me of my appetite!" Here was courage! I challenge the most enthusiastic +admirer of Charles to produce a similar instance of indifference to +danger! + +There is another trait in the character of Louis which equally demands +our admiration, and proves that the indomitable firmness may be +sometimes associated with the most sensitive and--I had almost +said--infantine sensibility. Of course, it will be perceived that I +allude to the peculiar tenderness by which that amiable prince was often +betrayed, even into tears, upon occasions when ordinary minds would have +manifested comparative _nonchalance_. I have been assured that Louis +absolutely wept once at Hartwell, _merely because oysters were out of +season_!--a testaceous production, to which he was remarkably +attached, (whence his cognomen of _Des Hu�tres_, by corruption +_Dix-huit_;) so much so, indeed, as to be literally _ready to +eat them_, whenever they were brought into his presence. It is said +that this worthy descendant of the Good _Henr�_ used to put a +barrel of Colchester oysters daily _hors de combat_, merely to +_give him an appetite_. + +_Monthly Magazine._ + + * * * * * + + +PORSON AND SHERIDAIT. + + +The worst effect of "the scholar's melancholy," is when it leads a man, +from a distrust of himself, to seek for low company, or to forget it by +matching below himself. Porson, from not liking the restraints, or not +possessing the exterior recommendations of good society, addicted +himself to the lowest indulgences, spent his days and nights in +cider-cellars and pot-houses, cared not with whom or where he was, so +that he had somebody to talk to and something to drink, "from humble +porter to imperial tokay," (_a liquid_, according to his own pun,) +and fell a martyr, in all likelihood, to what in the first instance was +pure _mauvaise honte_. Nothing could overcome this propensity to +low society and sotting, but the having something to do, which required +his whole attention and faculties; and then he shut himself up for weeks +together in his chambers, or at the university, to collate old +manuscripts, or edite a Greek tragedy, or expose a grave pedant, without +seeing a single boon companion, or touching a glass of wine. I saw him +once at the London Institution with a large patch of coarse brown paper +on his nose, the skirts of his rusty black coat hung with cob-webs, and +talking in a tone of suavity approaching to condescension to one of the +managers. It is a pity that men should so lose themselves from a certain +awkwardness and rusticity at the outset. But did not Sheridan make the +same melancholy ending, and run the same fatal career, though in a +higher and more brilliant circle? He did; and though not from exactly +the same cause, (for no one could accuse Sheridan's purple nose and +flashing eye of a bashfulness--"modest as morning when she coldly eyes +the youthful Phoebus!") yet it was perhaps from one nearly allied to it, +namely, the want of that noble independence and confidence in its own +resources which should distinguish genius, and the dangerous ambition to +get sponsors and vouchers for it in persons of rank and fashion. The +affectation of the society of lords is as mean and low-minded as the +love of that of cobblers and tapsters. It is that cobblers and tapsters +may admire, that we wish to be seen in the company of _their_ +betters. + +_New Monthly Magazine_ + + * * * * * + + +THE "STAY-AT-HOME." + + + I'll never dwell among the Caffres; + I'll never willing cross the Line, + Where Neptune, 'mid the tarry laughers, + Dips broiling landsmen in the brine. + + I'll never go to New South Wales, + Nor hunt for glory at the Pole-- + To feed the sharks, or catch the whales, + Or tempt a Lapland lady's soul. + I'll never willing stir an ell + Beyond old England's chalky border, + To steal or smuggle, buy or sell, + To drink cheap wine, or beg an Order. + + Let those do so who long for claret, + Let those, who'd kiss a Frenchman's--toes; + I'll not drink vinegar, nor Star it, + For any he that wears a nose. + I'll not go lounge out life in Calais, + To dine at half a franc a head; + To hut like rats in lanes and alleys-- + To eat an exile's gritty bread. + + To flirt with shoeless Seraphinas, + To shrink at every ruffian's shako; + Without a pair of shirts between us, + Morn, noon, and night to smell tobacco; + To live my days in Gallic hovels, + Untouched by water since the flood; + To wade through streets, where famine grovels + In hunger, frippery, and mud. + +_Monthly Magazine._ + + + * * * * * + + + + +THE SELECTOR; +AND +LITERARY NOTICES OF +NEW WORKS. + + * * * * * + + +ART OF DRINKING WINE + +The order of taking wine at dinner has not been sufficiently observed in +this country. "There is," as the immortal bard beautifully expresses it, +"a reason in roasting eggs;" and if there is a _rationale_ of +eating, why should there not be a system of drinking? The red wines +should _always_ precede the white, except in the case of a French +dinner, when the oysters should have a libation of Chablis, or Sauterne. +I do not approve of white Hermitage with oysters. The Burgundies should +follow--the purple Chambertin or odorous Romanee. A single glass of +Champagne or Hock, or any other white wine, may then intervene between +the Cote Rotie and Hermitage; and last, not least in our dear love, +should come the cool and sweet-scented Claret. With the creams and the +ices should come the Malaga, Rivesaltes, or Grenache; nor with these +will Sherry or Madeira harmonize ill. Last of all, should Champagne boil +up in argent foam, and be sanctified by an offering of Tokay, poured +from a glass so small, that you might fancy it formed of diamond. + +_Literary Pocket-Book._ + + * * * * * + + +STRATFORD-ON-AVON. + +I was detained at Stratford nearly two hours, and endeavoured to see +whatever I could, in so short a time, relative to Shakspeare. The clean, +quiet, _uncommercial_ appearance of the town pleased me; but I was +interested beyond expression on seeing the great poet's house. When I +entered the untenanted room where he first drew the breath of this +world, I took off my hat with, I hope, an unaffected sentiment of +homage. The walls and ceiling of this chamber are covered with names and +votive inscriptions, among which I saw the signatures of Sir Walter +Scott, Mr. Lockhaft, Washington Irving, and many others familiar to me, +foreigners as well as English. I did not sign _my_ name, for I felt +that it had no right in such a place; but I brought away a minute relic, +in the shape of a bit of rotten wood, pinched from the beam that +supports the chimney. + +From the birth-place of the illustrious man, I found my way to his +corpse-place; and never had I beheld so beautiful and venerable a +church, or so tranquil and lovely a spot. The approach to the edifice, +which is situated at some distance from the town, upon the banks of the +fresh and murmuring Avon, is through an avenue of lime-trees, the +branches of which are interlaced _archwise_, as Lord Bacon would +say, so as to form a green canopy of some length. The scenery is not +what is called _romantic_, but soft and quiet, and calculated, +above all things, to surround the tomb of the genial poet of human +nature. + +I was determined to get into the church, though it was so early; and, +accordingly, after a little trouble, I found out the sexton, a fine old +fellow, with a Saxon name, who was munching his breakfast in a large +old-fashioned room with latticed casements, half kitchen and half +parlour. But he was too busy with his meal to be disturbed; and +accordingly he sent his wife with me to open the church, and I believe +our footsteps were the first which had that morning disturbed the holy +silence of the place. The building is very fine, and even stately; but +the interest connected with Shakspeare absorbs all other feelings, and +monopolizes one's admiration. I stood under his monument, on the very +stone of his grave. * * * + +_Ibid._ + + * * * * * + + + + +THE GATHERER. + +"I am but a _Gatherer_ and disposer of other men's +stuff."--_Wotton._ + + * * * * * + + +LORD RUSSEL. + +When my Lord Russel was on the scaffold, and preparing to be beheaded, +he took his watch out of his pocket and gave it to Dr. Burnet, who +assisted his devotions, with this observation: "My time-piece may be of +service to you: I have no further occasion for it. My thoughts are fixed +on eternity." + + * * * * * + + +EPITAPH ON A SCOLD. + + + Here lies my wife; and heaven knows, + Not less for mine than her repose! + + * * * * * + + +ON A MAN WHOSE NAME WAS PENNY. + + Reader, if in cash thou art in want of any, + Dig four feet deep and thou shalt find A PENNY. + + * * * * * + + +DRAMATIC SKETCH OF A THIN MAN. + +A long lean man, with all his limbs rambling--no way to reduce him +to compass, unless you could double him like a pocket rule--with his +arms spread, he'd lie on the bed of Ware like a cross on a Good Friday +bun--standing still, he is a pilaster without a base--he appears rolled +out or run up against a wall--so thin that his front face is but the +moiety of a profile--if he stands cross-legged, he looks like a +Caduceus, and put him in a fencing attitude, you would take him for +a piece of chevaux-de-frise--to make any use of him, it must be as a +spontoon or a fishing-rod--when his wife's by, he follows like a note +of admiration--see them together, one's a mast and the other all +hulk--she's a dome, and he's built together like a glass-house--when +they part, you wonder to see the steeple separate from the chancel, +and were they to embrace, he must hang round her neck like a skein +of thread on a lace-maker's bolster--to sing her praise, you should +choose a rondeau; and to celebrate him, you must write all +Alexandrines.--_Sheridan's MSS. in Moore's Life of him._ + + * * * * * + + + A man of words and not of deeds, + Is like a garden full of seeds. + + * * * * * + + +STOLEN GOODS. + +A Negro in Jamaica was tried for theft, and ordered to be flogged. He +begged to be heard, which being granted, he asked--"If white man buy +tolen goods why he be no flogged too?" "Well," said the judge, "so he +would." "Dere, den," replied Mungo, "is my Massa, he buy _tolen goods, +he knew me tolen, and yet he buy me."--Elgin Courier._ + + * * * * * + + +DECREASE OF LUNACY IN LONDON. + +According to the Parliamentary Returns in May, 1819, the total number +of lunatics comprised in the circle of London and different private +asylums, amounted to 2,005, which Dr. Burrows calculates as proving an +increase of only five on an average in twenty years, notwithstanding the +increase of our population. The late Dr. Heberden and Dr. Willan both +concurred in this statement. The large district of Mary-la-bonne, which +some years ago comprehended the greatest proportion of inhabitants in +the metropolis, not less than 80,000,--from 1814 to the year 1819 +received only 180 female lunatics, and 118 males. + + * * * * * + + +INGREDIENTS OF MODERN LOVE. + + + Twenty glances, twenty tears, + Twenty hopes, and twenty fears, + Twenty times assail your door, + And if denied, come twenty more, + Twenty letters perfumed sweet, + Twenty nods in every street, + Twenty oaths, and twenty lies, + Twenty smiles, and twenty sighs, + Twenty times in jealous rage, + Twenty beauties to engage, + Twenty tales to whisper low, + Twenty billet-doux to show, + Twenty times a day to pass, + Before a flattering looking-glass, + Twenty times to stop your coach, + With twenty words of fond reproach, + Twenty days of keen vexation, + Twenty opera assignations, + Twenty nights behind the scenes, + To dangle after mimic queens, + Twenty such lovers may be found, + Sighing for twenty thousand pounds, + But take my word, ye girls of sense, + You'll find them not worth twenty-pence. + + * * * * * + + +GREAT AND SMALL. + +A shopkeeper at Poncaster had, for his virtues, obtained the name of the +_little rascal_. A stranger asked him why this application was +given him? "To distinguish me from the rest of my trade," quoth he, +"who are all _great rascals_." + +C.F.E. + + * * * * * + + +THE LAW, PROFESSORS OF, IN ENGLAND:-- + + Counsel 936 + Special Pleaders below the Bar 49 + Conveyancers 90 + London Attorneys 2,146 + Country Attorneys 5,200 + ___________ + Total 8,421 + +_Law List_ + + * * * * * + + +EPIGRAM FROM THE SPANISH OF REBOLLEDO. + +(_For the Mirror_.) + + + Fair Phillis has fifty times registered vows, + That of Christian or Turk, she would ne'er be the spouse, + For wedlock so much she disdain'd, + And neither of these she has married, 'tis true, + For now she's the wife of a wealthy old _Jew_; + And thus she her vow has maintain'd! + +E.L.J. + + * * * * * + + +THE LAWYER AND HIS CLIENT. + + Two lawyers, when a knotty cause was o'er, + Shook hands and were as good friends as before, + "Zounds!" says the losing client, "how come yaw + To be such friends, who were such foes just naw?" + "Thou fool," says one, "we lawyers tho' so keen, + Like shears, ne'er cut ourselves, but what's between." + + + * * * * * + + +LIMBIRD'S EDITION OF THE + +BRITISH NOVELIST, Publishing in Monthly Parts, price 6d. each.--Each +Novel will be complete in itself, and may be purchased separately. + +_The following Novels are already Published_: + + s. d. + Goldsmith's Vicar of Wakefield 0 10 + The Mysteries of Udolpho 3 6 + Mackenzie's Man of Feeling 0 6 + Rasselas 0 8 + Paul and Virginia 0 6 + The Old English Baron 1 8 + The Castle of Otranto 0 6 + The Romance of the Forest 1 8 + Almoran and Hamet 0 6 + Elizabeth, or the Exiles of Siberia 0 6 + Nature and Art 0 8 + The Italian 2 0 + A Simple Story 1 4 + The Castles of Athlin and Dunbayne 0 6 + Sicilian Romance 1 0 + The Man of the World 1 0 + Zeluco, by Dr. Moore 2 0 + Joseph Andrews 1 6 + Humphry Clinker 1 8 + Edward, by Dr. Moore 2 6 + + * * * * * + +Published by J. LIMBIRD, 143, Strand, London, and Sold by all +Booksellers and Newsmen. + + * * * * * + + + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, +and Instruction, No. 290, by Various + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MIRROR OF LITERATURE *** + +***** This file should be named 13587.txt or 13587.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/3/5/8/13587/ + +Produced by Jonathan Ingram, David Garcia and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team. + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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