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diff --git a/old/13829-8.txt b/old/13829-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..dfccfb3 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/13829-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2052 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and +Instruction, No. 475, by Various + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. 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: Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction, No. 475 + Vol. XVII, No. 475. Saturday, February 5, 1831 + +Author: Various + +Release Date: October 22, 2004 [EBook #13829] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MIRROR OF LITERATURE, *** + + + + +Produced by Jonathan Ingram, David Garcia and the PG Online +Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + + + + + + + + +THE MIRROR OF LITERATURE, AMUSEMENT, AND INSTRUCTION. + +VOL. XVII, NO. 475.] SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 1831. [PRICE 2d. + + * * * * * + +[Illustration: THE PRINCESS ELIZABETH'S COTTAGE, WINDSOR.] + + + + +THE PRINCESS ELIZABETH'S COTTAGE, WINDSOR. + + +They who draw their notions of royal enjoyment from the tinsel of its +external trappings, will scarcely believe the above cottage to have been +the residence of an English princess. Yet such was the rank of its +occupant but a few years since, distant as may be the contrast of courts +and cottages, and the natural enjoyment of rural life from the +artificial luxury--the painted pomp and idle glitter of regal state. + +The above cottage stands in the grounds of Grove House, adjoining the +churchyard of Old Windsor. It was built under the superintendent taste +of the Princess Elizabeth,[1] second sister of the present King, and now +known as the Landgravine of Hesse Homburg. To the decoration of this +cottage the Princess paid much attention: it is quite in the +_ornée_ style; and its situation is so beautiful as to baffle all +embellishment. + +Grove House, the seat of Lady Dowager Onslow, of whom the Princess +purchased the whole property, was built by Mr. Bateman, uncle to the +eccentric Lord Bateman. This gentleman made it a point in his travels +to notice everything that pleased him in the monasteries abroad; and, +on his return to England, he built this house; the bedchamber being +contrived, like the cells of monks, with a refectory, and every other +appendage of a monastery; even to a cemetery, and a coffin, inscribed +with the name of a supposititious ancient bishop. Some curious Gothic +chairs, bought at a sale of the curiosities in this house, are now at +Strawberry Hill. + +Old Windsor gives rise to many more interesting reminiscences; and few +who "suck melancholy from a song" would exchange its sombre churchyard +for the gayest field of fancy. We may be there anon. + + [1] Born May 22, 1770; married April 7, 1818, to Frederick Joseph + Lewis, Landgrave of Hesse Homburg, who died April 2, 1829 aged 61. + + + * * * * * + + +ENGLISH SUPERSTITION. + +(_For the Mirror._) + +Sir Walter Scott, in his history of _Demonology and Witchcraft_, +has omitted a tradition which is still popular in Cheshire, and which +from its close resemblance to one of the Scottish legends related by +that writer, gives rise to many interesting conjectures respecting the +probable causes of such a superstition being believed in countries with +apparently so little connexion or intercourse, as Cheshire and Scotland. +The facts of Sir Walter's narration are as follow: vide _Demonology +and Witchcraft_, p. 133. + +"A daring horse jockey having sold a horse to a man of venerable and +antique appearance, had a remarkable hillock on the Eildon Hills, called +Lucken Hare, appointed as the place where, at twelve o'clock at night, +he should receive the price. He came, the money was paid in an ancient +coin, and he was invited by the purchaser to view his residence. The +trader followed his guide through several long ranges of stalls, in each +of which a horse stood motionless, while an armed warrior lay equally +still at his charger's feet. 'All these men,' said the wizard in a +whisper, 'will awaken at the battle of Sheriffmoor.' A horn and a sword +hung suspended together at one extremity of the chamber. The former the +jockey seized, and having sounded it, the horses stamped, the men arose +and clashed their armour; while a voice like that of a giant pronounced +these words:-- + + "Woe to the coward that ever he was born, + Who did not draw the sword before he blew the horn." + + +Subsequent to this, Sir Walter proceeds to the relation of another +kindred tradition, the incidents of which do not materially differ from +those of the preceding. The scene of the Cheshire legend is placed in +the neighbourhood of Macclesfield, in that county, and the sign of a +public-house on Monk's Heath may have arrested the attention of many +travellers from London to Liverpool. This village hostel is known by the +designation of the Iron Gates. The sign represents a pair of ponderous +gates of that metal, opening at the bidding of a figure, enveloped in +a cowl; before whom kneels another, more resembling a modern yeoman +than one of the 12th or 13th century, to which period this legend is +attributed. Behind this person is a white horse rearing, and in the back +ground a view of Alderley Edge. The story is thus told of the tradition +to which the sign relates: + +_The Iron Gates, or the Cheshire Enchanter._ + +A farmer from Mobberley was riding on a white horse over the heath, +which skirts Alderley Edge. Of the good qualities of his steed he was +justly proud; and while stooping down to adjust its mane, previously to +his offering it for sale at Macclesfield, he was surprised by the sudden +starting of the animal. On looking up he perceived a figure of more than +common height, enveloped in a cowl, and extending a staff of black wood +across his path. The figure addressed him in a commanding voice; told +him that he would seek in vain to dispose of his steed, for whom a +nobler destiny was in store, and bade him meet him when the sun had set, +with his horse, at the same place. He then disappeared. The farmer +resolving to put the truth of this prediction to the test, hastened on +to Macclesfield Fair, but no purchaser could be obtained for his horse. +In vain he reduced his price to half; many admired, but no one was +willing to be the possessor of so promising a steed. Summoning, +therefore, all his courage, he determined to brave the worst, and at +sunset reached the appointed place. The monk was punctual to his +appointment. Follow me, said he, and led the way by the _Golden +Stone_, _Stormy Point_, to _Saddle Bole_.[2] On their arrival at this +last named spot, the neigh of horses seemed to arise from beneath their +feet. The stranger waved his wand, the earth opened and disclosed a pair +of ponderous iron gates. Terrified at this, the horse plunged and threw +his rider, who kneeling at the feet of his fearful companion, prayed +earnestly for mercy. The monk bade him fear nothing, but enter the +cavern, and see what no mortal eye ever yet beheld. On passing the gates +he found himself in a spacious cavern, on each side of which were horses, +resembling his own, in size and colour. Near these lay soldiers accoutred +in ancient armour, and in the chasms of the rock were arms, and piles of +gold and silver. From one of these the enchanter took the price of the +horse in ancient coin, and on the farmer asking the meaning of these +subterranean armies, exclaimed, "These are caverned warriors preserved +by the good genius of England, until that eventful day, when distracted +by intestine broils, England shall be thrice won and lost between sunrise +and sunset. Then we awakening from our sleep, shall rise to turn the fate +of Britain. This shall be when George, the son of George, shall reign. +When the Forests of Delamere shall wave their arms over the slaughtered +sons of Albion. Then shall the eagle drink the blood of princes from the +headless _cross_ (query corse.) Now haste thee home, for it is not +in thy time these things shall be. A Cestrian shall speak it, and be +believed." The farmer left the cavern, the iron gates closed, and though +often sought for, the place has never again been found. + +The latter part of the monk's prophecy has been fulfilled. Nixon, the +well-known Cheshire seer foretold the same events in nearly the same +words; but the belief in his dreams of futurity, has been much +diminished by the decease of our late monarch. Recourse has been had, as +in other works of greater moment, to various readings, and the probable +mistakes of early transcribers, and many emendations have been proposed +to supply the place of the name of George, but _adhuc sub judice lis +est_. The Cestrian rustics of the neighbouring villages, still +believe that at midnight the neighing of horses is audible under +Alderley Edge. + +H. + + [2] All places in the neighbourhood of Alderley Edge and Mobberley. + + + * * * * * + + +ANTIQUARIAN SCRAPS. + +(_To the Editor._) + + +I went the other day over the ruins of St. Dunstan's, and whilst gaping +about, saw over one of the portals (inside) an old harp, with an +inscription, which, as far as I could make it out, ran thus:-- + + St. Dunstan's harp against a wall, + Upon a pin did hang'a, + The harp itself, with ly' and all, + Untouched by hand did twang'a. + + +The harp was supposed to play by itself on St. Dunstan's Day: ly' means +lyre. + +Can any of your intelligent correspondents inform me why there is an +elder tree in all the Palace Gardens? + +There is at the back of Old London Bridge, on this side, a street called +"Labour in Vain Hill:" not from the height, but from a stone, on which +are engraved two figures washing a blackamoor. + +GEO. ST. CLAIR. + +_Dean-street, Soho._ + + * * * * * + +I do not know where your indefatigable correspondent _Zanga_ +discovered his curious "Historical Fact," detailed in No. 471 of _The +Mirror_: it is highly amusing, but unfortunately void of truth. The +wife of the first Earl of Clarendon was Frances, daughter of Sir Thomas +Aylesbury, Bart. (now extinct) one of the Masters of Request; by whom he +had issue four sons--viz. Henry, his successor; Lawrence, created Earl +of Rochester; Edward, who died unmarried; and James, who was drowned +while going to Scotland in the Gloucester frigate: also two +daughters--viz. Ann, wife of James, Duke of York, afterwards James II., +and Frances, married to Thomas Knightly, created a Knight of the Bath. + +HENRY CARR. + + * * * * * + + + + +SELECT BIOGRAPHY. + + * * * * * + +MEMOIR OF TAM O'SHANTER. + +(_For the Mirror._) + + +Thomas Reid, so celebrated as Tam O'Shanter by Burns, was born in the +Kyle of Ayrshire. His first entrance into active life was in the +capacity of ploughboy to William Burns, the father of the poet, whom +Thomas described as a man of great capacity, as being very fond of an +argument, of rigid morals, and a strict disciplinarian--so much so, that +when the labours of the day were over, the whole family sat down by the +blazing "ha' ingle," and upon no pretence whatever could any of the +inmates leave the house after night. This was a circumstance that was +not altogether to Thomas's liking. He had heard other ploughboys with +rapture recount scenes of rustic jollity, which had fallen in their way, +while out on nocturnal visits to the fair daughters or servant girls of +the neighbouring farmers--scenes of which he was practically ignorant. +And more--he had become acquainted with a young woman he had met at +Maybole Fair; and having promised to call upon her at her father's +house, owing to his master's regularity of housekeeping, he had found it +totally impracticable. + +To have one night's sport was his nightly and daily study for a long +time. It so happened that his mistress about this time was brought to +bed. Thomas hailed the bustle of that happy period as a fit time to +compass his long meditated visit. Mrs. Burns lay in the _spence_. +The gossips were met around the kitchen fire, listening to the howling +of the storm which raged without, and thundered down the chimney: it was +a January blast. Thomas kept his eye upon his master, who, with clasped +"hands and uplifted eyes, sat in the muckle chair in the ingle neuk," as +if engaged in supplication at the Throne of Grace for the safety of his +wife and child. Thomas drew his chair nearer the door, and upon some +little bustle in the kitchen, he reached the hallen, and was just +emerging into darkness, when the hoarse voice of the angry Burns rung +in the ears of the almost petrified ploughboy, "Where awa', Tam?" + +"The auld doure whalp," muttered Tam, as he shut the door and resumed +his stocking; "I was gaun to the door to see if the win' was tirring the +thack aff the riggin." + +"Thou needs na gang to look the night," cried the rigid overseer of +Doonholm, "when it is sae mirk, thou coudna' see thy finger afore thee." +It was indeed "a waefu' nicht." Such a night as this might give rise to +these admirable lines of that bard, about to be ushered into the world-- + + "That night a child might understand + The deil had business on his hand." + + +It was a little before the now pensive and thoughtful Burns was given to +understand that a son was born unto him, as + + "The wind blew as 'twad blawn its last, + + +that a horrid crash was heard; a shriek rose from the affrighted women, +as they drew their chairs nearer the fire. "The ghaists and howlets that +nightly cry about the ruins o' Alloway's auld haunted kirk" rose on +every imagination. The gudeman rose from his chair, lighted a lantern, +commanded Thomas to follow him, and left the house. The case was +this--the gable of the byre had been blown down, which, as it was of his +own building, was not of the most durable nature. + +In due time the joyful father had his first-born son laid in his arms: +his joy knew no bounds. The _bicker_ was now sent round with +increasing rapidity; and Thomas, then in his fourteenth year, was +carried to his bed, to use his own words, "between the late and the +early, in a gude way, for the first time."--Such was the birth-night +of the poet. + +How long Thomas Reid remained in the service of William Burns does not +appear. It is certain, however, that he was with him when Robert first +went to plough, as Thomas has repeatedly told, as an instance of Burns's +early addiction to reading, that he has seen him go to, and return from +plough, with a book in his hand, and at meal-times "_supping his +parritch_" with one hand and holding the book in the other. + +It would appear that he had, in process of time, got better acquainted +with his sweetheart at Maybole Fair, for he married her. It was on this +occasion that he rented the Shanter farm, which, with the assistance of +his father-in-law, he stocked and furnished. But fortune went against +him: + + "His cattle died, and blighted was his corn;" + + +and an unfortunate friend, for whom he had become security for +150_l._, failed. Under such a load of ill, he, like many others, +sought for consolation in the "yill cups;" and any errand which served +as a pretext to visit the town of Ayr, renewed his worship to the +"inspiring, bold John Barleycorn;" and he usually returned, like the +Laird of Snotterston, + + "O'er a' the ills o' life victorious." + + +But Thomas had many a domestic squabble. His wife, naturally not of the +sweetest temper, was doubly soured by the misfortunes of the world, and +the dissipation of her helpmate; and often when Tam + + "Was gettin' fu' and unco happy," + + +she sat at home, + + "Gathering her brows like gathering storm, + Nursing her wrath to keep it warm." + + +She, like too many in that district at that time, was very +superstitious. Thomas took her by the weak side, and usually arrested +her "light-horse gallop of clish ma-claver" by some specious story of +ghost or hobgoblin adventures, with which he had been detained. + +He had now got into such a continued state of dissipation and +irregularity, that he was obliged to leave the farm to the mercy of his +creditors, and opened a small public-house, at the end of the old bridge +on the water of Doon. It was while he was here that Tam O'Shanter made +its appearance. A manuscript copy was sent to Thomas, by post, with this +motto-- + + Change the name, and the + Story may be told of yourself. + + +The celebrity of the poem brought numbers to his house, and he sold a +great deal. But his spirit could not brook the brutal taunts and jeers +which every day he was obliged to bear from his customers. He left off +business, and commenced labourer, at which he continued till he got an +offer of a situation as overseer of hedges, on the large estate of +Castle Semple, at that time belonging to William M'Dowall, Esq., M.P. +for Renfrewshire, which he accepted. With short intervals, he remained +there till the day of his death. He was of such a character, that he +considered no man, or class of men, his superior, and no man his +inferior. + +Feeling the infirmities of old age approach, Mr. Harvey placed him at +his west gate, as gate-keeper, where he fell into a lingering disease, +which soon put a period to his mortal career. As he had no friends nor +relations (his wife having died about two years before) Thomas had never +cared for to-morrow: he was destitute of the means to support himself +during his illness. The night before he died, he called for a +half-mutchkin of whisky; and (as an acquaintance of his sat by his +bed-side, and who personally informed me) he, taking a glass of it in +his hand, held it between him and the light, and eyed it for some time +with a peculiarly exhilarated expression of countenance, even at such a +crisis;--then, while pleasure sparkled in his eyes, he took his friend +by the hand, and pressing it warmly, exclaimed, "This is the last whisky +I, in all probability, will ever drink, and many and often is the times +I have felt its power. Here's to thee, Jamie, and may thou never want a +drap when thou art dry!" He died the next morning, about eight o'clock. + +J.R.S. + + * * * * * + + + + +THE SKETCH-BOOK. + + * * * * * + + +RECOLLECTIONS OF A WANDERER. NO. V. + +_Dawlish's Hole:--An Incident._ + + + The eye looked out upon the watery world-- + With fearful glance looked east and west, but all + Was wild and solitary, and the surge + Dashed on the groaning cliff, and foaming rose + And roared, as 'twere triumphing. + + N.T. CARRINGTON. + + +The coast scene near Landwithiel[3] was of so varied and interesting +a character that I was irresistibly led on to examine it very fully +in detail. My sojourn therefore at Mr. Habbakuk Sheepshanks', of the +"Ship-Aground'; (whom I have formerly introduced to the reader) was +prolonged to an extent which sometimes surprised myself, and the various +local stories and traditions of times past, with which mine host, +especially when under the exciting influence of an extra glass of grog, +almost nightly entertained me, essentially contributed to while away +the time. The spot too was so secluded--comparatively unknown: there +is something inseparable from a temperament like mine in so deep a +retirement. To its inhabitants the world and its busy haunts are but as +a tale; yet man in all his varieties is essentially the same. Many a day +have I wandered along the sea-beaten coast--dining perhaps on a headland +stretching far into the sea--or in some secluded little bay, by the side +of a gushing spring; the ocean spread out before me--what object is so +boundlessly or beautifully inspiring? It may be mighty fine philosophy +for those who have passed through the current of life in one untroubled +and unvaried stream, and who have no perception or idea of the deeper +(if I may so express it) feelings of our nature, to call all this +romance; but those who have tasted bitterly of the ills of this world, +and who look back upon times past as doth the traveller in the desert on +viewing from afar the oasis he has left--upon their transitory existence +as a troubled dream--these can feel how deeply solitude amidst the +sublimities of Nature will heal the troubled mind. Is there not a +responsive chord in the hearts of such of my readers? Early one morning, +soon after my arrival at Landwithiel, I proceeded over land to a distant +part of the parish, to visit a ruin situated in a wild and remote spot, +which possessed some degree of historical interest. In the evening I +decided on returning by the coast in order to vary my route. The day +had been clear and sultry, and though the wind blew fresh from the +southward, yet its refreshing influence seemed exhausted by the intense +heat of the sun. In my progress along shore, though it was getting late, +and I was somewhat fatigued, I could not resist the opportunity of +exploring a sort of natural opening or cove in a part of the coast where +the cliffs were unusually precipitous; affording the geologist the +highest gratification; you were reminded indeed of the flat surface of a +stone wall in many parts, which effect the regular stratification of the +rocks contributed to produce; and it required no great stretch of fancy +to imagine it one vast fortification, with loop-holes at regular +intervals--at a short distance from seaward certainly it would be +difficult to divest a stranger of the idea that it was something +artificial. Two high points of rock contracting at their extremities in +a circular direction so as almost to meet, ran into the sandy beach, and +you found on advancing beyond the narrow entrance, a considerable space, +which gradually extended to something like an oblong square, with a +sandy bottom everywhere, surrounded by the same lofty cliffs which +composed the adjacent coast. I was much surprised that I had never heard +of this place before; it had apparently been more the effect of some +natural convulsion than of the encroachment of the sea, and at the +further end was a high mass of shingles, seaweed, and fragments of rock +packed closely together by the tide. On examination I discovered, about +the centre of the shingles, a large stone cross, carved out of a +projecting part near the base of the cliff. It bore simply the initials +W.D. and though the surrounding rocks were thickly covered with seaweed +and barnacles, yet the cross itself was perfectly clean, and bore marks +of recent care. Some singular event had evidently occurred in this +retired and desolate place. I loitered a considerable time in musing and +examining the spot, regardless of the whining and uneasiness of my +Newfoundland dog, Retriever, when I was suddenly and fully aroused by +the sharp echo and plashing of the tide against the rock, within the +entrance of the cove. I now recollected with alarm that it was a spring +flood, and that I had heard the tide sets in on this part of the coast +with extraordinary velocity. I ran hastily forward, expecting to escape +with a mere wetting, along the base of the rocks to an opening which +I had passed about half a mile to the westward. I had just grounds of +alarm. The mouth of the cove as I have already stated, extended some way +abruptly into the beach. On wading to its extremity I found the tide +already breaking in impetuous surf towards the foot of the cliffs, and +it was now so far advanced as to preclude any hope of escape from that +quarter; for the sands shelved in for some way on each side of the +projecting entrance, and if I gained the foot of the cliffs I feared +that I must inevitably be dashed to pieces before reaching the opening. +In the calmest weather on the coast, exposed to all the fury of the +Atlantic, the spring tides come in with a heavy swell; on this occasion +they were aided by the wind, and I had to retreat with precipitation +before an angry and threatening mass of waves, which broke many feet +over the spot I occupied the moment before, with a noise like a +discharge of artillery. + +The night was gathering in, and the report of each successive wave, +fraught as it were with my death warrant, struck on my heart like a +funeral knell. Was there no hope of escape in the cove itself? no +difficult path to the rocks aloft? were the questions I rapidly put to +myself. An examination made as well as the darkness of the place +permitted, convinced me that my hopes were vain and transitory. I now +gave way to a sort of momentary despair; every instant was abridging my +chance of life, and the sudden and frightful feeling that you are to be +called on unprepared, to die, rushed on my mind with a choking +sensation. I listened for some time at the entrance of one of the +caverns, which the violence of the sea had excavated in picturesque +confusion round the foot of the cliffs, to the sullen moaning and +dashing of the tide, when my attention was rivetted by the sweet music +of a female voice on the heights above, singing in a wild and elevated +strain. It came over me with a sense so deep and clear, that I listened +for a few minutes as if my life were in every note. At this instant a +fishing boat passed under sail near the mouth of the cove. I shouted +with despair, but my voice was lost in the echo of the rocks; it passed +fleeting by, and with it my last chance of life. The shout had aroused +the strange singer; she arose, advanced to the very extremity of the +precipice, where one quiver would have been certain death, and flinging +her arms towards the ocean, called out as I imagined from her gestures, +to some imagined form. What could this fair apparition mean? I +distinctly saw her tall white figure and hair on the sky line (for the +moon was near rising) fluttering in the wind. She must either be mad or +a spirit, I exclaimed, shouting again and again to her for help; but +either my words were lost in the distance, or she regarded them not, for +she seated herself, and began to sing in the same wild style as before. +This was most extraordinary: a momentary tinge of superstition passed +across my mind, but it was speedily dissipated by the exclusive feelings +of my situation. Slowly did I see the waves dashing forward to their +destined goal, hemming in every chance of escape. I retreated step by +step till I reached the shingles, as if greedy of the space which +measured out to me my last race of life. My existence was in a span. +Great God! I exclaimed, am I then to perish thus--"without a grave, +unkennelled, uncoffined, and unknown"--my once sunny home--those faces +dearer than heart's blood--the days of my childhood passed over my +spirit--my mind was crowded with the images of by-gone days; half an +hour more and this breathing form would be clay. Yet how dreadful a +death! my poor dog howled and looked up in my face as a violent rush of +tide burst against the base of the rocks. Already I imagined the sea +around me, lessening my moments of life inch by inch--the tide bubbling +about my throat as I clung to the rock for help: I fancied I could have +borne any death rather than this lingering misery. + +I rallied: my feelings were unmanly. The moon had risen in unclouded +brilliancy, gleaming on the heaving and rippled surface of the dark blue +main; I looked up to the tranquil firmament, and the reflection was +bitter. Pealing along with the voice of the ocean, the wild and lofty +strains from the singular figure aloft, like a gentle brook commingling +its waters with a vast and rapid river--failed not during this time to +keep up my excitement. The sea was now fast covering the shingles; one +chance was yet before me, which the instant I reflected on, I hesitated +not to put into execution. It could at worst be only exchanging one +death for another, and death would have been a boon indeed, rather than +the longer endurance of that deeply agonizing state of suspense. I can +fancy my faithful dog, by his actions, had anticipated this resolution: +his joyful bark as I sprung forward into the waves, still rings in my +ear. He was a dog of prodigious size and strength: holding by his shaggy +neck with one hand, I assisted myself in swimming along by him with the +other, intending after clearing the mouth of the cove, to make for the +opening in the rocks to landward. I felt invigorated with new life, +though the chances against me were still precarious, on account of the +distance, as we went through the plashing waves with the broad expanse +of ocean again before me. The sea was now tolerably calm along shore, +for the tide was far advanced, and I had hardly swam twenty yards from +the mouth of the cove when a Landwithiel fishing-boat came in sight +almost within hail. An involuntary prayer came to my lips; I sung out +with all the energy which the hope of life could produce; she was +alongside in a trice, and in a few minutes I was sailing for Landwithiel +Pier, merrily, at the rate of eight knots an hour. I found on detailing +my adventure, which greatly surprised the fine fellows who picked me up, +that the cove was called Dawlish's Hole; and that the apparition of the +white lady on the rocks was one of flesh and blood, not an airy vision. + +"Poor Ellen Dawlish," said Sam Clovelly, my informant, "once the pride +of the parish--poor thing! her day has long since gone by; she is always +worse when the moon's full; but it's a long yarn, sir, and you'll learn +all about her and the wild skipper, as we used to call him, (that's her +husband) far better up at the "Ship-Aground" yonder, than I can tell +you." + +The only consequence that resulted from the adventure thus +providentially terminated, was a wet jacket; but a brisk fire, a glass +of grog, and a warm welcome in my host's capacious settle, helped to +banish it from my recollection. My worthy friend, Sam Clovelly, was not +mistaken; my interest, which was deeply awakened, received a strong whet +from the narrative which Mr. Sheepshanks related, and though wearied +with the day's adventure, I did not go to rest till I had heard the +conclusion of his somewhat prolix story. I afterwards happened to know +more, indeed, of the circumstances alluded to; and though the day's +incident was of a frightful nature, yet I look back upon it as the means +of introducing me to the knowledge of events connected with the history +of the last surviving member of an ancient family, to me of deep +interest. I pause: the reader may hear more of the FATE OF WALTER +DAWLISH. + +VYVYAN. + + [3] Printed by mistake Tor-withiel, in No. II. of these + Recollections: see _Mirror_, vol. xv. p. 356. + + + * * * * * + + + + +OLD POETS. + + * * * * * + + +MELANCHOLY. + + + Melancholy from the spleen begun, + By passion mov'd into the veins doth run; + Which when this humour as a swelling flood, + By vigour is infused in the blood, + The vital spirits doth mightily appal, + And weakeneth so the parts organical, + And when the senses are disturb'd and tir'd + With what the heart incessantly desir'd, + Like travellers with labour long oppress'd + Finding relief, eftsoons thy fall to rest. + +DRAYTON. + + * * * * * + + +LOVE. + + + Sweet are the kisses, the embracements sweet, + When like desires and affections meet; + For from the earth to heaven is Cupid raised + Where fancies are in equal balance peised. + +MARLOWE. + + + O learn to love, the lesson is but plain, + And once made perfect, never lost again. + +SHAKSPEARE. + + * * * * * + + +BEAUTY. + + + Such colour had her face as when the sun + Shines in a watery cloud in pleasant spring; + And even as when the summer is begun + The nightingales in boughs do sit and sing, + So the blind god, whose force can no man shun + Sits in her eyes, and thence his darts doth fling; + Bathing his wings in her bright crystal streams, + And sunning them in her rare beauties beams. + In these he heads his golden-headed dart, + In those he cooleth it, and tempereth so, + He levels thence at good Oberto's heart, + And to the head he draws it in his bow. + +SIR J. HARRINGTON. + + * * * * * + + +SLANDER. + + + Against bad tongues goodness cannot defend her, + Those be most free from faults they least will spare, + But prate of them whom they have scantly known, + Judging their humors to be like their own. + +IBID. + + * * * * * + + +POSTERITY. + + + Daughter of Time, sincere Posterity + Always new born, yet no man knows thy birth, + The arbitress of pure Sincerity, + Yet, changeable, (like Proteus on the earth) + Sometime in plenty, sometime joined with dearth. + Always to come, yet always present here, + Whom all run after, none come after near. + + Impartial judge of all save present state + Truth's _Idioma_ of the things are past, + But still pursuing present things with hate, + And more injurious at the first than last, + Preserving others while thine own do waste; + True treasurer of all antiquity, + Whom all desire, yet never one could see. + +FITZ JEFFREY. + + * * * * * + + +WAR. + + + The poets old in their fond fables feign, + That mighty Mars is god of war and strife, + The Astronomers think that whereas Mars doth reign, + That all debate and discord must be rife; + Some think Bellona goddess of that life. + Among the rest that painter had some skill, + Which thus in arms did once set out the same:-- + A field of gules, and on a golden hill, + A stately town consumed all with flame + On chief of sable taken from the dame, + A sucking babe, oh! born to bide mischance + Begored with blood and pierced with a lance + On high the Helm, I bear it well in mind, + The wreath was silver, powdered all with shot, + About the which, _goutte du sang_, did twine + A roll of sable black, and foul be blot + The crest two hands which may not be forgot, + For in the right a trenchant blade did stand, + And in the left a fiery, burning brand. + +GASCOIGNE. + + * * * * * + + + + +MANNERS & CUSTOMS OF ALL NATIONS. + + * * * * * + + +CUSTOM OF BULL-BAITING AT GREAT GRIMSBY. + +The amusement of bull-baiting is of such high antiquity in this country, +that Fitz-Stephen, who lived in the reign of Henry II., tells us it was, +at that early period, the common entertainment of the young Londoners +during the winter season; and Claudian says of the English mastiffs-- + + "Magnaque taurorum fracturi colla Britanni." + + +The county of Lincoln is eulogized by Fuller as producing superior +dogs for the sport; and in Grimsby bull-baiting was pursued with such +avidity, that, to increase its importance, and prevent the possibility +of its falling into disuse, it was made the subject of an official +regulation of the magistracy. It had been practised within the borough +from time immemorial, but about the beginning of the reign of Henry +VII., the butchers finding it both troublesome and inconvenient to +provide animals for the public amusement, endeavoured to evade the +requisition; but it was made imperative upon them by the following edict +of the mayor and burgesses, which was incorporated into a code of +ordinances that were made and agreed to on the 23rd of October, 1499, +for the better government of the borough: + +"Also, that no Bocher flee or kill no Bull flesche wtin this Burgh, nor +that none be brought to sell bot if the Bull be bayted openlye before +the Mair and his burgesses, peon of forfeitr. of ev'y default +vj _s_. viij _d_. Also that the Bochers of this Francheis, and +al others that kepe slaughter shopes and kill flesche in this Francheis, +to sell, mak onys yerly befor the Mair and his burgesses one +bull-bayting, at convenient Tyme of the yere, according to the custom of +this Francheis befor usyd, upon peyn of fortur of vj _s_. viij _d_." + +In the reign of Charles I. an instance occurs of the violation of this +ordinance; and it is formally recorded in the mayor's court book, that a +fine was imposed by the chamberlains on Robert Camm for "killing a bull, +and not first baiting him, according to the custom of the corporation." + +These sports were conducted with great cruelty. To make the animal +furious, gunpowder was frequently flashed up his nose, and pepper blown +into his nostrils; and if this failed _to make him show game_, his +flesh was lacerated, and aquafortis poured into the wound. About sixty +years ago a bull was put to the stake at Grimsby; but the animal proving +too tame, one William Hall put a spike or brad into his stick, and +goaded the poor creature until the blood flowed copiously from several +parts of his body; and at length, by continually irritating the +lacerated parts, the bull became enraged, and roaring in the extremity +of his torture, succeeded in tossing his assailant, to the infinite +gratification of his cruel persecutors. It is recorded, to the credit of +Mr. Alderman Hesleden, that during his mayoralty, in 1779, the annual +exhibition was disallowed: from which time the custom declined, although +some instances of this inhuman pastime have subsequently occurred. + +Strutt says, that in some of the market towns of England, the +_bull-rings_ to which the unfortunate animals were fastened are +remaining to the present time. At Grimsby, the arena where this brutal +ceremony was performed, is still distinguished by the name of the +"Bull-ring." The ancient stone and ring were removed about thirty years +since; but the chain is still in possession of the chamberlains, who +pass it annually to their successors; and it is sometimes applied to the +purpose of fastening up a gate, when a distress is made on a field +belonging to the corporation for rent; but its primitive use is wholly +superseded by the abolition of the amusement. + +_Gentleman's Magazine._ + + * * * * * + + + + +NOTES OF A READER. + + * * * * * + +KNOWLEDGE FOR THE PEOPLE: OR, THE PLAIN WHY AND BECAUSE. + + +Part IV.--_Zoology--Birds._ + +This portion illustrates the Economy of Birds, with a few of the most +attractive varieties, under European and British, and Foreign Birds. +We quote from the "General Economy;" premising that the present Part +contains about 250 such illustrations, or _Why and Because_. + + +Why are birds usually classed according to the forms of their bills and +feet? Because those parts are connected with their mode of life, food, +etc., and influence their total habit very materially. _Blumenbach._ + +Why have birds little power of suction? + +Because of the narrowness and rigidity of their tongue; as may be seen +when they drink, having to hold up their heads, and depend upon the +weight of the water for transmitting it into the craw.--_Rennie._ + +Why are birds said to be "poised" in the air? + +Because the centre of gravity of their bodies is always below the +insertion of their wings, to prevent them falling on their backs, but +near that point on which the body is, during flight, as it were, +suspended. The positions assumed by the head and feet are frequently +calculated to accomplish these ends, and give to the wings every +assistance in continuing the progressive motion. The tail also is of +great use, in regulating the rise and fall of birds, and even their +lateral movements.--_Fleming._ + +Why do birds fly? + +Because they have the largest bones of all animals, in proportion to +their weight; and their bones are more hollow than those of animals that +do not fly. Air-vessels also enable them to blow out the hollow parts of +their bodies, when they wish to make their descent slower, rise more +swiftly, or float in the air. The muscles that move the wings of birds +downwards, in many instances, are a sixth part of the weight of the +whole body; whereas, those of a man are not in proportion one-hundredth +part so large. + +Why are birds covered with feathers? + +Because, by this addition to the non-conducting appendices of the skin, +birds are enabled to preserve the heat, generated in their bodies, from +being readily transmitted to the surrounding air, and carried off by its +motions and diminished temperature.--_Fleming._ + +Why are the strongest feathers of birds in the pinions and tail? + +Because the pinion-feathers may form, when the wing is expanded, as it +were, broad fans, by which the bird is enabled to raise itself in the +air and fly; whilst its tail feathers direct its course.--_Blumenbach._ + +Why do birds moult? + +Because they may be prepared for winter; this change being analogous to +the casting of hair in quadrupeds. During summer, the feathers of birds +are exposed to many accidents. Not a few spontaneously fall; some of +them are torn off during their amorous quarrels; others are broken or +damaged; whilst, in many species, they are pulled from their bodies to +line their nests. Hence, their summer dress becomes thin and suitable. +Previous to winter, however, and immediately after incubation and +rearing of the young is finished, the old feathers are pushed off in +succession by the new ones, and thus the greater part of the plumage of +the bird is renewed.--_Fleming._ + +Why do birds sing? + +Because of the receptacles of air already mentioned but particularly by +the disposition of the larynx, which in birds is not, as in mammifera +and amphibia, placed wholly at the upper end of the windpipe; but, as it +were, separated into two parts, one placed at each extremity. Parrots, +ravens, starlings, bullfinches, &c., have been taught to imitate the +human voice, and to speak some words: singing birds also, in captivity, +readily adopt the song of others, learn tunes, and can even be made +to sing in company, so that it has been possible actually to give a +little concert by several bullfinches. In general, however, the song +of birds in the wild state appears to be formed by practice and +imitation.--_Blumenbach._ + +Why do the notes of different species of birds vary? + +Because, probably, of the structure of the organs of each species +enabling them more easily to produce the notes of their own species, +than those of any other, and from the notes of their own species being +more agreeable to their ears. These conditions, joined to the facility +of hearing the song of their own species, in consequence of frequenting +the same places, determine the character of the acquired language of the +feathered tribes.--_Fleming._ + +Why are birds equally dispersed in spring over the face of the country? + +Because, during that amorous season, such a jealousy prevails between +the male birds, that they can hardly bear to be seen together in the +same hedge or field. Most of the singing and elation of spirits, of that +time, seem to be the effect of rivalry and emulation.--_G. White._ + +Why is August the most mute month, the Spring, Summer, and Autumn +through? + +Because many birds which become silent about Midsummer, reassume their +notes in September; as the thrush, blackbird, woodlark, willow-wren, +&c.--_G. White._ + +Why do birds congregate in hard weather? + +Because, as some kind of self-interest and self-defence is, no doubt, +their motive, may it not arise from the helplessness of their state in +such rigorous seasons; as men crowd together, when under great +calamities, they know not why? Perhaps approximation may dispel some +degree of cold; and a crowd may make each individual appear safer from +the ravages of birds of prey and other damages.--_G. White._ + +Why do we so often fail in rearing young birds? + +Because of our ignorance of their requisite food. Every one who has made +the attempt, well knows the various expedients he has resorted to, of +boiled meats, bruised seeds, hard eggs, boiled rice, and twenty other +substances that Nature never presents, in order to find a diet that will +nourish them; but Mr. Montagu's failure, in being able to raise the +young of the curl-bunting, until he discovered that they required +grasshoppers, is a sufficient instance of the manifest necessity there +is for a peculiar food in one period of the life of birds.--_Knapp._ + +Why have most noctural birds large eyes and ears? + +Because large eyes are necessary to collect every ray of light, and +large concave ears to command the smallest degree of sound or noise. + +Why do stale eggs float upon water? + +Because, by keeping, air is substituted for a portion of the water of +the egg, which escapes.--_Prout._ + +Why has the breast-bone of all birds which fly, a long ridge or keel? + +Because muscles are attached to it, to facilitate their flight. + +Why is the plumage of aquatic birds kept dry? + +Because the small feathers next the bird fall over each other like the +tiles of a roof, and thus throw off the water. + + * * * * * + + +FESTIVALS, GAMES, AND AMUSEMENTS. + +BY HORATIO SMITH, ESQ. + +(_National Library_--Vol. v.) + + +The readers of _The Mirror_ will doubtless expect in its pages some +notice of the present work; although it belongs to a Series, which as +yet possesses but few attractions for our attention. The title of the +volume before us, and the name of its author, however, led us to expect +better things; and sorry are we to have little but disappointment to +report to the reader. + +Mr. Smith sets out by telling us, in his _Preface_, that he has +only been able to produce a _mediocre_ book, and at once shows that +his task has been by no means a grateful one. He talks of compilation +and selection as if they were the very drudgery of literature, although +in the present instance he has executed both so indifferently. He speaks +of _condensing_ into "one little volume," whereas the plan adopted +by him has but little of the labour of condensation, his book being +little but slice upon slice, like preserved fruit, instead of being +thoroughly mixed and reduced like jelly. With Strutt's Sports and +Pastimes, and Ellis's Edition of Brand's Popular Antiquities before him, +he might have produced a volume of exhaustless interest and value, set +with hundreds of foot-note references, which he has made but few and far +between. Nay, with the example of Brand before him (for we see that he +is occasionally quoted), it is difficult to conceive how Mr. Smith could +overlook so important a point as the distinct acknowledgment of his +authorities. + +A slight analysis of Mr. Smith's volume will show the reader that our +animadversions are not uncalled for.--Thus, upwards of one hundred pages +are devoted to the Festival Games and Amusements of the Jews, Greeks, +and Romans, meanly as Mr. Smith talks of "learned lore and antiquarian +pedantry." Then follow twenty-two pages on, not of, Modern Festivals, +&c.: from thence we quote two pages on the amusements of Londoners:-- + +"In addition to peculiar and extensive privileges of hunting, hawking, +and fishing, the Londoners had large portions of ground allotted to them +in the vicinity of the city, for such pastimes as were best calculated +to render them strong and healthy. The city damsels had also their +recreation on the celebration of these festivals, dancing to the +accompaniment of music, and continuing their sports by moonlight. Stow +tells us that in his time it was customary for the maidens, after +evening prayers, to dance and sing in the presence of their masters and +mistresses, the best performer being rewarded with a garland. Who can +peruse the recapitulation of London sports and amusements, even so late +as the beginning of the last century, without being struck by the +contrast it presents in its present state, when, as a French traveller +observes, it is no longer a city, but a province covered with houses? In +the whole world, probably, there is no large town so utterly unprovided +with means of healthful recreation for the mass of the citizens. Every +vacant and green spot has been converted into a street; field after +field has been absorbed by the builder; all the scenes of popular resort +have been smothered with piles of brick; football and cricket-grounds, +bowling-greens, and the enclosures of open places, set apart for archery +and other pastimes, have been successively parcelled out in squares, +lanes, or alleys; the increasing value of land, and extent of the city, +render it impossible to find substitutes; and the humbler classes who +may wish to obtain the sight of a field, or inhale a mouthful of fresh +air, can scarcely be gratified, unless, at some expense of time and +money, they make a journey for the purpose. Even our parks, not unaptly +termed the lungs of the metropolis, have been partially invaded by the +omnivorous builder; nor are those portions of them which are still open +available to the commonalty for purposes of pastime and sport. Under +such circumstances who can wonder that they should lounge away their +unemployed time in the skittle-grounds of ale-houses and gin-shops? or +that their immorality should have increased with the enlargement of the +town, and the compulsory discontinuance of their former healthful and +harmless pastimes? It would be wise to revive, rather than seek any +further to suppress them: wiser still would it be, with reference both +to the bodily and moral health of the people, if, in all new inclosures +for building, provision were legally made for the unrestricted enjoyment +of their games and diversions, by leaving large open spaces to be +appropriated to that purpose. + +"Upon a general review of our present prevailing amusements, it will be +found, that if many have been dropped, at least in the metropolis, which +it might have been desirable to retain, several also have been +abandoned, of which we cannot by any means regret the loss; while those +that remain to us, participating in the advancement of civilization, +have in some instances become much more intellectual in their character, +and in others have assumed more elegant, humane, and unobjectionable +forms. Bull and bear-baiting, cock-throwing and fighting, and such like +barbarous pastimes, have long been on the wane, and will, it is to be +hoped, soon become totally extinct. That females of rank and education +should now frequent such savage scenes, seems so little within the scope +of possibility that we can hardly credit their ever having done so, even +in times that were comparatively barbarous." + +Truly, as Charles Mathews says, "we are losing all our amusements." Then +follow about thirty pages of Holiday Notices; a sort of running +commentary on the Calendar. The spaces of the days, however, are sadly +disproportioned. Shrove Tuesday occupies upwards of two pages; Good +Friday and Easter are pruned into the same space; May Day has upwards of +four pages, more than half of which are taken up with the author's own +embellishment: still, not a word has he on the _poetry_ of the Day +beyond his motto from Herrick. Field Sports, as Hawking and Archery, +occupy the next thirty pages; but Mr. Smith is wofully deficient in the +latter department: for instance, how is it that he has not even +mentioned the archery at Harrow School,[4] and the existence of archery +clubs in the present day.--Bull-fights and Baiting of Animals occupy the +next forty pages in two chapters, one of which has been mostly +transcribed from the Encyclopaedia Britannica. An original account of a +Spanish Bull Fight occupies twenty pages, and is interesting, but rather +out of place among English sports. Dancing has thirty pages, for which +the Encyclopaedia Britannica has also been very freely taxed. Morris +Dancers have ten pages. Jugglers have about the same space, chiefly from +Strutt and Brand: Beckmann's chapter might have been added. Music and +Minstrels have thirty pages, from Hawkins and Burney. Mr. Singer's +curious work has furnished about twenty pages on Playing Cards. Chess is +compressed within ten pages! The English Drama, thirty pages, is +acknowledged from Hawkins's History of the English Drama, Cibber, and +Victor; but "more especially from the Biographia Dramatica," we should +say, the weakest source of the four. Malone's Supplement to his Edition +of Shakspeare has entirely supplied thirteen pages of Playhouse +Notices;--and here the curtain falls--sans Index, or the Author's +Farewell. + +There are three Engravings--a stunted Frontispiece from Wouverman's +Hawking Party, a Plan of Olympia, and the Tomb of Scaurus--the two +latter belonging, to use Mr. Smith's words, rather to "learned lore +and antiquarian pedantry," than a book of popular interest. Even had +Mr. Smith selected cuts of the Archery Meeting at Harrow, or the +Staffordshire Morris Dance Window, he would better have consulted the +gratification of his readers. In short, there are few subjects that +admit of more delightful illustration, literary or graphic, than the +"Festivals, Games, and Amusements" of "Merry England;" yet, to do these +topics justice, requires careful compilation, condensation, and tasteful +arrangement, upon neither of which points can we congratulate Mr. +Smith's judgment in the specimen before us. Probably the author has been +so long accustomed to indulge his fancy in ten shilling volumes of +"historical tales," that he finds it difficult to restrain himself to +books of facts: if this be the case, we should say that Mr. Smith is not +just the person to furnish the "nation" with a history of "Festivals, +Games, and Amusements, Ancient and Modern." + + [4] See Mirror, vol. xiii. p. 259. + + * * * * * + + +LORD BYRON. + +(_From Moore's "Life,"_ Vol. II.) + + +To those who have, from his childhood, traced him through these pages, +it must be manifest, I think, that Lord Byron was not formed to be +long-lived.--Whether from any hereditary defect in his organization--as +he himself, from the circumstance of both his parents having died young, +concluded--or from those violent means he so early took to counteract +the natural tendency of his habit, and reduce himself to thinness, he +was, almost every year, as we have seen, subject to attacks of +indisposition, by more than one of which his life was seriously +endangered. The capricious course which he at all times pursued +respecting diet--his long fastings, his expedients for the allayment of +hunger, his occasional excesses in the most unwholesome food, and, +during the latter part of his residence in Italy, his indulgence in the +use of spirituous beverages--all this could not be otherwise than +hurtful and undermining to his health; while his constant recourse to +medicine--daily, as it appears, and in large quantities--both evinced, +and, no doubt, increased the derangement of his digestion. When to all +this we add the wasteful wear of spirits and strength from the slow +corrosion of sensibility, the warfare of the passions, and the workings +of a mind that allowed itself no sabbath, it is not to be wondered at +that the vital principle in him should so soon have burnt out, or that, +at the age of thirty-three, he should have had--as he himself drearily +expresses it--"an old feel." To feed the flame, the all-absorbing flame, +of his genius, the whole powers of his nature, physical as well as +moral, were sacrificed;--to present that grand and costly conflagration +to the world's eyes, in which, + + "Glittering, like a palace set on fire, + His glory, while it shone, but ruined him!"[5] + + [5] Beaumont and Fletcher. + + * * * * * + + + + +SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURUNALS. + + * * * * * + + +AN UNEDUCATED POET. + + +One of the best papers in the _Public Journals_ for the present +month is in the _Quarterly Review_, No. 87. It purports to be a +notice of "Attempts in Verse, by John Jones, an Old Servant. With some +Account of the Writer, written by himself: and an introductory Essay on +the Lives and Works of our Uneducated Poets. By Robert Southey, Esq." +We extract such portion of the paper as relates to JONES, reserving +a few notices of other uneducated poets for a future number. + + +In the autumn of 1827, Mr. Southey was spending a few weeks with his +family at Harrowgate, when a letter reached him from John Jones, butler +to a country gentleman in that district of Yorkshire, who, hearing that +the poet laureate was so near him, had plucked up courage to submit to +his notice some of his own "attempts in verse." He was touched by the +modest address of this humble aspirant; and the inclosed specimen of his +rhymes, however rude and imperfect, exhibited such simplicity of thought +and kindliness of disposition--such minute and intelligent observation +of Nature--such lively sensibility--and, withal, such occasional +felicities of diction--that he was induced to make further inquiries +into the history of the man. It turned out that Jones had maintained, +through a long life the character of a most faithful and exemplary +domestic, having been no fewer than twenty-four years with the family, +who, still retaining him in their service, had long since learned to +regard and value him as a friend. The poet laureate encouraged him, +therefore, to transmit more of his verses, and the result is the volume +before us--not more than a third of which, however, is occupied with the +'Attempts' of the good old butler of Kirby Hall, the rest being given to +a chapter of our literary history from his editor's own pen, which, we +venture to say, will be not less generally attractive than the "Life of +John Bunyan," reviewed in our last Number. + +"There were many," says Mr. Southey, "I thought, who would be pleased at +seeing how much intellectual enjoyment had been attained in humble life, +and in very unfavourable circumstances; and that this exercise of the +mind, instead of rendering the individual discontented with his station, +had conduced greatly to his happiness; and if it had not made him a good +man, had contributed to keep him so. This pleasure should in itself, +methought, be sufficient to content those subscribers who might kindly +patronize a little volume of his verses." + +John Jones's own account of the circumstances under which his "Attempts" +have been produced, cannot fail to impress every mind with the moral +lesson thus briefly pointed to by the editor. After a simple chronicle +of his earlier life, he thus concludes:-- + +"I entered into the family which I am now serving in January, 1804, and +have continued in it, first with the father, and then with the son, only +during an interval of eighteen months, up to the present hour, and +during which period most of my trifles have been composed, and some of +my former attempts brought (perhaps) a little nearer perfection: but I +have seldom sat down to study any thing; for in many instances when I +have done so, a ring at the bell, or a knock at the door, or something +or other, would disturb me; and not wishing to be seen, I frequently +used to either crumple my paper up in my pocket, or take the trouble to +lock it up, and before I could arrange it again, I was often, sir, again +disturbed. From this, sir, I got into the habit of trusting entirely to +my memory, and most of my little pieces have been completed and borne in +mind for weeks before I have committed them to paper. From this I am led +to believe that there are but few situations in life in which attempts +of the kind may not be made under less discouraging circumstances. +Having a wife and three children to support, sir, I have had some little +difficulties to contend with; but, thank God, I have encountered them +pretty well. I have received many little helps from the family, for +which I hope, sir, I may be allowed to say that I have shown my +gratitude, by a faithful discharge of my duty; but, within the last +year, my children have all gone to service. Having been rather busy this +last week, sir, I have taken up but little time in the preparation of +this, and I am fearful you will think it comes before you in a +discreditable shape; but I hope you will be able to collect from it all +that may be required for your benevolent purpose: but should you wish to +be empowered to speak with greater confidence of my character, by having +the testimony of others in support of my own, I believe, sir, I should +not find much difficulty in obtaining it; for it affords me some little +gratification, sir, to think that in the few families I have served, I +have lived respected, for in none do I remember of ever being accused of +an immoral action; nor with all my propensity to rhyme have I been +charged with a neglect of duty. I therefore hope, sir, that if some of +the fruits of my humble muse be destined to see the light, and should +not be thought worthy of commendation, no person of a beneficent +disposition will regret any little encouragement given to an old servant +under such circumstances."--pp. 179, 180. + +The tranquil, affectionate, and contented spirit that shines out in the +"Attempts" is in keeping with the tone of this letter; and if Burns was +right when he told Dugald Stewart that no man could understand the +pleasure he felt in seeing the smoke curling up from a cottage chimney, +who had not been born and bred, like himself, in such abodes, and +therefore knew how much worth and happiness they contain; and if the +works of that great poet have, in spite of many licentious passages, +been found, on the whole, productive of a wholesome effect in society, +through their aim and power to awaken sympathy and respect between +classes whom fortune has placed asunder, surely this old man's verses +ought to meet with no cold reception among those who appreciate the +value of kindly relations between masters and dependents. In them they +will trace the natural influence of that old system of manners which was +once general throughout England; under which the young domestic was +looked after, by his master and mistress, with a sort of parental +solicitude--admonished kindly for petty faults, commended for good +conduct, advised, and encouraged--and which held out to him, who should +spend a series of years honestly and dutifully in one household, the +sure hope of being considered and treated in old age as a humble friend. +Persons who breathe habitually the air of a crowded city, where the +habits of life are such that the man often knows little more of his +master than that master does of his next-door neighbour, will gather +instruction as well as pleasure from the glimpses which John Jones's +history and lucubrations afford of the interior machinery of life in a +yet unsophisticated region of the country. His little complimentary +stanzas on the birthdays, and such other festivals of the family--his +inscriptions to their neighbour Mrs. Laurence, of Studley Park, and the +like, are equally honourable to himself and his benevolent superiors; +and the simple purity of his verses of love or gallantry, inspired by +village beauties of his own station, may kindle a blush on the cheeks of +most of those whose effusions are now warbled over fashionable +piano-fortes. + +The stanzas which first claimed and won the favourable consideration of +the poet laureate were these 'To a Robin Red-breast:' + + "Sweet social bird, with breast of red, + How prone's my heart to favour thee! + Thy look oblique, thy prying head, + Thy gentle affability; + + "Thy cheerful song in winter's cold, + And, when no other lay is heard, + Thy visits paid to young and old, + Where fear appals each other bird; + + "Thy friendly heart, thy nature mild, + Thy meekness and docility, + Creep to the love of man and child, + And win thine own felicity. + + "The gleanings of the sumptuous board, + Convey'd by some indulgent fair, + Are in a nook of safety stored, + And not dispensed till thou art there. + + "In stately hall and rustic dome, + The gaily robed and homely poor + Will watch the hour when thou shall come, + And bid thee welcome to the door. + + "The Herdsman on the upland hill, + The Ploughman in the hamlet near, + Are prone thy little paunch to fill, + And pleased thy little psalm to hear. + + "The Woodman seated on a log + His meal divides atween the three, + And now himself, and now his dog, + And now he casts a crumb to thee. + + "For thee a feast the Schoolboy strews + At noontide, when the form's forsook; + A worm to thee the Delver throws, + And Angler when he baits his hook. + + "At tents where tawny Gipsies dwell, + In woods where Hunters chase the hind, + And at the Hermit's lonely cell, + Dost thou some crumbs of comfort find. + + "Nor are thy little wants forgot + In Beggar's hut or Crispin's stall; + The Miser only feeds thee not, + Who suffers ne'er a crumb to fall. + + "The Youth who strays, with dark design, + To make each well-stored nest a prey, + If dusky hues denote them thine, + Will draw his pilfering hand away. + + "The Finch a spangled robe may wear, + The Nightingale delightful sing, + The Lark ascend most high in air, + The Swallow fly most swift on wing, + + "The Peacock's plumes in pride may swell, + The Parrot prate eternally, + But yet no bird man loves so well, + As thou with thy simplicity." + + +Among many affectionate tributes to the kind family in whose service he +has spent so many years, not the worst are some lines occasioned by the +death of Miss Sadlier Bruere, written a few months afterwards (December +1826) at Tours: + + + "Thou wert miss'd in the group when the eye look'd around, + And miss'd by the ear was thy voice in the sound; + Thy chamber was darksome, _thy bell was unrung_, + Thy footstep unheard, and thy lyre unstrung: + _A stillness prevail'd at the mournful repast_; + In tears was the eye on thy vacant seat cast. + Each scene wearing gloom, and each brow bearing care, + Too plainly denoted that death had been there. + + * * * * * + + To earth we consign'd thee, and made an advance, + The thought to beguile, to the vineyards of France. + But 'twould not be cheated; of all that was rare, + Fond Nature kept whispering a wish thou could'st share: + No air softly swelling, no chord struck with glee, + But awoke in the bosom remembrance of thee. + Even now, as the cold winds adown the leaves bring, + We sigh that our flow'ret was blighted in spring." + + + * * * * * + + +THE NECROMANCER. + +BY MRS. HEMANS. + + + "Shall I make spirits fetch me what I please? + Resolve me of all ambiguities? + Perform what desperate enterprises I will? + I'll have them fly to India for gold, + Ransack the ocean for orient pearl, + And search all corners of the New-found World + For pleasant fruits and princely delicates." + +MARLOWE'S _Faustus_. + + + An old man on his death-bed lay, an old, yet stately man; + His lip seemed moulded for command, tho' quivering now, and wan; + By fits a wild and wandering fire shot from his troubled eye, + But his pale brow still austerely wore its native mastery. + + There were gorgeous things from lands afar, strewn round the mystic room; + From where the orient palm-trees wave, bright gem and dazzling plume: + And vases with rich odour fill'd, that o'er the couch of death + Shed forth, like groves from Indian isles, a spicy summer's breath. + + And sculptured forms of olden time, in their strange beauty white, + Stood round the chamber solemnly, robed as in ghostly light; + All passionless and still they stood, and shining through the gloom, + Like watchers of another world, stern angels of the tomb. + + 'Twas silent as a midnight church, that dim and mystic place, + While shadows cast from many thoughts, o'er-swept the old man's face: + He spoke at last, and low and deep, yet piercing was the tone, + To one that o'er him long had watched, in reverence and alone. + + "I leave," he said, "an empire dread, by mount, and shore, and sea, + Wider than Roman Eagle's wing e'er traversed proudly free; + Never did King or Kaiser yet such high dominion boast, + Or Soldan of the sunbeam's clime, girt with a conquering host. + + "They hear me, _they_ that dwell far down where the sea-serpent lies, + And they, th' unseen, on Afric's hills, that sport when tempests rise; + And they that rest in central caves, whence fiery streams make way, + My lightest whisper shakes their sleep--they hear me, and obey. + + "They come to me with ancient wealth--with crown and cup of gold, + From cities roof'd with ocean-waves, that buried them of old; + They come from Earth's most hidden veins, which man shall never find, + With gems that have the hues of fire deep at their heart enshrined. + + "But a mightier power is on me now--it rules my struggling breath; + I have sway'd the rushing elements--but still and strong is Death + I quit my throne, yet leave I not my vassal-spirits free-- + Thou hast brave and high aspirings, youth!--my Sceptre is for thee! + + Now listen! I will teach thee words whose mastery shall compel + The viewless ones to do thy work, in wave, or blood, or hell! + But never, never mayst thou breathe those words in human ear, + Until thou'rt laid, as I am now, the grave's dark portals near." + + His voice in faintness died away--and a sudden flush was seen, + A mantling of the rapid blood o'er the youth's impassion'd mien, + A mantling and a fading swift--a look with sadness fraught-- + And that too pass'd--and boldly then rush'd forth the ardent thought. + + "Must those high words of sovereignty ne'er sound in human ear? + I have a friend--a noble friend--as life or freedom dear! + Thou offerest me a glorious gift--a proud majestic throne, + But I know the secrets of _his_ heart--and shall I seal mine own? + + "And there is one that loves me well, with yet a gentle love-- + Oh! is not _her_ full, boundless faith, all power, all wealth above? + Must a deep gulf between the souls--now closely link'd, be set? + Keep, keep the Sceptre!--leave me free, and loved, and trustful yet!" + + Then from the old man's haughty lips was heard the sad reply-- + "Well hast thou chosen!--I blame thee not--I that unwept must die; + Live, thou beloved, and trustful yet! No more on human head, + Be the sorrows of unworthy gifts from bitter vials shed!" + + +_Blackwood's Magazine._ + + * * * * * + + +A MOORE-ISH MELODY. + + + Oh! give me not unmeaning smiles, + Though worldly clouds may fly before them; + But let me see the sweet blue isles + Of radiant eyes when tears wash o'er them. + Though small the fount where they begin, + They form--'tis thought in many a sonnet-- + A flood to drown our sense of sin; + But oh! Love's ark still floats upon it. + + Then give me tears--oh! hide not one; + The best affections are but flowers, + That faint beneath the fervid sun, + And languish once a day for showers. + Yet peril lurks in every gem-- + For tears are worse than swords in slaughter: + And man is still subdued by them, + As humming-birds are shot with water. + +_Monthly Magazine_ + + * * * * * + + +THE LAST WORDS OF A MOTH. + + + I burn--I die--I cannot fly-- + Too late, and all in vain: + The glow--the light--charmed sense and sight-- + Now naught is left but pain. + That wicked flame, no pencil's aim, + No pen can e'er depict on paper; + My waltz embraced that taper waist, + Till I am wasted like a taper. + + Worthy the brightest hours of Greece + Was that pure fire, or so _I_ felt it; + Its feeder towered in steadfast peace, + While I believed for me it melted. + No use in heighos! or alacks! + My cure is past the power of money; + Too sure that form of virgin wax + Retained the bee's sting with the honey. + + Its eye was blue, its head was cold, + Its round neck white as lilied chalice; + In short, a thing of faultless mould, + Fit for a maiden empress' palace. + So round and round--I knew no better-- + I fluttered, nearer to the heat; + Methought I saw an offered letter-- + Now I but see my winding-sheet. + + Some pearly drops fell, as for grief--- + Oh, sad delusion;--ah, poor Moth! + I caused them not; 'twas but a thief + Had got within to wrong us both, + Now I am left quite in the dark, + The light's gone out that caused my pain; + Let my last gaze be on that spark-- + Kind breezes, blow it in again. + + Then snuff it well, when once rekindled, + Whoe'er about its brilliance lingers, + But though 'twere to one flicker kindled, + Be careful, or you'll burn your fingers. + It sought not me; and though I die, + On such bright cause I'll cast no scandal-- + I fled to one who could not fly-- + Then blame the Moth, but not the Candle. + +_Ibid._ + + * * * * * + + +THE GATHERER. + + "A snapper-up of unconsidered trifles." + SHAKSPEARE. + + +THE LAST FRIEND. + + +A respectable character, after having long figured in the gay world of +Paris, was at length compelled to live in an obscure retreat in that +city, the victim of severe and unforeseen misfortunes. He was so indigent +that he subsisted on an allowance from the parish every week; a quantity +of bread was sent to him sufficient for his support; and yet, at length, +he demanded more. On this the curate sent for him--he went. "Do you live +alone?" said the curate. "With whom, sir," answered the unfortunate man, +"is it possible I should live? I am wretched, you see that I am, since +I thus solicit charity, and am abandoned by all the world." "But, sir," +continued the curate, "if you live alone, why do you ask for more bread +than is sufficient for yourself?" The other was quite disconcerted, and +at last, with great reluctance, confessed that he had a dog. The curate +did not drop the subject; he desired him to observe "that he was only +the distributor of the bread that belonged to the poor, and that it was +absolutely necessary that he should dispose of his dog." "Ah! Sir," +exclaimed the poor man weeping, "and if I lose my dog, who is there then +to love me?" The good pastor melting into tears, took his purse, and +giving it to him, "Take _this_, sir," said he, "this _is_ mine; this I +_can_ give you." + +W.G.C. + + * * * * * + + +ELECTIONEERING PIETY. + +In the year 1768, the following printed notices were stuck upon the +doors and walls of the churches in the City of London, one Sunday +morning:--"The prayers of this congregation are earnestly desired for +the restoration of liberty, depending on the election of Mr. Wilkes." + +J.R.S. + + * * * * * + + +FAZIO. + +"They have brought out _Fazio_ with great and deserved success at +Covent Garden: that's a good sign. I tried during the directory, to have +it done at Drury Lane, but was overruled."--_Byron's Letters_. + + * * * * * + + +THE DEVIL AMONG THE PRINTERS. + +In the year 1561, a work was printed, entitled the _Anatomy of the +Mass._ It contained one hundred and seventy pages, accompanied with +errata of fifteen pages! The author, a monk, in an advertisement +prefixed to the errata states, that the devil, to ruin the fruit of +his work, employed two very malicious frauds, by first drenching the +manuscript in the kennel, reducing it to a most pitiable state, and +rendering some parts altogether illegible, and then obliging the +printers to commit such numerous blunders, never before equalled in so +small a work. To combat this double machination of Satan, he was obliged +carefully to reperuse the work, and to form this singular list of the +blunders of printers working under the influence of the devil. + +W.A.R. + + * * * * * + + +CHARTER. + +_Translation of "a Charter, originally written in Saxon, and granted +by William the Conqueror to the Inhabitants of London:"_ + +"William, King, greets William, Bishop, and Godfrey Portgrave" (the +same in office as Lord Mayor) "and all the Borough of London, French and +English friendly. And I now make known to you, that you are worthy to +enjoy all those laws and privileges which you did before the decease of +King Edward. And it is my will that every child be his father's heir +after his father's decease. And I will not suffer any man to do you +wrong. God you keep." + +J.H.N. + + * * * * * + + +A "SPECTATOR" NEWSPAPER. + +"P.S. If you thought of a middle plan between a _Spectator_ and a +newspaper, why not?--only not on a _Sunday_. Not that Sunday is not +an excellent day, but it is engaged already. We will call it the 'Tenda +Rossa,' the name Tassoni gave an answer of his in a controversy, in +allusion to the delicate hint of Timour the Lame, to his enemies, by a +'Tenda' of that colour, before he gave battle. Or we will call it 'Gli,' +or 'I Carbonari,' if it so please you--or any other name full of +'pastime and prodigality,' which you may prefer. * * * Let me have an +answer. I conclude poetically, with the bellman, 'a merry Christmas to +you!"'--_Lord Byron to Mr. Moore, in his Life of the Noble Poet_, +vol. ii. p. 387. + + * * * * * + + +FOR ALL FAMILIES. + +In a closely-printed volume, price 5_s._ the + +FAMILY MANUAL, + +AND SERVANTS' GUIDE. + +"This little volume contains much useful information upon every subject +in which a domestic servant ought to be well versed. From the +housekeeper to the scullery-maid, and from the butler to the groom, +advice, cautions, receipts, and general hints, are given to each and +all. They are written in a plain and sensible manner, and appear, as far +as we are able to judge, the results of practical experience. To the +master and mistress, as well as to those whose duties are of a more +humble nature, the book may be strongly recommended. It is one from +which the high and low may derive much benefit, and should find a place +in the kitchen or servants'-hall of those who desire to blend comfort +with elegance, and prudence with luxury."--_New Monthly Magazine for +the present month._ + + * * * * * + +_Printed and Published by J. LIMBIRD, 143, Strand, (near Somerset +House,) London; sold by ERNEST FLEISCHER, 626, New Market, Leipsic; +and by all Newsmen and Booksellers_. + + * * * * * + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and +Instruction, No. 475, by Various + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MIRROR OF LITERATURE, *** + +***** This file should be named 13829-8.txt or 13829-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/3/8/2/13829/ + +Produced by Jonathan Ingram, David Garcia and the PG 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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